If you're flying over Israel on the 33rd day of the Omer this year, and you look down out of your plane, you will see thousands of bonfires dotting the landscape as far as the eye can see. That night is Lag Ba'Omer - the 33rd day of the Omer: the 33rd day of counting the seven weeks between Pesach and Shavuot. Thirty-third day of the Omer What IS the Omer anyway?? Click here for a bit more background. A Time to Mourn or A Time to Dance? Learn how the 33rd day became a holiday. Who was this great sage? Why do we celebrate his passing from this world with flames? Buy a picture of your favorite tzaddik (righteous person), eat some good soul food, and dance till you drop in this authentic Jewish festival in the mountains. The Omer and Lag Ba'Omer (from the ArtScroll's Youth Series: "The Children's Book of Jewish Holidays") Kids -- click here to learn why bows and arrows are connected to Lag Ba'Omer and what's Jewish about a campfire. The roots of the holiday go back to the Bar Kochba revolt and a plague in which Rabbi Akiva's students died. The current customs of the day originate with the 16th century kabbalists of Safed. For many Israeli children, Lag Ba'Omer is the day to build the most towering bonfire possible. For weeks before, Israeli children scavenge wood and other flammable objects, then create impressive sculptures. Much calculation is involved as the children vie with each other to build the pyre that will produce the biggest and highest fire. Among the orthodox, Lag Ba'Omer is a day of weddings and haircuts, both of which activities were proscribed during the weeks before. Since there is a custom not to cut a boy's hair until his third year, many boys around 3 years old receive their first haircuts on Lag Ba'Omer. Some are taken to the kever (grave) of a tzaddik (righteous person) for the ceremony, called the Chalaka. After the haircut, the child usually receives a new kippah (skullcap), tzitzit (fringed garment), and lots of sweets to mark the occasion. Lag Ba'Omer is chiefly a holiday of the supra-rational, of the hidden or esoteric Torah. Clothing is burned in huge bonfires and singing, dancing and praying at the gravesite of the Talmudic sage and mystical thinker Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai are highlights of the day. Acknowledgements: Joe Malcolm, Photography (top picture) Dovid Gross, Meron photograph (bottom picture) Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair of Ohr Somayach Institutions. Article contribution. Other Site Sources: Sefer HaToda'ah - Rabbi Eliyahu Kitov translated by Rabbi Nachman Bulman, Simchas Yitzhak, Kol Arieh in Chagim u'Zmanim - Lag Ba'Omer, Ein Tov of the Chidah, Paul Johnson - A History of the Jews