Thursday, The Eve of Lag Ba’omer, 2021.
“Lag BaOmer” - a day of Jewish celebration where tradition identifies it as the day on which the plague that killed Rabbi Akiva's 24,000 disciples came to an end. After a year of worldwide corona, it felt like this might be the celebration of our own plague ending somewhat in Israel.
A day earlier, the government put out a notice that due to severe heat and the risk of wildfires, this year it would be forbidden to make “Medorot” (large bonfires), they would be allowed only in very specific places.
A friend of mine tipped me off that while driving through the religious city of Elad, she saw that they were building the biggest fire pyres she had ever seen to celebrate the day.
I decided to go there with my medium format Pentax 67 film camera to see what I could capture. In a large field bordered by dry shrubs stood many towers, filled with all kinds of materials: mostly wood but also couches, chairs, and other discarded household items. As far as my eyes could see, hundreds of small children were working tirelessly to construct bigger and bigger towers. It didn’t seem like there were any kids over the age of ten around, let alone any adults.
As soon as I stepped foot in the field, I was swarmed by about thirty kids, asking me who I was. “Are you police?” “Ya, he’s police! That drone in the air is his!”. I told them I wasn’t the police and asked them why they thought I was. “Because the police want to see what we’re doing!” I told them I was just there to take pictures of the bonfires. “Why?” “Are you from the newspaper?” I told them I wasn’t from any newspaper, I just liked taking pictures, and wanted to show my kids what Lag Ba’omer bonfires look like. A nine year old kid who seemed to be the oldest, and perhaps the leader of this specific 30 strong group- immediately extended an invitation- “Tell your kids to come here! They can help us!”. I thanked him, and was pretty amazed how fast I was transformed from the police to a welcome guest. I explained to him that my kids were too young to come. The group of kids ranging from 3-9 year olds seemed puzzled by the fact there was an age too young for all this, but let it go and were off to build the next tower.
I took a few more steps and was swarmed by a different group of thirty kids.
“Hey! Are you a cop?”……..
“Nope”.
In the distance I saw a kid dragging along a burning stick. He seemed way too young to be out there alone unsupervised in the smoky field, and way way too young to be holding a burning stick like that. He walked through some of the dried shrubbery surrounding the field, taking a short-cut to meet up with his friends on the other side. A few seconds after he emerged and joined his friends, that part of the field was on fire.
A firetruck waiting near by made its way through the erected towers to reach the burning field. The firefighters inside seemed unfazed, perhaps this has been going on for some time now, sporadic fires being set, and the firefighters putting them out.
As the firefighters unraveled the hoses, many kids surrounded the truck, and immediately started pulling and carrying equipment to help the firefighters do their job.
Soon enough night fell, and the kids started lighting up their towers. I was trying to plan where best to stand to capture photos of the fires, and figured I would stand in an open area between the towers.
That plan soon fell apart when the overwhelming, intense heat, pushed all of us far away to a safe distance.
As a kid, I also made a bonfire on Lag Ba’omer, but it was nothing like this, nothing so epic. The flames shot up high into the night sky, it was mesmerizing. I stood watching the flames engulf and light up the whole area, the wave of heat was unbelievable. Suddenly, I realized that I was standing next to that 9 year old “leader” that I had met before. He was staring contently at one of the towers.
“That one is mine” he said, he seemed really pleased. As the architect of that tower, he was proud to see his team’s work paid off.
He turned to me and said “Hey, do you want to come with us to Meron?” I knew religious people go to Meron on Lag Ba’omer. Knowing that the drive is about 2 hours away, I looked at my watch. It was already eight thirty at night, and he couldn’t have been older than 9 years old. “You’re still going to Meron? Tonight?” I asked. “I thought you were making these fires?”. “Ya, sure, the fire is lit, we’re done, you should come!”
I told him I would have to pass.
“We have 150 full buses leaving from Elad to Meron tonight, you can still come if you want”, he said.
I went home smelling like smoke. I was really happy to have met those kids and share such a mystical evening with them.
In the morning, I woke up to hear that there was a disaster at Meron with 44 people killed, including a kid from Elad.
All Photos www.RonenGoldman.com
Pentax 67ii
Tri-x, Portra 400