Leaflets distributed throughout the country called for participation in a Chanukah mass rally in Hebron in support of the Jewish settlers.
Thousands responded. They came from all over Israel: young and old; men and women; parents with children, with toddlers and infants in carriages, black hats” and “Kippot Serugot,” Ashkenazim, Sephardim and Yemenites; old residents, new immigrants as well as tourists.
The mass meeting was held on Tuesday Erev Rosh Chodesh Tevet, the fifth day of Chanuka (December 10) in a square at the entrance to the Avraham Avinu neighborhood, Hebron’s new Jewish quarter, which is situated near an Arab market.
It was the latest in a series of mass rallies recently held in Hebron and attended by many thousands, to protest the abandonment of the city to the Arabs. It was our second visit within a few weeks to the “City of the Patriarchs.”
The station in Jerusalem from where special busses departed for Hebron was crowded. When we arrived in Hebron, we saw in the parking area near the Machpela Cave tens of busses which had brought people from various parts of the country.
The rally was scheduled to start at 1:30 PM. As we came early, my wife and I took a light bite at the buffet in the new Gutnick Center. The beautiful, spacious edifice was built by Joseph Gutnick, the Australian millionaire and Chabad Chasid who was appointed by the late Lubavitcher Rebbe ZT”L as his emissary for “the integrity of the Land of Israel.” to organize opposition to any ceding of land to the Arabs.
Gutnick has promised the Hebron settlers generous financial assistance.
From the Gutnick Center we proceeded through an Arab neighborhood and the Arab market to the square where the meeting was to be held. The entire area was heavily guarded. Soldiers of the IDF manned sandbagged positions in the streets. Soldiers were on the lookout on the rooftops of nearby buildings. All over the square where the people were assembled there were large posters in both Hebrew and English denouncing the planned “redeployment” of the Israel Defense Forces.
“Hebron is betrayed today, whose turn is it tomorrow?” asked one sign. “Today — Hebron, tomorrow– Jerusalem,” “If the army leaves Hebron, there will be terror all over Israel, (G-d forbid),” read other signs. Young people were waving blue and white flags.
On the roof of a tall building of the Avraham Avinu neighborhood, facing the Arab market place were displayed huge signs in Hebrew and in English: “This market was built on property stolen from the Jews in the 1929 massacre.”
Makeshift stands in the square were offering souvenirs as well as books and other literature about Jewish Hebron. At one table, a young man wearing a Kahane T-shirt sold Hebrew booklets written by the late, martyred Rabbi Meir Kahane.
The rally opened as scheduled. It was chaired by Hillel Horowitz, a leader of the settlers. He introduced the speakers as well as the artists– Michel Streicher, his son, and Mussa Berlin– who accompanied by an orchestra, provided entertainment after the appearance of each speaker. Streicher’s sons, as always enchanted the listeners. They joined him in the singing. Some formed a large circle and began dancing.
At the start, the chairman had called for women to stand on the left side and for men to stand on the right side:
Every one of the speakers who were often interrupted by great applause, dwelt on the important role of Hebron in Jewish history and in Judaism, and appealed to the government not to succumb to pressure, not to abandon the city of Abraham. The speakers also stressed the great danger which a “redeployment of the IDF posed to the settlers.
The first speaker was Rabbi Dov Lior, the rabbi of Hebron. He compared the Hebron settlers to the Maccabees of old. The Maccabees were initially a small band. They raised the banner of revolt and spearheaded the struggle against the Syrian Greeks, which ultimately freed the entire people from oppression and religious persecution. The Hebron settlers– a relatively small group — are not struggling for their security alone, said Rabbi Lior, but for the security of all Israel.
Prof. Avner Shaki, a member of the Knesset representing the National Religious Party, praised the settlers their idealism, heroism and strong attachment to the ancestral soil. He had come, he declared, to identify himself with the settlers, heart and soul. He called upon Prime Minister Netanyahu to listen to the settlers and to those who share their views. Towards the end of his speech he addressed the Arabs telling them that the Jews want to live in peace with them, but he also warned them: “Don’t start up with the settlers, thinking that they are only 500, millions of Jews stand behind them!”
Rabbi Chaim Druckman, Rosh Yeshiva of Or Etzion, lashed out at Jews who are ready to give away Hebron, calling them Jews without roots, Jews cut off from their past and their heritage.
Near me sat Rabbi Moshe Levinger, the leader par excellence of the settlers. I was surprised to see him at the rally. A day before we had read in the newspapers that his 20 year old daughter had been severely burned in a fire caused by a kerosene stove and had been rushed in a very serious condition to Hadassah Hospital. It seems that he felt duty bound whatever the circumstances — to be with the settlers at this important rally. I wondered whether he would find this strength to address the meeting.
I went over to him. “I want to ask you a question,
“What is it?” he responded.
How is your daughter?
“Yesh Lehitpallel” (One has to pray)
was his answer.
Tears welled up in my eyes as I pressed his hand firmly, “We are all praying for her.”
