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A horrific tragedy has unfolded in Meron where Lag Ba’omer has been transformed into mourning. Multiple people have been killed and many more injured in the area where the Toldos Aharon Rebbe was conducting his hadlakah.
According to some early reports, the stampede was set off by a collapsing balcony, though others cited a ramp collapse. Some other sources attributed it to the sheer volume people.
Medics are providing medical assistance to dozens of wounded people. Over 150 people have been injured, dozens of whom are in serious or critical condition.
CPR was performed on many of the injured, some of whom have r”l succumbed to their injuries. Over two dozen people have died.
In light of the horrific tragedy, the commander of the Northern District Police has ordered all buses headed to Meron to turn around. No new visitors will be allowed on the mountain for the duration of the night.
Buses are beginning to remove people from Har Meron. Israel Police asked the entire assemblage on Mount Meron to walk to bus stops and parking lots so that all visitors on the mountain could be evacuated. “We ask all visitors on Mount Meron to retrace their steps. The entrances to the mountain have been closed and visitors will not be allowed to enter,” police said.
Phone service stopped working for a while on Har Meron. Most of those present have no reception. If you have tried to contact a family member and he or she does not answer, do no need to panic.
All livestream feeds from the annual Lag Ba’omer celebration have ended.
Helicopters and ambulances continue to transport the injured to hospitals, as volunteers from Zaka and others deal with the fatalities.
An MDA spokesman said that at 12:50 a.m., the first report was received by MDA’s 101 hotline regarding the collapse of a balcony on Mount Meron.
Following the collapse of the balcony or ramp, out of fear for public safety, a ban on entering Mount Meron was implemented. All shuttles have ceased operations until they receive approval from the Israel Police.
Empty buses will continue to ascend the mountain to bring passengers away from Kever Rashbi.
The president, the prime minister and other politicians call on the public to daven for the wounded on Mount Meron.
In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu said, “A serious disaster has taken place on Mount Meron. We all pray for the recovery of those injured. I strengthen the rescue services operating in the area.”
UPDATE: Magen David Adom spokesman Zaki Heller said following the incident in Meron that the injuries were caused due to crowding and not as a result of a balcony collapse.
Six helicopters were rushed to the scene to evacuate the victims. Ambulances took victims to the Ziv Hospital in Ztefas and the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.
According to an eyewitness, the police blocked the back entrance to the kever of Rashbi, and meanwhile, inside, the pressure built and people could not leave. Ultimately, a mass avalanche of people followed and people were crushed. “The police completely mishandled this event,” said the eyewitness. “They were not equipped or properly prepared.”
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WATCH:
Uh oh. That’s it. Bli neder I’m NOT going to Meron.
theres a god on this world
oiber chochom
How cold and unfeeling could one be? Byshonim, rachmanim, gomlei chasadim! This is not a multiple choice question and is not best two out of three. I beg you to post a heartfelt request, b’rabim, for mechilah for the affront on all Yidden; their value and kedushah.
BD”E
It was a stampede. not a balcony collapse.
When you deny chareidim their most precious opportunities the whole year of going to any kevarim or the kosel then THIS is what Miron looks like when they’re given a chance. Thanks to this wonderful and hateful government. Even the lack of organization for this size crowd…..
Everything is Min Hashamayim but there are some scary facts involved here.
Hum? Since you seem to blaming the Israeli government for this horrendous tragedy, maybe you’ll tell me why the RSH”O was powerless to stop it. Blaming – other people or “natural” causes just helps us to ignore the directive of the Gemorah, “Echad min ha’chaburah she’meis, tidag kol ha’chaburah” (Shabbos 106).
Was not a collapse! Just heard from someone there
The police need to either make order and organization in a smart manner or stop pushing them down stairs when they are walking up in droves. This is what happened here. the police started pushing people backwards down the stairs allegedly.. If this info is indeed confirmed then wow are they at fault!!!!!!!!!!
If you need to contact a missing one: https://www.kikar.co.il/390809.html
Why? I Don’t know!
But, let this be a reminder. We’ve forgotten that historically from Pesach until Shevuos is a time of tragedy and morning. We make weddings during the first week and from erev lag b’omer on there is no limit. leaving sefira to just less than three weeks. And then we make other simchas with “Acapella Music” and our sefira is no more. It used to be no music until the day of lag b’omer and the it stretched to the night before.
And now we have this awful reminder that there is supposed to be something called “Sefira” from Pesach until Shevuos.
What the “cheshbon” of Hakodosh Boruch hu with this tragedy is, I don’t claim to know.
BDh”E
Please remove the pictures of the meisim. It’s such bezion to them. Why have we succumbed to the worlds idea of shocking press releases?!
Thank G-d someone in Israel is serving in the IDF to help rescue these people.
Lucky to have shkotzim mamash around!
NOTE:
Gross INCORRECT translation by Twitter, of Moses’ prayer to G-D after his sister Miriam, was struck down with leprosy;
Numbers; 12:13.
The prayer reads: “Please G-D Please heal her”.
Twitter wrongly translated the Hebrew word “EL” (G-D) as “AL” (Do Not)!!
The same goes for the “erudite” mundane commentaries dated April 29, 2021!!
“According to an eyewitness, the police blocked the back entrance to the kever of Rashbi, and meanwhile, inside, the pressure built and people could not leave. Ultimately, a mass avalanche of people followed and people were crushed. “The police completely mishandled this event,” said the eyewitness. “They were not equipped or properly prepared.”
