Lag BaOmer. New Jersey. Is there any association?
Lag B’Omer and New Jersey appear to be two separate entities. But several years ago, hundreds of people discovered the connection. That number keeps climbing at an astounding rate, with thousands of visitors uncovering its secret each year.
Every year, rows of cars and buses depart from communities scattered throughout the New York and New Jersey area on Lag BaOmer. Their passengers span the spectrum of Jewish society but they share a common destination: Floral Park Cemetery in Monmouth Junction, New Jersey.
The cemetery in New Jersey becomes a virtual microcosm of Klal Yisroel, from the evening of Lag BaOmer until deep into the following night. The ohel of the revered Bobover Rav, Harav Naftali Tzvi Halberstam zt”l, echoes with tears and tefillos pouring forth from thousands of shattered hearts. Simultaneously, joyous strains of Bar Yochai burst forth outside of the ohel, as circles of visitors dance in unison. An assortment of food and drinks, as well as many other necessities, are provided throughout the day.
It is an uplifting scene. It brings Lag BaOmer to American shores.
And the questions are inevitable. Why here? Why now? What is this powerful connection?
Concealed Greatness
Anyone who was privileged to know the Bobover Rav zt”l remembers him as one who concealed more than he revealed. His humility was so strong and pervasive as to camouflage him amongst the crowd. Shunning the spotlight, he kept the depth of his inner world shuttered and obscured.
Only in his last years, when he served as the Rav of the Bobover community, was the mask forcibly stripped away. His greatness could no longer be concealed. It was a shocking revelation, as time after time his concise and often puzzling words came to fruition in the most astounding ways. The stories depict a leader’s devotion to his followers; a devotion that overruled his desire to remain unnoticed.
There were just a few short years during which the world benefited from the Rav’s penetrating gaze and otherworldly existence. Less than five years after he assumed the mantle of leadership, Klal Yisroel lost one of its purest treasures.
His matzeivah is an eternal testimony to the humility that characterized his existence. Simple, unadorned and devoid of praise, precisely as the Rav requested. And yet, this simple matzeivah has become a bastion of hope and promise to so many individuals in pain. The light that was forcibly hidden away for nearly seven decades now seeps out to illuminate the lives of thousands.
And it is specifically on Lag BaOmer that this illumination is magnified many times over.
A Secret Revealed
Reb Elimelech Miller shlita, a longtime Menahel of the Bobover Yeshiva, relates his personal account:
It was the winter of 2002/5762. I went into the Bobover Rav, Rav Naftali Tzvi Halberstam z”l, to request a blessing, for myself and my family. The Rav took the kvittel and read it aloud. After reading the names of my three oldest children, the Rav fell silent. He lifted his eyes to me and said, “Rabi Shimon ben Yochai will be by me on Lag BaOmer”.
I stood there in shocked silence. I couldn’t understand what the Rav had just said. His words were cryptic and suggested a deeper meaning. In Bobov, we were not accustomed to hearing such references. Furthermore, why was the Rav talking about Lag BaOmer, when we just celebrated Chanukah?!
My questions hung in the air, unasked and unanswered.
The Rav continued reading my kvittel and then blessed me that I should merit “kol tuv selah.”
Days, weeks and months elapsed. Three short years later, on 12 Adar Sheini 5765/2005, the Rav was taken from us. In the interim, my children had grown up. Three of my children had already gotten married, but none of them had as yet been blessed with children.
Year followed year in endless succession and we were still waiting. We were desperately pleading with the Ribono shel Olam to bless our children; to grant them the gift of parenthood. Three couples…three homes…and only an endless, deafening silence.
How can I describe the pain of parents who lead their children to the chuppah, awash with hope and promise, only to wait desperately for good tidings? Our agony was compounded by a deep, unspoken fear. Was there something standing in the way of our happiness? Was there a deeper reason for this triple agony?
It was the year 2010/5770. I was plodding through my daily routine, while agonizing over the situation and seeking segulos, advice, plans – anything that could offer a ray of hope. Suddenly, I reminded myself of that strange encounter with the Rav zt”l. I clearly recalled how the Rav had read aloud the names of my three children – those three who were now waiting… He had stopped reading and said, “Rabi Shimon ben Yochai will be by me on Lag B’Omer”…
I stopped short.
These words had been said for my three children. I pictured the Rav’s countenance. I felt his eyes on me; his glance as powerful and piercing as ever. And I knew. This is what the Rav must have meant. He had seen the troubles that my three children would experience in the future and he had given me the key to open the gates of salvation.
I waited impatiently for Lag BaOmer.
The day finally arrived. Lag BaOmer, 2010/5770. A car drove through the crowded Boro Park streets. Destination: Floral Park Cemetery, New Jersey. I sat in pensive silence, as did my wife and daughter. We felt that we had reached the end of the road. We were grasping the only lifeline left for us. We were going to the Rav, to pound on the heavenly gates that had been closed for so many years.
I was very familiar with our destination. I knew exactly where to go. After all, I had visited this ohel so many times in previous years. How many tears had I shed; how many tefillos had I whispered in the past years? How many times had I begged and pleaded before my leaders Harav Shlomo and Harav Naftali Tzvi; the father and son who had led Bobov with such devotion?
But this time was different.
