THE FIRE DANCE

 THE FIRE DANCE

The תוספתא (Shabbos 7:1) enumerates practices that are אסור to do because they are considered דרכי אמורי. One of them is clapping, or dancing in front of a fire. Dancing in front of a fire would be an איסור דאורייתא of ובחקתיהם לא תלכו. There will be those who will claim that dancing in front of a fire is an accepted מנהג בישראל and argue that it can't be wrong when you have thousands of Yidden & Rebbes dancing around the fire. The same argument was probably also used when  there  were thousands of Yidden worshipping the עגל הזהב. Perhaps, those planning to dance in front of the fire should ask their מורה הוראה if this איסור דאורייתא is no longer applicable today and why not?   see below excerpts of שו"ת שבט הלוי ח"ז קל"ו

My G-d, כפירה

 

לז"נ מורי חמי הרב עקיבא בן ר' שמואל סטפנסקי זצ"ל              ברם זכור אותו האיש לטוב שהקים אלפי בנות ישראל לתורה וליראה            יום השנה היום יום י"א לחדש זיו  כ"ו לעומר                                            My G-d, כפירה       R. Yosef Shapiro* z"l from צפת wrote & composed two popular songs specifically for ל"ג בעומר 1) לכבוד התנא האלוקי ר' שמעון בר יוחאי 2) אשרינו The very popular song לכבוד התנא האלוקי is sung all over on ל"ג בעומר and also throughout the year. Pronouncing  Elokai with a פתח under the ק means "My G-d" Singing התנא האלוקי with a פתח under the ק is דברי כפירה It's saying ח"ו that The תנא is my G-d. הס מלהזכיר There will be those who will defend it and argue that it can't be wrong/כפירה when you have thousands of Yidden singing it that way. This same argument was probably also used when  there  were thousands of Yidden worshipping the עגל הזהב *Niftar 1951

Other Opinions

 

שנים עשר מי יודע 1) Where is Kever רשב"י located? According to ר' מנחם החברוני (13th century) רשב"י is buried in Kfar Chananya *(15 km. south of Meron) 2) What day in the עומר was רשב"י niftar? According to the חיד"א, there is no מקור anywhere that רשב"י was niftar on Lag Baomer**. 3) Who wrote the Zohar? According to the יעב"ץ, (The Chasam Sofer seems to agree) it was R. Moishe d'Leon (not רשב"י) 4) What day did the Talmidei R. Akiva stop dying? According to many Poskim, they still died on Lag Baomer but stopped on the 34th day of the עומר. 5) How many Talmidim of R. Akiva died between Pesach & Shavuos? The גמרא (Yevamos 62) says 12,000 pairs of Talmidim.The מדרש says it was only 300 Talmidim. 6) How did they die? The גמרא says they all died of a disease called Askera.  According to Harav Hagaon Y. Henkin zt"l and others, the גמרא uses Askera as a code for getting killed fighting the Romans. 7)  How can you bring Nachas to רשב"י (guaranteed)? The שואל ומשיב  5 - 39  writes "If you distribute the  money to עניי ארץ ישראל instead of spending it to go to his  Kever etc., he guarantees רשב"י will have  much more Nachas Ruach. 8) Why do we celebrate Lag Baomer? According to the Chasam Sofer, the קצת שמחה has nothing to do with רשב"י but because it's the Sefirah of הוד שבהוד*** and to commemorate the first day the מן came down in the מדבר. 9)  Why you should not celebrate ל"ג בעומר with dancing & music in חוץ לארץ? According to the   מנחת אלעזר ח"ד:ס because it is only a Minhag Eretz Yisroel Celebrating in Chutz Laaretz is onsidered strange & haughty כזרות יחשב וכיוהרא  10) Why the מנחת אלעזר waited till the morning to  travel to Meron? When the מנחת אלעזר was in Eretz Yisrael during ל"ג בעומר he spent the night in צפת not willing to celebrate in Meron together with the Zionists.             11) Why is it forbidden to dance in front of a fire? The תוספתא (Shabbos 7:1) says clapping hands or  dancing in front of a fire is אסור because of דרכי אמורי.  12)  Years ago they had women dancing in Meron on Lag Baomer לכבוד התנא רשב"י *R. Binyomin Todelo mentions being at the Kever of Hillel & Shammai but no mention of Rashbi **The first to mention Yahrzeit of Rashbi on Lag Baomer is the Sefer "Chemdas Hayamim" (controversial Sefer)  *** Kabbalah

