Chazal say that the main part of Sefirah is until Lag Ba’omer. The purpose of Sefiras Ha’omer is to purify the נפש הבהמית. There are two parts to the nefesh: the נפש האלקית and the נפש הבהמית. The נפש האלקית is comprised of the yetzer tov, which naturally has tendencies to desire ruchniyos, while the נפת הבהמית is the animalistic part of the soul. It is the soul that gives life to the physical body. It is the source of animalistic desires as well as characteristics such as kindness and compassion, middos that Klal Yisroel are imbued with.
Although the initial desire is to seek out worldly pleasures, one can be trained to desire only ruchniyos pleasures through the guidance of the נפת האלקית. Thus, the counting of Sefirah does not begin on the first day of the Yom Tov of Pesach but, rather, on the day after. On the first day of Pesach, there are tremendous אורות - lights and infusion of spirituality brought down to this world to every Jew, and thus, it is somewhat natural at this time for one to be mevatel all of his physicality so that all of his desires are only for Hashem. It is only after these lights and infusion of spirituality leave that one returns to being “small.” It is then that one needs to work on himself to be able to serve Hashem.
The goal is for one to purify his guf to the point that it is kadosh even without the person using his intellect. He accustoms his guf to be kadosh. This is the preparation for the Yom Tov of Shavuos. This way, one can be mekabel the great אורות - the spiritual light that comes on the Yom Tov of Shavuos. Just as there are three parts to the night time, so, too, there are three parts to Sefirah. By the third part of the night, the light of the day begins to creep in, and it is not considered complete darkness anymore. The same is true with the last third of Sefirah. From Lag Ba’omer and on, the days receive some of the great “light” of Shavuos, and thus, it is not complete darkness like the rest of Sefirah. This is why the main part of Sefirah is until Lag Ba’omer, when one must purify himself in complete darkness.
From Lag Ba’omer and on, we prepare for Shavuos from a perspective of already having some light. The talmidim of Rebbe Akiva died because they did not treat each other with the proper respect. But certainly the punishment for not treating others with the proper respect is not death. They died because they needed to be mesaken for the 24,000 that fell in Shittim, (the story from the Torah with Pinchos). The sin stemmed from their seeing and focusing on their self-worth. Thus, being that they did not succeed in treating each other with respect, they died because of previous sins.
When Klal Yisroel received the Torah, the Torah says, “ויחן שם ישראל” – “he” rested there. One person, for Klal Yisroel were like one man with one heart – כאיש אחד בלב אחד. This occurred at Matan Torah, but the light already occurred from Lag Ba’omer and on. The talmidim of Rebbe Akiva felt this light of achdus, and this caused them to stop dying on Lag Ba’omer.
RABBI YAKOV YOSEF SCHECHTER
