Page 6 - Ulpan Or E-Tone (23.05.17) Advanced level

E-Tone™: Ulpan-Or Weekly News Digest

Item #1 (Advanced Level)

Lag BaOmer at Meron

This is probably the biggest cultural festival in Israel; again, hundreds of
thousands are at the traditional festivities at the tomb of Rabbi Simeon bar
Yochai, Rashbi, according to tradition the author of the main Kabbalah
book – the book of the Zohar. It’s a diverse spiritual event with prominent
ultra-orthodox domination. The speakers repeat time after time in the two
official languages – Hebrew and Yiddish. (You) can’t really understand
the religious and social experience of any pilgrims, without understanding
that the exhausting journey and the symbolic climb to the mountain is
probably a part of the whole thing. Minister of Transportation Israel Katz,
who organized a model train ride, promises that as of next year tens of
thousands will be able to skip the massive traffic jams part on the roads
and get (there) via trains. Alongside the ultra-orthodox, there’s still some
presence for the beauty of popular religion, from big to small. Stands of
religious articles with the mixture of memorial candles, religious idol
pictures, oil flasks and the likes. But all are united around the new
religious hit: more and more stands offering spinners for sale.

Page 6 - Edition 05-28-17

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