Educating Children for the Days of the Omer and Shavuos - Rabbi Yosef Avraham Pizam shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You’re listening to “Lema’an Yishme’u,” a podcast from Machon Halacha Chabad.

00:09 Speaker 2 Sefiras HaOmer—we’re talking about Sefiras HaOmer as a mitzvah whose special purpose, as our Sages tell us, is preparation for Matan Torah. It says, “When you bring the people out of Egypt, you will serve G-d on this mountain.” “You will serve G-d on this mountain”—that is Matan Torah. When we left Egypt, why did we leave? It was all so that we could reach “you will serve G-d on this mountain,” Matan Torah. So yes, we count the days from the time our ancestors brought the Omer, from the new grain, on the day after Pesach—the day the new grain was brought—and from then we begin to count. But our Sages revealed the meaning of this counting: it is preparation for receiving the Torah, for Matan Torah. There is a profound reason for this: to prepare ourselves spiritually for Matan Torah. There’s a well-known story, and I’m mentioning it as an educational point too. They tell it about the Rebbe of Kotzk; I think they also tell it about the Tzemach Tzedek. A student came and said, “Rebbe, I’ve learned the entire Shas.” The Rebbe asked him, “And what did the Shas teach you?” That’s exactly the point. The days of the counting are a time, educationally, for a person to educate himself and others: What has the Shas taught you? What does the Torah teach you? You need to be permeated with Torah. You need to be guided by the Torah inwardly, with complete identification. You need to know that you’re a soldier of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Whatever Hakadosh Boruch Hu says, we do, trusting that it’s the very best thing for the world and the very best thing for us. And so we celebrate Hashem’s words, Hashem’s instructions, and Hashem’s commands. So the days of the counting are days when

03:11 Speaker 2 we enlist our animal soul, so that it too will change and become refined. The Omer offering was barley, animal feed, because it alludes to the animal soul. We need to enlist it so that it understands and feels. The animal soul, too, has intellect and middos—emotions. It should understand and feel that the greatest, finest, most wonderful, pleasant, and satisfying thing for a person is to serve Hashem. Then the animal soul, too, will want only what is good. In this way, we refine and elevate our animal soul. That is a prerequisite for receiving the Torah afterward with joy and inwardly: that we become vessels for Hashem’s light, so that His light shines within us at Matan Torah. These are the days of the counting. We count with excitement as each day brings us closer to the great day of Matan Torah, when every single soul merits the wondrous revelation of G-dliness at Matan Torah. So those are the days of the counting. We need to be able to explain what we’ve said to our students too, each according to his level and age. They can certainly understand the idea, and we certainly can and should explain to them why there are forty-nine days. Because there is a revelation of the fiftieth gate. We were in the fifty gates of impurity; now we merit the fifty gates of understanding. In between are forty-nine—seven times seven. Seven refers to the seven middos: chesed, gevurah, tiferes, netzach, hod, yesod, and malchus. It is certainly possible to explain, to each age at its level, what these middos mean in our behavior and feelings, and how each one is incorporated within each of the other seven middos. Together, then, we have forty-nine middos through which we elevate ourselves by counting the Omer with submission to Hakadosh Boruch Hu: “Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us”

06:09 Speaker 2 “concerning the counting of the Omer.” Then we shine like a sapphire stone. Through Sefiras HaOmer, we bring light into the world and into our souls—the light of the sefiros. Now, of course, the point is to do things according to halacha. So we’ll teach our children that they need to count every day with a bracha. If, G-d forbid, we forget to count with a bracha, we’ll need to make up the count during the following day. If the next evening arrives and we forgot to make up yesterday’s count—if we forgot to count—then we have a problem. We can count on the following day, but from then on without a bracha, and we need to hear the bracha from someone else whom we ask to fulfill our obligation for us. That, broadly speaking, is the important mitzvah of Sefiras HaOmer. At the same time, we understand that these are days for working on and refining our middos, strengthening all the good qualities in our character and feelings, and especially Ahavas Yisroel—Ahavas Yisroel that will bring the Redeemer. But the days of Sefiras HaOmer are not entirely—or let’s say, not only—joyful days. We do have joy, certainly a deep, inward joy, as we approach the day of Matan Torah. But sad things also happened during Sefiras HaOmer. Yes, over the years, a measure of sadness became part of these days. These days of inward, G-dly joy are mingled with mourning and grief. Our Sages explain that this happened because twelve thousand pairs of Rabbi Akiva’s students all died in a short period, between Pesach and Shavuos. Their deaths were described as a terrible death. They infected one another, but the reason for their tragic deaths was that they did not treat one another with respect. They did show respect, but not at the level expected of Rabbi Akiva’s students. The Rebbe says that because they were Rabbi Akiva’s students, the respect they showed one another needed to be incomparably greater

