At a final preparedness meeting held yesterday (Sunday), ahead of the Rashbi celebration in the town of Meron, the preparedness of all parties was reviewed - from security forces, police, traffic, rescue and fire fighters to the Nature and Parks Authority, KKL-JNF, and more.
Minister of Religious Services, David Azoulay, noted that special thinking is required for holding the event, while also preventing desecration of the Sabbath, and asked those present to review the issues that have not yet been resolved, so that a solution can be found for them.
The Director General of the Ministry of Religious Services, Oded Plus, noted that the issue of Shabbat will be examined by all parties and added that following a tour he conducted an hour earlier in the Meron area, he will ask the Ministry of Transportation and the Traffic Police to examine options for reinforcing shuttles from the parking lots for private vehicles, in order to prevent the collapse of the transportation system in Meron.
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Yosef Schweinger, director general of the National Center for the Development of Holy Places, said: "Operation Meron was launched after nearly a year of preparations, starting from the end of last year's celebration and in light of all the necessary lessons learned by all parties.".
Regarding the issue of Shabbat, he said: "We call on the general public to delay leaving Meron as long as possible after Shabbat ends, in order to prevent the Sabbath from being violated." He emphasized: "No usher from the Center for Holy Places will be placed in his position before Shabbat ends.".
At the same time, Schweinger announced that the lighting complexes in the HaZion area of Meron have been expanded, as well as the traffic circles at the entrance square to Meron, in order to ease congestion at the entrance to the settlement.
Israel Deri, director of the Rashbi complex on behalf of the National Center for Opening Holy Places, noted that all the actions required by firefighters, MDA, and United Hatzalah were carried out to the best of their ability, including all security and traffic police requirements.
Operation Meron Commander Lt. Col. Micha Tobol noted on the subject of Shabbat that all police officers who arrive for Operation Meron before the end of Shabbat will be gentiles. According to him, there will be no change in the police deployment at the Rashbi site and in securing access and evacuation routes, in the event of an event that requires it – even if the first lightings on Mount Meron are delayed by two hours or more than the time currently planned for them: not before midnight.
He noted that starting at 12:00 on Friday, the police will close the entry of private vehicles to the entire Meron area.
The great shadow cast over the meticulous planning that has characterized the event so far was cast by Shlomo Rosenstein, a representative of the Ministry of Transportation, who noted that following the Ministry of Education's decision to move the Lag BaOmer holiday to Monday, instead of the first day as planned, transportation chaos is expected for those arriving by train from Meron.
According to him, the cancellation of the holiday planned for Sunday will eliminate the availability of about a quarter of the buses of public and private operators that are lined up to transport masses to Meron.
This means that those who do not purchase travel tickets in advance will be forced to stay at home or travel in private vehicles - with the old parking lots, at least for now, not prepared to accommodate thousands of additional vehicles.
As reported in Haredim10, following the Ministry of Education's decision to move the Lag BaOmer holiday, all transportation experts point out that it will lead to a collapse of transportation in Meron. This is due to a shortage of buses and drivers available to the Ministry of Transportation to transport the celebrants to the Rashbi holiday 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.
Furthermore, as reported in Haredim10, public transportation 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. Although the service will only begin after 10:00 PM, all the organization 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.
