Lag B’Omer in the Divided City

While hundreds of thousands of people traveled to the city of Meron

 to celebrate the holiday of Lag B’Omer,

those remaining in Jerusalem were divided into two groups.

One group stayed indoors at night with their windows shut tight.

 

 And the second group gathered around medurot, bonfires,

transforming otherwise peaceful nature areas and parks into smokey infernos.

The air filled with smoke, as fires were fueled by

 everything from a car load of  small sticks to a long board,

 and  pieces of wood big and small,

brought by little girls and big guys;

even by taxi they came.

Fires, large and small, filled the city with smoke.

Was this bench to sit on or to burn?

People of all ages and

chairs of all types filled the park.

Safety warnings were posted and it rained over night, but the next afternoon

there were still fires smouldering.

The birds enjoyed a bit of day time quiet,

then a  woman and her grandchildren came to start a new medura.

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai  was a disciple of Rabbi Akiva

and master of mystical teachings.

Could he ever have imagined these celebrations in his name?