{"id":77,"date":"2010-09-29T20:21:23","date_gmt":"2010-09-29T20:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/rabbishmuleyunleashed\/2010\/09\/a-spiritual-night-in-hebron.html"},"modified":"2010-09-29T20:21:23","modified_gmt":"2010-09-29T20:21:23","slug":"a-spiritual-night-in-hebron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/rabbishmuleyunleashed\/2010\/09\/a-spiritual-night-in-hebron.htm","title":{"rendered":"A Spiritual Night In Hebron"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israel is a magical country, but to experience one of its greatest wonders you have to travel out to what the world calls the West Bank and the Bible calls Judea and Samaria. There, its crown jewel is the city of Hebron, first capitol city of the Jewish people and where its patriarchs and matriarchs are buried.<\/span><\/p>\n


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\n<\/p>\n


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 <\/span><\/p>\n

Many Jewish and Christian tourists to Israel skip Hebron,
\ndeclaring it too dangerous, and indeed four Israelis, including a pregnant woman,
\nwere killed there just two weeks ago with another two shot this week.
\nBut terrorists dare not determine whether visitors to the Holy Land
\nmake pilgrimages to Judaism’s holiest sites, and besides terrorists incidents have declined dramatically and the city, comparatively speaking,
\nis safe.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The first thing you discover about the residents of Hebron, whom
\nthe world derisively describes as settlers – as if Jews living in their own
\nancient capitol are newcomers – is their warmth, friendliness, and
\nhospitality. I arrived with twenty guests and our host, a wise and dedicated
\ncommunal activist named Yigal, prepared a feast fit for a king. We ate in
\nhis Sukka, surrounded by a tranquility and quiet that I, in my busy
\nlife, rarely experience. The night air was cool and energiving.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

All around us children were playing, utterly carefree, on pristine<\/span><\/p>\n

playgrounds. So many Jews in Hebron have been killed in terror
\nattacks over the years. Yet the residents in general, and the children in<\/span><\/p>\n

particular, live unafraid. They are also liberated from hatred.
\nWhen their friends die – as did the four two weeks ago – they mourn them,
\nbury them, commemorate them, and get on with their lives. There are no calls
\nfor revenge attacks, there are no mass demonstrations braying for Arab
\nblood. Their response, rather, is to demonstrate, in the most peaceful
\nmanner, that they are there to stay.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

For nearly a thousand years, the Islamic rulers of the Holy Land
\nforbade Jews from entering the tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs,
\nallowing them to climb only seven steps into the tomb but beating them
\nmercilessly if they rose any higher. When Israel captured the tomb in 1967,
\nJewish pilgrims came to Hebron, swearing never again to be separated from
\ntheir origin. As my host explained, even amid the worst terror attacks,
\nproperty values never decline. There are no fluctuations in the commitment
\nto pray by the graves of those who gave the world monotheism.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yet these residents have been demonized by the entire world. They
\nface daily character-assassination in the media by those who would
\ndecry their simple desire to walk in the footsteps of Abraham. World leaders
\nregularly engage in extreme defamation of families whose only wish it is to
\nraise their children in the Judean hills of King David. President Obama
\nrises at the United Nations and calls for a further moratorium on building
\nin the settlements as if it’s a crime for peaceful people to have
\nchildren and add rooms to warm and hospitable homes.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Abraham, at whose tomb I prayed with my children tonight, is the
\nfather of all peoples, Jew and Arab alike. The Arabs are my brothers, equal
\nchildren of G-d in every respect. And Arabs and Jews must learn to live
\npeacefully together in the land. Neither group should be asked to abide my a moratorium that stifles the natural expansion of either
\npopulation. It is not the spiritual-seeking settlers who threaten the peace, but
\nrather the murderous groups of Hezbollah and Hamas, who wish to make all of
\nIsrael judenrein.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I spent time tonight in Hebron talking to the brave Israel
\nsoldiers –<\/span><\/p>\n

eighteen to twenty years old – who patrol the streets of Hebron to
\nprotect the Jewish population from further slaughter. It is a sad
\ncommentary on some of my Arab brothers and sisters who live in Hebron that
\nsoldiers should be needed to protect children at playgrounds. Yet the
\nsoldiers have no rancor in their heart. Indeed, many of them were telling me how
\nthey never wish to make the Arab population feel intimidated by their
\npresence and are given strict orders never to appear overbearing. Their
\nmission is not to enforce an Israeli hegemony but to simply stop Jews from
\nbeing targets.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Just a few yards from the spot where Shalhevet Pass, a ten-month-old<\/span><\/p>\n

Israeli infant, was famously shot and killed by a Palestinian
\nsniper while sitting in her stroller in March, 2001, I danced with my children
\nto celebrate the Jewish festival of Sukkot.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The streets of Hebron were alive with joyous residents dancing to
\nthe<\/span><\/p>\n

music of a Jewish mystical hippie band whose flowing locks and<\/span><\/p>\n

mesmerizing music brought gladness to my heart. I was uplifted and
\njoyous to be dancing in a city that in 1929 saw the massacre of 67 Jews
\nand the destruction of nearly all the Synagogues and Jewish buildings. I
\nfelt alive and utterly free of fear.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Could it really be that a community who simply wish to live aside
\nthe<\/span><\/p>\n

earthly remains of Abraham and Sara, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and
\nLeah, are obstacles to peace? Are 800 Jews in Hebron such a criminal
\nincitement to the 100,000 Palestinians who surround them? And is it fair to characterize religious individuals who have a love for children
\nand large families, and who live without material extravagance or opulence,
\nas irritants?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But don’t take my word for it. The next time you’re in Israel,
\ncome and immerse yourself in the city chosen by Abraham as the eternal
\nresting place for a wife he so loved to forever rest in peace.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Israel is a magical country, but to experience one of its greatest wonders you have to travel out to what the world calls the West Bank and the Bible calls Judea and Samaria. There, its crown jewel is the city of Hebron, first capitol city of the Jewish people and where its patriarchs and matriarchs are buried.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":203,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-politics","category-religion-and-spirituality","category-values"],"yoast_head":"\nA Spiritual Night In Hebron - Rabbi Shmuley Unleashed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/rabbishmuleyunleashed\/2010\/09\/a-spiritual-night-in-hebron.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Spiritual Night In Hebron - Rabbi Shmuley Unleashed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Israel is a magical country, but to experience one of its greatest wonders you have to travel out to what the world calls the West Bank and the Bible calls Judea and Samaria. 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