MK Rabbi Porush Charges Meron Not Ready for Lag BaOmer

By Hamodia Staff

YERUSHALAYIM – Two days before Lag BaOmer, United Torah Judaism MK Rabbi Meir Porush sent an urgent message to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, saying that “there is a feeling that nobody is in charge at Meron.”

Rabbi Porush turned to Bennett to ask for his intervention after his queries to the professionals tasked with ensuring the safety of the event went unanswered.

He noted that while the chareidi public has put its trust in the authorities to rectify the dangerous conditions that led to the deaths of 45 people z”l at the site last year, but that those tasked with the job “have ignored the needs and requests” of the community.

“There is a feeling that there is no one there who will take responsibility,” he wrote.

Rabbi Porush asserted that “for over 10 months nothing was done at Meron. Only in the last 3 months did work begin. Dozens of buildings were evacuated, access roads blocked, staircases and passageways fenced off…As yet, no new access routes have been built, not a path has been widened.”

In his letter to Bennett he also pointed out that the authorities have cancelled the minhagim of the chalaka, Chai Rotel, and more.

He said that while the state commission for investigating last year’s disaster set 20,000 visitors as the maximum capacity at the site at any one time, those appointed over the project have significantly reduced that number, thereby preventing thousands of Jews from participating in the event.

In addition, he wrote that while the cause of the disaster was a bottleneck on a ramp leading from one of the bonfires, the authorities have failed to expand the areas for lighting, and on the contrary, have closed off numerous spaces.

There has been no comment yet from the Prime Minister’s Office.

However, the public relations office for the project responded on Monday night, saying that the commission’s figure of 20,000 was an estimate, to be checked against a closer inspection of the site. After the project managers barred use of some areas deemed unsafe, the maximum capacity arrived at was 16,000 visitors at any one time. The spokesperson denied that the chalakah had been cancelled. Rather, that it was for this reason that up to 6 admission tickets were allotted to each visitor, to enable parents and grandparents to bring the children. There is also an option for large families to order tickets for private buses, allowing groups of up to 50 people to enter at the same time.