Ultra-Orthodox Jews take part in prayers on the grave of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai during Lag B'Omer celebrations at Mt. Meron in northern Israel, early Thursday, May 10, 2012. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
JTA — “If you haven’t seen the joy of Lag B’Omer on the grave of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, you haven’t seen joy at all,” wrote the author Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Israel’s first Nobel Prize laureate.
That description reflects an aspect of the annual pilgrimage to Mount Meron in northern Israel that was underlined by the deaths on Friday of at least 45 revelers in a fatal crush: It is a place whose symbolism reflects a mix of grief and euphoria.