Monday, August 18, 2003

Not Now, Not Ever


August 18, 2003


Shalom.

Yesterday I had a very interesting conversation with a correspondent who spent a couple of hours with me in Hebron. We sat for a while in my office, indulging in the usual question and answer period, while centering on several points which were of prime concern to this particular journalist. Later I took him to the various neighborhoods, showing him the results of three years of the Oslo War: bullet holes in walls, books, etc. He also conversed with some other Hebron residents.

Talking on our way back to the office, the official ‘interview’ over, he said to me, “you know, I don’t spend a lot of time in Israel – I’ve been here for a total of four or five months over the past few years, but being here now I get the impression that the chances of Israel surviving as a Jewish state are steadily decreasing.”

I’ve spent time, and conducted conversations with many many people, including major international correspondents (and I would classify this person as ‘serious’) but I’ve never before heard so pessimistic an outlook concerning the future of the State of Israel.

I asked him what brought him to that conclusion and he replied that the cycle of violence was continuing, that a ‘real’ agreement was very far off, if at all, and the only alternative, in his eyes, was ‘transfer.’

I responded by asking if a Palestinian state would be an insurance policy for the existence of Israel? This, keeping in mind that in the past ten years, all agreements signed by the Palestinian Authority were violated to the hilt, leading to the murder of almost a thousand people and the injuring of thousands in the past three years.  

His answers began to become evasive – “I don’t know, but it has to be given a try.”

Going back to the T word - I mentioned that ‘transfer’ is usually associated with racism and other negative ‘isms.’ He interrupted, “it’s more like ‘cleansing.’But I queried further: Why,when transfer is spoken of concerning Arabs, it is considered to be racial bigotry, but if a ‘peace agreement’ is reached, I will be ‘ethnically cleansed’ from my home. After all, there will never be a Palestinian state including a Hebron with David Wilder living here. Why is it permissible for me to evicted from my home, while any such talk concerning Arabs is prohibited?  

His answer: This is very complicated and I really don’t want to get into it. But he added, ‘in the end it’s the demographics that do you in.’

As the discussion finished, I told him, “you know, looking at the situation logically and rationally, from the outside, like you, I might very easily come to the same conclusion. It doesn’t look good for Israel, not demographically, not security-wise, turmoil from within and from without, threats from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, from almost all directions. It would be very easy to presume that Israel’s future, as a Jewish state, is in jeopardy.”

“But,” I continued, “you’re missing something, and that is a Divine element. You have to understand that G-d didn’t bring us back to Israel after two thousand years, to again expel us from our land. Realize that Jews held in the German extermination camps during World War Two, and from there to British detention camps, disembarked and made their way from ships to the battlefield in 1948. The military victories of 1948, 1967, and 1973 didn’t happen by themselves. That fact that during the Lebanese War in the early 1980s Israel shot down over 100 Syrian M.I.G.s without losing any airplanes is statistically impossible. Yet it happened. And the deciding factor was, always has been, and always will be, the hand of G-d.”

I had the opportunity to repeat this conversation yesterday afternoon to a group of 120 men, women and children visiting Hebron through. Speaking to them in the courtyard of the Tomb of the Patriarchs, we were rudely interrupted when the Moslem muezzin, escorted by a pack of soldiers, border police and regular police, made his way through the courtyard to a Waqf room near the entrance to the building, where he played a recording of middle afternoon Moslem prayers at full volume through the building’s loudspeaker system, making it very difficult for our visitors to hear what I was saying. Again, an example of the same thing I mentioned earlier – if Jews were to blast their prayers over a loudspeaker we would be accused of religious coercion. When the Arabs do it, it is considered natural.

But the noise didn’t stop me, and I continued talking, or perhaps shouting is more accurate, to the group. One of the primary messages I tried to get across was the importance of such visits in Hebron. Thank G-d, this year tourism is back up, and we have groups touring the city almost every day. And not only Jewish groups. A few weeks ago a Christian group from Czechoslovakia spent a few hours with me, as did a group from Germany. On the fast day, Tisha b’Av I spoke for an hour with a group from Holland. My friend and colleague, Rabbi Simcha Hochbaum, director of tourism for the Jewish Community of Hebron is busy with groups that sign up for our tours through the New York based Hebron Fund, literally seven days a week.

