Looking for a better place in Hell

We must not, ever ever forget, that the main course is ALL OF ERETZ YISRAEL
Lately I've received a number of emails, all labeled urgent, dealing with 'secret talks' between Israel and our enemies. The idea was to forward them to as many people as possible, ASAP. The subject line read something like, "Jerusalem is on the table."

Of course the issues are critical, but with all due modesty, let me repeat a few elementary lessons concerning Israeli diplomacy.

At least since Oslo, which exploded with the force of a few nuclear warheads, we cannot afford ourselves the luxury of acting the role of innocent bystanders. Unfortunately, there are still those, sometimes wearing masks and costumes of politicians, pretending to be leaders, who will proclaim, 'when the 'core issues' like Jerusalem come up for negotiations we will leave the coalition, and presently we have assurances from the Prime Minister that these issues are not being dealt with.' Nonsense. As if they don't know.

It's never fun to be a 'dark prophet', always espousing black predictions. But today these cannot even be defined as predictions. Anyone with even the dullest perceptions comprehends what's going on.

Where do we stand? Olmert is on his way out. Either via indictment, or primaries, or an act of G-d, he's finished. Except for one problem. He wants to take the ship down with him. It's called reversion, a degeneration to the days of old. One of the first examples were the draconian expulsion orders issued a few weeks ago to three young men in the Shomron. As a rule, Israeli medicine doesn't practice too much preventative medicine; it's considered to be too expensive. But Israel does apply what might be called 'preventative crime.' I should add, 'selective preventative crime.' Crime of the highest order. Preventing possible disturbances while Arabs harvest grapes. The presence of these three men anywhere in Judea and Samaria might endanger the 'peace' of the area.

(But of course when it comes to allowing the most extreme elements of the Israeli left to demonstrate in Hebron, inciting Arabs against Jewish residents of the city, thereby endangering theirs lives, well, that's another story.)

The orders were signed by General Gadi Shamni, commander of the central region, but were undoubtedly initiated by higher-ups, in the ranks of the defense and intelligence offices. And they are certainly only the beginning.

The news seems to be overflowing like a geyser. Barak is talking about the neighborhoods in East Jerusalem as parts of the capital of the Palestinian state. Yesterday we learned how generous Barak really is. Permitting electricity in Beit HaShalom, not under any circumstances. But allowing the terrorists another 1,000 rifles and ammunition, no problem. And Olmert, together with his best friend (criminals tend to hang out together) Haim Ramon, is expected to discuss Pinui – Pitzui – the expulsion-compensation edict decreed on Gush Katif, but this time around, concerning those of us living in Judea and Samaria. The maiden saint of Kadima is opposed; no, not opposed to the concept, rather that such a discussion can only occur following establishment of final borders. Great!

The maiden saint's shadow and primary opposition also opposes; the entire discussion weakens Israel's position. Which position? What negotiations, Mr. Mufaz?

And the Likud? Can we dare believe anything they say during the current pre-election era?

(There are a few people with brains in the Middle East, like Syrian president Bashar Assad, who cancelled the next round of Israel-Syria Golan-abandonment talks due to the 'political situation' in Israel. If only he was a member of the Israeli cabinet!)

But the real problem has yet to be addressed. It's not the renewed pinui-pitzui (expulsion-compensation) discussion, and it's not the division of Jerusalem, or even Olmert's mighty attempts to reach an initialed agreement with Babu-Mazen prior to the upcoming Kadima primaries.

It's not that Jerusalem isn't on the table; it is. It's not that Judea and Samaria aren't on the table; they are. But they are appetizers and first course. We must not, ever ever forget, that the main course is ALL OF ERETZ YISRAEL. This is what they want, and they're not bashful about it.

I have a map, purchased in the Hebron Casbah, which is a map of 'palestine.'



From north to south, east to west, all of the State of Israel, all of Eretz Yisrael = palestine. This is what they want and this is what they intend to get, and we continue to play into their hands.

