Lev Tov

The B’nei Yissoschar has an amazing piece, Maamarei Chodesh Iyar, Maamar 3.  The calibre of his chiddushim there is such that, if we don’t make sure to learn it every year, we might have to start over from the Pesach seder again.

I had the privilege of hearing this maamar said many times by HaRav Nota Schiller zt”l, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Ohr Somayach. He said that it was obvious this piece was written with ruach hakodesh. I’m not quite at the level to distinguish that, but I’ll take the Rosh Yeshiva’s word for it.

The Mishnah in Pirkei Avos (2:9) tells the story of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai.  He instructed his five greatest talmidim to go out and find the “derech tovah” the good path that a person should cling to.

• R’ Eliezer ben Hurkanus says: A good eye. 
• R’ Yehoshua ben Chananya says: A good friend. 
• R’ Yose HaKohen says: A good neighbor. 
• R’ Shimon ben Nesanel says: One who anticipates the future. 
• R’ Elazar ben Arach says: A good heart.
• Rabbi Yochanan’s response: I prefer the words of R’ Elazar ben Arach, because all the other answers are included in his.

There’s a lot to figure out in each of these answers. But first, Rabbi Yochanan’s question itself needs some clarification. He told them to “go out and see” Go out where? The marketplace? The newsstand?

Clearly, he was telling them to delve into the Torah itself to find the true definition of “good.” And the first time a concept appears in Torah reveals its essence. So where is the first mention of “tov”? Right at the beginning. Hashem creates light on the first day and declares it good.  Each student saw something else in that declaration:

• R’ Eliezer ben Hurkanus: Hashem saw that the light was good. The path in life is to see things with a positive eye.
• R’ Yehoshua ben Chananya:  First, there was darkness, and then Hashem created light, which means the light became a companion to the darkness. That partnership is what Hashem called good. The good path is being a good friend.
• R’ Yose HaKohen: Chazal tell us that Hashem saw it wasn’t fitting for the light and darkness to operate in a jumble. He set boundaries, this one for the day, this one for the night. Only then was the goodness effective. The good path is being a good neighbor.
• R’ Shimon ben Nesanel: Chazal tell us that Hashem looked ahead, saw that this light wasn’t fit for the world as we know it, and hid it away for the future. The good path is having the vision to see beyond the present.
• R’ Elazar ben Arach said a good heart. Count the words from the beginning of Bereishis until the word “tov” and you get 32, the gematria of “lev,” heart. The heart is what brings everything together.

And that’s why Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai chose 
R’ Elazar’s answer. While the oter talmidim took their answer from a specific detail near the word “tov,” 
R’ Elazar derived his answer from the entire span, all 
32 words from the very beginning of Torah until “tov.” His answer encompasses the whole picture. 

The days of Sefirah before Lag Ba’Omer: 32. Lev. 

The days from Lag Ba’Omer until Shavuos: 17. Tov.

Lag Ba’Omer is where the heart meets the good. 
Lev Tov.

And now we can understand why this day is so important. Chazal tell us that the original light was too powerful for this world, so Hashem hid it away. Where did He hide it? In the Torah itself. And who was the one to reveal it? R’ Shimon bar Yochai, called by the Zohar “Butzina Kadisha,” the holy lamp. He commanded R’ Abba to write down the deepest secrets of Torah, to leave the glow of that hidden light as a gift for all of us, until the day Mashiach comes and the full light is revealed.

That’s what the bonfires are about. We light them in honor of the light that begins to shine on this day, seventeen days before Matan Torah. In honor of the holy lamp who revealed it. In honor of the Zohar, the book whose very name means radiance, which carries that light to us even now, even in the darkness.

Lag Ba’Omer is a day to use all of our faculties, to find the good, to see, to connect, to look ahead, and all from the heart. With everything we have, we attach ourselves to the good path that Hashem planted in the words of the Torah itself.