Midwood was on fire last week — at least at the Lag BaOmer celebration on Ocean Avenue.
A group of religious Jews paraded down Ocean Avenue to Kings Highway to celebrate the holiday, which commemorates the life of a second-century rabbi — as well as an ancient plague that wiped out a handful of scholars, according to Jewish history — through bonfires and other rituals.
A performer entertained the marching masses with such medieval entertainment as sword swallowing and fire breathing, and marchers carried signs reading “I Love Every Jew,” and “Wrap the straps, get connected.”
Dozens danced down the street to celebrate the holiday, in which men and women can get haircuts after more than a month of going without them after the Passover holiday.
“People light a fire because that was the type of person Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was,” said a neighborhood source.
Reach reporter Eli Rosenberg at erosenberg@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-2531. And follow him at twitter.com/emrosenberg.