I try to impress upon all of these groups the importance of their visiting Hebron. First of all, their very presence here proves to the Israeli government, the American government, and even to our Arab neighbors, that Hebron isn’t a small, isolated community that nobody cares about. That fact that tens and hundreds of thousands of people of all religions and nationalities pour into Hebron speaks for itself.

It’s also essential that people see ‘the real Hebron,’ as opposed to the Hebron of CNN, BBC or the New York Times.

And perhaps most importantly, when people leave Hebron, they become our representatives, world-wide, spreading the ‘good word’ so to speak, thereby encouraging others to visit us on their trips to Israel.

Of course, in my eyes, the most significant step a Jew can take today is to come live in Israel, and thank G-d, that is happening. The conversation with my journalist friend ended on the demographic note. I told him, “You may be correct that demographics is a key to success. But wait and see. Just as over a million Russians have come to Israel since the fall of the Iron Curtain, so too will Jews flock to Israel, from North America, Europe, South Africa, Australia, you name it – they’ll eventually all be here. Then the demographics will change, as will your basic premise, that Israel’s fate as Jewish State is in danger. We have no intentions of leaving our land, not now, not ever.”

With blessings from Hebron,
This is David Wilder



Monday, August 11, 2003

Sing We Will


Sing We Will
August 11, 2003

Shalom.

Today is only Monday, and already it’s a difficult week. Yesterday a fifteen year old boy was killed by a Hizballah-shot missile. Haviv Dadon, living in the north Israeli city Shlomi, was the latest victim of Arab warfare against Israel. The Israeli reaction was virtually nil. Par for the course.

This morning we were informed that a young Hebron resident was under arrest for ‘threatening to kill the Prime Minister.” A wonderful way to start the day. After much media hysteria and headlines, the 18 year old man was released, without charges being filed against him. What happened was that last night two Hebron men were in Jerusalem, hanging posters near Ariel Sharon’s official residence, for an upcoming Hebron event. The Prime Minister’s security personnel showed up to examine the merchandise and struck up a not very pleasant conversation with the two men. One of the men allegedly commented, “Sharon murdered my friend and a next-door neighbor. I wouldn’t have any problems killing him.” A short time later he was apprehended and taken in for questioning.  Later in the afternoon he was released. 

If the event occurred as reported, the remarks were not only uncalled for, they were stupid and damaging. Of course, I have no doubt, knowing him and his family,  
that he had no intentions of attempting to carry out his verbal threat. But that aside, there are some things that should not even be alluded to, including any kind of threat, be it direct or indirect, against the life of the Prime Minister, or anyone else, for that matter. We may have many differences with Sharon and other politicians, but we also have frameworks and platforms from which we can voice our disagreements and try to force changes in government policy. But bloodshed is certainly not one of them. That is clear.

However it’s also very unfortunate that the Israeli press, both radio and internet, saw fit to make the issue headline news, but neglected to report the man’s release, without any charges being filed against him. But this too, is normal Israeli press coverage.

At the end of this week we will mark two occasions, neither of them particularly happy. Friday is the 17th day of Av, the 74th anniversary of the beginning of the 1929 riots and massacre which left 67 Jews dead in Hebron, and over 70 injured. The brunt of the massacre occurred on Saturday morning, but the first man killed, Shmuel HaLevy Rosenhalz, was murdered on Friday evening, at the onset of Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath. Haj Amin el-Husseini, later a Nazi activist, incited against the Jews of Eretz Yisrael claiming that they were trying to “conquer Temple Mount and that Arab blood was flowing through the streets of Jerusalem.” Of course this was a lie, but that made no difference. Rioting commenced that Friday and spread throughout the country. Jews were killed in Jerusalem, Tsfat, Motza and other places, but the hardest hit was Hebron. Those riots led to the expulsion of the community’s surviving population, bringing about an end to Hebron’s Jewish presence for the first time in almost a thousand years. A small group of Jews returned in 1931, only to be evicted again in 1936, again, due to Arab incitement and violence.

