Lag Ba'Omer

Many years ago, there lived a young boy who wasn't able to go to school and learning was very difficult for him. However, as he was kind and cared about people, he cared about animals just the same. He became a shepherd taking care of sheep and making sure they were well fed and got enough rest and exercise. 

When he got old enough he got married to a smart woman called Rochel. His wise wife Rochel gave him good advice: "Akiva, it's never too late to start learning Torah. If you try hard, you will be able to learn Torah and understand everything you've studied. 

Akiva took Rochel's advice and went to yeshiva with little children just beginning to learn the Alef Bais. He worked hard to learn the Hebrew letters, how to read them and daven, and then to learn Torah. He stayed in yeshiva for 12 years, feeling that he was "unlocking his brain" while finally becoming a great Rabbi. 

Akiva missed his wife dearly and after 12 years decided it was time to go home. When he arrived, he didn't get to go inside his house when he overheard his wife telling a neighbor that she missed Akiva so much but would be happy if he would stay in yeshiva for another 12 years. That was exactly what Akiva did: he turned around and went back to yeshiva for another 12 years. All his students were happy to see Akiva. Because he was very special, kind and smart, Akiva became the Rabbi of 24,000 students. Awesome! :)

Actually, each of Rabbi Akiva's students were also rabbis, and each student really cared about all the other students. However, there was a very serious issue circulating. They cared so much about each other that it was difficult for each student to let another person have his own idea and opinion on different questions in the Torah because everyone thought only his way was correct. This created a situation where the students began to not get along, even though, in reality, all their opinions were correct. Hashem saw that these holy people couldn't leave room or respect for someone else to have an opinion of their own and made them get sick. 

We celebrate Lag B'Omer as the day the students stopped getting sick. Sefirah and Lag Ba'Omer are the times during which we work on ourselves to be kind and care about other people and their feelings even if we don't agree with them.

~In our classroom, we began a "Caring Mitzva Note Chart" at this appropriate time around Lag Ba'Omer. How it works is when we see friends noticing another and doing kind acts such as, complementing, helping a person in need..., we write it down on a special pink or red paper which we interlink on a chain that we tape onto a big paper heart after reading them out loud. 
Us as people are connected. Doing kind things for people shows we care about them. Interlinking the kind deeds done shows how it connects us and makes us a strong unit.