An 1885 photograph of the balcony that collapsed some 26 years later, in 1911.
The tragedy at the celebration of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai occurred on the night of Lag B’Omer 5671, May 15, 1911, when a crowd of about 10,000 filled the compound and a railing collapsed, causing many to be crushed in the collapse and the panic that followed. Eleven people were killed in the tragedy, the deaths of seven were determined at the scene and of four others in the days following the incident. There were 40 wounded.
According to Shmuel Har-Noy, Director General of the Safed Academic College, the Jewish community in the first decade of the 20th century in Tsfat numbered between seven and eight thousand â Tsfat was the second-largest Jewish community in the country, after Jerusalem, with the largest Chassidic community. There were many kollels in Tsfat, most of whose students depended on the “distribution” charity for their livelihood. Medical treatment in the city was provided by sever