Funerals for the victims of the Mount Meron stampede were held throughout the night on Saturday as the country continued to mourn the deadly tragedy that struck the Jewish holy site on Thursday night.By Sunday morning, most of the victims had been identified and funerals were being held as Israel called a national day of mourning to mark the greatest civilian tragedy in its history. 22 funerals were held throughout the night. Israel will lower flags to hald mast across the country.On Friday, hearses began arriving at the Shamgar funeral service center in Jerusalem late Friday afternoon under a heavy pall and an oppressive sun.
Victims of the Meron disaster were brought to Shamgar, in the heart of Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox Romema neighborhood, for eulogies to be recited by families overcome with grief at the loss of their young children, brothers and fathers.
Among those brought to Shamgar were Rabbi Yehudah Leib Rubin, 27, from Beit Shemesh; young brothers Moshe Natan Englander, 14, and Yehoshua Englander, 9; and Shraga Gestetner, a 35-year-old hassidic singer from Montreal.
Relatives cried bitterly as the bodies wrapped in prayer shawls were laid before them and eulogies recited, before the funeral procession bore the deceased to their final resting place, some on Har Hamenuhot and the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
Hundreds of mourners, mostly ultra-Orthodox, flocked to the funerals to pay their respects to the victims of the disaster, most of whom appeared not to have known the victims personally but attended to honor their lives and memories.
Among those in attendance were several individuals who had been at Meron on Thursday night and close to the actual site of the tragedy, but either escaped from the crush unharmed or passed by the area before it occurred.
Moti, who declined to give his real name, and was among those who were stuck in the crush descending down the narrow walkway leading away from the ceremonial courtyard, said he had been “between life and death” during the incident.
He said he was stuck in the walkway for around 10 minutes and that he heard people reciting the confessional prayer and Shema Yisrael (Hear O Israel), said by those on their deathbed or at the moment they believe they are about to die.
The 23-year-old man said arrangements at Meron had been different from what he remembered in previous years, and that there had been confusion at the site for the entire night.
Asked how such a calamity could have happened, he said simply that it was not the place of someone who believes in God to ask such questions.
“Heaven does not give an account. If God wants something to happen, then we have no questions for him,” Moti said.
“Someone who asks questions of God shows that he doesn’t believe in Him.”
Moshe, a Jerusalem resident who was also at Meron, said that although he passed by the site of the disaster 20 minutes before the crush took place, there were already large numbers of people crammed into the narrow walkway.
He described himself as “not a pushy” individual but said that once he was a few meters inside the pathway, he began screaming at those behind him to back up and not come in; he eventually forced his way back out.
“It is very frightening to think that this could have happened to me,” Moshe said as the eulogies for the dead were offered from the Shamgar eulogy hall.
“This could have happened to anyone – but no one thought it would happen to them.”