Unfathomable on Every Level

The scene of the tragedy is a familiar one to all of us. Each of us has been to Meron many times to pour out our hearts at the kever of Rabi Shimon bar Yochai. And hundreds of thousands have joined the Lag B’omer festivities at one time or another. Even those of us with a fear of crowds, such as myself, have had arguments with yeshivah-age children eager to go to Meron on Lag B’omer, and when we lost those arguments, spent nights filled with apprehension of a disaster like that which occurred last Thursday night. At least two close family members told me after being in Meron on Lag B’omer that they would never go back; the feeling of being crushed was too frightening.

Beyond our ability to visualize the scene and imagine ourselves or those closest to us having been there, we are all feeling implicated in another way as well. When the v’nahafoch hu of Purim is itself reversed, and a day of celebration turned into one of mourning, who can avoid asking themselves the question, “What did I do to bring this about?”

On Leil Shabbos, my rav shared a story of Rav Elyashiv ztz”l during the 1982 Lebanon War. Every day, Rav Elyashiv would ask for the names of the wounded so that he could daven for them. One day, he was informed that a rocket had fallen on Meron and killed a Jewish woman.

“If someone was killed in Meron,” he said, “then there is a powerful kitrug against Klal Yisrael in Shamayim.”