Lag Ba'omer: These are the victims of the Mount Meron stampede
President Reuven Rivlin lit 45 candles on Friday afternoon to commemorate the 45 victims reported at the time from Mount Meron.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF APRIL 30, 2021 19:00Email Twitter Facebook fb-messenger
The funeral of a victim of the Mount Meron tragedy that took place on Lag B'Omer, April 2021. (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
The funeral of a victim of the Mount Meron tragedy that took place on Lag B'Omer, April 2021.
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
At least 45 people were killed on Thursday night after a stampede broke out as massive crowds gathered for the Mount Meron religious bonfire-lighting ceremony to mark the holiday of Lag Ba'omer.
Below is a list of the victims, published by haredi (ultra-Orthodox) news sites Bhadrei Haredim and Kikar Hashabat. The list will continue to be updated, as not all of the victims have been identified.
At least five of the deceased are US citizens, the US State Department said in a statement.
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Israel's Population Authority has opened a direct line of contact for first-degree family members of those injured during the Mount Meron disaster, which would ease the bureaucratic process of visiting Israel if the family members live abroad, Ynet news reported on Friday.
The authority stated that as part of the initiative, the requests must be sent through the Border Control Administration at the e-mail address:
[email protected]
Rabbi Eliezer Tzvi Yoza'af, 26, was a Satmar hassid from the US. He was the father of four children.
Menachem Kenobelovitz, was also a US citizen from New York, who was engaged only two weeks ago to the daughter of Rabbi Shlomo Chaim Rosemarin from New York.
Shragee Gestetner, a Skverer hassidic rabbi and musician, arrived in Israel from his hometown of Montreal, Canada to participate in the Lag Ba'omer celebrations.
Since his family is not in Israel, the general public was asked to show up at 3 p.m. for his funeral. He was buried in the Har Hamenuhot Cemetery.
Diaspora Affairs Minister Omer Yankelevitch called on the public to attend the funeral: "With a heavy and hurting heart Gestetner's death was publicized. We will not leave him alone in his last moments."
Rabbi Yisrael Ankawa, 24, from Beit Shemesh was the father of two.
Rabbi Menachem Asher Zachbach, 24, was a yeshiva student living in Modi’in Illit. His funeral took place Friday and began at his parents' home in Bnei Brak.
Chaim Rak was a yeshiva student from Beit Shemesh who was studying in the Mir Yeshiva in Modi'in Illit.
Yosef Amram Tauber was a resident of Monsey, New York, who came to the Brisk Yeshiva in Jerusalem to study.
Eliahu Cohen, 16, was a Breslov hassid from Betar Illit.
Rabbi David Kroys, 33, was the father of nine. Kroys belonged to the Toldot Aharon hassidic sect.
Rabbi Shimon Matlon, 37, was a Talmud Torah teacher in Betar.
Rabbi Simcha Bunim Diskind, 23, was a well-known Gur hassid living in Beit Shemesh.
Rabbi Hahoch Slod, 52, was also a Gur hassid, from Ashdod, where his funeral took place before Shabbat.
Rabbi Elazar Mordechai Goldberg, 37, was a Szydlowiec hassid from Betar Illit, and a Talmud Torah teacher. He was the father of four children.
Moshe Ben Shalom, 21, was a student at the Ponovitz Yeshiva in Bnei Brak.
Yedida Asher Poleg, 22, was a student of the Hesder Yeshiva in Ramat Gan, originally from Kiryat Moshe in Jerusalem, who was living in Givat Shmuel before the accident.
Two sons of Rabbi Yitzchak Mendel Englard, a Bobov hassid from Jerusalem, were killed as well. Yehoshua Englander, 9, and Moshe Natan Englander, 14, both of Jerusalem.
Rabbi Haim Ozer Seller, 24, was the father of a girl and resident of the Neve Ya'akov neighborhood of Jerusalem. He was a graduate of the Ponevezh Yeshiva.
Rabbi David Krause, 33, father of nine, resident of Beit Shemesh.
Rabbi Yehuda Leib Rubin, 27, from Beit Shemesh, father of three children.
Rabbi Shmuel Zvi Klagsbald, 34, from Beitar Illit, a Torah scholar at Maor Einayim.
Moshe Levy, 14, from Bnei Brak, a Talmud Torah student.
Nachman Kirshbaum, 16, from Beit Shemesh.
Some of the victims were to be buried in the Mount of Olives cemetery and the rest in the Har Hamenuhot cemetery, the Jerusalem Municipality announced.
The bodies of the deceased were moved from Mount Meron to the L. Greenberg Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir for identification by families who had not yet managed to find their relatives.
Police blocked off traffic to open up the space for the families to arrive easily, and a tent was set up for them outside of the building, Maariv reported.
President Reuven Rivlin launched a campaign at the President's Residence on Friday to help families find their loved ones.
Rivlin lit 45 candles on Friday afternoon to commemorate the 45 fatalities from Mount Meron reported at the time.
President Reuven Rivlin lighting 45 candles in honor of the victims from Mount Meron, April 30, 2021. (Credit: MARK NEYMAN/GPO)President Reuven Rivlin lighting 45 candles in honor of the victims from Mount Meron, April 30, 2021. (Credit: MARK NEYMAN/GPO)
"This is the time to hug the families and to help them find their loved ones – to cry together," he said. "This is a hard and painful day. This tragedy is heartbreaking."
