Visitors arrived en masse late at night on Motzei
Shabbos and Sunday to lay forth their prayers for Klal
Yisroel as well as individual concerns at the gravesite
of R' Shimon Bar Yochai in Meron.
Thousands of policemen, medics, firefighters and other rescue
workers were on hand to safeguard the hundreds of thousands
of visitors at the site on Lag BaOmer. A special field
command center was set up by Hatzoloh Galil in cooperation
with Clalit Healthcare Services. Advanced communications
equipment was installed and medical equipment was readied to
handle various emergency situations. Magen David Adom and
Hatzoloh medics and paramedics acted quickly in response to
numerous minor emergencies at the tomb and at Mount Meron.
From Friday afternoon through Sunday night medics answered
hundreds of calls for assistance at and near the gravesite.
The majority of the incidents involved fainting spells as a
result of the crowded conditions, burns from the bonfires and
other incidents such as respiratory problems, broken bones
and wounds. In most cases the people in need of care were
treated in the field or at the Magen David Adom clinic in
Meron and released immediately. In a few dozen cases they had
to be taken by ambulance to Ziv Hospital in Tzfas.
Volunteers who helped provide first aid services arrived from
all over the country to reinforce the Hatzoloh Galil
volunteers headed by Rabbi Nachman Klein. The United Hatzoloh
volunteers received praise for their professionalism and
dedication to saving human lives by Magen David Adom workers
led by Jordan Region Manager Eli Peretz and his assistant,
Shimon Abutbol, who directed the medical services provided at
Meron.
Without the volunteers in many cases the response time would
have been much longer, noted United Hatzoloh Chairman Rabbi
Ze'ev Kashash, who conducted an inspection of the first aid
arrangements in Meron.
