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The situation heading to and from Kever Rochel on Motzei Shabbos was disastrous and many thousands of people waited to leave the tziyun, to make their way there or in some cases, stuck on packed buses.
Many people were stranded on Motzei Shabbos as they tried making their way to Kever Rochel for the yahrzeit, which fell on Shabbos. Israel Police spokesman for the chareidi community Gerverchik to Noam Zeigman on Kol Chai Radio “The kever can only accommodate 1,000 mispallalim and there were over 45,000 mispallalim at one time”.
Gerverchik added there is simply no way to be prepared for this or accommodate such a large number of mispallalim, concluding that by 2:00AM everyone got in despite the large numbers.
The police spokesman cited the complications due to the venue, located in a PA (Palestinian Authority) area and the need for special security considerations. He feels that even additional buses would not have assisted in making matters better since roads to and from the tziyun cannot accommodate the number of buses that would have been required.
Thousands of people waited for hours to get to the tziyun, many stuck enroute to the site not knowing what to do. Some lamented they stood in tightly packed buses for over an hour without a clue as to what was occurring.
Some report that in areas of Yerushalayim buses stopped at 11:00PM on Motzei Shabbos while Egged promised service would continue until 1:00PM.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photos: Media Resource Group)
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2 Responses
Perhaps these mispallalim will realize that davening by the kever will have the same effect if they offered their teffilos a few days earlier or later. There is this mindless obsession on having to daven on the day of the yahrtzeit without recognizing the physical restrictions on the site itself even putting aside the critical security arrangements.
Hi ,some say that the soul is only at the kever at certain times and one of these times is the yarzeit