Lag B'Omer: Thousands Joining the Daily Zohar Study Initiative

Towards the 33rd day of Omer - the day when the holy Tanna, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, left this world - thousands have joined the second study cycle of the global Daily Zohar Study Program initiative. The program is led by Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto who breathed new life into the program founded by leading Torah scholars from the past.

Last 25 Elul, about ten thousand people gathered at the Menorah Mivtachim Hall in Tel Aviv for the historic occasion of completing the Holy Zohar a thousand times. The moving occasion left a strong impression upon the thousands, who were afterwards blessed by Rabbi Pinto.

At the climax of the event, Rabbi Pinto declared that ten thousand people are slated to finish the Book of Zohar next year. He encouraged each and every individual to make the effort to join the initiative and recruit friends to it. The program involves reading a few minutes of the Book of Zohar every day and finishing the entire book within a year.

So far thousands have signed up for the new cycle. With Lag B’Omer on the horizon, many more have joined who want to be blessed with success, salvation, health and happiness by leading Torah sages.

The program of completing the Book of Zohar a thousand times was initiated more than a hundred years ago by the chief sages of the Land of Israel, led by Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld and Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook of blessed memory. Their goal was to expedite the Redemption and put an end to the Jewish people’s tribulations. In recent years, Rabbi Pinto revived the initiative and many thousands are undertaking to study the Zohar.

Rabbi Pinto explained how this practice has the power to cancel sufferings. He said that originally "This initiative of completing the Book of Zohar a thousand times was established one hundred and one years ago by Rabbi Nissim Nachum who was an exceptionally pious man who also possessed extreme wealth. He was pivotal in disseminating the teachings of Kabbalah to the public. The holy kabbalists of his generation were wont to say that when the Messiah will come, Rabbi Nissim Nahum will be the one to give him the royal scepter. This initiative will bring the Redemption closer and save the Jewish people from wars."

This article was written in cooperation with Shuva Israel