Tragedy in Israel: on Mount Meron 44 dead in the disaster of Lag Baomer

At least 44 people were killed yesterday Thursday, April 29, and 150 people were injured overnight after large crowds gathered at a religious ceremony at Mount Meron for the Lag Ba’omer holiday.
Rescue operations are still underway this morning to evacuate the tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews who had flocked to the Mount Meron tomb of second-century sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai for the annual Lag Baomer commemorations that include prayer and mystical dancing and singing that go on throughout the night. Most of the dead were said to belong to the Jerusalem-based Toldot Aharon Hassidic sect.

United Hatzalah CEO Eli Pollack told The Jerusalem Post that the incident occurred when a large crowd of people poured into an enclosed compound, leading to dozens of people being crushed against fences. Pollack added that people had come to the celebrations excited to finally be able to celebrate as they used to after a year of dealing with the coronavirus outbreak, and pointed out that the great joy was suddenly broken by the disaster.

Lag Ba’omer who is the Hassidic sect Toldot Aharon

The Hassidic sect whose members were involved in the incident is called Toldot Aharon and is perhaps the most closed, well-organized and cohesive of the groups that make up Israel’s haredi community, or the Ultra Orthodox of Judaism.

Most of the dead and wounded in the Lag Ba’omer riot on Mount Meron belong to the Jerusalem-based Toldot Aharon Hassidic sect. The stampede took place during the lighting of the bonfire by the current Rebbe (the leading Rabbi). It is perhaps the most isolated, closed and well-organized of the groups that make up the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community, and any kind of intervention in its internal affairs amounts to a total violation of the community’s rules.
The Hassidic sect was founded in Jerusalem by Rabbi Aharon Roth in 1928 as an offshoot of Satmar, a Hassidic movement born in Germany. In 1942, shortly before Nazi Germany invaded Hungary, Roth and his followers fled Europe for the Holy Land.
Today, the Hassidim of Toldot Aharon live in the heart of Jerusalem despite their staunch opposition to Zionism. They have developed extensive social and cultural barriers to protect their community from the vibrant secularism of Jaffa Road and Ben-Yehuda Street, located less than a kilometer away.

 


Sources:

  • Jerusalem Post
  • https://www.aljazeera.com/
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