A specially baked cake, prepared by Elisheva, with the
word Amen (in Hebrew) written on it.)

As I’m writing this, a very special event is taking place a few meters from where I’m sitting. Usually I sit in our living room, staring at this screen. However, tonight I was banished to my bedroom, while the living room was overrun by several dozen women from Hebron.
And then she cried out, ‘it’s been over 50 years since I could say Amen after Kiddush.’

A couple of nights ago my wife received a call asking if she could host Sunday night (tonight), a unique meal. It’s called a meal of Amens.

She agreed, and a few hours ago our apartment started filling up with all sorts of interesting and tasty-looking foods; fruits, vegetables, cakes and drink. By 9:15 the living room was full up with more women than there were chairs. One of the women, acting as the moderator, began talking. (I listened from a crack in the door, not too far from them).

She spoke first of two subjects: speech and food. There is always so much to say. The question is whether we use our power of speech to express the positive aspects of our lives, and holiness, or do we desecrate our G-d – given gift of gab. And so too with food. There is such an overwhelming amount of food available, as opposed to thirty or forty years ago. Do we really appreciate what we’ve been given, or do we take it for granted?

One of the ways to sanctify both of these facets of our lives is to bless G-d prior to eating. The brachot – blessings – occur in two parts. A person who wants to partake of his meal, recites a blessing before eating. Whoever hears that blessing answers ‘Amen.’ And it is written, ‘he who answers Amen is greater than he who recites the blessing.’ Why?

The word Amen, in Hebrew, the letters Aleph, Mem, Nun,  are the initials of G-d, the faithful King. They are also the root letters of the word Emunah, which means faith. A person who answers Amen to a blessing is reaffirming his faith, his belief in G-d.

There are five kinds of food to be blessed: Wheat (break or cake), Wine (Grape juice), fruit of the tree, fruit of the earth, and anything else (meat, milk products, other beverages.)

Each type of food represents a different kind of worldy blessing. Wheat represents a blessing for employment; wine, for a mate; fruit of the tree, children; fruit of the earth, health and long life, and the last blessing covers anything and everything – happiness, repentance, etc.

As I’m writing the women are sitting in the other room, listening to various stories of people who recited special blessings and those who recited Amen. When they conclude a particular subject one of the women recites the blessing over a morsel from one of the above categories.  All the other women answer Amen. They then go around the room reciting names of people who are in need of such a blessing, be it for children, health, a spouse, or anything else.

I listened to some of the stories told and would like to repeat one of them.

A religious Jew acted as an escort for a sick person who had to travel to the United States for medical treatment. On a Friday night, following the beginning of the Sabbath, they were told that it was necessary to be x-rayed. Even though it would normally be forbidden on the Shabbat to ride in an elevator, for such medical needs it was permitted. The two men, the ill man and his escort, rode the elevator down 17 flights to the x-ray department where they waited to be called. While speaking to each other in Hebrew, they suddenly heard a weak voice calling to them. A very old woman, also waiting in the room, was speaking to them, in Yiddish.
 
They began talking and she told them her story. She had been born in Europe, and when World War Two began, her parents asked Gentile neighbors to hide their daughter. She survived the war and later immigrated to the United States, her Judaism long forgotten. And here she was, decades later, speaking Yiddish. She suddenly asked, ‘it’s Friday night, the Sabbath. Can you recite Shabbat Kiddush for me?’

In order to recite the special Sabbath prayer, the escort realized he would have to climb up 17 flights to bring back the wine needed for the blessing. He also realized that he would have to trek far outside to reach the stairs, to get back to his room. But he decided to do so, despite the distance. In very cold weather and the long walk, he climbed the stairs and reached the door to the 17th floor, only to find it locked. He looked towards the heavens and asked the L-rd to help him. Suddenly the door opened. Another person, having lost his way, had opened that door by mistake.

He took the bottle of wine, walked back down the 17 flights, found the woman and recited the Sabbath Kiddush blessing for her. As he finished, she said with all her might, “AMEN.” And then she cried out, ‘it’s been over 50 years since I could say Amen after Kiddush.’ She repeated herself over and over again, until the two men were called in for their x-ray. When they returned, the woman was no longer there. When they asked where she was, they were told that a few minutes earlier she had passed away.

It is written that a person who repeats the word Amen, with all their might, opens the door to the Garden of Eden (Tractate Shabbat, 119B). It seems that this is what she had done, only moments before departing from this world.

