Starting last Monday night, 400,000 Jews gathered in the Galilean town of Meron to celebrate the holiday of Lag BaOmer. The festival marks the anniversary of the death of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai who authored the central work of the Kabbalah, the Zohar, and lived in the period following the destruction of the Second Temple, some 1,900 years ago.
 
The videos below, filmed by Rabbi Tovia Singer, capture the joy and dancing at the opening ceremony.  In the second video, philanthropist Guma Aguiar can be seen blowing the shofar at the ceremony.