There's no need to search for secret piece talks, with Babu Mazen, Assad, or anyone else. It's an ever present aspect of our reality. The way it is. And the person still conducting the orchestra is Ehud Olmert.


Olmert would like nothing better than to leave office in a blaze of glory: an agreement with the Fatah element of the PA, with Syria, and who knows, maybe he really is conducting secret talks, with none other than Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad!?


With all that, I must admit that what really bothers me about Olmert is his incredible chutzpa, to initiate discussions for expulsion-compensation from Yosh only days prior to conclusion of his catastrophic premiership. There is almost across-the-board agreement that the abandonment of Gush Katif was a disastrous error. Many too many of the almost 10,000 people tossed from their homes and jobs are still homeless and jobless. Yet Olmert and some of his friends want to go it again. Impossible to fathom.


Unless…


There is an explanation. Olmert was one of the primary authors and backers of the Gush Katif fiasco. His decisions during the Second Lebanon War cost Israeli lives. He is about to be indicted for repulsive crimes committed as a 'public servant.'


All this totals a spacious room in deepest, darkest grottos of the next world. But this doesn't seem to be enough for him. He's simply looking for a bigger, better place in Hell.


Looking for a better place in Hell

Ten years without Rebbi Shlomo

Tomorrow, Shabbat, it will be ten years. Ten years ago, Thursday, the eve of the first day of the last month of the Hebrew calendar. Ma'arat HaMachpela, the tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs was fully open to Jewish worship. In early evening Rabbi Ovadiya Yosef arrived in Hebron, the first time he had visited the city and holy site in many years. At about 11:00 PM, as he concluded speaking to the hundreds present, beepers started buzzing. A terrorist had infiltrated the Hebron neighborhood of Tel Rumeida. Very quickly Ma'arat HaMachpela emptied and Hebron residents started making their way to Tel Rumeida. Details started to filter out: the victim was Rabbi Shlomo Ra'anan, sixty three year old grandson of Israel's first chief Rabbi, Rav Avraham Yitzhak HaCohen Kook. The terrorist had stabbed him. Walking/running from the Ma'ara in the direction of the neighborhood I called a friend, a neighbor of the Ra'anans and also a paramedic. "What's his condition? " I asked. David answered me, in a voice barely audible: "There was nothing we could do, we couldn't do anything to save him. He died."

Soldiers at the bottom of the hill leading up to Tel Rumeida attempted to prevent us from climbing the hill but I was not about to give in to their demands. Running, crisscrossing the street, I escaped their outstretched arms and continued to the top. As I arrived Rebbetzin Chaya Ra'anan, Rav Shlomo's widow, was being placed in an ambulance. It wasn't clear if she too had been injured but she surely looked in shock. 

Inside the neighborhood there was a smell of recently extinguished fire. The terrorist, following the murder, tossed a Molotov cocktail inside their caravan home, hoping to burn it to the ground. Fortunately neighbors were able to extinguish the fire before it spread to other caravan homes. Rabbetzin Chaya had managed to pull her dying husband outside before the living room went up in flames.  Only minutes before she had been involved in a tug-of-war with the terrorist, with her fatally injured husband in the middle, being pulled by both of them. However the terrorist had a knife and continued to stab his victim, puncturing his heart, killing him. He then jumped out a window and ran across the street, only meters away, into the Arab-controlled zone of Hebron, abandoned to the PA only a year before. According to the Hebron accords, Israel security forces were forbidden to enter that area and search for the killer. As a result, that same terrorist perpetrated a second attack on Yom Kippur, some six weeks later, injuring over twenty soldiers. Still not apprehended, a few weeks later he made his way to Beer Sheva, hoping to toss some hand grenades at civilians in the city's central bus station. Only then was he captured and eventually imprisoned.

