Immediately
after the holiday of Pessah, starts the annual
semi-mourning period which coincides with
the period of the 'Omer,' which was traditionally
a happy agricultural period. A Talmudic legend
has it that a Jewish sage (Rabbi Akiba) and
his students were murdered during this period,
and ever since, it has evolved into a period
of semi-mourning.
The
custom of mourning during the Omer itself
is an interesting one. Mourning is not in
the Talmud and both Alfassi (HaRIF) and later
Maimonides (HaRaMBaM) make no mention whatsoever
of the custom of mourning, thus, it can be
conjectured that this custom came to Spain
from Germany or France with the arrival of
Rabbi Asher (HaRosh) in the 14th century.
The
period of semi-mourning lasts for 33 days,
which is said to coincide with the day in
which Rabbi Akiba's students were no longer
being murdered by the Romans. Thus, every
year on the 33rd day of the period of the
counting of the Omer, Jews no longer avoid
music, avoid parties or hold back from celebrations.
This joyful day also is associated with the
anniversary of the death of one of the Tannaim
(teachers), of the Mishnah period sage known
as Shim'on bar Yohai (c.220 CE)-the supposed
author of the kabbalistic work, the Sefer
Zohar. This kabbalistic work, as well
as Shim'on bar Yohai, have long been associated
with the concept and paradigm of 'goodness'
and 'light.' In modern times, the idea of
light, has since evolved into one of fire.
And in Israel, where Shim'on bar Yohai is
said to be buried, they celebrate on Lag La'Omer
with tremendous music, fanfare and fire.
Erroneous
Connection Linking Lag La'Omer and Shim'on
bar Yohai
On
Lag La'Omer, the custom in Israel and across
the world, is to make huge bonfires and to
celebrate in proximity to them (which is not
unlike what Zoroastrian fire-worshipers do).
In Israel, slaughtered sheep will have gasoline
or other flammable liquids poured on them,
they will be set on fire, and tens if not
hundreds of thousands of Jews will dance around
the pyres all night "in honor of Shim'on
bar Yohai."
This
begs the question, why do these Jews do this?
We have no national memory or history as to
when this rabbi even died, let alone a source
for celebrating the anniversary of his death-or
any one else's death-in this manner. The sages
of the Talmud, nor any of the Rishonim (early
rabbinical leaders), ever mention Shim'on
bar Yohai dying on Lag La'Omer; and, as a
general rule, Jews do not make a Yom Tov on
a day that is not mentioned by the sages.
Rabbi
Eliezer Brodt, a contemporary Judaic scholar
of Jerusalem, writes that "the Ari,"
Rabbi Yishak ben Shelomo Luria Ashkenazi (1534-1572),
a Spanish speaking rabbi of Jerusalem, does
not mention the death of Shim'on bar Yohai
in his writings, nor anything connecting Shim'on
bar Yohai's death and Lag La'Omer. He says
that what does exist however, is a printing
mistake-one that can be found in the first
edition of Luria's Peri Ess Hayyim (1785).
The error is found where it says, "Instead
of saying 'she-meit' (that he died) it has
a very similar, but entirely different word,
samach (was joyous). The letter chet
was apparently confused for a tav in
the later version, causing the whole mistake!"
He
goes on to explain that the "Hida,"
Rabbi Hayyim Yosef David Azulai (1724 Jerusalem
- 1806 Livorno) in his work Ma'aret Ayin
(1805), writes that the Peri Ess Hayyim
is "full of mistakes," including
the relation between that of Shim'on bar Yohai's
death and Lag La'Omer. In regard to mistakes
in this book, other rabbis have agreed that
the Peri Ess Hayyim contains errors,
including the late Lubavitch leader, Rabbi
Menachem Mendel Schneerson who wrote in a
letter that there is a printing mistake in
the Peri Ess Hayyim. Brodt says Rabbi
Yaakov Hillel of Jerusalem has confirmed,
"based on many early manuscripts"
of Rabbi Hayyim Vital (1543 Damascus -1620
Safed), nothing shows Shim'on bar Yohai died
on Lag La'Omer.
Erroneous
Attribution of the Zohar
While
popular culture among religious Jews is to
attribute the writing of the Zohar to Shim'on
bar Yohai, both secular and religious scholars
of ancient Biblical studies have proven beyond
a doubt that the Zohar was not of ancient
Mishnaic origin, but was actually written
near Barcelona in the 14th century by Moshe
ben Shem-Tov DeLeon (1250-1305) of Guadalajara,
Spain. He was a philosopher, and practitioner
of kabbalah, who had ascribed his work to
Shim'on bar Yohai, most likely for pecuniary
interests.
We
know the Zohar was written in 14th century
Western Europe and not in ancient Palestine,
as it contains numerous inaccuracies in language,
personalities, place names, topography of
Palestine, and the inclusion of Spanish colloquial
and familiar Iberian Arabic phrases have been
translated into a pseudo-Aramaic. Further,
it includes vowel-points and cantillation
marks which did not even exist during the
period of the Mishnah, and those cantillation
marks which were used, were written according
to the Spanish Sephardic custom, not Yemenite
or other earlier tradition which would have
been the norm-considering the 'Sephardic people'
hadn't even been in existence during the period
of the Mishnah. Judaic philosopher Ephraim
Rubin says:
The
Zohar even mentions the saying of the Kol
Nidrei prayer on the eve of the Day of Atonement.
