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| Hillula of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai | |
|---|---|
 Dancing in the yard of the tomb, 2016 | |
| Observed by | Jews |
| Significance | Anniversary of death of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai |
| Celebrations | Lighting of a bonfire, mass dances |
| Date | 18 Iyar |
| 2023 date | Sunset, 8 May – nightfall, 9 May |
| 2024 date | Sunset, 25 May – nightfall, 26 May |
| 2025 date | Sunset, 15 May – nightfall, 16 May |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Related to | Lag BaOmer |
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Every year on Lag BaOmer, some 200,000 people flock to the 'Yom Hillula' (day of rejoicing) at the tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in Meron, Israel.[1] The highlight of the event is the traditional bonfire lit after nightfall on the roof of the tomb, after which celebration with music and dancing begins. From the 13th century onwards, the site became the most popular Jewish pilgrimage site in all of Israel,[2] the celebration first being mentioned by an Italian traveller in 1322.[3] Today it forms the largest mass annual event in Israel.
- ^ Schwartz (1999), p. 47.
- ^ Horden, Peregrine; Purcell, Nicholas (2000), The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History, Blackwell Publishing, ISBN 9780631218906, p. 446: "From the thirteenth century the most frequented pilgrim shrine for Jews in Palestine was at Meiron in Galilee… While it was a prominent local religious centre in late Antiquity, with a fine synagogue built in a conspicuous position and a much-venerated copies spring, it had then nothing like the status which it would acquire in the Middle Ages."
- ^ Bension (1932), Preface, xxxi.