What Happens When Nati Rom Joins a Tour of "Breaking the Silence" in Hebron?

This is just so good!

בְּטוּב צַדִּיקִים תַּעֲלֹץ קִרְיָה, וּבַאֲבֹד רְשָׁעִים רִנָּה

Hakafot Sheniyot in the Cave of the Patriarchs

Dvar Torah for Chayei Sarah: Honesty is the Best Policy

In this week's Torah portion we read about Abraham's purchase of Ma'arat HaMachpela, the Patriarch's Cave, from Efron the Hittite. Here's a story that I read in volume two of the book "Avihem Shel Yisrael", a compendium of stories about Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu zt"l:



Even before the 1929 massacre of Hebron's Jewish Community by the Arabs, the Cave of the Patriarchs was closed off to the Jews. It did not matter that this was the resting place of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah. The Arabs would only let the Jews up to the seventh step of the stairs leading up to the entrance.

After Hebron was liberated by the IDF during the Six Day War, Jews were finally able to enter the Cave of the Patriarchs. Chief Rabbi Nissim sent Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu to take care of the place. Many soldiers were there. Also present were high ranking officers like Rabin, Bar Lev, and Uzi Narkis. Some important Rabbis also came to Hebron to pray at the burial place of the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Jewish People.

The soldiers, some of them wounded, some of tired from days of battle, took a nap on the rugs that were there. Those that were hungry grabbed a bite to eat. Suddenly the Sheikh of the Cave, whose name was Jabri, started yelling at the soldiers and the commanders.

"Get out of here! You are not giving this site proper respect! We Muslims wash our hands five times before entering and remove our shoes. You Jews, have no respect: sleeping here, eating here and entering with your dirty shoes. Get out!

Seemingly, the sheikh was correct. Everyone was silent, except for one.

"Listen ya sheikh," answered him Rabbi Eliyahu in Arabic, a language familiar to him and to most of the high ranking officers. "If the king's servant comes wearing dirty clothes and serves the king food from a dirty platter in front of the the king's ministers and servants, he is certainly liable the death penalty. However, if the king's son, who hasn't seen the king for twenty years, and his father and mother miss him and cry about him at night - if this son, will show up in ragged and dusty clothes, without making an appointment, and will enter in the middle of a meeting of the king and his ministers and say, 'Father, I've come back' - he'll come to his mother and say 'Mother, I'm home' - the father and mother will surely hug him heartily, dirty clothes and all. He's their son."

"Listen ya sheikh," continued Rabbi Eliyahu. "Abraham is our father. Sarah is our mother. We feel at home here. You are the children of al-fatma, the maidservant Hagar. You are behaving here as is proper for a servant to behave, we behave here as is proper for a son to behave."

The sheikh turned red with shame and anger. He lost the argument, and in addition was called "ibn al-fatma". He returned in anger to his office.

The officers there were upset. "We want to live in coexistence and peace with the Arabs. Why did you anger him?"

The rabbi answered, "You have to tell them the truth. That's the only way they understand.

The argument continued for several minutes, until the sheikh came out of his office again. He turned submissively to Rabbi Eliyahu and said, "ya chacham, ya sidi, (wise man and master) please forgive me."

The Rabbi did not answer him. Instead he turned to the commanders and said,
"You see which language they understand. I grew up among them as a child in the Old City of Jerusalem. Tell them the truth and they understand.

Truth Sprouts From the Land!

Shai Dromi Acquitted of Manslaughter:

Shai Dromi, a Negev farmer who shot and killed a Bedouin thief in January 2007, has been acquitted of manslaughter charges.

The ruling was handed down Wednesday morning in the Be’er Sheva District Court by a majority vote. He was convicted, however, on charges of illegal possession of weapons.

