![]() I maasered it on the spot, and figured that was pretty good for starters on Lag BaOmer.” “Then he shakes my hand, slipping me 500 shekels! And that was it, he walked away. He asks me my name, where I’m from? (Tzefas) What do I do? (I teach in a yeshivah.) How many children do I have? (Seven) He also told Hamodia what happened to him just after arriving on Wednesday night at Meron: “I sat down at one of the those hachnasas orchim stations and was eating a piece of kugel, when this person comes up to me and says hello. “ Ruchniyus is so bright, so blinding, we can’t see it. “Rabi Shimon was scared to look at it – it was so bright, you can’t see it, as if it doesn’t exist, like the sun.” “It’s a reference to the upper sefirah of keser,” said Rabbi Klein. It is called No-thing, concerning which said, “No man can see Me. Rabbi Klein quotes from the last stanza of the Song of Bar Yochai: “ Ohr mufleh rom maaleh, yareisa milihabit ki rav lah/taalumah v’ain koreh lah, namt ayin lo seshurecha” – “When you reached the highest level of the mysterious hidden light, you feared to gaze due to the enormity of its radiance. We just get on a bus and we’re here in an hour or two – it’s nothing.” “We have such an incredible zechus to be able to come here. “What can you say? You know the story of the Ohr HaChayim – after riding two days on a donkey to get to Meron, he crawled up the mountanside on his hands and knees, crying and groaning that he wasn’t worthy of being at the kever of Rabi Shimon bar Yochai. He says it’s a major part of the annual ruchiynus for himself, his wife and children. ![]() It just cannot be explained to someone who’s never been there.” And inside, at the kever, people were davening together, crying, like it was Yom Kippur! I cried along with everyone else. It was so beautiful, I could only say, Mi k’amcha Yisrael!, Who is like your people, Israel! On the bus from Karmiel to Meron, we all sang together Bar Yochai. “But this year,” he said, “was something special. Shia S., a journalist from Antwerp, flies to Israel almost every year for Lag BaOmer. Hamodia spoke with a few of those who were there, and were kind enough to try to put into words for us what they felt in their hearts: What they felt is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to capture in words, though words are all we have to work with. Most of all, the real story is in the hearts of those who were there, as well as those who participated in the hilula in a thousand other places and were with them in spirit. In the courtyard and its environs, Klal Yisrael, in all its variegations, from chassidic to Modern Orthodox, yeshivish to working guys, Ashkenazim, Sephardim, young and old, came together for joyous dancing and singing on the hilula of Rabi Shimon. Inside, at the kever itself, where thousands upon thousands daven for yeshuos, shidduchim, hatzlachah in Torah and every kind of ezras Hashem, with all their heart. It is not about crowd estimates or organizing efforts or police coordination or even the extraordinary chessed on the part of those who provide food and drink for weary travelers, medical treatment for the injured, or transportation for those with physical limitations who could not attend without their help.įor the real story is inside. ![]() But most of all, to a timely outpouring of siyatta diShmaya.Īs every year, the real story of Lag BaOmer cannot be told. This was thanks to the countless hours of preparation that began months ago, the orderly behavior of visitors and the cooperation of the bus companies and the Israeli police, who began stepping up their presence in the area days ago. (Elishama Sandman/Ohr HaRashbi)Īn estimated half-million Jews from all over Eretz Yisrael and the world converged on the kever of the holy Tanna Rabi Shimon Bar Yochai at Meron on Wednesday night and Thursday for the annual Lag BaOmer celebration.ĭespite the huge throngs streaming in and out of Meron from as early as Wednesday afternoon to Thursday evening, there were relatively few reports of delays, traffic jams and other disruptions, compared to past years. Dancing in Meron shortly after the first hadlakah on Wednesday night.
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