The experience was a little different this time. We were there early - our bus was in the first wave of buses rather than in a later wave. It meant less pressure. There were 8 buses in our wave, meaning about 400 people. They had put up a mechitza in the room of the kever, with women entering from one side and men from the other, and maybe that also contributed to the experience - less pushing and squeezing in. There was also a sukka behind the mausoleum, and when I went to grab a bite and get a drink, Rav Rafi Peretz, the Chief Rabbi of the IDF, had just come in to the sukka and started speaking - see my video below....
Another aspect of how the experience was different, they did not rush us. They usually move people in and out quickly. They give each wave about 20-30 minutes and then they start sending people back to the buses. This time they gave us 45 minutes before sending us back.
Thee was also less food than usual, maybe because of the limited space of a small sukka to eat it in...
pictures after the video..
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