Meron Tragedy Eerie Reminder of Similar Calamity 110 Years Ago
It did not
take moments from the Meron tragedy for historians to point out that a similar
event took place exactly one hundred and ten years ago, on the night of Lag
Ba’omer. Tonight’s events—thought on a far larger scale—bring to mind the
article in the Morgen Zhournal of May 21, 1911, a report from an
eyewitness.
He begins by
laying out for the readers the aura, the joy, the hope-saturated tears and tefillos
at the kever. The spirited dancing, and how it is difficult to see any
ground beneath the mass of humanity.
“The true
joy begins with the “hadlakah”…and lighting this first fire is something that
one cannot acquire for any sum in the world. This is a chazakah of the Boyaner
Rebbe, without whose permission one cannot light the fire. And as soon as the
it is indeed lit, then begins the true hislahavus… the chassidim dance with a
rare fervor, the light blinds the eyes, and it goes on for the entire night.
“This year,
this joy began just as it has in previous years… only it ended in a
catastrophe:
“The entire
courtyard, and the entire surrounding area, are packed with people… The clock
strikes ten, and Reb Refoel Dayan, the appointee of the Boyaner Rebbe, lights
the hadlakah. The fervor reaches its climax as the men dance around the fire…
and suddenly, BANG!, the platform collapsed with a terrible thud—the steel,
along with the heavy stone—and with them the many people stationed atop the
balcony.
“To describe
what then transpired… the moans of the injured as they lay under pieces of
metal… the screams of the children… A shudder goes through one’s body hearing,
and imagining, these events that unfolded there. The large crowd did not know
what to do first, how to approach the work of the rescue. After a while, when
some of the crowd had dispersed, they were able to tend to the injured.
“40 people
were badly injured, and one by one they were brought indoors. There was no
medicine, no first-aid… with water and schnapps they were awakened. There was
only one doctor in attendance, the city doctor of Tzefas. Meron is one hour
from Tzefas (in those times), and until doctors and medicine could arrive took
three hours.”
It went on
to lament the need to support the fresh Yesomim and almanos.
As we dazedly lift up our eyes Heavenward and cry out: kdai hu Rabi Shimon lismoch alav bish’as Hadchak… In the zechus of Rabi Shimon who is surely deeply pained by the tragedy that occurred in his backyard, may he approach the Kisei Hakovod and beseech Hashem to end the galus immediately.