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Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher, and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money, and spiritual engagement.

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The Three Musketeers at the Kotel

The Three are Rabbi Yehuda Glick, famous temple mount activist, and former Israel Mk, and then Robert Weinger, the world's greatest shofar blower and seller of Shofars, and myself after we had gone to the 12 gates of the Temple Mount in 2020 to blow the shofar to ask G-d to heal the world from the Pandemic. It was a highlight to my experience in living in Israel and I put it on my blog each day to remember.

The articles that I include each day are those that I find interesting, so I feel you will find them interesting as well. I don't always agree with all the points of each article but found them interesting or important to share with you, my readers, and friends. It is cathartic for me to share my thoughts and frustrations with you about life in general and in Israel. As a Rabbi, I try to teach and share the Torah of the G-d of Israel as a modern Orthodox Rabbi. I never intend to offend anyone but sometimes people are offended and I apologize in advance for any mistakes. The most important psychological principle I have learned is that once someone's mind is made up, they don't want to be bothered with the facts, so, like Rabbi Akiva, I drip water (Torah is compared to water) on their made-up minds and hope that some of what I have share sinks in. Love Rabbi Yehuda Lave.

Lag BaOmer (Hebrew: לַ״ג בָּעוֹמֶר‎, LaG Bāʿōmer), also Lag B'Omer or Lag LaOmer, is a Jewish religious holiday celebrated on the 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer, which occurs on the 18th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar, which this year is May 5, 2026

According to some of the Rishonim, it is the day on which the plague that killed Rabbi Akiva's 24,000 disciples came to an end, and for this reason the mourning period of the Counting of the Omer concludes on Lag BaOmer in many communities.

According to modern kabbalah, this day is the Hillula of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai or the anniversary of his death. According to a late medieval tradition, Simeon ben Yochai is buried in Meron, and this association has spawned several well-known customs and practices on Lag BaOmer, including the lighting of bonfires and pilgrimages to Meron.

Additionally, in modern-day Israel, the holiday also serves to commemorate the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Romans.

Lag BaOmer is Hebrew for "33rd [day] in the Omer". The letter ל (lamed) or "L" has the numerical value of 30 and ג (gimel) or "G" has the numerical value of three (see Hebrew numerals). A vowel sound is conventionally added for pronunciation purposes.

Lag Baomer is commonly said to be the day on which Shimon ben Yochai died. Neither Chazal nor the Rishonim mention that the date of his death was Lag Baomer; the first known appearance of this claim is in the Sabbatean Hemdat Yamim (1731), but it was later popularized by a misprinting of Hayyim Vital, which replaced שמחת רשב"י "the celebration of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai" with שמת רשב"י "when Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai died".

The actual origin of kabbalistic traditions of visiting Meron on any of several dates in the month of Iyar date to the Middle Ages; but it is not clear when, by whom, or in what way Lag baOmer was first connected to Shimon ben Yochai.[16]

Nachman Krochmal, a 19th-century Jewish scholar, among others, suggests that the deaths of Rabbi Akiva's students was a veiled reference to the defeat of "Akiva's soldiers" by the Romans, and that Lag BaOmer was the day on which Bar Kokhba enjoyed a brief victory.[13]

In pre-war Europe, Lag BaOmer became a special holiday for students and was called "Scholar's Day". Students were freed to engage in outdoor sports.[17]

According to another suggestion, Lag Baomer was the date on which the reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem began under the Emperor Julian. With the failure of this project and the death of Julian, Lag Baomer initially became a fast day. After the Muslim conquest and the end of Christian oppression of Jews in Israel, mourning practices ceased to be observed. The choice to begin the reconstruction on the 33rd day of the omer may have been an anti-Christian polemic, as Jesus was said to have been killed at age 33.[18]

Another theory posits that the connection between Lag Baomer and Shimon Bar Yochai arose from a general pilgrimage to Mount Meron on Pesach Sheini (15th of Iyar), specifically to Hillel's cave wherein water filled up the cave's cisterns and sometimes overflowed; the natural phenomenon poorly understood then was considered miraculous and attracted Jews and Muslims alike. As Hillel's cave is close to Mount Meron it was customary for the pilgrims to stop by the graves of other holy saints on Mount Meron, among them Shimon's tomb. During the 16th century, when the Ashkenazic community came to Safed, the pilgrimage naturally moved up to Lag Baomer (3 days later), already a joyous day according to Ashekaniz custom (Rema OC 493:2), as it was believed to be the day the plague of Rabbi Akiva's students ended. As one of the latter's prominent students, Shimon's tomb ultimately became the focus of the pilgrimage

Grave Of Rabbi Simeon Bar Yochai

Lag_BaOmer_bonfire 042026

New planet named Enaiposha is unlike anything in our solar system

It started as another exoplanet in a group labeled “ordinary.” No one expected that a world, once thought to be a mini-Neptune, would reveal traits of a super-Venus and change how we see certain planetary types.

Astronomers used JWST data to learn more about an unusual place called Enaiposha, that orbits a red dwarf star about 47 light-years away from the Sun.

A surprising “super-Venus”

New planet named Enaiposha is unlike anything in our solar system - Earth.com

In the Middle of His Farm, a Shepherd Found a 20-Meter Dinosaur That Doesn’t Fit Any Known Group

A set of ancient bones found in Argentina is drawing unusual attention from researchers. There’s something about this dinosaur that refuses to fit neatly into existing categories.

https://dailygalaxy.com/2026/0...

A newly discovered long-necked dinosaur from southern Argentina is helping scientists explain how giant herbivores evolved across ancient continents. Called Bicharracosaurus dionidei,

it shows a surprising mix of features from different dinosaur families.

That unusual combination is what makes this find stand out.

Scientists Discover 50,000-Year-Old Neanderthal Baby in a Cave With the Body of a One-Year-Old

Buried for over 50,000 years, this tiny Neanderthal fossil is now at the center of a surprising scientific puzzle.

A Neanderthal infant who lived more than 50,000 years ago reached the physical size of a modern toddler in just six months. The discovery, based on a highly complete skeleton, points to a rapid growth pattern in early life.

https://dailygalaxy.com/2026/0...