I read that there are no halachas in the gemara at all for avelus during sefira, i.e. in Yevamos 62b, but that this was proposed as a custom in the time of the geonim referring to an ancient practice. Now since the time between Rabbi Akiva and the gemara was 300 and more years, surely this would have been stated explicitly by amoraim in the gemara itself that we are required to follow rules of avelus during sefira. Therefore, it would appear that there is really no halachic requirement to be machmir on this at all, including for weddings.s
David Goldman, USA
The Torah tells us (Devarim 17:11) that we are commanded to follow the rulings of the Sages and not depart right or left from what they tell us. Therefore there is a Torah Mitzvah to follow what the Geonim instructed us.
KOL TUV
Dovid Bloom
Here is a suggestion for why it was only several hundred years after the passing of Rebbi Akiva's 24,000 students that the rules of Avelus during Sefirah started.
1) The point is that it took that long for the Jewish people to appreciate what a terrible tragedy had befallen them. If we reflect on the disaster of the students, we notice that while the 24,000 deaths were certainly extremely tragic, on the other hand many calamities of a larger scale have happened to the Jewish people over the centuries. Why was it decided to start several weeks of mourning specifically to mark this misfortune?
2) The answer must be that it was not only the lives that were lost, but it was also the Torah that was lost. There must have been an incredible flourishing of Torah at the peak of the success of Rebbi Akiva's Talmidim. This came to a sudden end, which was a traumatic upheaval at the time. Nevertheless, Rebbi Akiva was able to rebuild the Torah world by teaching five new, great Talmidim. The 24,000 were no doubt greatly mourned, but the Torah did recover, so nobody, in that generation, thought of commemorating the deaths in a permanent way.
3) This situation continued for hundreds of years. The Mishnah was, to a large extent, based on the teachings of Rebbi Akiva and his five great disciples, and after the closing of the Mishnah the composition of the Gemara continued in a fairly smooth way.
It was only at the end of the Talmudic period that Klal Yisrael really noticed deeply how much the level of Torah scholarship had changed. The Gemara in Bava Metzia (86a) states that Rav Ashi and Ravina represented the end of Hora'ah. The 2,000 years of Torah (see Avodah Zarah 9a) finished with the sealing of the Talmud. In the time of the Geonim, people began to understand how much Torah had been lost.
4) People started to contemplate how much those 24,000 could have achieved. If Rebbi Akiva created the basis for the Mishnah with only five students, just think what he could have done with 24,000! This may be why the practices of Avelus started specifically in the time of the Geonim, because it was only then that the loss of the 24,000 was fully appreciated.
Kol Tuv,
Dovid Bloom
Thank you. That is a very nice interpretation.
However, from a strictly halachic point of view, one would still want to have asked why the chachamim of the gemara themselves did not establish avelus during the omer, and if they didn't then we are not obligated to be bound to it, regardless of a statement of a particular gaon or rishon referring to some secondary source. Yet the hashkafa of our culture makes believe as if it is some kind of halacha lemoshe miSinai or a gezeyra from Chazal, which it isn't.
1) David, first of all I should say that I found a response by Rav Natronai Ga'on (the head of the academy of the Ge'onim, 853-861) who cites the Gemara in Yevamos about the 24,000 Talmidim who died and adds, "and from that time onwards the custom of the 'Rishonim' was not to marry between Pesach and Shavuos" (Otzar ha'Ge'onim, Yevamos 62b).
So we see that the custom actually started in the time of the Gemara itself. However, it is not mentioned in the Gemara, but is only first mentioned by the Ge'onim. The question arises why this is so. One Talmid Chacham suggested to me that possibly the difference between the time of the Gemara and the time of the Ge'onim was that in the time of the Gemara, even though the custom already existed not to make weddings between Pesach and Shavuos, if one would have asked one of the Amora'im if one may get married, he would not have told you not to. In the time of the Ge'onim, the custom had already been strengthened by the Ge'onim themselves, and if one asked a Ga'on whether one may marry, he would receive an answer in the negative.
2) The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim 493:1) does write that the custom is not to make weddings until Lag ba'Omer. However, since it is only a custom, if somebody did make a wedding during this time, even though he should not have done this, nevertheless he is not penalized because, after all, he did a Mitzvah by getting married.
3) I uphold my explanation that the reason why the custom was strengthened by the Ge'onim was that the loss of the Talmidim of Rebbi Akiva was felt more strongly by the people after the sealing of the Talmud.
Kol Tuv,
Dovid Bloom
David, here are some interesting sources that I have found.
1) Concerning how universal the custom of mourning was: The Avudraham (who, according to the Sefer Yuchasin, writes was a Talmid of the Rosh, so we may assume that he was a contemporary of the Tur, who was the son of the Rosh) writes in the section on Sefiras ha'Omer (end of page 244, end of DH Kol Arba'ah): "The custom in some places is not to marry between Pesach and Shavuos." This suggests that it was only some places which had this Minhag.
2) Now a surprising statement from the Midrash Tanchuma, Parshas Chayei Sarah #6: "Rebbi Akiva had 300 students when he was young and they all died. If he would not have raised up 7 Talmidim in his old age, there would be no one who could be called his Talmid." I suggest that we can reconcile the number 300 with the number 24,000 by asserting that the 300 were his closest Talmidim.
3) Concerning when the 24,000 died: The Seder ha'Doros cites a different opinion to what I cited above. This opinion maintains that Rebbi Akiva was 47 years old at the time of the Churban. According to this view, the Talmidim could have died at a later date, and may be close to what you suggested that they died after the Churban but before Bar Kochba.
Kol Tuv,
Dovid Bloom
David, here are some interesting sources that I have found.
1) Concerning how universal the custom of mourning was: The Avudraham (who, according to the Sefer Yuchasin, writes was a Talmid of the Rosh, so we may assume that he was a contemporary of the Tur, who was the son of the Rosh) writes in the section on Sefiras ha'Omer (end of page 244, end of DH Kol Arba'ah): "The custom in some places is not to marry between Pesach and Shavuos." This suggests that it was only some places which had this Minhag.
2) Now a surprising statement from the Midrash Tanchuma, Parshas Chayei Sarah #6: "Rebbi Akiva had 300 students when he was young and they all died. If he would not have raised up 7 Talmidim in his old age, there would be no one who could be called his Talmid." I suggest that we can reconcile the number 300 with the number 24,000 by asserting that the 300 were his closest Talmidim.
3) Concerning when the 24,000 died: The Seder ha'Doros cites a different opinion to what I cited above. This opinion maintains that Rebbi Akiva was 47 years old at the time of the Churban. According to this view, the Talmidim could have died at a later date, and may be close to what you suggested that they died after the Churban but before Bar Kochba.
Kol Tuv,
Dovid Bloom