Director-General Keren Turner-Eyal of the Ministry of Transportation is demanding that Education Ministry counterpart Shmuel Abuav return the Lag Baomer public-school vacation day to its original date on Sunday, in order to prevent safety risks to the hundreds of thousands of participants at the observance in Meron.
The holiday was moved to Monday so that students would not stay out late on Saturday night at bonfires potentially started before the end of the Jewish Sabbath. On Wednesday she sent an urgent letter to Abuav urging the Ministry of Education to reconsider its decision to change the day of school leave and return it to Sunday, as determined in advance. This is due to the expected harm to both the participants in the Lag B'Omer festivities, to students and to their parents.