The Chasam Sofer on Lag B’omer

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In a teshuvah penned to Rav Efraim Zalman Margulies (Yoreh Deiah 233), the Chasam Sofer expresses his bewilderment at the universally accepted observance of Lag B’omer as a day of celebration, given that there is no source for this in divrei Chazal. (The tradition that Rabi Akiva’s students ceased dying on that day doesn’t appear anywhere in Shas or Midrashim.)

The practice of celebrating at the kever of Rabi Shimon bar Yochai is also baffling, because if indeed this is Rabi Shimon’s yahrtzeit, then it should be observed as a day of mourning rather than of celebration. Ironically, although he expresses puzzlement over the significance of Lag B’omer, the Chasam Sofer himself, in numerous places, suggests several profound explanations as to what its meaning might be.

The first is based on the Gemara in Kiddushin (38a ), which tells us that the matzah that Klal Yisrael baked upon leaving Mitzrayim lasted for 30 days. It was then that the mahn began to fall. The Jews left Mitzrayim on the 15th of Nissan and thus, their supply of matzah was depleted one month later — on the 14th of Iyar. The mahn, presumably, began to fall the following day, on the 15th of Iyar.

However, the Chasam Sofer, in four different places (Yoreh Deiah 233; Chasam Sofer al haTorah, Parshas Beshalach; Torah Moshe Hashalem, sof devarim, p. 192; Drashos Chasam Sofer, Drush Limei Hasefirah) quotes a Midrash that says Hashem does not place a tzaddik in a predicament lasting more than three days (Midrash Rabbah, Bereishis 91:7). The implication is that a tzaddik may have to endure certain quandaries for three-day periods. Thus, the difficulty presented by the depletion of matzah, and the resulting lack of food, lasted three days — until the 18th of Iyar, which is Lag B’omer. It was on this day that the mahn began to fall. One reason for the celebration of Lag B’omer, concludes the Chasam Sofer, is that on this day, the mahn began to fall.