Public Safety Is a Boring Job, but the Meron Tragedy Proves That It Is a Necessary One

On the Jewish holiday of Lag ba-Omer, many devout Israelis, and Ḥasidim especially, make a pilgrimage to the Mount Meron in the Galilee, the traditional location of the tomb of Shimon bar Yoḥai, a 2nd-century sage associated with the holiday. While in 2020 the celebrations were sharply circumscribed due to the coronavirus, this year Lag ba-Omer—which itself celebrates the end of a plague—fell on April 30, just as many virus-related restrictions were being lifted. The joyous occasion was marred, however, by a disaster in an overcrowded compound, leading to the deaths of 45 men and boys from trampling and asphyxiation. The incident has raised concerns over safety at Meron, and in ḥaredi communities more generally. Just yesterday, Israel’s new government advanced an investigation into how the accident occurred.