AS HEARD FROM... Rabbi Dovid Hoffman (Torah Tavlin)
The Ponevezher Rov, R’ Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman zt”l, once made the following poignant point: “We speak of the greatness of Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. But what of the self-sacrifice of the Jewish children of that time, the students who risked their lives to learn the teachings of Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai? They also faced the death penalty the Romans had imposed on those learning Torah! Whenever we marvel at the spiritual heroism of our great Sages who spread Torah during a time of great danger, we must also marvel at the spiritual heroism of the children, who, in deathly fear, ran to hear the teachings of Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai ... "
"Herein lies the secret of Lag Ba’Omer - a 'children’s holiday' (with bows and arrows, treks in the fields and woods), when Jewish children study the same Torah that Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Shimon taught their students. We must especially remember the self-sacrifice of those students just as we remember the self-sacrifice of their teachers. This is the secret of Lag Ba’Omer, the great ‘Holiday of Teacher and Student!’
In our times, there is no law that precludes us from studying Torah. On the contrary, today we live in a society which prides itself on making laws that there should be no laws, i.e. everyone can do what they wish. This is antithetical to Torah and is a bane to civilization.
We, who do study Torah, fill our lives with meaning and refine our characters by way of understanding the world through the eyes of its Creator. We are threatened not with death but with scorn and ridicule. If we are courageous and stand our ground, proudly learning the word of G-d and seeking more knowledge of Him, then we will be the heroes of our generation, and will have much reason to celebrate.
