The Simchah of Lag B’omer

Lag B’omer is a day of great joy, but it’s shrouded in mystery. Many of us take our children to sing and dance in honor of Rabi Shimon bar Yochai. But if they ask us what exactly we’re celebrating, we have a hard time answering. Rabi Shimon revealed the sodos — the secret teachings — of Torah. To the vast majority of us, that esoteric realm of Torah is as foreign as outer space. Not only are we unfamiliar with those teachings, we don’t even understand their nature. What are the sodos of Torah, and is there any way for us to relate to them?

The first thing we need to understand is that sodos of Torah are not a separate branch of Torah wisdom. The Torah contains different areas that, though intrinsically linked, can be more or less studied separately. One may study the prohibitions of Shabbos, another may focus on monetary laws, while another may learn Kodshim. We ordinarily think that the sodos of Torah are another such field of Torah study. But the truth is that they are not a separate area; rather, they form the hidden inner core of every part of Torah.

Simply put, the sodos of Torah are the teachings that reveal Hashem’s underlying intent behind the laws of the Torah. They are not abstract, otherworldly concepts; rather they are the hidden intent behind Hashem’s commandments. The revealed Torah teaches the actions Hashem wants us to do; the sodos of Torah teach us their purpose. There are sodos in every mitzvah, a higher purpose that Hashem designed the mitzvah to accomplish.

Do you know what you’re really doing when you shake a lulav, separate challah, or make Kiddush? Every mitzvah we do has cosmic significance. A mitzvah comes from on High, and when we fulfill it, our actions affect realms way beyond our physical world. Hashem’s commandment is like the string of a kite. When you move the string in your hand, it maneuvers the kite that soars far above you. So too when we perform a mitzvah, our actions have an impact in the Upper Worlds the mitzvah stems from.