In recent weeks, MK Uri Maklev of Del HaTorah has done a veritable doctorate on the pilgrimage to Meron on Lag BaOmer. His dozens of conversations with police commanders, the Ministry of Transportation and Tourism, as well as participation in discussions in Knesset committees, have made him an expert on everything related to Meron.
This morning (Sunday), in a special interview with Haredim 10, he summarizes the night spent by those wishing to reach the Rashbi's office in Meron on the day of Hilula, emphasizing: This is not the end of the verse yet, the fear is of a collapse in the afternoon.
""I'm the first one who would be happy to say that 'everything went smoothly and in order,'" he says, but he takes exception and emphasizes that this is absolutely not the case. "So first of all, we have to say, thank God, that up until now, even if the situation is not completely fine, there are also good words to say - many people arrived quite easily, we are not witnessing the scenes that used to be. We hope that this will be the case until the end of the day, even though transportation experts are especially concerned about the hours of 4:00-6:00 PM in the afternoon.".
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Although in previous years the afternoon hours were the 'easier' hours in terms of collapse in the field.
""True. But it looks like things will change this year.".
He himself is not yet in Miron. He spent the night at home, receiving more and more calls on his cell phone from people who are stuck. Yes, just like that, good Jews pick up the phone directly and ask for help. At 4 am he collapsed and fell asleep. Five minutes earlier he had helped the caller. When he woke up in the morning, he found a lot of unanswered calls on the device. Since then and until now - 1:30 pm - he has continued his mission.
His wife, on the other hand, left around 12:00, after a day of work at the school where she teaches, and so did many others. So there is a demand for the afternoon hours. "I guess after people hear that it was okay, they decide to leave later," he says.
In a conversation he had with the managers of one of the veteran transportation companies in Meron, he was told that fewer 30%s arrived at night than they do every year. If fewer people did arrive, it's no wonder everything went smoothly. If people spread their arrivals out between the night and the afternoon, we'll have to wait and see what happens later in the day.
There was confusion.
Although the situation is generally quite good, it is difficult for MK Meklev to ignore the problems that have arisen - and there have been quite a few. "You can't ignore people who stood at the stations in Safed, lots of people, for a very long time. There was confusion, there were no buses for a long time, drivers fled - you can't ignore this suffering. I told the police chiefs to think about a family with small children, who arrives in Bnei Brak or Jerusalem, knowing that they need to get to the shuttle, but not knowing what will happen in the parking lot. They are already stressed two or three days beforehand, then they are stressed the entire trip - we are trying to ease not only in a practical way, but also in a mental way - the tension that precedes the trip itself and to ensure that people arrive as calmly as possible.
""A similar story happened in Karmiel, where people waited for about two hours for buses until the issue was addressed. Here it is worth mentioning Dror Ganon from the Ministry of Transportation and Shlomo Rosenstein from the Jerusalem Municipality, who went down to the area in person and recorded the arrival of buses. Still, it is difficult to ignore what happened there. When a bus arrived, it was the only one in the area, and the assault on it was horrific. People entered through the windows! These are scenes that I really don't like - a Jew holding four children in his hand, his wife barely carrying herself and being dragged with a baby stroller. Seeing 300 people crowding the windows, I judge the people fairly and really don't want them to be put in such a situation, and there are people who despair in advance and stand aside, not knowing what the hour will bring.
""There were big traffic jams right after Shabbat ended, the exit from Rosh Pina was blocked, and I advised the people who called me to go to the center, shop and take the shuttles. They really congratulated me for that.".
In retrospect, was the police wise when they decided to block the entrance to the Meron area with private cars?
""Yes, we supported that, we thought it was smart, we have no argument with the police about that.".
"Although that's what caused many people to choose not to come.".
""True, but that's not what the argument was about. We were arguing about organized parking lots in the circle far from Meron. We weren't talking about the nearby 20 kilometers, but about parking lots in the more distant cities." On 40 km, on Karmiel and on Safed. But there were problems there too. And that's what they claimed - traveling on the Acre-Karmiel road doesn't cause traffic jams. Those 10,000 private car owners, I understand that they don't want them to reach Ein Frod or Safed, because it interferes with the roads near Meron, but what's the problem with letting them reach the parking lots? From their perspective, the police said, there's no solution, come by public transportation. That's what we insisted on, that there should be parking lots. The police tried to insist that there be reinforcements at all the stations, Haifa, Safed, Acre Nahariya, and so on. We insisted on parking lots. We claimed that no one has any idea how many people will arrive at each city and how many buses to send to each place. We asked to create parking lots in each city, and in the end it was accepted. Don't send them out of order and without direction to places where there are no organized parking lots," we requested.
