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| The Lag B'omer bonfire in Meron |
Now before anyone jumps all over me about bashing Charedim again, don’t bother. I do not bash anyone. Just people that make bad decisions. Which in this case had tragic consequences for 45 innocent souls crushed to death by panicking crowds.
Most of the victims were Charedi. Their death had a devastating effect on their families. Then there are the injured who are still suffering. And the toll it is taking on their families. This doesn’t even touch the ripple effect of the trauma many of the rescuers are still going through after witnessing the horror.
As I said in my first thoughts about this tragedy, the fault lies with the organizers. Who are all Charedi. They were in charge. They let it happen by virtue of encouraging attendance without limiting the crowds. The images of the near 100,000 people that attending an event at a site that can only hold about 10,000 people safely should make it clear that they were overcrowded. And as Rabbi Slifkin notes:
Even just within the Toldot Aharon area of the site, the official engineer’s report on the site had deemed it suitable for a maximum of 3,000 people, whereas around 20,000 people were estimated to have been there immediately prior to the disaster that occurred - almost seven times the permitted number.
How on earth any responsible leader involved with organizing this event would allow, or look the other way when that kind of dangerous overcrowding takes place means that they are irresponsible and not leaders. As I said, it is not rocket science to see the dangers of that kind of overcrowding. Dangers those leaders were quite aware since during the event they kept announcing that due to the dangers presented by the massive overcrowding, attendees should listen to the authorities about where to stand. Which is kind of like trying to close the barn door after the horses have escaped.
On the day of the tragedy this was the news story of the day all over the world. It was covered by all 3 major broadcast networks in the US. One of the Charedi rabbis that attended was interviewed and immediately blamed the police. But it was not their fault. It was the fault of the Charedi rabbinic leaders involved with that event who refused to cede any control to the authorities. And paid little attention to the kind of safety protocols that would have limited crowd size. Had they done so, those 45 people would still be alive and healthy today with wonderful memories of a special Lag B’omer experience.
But their interests were more about the maximizing the celebration by maximizing the crowds. Safety concerns were secondary at best. Adding to this was their views about how anti religious the government is thereby denying them any control over that event. All of which clouded their judgment to the tune of 45 deaths.
Their opposition to outside interference was clearly expressed by a decade old Pashkevil (poster) hung on walls all over Jerusalem. Its message was ‘God forbid we hand over control of this holy site to these unholy people.’ ‘Doing so might turn it into a tourist attraction that would desecrate it.’ (As if it isn’t already a tourist attraction – except that the tourists that joined the Israelis there are mostly Charedi.)
Rabbi Slifkin notes that there were some sane Charedi voices that expressed fear that something like this might happen… and thought the authorities should be given more control. But they were ignored. Now after the fact - it appears that are more Charedi voices calling for that. I suppose one can say better late than never. But I’m not so sure the people running the show there will agree even now.
My only quibble with Rabbi Slifkin’s post is that he seems blame the entire Charedi leadership by virtue of all the names listed as signatories on that Pahskevil. I doubt, however, whether all - or even most of them were consulted about using their names – let alone given permission to use them. There is an honorific used in that Pashkevil which is used mostly by Chasidim. My guess therefore is that many of the people whose names were supposedly signatories - were not.
The authors of that Pashkevil probably assumed that they would all agree and simply added those names for purposes of getting the widest possible support for their agenda. That was not the first time this type of thing has happened. Probably won’t be the last. Names of prominent rabbinic figures are misused all the time by people with their own agendas who believe they are in agreement with them. This actually happened to Rabbi Slifkin himself!
This is not to say that those leaders don’t have similar views. They may. Or they may not. Hard to know. But to put someone’s name on a document without their knowledge or permission as a means of furthering an agenda is pretty unscrupulous to say the least. And dangerous to the point of death in this case.
I am not convinced that all those listed as signatories would have agreed to allow their names to be used - even if they had been asked. Although I wonder why I haven’t heard any of them objecting it, it’s very possible they did at the time it was authored about 10 years ago. It’s just as possible they disagreed with them about the authorities and actually favored giving them more control because of safety concerns. I don’t know.
For me, the blame lies squarely on the Charedi leaders and organizers directly involved with that event. They are the ones with the lion’s share of responsibility. Not the police who under the most difficult of circumstances probably did the best they could - even as mistakes may have been made. The police are human too.
As Rabbi Slifkin noted this tragedy could have happened anywhere on that site. That it happened in a particular section was merely by chance. It could have been avoided.
I don’t know how those leaders and organizers can sleep at night.
