Thousands begin gathering in Meron for pilgrimage in shadow of deadly 2021 stampede

About 40,000 people prepare for the annual Lag B’Omer celebration around the gravesite of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai on Mount Meron, a pilgrimage site where 45 people died in a stampede in 2021.

Thousands of police officers, soldiers and stewards oversee the circulation of the pilgrims, most of them from strictly devout Haredi Jewish communities, who have come to celebrate the Jewish holiday at the burial site of the 2nd-century sage.

Over the next 24 hours of Lag B’Omer, approximately 250,000 pilgrims are expected to visit the site, according to Dov Maisel, deputy head of operations at United Hatzalah, an international Haredi rescue and first response group. However, only up to 50,000 will be on site at any given time, Maisel says.

Some 310 buses from across the country have arrived at Meron so far out of a total of 460 expected, Transportation Ministry officials say.

Police and security near the gravesite are not letting individuals into crowded areas. Color-coded plastic bracelets serve as entrance tickets for pilgrims who pre-ordered them. Anyone without a ticket is denied entry at checkpoints manned by police.

The area around the gravesite has been expanded and larger compounds were built nearby as part of the lessons drawn from the 2021 disaster, Maisel adds. Stewards at the gravesite are responsible for moving worshipers along to make room for new ones.

The Talmud ties Lag B’Omer to a plague that killed thousands of students of Rabbi Akiva, among the greatest early rabbinic figures and a major influence on Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. According to Jewish tradition, the plague ceased on Lag B’Omer, making that date a time of celebration.