The celebration of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai in Meron is underway with the participation of hundreds of thousands of people all over the country. Two years after the Meron disaster, and a year after the revelry collapsed at the moment of truth, this time the masses hope to properly celebrate the greatest event in the State of Israel.
As every year, Lag B'Omer events in Meron will begin with the traditional lighting of the Rebbe of Bayyan, which will take place at 20:30 on the roof of the grave of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. Unlike the previous year, when this was the only lighting on the mountain, which caused much resentment, the lighting will continue throughout the night between Monday and Tuesday and the next day. At the same time as the Rebbe of Bayyan, Rabbi Binahu Shmueli and Rabbi Raphael Abuhatzira will also light bonfires at the same time inside the moshav.
Thousands on their way to Hilula Meron | Eliashiv Rakovsky/TPS
Apart from the first three lightings, the bonfires will be lit mainly in the expanded revelry compound (Compound 89) and in the Bnei Akiva compound. A total of 29 bonfires will be lit in Meron within 24 hours of revelry. Among the main lights are that of Rabbi Shlomo Amar at 21:30 p.m. in the expanded revelry compound and that of the Toldot Aharon community, where the Meron disaster occurred the next day at 18:30 p.m. Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu will light a bonfire at the Bnei Akiva compound on the night between Monday and Tuesday at 2:30.
One of the most intriguing, and controversial, lights will be of the Shobu Banim community at the expanded revelry area at 3:45 a.m. According to the claims, the lighting will not be by Rabbi Eliezer Berland, after the protest against lighting it, but in practice only at the moment of lighting will it be clear whether he really will not light the fire.
According to plan, the revelry will be signed by Sanz Hasidim on Tuesday at 20:15 p.m. Av Beit Din Kiryat Sanz Tiberias will light the bonfire in the Bnei Akiva compound. The entire event takes place under the slogan: "In prayer, joy and safety." The organizers hope that this time everything will go well.
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