Q&A: Lag BaOmer
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Lag BaOmer
Question
Hello, honorably Rabbi.
In the Talmudic tractate Yevamot, customs of mourning over the death of Rabbi Akiva’s students are not mentioned at all. If this was so necessary, why weren’t mourning customs instituted at that time? And if the Tannaim and Amoraim did not institute them close to the event, why were they instituted 1,000 years later? I am puzzled.
Answer
This is not an enactment but a custom. It is hard to analyze customs in that way. They have a dynamic of their own. Perhaps even then there were people who observed such practices, and the custom only spread over the generations. As a matter of fact, it is quite clear that it was strengthened in the wake of the Crusades and the decrees of 1648–49.