Editing Counting of the Omer (section)

== As a period of semi-mourning ==
The omer period has developed into a time of semi-mourning in Jewish custom.

Traditionally, the mourning is in memory of the death of [[Rabbi Akiva]]'s 24,000 students, as described in the [[Talmud]].<ref>Yebamot 62b</ref> (According to the Talmud they died in a "plague" as punishment for not honoring one another properly, but the Sephardic manuscript of [[Iggeret of Rabbi Sherira Gaon]] describes them as dying due to "persecution" (''shmad''), and based on this some modern scholars have suggested that they died in the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]].<ref>[[Solomon Judah Loeb Rapoport]], Kerem Hemed [https://books.google.com/books?id=kOg6AQAAMAAJ&dq=editions:dBX-PxBgmScC&pg=PP7 7:183]; [[Shmuel Safrai]], ''Rabbi Akiva ben Yosef: Hayav Umishnato'' (1970), p.27; R' [[Meir Mazuz]], [https://www.ykr.org.il/media/old_storage/4213.pdf Bayit Neeman 60 p.3]{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>) Rabbi [[Yechiel Michel Epstein]] (author of ''[[Aruch HaShulchan]]'') postulates that the mourning period also memorializes Jews who were murdered during the [[Crusades]], [[pogrom]]s, and [[blood libel]]s that occurred in [[Europe]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Kahn|first=Ari|title=Rebbe Akiva's 24,000 Students|date=20 February 2006|url=http://www.aish.com/h/o/33o/48970241.html|publisher=Aish HaTorah, Israel|access-date=8 April 2013}}</ref> The observance of mourning customs was strengthened after the [[Rhineland massacres]] and [[Cossack riots]] which occurred in the Omer period.<ref>[[Daniel Sperber]], Minhagei Yisrael 1:107-8</ref> In modern times, [[the Holocaust]] is generally included among those events which are memorialized, in particular [[Yom HaShoah]] is observed during the ''Omer''.<ref>{{cite web | last=Rosenberg | first=Jennifer | title=How Is Holocaust Remembrance Day Observed by the Jewish Community? | website=ThoughtCo | date=2010-01-01 | url=https://www.thoughtco.com/yom-hashoah-1778162}}</ref>

Mourning practices are observed for only part of the Omer period, with different communities observing different parts. Some families listen to music during the week of [[Passover]] and then commence the period of mourning until Lag BaOmer. Some [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardic]] Jewish families begin the period of mourning from the first day of the Hebrew month of [[Iyar]] and continue for 33 days until the third of [[Sivan]]. The custom among Jerusalemites (''minhag Yerushalmi'') is to follow the mourning practices during the entire Counting of the Omer, save for the day of [[Lag BaOmer]] and the last three days of the counting (''sheloshet yemei hagbalah'') prior to the onset of [[Shavuot]]. Many [[Religious Zionism|Religious Zionists]] suspend some or all of the mourning customs on [[Yom Ha'atzmaut]] (Israel's Independence Day). The extent of mourning is also based heavily on family custom, and therefore Jews will mourn to different degrees.

Lag BaOmer, the thirty-third day of the Omer, is considered to be the day on which the students stopped dying, so all the rules of mourning are lifted. Some [[Sephardi Jews]], however, continue the mourning period up until the 34th day of the ''Omer'', which is considered by them to be the day of joy and celebration. [[Spanish and Portuguese Jews]] do not observe these customs.

During the days of mourning, custom generally forbids haircuts, shaving, listening to live music, or conducting weddings, parties, and dinners with dancing.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Karo |first1=Joseph |title=Shulkhan Aruch |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Shulchan_Arukh%2C_Orach_Chayim.493 |publisher=Sefaria}}</ref> Some religious Jews shave each Friday afternoon during the mourning period of the ''Omer'' in order to be neat in honor of the Shabbat, and some men do so in order to appear neat in their places of employment.