The dead rabbi was lying on the ground outside his home, covered by a blanket. A little while later he was moved into a home, his body surrounded by candles. I spent the night in the office, looking for a photo I'd taken of him not too long before. The next morning the funeral  began there in Tel Rumdeida, and continued to Jerusalem, where he was buried at Har HaZaytim – the Mount of Olives, next to his illustrious grandfather and uncle, Rabbis Avraham Yitzhak HaCohen Kook, and Zvi Yehuda Kook.

My reaction was almost instantaneous: I'd been negotiating for an empty apartment in Hebron. No more negotiations, no more demands: a week later my family moved from Kiryat Arba, where we'd lived for 17 years, to Beit Hadassah. I'd already been working here for four years, so it was sort of a closure. I felt like I'd come home.

Why? Very simply: the terrorists use murder and other types of violence in an attempt to force us to leave. The only appropriate reaction is to do the opposite; not to leave, rather to move in. That's exactly what we did.

Yesterday, marking the 10^th anniversary of the Rabbi's killing, a large group of people gathered at the Gutnick Center, outside Ma'arat HaMachpela. Only meters away, thousands were visiting that holy site; being the eve of the new month of Elul, the entire building was open to Jewish worshipers.  Exactly as it was that fateful Thursday, ten years ago.

For a few hours several important Rabbis delivered words of comfort and words of Torah to those present, including members of the Kook-Ra'anan-Shlissel families, and many others who came to pay their respects to the Rabbi and family. Those speaking included Rabbi Eliezer Waldman, Rosh Yeshiva of the Kiryat Arba Nir Yeshiva, Rabbi Hananel Etrog, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Shavei Hevron, at Beit Romano in Hebron, Rabbi Doron Avichzar, Dean of the Netivot Dror Torah Academy at the Telem community, and Noam Arnon, who MC'd  and also spoke about the connection between Rabbi Kook and Hebron.

However, the most important speaker, in my opinion, was  Rav Michael Hershkovitz, Rabbi of the community Neria in the Binyamin region, and a teacher at Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav in Jerusalem.  The theme of his dvar Torah was quite fitting: Learning Torah is important, but no less important is doing, implementing what you learn. He spoke at length describing how Rav Shlomo Ra'anan did just this: living in a caravan in the Hadar Adar community and following that, moving to another caravan at the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron. 

For years the Rabbi studied and taught the value of settling the land of Israel, Eretz Yisrael. But realizing that words are not enough he followed in the footsteps of the teachings of his grandfather and uncle, not only talking, but also doing. This is Torah.

It's not easy living in small caravan homes. Tel Rumeida, somewhat isolated from the other neighborhoods of Hebron, is not the easiest place to live. Every morning, rain, snow or shine, the Rabbi would walk down the hill by himself to pray early morning prayers with a 'minion,' a prayer quorum of ten men. Every day he travelled back and forth to the Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva in Jerusalem, where he participated in Torah study and instruction.  Not easy for a man in his late 50s, early 60s. But the Rabbi always had a smile on his face, knowing all of Hebron's children by name, always ready to help, with an easygoing personality humbly concealing his Torah genius.

Concluding his remarks, Rabbi Hershovitz added, "Rebbe Shlomo, I just want to let you know, even though you probably know from where you are, that your extended family has continued in your footsteps, following your example of Torah and deeds, settling the land, Eretz Yisrael Israel, just as you did."

Rebbetzin Chaya, sitting with her daughter Tzippy, both of whom today live in Tel Rumeida, only meters from where the Rabbi  was murdered,  despite the pain, couldn't help but smile, knowing that the direction she and her husband had taken was being continued by their offspring.

The Rabbi's presence could definitely be felt amongst the participants, but for sure, all still feel the pain of his death and the vacuum his murder left, for his family, for his friends and neighbors, and for all of Am Yisrael.  Zechar Tzadik l'vracha  - HaShem Yikom Damo.

Gestures

This afternoon a group of people gathered at the ancient Jewish cemetery in Hebron to participate in a memorial service on the anniversary of the killing of Hebron resident Elazar Leibovitch six years ago. Murdered at the same time were three members of the Dickstein family- the mother, father and young son.