09:02 Speaker 2 than what others show. And because they were Rabbi Akiva’s students, deeply committed to instilling Rabbi Akiva’s teachings in everyone, when one of them saw that others did not understand those teachings in the same way he, as a holy student, understood them, he could not pretend it didn’t bother him. They were people of truth, too. So he said to his fellow, “You aren’t behaving the way a student of Rabbi Akiva should understand and behave.” As a result, they did not treat one another with respect—precisely because they were pursuing truth, pursuing perfection, and seeking the other person’s perfection. For “Love your fellow as yourself.” They did it in a way that fell short of the level of respect required between Rabbi Akiva’s students. That is why an evil eye affected them, and they passed away in a plague that spread among them. How hard it used to be to convey to students what suddenly happened to twenty-four thousand people in such a short time. How did they die? Today, in the era of coronavirus, may Hashem have mercy—and with Hashem’s help, may we emerge from it very soon—we understand that people can indeed catch something, and if they gather in one place to study, crowded together, they can infect one another. So in our times, this has become easy to understand. In any case, that is why we observe some mourning customs during the days of Sefiras HaOmer and make an effort to repair our relationships with one another. We won’t go into the different ways Sephardim and Ashkenazim calculate these days of mourning during the counting. But we will mention what the Alter Rebbe says: he cites four opinions on how to calculate the thirty-three days of mourning. One calculation runs from Pesach until Lag BaOmer, once daybreak arrives. A second calculation runs from Pesach until the beginning of

11:38 Speaker 2 The night of Lag BaOmer. A third way of counting is from 2 Iyar until Erev Shavuos. A fourth is from the first day of Rosh Chodesh Iyar until the first of the three days of preparation for Shavuos. It should be noted that in practice, our custom, following the Arizal, is not to take a haircut until Erev Shavuos. As is well known, the Rebbe Rashab was very particular about this. The Alter Rebbe mentions three mourning practices observed during the days of the Omer: first, not holding weddings; second, not taking haircuts; and third, not holding dances. Later halachic authorities add, in greater detail, that one should also refrain from listening to musical instruments, something treated with particular stringency during the days of the Omer. The halachic authorities also state that one should not wear a new garment, and certainly should not recite the Shehecheyanu blessing during the Omer, because it is not fitting to say, “Who has kept us alive and brought us to this time,” on days tinged with sadness. That is our custom. But unlike the Three Weeks, when we do not recite Shehecheyanu at all, even on Shabbos, the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, clarified that on the Shabbosos of the Omer we do recite Shehecheyanu. If someone needs to use something new, he should do so on Shabbos and recite Shehecheyanu. Until now we have spoken in general about the days of the Omer—their virtue and importance, the spiritual work required during them, and also the mourning customs that, to our great sorrow, are observed during them. May it be Hashem’s will that the Beis Hamikdash be rebuilt immediately and that we have only open joy, in our customs as well. Pesach Sheini, 14 Iyar. What happened on Pesach Sheini? Here is the story. The Torah relates that a year after the Jewish people left Egypt, they fulfilled the Torah’s command and offered the Pesach sacrifice on 14 Nissan. But because only people who were ritually pure from contact with the dead could bring the sacrifice properly, a group of people who were impure through contact with the dead approached Moshe and asked him: “We are impure through contact with a dead person. Why should we be deprived of offering Hashem’s sacrifice at its appointed time among the Children of

