How a Set of Springtime Mourning Rites May Have Originated as Celebratory Customs

In the mid-9th century, Natronai Ben Hilai Gaon—one of the leading rabbis of Babylonia—answered a query about the origins of the custom of not holding weddings or betrothals in the seven weeks between Passover and the holiday of Shavuot. Natronai explained that this period—known as s’firat ha-omer because of the ritual of counting (s’firah) of the nights between the holidays—is a period of mourning for the students of Rabbi Akiva, who died in a plague during this time of year. Leead Staller explores the development of this custom over the centuries, and discusses an alternate theory of its origins: