Education Minister Naftali Bennett decided this morning (Friday) that the holiday in educational institutions on the day of Lag BaOmer will be postponed by one day - from Sunday to Monday, in order to prevent desecration of the Sabbath.
According to News1 journalist Idan Yosef, an expert in the field of transportation, the Ministry of Education's decision will lead to the collapse of transportation in Meron, due to the shortage of buses and drivers available to the Ministry of Transportation to transport the celebrants to the Rashbi celebration in Meron.
These are hundreds of drivers and buses used to transport students. The student lines are operated by both public transportation operators and private transportation contractors, who are obligated to carry out these transportations according to agreements.
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According to Idan, if the celebration in Meron remains on Sunday and is not postponed to Monday, there will be no other way out than to significantly cut public transportation services to the general public - which will lead to severe harm to public transportation passengers on service lines across the country, which do not serve passengers to Meron.
Now the main concern is the total collapse of the public transportation system in Meron, which will have an impact on transportation in the rest of the country.
Meanwhile, yesterday, the Ministry of Transportation in Tel Aviv held a preparatory meeting with public transportation operators, in which the issue of the expected desecration of the Sabbath was raised.
According to News1, the operators have made it clear that it would be impossible to transport such a large number of passengers - tens of thousands - without desecrating the Sabbath. The service will not begin until after 10:00 PM, but all the preparations leading up to it will involve desecrating the Sabbath.
According to them, this requires drivers and buses to be transported on administrative trips as early as 4:00 PM, depending on the distance of the trip.
Further desecration of the Sabbath is expected following the opening of parking lots to accommodate buses and private vehicles. This is a large-scale logistical system that requires the employment of dispatchers, inspectors, managers and other government and private entities responsible for transportation.
Bayan's lighting at 1 am
Meanwhile, Bayan Hasidism - which has the right to light the first candle on the Zion - will hold the lighting at 1:00 a.m.
The Hasidic community said: "We reiterate and clarify that the Rebbe will light the lamp close to midnight.".
""Regarding the technical organization that will be done on the roof of the Zion in preparation for the event - in terms of organization, from our perspective, everything will be ready from Thursday, including amplification and screens, equipment and barriers, drinks and all logistics - including the security company hired by us - will be ready from Thursday evening.
""The preparations of the organizing committee on the ground on Saturday will also not begin until two hours after the Sabbath, so from our perspective there is no reason for the desecration of Shabbat to be committed on Saturday - and we are ready to cooperate with any party to prevent the desecration of Shabbat by other parties and organizations.".
They further clarify: "All preparations made by the Israel Police in preparation for the event are not related to us, and we hope that the sanctity of the Sabbath will be preserved.".
Chief Rabbi Yosef said today that he supports Bayan Hasidism, which delays the lighting of the lamp on the Saturday after Lag BaOmer, and that the police should do everything possible to avoid desecration of the Sabbath.