Minutes later the chairman called upon Rabbi Levinger, the father of the renewed Jewish settlement in Hebron,” to address the rally.
Before Rabbi Levinger commenced, the chairman wished his daughter a Refuah Sheleimah in the name of all present.
(Continued next week)
The Jewish Press Friday December 20,1996
Rabbi Moshe Levinger described in his emotion packed speech the great danger the settlers faced in case of any redeployment of the IDF in the area.
“Turn around and look at the hill behind you, he called out. “How can we permit Palestinian police to occupy this hill which overlooks our quarter.”
He declared repeatedly that Palestinian Police must not be permitted to enter Hebron!
The next speaker was Hanan Porat, A Knesset member of the National Religious Party. “One of the lessons of Hanukkah is that a little light can drive away a lot of darkness,” he said. “How do you fight darkness, not with sticks but by spreading light.”
Each of the three patriarchs buried here in Hebron represents a certain virtue. Yaakov stood for truth (Emet L’Yaakov). We must emulate the virtues of our forefathers. We have to spread the truth of our right to the Land. By spreading the truth, we will drive away the darkness, the Oslo Accords which are built on falsehood.”
The last to address the gathering was Noam Arnon, a leader of the settlers. Several days earlier, on Shabbat night, Parashat VaYeshev, Arnon had been arrested at the Machpela Cave by an Israeli border policeman. The policeman claimed that he had been attacked by Arnon but the latter denied this. Settlers had stated that the policeman had acted aggressively against Jews in the Cave and when Arnon asked for his name, he arrested him. Arnon was transported on Shabbat to the police station in Ashkelon. His unnecessary arrest on Shabbat and removal to Ashkelon — Arnon would have presented himself to the police after Shabbat, had they asked him to do so — infuriated religious political leaders. They demanded an investigation.
Arnon stated in his speech that “the police are the face of the government”.
I ask Prime Minister Netanyahu, whether the police in arresting Jews in the Machpela Cave on Shabbat were implementing his policies,” he said.
Addressing himself to the Prime Minister, he declared: “You promised before the elections not to abandon Hebron. We appeal to you to keep your promise! If you do not honor your promise, you will be the first Jew to give away the city of the Patriarchs. The Jewish people will never forget this! We will not forget it!”
Hillel Horowitz, the chairman of the meeting, declared that the rally will close with prayers at the cave of Othniel ben Kenaz. He was the first of the Judges of Israel and tradition has it that he is buried in Hebron.
At the rally, I made the acquaintance of 85 year old R. Nachman Hartman, a fifth generation Hebronite. He had come from Ramat Gan to express his solidarity with the settlers.
“Menucha Rachel, a daughter of Rabbi Dov Ber Schneerson (the “Mitteler Rebbe” of Lubavitch, settled in Hebron. I am descended from her. She was a great woman and played a very important role in the life of the Jews of Hebron,” R. Nachman told me.
R. Nachman Hartman served as a teacher for 60 years. He is the author of many publications including one about Hebron. His “Hevron — Ir Avot” contains interesting details about Jewish life in the city.
Rabbi Shimon Menashe Haikin, a disciple of the “Mitteler Rebbe” was for many years the rabbi of the Ashkenazi community of Hebron. He died at the age of 116.
After the death of Rabbi Yaakov Slonim, the husband of Rebbetzin Menucha Rachel, the latter asked her granddaughter Mushka Devorah to sleep in her room. When Mushka Devorah was about to be married, her grandmother told her, “Don’t rent an apartment, I will give you my room.”
The granddaughter was shocked. “G-d forbid,” she said. “You will be at my wedding and will live many years afterwards.” Menucha Rachel died before her granddaughter’s wedding.
On our way to the Cave of Othniel Ben Kenaz, we pass through the former Jewish quarter. Some of its houses had been renovated and rebuilt in recent years, among them the Romano House, the Hadassah House and the Schneerson House.
The Romano House was originally built by a rich Turkish Jew, Rabbi Hayyim Hezkiyah Medini, the author of Sdei Chemed, who lived in this house during the last years of his life and maintained a Yeshiva there. Today the building houses the Shavei Hevron Yeshiva.
A room in the ground floor of the Hadassah House is dedicated to the victims of the 1929 massacre. Shown are photographs of the murdered and the wounded. There is a picture of a British Jew who served in the police and killed several Arab pogromists as well as a picture of a fellow Arab policeman who attacked the Jews.
A plaque on the Schneerson House notes that Rebbetzin Menucha Rachel, the mother of the Ashkenazi community of Hebron, lived in that house.
All along our way to the Cave of Othniel Ben Kenaz, we encountered soldiers of the IDF. THe Cave was dark and only with difficulty could one find one’s way around the place. Prayers were recited inside the Tomb. Outside, in the street, people were praying Minha.
From the tomb we walked back to the parking area from where we took the bus back to Jerusalem.
The next day it was reported that the Hebron settlers were greatly pleased with the large turnout of the rally.
The Jewish Press, Friday, December, 27, 1996.