Last year, history seemed to replay itself. At almost the same time that Shmuel Rosenhalz was murdered 73 years earlier, Hebron resident Elazar Lebowitz, on the eve of his twenty-first birthday, was driving a young couple, married only days before, to Hebron for a festive weekend celebration. Several miles outside of Hebron Arab terrorists opened fire, shooting and killing Elazar, only minutes after having murdered three members of the Dickstein family from Psagaot.

On Sunday, Elazar was laid to rest at the ancient Jewish cemetery in Hebron, only meters away from Shmuel Rosenhalz.  This Thursday we will mark the first anniversary of Elazar’s murder. At three thirty in the afternoon a series of lectures and Torah lessons will be given at the Gutnick Center, adjacent to Ma’arat HaMachpela, the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs. Later in the evening at six thirty, a special performance will be held at Tzomet Ziff, the Ziff junction, the site of the shooting, in the Southern Hebron Hills. The event is called, “Songs That Elazar Loved.”

I asked Elazar’s father, Yossi, why the family chose this way to commemorate Elazar’s death. He told me, “Elazar left a will, asking that at his funeral people should not mourn, rather they should sing and be happy. This led to the production of a special music CD, released earlier this year, full of songs that Elazar loved. Now we are trying to continue his legacy. It is not necessarily easy for us. We want the event to be suitable, not just a songfest get-together. But, with G-d’s help, it will work out the way we want, and the way Elazar would have wanted.”

So, on Thursday night, Hebron residents, together with Elazar’s many friends, and others from all over Israel, will gather at the site where four Jews were murdered exactly one year ago and sing, sing to the memory of Elazar. Buses will leave Binyanei HaUma in Jerusalem, across from the Central Bus Station at 5:00 and will return following the event. Participants are requested to register by calling 058-693724.

At 10:00 on Friday morning, friends and family will hold a short memorial service at Elazar’s grave.  On Sunday, at the same site, we will remember the 67 Jews murdered in Hebron in the Hebrew year of Tarpat, 1929.

Several years ago, on the 70th anniversary of the riots I published an article called The Lessons of 1929. It seems that those lessons have yet to be learned. All the mistakes we made then, and all the mistakes we’ve made since, still seem to plague us. Yet, despite the horrors of the past and those of the present, despite the mistakes and the lessons unlearned, the Jewish people are still in Eretz Yisrael, they are still in Jerusalem and they are still in Hebron. True, there are good days and bad days, good weeks and bad weeks, even good years and bad years. But perhaps, as Elazar Lebovitch seemed to know in his short life, you must never give up, you just have to keep singing. And sing we will.

With blessings from Hebron,
This is David Wilder


Monday, August 4, 2003

A shack between Hebron and Kiryat Arba


A shack between Hebron and Kiryat Arba  
Aug 4, 2003

Shalom.

Late yesterday afternoon my sixteen year old son approached me and asked that I show up at the Hebron Heroes neighborhood with my camera at about ten o’clock in the evening. He told me that another attempt was being made to reestablish the site, which has been created, destroyed and evacuated three or four times – I’ve lost count.

The neighborhood, (labeled an ‘outpost’ by various political groups) was originated following the murder of twelve men – nine soldiers and three Kiryat Arba emergency squad civilians, on November 15 of last year. The day after the deadly attack Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited the location and immediately declared that a new neighborhood, connecting Kiryat Arba and Hebron, should be created. Of course, this is the same Ariel Sharon who, a few years ago, publicly stated that Israeli youth should ‘grab hilltops and settle them.’ We know the fate of ‘hilltops’ settled by Israeli youth during the Sharon administration. Just as we know the fortune of the new neighborhood founded by Hebron and Kiryat Arba.

