• Chairman of the Meron Committee, Rabbi Mordechai Halperin, tell us about yourself and your connection with Meron.
I come from a Jerusalem family. I came to Miron on an educational mission 42 years ago.
• A little before you tell me about the educational mission. When was the first time you came to Lag BaOmer in Meron?
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42 years ago.
• Following that mission...what is the mission? How does a person born into a Jerusalem family arrive at the Miron of those years?
I actually married a daughter of Meron, and became a rabbi in a yeshiva in Meron. Over the years, I began to engage in public activity.
• Until you became chairman of the Meron Committee.
Including the management of the regional council and all sorts of other positions.
• Lag BaOmer in Meron - what is your first memory from there?
(Smiling) Year after year we participate in the festivities and it's hard to see the changes that occur from year to year, but if you look at 42 years ago and today, it's something different - a different world.
I still remember when I was a rabbi in a yeshiva and they would call me to complete a minyan in the Rashbi's Zion on Shabbat evening, and I'm not talking about a weekday, which used to happen a lot. But on Shabbat, completing a minyan? Today it sounds strange.
• But not on Lag BaOmer. So there was a minyan 42 years ago.
Yes. Of course. There has always been a large crowd on Lag BaOmer, but the huge increase we've seen in recent years wasn't there then.
And what is your first memory of Lag BaOmer while you were there? It's probably far from what it is today. What was it then that you could say that brought back your heart to the first time?
Listen, the advantage when there's a smaller number is that you're more inside. The courtyard, the dances that were there back then, were something different. That's clear. How to define it? I don't know. But it was maybe more family-like.
• When you look at the situation in Meron today, what milestones can you mark for yourself as those that brought about these changes?
The whole issue of transportation, transportation arrangements, in this matter there has been tremendous progress that has resulted in more and more people being able to get to the place. It is true that when it falls on a Saturday night there are other problems, but in general the transportation arrangements have improved extraordinarily.
Reaching a situation where buses arrive right at the entrance to the settlement and pick up people - this was a very significant leap forward, and in this matter the right belongs to a man who is no longer with us, named Reuven Edri, z"l, who was in the position of chief traffic commander in the police, and later he had the position of district manager in the traffic police, Netivei Israel Hayom, and he was the one who came up with the bold idea at the time, to create a traffic circle that would allow passengers to get off and save them the hundreds of meters of walking. That should be given to his credit.
We were partners in this matter, but the idea and the leadership were his. The issue of the 'Mehadrin Road' is also a breakthrough, of course. There was a government ministry that was in charge of this breakthrough and its paving, and as soon as it was approved - in fact, there was no intention to pave it like the Mehadrin Road, it was created by us paving a new sewer line for the Rashbi, and with the paving of the line a road was also created, and then we decided that it would help a lot with the issue of going to the grave, and that's how the Mehadrin Road became.
I would say these are the two things that were a breakthrough on the subject of Lag BaOmer.
And one more thing: 40 years ago the main road was still full of stalls selling all kinds of things and all kinds of actions were done that were not in honor of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. The elimination of all this is the most important thing that happened here. That's clear.
• Is there anything you regret in terms of the changes that have been made? That you say: At this point it would have been better to stay the way it was before?
No, I think the changes are welcome and good, we want more and more people to come, so of course we need to build infrastructure for them. Therefore, all the changes are for the better. We need to continue to do it, develop the infrastructure and allow people to arrive conveniently.
• When you look at all the struggles that were, as you mentioned - through Mehadrin, we all remember the slaughter of the sheep in honor of the festival, which today does not take place there - in recent years there has been more concern for the Sabbath when the festival falls on Saturday, like this year, but despite everything, the struggles have never been like this year. You are one of those who are fighting to close the settlement, to prevent as much as possible the desecration of the Sabbath, tell us what actually happened this year?
The breaking point was for me two years ago, when Lag BaOmer fell on Saturday. I left my house for the Mincha prayer on Shabbat, and I saw dozens of mobiles, vehicles, transits arriving at the gate, dropping off ushers and inspectors and security personnel and police officers, at the entrance to the settlement - and all of them arrived with all the equipment that goes with them - walkie-talkies, guns, and the like - and during the Mincha prayer, inside the Rashbi's Zion, dozens or hundreds entered, scattered on the roof, took up seats, all of this right in the middle of Shabbat.
This was a kind of breaking point for me, and I'm sure it's not in honor of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. And the question is - is it necessary? And all the answers I received over time in meetings with police and security officials were simple: If you close the settlement and don't let anyone in until midnight, then the forces will be able to organize themselves from 8 a.m. at the end of Shabbat, to absorb the people who arrive at midnight.
If the lightings are postponed until later, there will be no need for all the stories of taking positions and desecrating the Sabbath on a massive scale.
It also has to do with the public transportation that leaves from Bnei Brak and Jerusalem and all the Haredi concentrations. If we want to bury our heads in the sand and say: My spiritual ascension is important to me and I don't look to the sides, okay, that's a method.
But if I understand that if I get on a bus at 10 p.m. in Jerusalem, then dozens and hundreds of buses, some of which arrive in the midst of Shabbat from other places in the country, so that they and their drivers are ready and willing to absorb all the immigrants, in honor of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai!
This is an extraordinary absurdity, and anyone who is not willing to fake their own life should say it clearly: every bus that leaves before midnight, if I buy a ticket to board at 10:00 PM, then I have directly contributed to the desecration of Shabbat, especially since today we are talking about registering for public transportation.
Anyone who buys a ticket for a bus that leaves before midnight is buying a ticket that, in order for the company to be able to provide service for that ticket, has to send drivers out in the middle of Shabbat. I don't know a single halachic authority who permits such a thing, but I do know all sorts of businessmen for whom this matter is less important than all sorts of events they want to organize around all these stories, and it's a shame that we behave this way.
• Is there a decision that you say to yourself: I would like to make it as the chairman of the community, and at the same time - is there a decision that you made and you say to yourself, it's a shame that I acted that way?
Not something that comes to mind, except for the issue of Shabbat. If there were arguments to close the settlement on Shabbat night to people entering until midnight, I think that this was the action that causes and will cause Kiddush Hashem and true peace for Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.
