You have commented 358 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Mount Meron tragedy: 44 killed, over 150 injured in Lag Ba'omer stampede
2021-04-30
[JPost] - At least 44 people were killed on Thursday night after a stampede broke out as massive crowds gathered at the Mount Meron religious bonfire-lighting ceremony for the holiday of Lag Ba'omer, in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a "heavy disaster."

Rescue operations were underway Friday morning to evacuate the thousands of people who were still at the scene. The Transportation Ministry sent 300 empty buses to rescue the worshippers, but they were reportedly stuck in traffic due to the lack of police management of the event.

Tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews had thronged to the Mount Meron tomb of 2nd-century sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai for annual Lag Baomer commemorations that include all-night prayer, mystical songs and dance. Most of the dead were said to be from the Toldot Aharon hassidic sect, based in Jerusalem.
Update at 12:30 pm ET: Lord Garth gives us the Times of Israel take on the story, which describes the problem area in detail:
And at around 1 a.m. Friday morning, as large numbers of those participants made their way along a metal-floored walkway on the exit route, a disaster unfolded. The crowds were pulsing, the floor was slippery, police officers apparently blocked the exit from the narrow walkway for a time.

"There's an aluminum-floored walkway, then a stairway, and then there was a barrier," said Eli Pollack, the head of the United Hatzalah emergency rescue service. "It was a death trap."

The crush grew heavier, people fell and were trapped, a stampede ensued. "People didn't realize what was happening until it was too late," the ultra-Orthodox journalist Yaakov Eichler, told Israel's Channel 12 news hours later.

By the time they did realize, at least 45 people were dead, and dozens more were injured, many of them seriously.
The ceremonies at Meron are based on a legend that second century rabbi Shimon ben Yochoi emerged from a cave having written (or spoken) the Book of Glory (Zohar) which is a foundational Kabbalah text. Of course the Zohar using vocabulary not in existence during be Yochai's life is generally considered to be a 13th century text)
Update at 12:40 pm ET: Skidmore give us the Daily Mail’s report, which has photos, videos, and the names of the first of the dead to be identified.
Posted by:g(r)omgoru

#4  When hysteria and hysteresis combine.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2021-04-30 10:13  

#3  Gamers are right: lag can get you killed.
Posted by: Rob Crawford   2021-04-30 09:23  

#2  ....any type of intervention in its domestic affairs is tantamount to a total usurping of the community's belief system.

A similar tribal 'belief system' exists (albeit conveniently not discussed) in Chicago, Atlanta, Baltimore, and elsewhere.

'Mote in thine own eye' theory precludes unilateral condemnation of the Haredi.

Posted by: Besoeker   2021-04-30 03:58  

#1  Lag Ba'omer: What's Toldot Aharon, hassidic sect whose members were killed?

It is perhaps the most insular, well-organized and cohesive of the groups that make up Israel’s haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community; any type of intervention in its domestic affairs is tantamount to a total usurping of the community's belief system.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2021-04-30 02:31  

00:00