Mount Meron

A responsible choice: Why canceling Lag Ba’omer at Mount Meron was the right call - editorial

The fires of Lag Ba’omer will burn again on the slopes of Meron. What matters is that when they do, they come back to a country that chose, at the right moment, to be careful.

View of the gravesite of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai on Mount Meron, northern Israel, May 1, 2024.
Jewish worshippers visit the gravesite of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (Rashbi) in Meron, northern Israel, ahead of the Jewish holiday of Lag BaOmer, May 1, 2026.

Religious protesters plan to storm Mount Meron in defiance of police orders ahead of Lag Ba'omer

 Compound 89 in Meron is seen ahead of next week’s Lag BaOmer celebrations, as police conduct an inspection tour around the tomb complex, April 26, 2026

Five years after disaster, Israel limits Lag Ba'omer celebrations on Meron amid security fears

Rabbi Eliezer Berland and Rabbi Ofer Erez

High Court rejects petition to prevent convicted sex offender Berland from lighting Meron torch


Police on high alert ahead of Meron Lag Ba’omer celebration

16,000 will be allowed on mountain at a time, only people with tickets to be let in.

 Jews visit at the Rashbi gravesite on the Eve of Rosh Chodesh in Meron, Northern Israel, on March 2, 2022.

Mount Meron, Lag Ba'omer: How to celebrate even after tragedy - opinion

I would humbly suggest that the answer lies deep in how we generally are to approach tragedy and challenge in life.

 FUNERAL FOR brothers Yosef David Elhadar and Moshe Mordechai Elhadar (opposite, far right), killed in the Meron tragedy; flames of remembrance for 45 victims; both May 2, 2021.

Lag Ba'omer: How will Israel prevent the next Mount Meron tragedy?

It has been one year since the tragic events on Mount Meron. How have we been dealing with the fallout, and what meaningful changes have been made to prevent a future catastrophe?

 FUNERAL FOR brothers Yosef David Elhadar and Moshe Mordechai Elhadar (opposite, far right), killed in the Meron tragedy; flames of remembrance for 45 victims; both May 2, 2021.

Israeli officials want to take responsibility for Meron, but not blame - analysis

All the officials involved in the Meron investigation agree that they are responsible for what happened but denied that they were to blame.

 Meron investigation committee, August 22.

Police chief shifts blame for Meron disaster to Northern District chief

Police chief Kobi Shabtai blamed politicians and engineers for the disaster in which 45 people died.

 Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai visits at a temporary roadblock on Highway 1 outside Jerusalem

Supreme Court green lights demolishing illegal residences at Mount Meron

The residences were built illegally, without an engineer reviewing their safety and often with materials that are known to be less stable.

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man prays outside the Tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai on Mt. Meron in northern Israel on May 6, 2020

Why have state probes become so popular in Bennett's government? - analysis

In a government that has a consensus about seeking punishments for its predecessors and not about what should be accomplished now, state commissions are a useful tool.

 Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in the Knesset plenum, February 7, 2022.

Devorah Berliner replaces Miriam Naor heading Meron inquiry

During Lag Ba'Omer last May, 45 people were killed on Mount Meron due to a variety of safety deficiencies.

Devorah Berliner replaces Miriam Naor heading Meron inquiry.

Letters to the editor January 12, 2022: Hell-ben on our destruction

Readers of The Jerusalem Post have their say.

Letters

Police chief brushed off fears of Mount Meron capacity limit - ops head

Senior officer testifies he failed to convince Shabtai to limit the number of participants

The bodies of the victims of the tragedy at Mount Meron on Lag Ba'omer.