14:32 Speaker 2 Israel?” After Moshe asked Hashem, Hashem instructed him to tell the Jewish people that thirty days after Pesach there would be another opportunity to offer the Pesach sacrifice for those who had been impure or on a distant journey at the time of the first Pesach. Now they would be able to offer the Pesach sacrifice on 14 Iyar, according to its laws. Even today, after our Beis Hamikdash has been destroyed and for the time being we cannot offer the Pesach Sheini sacrifice, we mark Pesach Sheini in several ways. First, we do not say Tachanun on Pesach Sheini, 14 Iyar. We also eat matzah on 14 Iyar. Although we do not say Tachanun on 14 Iyar, we do say it at Minchah the day before. This, too, is connected to the fact that the Pesach Sheini sacrifice was offered on 14 Iyar, while it was eaten only on the night of the 15th. Therefore, Minchah on 13 Iyar is not part of Pesach Sheini, and we say Tachanun then. The main observance of Pesach Sheini is on 14 Iyar. For that reason, the custom is to eat matzah primarily during the day on 14 Iyar, though there is also reason to eat it on the night of 15 Iyar, and that is worth doing. As for saying Tachanun in Krias Shema on the night following 14 Iyar, there is reason to say that we do not recite the confession then—what is called not saying Tachanun in Krias Shema—because the Pesach sacrifice was eaten that night, the beginning of 15 Iyar. The Rebbe spoke about this at a farbrengen. It appears from the Rebbe’s words that we should not say Tachanun on the night following 14 Iyar either, because that was the time for eating the Pesach sacrifice. There is a profound, stirring Chassidic saying of the Frierdiker Rebbe. We certainly need to teach it to the children, as we all do, and draw practical lessons from it—including the call, the cry, the proclamation: “Ad mosai? How much longer? How much longer?”

17:19 Speaker 2 The Frierdiker Rebbe says that Pesach Sheini teaches us that nothing is lost. In the words of the saying, “Nothing is lost; one can always make things right.” Even someone who was impure, immersed in physical or spiritual desires, or “on a distant journey,” very far from Judaism—even if he acted deliberately—can still make things right. He can come to Moshe Rabbeinu and say, “Why should we be deprived? Give us a solution; give us a way to make things right.” The Rebbe adds that what distinguishes Pesach Sheini from the first Pesach is that it is not subject to limitations. Therefore, it can be observed even when one has chametz in one’s possession. That is the nature of the work of teshuvah: it is beyond all measure and limitation, to the point that even deliberate transgressions are transformed into merits. Pesach Sheini is also meant to teach us that even someone who has completed his own work must care for those who have not yet completed what is required of them. He must help them materially and spiritually, and use every opportunity that comes his way for that purpose. And we are talking here about education. In a sicha, the Rebbe says that every educator, every teacher, every maggid shiur, every rosh yeshivah should think of his students and remember those he taught in the past. That is, of course, in addition to the students he teaches now. But what about students he taught in the past, who have, as we say, disappeared from view? He remembers: with this one, we were halfway there; with that one, we were halfway there. This one needs to be drawn closer, and that one has slipped a little. Pesach Sheini gives him encouragement—not only to work on this on Pesach Sheini itself, but to work with the understanding that nothing is lost. You invested your whole soul in your student, and then things happened; he slipped a little, and so on. Do not despair. Nothing is lost. Find ways to keep investing in him, whether you do it yourself or find someone else whom your student might be more receptive to. It does not matter who

19:39 Speaker 2 does the work; what matters is whose responsibility the work is. It is the educator’s responsibility, and we learn this from Pesach Sheini. Here the Rebbe also says, in this Dvar Malchus sicha from 5751, that we need to understand: if, for Pesach Sheini, all it took was the request of those Jews who were impure through contact with the dead or could not offer the Pesach sacrifice—they came, pleaded and cried out, “Why should we be deprived?”—and Hakadosh Boruch Hu, in response to their concern and their heartfelt cry, introduced and revealed a new mitzvah and a way for them to make things right, then the same applies today. And not only does it apply; it applies all the more so. Thousands of years have already passed, and we are not talking about a sacrifice in the wilderness or in Egypt. We are talking about a sacrifice in Eretz Yisroel, on Mount Moriah, on the Temple Mount, at the site of the Beis Hamikdash. That is the sacrifice we are missing now. And it is not just one sacrifice, but all the sacrifices. Surely, then, there must be a deeply heartfelt, deeply pained cry: “Ad mosai? Why has Hakadosh Boruch Hu not yet restored this to us?” But the Rebbe says that we are also certain Hakadosh Boruch Hu will restore it to us. Since Hakadosh Boruch Hu is unlimited, when the Geulah comes He will make up for everything we have lacked—all the revelations, illuminations, flows of Divine influence, and wondrous kindnesses that should have shone in this world and been received in it as a result of the sacrifices we could have offered but did not offer because of the exile. “Because of our sins, we were exiled from our land.” So the Rebbe says that Pesach Sheini is an opportunity to teach all Jews, especially the young children—“For Yisroel is a child, and I love him”—so that they will be moved, so that we will all be moved, so that the entire Jewish people will be moved to cry out. We are all children of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. We must educate others, and ourselves, to ask and plead before Hakadosh Boruch Hu: “Why should we be deprived? We want, already”

