Report from Meron - Six hours in a subway car

Let's say that you have reached the conclusion that life in modern Israel is beat  -- financially, socially, medically, culturally, educationally, and even religiously. Still you might say, but there are experiences to be had there that are not available anywhere else, for example Lag B'omer in Meron. Doesn't that sound amazing, Lag B'omer in Meron, together with many other fine Jews on that Holy site? 

So I just had a Lag B'omer in Meron, which I would liken to six hours in a subway car. I talked in an earlier post about the challenges of buying tickets via a website that didn't make them available when it said it would but didn't tell us why the purchase tickets now button wasn't operational, so that I had to keep clicking it all night until they finally opened it when I found yourself  number 40,000 or so on the waiting list.

The ticket ordeal didn't end when I finally got the tickets, because the QR code on the printout was unreadable to the smart phone readers at the entrance to the buses, and the ticket checkers, being typically unresourceful and cold hearted Israelis wouldn't let me through. And all the while I was standing right up top of some frum women because the organizers didn't arranged for separate entrance lines. They mixed us all together. The person I was with had the bright idea to have the guy read his QR code twice since the tickets were purchased together and thankfully that worked.

So we got on the bus and three long hours later were in Meron, which was a mob scene. Whatever lessons that were supposed to be learned from the tragedy of four years ago seemed to have worn off. Nearly everywhere I went was packed with people, none of whom knew how to politely handle themselves in a crowd. I say without exaggeration that bodies smashed into mine over 100 times through the night. And I never heard excuse me once. There were even times that I managed to move to an area where there was some space, on the outskirts of everything, say 10 feet in every direction and people still smashed into me. 

Police as usual only caused trouble. Just like my last time in Meron, a cadre of police came stomping through the crowd pushing everyone out of their way. Israeli police do not look human with their faces of stone, and they don't act human either. And at the end of the night, as we were heading back to the buses, they funneled a huge crowd through a narrow passageway as they stood on either side of us. I was afraid I'd suffocate in there.

There were numerous occasions during the night where I was in a crowd so dense that I feared for my life. One time was near the kever building about 100 feet from the stairs where all those people were killed four years ago. Of course, it was the event staff, like the police, who were causing the traffic jam.

Another time was on the shuttle bus leaving the place. The people all pushed their way in, jumping in front of each other. There was no line. Once I finally got in, it was packed. I stood near the door so I could breathe but some guy forced his way in even though a policeman was shouting at him to stop. I actually tried to push him off the bus but that didn't result in him backing off. Israelis never back off. They never get the hint. So I had to squeeze myself off the bus just to get air. This same thing happened to me recently at the Kosel, where a big chassidic guy forced his way into an overly crowded bus. These people go through life without any consideration of others. 

Along with all that came blaring speakers, all set to maximum decibels. You could not carry on a conversation anywhere in Meron because the music was so loud. There was garbage everywhere. The room where the 'free food' was offered was filthy. And the food was terrible, consisting of bland and wet noodles and vegetarian hot dogs. That was it. It was gross.

It was also cold and damp, but I could have lived with that if for not the mass of human chaos and inconsideration. This was not even remotely a spiritual experience. It was an Israeli experience, which is the opposite of that, even at holy sites.

If I were a movie critic, I'd give it 0 stars. It was like six hours in a subway car.