Gantz pushes for Meron disaster probe rejected by previous government ynetnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ynetnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
In a letter to the prime minister, families warn Haredi politicians, some of whom are accused of culpability in the stampede that killed 45 people, would attempt to limit the scope of the probe; say only an independent probe can uncover the truth
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This harsh commentary regarding the tragic Meron fiasco is now ready for posting, now that most if not all of the bereaved families have gotten up from sitting shiva. The embargo has been self-imposed as a matter of common courtesy; there will be plenty of opportunity for criticism and critique of the multifaceted failings behind the misadventure, and there is a surfeit of blame to go around for what many, myself included, view as the criminal negligence involved.
The annual Lag BaOmer pilgrimage to Mount Meron in Israel attracts as many as half a million visitors every year. Because of COVID-19, this year’s event was less crowded, but even so, over 100,000 people were packed into a space with a capacity for perhaps 15,000. This overcrowding reportedly contributed to the recent tragedy, in which at least 45 people, mostly ultra-Orthodox Jews known as “Haredim” in Hebrew, died in a stampede.
This is by far the largest pilgrimage of Jews to what is believed to be the gravesite of the second-century Talmudic sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.
I have participated twice in the pilgrimage – once in 1994 as a newly observant Jew seeking religious meaning, and again in 2001 as a scholar of Jewish history. What fascinates me about this pilgrimage is the way it weaves together Jewish mysticism, folk practices and modern-day nationalism.
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Lag BaOmer pilgrimage brings Orthodox Jews closer to eternity - I experienced this spiritual bonding in years before the tragedy
Joshua Shanes, College of Charleston
May 7, 2021
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(THE CONVERSATION) The annual Lag BaOmer pilgrimage to Mount Meron in Israel attracts as many as half a million visitors every year. Because of COVID-19, this year’s event was less crowded, but even so, over 100,000 people were packed into a space with a capacity for perhaps 15,000. This overcrowding reportedly contributed to the recent tragedy, in which at least 45 people, mostly ultra-Orthodox Jews known as “Haredim” in Hebrew, died in a stampede.