Tens of thousands participated last night (Wednesday) in the grand lighting of the Satmar Rebbe in Kiryat Joel.
Immediately after the Maariv prayer, the Rebbe stepped onto a large stage set up in the plaza in front of the large Beit Midrash. The orchestra began singing melodies of awakening and longing, while dozens of Hasidic children who had reached school age passed by the Rebbe, who was cutting their hair.
After the Rebbe blessed the children and parents, he spoke ahead of the grand ceremony. The Rebbe explained that a spiritual thing is not dependent on a physical boundary - and the divine Tanna Rashbi, which is spiritual, is not dependent on Meron's physical boundary. "Even here, when tens of thousands of Jews gather in his honor and memory, he is among us."
"And may the Tanna operate in heaven, all the good influences, spiritually and materially.".
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The organizer announced that the lighting rights were jointly purchased by Governor Rabbi Yitzhak Markowitz of Kiryat Joel and Governor Rabbi Avraham Yuda Rosenberg of Williamsburg in memory of the late Governor Rabbi Yitzhak Rosenberg, the leader of the congregation who drowned on the beach in Miami Beach.
The kindling was sold for $150,000 - and the two honored the Rebbe by lighting the bonfire.
Immediately afterwards, the Rebbe moved to a platform set up next to the bonfire site and the Rebbe lit the fire, while the multitudes broke out into dances in honor of the divine Tanna, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.
For long hours, Jews from all sectors and all Hasidism danced together in the large square, with the parents dancing in the center with the children of the Nachalaka on their shoulders, while on the stage stood the Rebbe of Satmar and other community dignitaries.
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