Sunday, May 14, 2017

Moshiach's Rainbow and Lag B'Omer


Lag B'Omer occurs on the 18th day of Iyar: this year Sunday 14 May.

Why is Lag b’Omer celebrated with bonfires and bows and arrows?
by Rabbi Yossi Marcus

The bonfires celebrate the immense light that was brought into the world by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai [who passed away on Lag b’Omer], especially on the day of his passing.

The bow commemorates the fact that during Rabbi Shimon’s lifetime no rainbow was ever seen. [Bereishit Rabbah 35:2] Note: This was a good thing because the rainbow appears when the earth deserves punishment. The first time a rainbow appeared was after Noah’s flood, when G-d said that He will no longer destroy the world, rather He would send a sign: the rainbow. During Rabbi Shimon’s lifetime, the world was filled with merit because of him and therefore never saw a rainbow. [Genesis 9:8-17 and Rashi there]

There is a Kabbalistic tradition that on Lag b’Omer a rainbow will appear in a different color, which will symbolize the arrival of the Messianic age [Bnei Yissaschar]

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Devorah, this picture is for real? I mean, a rainbow with a especial color really happened today?

Devorah said...

I wish ! No, it's an old photo from Google.

Anonymous said...

Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai said, "When you see a rainbow with colors that are complete, you should know that Moshiach is close" (Tikkunei Zohar 73:78a).

DS said...

I saw just such a rainbow in Geneva Switzerland on Yom Haatzma'ut, May 2, the 21st day of the Omer, Malchut she be Tiferet, truly a royal and splendid rainbow: it was huge, over the lake of Geneva, I had never seen such a magnificent rainbow before in my life. I was sitting in a bus. I called out loud to the other people on the bus:"look at the beautiful rainbow', but none of those goyim budged. I guess they couldn't care less about such amazing sights; I said Boreh Maasei Bereshit.

I had no idea it portends Mashiach. I am not surprised, it was truly one of a kind, with a very wide spectrum, each color very clearly visible, like a flag. A sight that you never ever have seen in your life. How fortunate I am to have seen this, then! Close enough to Lag Baomer, only 12 days before. Does that count?

Happy Lag Baomer.

DS

DS said...

Repeating what Anonymous wrote:

"Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai said, "When you see a rainbow with colors that are complete, you should know that Moshiach is close" (Tikkunei Zohar 73:78a)."

That is what I saw.