If you follow My laws and faithfully observe My commandments (Leviticus 26:3)
First Reading: Revealing the Torah’s Inner Dimension
Every year, Lag BaOmer (ל"ג בעומר), the 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer, and the traditional day of passing of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, falls during the week of Parashat Bechukotai. This year it is on the first day of the week, corresponding to the first aliyah—the first reading in the parashah.
Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s teachings have been passed down to us in the Zohar, the most important rabbinic work on the Torah’s mysteries and inner dimension. Rabbi Shimon, one of the greatest sages of the Mishnah, was Rabbi Akiva’s most devoted student and after his master was executed by the Romans, Rabbi Shimon was declared his successor.
The day of the passing of a tzaddik (righteous and holy individual) is the day that the essence of his soul is revealed. Though Rabbi Shimon is a pillar of both the revealed and concealed traditions, the essence of his soul was without a doubt entwined in revealing the secrets of the Torah in general and of the Divine in particular. As he said on his day of passing, “One fire has been burning in me my entire life, with this fire I am one, with it I have been glowing,” referring to his devotion to the secrets of the Torah.
For this reason, Lag BaOmer, the day on which the essence of Rabbi Shimon’s soul was revealed, is considered the day of the giving of the inner dimension of the Torah.
Let us see some of the connections between the first aliyah of parashat Bechukotai and Lag BaOmer:
- Parshat Bechukotai is the 33rd portion of the Torah and Lag BaOmer is the 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer.
- The first verse—אם בחקתי תלכו ואת מצותי תשמרו ועשיתם אתם—has 33 letters.
- The numerical value of the first two words of the portion, “If [you follow] my laws” (אם בחקתי) is 561, which is also the triangle of 33, meaning the sum of integers from 1 to 33.
This last point relates the strongest with the entire counting of the omer and what the 33rd day (Lag Ba’omer) represents. When we count, we do not say, “Today is the 1st day,” “Today is the 2nd day,” all the way up to, “Today is the 33rd day of the omer.” Rather, every time we count, we implicitly include all the previous days as well, “Today is 1 day in the omer,” “...2 days in the omer,” all the way to, “...33 days in the omer.” So actually, we have implicitly been creating a triangle of days, or sum of integers. On the first day we had 1 day; on the second day we had 2 more days; on the third day 3 more days, and so on. So on the 33rd day of the omer we have actually counted not 33 days, but 1 + 2 + 3 + ... + 33 = 561. The 33rd day of the omer thus implies the number 561, which is the gematria of the first two words of parshat Bechukotai.
Revealing the Wonders of the Torah
The same letters that denote the 33 (ל"ג) in Lag BaOmer, when reversed also spell the word, “unveil” or “open” (גל). This word appears in the verse, “Open my eyes so that I may see the Wonders of your Torah.”
