A Story That’s Slightly Absurd… and Slightly Sad

There’s a moment every year
when the State of Israel turns twelve again.

Wood mysteriously disappears.
Kids build bonfire empires.
Adults pretend it’s “tradition” while secretly enjoying the nostalgia.

And then the real adults arrive –
armed with air-quality apps and expressions of impending apocalypse.

Welcome back to Lag BaOmer:
officially rebranded as an ecological disaster… with marshmallows.

Then: A Bonfire. Now: An Environmental Crime

Once upon a time, it was simple:
a small fire, a potato, a bit of smoke in your eyes.

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Today?

Headlines scream:

• “Hazardous pollution”
• “Public health risk”
• “Environmental destruction”

Suddenly, a kid holding a plank
feels like a climate criminal.

Let’s introduce some proportion:

Yes – there is pollution.
Yes – smoke isn’t healthy.

But also:

• One traffic jam on Ayalon does more
• One flight to Eilat does more
• One mid-sized factory does significantly more

Yet somehow, the most urgent threat (quite literally burning)
is a child roasting a potato on a stick.

How Did This Happen? Simple: Narrative

Lag BaOmer didn’t change.
The story around it did.

In the past decade, environmental awareness has risen – rightly so.
But alongside it came something else:
the need to assign blame.

And what’s more convenient than:

• One holiday
• One night
• Bonfires that photograph beautifully

Boom. Headline secured.

It’s not that the data is false.
It’s that it’s presented without context.

Because a good narrative doesn’t need balance.
Just a dramatic photo with smoke.

The Tribal Bonfire – In Every Sense

There’s something deeper about Lag BaOmer.

It’s not just fire.
It’s community.

Kids go outside.
Neighbors talk.
The air smells like smoke, not air conditioning.

In a country addicted to screens,
that’s almost a miracle.

But miracles don’t graph well in pollution charts.
And suddenly, the ever-alert “enlightened crowd” discovers a new cause.

So what do we do?
We’re told it’s “unnecessary.”

The Solutions: Less Fire, More Regulation

Of course, there are solutions:

• “Community bonfires only”
• “Limit the amount of wood”
• “Transition to green events”

Translated: less spontaneity, more paperwork.

And this is the exact moment
the average Israeli gets irritated.

Because in Israel,
if there’s one thing stronger than fire –
it’s resistance to instructions.

The Mild Hypocrisy

Now it gets interesting.

The same people warning about Lag BaOmer pollution
will board a flight to Europe a week later.

The same authorities preaching air quality
struggle to address real, year-round environmental issues.

This doesn’t mean the problem isn’t real.
It means the response to it is… selective.

Very.

So Is It Really Absurd?

Not entirely.

There is a real issue:

• Localized spikes in pollution
• Fire hazards
• Temporary drops in air quality

But it is:

• Temporary
• Limited
• Manageable

What’s absurd
is the gap between the problem
and the panic.

Israeli-ness at Its Finest (or Smokiest)

Lag BaOmer is quintessentially Israeli:

• Slightly excessive
• Slightly chaotic
• Slightly dangerous
• And far more meaningful than it appears

It reminds us of something many have forgotten:
not everything needs to be sterile, controlled, and regulated to death.

Sometimes,
people just need fire.

Between Smoke and Reality

Lag BaOmer didn’t become the enemy of the environment.
It simply became a convenient target.

Because it’s easy to photograph a bonfire.
Much harder to photograph policy.

So yes – we can improve.
We can reduce.
We can think.

But turning an entire holiday into an “environmental threat”?
That’s a bit like burning a forest
to light a candle.

And in the meantime?

Kids will keep gathering wood.
Adults will keep arguing.
And the fires will keep burning.

Because in Israel,
even when you try to extinguish it –
there’s always a little fire left.

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