>n0mesora: “The Rebbe was adamant that lag baomer was not the day rashbi died.”
Sorry, במכ”ת this statement is laughable for anyone who glanced at any of the Rebbe’s hundreds of Lag Baomer sichos and letters. You completely misunderstood the Rebbe’s letter.
The Rebbe is only commenting that Rashbi couldn’t have died together with the students of Rabbi Akiva.
The Rebbe stated COUNTLESS times that Lag Baomer is the day of Rashbi’s passing.
Here is one example (among many) from a letter that the Rebbe wrote TWO YEARS after the aforementioned letter to Rabbi Zevin (Pesach Sheini 5711):
כמה טעמים נאמרו בשמחת ל”ג בעומר וחגיגתו. ואנו אין לנו אלא האמור בכתהאריז”ל ומובא בדא”ח, אשר יום זה הוא יום הסתלקותו של רבי שמעון בן יוחאי – הילולא דרבי שמעון
The Rebbe attaches several sources (also makes mention of aforementioned Chida).
See original letter here:
https://beta.hebrewbooks.org/reader/reader.aspx?sfid=15951#p=300&fitMode=fitwidth&hlts=&ocr=