Monday, May 15, 2017

Happy La'D B'Omer

What's that you say--you never heard of celebrating "La'D" B'Omer, only "La'G" B'Omer, on the 33rd day of counting the Omer going from Pesach to Shavuot?  Well, this year brought an interesting twist.  Since La'G started right when Shabbat ended this week, the Rabbanut in Israel pushed off the celebrations until the next day, La'D, so that there would be no Shabbat violations with people preparing their bonfires during Shabbat.  But then there was a sizable religious contingent who felt that this was not necessary, since their followers would not violate Shabbat in their preparations and starting later at night would suffice (I read that the big bonfires in Meron were not lit until 2 a.m.).  10 Jews, 11 opinions, again--Penina's school had off one day and Ilana's school the other!

In the part of town that's mostly Traditional/Modern Orthodox, my friend who lives there told me it was totally quiet Saturday night, with everyone waiting until Sunday night.  In the *very* religious neighborhood next to it, bonfires were lit only on Saturday night.  Here, in our lovely "mixed" neighborhood, we got a two day Yontif with fires both nights ;).  I'm glad that tonight we'll be able to sleep with the windows open again!

La'D Sameach!!!!


Penina's photo of one of the many medurot across from our house

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