The grave and pilgrimage site of Talmudic-era sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai on Mount Meron will be closed to the hundreds of thousands of visitors who usually flock to the site every year on Lag Ba’omer due to concerns that the event could create a spike in coronavirus infections.
The government is expected to approve on Monday a framework for the Lag Ba’omer celebrations after it is presented by the Health Ministry.
Bar Yochai’s tomb on Mount Meron is the second most visited holy site in Israel after the Western Wall and it is thought that some half a million religious pilgrims visit every year for the Lag Ba’omer celebrations.
The minor holiday commemorates the anniversary of Bar Yochai’s death, as well as the day halting the period of semi-mourning between Passover and Shavuot for the death of 24,000 pupils of Rabbi Akiva in the Talmudic era.
Later this week, police will seal off the holy site, while only residents will be allowed into the town of Meron until after the Lag Ba’omer celebrations.
The cave in which Bar Yochai’s tomb is located will be closed as well.
Several rabbis will nevertheless be allowed to light the traditional bonfires on the roof of Bar Yochai’s tomb, including the grand rabbi of the Boyan hassidic community who has lit the first bonfire dating back to the Ottoman era.
Amongst others who will be lighting are the grand rabbi of the Toldot Aharon hassidic community, Chief Rabbi of Safed Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Rabbi Shlomo Amar, and others, although the final number has yet to be determined.
Each rabbi will be able to bring with them a maximum of ten followers.
In March, the Religious Services Ministry drew up new regulations for the management of the Meron holy site, which includes a provision that prohibits an individual from lighting a bonfire if they have been convicted of serious crimes.
This clause in the new regulations has been designed in part to exclude convicted sex abuser Rabbi Eliezer Berland, head of the Shuvu Banim sect within the Breslov hassidic community who has lit bonfires at the holy site on Lag Ba’omer despite his convictions.