Not everything is okay.
Maklev's assessment is that the police wanted as few people as possible to come. He still remembers this from the time he served in the Jerusalem municipality. "When there was an event, the police would announce that these and those streets were congested, and don't come. They would scare the crowd about traffic congestion, in other words, psychologically directing them not to come. They don't understand that a public that has a spiritual mission to come will overcome any difficulty.".
He said, "When they say that a private vehicle won't come, it doesn't make sense. There are people who can't come by public transportation.".
For example, a grandmother with 12 great-grandchildren who are having a halakhah in Meron at the same time approached him. She cannot travel such a distance by public transportation; in her health condition, she needs a private car. Or a patient with oncology who approached and begged to be allowed to travel by private car. "I said I couldn't help, I myself didn't want to go to the police to ask for even one permit! I didn't want to be involved. My hands are clean!", he says.
It turns out that Ezer Mitzion agreed to drive the patient from the Prod parking lot, but the police did not allow them to enter as a private vehicle. The young man's official disability certificate has not yet arrived. "He only contacted me on Thursday, and it was too late to help him, especially since I didn't bother with the permits. But it hurts my heart. And this is a young man who needs a lot of prayers for him and is undergoing very difficult treatments. In the end, he stayed home.".
He has two points of contention with the police: "The first point is about the private buses. 40% from public transportation is from private companies like Hoffman, Darchi Noam, and more. I received a report about the Ein Zeitim parking lot, the area between it and Meron is empty. Transportation is flying. And yet, the police are not giving permission for private transportation to reach the location, unlike what they promised in advance. In the coming hours, he promises to talk to the commanders and try to resolve the issue.
""If Ein Zeitim were a well-organized parking lot - great. But there is no food or drink, no toilets, and no water tap for medical treatment. There are not even signs to direct passengers. So although the area is clear, there are no traffic jams, the shuttles do not arrive regularly and sometimes you have to wait for 3 hours. People did not know where the buses to Safed, Karmiel, Bnei Brak or Jerusalem are, there is no sign in place. And this is a huge place, where people have to walk a huge distance with children in their arms to look for the right bus to their destination.
""Now think about a family that came from Jerusalem or any other distant city, traveled for several hours, and finally arrived in Ein Zeitim. Now they have to wait there in the heat, and without food or drink, for several more hours. Why? Why can't we be flexible? Why wouldn't the police officer on the spot think it was his mother? With a little effort, we could give the police officers instructions to be flexible!", Kobel Maklev asks.
And despite everything, the feeling is that there have been worse years...
""Obviously. Unlike last year when there was complete complacency and traffic jams of 6 hours or more, this year at least some thought was done. And yet I believe that the instructions to the field should have been given after full and thoughtful consideration. 'Everything is fine,' for the police, means that there are no traffic jams near the entrance to Meron and on the way to it. As far as I'm concerned, when people wait for hours in the heat, it's not all fine.".
To suffer and pay a lot
Another example that came to Maklev's cell phone: "People returned with a shuttle to the BIG parking lot in Karmiel. But the 986 that brings them to Jerusalem is not there, because the BIG parking lot is not a bus stop, but a parking lot. Those who arrived by car got in their car and left easily, but those who arrived by bus had to walk a distance of several kilometers, early in the morning, with tired children.".
And we haven't even said a word about the price of this not-so-simple pleasure: "The shuttle from Karmiel to Meron, for example, costs 32 shekels per person. Add to that the travel costs from Jerusalem or Bnei Brak or any other city - it's hundreds of shekels per family. If the trip were 'partial', fine, but to bear paying so much?""
Police spokesperson for the Haredi public, Shabtai Grabchik Responds: "The road to Meron is not clear, so buses are not allowed to arrive at the entrance to the settlement.".
