[Avodah] Um,...Hello?! RaShB"I Didn't Die on Lag b'Omer

[Prof. Levine]

 From http://tinyurl.com/d7b583

Last year in a set of courageous newspaper interviews, Rav Avraham 
Kosman revealed his research demonstrating that Rabbi Shimon 
Bar-YoHai [RaShB"I] did not actually die on 18 Iyyar, the 33rd day of 
S'firath haOmer (counting of the Omer, See Lev. 23:15-16).

The <http://www.shofar.net/site/ARDetile.asp?id=8159>article in the 
<http://www.shofar.net/>Shofar newspaper is in Hebrew, so I will give 
you the highlights:


1. One of the bases for believing that RaShB"I died on "Lag b'Omer" 
comes from a manuscript of 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayyim_ben_Joseph_Vital>Rabbi Hayim 
Vital. Rabbi Vital ZTz"L, talmid muvhaq of 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Luria>Rabbi Yitzhaq Luria ZTz"L, 
the <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Luria>AR"I, supposedly 
mentions this date as the day of death of RaShB"I. Yet, an 
examination of the original reveals the abbreviation "shin-mem" for 
"shemeth" haRaShB"I (died), to be a scribal error. The original reads 
"simhath" haRaShB"I (happiness, festive day).

2. Leading Qabbalist of modern times, 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Ish_Chai>Rabbi Yosef 
H<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Ish_Chai>ayim meBagdad, the 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Ish_Chai>Ben Ish 
H<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Ish_Chai>ai, confirms this notion 
that RaShB"I did not die on this date,...

3. ...as does 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaim_Joseph_David_Azulai>Rabbi 
H<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaim_Joseph_David_Azulai>ayim Yosef 
David Azulai ZTz"L, the 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaim_Joseph_David_Azulai>"H<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaim_Joseph_David_Azulai>ID"A." 


4. And, even if this were the anniversary of death of RaShB"I, the 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_Sofer>H<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_Sofer>atham 
Sofer was very much against the idea of celebrating on such a day. 
"Do we celebrate on Moshe Rabbeinu's anniversary of death?"

5. A little known event also occurred on this date in the year 4123 
(363 CE). The Byzantine emperor of the time had granted permission 
for Jews to rebuild the Temple and to re-institute the sacrificial 
service. Yet the night they were to lay the foundation, Jerusalem was 
hit by an earthquake, a day of sorrow.

<Snip>

Unfortunately, "Lag b'Omer" is not the only manifestation of confused 
priorities amongst the Jewish People.

See the above URL for the entire article.   YL


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