JERUSALEM (VINnews) — On the night before the Hilula of Lag Ba’Omer, hundreds of police evicted all the people who had attempted to barricade themselves into the tomb of Rashbi prior to Lag Ba-Omer.
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Shortly before 12 AM a loudspeaker in Hebrew and Yiddish, delivered by Meron’s Rabbi Anshel Friedman, called on every person in the tomb to leave. Most of the people present refused to obey the police request and were forcibly removed from the site. A number of people were arrested during the eviction.
The eviction is due to the decision by the Meron Investigation Committee to restrict the number of people present at any one time in the site to 16,000, in accordance with the amount of room available at the site and behind it.
Police request that everyone leave the site
מירון: כוחות גדולים של משטרה החלו בפינוי הציון לקראת ההילולא מחר בערב. עימותים במקום. pic.twitter.com/XPGjgRprBJ
— kobi bornshtein | קובי בורנשטיין (@kobi_bornshtein) May 17, 2022
Police remove barricaders from Meron site
As of Wednesday night entry to the site was only possible with pre-purchased tickets which are valid for four hours. The buses bringing people will wait in car parks and when people leave, new worshipers will be able to enter the site.
Police are preparing for extremist elements who may attempt to enter the site from other directions and through the forests aroundabout. 8,000 police have been deployed to maintain order and prevent illegal access to the site.
What’s up with this acceptance of the term “extremists”? Is that slur used against ANY individual or group that breaks the rules or only against people that have an appearance and/or customs that are outside of our comfort zone?
Yes, people are selfishly trying to circumvent the rules. But calling these people “extremists” is just an uncalled for attempt to delegitimize them.
I blame Joe Biden.
This would never be allowed if Donald Trump were still President.
How do we distinguish between extremists and normal chareidim?
Surely Reb Shimon can not approve of such childish tantrums. Once again, it proves that you can’t cure stupid, but you can at least duct tape it’s mouth closed!
Again the bandied about slur of “extremist”. Yes, there are people that are selfishly trying to circumvent well-intentioned rules. But what makes these people an “extremist”? Because they’re trting to get something that they couldn’t have otherwise? In that case every 8 year-old should be called an “extremist”.
It’s just an attempt to delegitimize people that look different than us. Those calling other people “extremists” are the 8 year-olds here.
Truthfully the funny thing is, the holy Rashbi is not even buried there. Study history and you will see it was first set up as a NER TOMID for Rashbi and his son. The Shul named after Rashbi wanted to honor him with people lighting candles, as we do today. They could not keep fires on in the Shul itself for safety reasons, so they decided to build it in the yard. After searching for years, I finally did find a very old drawing of how this monument looked. It had steps for people to go up to the top and light their candles. Travelers to Israel describe it as the “Monument for Rasbi with the fire burning” but NOT one says they “Prayed” there, as they say at other places. However, over time the myth started that he is buried under the monument that held the Ner Tomid. In addition, history does have some evidence he was laid to rest in one of the large cemetery / caves that many in that time period were buried in. However we have no idea exactly where all these holy and great people are buried
How is this normal?
I’m also praying, but them wailing like that makes them look like like they’ belong in an insane asylum.
And the police doing what they’re doing is definitely not making the situation any better..
We need to go back to when I was growing up. You either learned how to behave from your home and school or the cops used their Billy Clubs to beat you until you knew how to behave. The Israeli police need to knock these nutjobs around til they get some sense in their heads.