Rav Dov Lior, Chief Rabbi of Hebron-Kiryat Arba, has published the 2nd volume of his 'Responsa' "Dvar Hevron," Questions and Answers dealing with Halachic issues. The first volume was dedicated to Hoshen Mishpat and Even HaEzer. This volume, with over 500 responses, deals with Orech Chayim, including subjects such as prayer, blessings, Shabbat, Eruvin, Festivals and more.

The volume was published by the Institute for Settlement Rabbis and is available via: marabanim@gmail.com or by phone - 972-2-9964722. It is highly recommended.

The Abraham Wedding in Hebron from David Hebron on Vimeo.

The wedding of Dr. Aharon and Ruth Abraham at Ma'arat HaMachpela - The Doctor Who Broke the Statues
See: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/9#3924

The Doctor Who Shattered the Statues 
Translated from article appearing in Hebrew in Sichat HaShavuah for Parshat Chaye Sarah http://www.chabad.org.il/Magazines/Article.asp?ArticleID=6356&CategoryID=1341

A year ago, Dr. Aharon Abraham  was Director at the ICU Medical Center in prestigious British Kennedy in Mumbai, India. The horrible terror attack at the Chabad house caused him to leave India and go to Israel."This house was the center of my life," he says with pain. "There we spent Shabbat and holidays. The terrorists took part of me, they took my soul. Following the incident, finally I decided to leave India and go to Israel. I have no more business there." 

He currently resides in Kiryat Arba examining job opportunities suitable to his expertise and experience. Concurrently he completes the conversion process which he and his wife and children began in India, thereby closing a chapter of his life story, very not routinely. 

Confrontation with the father 

His previous name was Vagirds Frads. The story is very reminiscent of the story Abraham. His father was a senior Hindu cleric. "He had all kinds of statues, he attributed to them special powers," he says. "I did not understand how Dad honored a man-made statue. I didn't understand why Mother bother preparing food for statues, and sometimes I eat it in secret". 

When grown up and graduated from high school, he began to confront openly his father. "I told Dad: How can you believe this nonsense?! Father heard and said nothing, had no answers. One day I took a hammer and simply smashed the statues. He shouted at me: the gods are angry! I answered him: If they're angry, let them do something, reconstruct themselves "... 

Identification with Abraham 

The young man left his village and enrolled to study medicine at the University of Mumbai, where he made contact with Christian students. They saw he was looking for faith, and gave him a Bible. "A new world opened before me," he recalls excitedly. "I eagerly read the Psalms and became acquainted with the figures of Moses and Abraham's story and with Am Israel." 

He successfully graduated and became a doctor specializing in one of the medical centers in Mumbai where he met his wife, who worked as a nurse. She followed his interest in the Bible. After they married they decided to change their family name to 'Abraham', following the admiration they felt for Abraham. He also decided to change his first name to Aaron. "Aaron the priest was a wonderful person, full of glory," he explains with a smile. 

That terrible night 

They gradually made the decision to convert and become full-fledged Jews. The were tempted to undergo a Reform conversion, thinking they were already Jews. Then they met Chabad emissaries Rabbi Gabi and Rebecca Holtzberg HY"D in Mumbai. They approached him about their sick child (who later died later from disease). Following this bond, Dr. Abraham realized that a Reform conversion was worthless. He began studying Judaism with the Rabbi, while his wife studied with the Rabbi's wife. 

'Our whole life centered around the Chabad House, "he said in a trembling voice." It's the only place where we could get kosher food. Gabi and Rivki were our guides, we did not move without them. They gave us Judaism and we gave them medical care for their sick child. We began a process of true conversion and found the extraordinary beauty of the Torah commandments. Then came that terrible night, and took away my Master ...". He sobs a few moments and says: "But what we learned from Gabi and Rivki will accompany us and our children forever."

Tonight, having completed their conversion, Aharon and Ruth Abraham married at Ma'arat HaMachpela in Hebron, on the first anniversary of the murder of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg HY"D.

If it is light in Hebron, it is light in Jerusalem. And the light shining forth from Jerusalem, radiates throughout the entire world. And should G-d forbid, it should be ‘dark’ in Jerusalem, that darkness permeates throughout all of mankind.

Sometimes the past and the present really blend together. As right now, the eve of Shabbat Hebron – the Shabbat when we read during the weekly Torah portion about Abraham’s purchase of Ma’arat HaMachpela almost 4,000 years ago.

How so?

A few weeks ago a fascinating explanation about Hebron and Ma’arat HaMachpela come to my attention. Usually when speaking about this site to visitors, I refer to it as the 2nd holiest site to the Jewish people in all the world, second only to Temple Mount in Jerusalem. This is, by all means, the truth. However, in Judaism, there can be defined two different kinds of sanctity. The first is as we find in Jerusalem and in the area of Temple Mount, where the ‘holiness’ has actual significance. For example, the sanctity of Temple Mount is so intense, that there are areas where it is forbidden for people to access. During the days of the first and second Temple, the Kodesh haKodeshim, the holy of holies, was totally off-limits excepting one day of the year, that day being Yom Kippur, and then it was accessible to only one person, that being the “High Priest” – the Cohen HaGadol. And it was known that should he even think impure thoughts while inside the Holy of Holies, he would not exit alive. For that reason, before entering this inner sanctum of the Temple, a rope was tied on to his body, which could be used to pull him out should he die inside.

On the other hand, there is a sanctity such as in Hebron; a holiness that does not have such actual implications, but spiritually can be conveyed of as ‘holy.’

