The text imprinted on the t-shirt says "ten li neshiká, ki ani yehudi!", which can be translated as "kiss me, I'm jewish!". Of course, I didn't know anybody but Shomron, who, as usual, arrived late. So I just introduced myself with the help of a girl, Sol, who lives in the same building where the shiurim are held. She said "oh, you are new here right? let me introduce you to the rest of the people". Like Dani said, my admission to the late teenagers and young adults of the community would be easied by the fact that I look like a very stereotypical sephardi jew, so nobody would even wonder if I had a drop of goy blood. In fact, at the end of that night, Roni (Sol's brother) and Sol drove me home and asked me where my family came from, and when I said my family came from Altona, Osnabrück, Münster and Utrecht, she was startled and said "but wait a minute, you look like a guy from Melilla, how come?". Then I noticed something -I know more about the diaspora, Israel and judaism in general than many contemporary guys and girls. I had to explain her than there had been a sephardi community in Altona, a district of Hamburg, since the 1600s. I was impressed, these kids have been taking classes of Jewish History, Hebrew Language and Torah since kindergarden and at home, and they don't know such things! give me a break.
My friend Shomron, who is always inviting me to attend Shurim (like informal workshops related to judaism topics, guided by rabbis or talmidei chachamim, mostly directed to young people of both sexes) and for many different reasons I have let him down, invited many people in my synagogue (young people) tho celebrate Lag ba'Omer in a place in Los Chorros, the same place where they have their shiurim. This time, since my friend Dani is leaving next Saturday for Spain to study and get ready for his masters course, I decided to attend - I dunno, it just felt it was right to attend and celebrate in the right way, with the right people. Besides, Shomron and his band were going to play. In Lag ba'Omer and I wanted to see them playing. The prohibitions of the Omer period may be suspended for the day, or cease, according to one's custom. It is a time of dancing and singing. Especially in Israel, where it is a school holiday and families go on picnics with bonfires, BBQs and stuff, and kids go out to the fields with their teachers with bows and rubber arrows, and bats and balls, because another of the origins of Lag ba'Omer is that 24,000 students were killed in the Bar Kokhba revolt (in which Rabbi Akiva was a major figure) and some others say that they were killed by a plague, and others say that the plague was indeed the Roman occupation. In such context, the lighting of bonfires on Lag ba'Omer seems logical to me because in the past bonfires were used as signals in wartime. Tachanun, the prayer for special Divine Mercy on one's behalf is not said, because when G'd is showing one a "smiling face," so to speak, as He does especially on the Holidays, there is no need to ask for special mercy.
