Jewish History • Contemporary Relevance

What’s with the burning of clothes at Meron on Lag b’Omer?

May 4, 2026
What’s with the burning of clothes at Meron on Lag b’Omer?
What’s with the burning of clothes at Meron on Lag b’Omer?
Rabbi Dovid Katz
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Throwing clothes onto a coffin was an (incorrect but emotionally understandable) practice in Talmudic days expressing an excess of grief. With Rashbi (described as ascending to Heaven in a Pillar of Fire), the tossing of clothes morphed into burning them to celebrate his unique petirah.