Lag B’Omer is considered a minor holiday in the Jewish calendar, but even a minor holiday is still worth celebrating. A great way to celebrate Lag B’Omer is through veganism, as Lag B’Omer is deeply connected to the Earth and its fruits.

Lag B’Omer is the 33rd day of the Omer, the 50 days between Passover and Shavuot, and it reminds us of the link between these two important holidays. While Passover celebrates our freedom from slavery, Shavuot celebrates our receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai — both events being relevant for each generation. During Passover, Jews would bring barley to the Temple in Jerusalem; on Shavuot, Jews would bring their first fruits. Between these two holidays, while counting the days, Jews traditionally brought an omer of grain to the Temple. The word lag represents 33, and an omer is a measurement. The goal is not only to count the omer but to make the omer count.

According to a midrash, there were 50 days between the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and the receiving of the Torah, between liberation and law, because the Jewish people were not yet spiritually pure. On our modern journeys, in our efforts toward liberation, we can increase our purity by eating purer foods. We can purify our health, our planet, and our spirit with every meal.

Many people who switch to a vegan diet report feeling physically, emotionally, and spiritually better. Lag B’Omer presents a special opportunity to reflect on where we’ve come from as well as to look forward to where we might, and should, be going, as it is a time for self-awareness, self-growth, and community development.

We sincerely hope that Jews will enhance their celebrations of this ancient and beautiful holiday of Lag B’Omer by making it a time to strive even harder to live up to Judaism’s highest moral values and teachings. We certainly don’t need more “things” in our homes, and we don’t necessarily need to make an agricultural pilgrimage; instead, we do need more meaning, purpose, and spirit in our lives. There are a variety of ways to accomplish this. One significant way is by moving towards veganism. Promoting organic agriculture, recycling, renewable fuels, and conservation are some other ways.

By sharing grain with others, Lag B’Omer demonstrates the power of cooperation and community. In contrast, meat-eating demonstrates the opposite. Raising animals for consumption, besides being cruel to animals (and therefore violating the Torah prohibition of tsa’ar ba’alei chayim, causing unnecessary harm to animals), uses and wastes a tremendous amount of grain as well as water, land, soil, and fossil fuels (transgressing bal tashchit, the Torah injunction not to waste anything of value), while destroying communities (the opposite of tikkun olam, healing the world), degrading the environment (not the way to be shomrei adamah, partners in preserving our world), and damaging human health violating pekuach nefesh, the mandate to protect our health and lives).

Judaism also stresses the importance of tzedakah, that we be kind, assist the poor and weak, and share our food with the hungry, yet approximately 70% of major U.S. crops – e.g., corn, wheat, soybeans, oats – are fed to the billions of animals raised for meat and destined for slaughter. Further, Judaism repeatedly urges us to pursue peace and justice, and veganism is one key step on that path.

While millions of people annually die from over-consumption, particularly consumption of fat and cholesterol, millions of people annually die from under-consumption, from starvation and hunger-related diseases. Indeed, it takes many pounds of grain, rich in fiber and other nutrients, to produce a single pound of cholesterol-laden meat. Although the world produces more than enough food to feed all its people, the inequality of wealth and power, along with the inefficiency of land use and food distribution, creates conditions that lead to scarcity, chronic hunger, malnutrition, and starvation. Lag B’Omer reminds us to enjoy the bounty of our crops – and lives – and to share what we have.

World hunger is neither necessary, automatic, nor inevitable. Veganism creates conditions that are fairer and more just, more efficient and sustainable, thereby potentially allowing more people to be fed, rather than using land, grain, water, labor, energy, and other resources to produce food for animals that are later killed and then fed to people. In addition to being better for one’s health and our environment, veganism is better for food security and the alleviation of world hunger. Food security, in turn, may prevent the all-too-common instances of jealousy, covetousness, ethnic tensions, and then violence, war, and genocide. It is worth noting that the Hebrew root word for both bread, lechem, and war, milchama, is the same, implying that when bread is scarce, war is more likely.

Traditionally, many Jews refrain from open celebration during the counting of the omer. However, during this season, Lag B’Omer is a day on which marriages, haircuts, and other celebrations may resume because miracles have occurred on Lag B’Omer. It was on Lag B’Omer, for example, that a plague that had killed 24,000 of Rabbi Akiva’s students finally ended. Choosing veganism champions life by saving lives every day. Shortly after the plague, Rabbi Akiva chose five students to carry on his work, one of whom was the great sage Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his son, Rabbi Eleazar, hid in a cave for thirteen years after Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was condemned to death by the Roman conquerors of Jerusalem for speaking out against them, following the murders of Rabbi Akiva and many others. While they lived in a cave, they were sustained by their studies of the Torah, a local stream, and a nearby carob tree. These great sages demonstrated that a vegan diet, like the manna the Israelites received in the Sinai desert, is enough to sustain a person as well as a people.

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai taught that our world and the unseen “higher” worlds are unified, as manifestations of the Divine Soul, and that the meaning of life is to reunify Creation with the source of Creation. He also affirmed that the “crown” of a good name, doing good deeds, is the most important thing, even more so than studying Torah, and is within the reach of everyone. He further asked that his day of passing be a day of celebration. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai died on Lag B’Omer.

The Omer is sometimes referred to as the Sefirah, the Counting. Sefirah also means illuminating. Literally for some and figuratively for all, it is important to count each day and to make each day count. Eating vegan may allow us to live longer and healthier lives, as many scientific studies have shown, while saving countless animals’ lives. Doing so illuminates our lives as well as theirs, allowing us to be a light unto others.

In addition to resource conservation and economic efficiency, a switch toward veganism would greatly benefit individual health and the environment, and sharply reduce the suffering and deaths of billions of animals. Further, the social, psychological, and spiritual benefits should not be underestimated.

The founder of Chasidism. Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, known as the Baal Shem Tov (Master of the Good Name), became known to the rest of the world on Lag B’Omer (he died 26 years later on Shavuot in 1760). Among his great teachings, the Baal Shem Tov said that “People should consider themselves, and the worms, and all creatures as friends in the universe, for we are all created beings whose abilities are God-given.”

This season, while we count the omer, we should re-educate ourselves about the hazards of mass production and consumption of meat and the many benefits of veganism, as well as bring offerings to our inner temples. We can do this by practicing the powerful teachings and highest values of Judaism. A shift toward veganism can be a major factor in the renewal of Judaism, as it would further demonstrate that Jewish values are not only relevant but essential to everyday personal life and global survival.

During the counting of the omer, between Passover and Shavuot, it is customary to read Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers), a section of the Talmud. In it, Rabbi Tarfon states that “It is not your obligation to complete the task [of perfecting the world], but neither are you free from engaging in it”. Another Talmudic sage, Ben Hay Hay, says in Pirkei Avot that “The reward is in proportion to the effort”. Therefore, it’s up to us to go beyond our good intentions and do our best. Shifting toward a vegan  diet would be a great start! And as Hillel asks, “If not now, when?”

This article was co-authored with Prof. Dan Brook, author of several books, speaker, and vegan activist

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)