https://yated.com/my-take-on-the-news-263/#:~:text=The%20Provisions%20of,of%20these%20things!%E2%80%9D
The Provisions of the “Meron Law”I could write at much greater length about the political situation, but let me move on to another topic: Lag Ba’omer in Meron. The Minister of Religious Affairs, who is viewed as a bitter enemy of the religious public, is also responsible for overseeing the hillula in Meron this year, and he has prepared a bill for the Knesset to pass for his decisions to be implemented. In many cases, it is necessary for a bill to be passed by the Knesset in order for various measures to be taken. For instance, during the period of the coronavirus, the police were authorized to issue fines for violations of the pandemic regulations only after the Ministerial Committee for Legislation had approved the decision.
I won’t quote the entire text of the draft of Minister Kahana’s bill, but I will share one particular excerpt with you: the section that deals with punitive fines. The bill states that in order to enforce its provisions, police officers will be granted the authority to take any of the following steps: “1. To prevent a person or car from entering the area of Meron if his presence in the area will be contrary to the regulations. 2. To remove a person, car, or object from Meron whose presence is in violation of the provisions cited above. 3. To order the termination of a bonfire in Meron that was organized in violation of the provisions cited above. 4. To order the termination of any other event in Meron that is organized in violation of the regulations. 5. If a person refuses to comply with an order or demand of a police officer, the officer will be authorized to prevent his entry to Meron or to remove him from the area in spite of his refusal, and even to use reasonable force for that purpose. 6. If a person refuses to comply with the orders of a police officer to terminate a bonfire or any other event, the officer will be permitted to use all necessary means to end the event, even employing reasonable force when necessary under the circumstances.” The bill then specifies that the penalty for a violation of any of its provisions will be a monetary fine.
The prohibitions are fairly prosaic—being present in Meron without the authorization specified by the bill or holding a bonfire or some other event in violation of the rules. And the fine for a violation will be 500 shekels. This may not be a very steep fine, but it is certainly aggravating. In any event, if the Knesset does not approve this bill, then it will be impossible to implement any of these decisions.
Senseless RulesOne of the main decisions made by the authorities this year is that only one bonfire will be permitted in Meron. There seems to be very little sense in this decision. On the contrary, a single bonfire will only cause the onlookers to concentrate in one area, leading to even more crowding and potentially making the situation much more dangerous. Why shouldn’t there be several bonfires taking place, so that the crowd will spread out over a reasonable area? True, this was an interim recommendation of the official commission of inquiry, which seems to lend some weight to the idea, but we must keep in mind that the commission is led by a judge who is completely unacquainted with the concept of a hillula. Anyone capable of a bit of logical reasoning, meanwhile, will certainly understand that it would be better to divide the crowd across different areas.
The authorities have also decided to prohibit the distribution of food and drink in Meron this year, which is another measure that I can only say is ill-considered. Once again, this is because the commission of inquiry determined that last year’s tragedy began when people slipped on spilled drinks and torn plastic wrappers that littered the ground. But what is the logic in banning these things from the entire area? Why should it be prohibited to give out food and drink even at the beginning of the climb to the mountaintop, far from the areas of crowding where the disaster occurred?
The decision to limit ticket holders to spending four hours in Meron is equally illogical. It will be extremely difficult to enforce this rule. It is also outrageous that tickets are available only on the internet, and that purchasers must have e-mail accounts in order to buy them. Many chareidim do not have internet access, and many do not have e-mail accounts. Moreover, the web site is constantly crashing. And then, to take the madness even further, the government decided that no one will be allowed to enter the tziyun. Where is the sense in any of this? It seems as if they are one step away from simply telling the public to hold the hillula over Zoom!
This week, I spoke with someone who has a longstanding connection with Meron. When I merely mentioned the Bnei Akiva building (where the chassidus of Karlin was permitted to organize its tish) he began seething with anger at the government. “What connection does Bnei Akiva have to Meron?” he demanded. “Why were they given 35 dunams of land there? Why couldn’t they receive an allotment of land anywhere else and leave the tziyun to us?” He claimed that the site of the Bnei Akiva compound, which is in the closest location to the tziyun, used to belong to chareidi groups. In general, he is incensed by the behavior of the police and the organizers of the hillula, and I found his arguments quite persuasive. “The only good thing they did was take away all the illegal structures,” he said. “Other than that, they have caused nothing but harm. They have destroyed Meron—both the site itself and the hillula.”
This man spent the week in Meron and was irked by the fact that private cars were blocked from entering the area this week, on the grounds that there was nowhere for them to park. “What does that mean?” he demanded. “This is nothing but abuse of the elderly and infirm.” He completely disagreed with the judgment of government officials. “There is no sense in what they are doing,” he insisted. “Instead of making orderly entrances and exits, they merely caused havoc. And they don’t even understand what the hillula is all about. If they could decide that there should be no music, no bleachers, and only one hadlokah, that is a clear sign that they do not understand what Lag Ba’Omer means. Instead of broadening the passageways, they simply closed everything; that is an act of pure foolishness and shortsighted thinking. Why should they care if people celebrate or give out food and drink elsewhere? They think that Lag Ba’omer in Meron is a time for davening; they don’t understand that it is a celebration. They simply have no comprehension of these things!”
