Lag Baomer
Driving up to my parents house in the Galil yesterday, we (Fiance and me) decided that it would be best to take the Bika'a Road (a wide choice since there was Traffic on 2 other roads that we should have gone through otherwise.), and I noticed that much of the other drivers were Frum people driving north. My guess was that they were going to Meiron for Lag Baomer (a good guess if you ask me). 2 interesting points I would like to share on this interesting road trip to the north.
The first was that on one of the busses going north there were signs reading: "this bus does not drive on the no. 6 road (cross Israel) = the Graves Road. I don't want to get into the whole mess that is going on with that road (for those of you who don't know I will explain at the bottom of the post), but I found it a little funny that they mad a point of posting it all over the bus. Also funny since one of the ways they can get to the Bika'a road is to drive via the French hill Intersection, that had huge demonstrations against it just 10 years ago. It was also amusing as it makes for and added interest to my next point.
Why do people feel the urge to go and party at a grave? Worse than that they have turned lag Baomer into the we must go Grave Hopping Holiday! I have a big problem with this concept. It's one thing to go to a grave in order to learn about a person, and the great things he has done, (such as the idea of going to Har Herzel). But going to the grave in the belief that it has mystical powers, is very much Paganism! Anyone who has gone to these sites knows that every Grave has it's own powers. The one I remember is that there is one in the Tzfat Area that if you Circle it 7 times (men circle one direction, Women the other) you will find your bride/groom in a year. The Torah that I read from Every week seems to have an issue with this, a quick reading from the last Chapter in Dvarim (Pasuk 6) "and he was buried in.. and no one knew his burial site until this day." the only reason I could guess why not to know his site is because there was a fear that people would turn the site into a worshipping site. But I guess that would never happen to us Jews, WE know better than to make a big deal about where people are buried.
for those of you who have not heard about what is going on with the No. 6 road (Kvish Shes, Cross Israel Hwy). They are building Section no. 18 of the road that will connect the road to the Yokneam Area, making the ride to the north about 15 minutes shorter without traffic, and more than an hour during Rush hour. Also the Road ends in Wadi Arra' and the road runs Via a bunch of Arab villages. The Charedim Decided that they found some graves in some Caves on the path of the road. Deciding that these are Jewish Graves, they declared war on the Road and started to protest, blocking the contiuation of the construction. A couple of the demostrations a few weeks ago turned violent and were all over the news.
As for the graves, first of all they found very few of them in the area, (also one has to understand that in this area most likely anywhere you dig you will find something - anyone who lives in Jerusalem knows that but thats' not for now.) no one knows if they are Jewish or not, and there are those of us that understand that if there are graves you can move them in order to make way fo building (just a simple Halacha that they choose not to follow).
שבת שלום
-עולה ישן
The first was that on one of the busses going north there were signs reading: "this bus does not drive on the no. 6 road (cross Israel) = the Graves Road. I don't want to get into the whole mess that is going on with that road (for those of you who don't know I will explain at the bottom of the post), but I found it a little funny that they mad a point of posting it all over the bus. Also funny since one of the ways they can get to the Bika'a road is to drive via the French hill Intersection, that had huge demonstrations against it just 10 years ago. It was also amusing as it makes for and added interest to my next point.
Why do people feel the urge to go and party at a grave? Worse than that they have turned lag Baomer into the we must go Grave Hopping Holiday! I have a big problem with this concept. It's one thing to go to a grave in order to learn about a person, and the great things he has done, (such as the idea of going to Har Herzel). But going to the grave in the belief that it has mystical powers, is very much Paganism! Anyone who has gone to these sites knows that every Grave has it's own powers. The one I remember is that there is one in the Tzfat Area that if you Circle it 7 times (men circle one direction, Women the other) you will find your bride/groom in a year. The Torah that I read from Every week seems to have an issue with this, a quick reading from the last Chapter in Dvarim (Pasuk 6) "and he was buried in.. and no one knew his burial site until this day." the only reason I could guess why not to know his site is because there was a fear that people would turn the site into a worshipping site. But I guess that would never happen to us Jews, WE know better than to make a big deal about where people are buried.
for those of you who have not heard about what is going on with the No. 6 road (Kvish Shes, Cross Israel Hwy). They are building Section no. 18 of the road that will connect the road to the Yokneam Area, making the ride to the north about 15 minutes shorter without traffic, and more than an hour during Rush hour. Also the Road ends in Wadi Arra' and the road runs Via a bunch of Arab villages. The Charedim Decided that they found some graves in some Caves on the path of the road. Deciding that these are Jewish Graves, they declared war on the Road and started to protest, blocking the contiuation of the construction. A couple of the demostrations a few weeks ago turned violent and were all over the news.
As for the graves, first of all they found very few of them in the area, (also one has to understand that in this area most likely anywhere you dig you will find something - anyone who lives in Jerusalem knows that but thats' not for now.) no one knows if they are Jewish or not, and there are those of us that understand that if there are graves you can move them in order to make way fo building (just a simple Halacha that they choose not to follow).
שבת שלום
-עולה ישן
posted by Oleh Yahshan @ 5/27/2005 02:20:00 PM
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3 Comments:
its very strange the way some people approach to graves, either praying at them or when "protecting" them. this whole controversy with the graves and the chariedim, i think, really just stems form the fact that they got tired of throwing rocks on shabbos so they had to find a new way to fight the government.
I agree,
although it doesn't stop them from throwing all sorts of things when they get into fighting mode. The last attempt to do anyhting in the Mea Shearim Area ended up with riots in the area and included Rocks, garbage, and of course the good old Dirty Dipers.
its frustrating that most chareidim refuse to realize that they have any fault in the growing rift between secular and religious jews in Israel, such a divisive issue will eventually blow up in ours faces and then where will we be left?
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