Story and photos by Eric George Tauber
SAN DIEGO — Lag Ba’Omer. For many of us, this holiday might ring a bell, faintly as one of many Hebrew School lessons long forgotten. But for a Chabadnik, it’s a time to make some noise. According to our history, in 66 CE, a terrible plague was visited on the 24,000 disciples of Rabbi Akiva because “they did not treat one another with proper respect.” But on the 18th of Iyar, the 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer (spelled לג in Hebrew) they stopped dying. The plague had passed. Decades later, Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai, the principle author of Zohar, a tome of mysticism in Kabbalah, passed from this world. From his death bed, he insisted that the day of his death not be treated as a day of mourning but a celebration of his soul’s reunion with Hashem. (www.chabad.org)
But how do you celebrate such a festive occasion when the plague of our own era demands that we distance ourselves from one another and avoid gatherings? Make it a drive-through. Welcome to the Lag Ba’Omer Drive Thru Circus Experience. Chabad Hebrew Academy located along Pomerado Road in Scripps Ranch set up multiple stages in their parking lot. Festival patrons slowly drove through in their cars. They were greeted by arches of red and yellow balloons (representing flames) Chasidic music, stilt-walkers, unicyclists, acrobats, jugglers, hula hoops, puppets and clowns.
Never taking our American religious freedoms for granted, we sang the Star Spangled Banner. San Diego City Council members Barbara Bry and Mark Kersey made an appearance and said a few words of support. Bry stumbled a bit over the Hebrew, but then she got into the spirit with a dancing lesson from an energetic Yeshiva Bocher, Mendel Smoller.
I spoke to a few people about why they felt this needed to happen.
EGT: So many events this year have been cancelled like the Del Mar Fair and Comic-Con. So why was it so important that we do something for Lag Ba’Omer?
Rabbi Mendy Rubenfeld of Chabad, Poway: That’s a great question. … The Lubavitcher Rebbe (Menachem Mendel Schneersohn z’’tl) was very instrumental on having parades on Lag Ba’Omer. And if we couldn’t get a parade to pass by us, we were going to pass by the parade. And the Rebbe said we would never stop doing this no matter what. So we can go safely and have a great time.
Rabbi Yair Yelin: Chabad’s philosophy is that the light that comes from darkness is a much brighter light. So when times are dark and people are depressed, instead of focusing on the darkness, we need to find ways to bring a brighter light. We thought that this was the greatest opportunity to do it and it proves to be so.
EGT: What does Kabbalah teach? How can you sum that up?
R Yelin: Kabbalah tells that life is like a grape and wine. The grape is a superficial taste, but the main value of the grape is the wine. In life, there is the superficial, but there is also the wine of life. It is the purpose of life that makes it more exciting and happy.
You can see for yourself how circus goers of all ages imbibed a quaff of that “wine of life.”
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Eric George Tauber is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. He may be contacted via eric.tauber@sdjewishworld.com