Lag B'Omer – A Tale of Two Shimons
This Lag B'Omer eve, I reflect on how different this night is from all other Lag B'Omer nights, as so many things are different these days. You see, while Lag B'Omer is special all over the world, here in the Galilee, less than ten miles from Meron, things usually go to a different level. For at least a week before, and a few days after, there are enormous traffic jams as hundreds of thousands come to be near the grave of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. In standard years, cars cannot get anywhere near Meron. Down the road from where I live, in Karmiel, a huge parking lot is created on an empty field, and busses run from there to Meron every five minutes, 24 hours a day, for about three days. Additional busses run from a makeshift large bus terminal all over the country. Personally, I never wanted to be anywhere near Meron on that day. I generally hate huge crowds and pushing and shoving and standing for hours, craning my neck to maybe see something...