A vort from the Rebbe on Parashat Emor, this week's parashah, and Lag BaOmer. We see a connection between Parashat Emor and Lag BaOmer. In the beginning of Parashat Emor, Rashi says based on the word two words, אמור ואמרת, that it means להזהיר הגדולים על הקטנים. The pasuk is telling you, it's warning the gedolim, the adults, concerning the children, that they have to make sure that the children will follow what the pasuk says. And that has to do with Lag BaOmer, because it says in sefarim that the minhag of Lag BaOmer all the years was that they would take the children out of cheder, out of school, take them to the field, and talk to them about Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, talk to them about yirat Shamayim. One of the things it says, they would play with a bow and arrow. So we see that Lag BaOmer has a connection to the inyan of being mechanech children. And that is the beginning of the פרשה, להזהיר הגדולים על הקטנים, that the adults have to be mechanech, have to educate the children.

But the Rebbe asks a question: What does it mean that you take the kids out of cheder and take them to the field to talk to them? How could you do that? The greatest thing is Talmud Torah. The greatest thing is learning Torah, especially for children. The din is, the Rambam says taken from the Gemara, that אין מבטלין תינוקות של בית רבן אפילו לבנין בית המקדש. You can't be mevatel learning of children even if they're needed to help in the building of the Beit HaMikdash. And here we're taking them out of the cheder, out of learning, and especially when we do it on Lag BaOmer. Lag BaOmer is the day of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai's simcha. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the Chazal tell us his main occupation, his whole life was Torah: תורתו אומנותו. He had no other occupation but learning Torah. So on the day of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai's yahrzeit and we celebrate his simcha, that's when we take the children out of חדר? It must be that there is something special in it, that Lag BaOmer is a special יום מסוגל, a special special day, an auspicious day, that if you talk to the children that day about yirat Shamayim and about all the things they're supposed to do, that will instill in them that they will start behaving that way. And therefore, on this falls the the inyan of the pasuk says, and the Gemara brings it, that pasuk says, עת לעשות לה׳ הפרו תורתך, that sometimes when it comes to do for Hashem, you could be mevatel the Torah. And as Rashi uses the לשון, פעמים שמבטלין דברי תורה כדי לעשות לה׳. Sometimes you mevatel Torah in order to do for Hashem. And the word is לעשות לה׳ means to bring to asiyah, to mean to do. In order for the children to start doing better, behaving better, for that it's worth that for this half hour or whatever an hour, whatever they do, to take them out into the fields and talk to them, and it's a special day, that because of that, it will instill on them yirat Shamayim, it's k'dai, and it falls into this category of עת לעשות לה׳ הפרו תורתך.

But then, as I said before, there's another prat here. The minhag it was, and by some it still is, that they would play with a bow and arrow. What's the reason why would they play with a bow and arrow? So the simple reason brought in sefarim is because we know that the rainbow was the sign Hashem made that He's never going to bring a mabul again. Which means, whenever you see a rainbow, it's as if saying, as if Hashem is saying, really you deserve a mabul, but I'm not going to do it because I promised and I showed the sign of the rainbow. But since in the time of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the zechut of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was so strong that the world did not deserve a mabul, so there was no need for a rainbow, so no rainbow came up. And to remind us of that inyan of the rainbow that it didn't happen in the time of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, because it represents something negative, we play, the kids play with a bow, bow and arrow, to remind them about the rainbow, knowing that they're telling them that, you know, there's a concept of a rainbow, and in Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai's time it didn't happen.

But the Rabbi says this is all because the rainbow represents a negative thing, the possibility or the inyan of a mabul. But there is also in a rainbow a good thing, and that could be the reason why they play. Because the Zohar says, and in Tikkunei Zohar it says, if you see a rainbow with beautiful colors, צפי לרגלי דמשיחא, hope for Mashiach's coming, for the feet of Mashiach, means it's a siman that Mashiach could come. And then it says, if you don't see a rainbow בגוונין נהירין, beautiful colors, then אל תצפי לרגלי משיח, don't wait for him. So the inyan of a rainbow represents the coming of Mashiach. And that has to do with Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was the one that revealed פנימיות התורה, the secrets of the Torah. And we know that the revelation of the secrets of the Torah is going to bring Like it says in the Zohar that says that בהאי ספרא דילך, with your sefer, with ספר הזוהר, יפקון בית ישראל מבי גלותא, the Yidden will go out of galut. And the Zohar is the פנימיות התורה. So Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai has to do with the inyan of Mashiach. Connected also to what the Baal Shem Tov said, that he heard from Mashiach when he went up to היכל המשיח, and he asked him, \"When are you coming?\" So he says like, יפוצו מעינותיך חוצה, when your wellsprings, the wellsprings of chassidut, of פנימיות התורה, will be spread out all the way far into the חוצה, the outside, that's when Mashiach will come. So פנימיות התורה has to do with the inyan of Mashiach. And the קשת, as the Zohar says, has to do with the inyan of Mashiach, the rainbow. So the children would play with a bow, which represents the rainbow, to show that this is a special time that could come, that is mesugal for the coming of Mashiach on the day of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, because he was the one that brought into the world, revealed פנימיות התורה, so that is the inyan of Mashiach.

And then the Rebbe says another point concerning the קשת, why they play with a bow. On the pasuk in Parshat Vayechi, where Yaakov said that, \"I took this בחרבי ובקשתי, with my sword and my bow and arrow, my bow,\" the Chazal say it means tefillah, that he took it through tefillah, through davenen. What's the inyan of davenen? The inyan of davenen is a bitul to Hashem. When you come, the main part of davenen is Shemoneh Esrei, and you have to stand ke'avda kamei marei, like a servant in front of his master, have to be completely battel. And that's what we're teaching the kids. That's a day of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, which תורתו אומנותו, his Torah was the main thing. But when you learn Torah, you have to learn it with bitul. Like we say at the end of שמונה עשרה, ונפשי כעפר לכל תהיה פתח לבי בתורתך, \"I will be like dust, I'm going to be battel, and therefore open my heart to Torah,\" then you're able to learn Torah properly. So on the day of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, we want the children to get that lesson, that they have to have the bitul. So we play with a קשת, and the קשת, that is representation of tefillah, and that inyan of bitul. And that also has to do with the inyan of Lag BaOmer, פנימיות התורה, because in פנימיות התורה, we have a great stress on this inyan of bitul. And as we said, פנימיות התורה will bring Mashiach. And that also has a special connection to little children. Because when we say in a pasuk, and we say it every day in davenen, אל תגעו, אל תגעו במשיחי, do not touch my anointed, which means do not touch my Mashiach, so the Gemara says, \"Who are the anointed ones? Who are the משיחים, so to speak? אלו תינוקות של בית רבן, the children.\" So the children go out into the field on the day of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, play with a קשת, that instills in them the real, real yirat shamayim, and that they will do what they're supposed to, עת לעשות לה׳ הפרו תורתך, that you could be מבטל תורה for a short while, because עת לעשות לה׳, this will make them become better, better Yidden, and this will hasten the coming of Mashiach, and they are the ones that are called Mashiach, have a shaychus to Mashiach, and this is special on ל״ג בעומר. And this the specialty of ל״ג בעומר, and that is the connection to פרשת אמור, להזהיר גדולים על הקטנים, that you have to be mechanech the children properly, in a way that not only they learn Torah, but they behave with yirat shamayim and do everything the proper way, and that will hasten the coming of Mashiach b'karov mamash.