Rabbi Chen Shaulov claims that the Omer customs are mistaken customs. (That’s the gist of it; I didn’t go deeply into everything he said, so maybe I missed some arguments.)
1. There is no precedent for mourning due to the death of someone who is not a relative, or even for a public tragedy, and certainly not for more than 30 days.
2. The Counting of the Omer is a time of joy.
3. There is loss of livelihood for people who make a living from celebrations.

His conclusion is that this is an invalid custom.

What exactly am I supposed to do with this ridiculous collection of declarations?
1. Why should there be a precedent? We’re not talking about the regular laws of mourning, but about an enactment commemorating difficult events that occurred, and meant to educate us toward good character traits. Does he think we’re sitting shiva for Rabbi Akiva’s students?
2. Then let him be happy to his heart’s content.
3. The second festival day in the Diaspora also harms the livelihood of many people. And so does the prohibition on legumes during Passover, not to mention tekhelet strings. The prohibition on fasting on Yom Kippur harms people’s health.

Excellent.
Thank you very much.

Maybe this is a more substantive consideration.
By the way, is this historical story actually true—why did they choose a different reason for the mourning?

Orthodox Mourning During the Days of the Counting of the Omer
Author image: Adir Dachoach-Halevi
Adir Dachoach-Halevi
15 Apr.
Reading time: 5 minutes

According to the true religion, the days of the Counting of the Omer are days of joy, thanksgiving, and closeness to God, may He be exalted. They begin with the bringing of the Omer offering on the day after the first festival day of Passover, and from that time we count the days in order to express our love for the Torah of truth, whose giving we awaited from the day we left Egypt, the house of bondage, until it was given at Sinai. The heretical European form of Judaism decided that one must mourn during these joyous days because of the massacres that occurred in them in the year 4856 (1096, and this due to their distancing themselves from the way of God and walking in the paths of falsehood and heresy). However, in order to impose their mourning on the Jewish people, they falsely claim that they are mourning because 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva died between Passover and Shavuot because they did not treat one another with respect (Yevamot 62b).

There is no trace whatsoever of these mourning customs in rabbinic literature, and what is said in Yevamot is clear to any sensible person to be a midrash stated by way of exaggeration, meant to educate the people to follow the paths of morality, uprightness, and justice. Historians prove that it is inconceivable that Rabbi Akiva had that many students, and some think this is a hint to Bar Kokhba’s fighters who died in the revolt against the Romans, but it is still clear that the number was stated hyperbolically, as is the way of the Sages in such midrashim whose purpose is to shock and teach moral lessons. (And regarding the responsum that was found on the matter in the collection Shaarei Teshuvah, see: “A Collection on the Forgeries in Geonic Literature.”)

And here is the midrash in tractate Yevamot (62b):

“They said: Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of students, from Gevat to Antipatris, and all of them died in one period, because they did not treat one another with respect. And the world was desolate until Rabbi Akiva came to our rabbis in the South and taught it to Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Yosei, Rabbi Shimon, and Rabbi Elazar ben Shammua, and they were the ones who restored Torah at that time. It was taught: all of them died from Passover until Shavuot. Rav Chama bar Abba, and some say Rabbi Chiya bar Avin, said: they all died a bad death. What was it? Rav Nachman said: diphtheria.”

As I understand it, the number twelve thousand was chosen to allude to the twelve tribes of Israel, that is, to hint at wholeness. And the midrash comes to teach that there can be a time of imagined perfection that is really only a time of heresy whose end is destruction. More specifically: it may be that the Jewish people flourish numerically and drift into the delusion of imaginary perfection, as happened on the eve of the Holocaust, when Europe’s Orthodox Jews wandered and wallowed in the fantasy that they were “righteous and pious,” and that they did not need to keep the commandments of the Torah in full, but only to choose which ones to keep while distorting the Torah’s commandments. (And therefore they did not go up to the Land of Israel and even hated the Land of Israel.) However, the end of this delusion is destruction, and the time of prosperity and flowering is only temporary, before ruin.

“Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all the treacherous at ease? You planted them, and they took root; they grow, they also bear fruit [that is, their multiplication and success do not testify to their uprightness and purity of heart]. You are near in their mouths but far from their inward being. But You, Lord, know me; You see me and test my heart with You. Pull them out like sheep for slaughter, and consecrate them for the day of killing.” And the Jewish people already understand very well the horrifying meaning of these verses, especially after the terrible Holocaust. But: “You struck them, but they did not grieve; You consumed them, but they refused to take correction; they made their faces harder than rock; they refused to return” (Jeremiah 5:3).

And here is another hint supporting what we have said: the death mentioned in the midrash is death by diphtheria, that is, death by suffocation in a severe illness that was common in ancient times, and that too was the most famous mode of death in the Holocaust, namely suffocation in gas chambers. And the reason is the destruction of the foundations of our religion and immersion in empty pagan delusions, chief among them the delusion that Judaism had already reached the height of its exaltation, even though its bearers were erring, wandering, and wallowing in magic and pro-Christian fantasies with a high hand. These also dragged them down into the beastliness of priests behind closed doors—all while presenting an image of imagined perfection, as if Judaism had reached the peak of all peaks…

“Who among you will give ear to this, will listen and hear for the future? Who gave Jacob over to plunder and Israel to the spoilers? Was it not the Lord, He against whom we sinned? For they were unwilling to walk in His ways, and they did not listen to His Torah. So He poured upon him [upon the Jewish people] the heat of His anger and the strength of battle; and it set him aflame all around, yet he did not know; it burned him, yet he did not take it to heart” (Isaiah 42:23–25).

It further seems possible to say that even the time of death of Rabbi Akiva’s students—from Passover until Shavuot—is not incidental, but was intended to teach about turning one’s back on the mission of the Jewish people. For specifically in these days, which symbolize our exodus from Egypt and the receiving of the Torah, which is the mission of the Jewish people—specifically in these days their death is described, in order to teach us that so heavy a punishment does not come except for the sin of turning one’s back on the foundations of our Torah.

And returning to the days of the Counting of the Omer: anyone who observes mourning practices during them reviles and blasphemes the honored and awesome Name and kicks against the mission of the Jewish people. I will explain: as stated, these days are meant to express our longing and yearning for God, may He be exalted; our yearning for the giving of the Torah; our understanding of the mission for which God took us out of Egypt; and our commitment to keeping the Torah and establishing a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Anyone who practices mourning customs during these days is kicking against the Torah and against the mission of the Jewish people. For he chooses to mourn specifically on the days that symbolize our exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Torah and its purpose. Therefore, one who expresses mourning specifically on these days kicks against the great good that God, may He be exalted, granted us, and even denies its purpose.

Instead of elevating the Torah of truth during these exalted days that preceded the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, and raising our mission high, the mourners raise high the Orthodox Judaism of heresy that corrupted our religion, brought terrible suffering upon itself in the previous century, crushed the foundations of our religion with iron-nailed boots, and even sought to utterly destroy our people’s mission of establishing a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, a light to Judah and a light to all humanity. And proof of this is their hatred of the IDF and of the Land of Israel.

Therefore, not only is it gravely forbidden to observe mourning customs during the days of the Counting of the Omer, but it is a great and mighty commandment not to observe any mourning customs, privately or publicly. More than that, it is a great commandment to practice customs of joy and gladness that will restore the crown to its former glory and help uproot the empty pro-Christian customs that distance us from our mission—and in this case, distance us from our mission in a direct way. For as stated, these mourning customs express grief and sorrow before the giving of the Torah. And nothing could be more symbolic than they are in expressing the hatred that Orthodox heretical Judaism has for the ancient true religion.

