Minister of Jerusalem and Jewish Tradition, Meir Porush, and the Hillula projector, Yossi Deitch, are publishing a joint column this morning (Tuesday) in the newspaper 'HaMevasser' - on the results of the events of the Rashbi Hillula in Meron and the steps that led to it.
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The two begin the column with a frank admission that they failed in their mission: "It is impossible to deny the truth and the facts - 'The Rashbi's Revelry in Meron 5774' ended with a sense of loss and failure, and it is sealed, among other things, by our shift.".
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""It's true, the chances of success weren't high from the start, or rather, maybe they didn't even exist, from the moment it became clear that due to the security situation, Home Front Command would impose restrictions on the traditional celebration in Meron, but even considering the possible failure of an event of this type, we suffered the failure in a very painful way.".
The two write: "The result is doubly difficult for us personally, after last year we were blessed with divine help and cooperation with the public to make history and for the first time in years to hold the Rashbi celebration happily and safely, with the participation of over 200,000 people, almost without any problems, with more than 100,000 people managing to enter the divine Tanna Zion of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. But this year, a failure.".
They explain: "We were unable to implement the plan that was supposed to prevent the police from entering the holy site with forces as agreed upon with them in advance, and in fact to allow the ushers from among the Nash to manage the complex, similar to last year's plan, with the 'ruling procedures' that earned its good name, also at other celebrations in the past year.".
""Despite the exceptional security circumstances, we were unable to maintain the cooperation with the police as we did last year, when police forces did not operate at all in the Zion area and certainly did not carry out any operational action in the Zion complex and courtyard, without coordinating with us.".
""It is a mistake to think that in the strict restrictions imposed by the Home Front Command, it will be possible to coordinate with the police the sensitive conduct in Meron and maintain the balance between enforcing the Home Front Command order and avoiding desecration of the Rashbi Zia'a and harming the worshipping public.".
""It was a mistake to agree from the outset to an outline within the framework of which the Ministry of Jerusalem and Jewish Tradition is responsible for the existence of the 'no incident', while the police are authorized to enforce the general's order by force, without leaving room for operational flexibility, which we can exercise.".
The two criticize the Ministry of Finance: "We were unable to convince the Ministry of Finance that it would be good to establish 12 celebration complexes across the country, such as what we were able to do in the 'celebration courtyard' in Shimon Tzadik, which tens of thousands of people came to during the celebration, and our proposal, which was submitted in an organized outline to the Ministry of Finance, was rejected, even though approving it would certainly have helped confine the public to their cities and reduced the sights seen in Meron.".
""It is a mistake to pretend that with a cut-back budget that came from the budget department on Friday or a few days before the celebration, we can convince the public that the Aliyah to Rabbi Shimon is ingrained in their blood according to a long-standing tradition, and that this year it is impossible to do so and they must stay home and without, as mentioned, having budgeted for alternative events.".
""Those who told us from the first moment, 'You have experience in holding events, you have no experience in not holding events,' were right. We arrived at this event without the appropriate experience, and indeed we failed in not holding it.".
""When we realized that the responsibility fell on us in any case, we did not run away from it, but embraced it and tried to do the best we could, and this was because we understood that the second option was to close the mountain and lock down Zion without any way out and that it would also not allow the traditional lightings to take place in a limited manner. We went to the houses of the great men of Israel to receive their direction, and we acted accordingly, but in the end it was not successful.".
""We still don't understand all the reasons why it didn't work, but maybe we can start to understand how we got to this point, because we are also people of Meron, we also almost never missed Lag BaOmer in Meron since the age of three, our hearts also burn to see Zion Rashbi almost empty of people.".
""When the trend of the security forces to cancel the Hilula events in Meron became apparent, we embarked on a campaign of persuasion in order to preserve the tradition. Not to close the Rashbi's Zion in any way, not to cancel the lighting of the rabbi of Bayan, who continues a tradition of centuries, we insisted that the lightings be for all representative populations and we also tried not to cancel the lightings of all the holy communities that have a long tradition of ascending to the Zion of the divine Tanna in Meron, not to prevent the families of those who perished in the Meron disaster of 1971 from ascending the mountain. We wanted more than that, we understood the security situation, we knew the intelligence information, but our hearts could not stand by, not to shut down the Hilula of Rabbi Shimon.".
""We worked hard on this day and night, for a long period of time, all with the goal of still allowing the existence of the sacred tradition in Meron.".
""The painful result we have reached requires a sharp soul-searching and a ritual of advice on how to approach next year with a revised spiritual outline that will surpass even the success of 2013.".
""We are all filled with sorrow for the situation that has arisen and express our pain over the scenes seen on Lag BaOmer at the Meron Holy Sepulchre and the great mental anguish that this has caused to all of Israel.".
