The thirty-third day of the Omer — a bright day of celebration in the middle of a somber season. During the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot, Jews count the Omer, and much of that period is kept as a time of semi-mourning. Lag BaOmer is the joyful pause: bonfires, weddings, haircuts, and outdoors gather on the eighteenth of Iyar.
In the middle of a season of restraint, one night the hillsides fill with fire and song.
The weeks of the Omer are traditionally observed with restraint in memory of a plague said to have struck the students of Rabbi Akiva during this period. Tradition holds that on Lag BaOmer the plague ceased, lifting the mourning for the day. The date is also the yahrzeit (anniversary of death) of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the sage associated with the Zohar and the foundations of Jewish mysticism, who is said to have asked that the day of his passing be marked with joy rather than grief. Lag BaOmer thus became a day of light breaking through a season of restraint.
Bonfires are lit across Israel and in many communities, evoking the spiritual light associated with Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Tens of thousands make a pilgrimage to his tomb in Meron in the Galilee for music, prayer, and celebration. Because the semi-mourning of the Omer lifts, weddings and haircuts that were postponed take place, and some families hold a boy's first haircut (upsherin) at Meron. Children traditionally play outdoors with bows and arrows, and picnics and outings fill the day.
Chag Sameach — Happy holiday
Lag BaOmer is a minor holiday without a fixed spoken greeting; "Chag Sameach" ("happy festival") is warm and appropriate if you wish to mark it.
“You shall count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven complete weeks shall they be. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh week; then you shall present a new grain offering to the Lord.”— Leviticus 23:15-16
Lag BaOmer 2027 begins at sundown on Monday, May 24 and ends at nightfall on Tuesday, May 25.
The thirty-third day of the Omer count between Passover and Shavuot — a joyful break in an otherwise semi-mourning season, marked by bonfires and celebration.
The fires evoke the spiritual light associated with Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the sage linked to Jewish mysticism, whose traditional yahrzeit falls on this day.
The forty-nine days counted from Passover to Shavuot. Much of the period is kept as a time of restraint; tradition holds that a plague afflicting Rabbi Akiva's students paused on Lag BaOmer.
Because the semi-mourning customs of the Omer — which include refraining from weddings and haircuts — are lifted for this one joyful day.
Sundown, Mon May 24 – nightfall, Tue May 25, 2027
Lag BaOmer falls on the eighteenth of Iyar, the thirty-third day of the Omer count between Passover and Shavuot. Like all Jewish days, it begins at sundown the evening before.
Chag Sameach — Happy holiday