Kiryas Joel religious event draws up to 100,000 visitors in one night
Instead of making a pilgrimage to the Mount Meron holy site in Israel to honor a legendary rabbi, thousands of Hasidic Jews are in Kiryas Joel this Monday evening.
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As many as 100,000 people from around the northeastern United States are descending on the Hasidic community of Kiryas Joel for a religious event that's much bigger than usual.
Instead of making a pilgrimage to the Mount Meron holy site in Israel to honor a legendary rabbi, thousands of Hasidic Jews are in Kiryas Joel this Monday evening.
Mount Meron is closed due to Israel's conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, leading to the world's biggest Lag BaOmer celebration to be held in Kiryas Joel.
Kiryas Joel event organizers have set up bleachers, so all guests have a view of this evening's traditional bonfire parade, which signify the light of the teachings of second-century Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.
"When the rabbi will sing, we'll light the bonfire," event organizer Yitz Farkas said Monday afternoon. "The entire sea of people will dance together."
Like in past years, local police, New York State Police and EMS personnel are on scene.
Orange County Emergency Management Commissioner Pete Cirigliano said the agencies are in Kiryas Joel to make sure the event is orderly and to protect the event from any violence or other disruption.
"We'll be maintaining a security posture, and not being complacent," Cirigliano said Monday morning over Zoom. "Assets will be there. Some the public will see. Some the public will not see."
Farkas said it is important for the surrounding non-Hasidic community to know his culture's stance on war and politics.
He said that especially in these turbulent times, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai's lessons — like choosing the Torah over war — shape many Hasidics' views of the world.
"We are pro-Torah and pro-Torah means pro-peace automatically," he said, "but we're not going to tell the world what to do. Judaism is a peaceful movement, pro-Torah."
Cirigliano said first responder crews are planning to stay in the village through the end of the event, sometime after midnight.
