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Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok and Chana Ruth Halperin of Chabad-Lubavitch of Meron, a small village of 1,091 residents, and home to the tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, author of the Zohar.
Since the 15th century, Jews have been traveling to Meron to celebrate on Lag BaOmer. As stories of inspiration and wonder from Lag BaOmer in Meron spread, the annual crowd grew each year. In recent decades, the celebrations have attracted more than half a million visitors, some staying for days, taking in the nonstop music and dancing, the large bonfires and words of Torah bellowing from speakers and stages scattered throughout the area.
Now, two years after a tragic crowd crush claimed 45 lives and injured hundreds, the Israeli government and police have implemented numerous safety measures.
As community mainstays and leaders all year long, the Halperins have worked diligently in the weeks leading up to Lag BaOmer festivities—beginning this year on Monday night, May 8, and continues throughout Tuesday, May 9—meeting with organizers and public officials and preparing for the thousands of visitors they will serve.
Limited celebrations took place in Meron last year under strict security precautions with only about 16,000 visitors permitted to attend. This year, authorities presented a security outline that allows for attendance to return to normal. The new plan builds on extensive work and renovations that were carried over the last two years to allow for safer access and emergency routes, as well as larger gathering spaces. Trained ushers will ensure that no dangerous crowding occurs, and safe pathways are always kept open.
“I’m confident the authorities have prepared properly,” Halperin told Chabad.org. “The state invested a lot of money, and has hired supervisors who understand the crowd and its needs.”
Eager to Get Back to Serving Celebrants
As more than 500,000 visitors are again expected to descend on his otherwise small town, Halperin is eager to return to his normal Lag BaOmer activities, including providing for whatever needs arise from the many visitors, helping men put on tefillin, presiding over upshernish ceremonies in which 3-year-old boys receive their first haircuts, and selling books of Chassidic wisdom of the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—and the works of other Chabad-Lubavitch rebbes to inspire the soul.
“When people come on Lag BaOmer, it’s because they know something special is happening here,” says Halperin. “They feel the holiness of celebrating Rabbi Shimon, and they want to be inspired. With Chassidic books, that inspiration can be taken home and kept alive year-round.”
This year, a spacious new area will be set up for the milestone haircutting events, and Halperin will give each child a special gift of an alef-bet chart with a small jar of honey to begin their journey to learning Torah on a sweet note.
Chabad of Meron also hosts a Lag BaOmer parade, following the Rebbe’s innovative call for public displays of Jewish pride and unity. The parade has participants from all across Israel—from every corner of the nation and from every kind of Jewish background.
On a large screen in the center of all the celebrations, a video of the Rebbe will inspire viewers to increase in acts of goodness and kindness, and especially unity, as called for by Rabbi Shimon. Halperin recalled how years earlier, one visitor stopped to watch the video and was so moved that he stayed in place for three hours straight, watching on repeat. Soon after, he began to learn the Rebbe’s teachings and found that it completely lifted his outlook on life.
A sad but necessary addition to the Meron Lag BaOmer event this year will be the “Hillula Complex,” commemorating the 45 disaster victims from two years earlier. A memorial event and ceremony will be held on Tuesday, with the participation of hundreds of bereaved family members.
