Several years ago, on the anniversary of the liberation of Hebron in 1967, I was
interviewed by a journalist who queried me about various problems facing
Hebron’s Jewish community. His concluding question/statement was, “Well, I guess
you’re not celebrating today?”
“Why not?” I replied.
“Well, you have all
these problems and issues, how can you celebrate?”
“You just don’t understand,”
I answered. “Look at where were we 70 years ago, or 60 years ago. Were we
in Hebron? Today I’m here, in the first Jewish city in Israel. I live here, I
work here, I’m bringing up my children here. This is my home. True, we have
problems. There are ups and downs. Issues must be dealt with. And they will be
overcome. But I’m here. And as long as I’m here, I have what to
celebrate, and that’s exactly what I’m doing today!”
One of our most special
celebrations will occur this weekend. The Torah portion of Hayei Sarah,
otherwise known as “Shabbat Hebron,” is an extraordinary event. It is not an
ordinary shabbat (which in Hebron is also unique). Rather, it is an
event.
Over the past decade, some 20,000 people have capitalized on this
special Sabbath to crowd into Hebron and nearby Kiryat Arba to rejoice. Starting
on Friday morning, Israelis young and old will begin flocking to the city. Jews
from the United States and other countries fly to Israel to be in Hebron for
this exceptional occasion.
Well over six months prior to this Sabbath we
begin receiving phone calls and emails requesting places to sleep and eat on
this auspicious day. Dozens of tents are pitched outside Me’arat Hamachpela, the
Cave of the Patriarchs, and Matriarchs. Public buildings are transformed
into dormitories, with separate facilities for men and women. It’s the only time
of the year when my living room is wall-to-wall people sleeping on the
floor.
One year, on Saturday night, a young woman walked into our kitchen
to thank my wife. She asked what for. The woman said she had slept in one of our
rooms. We had no idea she was there, or where she slept, because the room was
already packed.
A huge tent is constructed outside the Avraham Avinu
neighborhood, providing meals thousands of guests. Literally every nook and
cranny in Hebron is utilized, with people sleeping and eating wherever they can
find a few free meters.
All hours of the day and night the streets are
full of people walking to and from the various neighborhoods in Hebron. Saturday
afternoon, multitudes tour the city, visiting the Hebron Heritage Museum at Beit
Hadassah, the tomb of Jesse and Ruth in Tel Rumeida, and the Avraham Avinu
synagogue in the Avraham Avinu neighborhood. Special Casba tours are also
included in the day’s agenda.
The heart of the day’s events takes place
at Me’arat Hamachpela. On Friday night, literally thousands of people gather at
this holy site, inside and out, to offer joyous Sabbath prayers. Singing and
dancing during a huge “Carlebach minyan,” conducted in the Machpela courtyard,
is unbelievably uplifting.
But the pinnacle and actual raison d’être for
the ingathering begins early Saturday morning.
By 5:15 a.m., thousands
make their way to early morning prayers at the Machpela. The entire
building is open to Jewish worshipers, including “Ohel Yitzhak,” the Isaac Hall,
available to Jews only ten days during the year. The first
vatikin service, with
the sunrise, is a spiritually inspirational way to start the
day.
However, the peak takes place about an hour into the service. A
Torah scroll is removed from the Holy Ark and opened. The first person,
usually a
cohen, or priest, is called up to the Torah. Following recitation of a
blessing, the reader begins:
“And the life of Sarah was a hundred and seven and
twenty years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in
Kiryat Arba –the same is Hebron – in the land of Canaan; and Abraham came to
mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her... and Abraham weighed to Ephron the
silver...four hundred shekels of silver... And Abraham buried Sarah his
wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre – the same is Hebron –
in the land of Canaan...” (Gen: 23, 1-20).
HERE, AT Machpela in Hebron,
some 3,800 years ago, Abraham, the first Jew, purchases the first Jewish
property in Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel. It is an amazing thought: here we
are, almost 4,000 years later, the offspring of the first Jew, present at that
very site which we read about in the Torah. It is all the more
astonishing considering that fact that this sacred site was off-limits to Jews
for seven centuries, following the 1267 Mamluk conquest of Israel. Only since
our return to Hebron in 1967 has this holy place again accessible to any and all
who wish to visit or worship here.
If that isn’t a reason to celebrate,
what is?
As a result of political anti-Semitism, the first Jewish site of
national heritage has become an object of international
controversy. UNESCO has recognized our first holy site as a “Palestinian
heritage site,” demanding it be removed from Israel's list of “national heritage
sites.”
Should this site again be placed under Muslim control, Jews (and
Christians) will no longer be allowed to enter and worship at this holy place,
as was the case for 700 years, as the Arabs consider it to be a mosque.
According to Islam, only Muslims may enter and pray in a mosque.
Support
for a continued Jewish presence in Hebron and at Machpela is
tangible. Some half a million visitors of all religions visit Hebron and
Machpela annually, letting their feet do the talking. Polls show that almost 90
percent of Israelis reject relinquishing Me’arat Hamachpela. Rejection of Hebron
and Me’arat Hamachpela is equivalent to chopping off our roots. And we all know
what happens to a tree when you sever its roots.
Shabbat Hayei Sarah in
Hebron is an affirmation of our people’s right to live and worship freely in our
land. This is the embodiment of the Israeli national anthem,
Hatikva:
Lehiot am
hofshi, b’artzeinu – to be a free people in our land. Can we be a free
people in our land without the first Jewish city in Israel; without free,
unlimited worship at the first Jewish holy site in our land?
This Sabbath, some
20,000 people from Israel and around the world will answer that question, at
Machpela, in Hebron.
The writer is a spokesman for the Jewish community
of Hebron.This article is dedicated to the memory of Rabbi Sholom DovBer
Goldshmid, who passed away last week. Born in Hebron 86 years ago, he
survived the 1929 Hebron massacre, but his father, Moshe, was killed at their
home. He loved Hebron with all his heart and soul. May his memory be blessed.