HAFTR does Lag Ba’Omer

In honor of Lag B’Omer, the eleventh grade class at HAFTR High School welcomed Rabbi Shmuel Marcus (pictured), a magid shiur at Beis Medrash L’Talmud, Lander College for Men, who is also the rav of Kehillas Ishei Yisroel in Kew Gardens Hills. Rabbi Marcus is known both in Lander’s and in his shul for his inspiring shiurim, and the boys at HAFTR eagerly awaited his talk.

Rabbi Marcus spoke to the boys about the holiness of Lag Ba’Omer and the nature of the happiness of the day, and what we are actually celebrating.

Aren’t we being insensitive to the 24,000 dead talmidim if we celebrate?

Rabbi Marcus answered that we are not celebrating the ending of the death of Rabbi Akiva’s talmidim. Rather, we are celebrating Rabbi Akiva’s determination and commitment to picking himself up and immediately resuming his teaching and transmitting the mesorah of Torah Sh’Bal Peh.

The lesson that the students received from this insight made its mark on them. They understood that even if there is sometimes a legitimate reason to not work hard, even if we can find an excuse to give up and call it quits, we have to keep at it. Rabbi Marcus exhorted the boys to identify a goal and then figure out how to achieve it, which would be living up to the lesson of the holiday.