Thirty-three days following the first day of Pesach, Jews celebrate a “minor” holiday called Lag B’Omer, the 33rd day of the omer. It is an oasis of joy in the midst of the sad sefira period. Yet it contains historic lessons of such great severity that this generation must not only unravel the mystery of Lag B’Omer but will discover that its own fate is wrapped in the crevices of its secrets.

The seven weeks between Pesach and Shavuos are the days of the “counting of the omer,” the harvest festivities that were observed in the Land of Israel when the Beis Hamikdash stood in Yerushalayim. This period should have been a time of joyful anticipation. Having experienced the Exodus from Egypt on Pesach, every Jew literally “counts the days” from the first night of Pesach until Matan Torah, the revelation of Torah at Mt. Sinai that took place on Shavuos, exactly 50 days after the Exodus. While the Exodus marks the physical birth of the Jewish nation ― the Giving of Torah completes the process through the spiritual birth of the Jewish nation.