21 facts (and/or fiction) about Lag Baomer
1) According to ר' מנחם החברוני (13th century)
רשב"י is buried in Kfar Chananya (15 km. south of Meron)
2) According to the חיד"א, there is no מקור anywhere
that רשב"י was niftar on Lag Baomer
3) The first mention of רשב"י Yahrzeit on ל:ג בעומר is the
controversial ספר חמדת הימים
4) According to the יעב"ץ, (The Chasam Sofer seems
to agree) R. Moishe d'Leon (not רשב"י), wrote
the זהר
5) According to many Poskim, the תלמידי ר' עקיבא still died on
ל"ג בעומר but stopped on the 34th day of the עומר.
6) The מדרש says it was only 300 Talmidim who died.
The גמרא (Yevamos 62) says 12,000 pairs of Talmidim died.
7) The גמרא says they all died of a disease called אסכרה.
According to Harav Hagaon Y. Henkin zt"l and others, the
גמרא uses אסכרה as a code for getting killed fighting
the Romans.
8) The שואל ומשיב 5 - 39 writes, "If you distribute the money
to עניי ארץ ישראל instead of spending it to go to his
קבר etc., he guarantees רשב"י will have much more
נחת רוח.
9) According to the Chasam Sofer,ל"ג בעומר celebration
has nothing to do with רשב"י
10) According to the Chasam Sofer, the only ל"ג בעומר
celebration is קצת שמחה of not saying תחנון
11) According to the מנחת אלעזר ח"ד:ס.the ל"ג בעומר
celebration is strictly a מנהג ארץ ישראל Celebrating
in חוץ לארץ is onsidered strange & haughty כזרות יחשב וכיוהרא
12) When the מנחת אלעזר was in Eretz Yisrael during ל"ג בעומר
he spent the night in צפת, not willing to celebrate in Meron
together with the Zionists.
13) The תוספתא (Shabbos 7:1) says clapping hands or
dancing in front of a fire is אסור because of דרכי אמורי.
14) In the ספרים of the previous generations, they only
mention of מרבים בנרות (festive) and not the הדלקה
15) Years ago, they had women dancing in Meron
on Lag Baomer לכבוד התנא רשב"י
16) Originally, the pilgrimage to Meron for the first
350 years was done on פסח שני and not on ל"ג בעומר
17) Originally, the celebration was held at the cave of
בית שמאי & בית הלל at a later date it was changed to רשב"י
18) Originally, it was only Muslim women who burned
their clothes לכבוד רשב"י.
The Yidden later adopted this controversial Minhag.
19) It's not the lighting of the fire that's done לכבוד רשב"י
It's the burning of the expensive clothes that is done
לכבוד רשב"י
20) The Chasam Sofer in the פתיחה to סדר נזיקין writes,
the Yeshiva started learning מס' בבא קמא on Lag Baomer.
גל עיני ואביטה נפלאות מתורתך stands for the 3 בבות & their 30 פרקים
21) Rav Elyashiv Zt"l said that דעת תורה is not to travel
to Meron on ל"ג בעומר