So I thought. However, Israel’s first Chief Rabbi, Rav Avraham Yitzhak HaCohen Kook, wrote differently. In a book titled “Shmuot HaRaiya” he presents the following thought:

He defines two types of holiness or Kedusha; the first being actual and the other, potential. Of course, he goes into some detail explaining these terms and exemplifying them. But the bottom line is quite clear. When HaShem told Abraham to ‘get up and walk the land, the length and width of it, Abraham quickly makes his way to Hebron, because here was revealed the potential holiness of Eretz Yisrael. Rabbi Kook says, “Eretz Yisrael was not sanctified ‘in potential’ except by the bodies of the Forefathers and their burial, and by interring Sarah in the beginning in Eretz Yisrael, the potential sanctity was established and this holiness established the sanctity of Eretz Yisrael for eternity.”  Of course, the ‘actual’ sanctity is developed and found in Jerusalem at the site of Beit HaMikdash, the Temple.

This is why David began his reign in Hebron, for seven and a half years,  first to immerse himself in the roots of the potential Kedusha, prior to actualizing this holiness in Jerusalem.

Rav Kook’s principle student, Rav Yaakov Moshe Harlap, in the first chapter of his classic work Maayanie HaYishua, writes that the value of the expectation of salvation (potential) is greater that the (actual) salvation itself because the expectation, in potential, is never-ending, whereas the actual salvation itself, at each stage, is limited.

In other words, the holiness of Hebron is real, and no less significant than that of Jerusalem. We know that these two cities are intrinsically bonded. Temple Mount was declared off-limits in 1267 by Marmaluk emperor Bibers, as was Ma’arat HaMachpela, by the same person at the same time.

In 1929 we lost Hebron. In 1948 we lost the old city of Jerusalem and with that, access to the Wall. In June, 1967 we liberated Jerusalem and the next day, Hebron. Hebron was divided in 1997; ever since, Israeli Prime Ministers have offered to divide Jerusalem. Only by the grace of G-d has this been prevented.

How does this fit into today’s reality?

Next Saturday night Hebron’s United States organization, the Hebron Fund, will hold its annual dinner reception in New York. This year, as a change of pace, rather than conduct the event at  a Manhattan hotel, the dinner will be hosted at Citi Stadium in Queens, new home of baseball’s New York Mets. A week or so ago a group of left wing American organizations, led by Adalah-New York, an Arab-loving, Israel-hating organization, began a campaign to have the Mets cancel the Hebron event at their stadium.

Who is Adalah? According to its web site, they are the “Coalition for Justice in the Middle East” They “began organizing actions in response to the escalation of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip at the end of June and the subsequent Israeli war on Lebanon in July 2006. Adalah-NY has carried out numerous street protests and educational forums focusing on Israel's assault on Gaza and war against Lebanon, the US' threatened attack on Iran, …It is a grassroots strategic alliance of concerned organizations and individuals in New York, formed to demand an immediate, unconditional, and permanent end to U.S. and U.S.-sponsored Israeli aggression in the Middle East. In response to the continuing injustices committed by the U.S. and Israel, which constitute gross violations of international law, Adalah-NY stands with the people of the Middle East in their demands for justice, equality, democracy, and respect for human rights.”

Together with Gush Shalom in Israel, Jews against occupation in the US, and other rabidly anti Israel groups, Adalah New York   and others are making a major effort to prevent Hebron’s annual event next week. But they have failed. The Mets have heroically decided not to bow to these racist demands to cancel Hebron’s dinner.

What does this have to do with all the above-related material? Why are these groups so anti Hebron? Why do they classify Hebron’s Jewish population as being almost synonymous with monsters? Very simply, they can sense the Keddusha, the sanctity that emanates from this holy city.  They know that the key to all of Eretz Yisrael lies with the roots, site where it all started, where the potential for continuous Jewish settlement in all of Israel is never-ending, somehow understanding that the path to Jerusalem runs through Hebron.

A Cohen, a priest in the Temple would, early every morning, climb high and look south. His compatriots would ask, has the sun yet risen, even as far away as in Hebron? If he answered affirmatively, the day’s activities could commence. However, if not, they had to wait. In other words, if it is dark in Hebron, it is dark in Jerusalem. If it is light in Hebron, it is light in Jerusalem. And the light shining forth from Jerusalem, radiates throughout the entire world. And should G-d forbid, it should be ‘dark’ in Jerusalem, that darkness permeates throughout all of mankind.

It is those forces of evil, those forces of darkness, who so desire to extinguish the lights of Hebron and the lights of Jerusalem and the lights shining throughout the world. But it is not to be. From the month preceding Rosh HaShana, the Jewish New Year, through the month and a half holiday season, over 150,000 people flocked to Hebron. Tomorrow we expect to host some 25,000 people in Hebron and Kiryat Arba, coming to participate in reading how Abraham paid 400 silver shekels (today valued at $750,000!) for the Caves of Machpela from Efron the Hittite, where it happened, almost 4,000 years ago. Each and every one of these people is another light, a flame emitting a beam of eternity, embodying the potential holiness that begin with Sarah’s burial, some four millennium ago.

That potential still exists today, and is being actualized by the continued flow of Jews to Israel, to Jerusalem, to Hebron, and throughout the rest of the Land. This is our potential; this is our actuality. This is our dream, and this is our reality. Happy Shabbat Hebron.

Registration at: www.hebronfund.com
Download poster photo at: www.hebron.com/english/data/galleries/dinner8.jpg