18 Iyar, Lag B'Omer! (Tuesday, May 23)

View of the kever on Har Meron

All over Meah Shearim/Geula were posters advertising buses to Meron. So Monday afternoon I went to Bank Discount Geula in search of the buses. Well I didn't seen any. As I was standing on the curb resting and trying to figure out what to do next, I spotted a Carlebach-type guy and a bareheaded Russian-looking guy, both carrying musical instrument cases, who were obviously trying to get to Meron too. I watched them step into a kiosk to ask directions. When they started walking back to Kikar Shabbat, I followed them. Around the corner and another block or two and there was a different tour company loading buses to Meron. "Hoffman and Sons" charged 55 shekel (~$14) round trip. I got onto the back of the bus - the women's section. Several rows up, there were my musician "friends".

Finally the bus departed at 4:15. So much arguing, the company was trying to fill up all the seats and all the women refused to sit in the last two rows. At the last minute a really sweet-looking couple, non-Chareidi, got onto the bus and soon the husband discovered he didn't have a seat. The wife relucantly sat in one seat in the next-to-last row. I felt awful but couldn't think of a way to help. Especially because I was blocked in by a sleeping lady. An hour later as we pulled into a restaurant area called Zippora I had an idea.

Dozens of other buses were also stopped at Zippora. All Chareidim. There was a restaurant and snack bar, bathrooms, an Arab offering camel rides, and other Arabs selling large pieces of pottery and sculptures (can you please explain that to me?!) I got back onto the bus and asked the Israeli lady who had the seat next to the wife if she would like to take my seat and I would move to the very back row. She was only too happy to help. I ran out to tell the husband and wife that we found room for them. They were very appreciative; she said "tizku l'mitzvot". I really liked them.

The rest of the ride I sat between a young photographer and two young teenage girls who spoke to each other in Yiddish. They were interested in my crocheting work, and I learned that they speak only Yiddish at home as well as in school. Finally at about 8 pm we arrived at Meron. Meron is high up a mountain.

I got off the bus and started following the crowd along a dirt path. Soon the two musicians had caught up with me and they were speaking English! I said hello and joined them. Leibish, the Carlebach guy, was from Montreal. Mishael was born in Israel to American parents. Not Russian at all, plus now he was wearing a yarmulke. We soon got to a street with a carnival atmosphere. You have to walk 10 minutes up this path to the kever, and the whole way was lined with booths selling seforim, food, trinkets and toys, other booths and people collecting tzedakah... Everyone had a megaphone and was loudly announcing their cause. Chabad had at least two booths. Arutz 7 had a van stationed along the way from where they broadcasted live all night and the next day too.

At the top, thousands of chareidim and all sorts of other people were milling around. I followed Leibish and Misha into the forest. All sorts of tents were set out - people had moved in, with generators, stoves, carpets, everything. As Jake Matar had told me about, I even found a sheep tied to a tree. I tried to feed the sheep a carrot and learned that sheep do not like carrots.

Near the sheep was a group of twenty to thirty people sitting around a bonfire. Carlebach/Breslov/flower children - wearing long beards and payos and loose, flowy clothing and wrapped in blankets. A couple of people were playing rhythms on drum, others had guitars and flutelike instruments. This is where Leibish and Misha took out their saxophones and started to play... I stayed maybe half an hour. I was captivated by the bonfire in the woods and all these woodsy people who were just being and enjoying.

Then I went up the the kever and pushed my way in. Obviously Israel hasn't learned the concept of crowd control. It was so crowded, even outside the building you had to squeeze and shove to get anyplace and even so you were carried along by the crowd. I pushed into the entrance, through an outer courtyard and a long arched hallway. Then through an inner courtyard. On the men's side was a band and two older men singing on the stage accompanied by all sorts of dancing and singing men below. They sang "Bar Yochai" and other songs with a distinctive, authentic klezmer sound. At the end of this room was an entrance into what looked like a shul. Eventually I was in there. I suppose the kever was in this room. The front, toward the mechitza was lined at least ten women deep who were all davening. Along the back were old women who evidently were camping out right in there. I managed to say some Tehillim and a tefilla which is supposed to be said at kivrei tzaddikim. Baruch Hashem, at the end of this room was a door out and soon I was in the night air again. I walked up the stairs and was able to see the enormous bonfire on the roof. Some men were throwing things into it. Below were lots of candles and a fire into which other men were throwing candles (why?). It smelled like burning wax.

Fine, I had seen my fill so I went back to the kumzitz in the forest. A much more pleasant, Jewish environment! There everyone was singing together; up top everyone was pushing and shoving instead. I couldn't find Leibish and Misha. I sat down by the bonfire for about 45 minutes more. A baal teshuva with a long beard and payos, brightly colored yarmulke was talking to me. Now a man with a guitar launched into a medley of songs. There wasn't much melody but he sang with a lot of spirit. Finally Leibish and Misha reappeared. I said goodbye to them and hurried as best I could down the path, past the vendors to get a bus back to Yerushalayim. Many busses were still arriving. My bus finally left at midnight, I got back home at 4 am. What an experience.

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