22:08 Speaker 2 to offer the sacrifices in the third and threefold Beis Hamikdash. Lag BaOmer is marked by two things, and of course both have great significance for the education of Jewish children. First, the sefarim say that after the death of Rabbi Akiva’s students, Lag BaOmer is a day of joy because it is the day on which his students stopped dying. They also write that it is the day of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s passing, and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai instructed people to rejoice on this day. His passing was entirely joyful: he had succeeded in fulfilling his mission in the world by revealing the Torah’s hidden teachings, and he was happy to ascend and cleave to Hashem in a wonderful way, without the concealment that exists in this physical world. So it is a joyous day. That is why the halachic authorities write that we should rejoice on Lag BaOmer and do not say Tachanun, even at Minchah the day before. There are special customs on this day. First of all, many Jews from all walks of life go up to Meron for the celebration of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s passing. It is an auspicious day, and a great bonfire is lit in honor of his passing near his resting place. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai himself protects us. People also have the custom of lighting bonfires in various places, and some interesting reasons have been given for this. Some say it is an expression of joy; others say it is like a large memorial candle in honor of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s passing. Some have the custom of lighting many candles in the shul in his honor. Another custom associated with Lag BaOmer is a child’s first haircut. We have the custom not to touch a boy’s hair until he turns three; we do not cut it. At age three, we leave his peyos. This is the beginning of his education.

25:06 Speaker 2 We begin educating the child in the mitzvah of “You shall not round off the corners of your head”: we cut the hair on his head but leave the peyos. That is the mitzvah in which we begin educating him. Therefore, many Jews have the custom of giving the young boy—on the occasion of his chalakah, his upsherin—his haircut near Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s resting place in Meron. The Rebbe points out that children whose third birthday falls during the days of the Omer after Lag BaOmer do not have their hair cut on Lag BaOmer. Only those whose third birthday fell before Lag BaOmer are customarily taken to Meron on Lag BaOmer for their haircut there. The custom of gathering Jewish children on Lag BaOmer and playing with them outdoors with bows and arrows is a holy custom practiced for many, many years in Jewish communities throughout the world. In our generation, the Rebbe revived an ancient custom. The custom was for the teacher to take the children out of cheder into nature. They would spend time, learn and play outdoors. The Rebbe said: If we are going out anyway, let us do it as a parade in honor of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Let us carry signs encouraging Torah study and the ten mivtzoim—tefillin, mezuzah, kashrus, Shabbos candles, and all these good and important things—and signs about the need to be ready for the true and complete Geulah. We will walk through the streets with these signs and messages, while the children proclaim the Twelve Pesukim and announce that the Geulah is near. The announcements call on Jews to observe kashrus—kosher food is more fitting for Jews—and proclaim that tzedakah is great because it brings the Geulah closer, and so on. Without going into many important details, it is clearly a public display that sanctifies Hashem’s name and spreads Judaism

28:11 Speaker 2 and Chassidus, the teachings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, and the chassidim’s faith in the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach. It is proclaimed openly and proudly. This parade takes place on Lag BaOmer, according to what works in each place, whether by day or by night. There is a parade and a gathering, a Tzivos Hashem gathering, where the children sing, recite and learn the pesukim, as well as teachings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and Rabbi Akiva. They strengthen their Ahavas Yisroel and their good resolutions: to learn and teach about Geulah and Moshiach and every part of the Torah; to ask Hakadosh Boruch Hu to bring the true and complete Geulah immediately; and to give more tzedakah, which brings the Geulah closer, and increase in Ahavas Yisroel, which will bring the Redeemer. That is the purpose of the gatherings and all the activities on the holy day of Lag BaOmer. The Rebbe said: Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai is at the parade. And you’re going to sleep? How can you? In other words, everyone should help—with their own efforts, their money and their whole heart—so that these parades have the splendor of a king honored by a great multitude. They are especially for children, but not only children: men, women and little ones, with complete separation in accordance with the rules of modesty. But what is the main point? To know that we are bringing the holiness of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was the Moshiach of his generation. As the Alter Rebbe says in his Siddur, in the section on Lag BaOmer, on Lag BaOmer a ray of Moshiach’s light shone within him. We can tell the children that too. And in the merit of the Mishnayos, the exiles gather; through the holy Zohar, they will leave exile with mercy. That is why we do all of this in connection with Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the holy, G-dly Tanna. As the Rebbe says, when you go out to the parade, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai is there too. This is the time to make requests of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai—for each person’s personal redemption in their own circumstances, and also for the collective Geulah of the entire Jewish people, with no one left out. We await it. This is the Chabad Lag BaOmer

