Corona? Moishe Aboutbol has a solution for how to observe the Halaka custom in Meron 

April 22, 2020   

MK Moshe Aboutubol addressed the Minister of Religious Services, Rabbi Yitzhak Vaknin, this morning (Wednesday) - and proposed a solution for maintaining the Halaka custom in Meron in the shadow of the Corona virus. "The Halaka custom with our master Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai ZIA on Lag BaOmer was established in the Holy Mountains by the Holy Ari," began MK Aboutubol. "Parents wait 3 years to have the hair of the heads of babies of the Rabban family cut with the Tanna, the Holy One, in their hearts and in their wombs. There are many children named 'Shimon' after the Holy Tanna - and their parents vowed and pledged to come to the Tzadik with the child who was born thanks to the prayers for the Halaka ceremony." Aboutbol adds: "Unfortunately this year, in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic, only a limited number of rabbis were allowed to go up to the mountain for the lighting of the lamp with up to 10 participants, and it is appropriate to also consider these righteous children. "A proposed solution: to register in advance only for the children of the halaka and their parents, and to divide the arrival of the children according to hours around the clock and in advance coordination on a quantity that will be approved at any time by the police and those responsible for reaching the foot of the mountain and its surroundings." The MK mentions: "There are many parking lots in the area that are equipped and designated every year for the hilula that will not be used this year, and it is possible to make halaka stands in the parking lot with partitions, for up to 19 people, like at the Western Wall, thus providing the opportunity to do halaka close and visible to the divine Tanna in Meron and this holy custom will not be canceled.".