I wasn’t coming only to the Rav. I was coming to Rabi Shimon ben Yochai.
I was coming because of those words that the Rav had told me eight years before. I was coming with the understanding that this is where we were meant to be at this specific time.
I stood there with tears running down my face, and I repeated those words aloud. I spoke to the Rav with the pain that only a parent can feel at his children’s distress. I begged. I pleaded. “You told me that Rabi Shimon will be by you on Lag BaOmer! Go up to the Kisei HaKavod and daven for my children! Knock on the doors of Rabi Shimon and bring forth our salvation!’
When I left the ohel, I felt lighter. I felt reassured. For the first time in years, I felt that my worries had been allayed.
It is a year later. Lag BaOmer of 2011/5761. Once again, a car drives through the Boro Park streets headed towards Floral Park Cemetery in New Jersey. I am once again sitting in the car with my wife, but the atmosphere bears no resemblance to that of the year before. We are coming to thank; to praise; to offer a tefillah of joy and gratitude. We are coming to the tzaddik who promised that “Rabi Shimon ben Yochai will be by me on Lag BaOmer” to praise Hashem for the three beautiful grandchildren who were born to us that year.
The news traveled fast. It took the Bobover community by storm. Everyone heard about the three siblings who had been blessed simultaneously, after the Lag BaOmer experience at the Rav’s tziyun.
It started with a trickle which quickly turned into a virtual flood. Lag BaOmer became synonymous with Harav Naftali Tzvi zt”l. Many people traveled to the tziyun on that day. It wasn’t long before the concealed connection was exposed for the entire world to see.
Stories abound. Every year brings new tidings; each Lag BaOmer is studded with miraculous accounts of salvation. Yidden come to the tziyun and pour out their hearts to the One Who always listens. And then, when they walk out of the ohel, they are calm. They know that their tefillos have been heard and are hopeful that they have been accepted, in the zechus of the tzaddik Rav Naftuli Tzvi zt”l and in the zechus of Rabi Shimon bar Yochai.
Personal Accounts
It seems almost sacrilegious to confine this pure kedusha to a few short stories regarding Lag BaOmer in Bobov.
A renowned marbitz Torah recently shared the story of a childless couple from Lakewood. When they heard about the tziyun in New Jersey that merits the presence of Rabi Shimon, so to speak, they planned a trip for Lag BaOmer. They cried and pleaded, until they felt that their tefillos had been answered.
When they exited the ohel, the young man told his wife, “I pledged that if we are blessed with a child, we will name him ‘Naftali Tzvi’, for the Bobover Rav zt”l”. His wife replied that she, too, had pledged a name. “I promised to name our child for Rabi Shimon,” she said.
A year later, the couple was blessed with twin boys. One of them was given the name Naftali Tzvi, while his brother was named Shimon. Two boys. Two great names. One setting.
As the Rav had remarked, “Rabi Shimon ben Yochai will be by me on Lag BaOmer”.
* * *
Reb Moshe Shimon Reichberg, son of the well-known Reb Mendel Reichberg z”l, recounts that several years ago, on the night of Lag BaOmer, he was standing near the cemetery in New Jersey when he received a call from the Rav of Bobov – 45, Harav Yehoshua Rubin shlita. The Rav asked, “Please go into the ohel and write this child’s name on a kvittel. Put the kvittel on the tziyun and then proclaim the name aloud so that everyone will daven for this young boy”.
Reb Moshe Shimon immediately did as he was told. A Yid who had been there from the previous night approached him, saying, “This young boy is my nephew and he was recently diagnosed with cancer R”l. The doctor just called to say that he believes the diagnosis is incorrect and he wants to run the tests again”.
A half-hour later the man joyously reported, “You can remove his name from the list!” The diagnosis had been reversed.
* * *
The concerned friend of a bachur who had already reached his 28th birthday suggested that he visit the tziyun of Harav Naftali Tzvi of Bobov on Lag BaOmer. The bachur poured out years of frustration, rejection and worry at the Rav’s ohel and his tefillos were accepted. Shortly after Lag BaOmer, a promising shidduch suggestion came up. It progressed slowly throughout several long months, until it came to fruition on the 12 Adar, the yahrtzeit of the Rav!
The stories stream forth from gladdened hearts. In the years since the mysterious connection was revealed, Yidden from all over have traveled great distances to visit the Bobover ohel on Lag BaOmer, to visit Rabi Shimon on American shores.
With the approach of Lag BaOmer, thousands in Eretz Yisroel are planning their trip to Meron. At the same time, Yidden from New York and New Jersey and its environs are taking advantage of the secret that has become known to all. They are planning their journey to Floral Park Cemetery in New Jersey, for the Rav’s words echo through time.
“Rabi Shimon ben Yochai will be by me on Lag B’Omer.”
May Hashem accept all our tefillos and transform mounds of pain into mountains of joy.
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To send a kvittel free of charge, to be read at the ohel on Lag BaOmer:
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / Fax: 732-647-1326
For bus schedule, call the Lag BaOmer Info Line: 718.664.9797
To sponsor Segulas Chai Rotel, send an email to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
GPS info: Floral Park Cemetery: 104 Deans Rhode Hall Rd. Monmouth Junction, NJ 08852 open 24 hours year-round.
Reprinted with permission from Inyan Magazine.