Dromi owns a small farm in the Negev outside Meitar, northeast of Be'er Sheva and just south of the southern border of Judea and the Hevron area. The area is constantly plagued by Bedouin thieves, with long-standing complaints by residents about police helplessness. Dromi shot at thieves in the middle of the night after seeing that his dog had been poisoned and was dying in front of his eyes, wounding two men; one of them bled to death, though Dromi said he tried to administer first-aid.

Court Orders Arab Squatters Off Jerusalem Property:

Yitzchak Herskovitz, 78, has won a critical battle in his 16-year legal struggle to regain control of his property from Arab squatters in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem District Court ruled in his favor that the contested property, in southern Jerusalem’s Givat HaMatos neighborhood, in fact belongs to him.

Herskovitz must now begin the complex process of having the illegal trespassers removed from the site. It appears clear that the police will have to be involved, and/or that the squatters will appeal the ruling yet again.

Hizbullah Weapons Depot Explodes in Lebanon:

Lebanese and Israeli sources confirmed Tuesday afternoon that a series of explosions that rocked the border area earlier in the day took place at a Hizbullah terrorist weapons depot.

The storehouse, located near the Lebanese village of Khirbet Salim, some 20 kilometers from Israel's northern border, was filled with Katyusha rockets, automatic rifles and ammunition.

The Lebanese Army and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) immediately closed off the area and began an investigation into the incident. Journalists were barred from the scene.

Sources said the depot contained arms that dated back to the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

The ceasefire agreement that ended the war -- United Nations resolution 1701 -- stipulated that all militias south of the Litani River, including Hizbullah, be disarmed. However, the terrorist organization has categorically refused to comply.

"We have the right, the entire right to possess any weapon, including air defense weapons, and we have also the right to use these weapons when we need them," the group's leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah declared in a February 17 speech.

UNIFIL has refused to enforce the resolution, saying it is the responsibility of the Lebanese government to disarm the group.

The Lebanese government also refuses to disarm Hizbullah, which has a significant representation in the country's parliament, as well as in the cabinet. Although the Shi'ite terror organization has not won a majority in the government, it nonetheless wields significant influence there, as well as among the Lebanese population.

Israeli intelligence officials have estimated that Hizbullah possesses more arms, with longer ranges, than it had stockpiled prior to the war. According to the most recent reports, the group's arsenal includes up to 10,000 long-range rockets and 20,000 short-range rockets, all being stored in southern Lebanon within range of Israel.

Kiryat Arba Shooter off the Hook:

Jerusalem prosecutors officially withdrew their case against Kiryat Arba resident Zev Baruda Tuesday, a month after the Supreme Court ordered the prosecution to reveal key information or withdraw the case. Baruda had been caught on video shooting at an Arab, but he claims he did so in self-defense.

The defense had demanded the prosecution release security evidence that could have helped acquit Baruda. The prosecution claimed that releasing the evidence would damage national security interests.

כל האמת על ברק חוסיין אבמה - הסרט (Kippah tip: Yaak)

A Picture From Hebron

I was in Hebron yesterday for a wedding at the cave of the patriarchs. On a nearby building was this sign:



Here's a link to make it easy! http://www.machpela.com/

Yawn Of The Day

The ynetnews headline screams:

Olmert on settler violence: I am ashamed

I think to myself, "What happened? Did the big bad settlers throw stones or beat up an Arab?" I read further:

Prime minister watches video clip published in Ynet in which Jewish woman settler in Hebron attacks Arab family: 'This is brutality, arrogance, and contempt that can't be come to terms with.' Settler doesn't show for interrogation, summoned again for Monday.

Again I think to myself, "What did this woman do?" I continue to read:

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert responded for the first time Sunday to the incident in the Tel Rumeida section of Hebron in which a settler woman verbally attacked an Arab family.

Am I supposed to laugh, or what? The jokers at ynetnews included a video of the "violent" incident as well. Do the people over there really want us to take them seriously?

Update: David Wilder, the spokesman for the Jewish community of Hevron weighs in.

Update: Hevron Jews Protesting Probe of Heckler