30:46 Speaker 2 through which the Rebbe gives all the Jewish people and the entire world the opportunity to receive this G-dly holiness in the merit of the children who study Torah. The Alter Rebbe says that it is customary to recite Pirkei Avos on the Shabbosos between Pesach and Shavuos. For how long? The Alter Rebbe says that some have the custom of continuing to recite it on the Shabbosos of the summer as well. The Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, who lives and endures, and whose words live and endure, tells us: The holy Torah has given us the strength to refine people, to become purer and more sensitive, and first of all to be better prepared for the giving of the Torah on Shavuos. But afterward, too, we need to bring refinement into the world. We need to bring light into the world, and bring into it the capacity to receive the light of the Geulah, the light that is higher than everything. The Rebbe says: This begins with reciting and studying Pirkei Avos throughout the entire period from Pesach until Rosh Hashanah—until Rosh Hashanah. Study Pirkei Avos. What is Pirkei Avos? It consists of six chapters, the words of the Tannaim. Some mistakenly think that these great and wise people said these things out of their own personal wisdom. That is not so: it all goes back to Moshe at Sinai. “Moshe received the Torah from Sinai.” The commentators say this teaches us that everything in Pirkei Avos is part of that same Torah from Sinai. Of course, each sage applied it to the needs of his generation and revealed the solutions found in the words of the Torah and in what Moshe Rabbeinu received at Sinai for every situation in his own time. That is where the laws, warnings, advice, insights and instructions came from—or, most fittingly, the instructions for serving Hashem. When we recite them, we refine the world; when we understand them, we refine ourselves even more. It is important to study and understand Pirkei Avos. So

33:58 Speaker 2 First of all, when it comes to education, there are two points here. One is that we really need to make sure to recite Pirkei Avos on every Shabbos throughout the summer. That is a directive of the Rebbe. Second, we also need to understand it. So let me tell you: I remember when I was studying in Lod—I think it was when the Rebbe spoke about this, in 5746 or 5747—and the Rebbe said that we need to study Pirkei Avos. In our yeshiva in Lod, everyone sat down to study Pirkei Avos once a week. We would leave the zal, and each class would go into its own classroom. The teacher who taught in-depth study, the teacher who taught nigleh, would prepare a good lesson on Pirkei Avos, giving us explanations and insights so we could understand it well. That was how we saw what a tremendous treasury there is in the guidance of our Sages in Pirkei Avos. There is a book of the Rebbe’s explanations of Pirkei Avos, with layer upon layer of precise insights and explanations. What are the teachings of Chassidus in each passage? They must be there: “One who wishes to be a chossid”—what is he told? To study the teachings of Avos? Then these must be teachings of Chassidus. So what, in each mishnah, goes beyond the letter of the law? What is the connection to the sage who taught it? There are wonderful things here. The Rebbe explores all this in so many of his wonderful explanations. In practice, throughout the summer we need to recite Pirkei Avos on Shabbos after Minchah, live with Pirkei Avos during the week as well, and, as the Rebbe instructed in 5751, give other Jews the opportunity to study it—and that brings the Geulah closer. That is what the Rebbe said: give Jews the opportunity to study Pirkei Avos. It speaks so deeply to the heart and soul. People connect with it. It is the Torah of the Jewish people, and it reveals their Jewish soul.

36:17 Speaker 2 So that is the idea of Pirkei Avos. Certainly, studying Pirkei Avos serves as preparation for the giving of the Torah. At the same time, it is also good preparation for Rosh Hashanah. Many people recite it until Rosh Hashanah, and in this way the Jewish people are elevated in their refinement, their sense of holiness, and their preparation for the true and complete Geulah. Of course, of course, this is something for children, too. Children love studying Pirkei Avos, understanding it, hearing the stories connected with it and the delightful explanations of it. They love learning Pirkei Avos by heart and receiving prizes for it, too. It is within the reach of every educator and every parent to see to it that their child studies Pirkei Avos with them. A lesson for the family can be something very enjoyable, because it is not difficult to understand. There are so many pleasant, sweet explanations that refine the soul and strengthen it. Children really connect with them, and they lift them up. So please, let us work to ensure that all Jewish children know and are familiar with Pirkei Avos.