When my son returned home last Friday, I could not wait to hug him. At the same time, I felt sorrow for the mothers who will never get to hug their children again, for the boys who will never come home.
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My son, my firstborn, was at Mount Meron to celebrate Lag B'Omer along with tens of thousands of other participants. When he saw the crowded exit, he wisely decided to stay put. At 2 a.m., before the cellphone network gave out, he sent us a message saying he was alive and well.
My son was all right. Still, the night was full of sadness and tears, as well as anger, over the fact that the tragedy could have been avoided. And do not tell me this is not the time to look for those responsible as we mourn 45 victims. This is exactly the time for introspection.
The police are not the only ones to blame. The problem is much more complex. It stems from a failure in leadership, at both the national and community levels.
In hindsight, who is responsible? Those who did not heed God's commandment to preserve one's soul, in their rulings on COVID, transferring fire during a heatwave and allowing masses to enter the Mount Meron site. Those who canceled at the last minute the attendance limit of 10,000. Those who let the annual event take place for years without building a proper infrastructure that could accommodate the masses.
It was not just the police. It was also Haredi officials and rabbis and the political leadership. The ultra-Orthodox community has already started looking at their own part in the events. They are talking about the community culture that disregards safety and puts lives at risk.
The culture of glorying the dead, in this case Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, at the expense of the living is destructive. So is the intense longing to touch upon holiness while trampling and disregarding the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. Holy fire, when it is not contained in a proper vessel, can break out at any moment.
Holiness that includes a culture of pushing women out, literally and figuratively, and leaving heaps of trash behind is not sacred. Holiness that has led to the loss of human life is a desecration of God's name, and demands introspection.
May the Meron catastrophe bring about a different kind of holiness – contained and disciplined, orderly and clean, responsible and caring. It will not take away from the celebration, but contribute to it, allowing mothers to hug their sons when they return home.
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