R’ Shimon Matlon, 37, OBM

By COLlive reporter

R’ Shimon Matlon, a beloved resident of Beitar Illit, a frum city south of Jerusalem, was killed in the Mount Meron tragedy in Israel, on Thursday night, 18 Iyar 5781.

He was 37.

A resident of the Dekel neighborhood, Matlon was married and a father of 11 children.

He regularly davened Shachris at the Chabad shul on Zehvil Street. “He was part of our community,” said Dovi Halperin, a resident. “He would come every morning with a smile.”

Matlon worked as a teacher at the Talmud Torah Chanichei Hayeshivos in Beitar and taught the special-ed class.

“He was a father to his children and his students,” said his brother-in-law, Leor Refaeli. “He was a person who was dedicated to education, chesed and was loved by members of the community.”

Refaeli said that Shimon Matlon was named after Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (Rashbi), the sage and author of the Zohar whose yartzeit on Lag BaOmer is celebrated at his gravesite on Mount Meron.

“Every year he would go to the tziyun in Meron on Lag BaOmer,” Refaeli said about Matlon who was one of the many Israelis who celebrated Lag BaOmer in Meron.

Tragically, a stampede crushed around 45 people to death injured more than 150 people in what was described as one of Israel’s deadliest civilian disasters.

“A heavy tragedy befell us,” Refaeli commented.

Baruch Dayan Ha’emes.