Deep of the Deep

Lag BaOmer beginning sundown May first is a festive day on the Jewish calendar, celebrating the anniversary of the passing of the great sage and mystic Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, author of the Zohar.

Rabbi Shimon lived 2000 years ago during the time when the Talmud-Book of Law and Midrash-Book of Metaphor were composed; Rabbi Shimon wrote the Zohar-Book of Secret at the same time but he wrote it in heaven and did not transmit the text to the earth for another 1000 years.

When Rabbi Shimon passed away he commanded the people to celebrate on the anniversary of his passing because he was going home. There are 49 days counted between Passover the Shavuot celebrating the giving of the Torah, Rabbi Shimon passed away on the 33rd day (Lamed-30 Gimal-3/Lag) known in the Cabala a Hod ShabaHod/Splendor of Splendor–the deepest of the deep.

Rabbi Shimon was able to penetrate the most hidden secrets, yet the Zohar has remained in obscurity up until recently. Now that the Zohar is available, translated and annotated, still the Zohar is obscure.

the Cabala, key to the Zohar, came a few hundreds years later, but still the Zohar remains aloft. The Zohar fills the holes, answers the outstanding questions, but if one does not know the Torah, the Zohar is meaningless because the answer is nothing without the question.