Look there is a group of children dragging big pieces of wood through the streets of Yerushalayim. Some have attached logs to the back of their bikes. I’ll bet you are wondering where they are going and what they are doing with all that wood.

Since Pesach ended groups of friends have been roaming the streets searching for things to burn – stuff like old mattresses cardboard boxes and piles of used paper from print shops. Sometimes the kids go into the forest looking for fallen branches -- the bigger the better.

They bring all these “treasures” to the place on their street where they have chosen to make their medurah — their Lag B’Omer bonfire. On this spot they make a very tall tower of built of wood which they will light under their parent’s supervision on Lag B’Omer night. Fire trucks patrol the streets on the day before Lag B’Omer and pull down any piles that are not safe.

To read the rest of this story please buy this issue of Mishpacha or sign up for a weekly subscription.