Lag B’Omer is celebrated each spring. The Omer is the Hebrew term for the 49-day period between the Jewish holidays of Passover and Shavuot. This period commemorates the spring harvest and, at the end, the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people. Lag B’Omer is the 33rd day of this period, a Jewish holiday that serves as a break from a period of semi-mourning. It is the only day between Passover and Shavuot where weddings and other celebrations are permitted.
Today, many Israelis celebrate this holiday by lighting bonfires and spending time outdoors. The bonfires are a symbolic act reminding all that light is provided by the eternal fire found in the Torah. Many religious Israelis travel to the small northern Israeli town of Meron, the grave site of revered rabbinic figures Hillel, Shammai and Shimon bar-Yochai. Lag B’Omer in Meron is in fact one of the largest annual celebrations in Israel, where nearly 1 million Jews (from Israel and the Diaspora) congregate to light fires, eat, sing songs and celebrate this festive break in the long, somber period of mourning. Some of Israel’s biggest names in religious music come, and it is common to find dozens of jam sessions and groups of people singing traditional, religious songs known as niggunim as well as other Hebrew and even Yiddish folk songs written about the holiday.
The video above shows Orthodox men singing and dancing to traditional Lag B’Omer songs at the opening ceremonies for the holiday celebration in Meron in 2015. This video is more than two hours but is well worth sampling for the ritual, dance and song it captures.
Perhaps one of the best-known songs for during Lag B’Omer is “HaFinjan” (the coffee pot). It is a lively Israeli folk song written by iconic Palmach band leader Chaim Heffer and performed by singer Yaffa Yarkoni. The song tells a story of making coffee on an open fire in the land of Israel. A classic tune often sung on Lag B’Omer, this song is one example of a secular folk song that has become an Israeli tradition on this religious holiday.