“And they, whether they hear or whether they refrain, for they are a rebellious house […] And you, son of man, do not fear them, and do not fear their words, though briers and thorns are with you, and you sit among scorpions. Do not fear their words and do not be dismayed by them, for they are a rebellious house. And you shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refrain, for they are rebellious” (Ezekiel 2).

Question and its answer

I was asked the following: Is there any discussion in the writings of Maimonides regarding the Counting of the Omer, its meaning and purpose? Is it true that in the writings of the Geonim there is a prohibition against marrying during these days? Answer:

A) Here is our Rabbi’s discussion of the Counting of the Omer in Laws of Daily Offerings and Additional Offerings (chapter 7):

“It is a positive commandment to count seven complete weeks from the day of bringing the Omer, as it is said: ‘And you shall count for yourselves from the morrow after the Sabbath’ [Leviticus 23:15], and it is a commandment to count the days together with the weeks, as it is said: ‘You shall count fifty days’ [Leviticus 23:16]. And one counts from the beginning of the day; therefore one counts at night from the night of the sixteenth of Nisan. If one forgot and did not count at night, one counts by day. And one counts only while standing, but if one counted while sitting, one has fulfilled his obligation.”

“This commandment applies to every man of Israel, in every place and at all times; women and slaves are exempt from counting the Omer. And one must recite a blessing each night: ‘[Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe,] who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us concerning the counting of the Omer,’ before counting. If one counted without reciting the blessing, one has fulfilled his obligation and does not go back and recite the blessing.”

And here is our Rabbi’s discussion of the days of the Counting of the Omer in The Guide for the Perplexed (3:43): “And [the festival of] Weeks is the day of the giving of the Torah, and because of the greatness of that day and its exaltedness, the days are counted from the first of the festivals until it, like one who awaits the coming of the most beloved of human beings to him, who counts the days and even the hours. And this is the reason for the counting of the Omer from the day of their departure from Egypt until the day of the giving of the Torah, which was the aim and purpose of their exodus: ‘And I brought you unto Me’ [Exodus 19:4; and there Onkelos translated: ‘And I brought you near to My service’—that is, I brought you near to My worship, meaning to receive God’s pure Torah and to fulfill its commandments]. And since that tremendous event [the wondrous and marvelous revelation at Mount Sinai] was only one day, so too its remembrance each year is only one day.”

B) I referred briefly in the above article to the responsum you mentioned; since it appears in a collection that was heavily forged, there is no need to address it. And on the Geonic forgeries in the collection Shaarei Teshuvah, and on forgeries in Geonic literature generally, see: “A Collection on the Forgeries in Geonic Literature.” And there is no doubt that this article is only the very tip of the enormous Antarctic iceberg. If you want me to address this responsum anyway, please refer me to the precise source, and with God’s help, the next time I publish the article I will analyze this responsum.

By the way, the Orthodox forbid supplicating before God, may He be exalted, with the prayer of falling on one’s face during the days of Nisan (according to tractate Soferim of the heretics, chapter 21), and at the same time they firmly hold on to their mourning customs during the Counting of the Omer in the days of Nisan. In other words, on the one hand the days of Nisan are days of joy in which one should not supplicate with falling on one’s face, and on the other hand the days of Nisan are harsh and bitter days of mourning, for one may not get a haircut in them nor even marry in them! And those who roll around in folly, nonsense, and heresy have no logic in their actions…

“And man in honor does not remain [that is, a person who does not choose to lodge in the honor of his own intellect] is like the beasts that perish. This is their way: folly is theirs, and after them their descendants approve their words forever [that is, after them their descendants will run after paths of emptiness]. Like sheep they are appointed for the grave [like sheep to the slaughter they go]; death shall shepherd them [death will shepherd them on their way to slaughter], and the upright shall rule over them in the morning, and their form shall waste away in the grave, far from its lofty abode [but the upright will take moral instruction from the end of the fools in this world and the next, for the fools turn the grave into their fixed place where they will suffer forever and ever]”