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Layers of Light

JL;DR SUMMARY The article "Layers of Light" recounts the historic and spiritual significance of the Boyaner tradition of lighting the Lag B'Omer bonfire in Meron. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish HeritageJewish CommunitiesMeronChassidic TraditionLag B'omerBoyaner RebbeRuzhin DynastyFire Lighting RitualSpiritual ElevationDynastic History

Places mentioned

Jerusalem, Israel
"When we arrived at Yeshivas Tiferes Yisrael (the Boyaner yeshivah) on Malchei Yisrael Street in Jerusalems Geula neighborhood, the excitement in the packed hall was palpable."
Meron, Northern District, Israel
"Yet the Boyaner dynasty, and its historic chazakah over the hadlakah, almost didnt survive  until a remarkable chain of events restored the crown and returned the tradition to the famed rooftop bonfire in Meron."
New York, United States
"Rebbe Mordechai Shlomo established his base in New York, although most of the Boyaner chassidim lived in Eretz Yisrael."
Boro Park, New York, United States
"In the United States, we had regularly davened in the beis medrash of Rebbe Moshe Mordechai Heschel of Kopyczynitz in Boro Park  he even served as sandek at my bris."
Tzfas, Northern District, Israel
"In some years, Ruzhiner rebbes would come to Meron, such as the Husiatyn Rebbe and the Boshusher Rebbe, together with the Tzfas rabbanim."

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This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 84585
Cairo Source ID 8
Retrieved 2026-06-11 18:00:48 UTC
Curated 2026-06-11 19:00:43 UTC