As usual, government is the problem.
“Many Lag Baomer celebrations around the world have since been cancelled for tonight.”
In 1986, the Raban Shel Yisroel, the Gadol HaDor, Rav Moshe Feinstein, ZT’L, was Nifter on Ta’anis Ester, right before Purim. As far as I know, all the Yeshivos cancelled their big Purim celebrations. At that time, I was in Torah Vodaas, and Talmidim went to their Rabayim’s houses for the usual special occasion gatherings, and I assume that, that was done in all Yeshivos. However, the “big” celebrations, where a little band with a number of instruments would come into either the Beis Medrosh or the dinning hall and play live music and people would dance around for a good while, as far as I know, all those were cancelled.
Not a place for humor, but if anyone’s reading the English translation of the president’s tweet and wondering what he meant in the last line, it’s a mis-translation of Hashem’s name in the pasuk, translated as “do not” instead of the proper noun referring to Hashem’s name. Besuros Tovos!
They’re blaming the police who refused to open the exit of the bleachers. People want to leave but the police wouldn’t allow them to until many pushed and this is what happened.
People wanted to leave but the police blocked the exit causing a stampede and the horrific tragedy.
!עיני עיני ירדה מים
While we all have to do natural hishtatadlus and stop this over crowding…
Do NOT forget:
Its all in the hands of Hashem.
These are קרבנות of of a horific tragedy that has occurred in a such a hard year of such דינים– at the very Makom and hight of the day of simchas Rashbi!
Covid or not – the world is under unstable times and we need to tear down the walls of rachmim.
Yidden!! we all need to be mekabel something! We can not let this tragedy just go and go on with life as nothing
“The whole time there were people passing through and everything was going smoothly. Suddenly there was terrible crowding. I looked up and saw five police officers who were simply standing there and stopping people from passing. People begged, cried, screamed that they’re going to die, that they can’t breathe, but they didn’t open the passageway. Children were fainting in their parents’ arms. When the police finally allowed people through, everyone collapsed one on top of the other.”
Jerusalem Mayor Yossi Deitsch also blamed the police: “The police saw the crowding but didn’t take appropriate action to relieve it. Instead of opening an exit way, they threatened them with pepper spray.”
“I turned to a police officer and warned him that people were going to die. I told him: ‘You’re not ashamed? You see that people are going to die!’ But there was no one to talk to,” Deitsch asserted.
According to an eyewitness, the police blocked the back entrance to the kever of Rashbi, and meanwhile, inside, the pressure built and people could not leave. Ultimately, a mass avalanche of people followed and people were crushed. “The police completely mishandled this event,” said the eyewitness. “They were not equipped or properly prepared.”
Can we discuss what we should take away from this tragedy? Are we ready to listen to the message?
We are ready to fix tznius, bitul Torah, machlokes, loshon horo. But are we ready to fix the real cause of the tragedy?
I am sorry to sound so technical and down to earth, but the fact is that people died from a stampede. Why was there a stampede? At Rabbi Wosner’s funeral five years ago, people were also killed in a stampede. Why?
Have you ever been to a mass event in Israel? Did you ever see how much pushing others is acceptable in Israel? The pushing – adults, children, everyone – is very surprising to anyone who comes from, excuse me for saying this, a more “civilized” country.’
Of course, stampedes can happen anywhere, when there is a sudden attack or fear, and crowds are trying to escape. But why is Chol Hamoed at the kosel a time to push others who are trying to get on to the bus? Why at a funeral do people push each other to the point of crushing each other? Why in Meron? What’s the rush?
The chidush here is not that so many people died yesterday, but that more people didn’t die from stampedes by other events.
I am so sorry this happened, my heart goes out to the families whose lives are changed forever, but I am also sorry that this sensitive issue will not be treated. And anyone who will dare raise the topic might be labelled as a “chiloni” “kofer”, etc.
i think the translation is wrong. the translation says:please dont. i think it really says; PLEASE HASHEM. rivlin could not possibly meant otherwise
If this stampede was caused by a few judenrat policemen blocking the exit, why didn’t our people just walk all over the evil rodfim? There’s nothing that five policemen can do against an organized thousand-strong crowd that’s directly face to face with them. Nothing short of a military unit armed with heavy weaponry can stop such crowd. Again, the exit was blocked by only five puny policemen. Unfortunately, instead of plowing through the judenrat capos and unblocking the exit, it seems that our people got scared of a police pepper spray threat, which is ridiculous, as one would think that a danger of dying from stampede outweighs a pepper spray. However, since we do not consider ourselves as one unit, the minor personal considerations took over the major considerations for others: yes dying from a stampede is more dangerous than a pepper spray, but not if another guy is doing all the dying – some of us would rather that another Jew gets stampeded to death so that they may not experience a much smaller inconvenience of getting pepper sprayed and possibly arrested. We have to change our mentality to describe ourselves simply as a Jew, as opposed to a member of this group or that group. We have to start behaving as one unit. Either that or get trampled by the judenrat enemy.
says somebody who has probably never been in a fight in their life
11:58, you missed my point completely. It’s not about being a tough guy on a personal level, but about acting as a single unit. Even a bruce lee on steroids can’t take five capos, but a thousand wimpy fifty year olds with arthritis can, easily – but only if they act in complete unison, like a school of fish, like a phalanx of ancient times, like they are mevatel their personal interests for the unit’s. Only this strategy can save the most lives in the group.