Hadlaka dance -Minhag Avoda Zara

Lag Baomer Matzav

HOLY FIRE DANCERS The Tosefta (Shabbos 7:1) says clapping hands or dancing in front of a fire is אסור because of דרכי אמורי. Harav Hagaon Reb Shmuel Wosner zt"l (Shevet Halevi 7: 136) was asked if in camp, dancing around a bonfire is permissible or there is an איסור of דרכי אמורי. One of the reasons to consider why it might be מותר is because perhaps the Tosefta is referring only when the dancing is done for the honor of the fire. (eg: A holy fire lit by a Rebbe who said לשם יחוד  & seven times ויהי נועם etc.) Then it has traces & elements of עבודה זרה. Whereas in camp it's just done for the warmth, light,& fun. Perhaps there it is not considered מנהג עבודה זרה. Rav Wosner concludes that even in a camp bonfire there is reason to be מחמיר and refrain from dancing around all fires so as not imitate עבודה זרה festivals.

Reb Akiva's Talmidim -What's Pshat

Sounds Absurd There once was a person who had 15 children.

 One day one child got sick and died.

 The following day another child became sick and died.

 This continued on with all his children.

 By the end of the month all of his 15 children died. Someone suggested, he throw a party to celebrate, the stopping of his childrens death.

 Sounds absurd ! 

 R. Akiva had 24,000 Talmidim. All 24,000 Talmidim died within 33 days. After they all died ,we celebrate Lag Baomer because they stopped dying. Sounds right?

SEE ANSWER HERE

Lag Baoemer Trivia

1) Where is Kever Rashbi located ?

According to R. Menachem Hachevroni (14th century) in Kfar Chananya

(15 km. south of Meron)

2) When was Rashbi niftar ?

According to the Chida there is no Mekor that he was niftar on Lag Baomer

3) Who wrote the Zohar ?

According to the Yavetz it was R. Moishe d'Leon

4) How can you bring nachas to Rashbi (guaranteed) ?

The Shoel Umeishiv ( 5 - 39) writes " if you distribute the money to Aniyei Eretz Yisroel

instead of spending it to go to his Kever etc., he guarantees Rashbi will have much more Nachas Ruach.

My Mother Told Me

 

אמרה לי אם My mother ע"ה told me, The חתם סופר said, two things would have bothered him had he lived in ארץ ישראל   1)  Not having a second סדר night on פסח.    2)  He would be a פורש מן הציבור and would change from the מנהג המקום by refraining from travelling to מרון on ל"ג בעומר. * שו"ת חת"ס יו"ד רל"ג       Know someone who wants to be added? Forward them this email and have them click below.  Sign up here.

Rejoicing On Lag Baomer

There was a person who had 15 children. One day one child got sick and died. The following day another child became sick and died. This continued on with all his children. By the end of the month all of his 15 children died. Someone suggested that he should make a party every year to celebrate, his children stopped dying. Sounds absurd? R. Akiva had 24,000 Talmidim. All 24,000 Talmidim died. After they all died ,we celebrate Lag Baomer because they stopped dying. ??????? 


The Pri Chodosh ( O Ch. 493 )asked this question and answered that the simcha is, for the five new talmidim (after the death of the 24,000)who didn’t die.


 In the Gemoro there is no mention of Lag Baomer. The first ones to mention L.B. are some Rishonim in the name of the Gaonim. None of the Rishonim or the Tur and Mechaber who mention Lag Baomer, consider L. B. as a day of Simcha. All they say is that there is no Aveilus on L. B. ,(weddings, haircuts etc. permitted) because they stopped dying. There is no mention of a Yom Tov on L. B. It doesn’t make sense to make a Simcha after all the talmidim were dead Stopping the Aveilus does make sense. The Rema in the name of the Maharil writes that on L. B. we are “marbim bo ketzas simcha.” (increase a little simcha). The Rema does not give the reason why. It definitely is not because they stopped dying, but for other reasons. The Chasam Sofer (Y.D. 233) gives two reasons why we increase with simcha on L. B. 1) Hod shebeHod (Kabalistic) 2) According to the Midrash the Manna (Mon) came down the first time on L. B. The Chasam Sofer continues that it is not proper to establish L. B. as a a Yom Tov. No Nes happened on that day and no mention of it in the Gemoro or Poskim as a Yom Tov. The extent of Simcha is only re not fasting and no hesped.