Home Dvar Torah for LaG b’Omer (33rd Day of the Omer-count)

Dvar Torah for LaG b’Omer (33rd Day of the Omer-count)

by breslov.org
image_print

Based on Likutey Halakhot, Nezikin 4:13

With this work, i.e., the Zohar, they will leave exile (Zohar 3:124b).

LaG b’Omer is the anniversary of Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai’s passing. Jews all over the world celebrate this event with great gusto, singing, dancing and lighting bonfires. Does this make sense? Yes, if we understand, even a little bit, what he achieved and that he left gifts for us so that we can achieve. The following is a free rendering of some of what Reb Noson had to say on the topic.

Study of any part of the Zohar remedies the past and gives one greater openness to the Godly. The remedies and capability to be open are the ways of the sacred Kabbalah that Rebbe Shimon and his students revealed. This is why “with this work, i.e., the Zohar, they will leave exile.” This will fulfill the prophet’s prediction: As in the days when you left Egypt, I [God] will show you wonders” (Micah 7:15).

Just as Moshe Rabbeinu taught us how to perceive the Divine when we left Egypt, now as well, at the end of this exile—more stressful and difficult than the one in Egypt—God, in His compassion, will redeem us via the Torah secrets that Rebbe Shimon and his colleagues unveiled. These secrets are vessels and frames for understanding the Godly. They constitute the core of the soul’s cure and redemption, in regard to both the material and the spiritual.

This is true even though we don’t have a clue about the real meaning of the secrets that Rebbe Shimon revealed in the Zohar. Nonetheless, the vessels and remedies for our souls are all still there. Anyone who is concerned about God and wants to labor in seeking Him, can easily come to perceive the Divine.

Making vessels and frames for the Sacred available requires many, many stages of reduction of the Divine light’s intensity. Due to mankind’s misdeeds throughout the generations—from Adam till the present—it’s impossible to completely rectify everything in one era. So the tzaddikim of each era toil to make more and more such vessels, so that those of us in this final era can more easily connect with God, if we really seek Him.

In this way, God has graced us with the teachings of the Arizal, the Baal Shem Tov and others. One who is spiritually sensitive and concerned about God will understand the greatness of the tzaddikim and what they have accomplished, in what they have repaired and prepared. Their accomplishments are our lifeline for the Present and the Future. We revive ourselves with their holy legacy delivered to us by their students.

May the merit of the tzaddikim protect us and all Israel. Amen.

© Copyright 2009 Breslov Research Institute

Leave a Comment