BONFIRE for Lag BaOmer: Drum Circle, Live Band, Food & Drinks (for sale)

BONFIRE for Lag BaOmer in Northern Liberties

When: Thursday May 22, 2008. The Bonfire will be lit at 8:00pm. The drumming session also starts at 8:00 pm. If you don't have a bongo to bring to the event, you're welcome to join the festivities and play any other type of instrument that you'd like to bring to the event. The live band will start at 9pm.

What: Drum circle, jam session, live band and a BBQ to celebrate Lag BaOmer.

Everyone is invited to this amazing evening.

Last year hundreds of people came to this fun and unique event!

Lag BaOmer, the 33rd day of the Omer Count is a festive day on the Jewish calendar, celebrated with outings, bonfires, and other joyous events. Many visit the resting place (in Miron in Northern Israel) of the great sage and mystic Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, whose yahrzeit (anniversary of his passing) the day marks. We're going to celebrate this festive day by drumming around a bonfire, roasting smores and enjoying great company.

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who lived in the 2nd century of the Common Era, was the first to publicly teach the mystical dimension of the Torah known as the "Kabbalah," and is the author of the basic work of Kabbalah, the Zohar. On the day of his passing, Rabbi Shimon instructed his disciples to mark the date as "the day of my joy."

The Chassidic masters explain that the final day of a righteous person's earthly life marks the point at which "all his deeds, teachings and work" achieve their culminating perfection and the zenith of their impact upon our lives. So each Lag BaOmer we celebrate Rabbi Shimon's life and the revelation of the esoteric soul of Torah.

Lag BaOmer also commemorates another joyous event. The Talmud relates that in the weeks between Passover and Shavuot a plague raged amongst the disciples of the great sage Rabbi Akiva "because they did not act respectfully towards each other"; these weeks are therefore observed as a period of mourning, with various joyous activities proscribed by law and custom. On Lag BaOmer the dying ceased. Thus Lag BaOmer also carries the theme of Ahavat Yisrael, the imperative to love and respect one's fellow.

Please RSVP so that we can get an idea of how many people are planning on coming.