Rabbi Akiva is undoubtedly one of the greatest and towering personalities in all of Jewish history. His life and legacy, his faith, resilience, and hope guide us until today.
The Pri Chadash asks a powerful question about Lag BaOmer. The day that Rabbi Akiva’s students ceased dying was Lag BaOmer, so we celebrate? How does this make sense? The reason they stopped dying was because there were no more students left! Where is the celebration?
The Talmud says that after his 24,000 students died, immediately Rabbi Akiva went down to the south, found five new students – who would become the greatest Sages – and rebuilt the whole Torah world. The power of this cannot be understated – Rabbi Akiva could have been forgiven for giving up, for seeing himself as a failure. He simply, with incredible resilience, continued with his core mission and rebuilt the Torah world.
A person always has the free choice to choose how they view what happens to them. Rabbi Akiva was able to reframe a challenging experience, and view it positively with faith and hope.
