Meron The biggest annual gathering of Jews in the world isn’t where you might expect it to be like the Kosel or the center of a major city or a large stadium. Instead it’s in a little village in the north of Israel called Meron about 15 miles northwest of Tzfas. Why there? Because that is where Rabi Shimon bar Yochai (1st century CE) author of the Zohar is buried. Jews visit Meron year-round to daven at his kever and those of other sages in the area and to enjoy the beautiful surroundings. But on Lag B’omer hundreds of thousands stream to Meron to commemorate Rabi Shimon’s yahrtzeit. For on the day he departed this world he revealed to his disciples the mysteries of the Zohar part of our sacred heritage ever since.