We know that the first to say Kol Nidrei
with that timing were the 9th century Babylonians
[700 years after the life of Shim'on bar
Yohai], and even then many Jewish leaders
fervently opposed the practice. The Talmud
mentions a specific text for the abolishing
of the next years' vows, to be said on Rosh
haShana. Therefore, Rabbi Shim'on bar Yohai
did not write this…
Almost
immediately from the time it was released,
rabbis of the period questioned the authenticity
of the Zohar, this includes the famous Rabbi
Isaac of Acre, a man in which circumstances
had taken him to flee Palestine to Spain where
he met DeLeon. Questioning DeLeon's authorship,
DeLeon took an oath that he had a copy of
the Zohar written by Shim'on bar Yohai in
his house at Ávila. However, DeLeon
died before he could return to Ávila
and obtain it. Rabbi Isaac then spoke with
a man who had advised him DeLeon's wife and
daughter had revealed to the wife of a certain
Rabbi Yosef, the fact that Moses DeLeon had
written the book himself in an effort to earn
money for his family.
Over
the centuries several prominent rabbis, including
Rabbi Elijah DelMedigo (1458-1493), of Crete,
later director of the Yeshiva of Padua, Italy;
Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Mi-Modena (1571-1648),
of Venice; and the prominent German rabbi,
Jacob Emden (1697-1776), all wrote extensively
on the erroneous attribution of the Zohar
as the work of Shim'on bar Yohai.
The
Ever Increasing Trend to Make Shim'on 'ben'
Yohai a Saint
Over
the centuries, while many have called the
Zohar what it is-a book of Medieval Spanish
origin, others have attempted (and continue
to attempt) to essentially canonize it. The
printed works by rabbis and scholars who have
questioned or shown that the Zohar had been
invented in Spain, have had their works censored.
Whether in a 17th century yeshiva in Europe,
or a Jewish bookstore in an Orthodox section
of Brooklyn in 2012, their names are often
tarnished, belittled or marginalized. This
is done by those who feel it is more important
to go along with the "popular idea"
that the Zohar is from the period of the Mishnah,
when it has been proven otherwise, several
times over.
The
truth is, the Zohar is a post-Mishnaic work,
that was published during a period which ushered
in the beginning of the Renaissance period
in Europe-and not during ancient Temple-period
Jerusalem. Therefore, the Zohar (then as now),
should have little authority in a halakhic
(Jewish legal) sense when compared to the
Talmud. Yet, those who have blinders on and
continue to perpetuate the myth that the Zohar
was written by Shim'on bar Yohai, also frequently
ascribe great authority to it. These people
are blindly following a tradition which is
based upon one of the longest running false
'urban rumors' in the history of post-Biblical
Jewish history.
Menachem
Kellner, Professor of Jewish Thought at the
University of Haifa states how most of those
who perpetuate the Zohar origins as being
from the Mishnah period see the issue: "If
the Zohar represents the work of Rabbi Shim'on
bar Yohai…then the teachings of the Zohar
must be seen as part of the body of normative
rabbinic Judaism, carrying at least as much
authority as other Midrashic compilations
such as the Mishnah and the Talmud…"
Yet, he goes on to explain the truth-which
is that the Zohar has no authority over that
which is in either the Mishnah or Gemara (the
Talmud): "If the Zohar, on the other
hand, is the brilliant work of the Spanish
kabbalist Moses de Leon…then the ideas
and values embodied in [it] have much less
normative import for subsequent Judaism."
It
completely goes against the corpus of Judaism
and halakhah that the Mishnah nor the
Gemara (the Oral Law, the Torah shebbe'al
peh) would ever be superseded by the Zohar--but
sadly, it is done more frequently than people
think, just like the custom of dancing around
a large fire in the street.
###
Note:
All the websites which talk about bonfires
and show men dancing around--all the websites
which state as fact that Shim'on 'ben' Yohai
died on a certain date--all the websites which
people turn to and see organizations such
as the OU, AISH, the Star-K and others repeating
that Shim'on 'ben' Yohai died on a certain
date--they are all wrong.
That
is not a personal opinion, that is truth.
Their large emotional investment and parroting
of the same message, does not make the message
true. Judaism is from Torah and Torah is law,
and legal examination is required when analyzing
a purported historic truth related to the
law--Torah--the Oral Torah in this case. Sadly,
the old time process of seeking and raising
funds from the public (donations toward a
community or yeshiva), are often linked with
a "holiday" or other "special
day." This custom was very very popular
in the Holy Land in the 19th century. Today,
if in fact no one is seeking to raise funds
on certain occasions--this does not change
the fact that most of the worshiping of men
such as Shim'on 'ben' Yohai and Baal Ha Ness,
originated with such process and for such
reason.
