If you’ve wondered about the origins of the traditions some Jews have of not eating Kitniyot on Pesach, or of certain Jewish women dressing up like members of the Taliban, or even why Jews light bonfires on Lag B’Omer, well, now you have the chance to watch history in the making as a new “tradition” develops in Meah Shearim. In a few years, this is going to be mainstream.
Every year the bonfires get bigger and hotter, and it becomes more and more difficult to stand in their vincinity.
In Meah Shearim, their solution is not to make the bonfires smaller, but to make cardboard masks to prevent heat singe on their faces.
Next year everyone’s going to be wearing one, and if not for this article, 100 years from now, people will claim it was part of the original “Torah-true Judaism” celebration, and Kabbalistically linked to Purim, for good measure.
Oy va voy.
Yes, this last photo is from Lag B’Omer!