Tens of thousands of joyful revelers gathered on Mount Meron Thursday night for the traditional Lag B’Omer celebration at the tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. The festive event was in full swing, supported by a large presence of security, rescue, and usher teams. Movement and crowd control measures were in place to help ensure a safe and smooth celebration for all participants.
Tens of thousands of revelers began streaming onto Mount Meron from the afternoon hours. By 6:00 PM, 644 buses had departed from locations across the country, with 483 buses arriving at the site while 131 were already making return trips after dropping off passengers. Additionally, 2,500 attendees arrived via Israel Railways. In total, some 20 thousand people reached the mountain using public transportation — the only permitted method of access to this year’s event. As the night’s celebrations proceeded, participants left the event to allow newcomers to join and enjoy the event. The rotation was instituted to prevent accidents as a result of overcrowding on the mountain.
המדורה הראשונה במירון, של האדמו”ר מבויאן הודלקה בהשתתפות אלפי חסידים pic.twitter.com/BvH6magEpe
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The Boyaner Rebbe, Rabbi Nachum Dov Brayer, holds the traditional honor of lighting the first bonfire at the annual Lag B’Omer celebration in Meron. This privilege was originally purchased by Rabbi Avrohom Yaakov Friedman, the first Sadigura Rebbe, from the Sephardi custodians of Meron and Tsfat. He later bequeathed this honor to his eldest son, Rabbi Yitzchok, the first Boyaner Rebbe, passing it down to his descendants.
The source of the Lag B’Omer celebration is the Idra Zuta, a passage from the Zohar that recounts the day of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s passing. One of its final lines reads: “Ascend and come and congregate in the celebration of Rabbi Shimon.” The Idra Zuta—meaning “the small gathering” in Aramaic—describes how Rabbi Shimon’s closest disciples gathered around him on his final day, as he revealed profound mystical secrets of the Torah. This sacred moment became the foundation for the annual celebration in his honor.
It is widely believed that the custom of visiting the tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in Meron gradually evolved from earlier traditions of visiting nearby graves of other righteous figures. Evidence of pilgrimages to the tombs of the righteous in Meron dates back to the late 11th century. By the 12th and 13th centuries, both Jewish and Arab sources describe visits specifically to the tombs of Hillel and Shammai, often including accounts of a miraculous spring of water emerging from a rock, adding a sense of wonder and sanctity to the pilgrimage experience.
