With Mount Meron closed, 2 Lag B’Omer bonfire lightings planned for Jerusalem tomorrow

Two mass bonfire lighting ceremonies will take place in Jerusalem tomorrow night to mark the Jewish holiday of Lag B’Omer, police announce.

One ceremony will be held in the flashpoint East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, and the other in Ezrat Torah, a Haredi neighborhood in northern Jerusalem.

They are meant to serve as alternatives to a celebration held each year atop Mount Meron in northern Israel, which typically draws tens of thousands of revelers during the Jewish festival.

Fearing Hezbollah rocket fire, authorities drastically scaled back the planned events at Meron, where the 2nd century sage Shimon Bar Yochai is thought to be buried.

Police this morning announced the closure of roads leading to the mountaintop. The roadblocks are expected to remain in place until Wednesday as law enforcement tries to prevent large gatherings in the area.

Sheikh Jarrah, a predominantly Palestinian neighborhood, houses a tomb thought to be the resting place of the Second Temple-era high priest Shimon HaTzadik. Historically, it has served as a less popular but still frequented pilgrimage site on Lag B’Omer.

When Meron was similarly closed to large crowds in 2024 amid war with Hezbollah, thousands of Jewish celebrants instead gathered in Sheikh Jarrah.

Meanwhile, the bonfire in the Ezrat Torah neighborhood will be led by Rabbi Elimelech Biderman, an influential Hasidic figure who often holds a bonfire lighting ceremony at Meron. Two years ago, Biderman held a bonfire lighting in Ramat Beit Shemesh, with some 40,000 people in attendance.