Thank G-d, youth don’t give up fast. Persistence is the name of the game. Time after time, winter and summer, youngsters, mostly from Kiryat Arba, have tried to reestablish the Hebron Heroes neighborhood. They pitch tents, build temporary fences, find some old furniture, and build some kind of make-shift hut in an attempt to establish a presence on empty land between Hebron and their homes in Kiryat Arba. Sometimes near the road, other times closer to the fence surrounding the Kirya, wherever, never giving up.

The last time they were evicted was only a few days ago – when, at about four in the morning I received a beeper message, requesting my presence, with my camera, to record the inevitable. By the time I arrived the males had already been removed, but I was in time for the girls, who too, were pulled, pushed and carried away. Soldiers and police removed Israeli flags hung from short poles, flags, which more than anything else, signify our attachment to our land. The furniture, mattresses and other belongs were dumped on the ground in a pile, and from there, onto an awaiting army truck.

It took only a short time for the kids to regroup, and last night they did it again. Small groups walked through the south gate of Kiryat Arba, carrying small sheets of corrugated metal, lined with wooden planks. Others carried down the tools, nails, etc. It didn’t take much time until the new dwelling was standing, complete with the flag, hanging from the roof. 

Of course, the Kiryat Arba-Hebron youth weren’t the only ones to moblize. A short time later IDF jeeps, officers, soldiers, and police had invaded the area. One of the officers, a Lt. Colonel name Tzachi, speaking to others surrounding him, showed his total ignorance of  the events unfolding in front of this eyes. He said, “I despise the use of young children who have no idea what they are doing.”  This officer, presently a גדוד



Shalom.

Late yesterday afternoon my sixteen year old son approached me and asked that I show up at the Hebron Heroes neighborhood with my camera at about ten o’clock in the evening. He told me that another attempt was being made to reestablish the site, which has been created, destroyed and evacuated three or four times – I’ve lost count.

The neighborhood, (labeled an ‘outpost’ by various political groups) was originated following the murder of twelve men – nine soldiers and three Kiryat Arba emergency squad civilians, on November 15 of last year. The day after the deadly attack Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited the location and immediately declared that a new neighborhood, connecting Kiryat Arba and Hebron, should be created. Of course, this is the same Ariel Sharon who, a few years ago, publicly stated that Israeli youth should ‘grab hilltops and settle them.’ We know the fate of ‘hilltops’ settled by Israeli youth during the Sharon administration. Just as we know the fortune of the new neighborhood founded by Hebron and Kiryat Arba.

Thank G-d, youth don’t give up fast. Persistence is the name of the game. Time after time, winter and summer, youngsters, mostly from Kiryat Arba, have tried to reestablish the Hebron Heroes neighborhood. They pitch tents, build temporary fences, find some old furniture, and build some kind of make-shift hut in an attempt to establish a presence on empty land between Hebron and their homes in Kiryat Arba. Sometimes near the road, other times closer to the fence surrounding the Kirya, wherever, never giving up.

The last time they were evicted was only a few days ago – when, at about four in the morning I received a beeper message, requesting my presence, with my camera, to record the inevitable. By the time I arrived the males had already been removed, but I was in time for the girls, who too, were pulled, pushed and carried away. Soldiers and police removed Israeli flags hung from short poles, flags, which more than anything else, signify our attachment to our land. The furniture, mattresses and other belongs were dumped on the ground in a pile, and from there, onto an awaiting army truck.

It took only a short time for the kids to regroup, and last night they did it again. Small groups walked through the south gate of Kiryat Arba, carrying small sheets of corrugated metal, lined with wooden planks. Others carried down the tools, nails, etc. It didn’t take much time until the new dwelling was standing, complete with the flag, hanging from the roof. 

Of course, the Kiryat Arba-Hebron youth weren’t the only ones to moblize. A short time later IDF jeeps, officers, soldiers, and police had invaded the area. One of the officers, a Lt. Colonel name Tzachi, speaking to others surrounding him, showed his total ignorance of  the events unfolding in front of this eyes. He said, “I despise the use of young children who have no idea what they are doing.”  This officer, presently a גדוד