Lag B’Omer revelry returned in full swing to Mount Meron Thursday as tens of thousands of celebrants packed the mountain tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai to the brim come nightfall, singing and dancing in honor of the 2nd-century Jewish sage.

After authorities closed the site to the public last year for fear of Hezbollah rocket fire from Lebanon, the massive event seemed to have bounced back to its pre-2024 numbers.

Expansions to the tomb complex enabled authorities to up the number of people allowed at the site at a given time, amid perennial overcrowding concerns.

After mostly Hasidic men completed the maariv evening prayer, the first bonfire was lit next to Bar Yochai’s resting place. The exuberant crowd then began jumping up and down to a song sung in Yiddish-inflected Hebrew, extolling the mystic on the anniversary of his death.

The Boyaner Rebbe, HaRav Nachum Dov Brayer traditionally lights the first bonfire at the annual Lag B’Omer celebration at the tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai in Meron, Israel. This privilege was purchased by HaRav Avrohom Yaakov Friedman Zt”l, the first Sadigura Rebbe, from the Sephardic guardians of Meron and Safed; the Sadigura Rebbe bequeathed this honor to his eldest son, HaRav Yitzchok Zt”l, the first Boyaner Rebbe, and his progeny. The first hadlakah is attended by hundreds of thousands of people each year.

Lag Ba’Omer is the 33rd day of the 50 day count between the holiday of Pesach (Passover), at which time the Israelite’s were freed from slavery in Egypt, and the holiday of Shavuot, at which time they received the Torah at Mount Sinai. However, it is also the day of the passing of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (sometimes known by the acronym Rashbi), was a rabbi in the time of the Mishna, after the destruction of the Second Temple. The pre-eminent disciple of the great Rabbi Akiva, he was – like his predecessor – a vocal opponent of the Roman occupation of the Land of Israel, and was forced to go into hiding for 13 years with his son, Rabbi Eliezer, in order to avoid imprisonment by the Romans.

However, Rabbi Shimon’s foremost legacy is the Zohar, the fundamental work of the Kabbalah, the teachings of Jewish mysticism. It is primarily for this reason that the day of his passing is celebrated by the Jewish people. Tradition records that on the day of his death, Rabbi Shimon revealed to his students the deepest secrets of mysticism, causing a day which would have been sorrowful and bitter to become a day of celebration and rejoicing.

Moreover, prior to this day, the 33rd day of the Omer corresponded to the end of a plague which ravaged the 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva (though some interpretations say many of the students died participating in the Bar Kochba rebellion against the Romans, an effort in which Rabbi Akiva was a leading figure), causing the day to be one of celebration independent of a relationship to Rabbi Shimon