The Holiness of Lag BaOmer and the Fire of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai

From the mouth of the tzaddik, the foundation of the world, the esteemed Rav Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a

On the yahrzeit of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, fire descends from the heavens, 33 days after the night of the Seder, after Pesach we merit great awe, the revelation of the Divine Presence, the revelation of fire, all the mountains surrounding the tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai blaze with fire. When the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur, even the angels and seraphim would flee, they would be burned, likewise is Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, who is the aspect of supreme kindness, who is the aspect of the High Priest of all generations, from whose fire all the angels are burned. For the moment Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai began speaking words of Torah, he was surrounded by flames of fire, all around him blazed with fire, so if in his lifetime fire blazed around him, then all the more so after his passing, when the fire blazes around him with even greater intensity, for tzaddikim are greater in their death than in their life.

Lag BaOmer is truly like Yom Kippur, a day when all sins are forgiven, it's truly like "Kol Nidrei," everything is forgiven, everything is sweetened, the greatest kindnesses are revealed, the most wondrous kindnesses, on Lag BaOmer one can draw down all the intellect, all the healings, and all the salvations for the entire year, it's a day when all diseases can be healed, there is no healing in the world that cannot be drawn down on this day, all cancers can be healed, everyone can be blessed with children, everyone can find their match, this day is a day of annulment of vows, everything is sweetened, everything is erased, all the sins a person has committed, millions of sins from the day of birth until this day, sins from all incarnations, everything is forgiven.

A person travels to Meron for 3 hours, pushes through, suffers there among tens of thousands of people, and through this all his sins are forgiven, all his breaches of the covenant, everything he has sinned in his life is forgiven, and it is written "Rabbi Shimon rejoices" – Rabbi Shimon rejoices when he sees that hundreds of thousands of people travel to him, all of Israel travels to him, each year more and more people travel to him, and truly no one knows what is happening here, no one can understand this, the matter of this journey, people do not know why they are traveling, why they are celebrating on Lag BaOmer, but "even though he does not see, his mazal sees" – the whole land celebrates, they make bonfires and do not know exactly why and for what.

And truly one must know that the tzaddik is the root of all souls, he is the foundation stone, he is the root of everyone, of every neshamah (soul). Every neshamah is a small spark from the tzaddik, the spark of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai is found in every Jew, the neshamah of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai is in every Jew, it is a neshamah that includes all of Israel, encompasses the entire world, embraces all the worlds and all the spheres, and therefore everyone travels to the tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai to be included in the neshamah that includes all of Israel.

A person must travel to Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai with self-sacrifice, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai calls to us – "Come to me, ascend for 2, 3 hours, you are already with me!" All the abundance in the world, all the blessing in the world, prayer, Torah, kedushah (holiness), everything a person needs, he can receive, just come, travel, you must first travel! The tzaddik is alive and existing. You are not traveling to a person at all! So travel with reverence! Travel by car, by bus for two or three hours, travel with reverence with books, with prayer, with Hitbodedut, do not laugh, do not jest, do not do foolish things, travel for the sake of Heaven to purify and sanctify yourself, and then Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai can draw down for you endless salvations, endless kedushah and purity, he can give you a new neshamah, nothing is limited with him, there are no limitations with him, he can give you everything, everything you think, everything you want, he will give you, just travel with reverence and seriousness.

Says the "Beit Aharon" – that the highest level in all the verses of the Book of Psalms is "My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You" that even the body, the flesh turns into a neshamah, even the flesh no longer feels any physicality, any desires, it is burned from the love of Hashem, and this level "my flesh yearns for You" can be attained through Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, through the fire of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, whose fire blazes around him day and night, for Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai is the letters B, Sh, R, Y – a person comes to Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai seriously, dances all the dances, then he merits that all his flesh, all his physicality is burned and he reaches the highest level "my flesh yearns for You."

Anyone who merits on Lag BaOmer, anyone who travels seriously to Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, anyone who cries on Lag BaOmer, anyone who truly dances on Lag BaOmer, does not stand dreaming, foolish on the side, but truly dances and believes that Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai is alive and existing, does not travel due to social pressure, does not travel because the other is traveling, but because he believes that Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai is alive and existing and prays with enthusiasm, dances with enthusiasm, and does not stand on the side during the dances as the Rambam says that anyone who sees dancing and stands on the side is a complete fool and a complete heretic who does not believe in the powers of the tzaddikim, does not believe in the powers of the dances, does not believe that the tzaddikim can impregnate him, because Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai needs during the yahrzeit to descend even lower and impregnate all those who come to him and through this annul all decrees. So whoever truly travels to Rabbi Shimon and puts his head in the book, in Psalms, in Gemaras, in holy books and holds his head and holds his heart and truly yearns for Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai will merit that Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai will impregnate him truly, and through this he will merit all the salvations and through this we will merit complete redemption speedily in our days, Amen.