Judaism teaches that this makes physical the spiritual connection between Pesach and Shavuot.
Lag Ba'omer ( ì"â áòåîø) is the 33rd day in the Omer count (ì"â is the number 33 in Hebrew). The mourning restrictions on joyous activities during the Omer period are lifted on Lag Ba'Omer and there are often celebrations with picnics, bonfires and bow and arrow play by children. In Israel, youth can be seen gathering materials for bonfires. Construction sites must post guards near this time.
The origins of the holiday begin with the time of Rabbi Akiva. The Talmud (Yevamot 62:2) states that 24,000 of Rabbi Akiva's students died from a mysterious divine sent plague. The Talmud then goes on to say that this was because "they did not show proper respect to one another." Jews celebrate Lag Ba’omer as the traditional day that this plague ended. Others say that these students were killed in the Bar Kokhba's revolt (In which Rabbi Akiva was a major figure), the plague being the Roman plague. Viewed in this context, the lighting of bonfires on this evening seems logical, since in ancient times bonfires were used as signals in wartime.
The day is also the Yahrzeit, the anniversary of the death, of the famous Rabbi Simeon bar Yohai, the Kabbalist, traditionally known as the author of the Zohar.
During the Middle Ages, Lag Ba'Omer became a special holiday for rabbinical students and was even called the "Scholar's festival." It was customary to rejoice on this day through various kinds of merrymaking.
Every night of the counting, a blessing is spoken and the count is stated in terms of both total days and weeks and days. For example, on the twenty-third day the count would be stated thus: "Today is twenty-three days, which is three weeks and two days of the Omer."
Each of the seven weeks is associated with one of the seven lower sefirot (#4-10), chesed, gevurah, tipheret, netzach, hod, yesod, and malchut. Each day within each of the seven weeks is associated also with one of the same seven sefirot, thus creating 49 permutations. The first day of the omer is thus associated with chesed in chesed, the second day with gevurah in chesed and so-on.
Symbolically, each of these 49 permutations represents an aspect of each person that needs to be purified. Mythically the Jewish people is freed again from Pharoah each year on Passover. The damage from the experience of slavery needs to be healed in order for each person to accept the Torah at Sinai on Shavuot fifty days afer Passover.
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