Elazar Leibovitch was murdered, by the Hebrew calendar, on the 17th day of the month of Av. On the same date, at almost the identical hour, Shmuel HaLevy Rosenhaltz, nicknamed “the Matmid’ or perpetual student, was the first victim of the 1929 riots and massacre in Hebron. The next day, another 66 men, women and children were killed. Tomorrow a group of people will gather at the same cemetery, only a few meters from Elazar’s grave, and mark the 79th anniversary of that horrific event.

This week the Israeli government decided to commemorate these two events in a unique way. They decided to release 200 terrorists, as a ‘good-will’ gesture to Holocaust denier, Abu Mazen, presently head of the palestinian authority. In order to express support for one Jew-hater over another Jew-hater (Hamas), the Israeli government is freeing 200 terrorists from prison. Not only isn’t Israel getting anything in return; they didn’t even bother asking for anything in return. What could Israel dare request? Perhaps little things, like Abu-Mazen’s full cooperation in successfully achieving the release of Israeli POW Gilad Shalit. But no, that would be too much to ask for. This time Israeli has to give something for nothing, thereby showing Abu-Mazen’s supporters and not so much supporters just how good he is, just how strong he is, just how much he can twist the long arm of the Zionist enemy and get murderers released from jail. Without paying any price.

Of course, in their opinion, this isn’t enough. All prisoners must be released, unconditionally. But, this is a good beginning, a step in the right direction.

This is how the Olmert administration is marking the 79th anniversary of the 1929 riots, instigated and initiated by Amin el-Husseini, who later met with Hitler in Berlin, formed the Muslim Brigades, and had plans to annihilate all the Jews living in Eretz Yisrael when they expected Rommel to invade during World War Two. Amin el Husseini’s direct successor was Abu-Mazen’s predecessor, Arafat. Abu-Mazen is trying hard to follow in his footsteps.

However, the government’s decision was not enough to mark the current occasion. They had to go just one step further, stick the knife in just a little deeper.

The common rule of prisoner releases over the years has been to refrain from freeing terrorists with ‘blood on their hands.’ In other words, those that just helped, or attempted to kill but didn’t succeed, and the like, they’re ok to set free. But those who actually pulled the trigger, they’re another story.

That’s the way it was, until today. For the first time, the Israeli government decided to release a couple of ‘real terrorists,’ those who went all the way, and did the dirty act to its fullest degree.

So, who’s being released, in celebration of the anniversary of the killings in Hebron? One of the two is Ibrahim Mahmoud Mahmad, who twenty years ago murdered Yehoshua Saloma, a young Yeshiva student studying in the Kiryat Arba Yeshiva. Saloma, a new immigrant from Sweden, who came to Israel alone, had walked into Hebron from Kiryat Arba to buy some dried fruits for the upcoming Tu B’Shvat holiday. While making his purchase in the Hebron Kasba, he was brutally murdered from behind by Ibrahim Mahmoud Mahmad. Saloma is still dead. Mahmad is still alive.
And if Olmert et al have their way, he will soon be free. This is the message to the world that Israel is making on the days when Hebron is marking the murders of 68 other Jews by Arabs: 67 in 1929, and Elazar Lebovitch, 6 years ago.

Yehoshua Saloma hy"d

It’s interesting to note: Yehoshua Saloma was the first Jew to be killed in Hebron since the 1929 riots. His murderer is about to be freed by the Israeli government. Can you image Israel releasing a few of the barbarians who butchered Jews during those few hours on a summer Saturday in 1929? What’s the difference between the barbarians of 79 years ago, the barbarians of 20 years ago, the barbarians of 6 years ago, or the barbarians of today?

Ah, what’s the difference you ask? Very simple. In 1929 we could (rightfully) blame the British. Today who do we have to blame? We need only look in the mirror and point a finger at the image we see.

But, then again, it’s only a gesture.