A few meters from me the women are still reciting blessings and many Amens, with goal of saying at least 100 Amens, praying for people who are in need of health, happiness, or anything else. This really is a unique meal, a meal of Amens, a meal sanctifying their beings, the food they eat and the essence of their souls.  I can only wish upon all of you that you too should be privileged to participate in such a meal, or, at the very least, like myself, witness it from not too far away. It is quite a purifying experience.

This is a tale of good against evil, light over darkness, truth versus lie.

Finally - the windows have arrived!

It's very late, and I just arrived back home from an enjoyable and fruitful parlor meeting in Jerusalem. I haven't had time to post anything yet on the Hebron web site - will try to tomorrow, including photos and a video - but I have to write something:

YES - we started instillation of windows in Beit HaShalom this afternoon!!!

Hopefully the work will be finished on Sunday, before the next snow storm hits.

I never thought I could be so excited about, of all things, windows - I mean, who even thinks about windows. But I guess it's just like everything else we take for granted, until it's missing. Think of your house, apartment, car, without windows. Think about families, with lots of little kids, trying to live in an apartment, during a heavy rain or snow storm, without windows. That's the way it is/was in Beit HaShalom here in Hebron - until today.

Last week we received 'permits' to finally put closed windows in the building - it's really an amazing story, more of which I'll try to write about tomorrow.This is a tale of good against evil, light over darkness, truth versus lie.

But what must be remembered, above all - is that this is not only a story about simple windows. This is a tale of good against evil, light over darkness, truth versus lie. Those who refused us the right to install windows don't care about windows - they simply don't want Jews in Hebron. They are willing to provide 'humanitarian aid' to the 'poor palestinians' in Gaza, who elected Hamas, and allow their people to shoot rockets into Israel. But humanitarian aid to to Jews - in Hebron? Of course not - Ehud Barak, told Hebron families 'if it's too cold, go live somewhere else.'

Windows in Beit HaShalom represent a major victory over those who pushed all the buttons in an attempt to have us expelled. We're still there - and now, so are the windows!

So for now, lila tov - good night - and blessings from Hebron.

(To skip Hebrew and go straight to windows, forward to 2:45)

My answer, many times over is, how can you not bring children to Hebron?
In all seriousness, wouldn't it be safer for the settlers to treat Hebron like Shechem? You never had people living in Shechem, endangering their children. There were just students who came in to study there at the holy site. Why endanger Jewish children just to make a political point, when you could work and study in Hevron, and not subject your children to walk the streets where Arab terrorists tread?

Being that this question was seriously asked, I think it deserves a very serious answer. Let's start from the end: not subjecting my children to walking the streets where Arab terrorists tread. OK - not in Hebron, but where? Last week a terrorist exploded in Dimona. Only a miracle and a very quick policeman prevented the second terrorist from exploding too. - Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Beer Sheva, Hadera, Afula - where no - where in the State of Israel can a Jew walk 'safely,' without being targeted by terrorists? I am unfamiliar with such a place. Wherever we go, we are in their sights.

So, there are then two possible solutions: not to live in Israel, which I do not view as an option, or to live normally and naturally in our homeland, in our cities, in our homes. Hebron is the first Jewish home, the first Jewish city in Israel. What could be more natural for a Jew than to live in Hebron?!

Now let me return to the second point, about 'making a political point.' I am not, nor or are any of the other Jews living in Hebron, to the best of my knowledge, making a 'political point,' as such. I live in Hebron, following in the footsteps of thousands and tens of thousands of Jews who lived in Hebron throughout the generations. I live in Israel, not for political reasons, rather for religious reasons. A Jew is commanded to live in Eretz Yisrael. This is where G-d wants us to live - He created us, the Jewish people, to live in our land, in Eretz Yisrael. He didn't limit us - live only where there are lots of other Jews. When Abraham wandered the Land he was all by himself. When he bought Ma'arat HaMachpela there weren't too many others like him in the neighborhood. Yet that didn't prevent him from living here, or from purchasing the Caves of Machpela for the Jewish People for eternity. Jews are commanded to live all over Israel, even..... Tel Aviv. But Tel Aviv isn't mentioned in the Bible. Hebron is, numerous times. It is called by our sages, one of the four holy cities in Eretz Yisrael. This has nothing to do with politics - it has to do with Torah.

And almost the last point - comparing Shechem to Hebron - treating Hebron like Shechem.
 

There was an international agreement about Joseph's Tomb in Shechem. Arafat signed it. The United States guaranteed it. But the above photos show what happened to Joseph's Tomb. BECAUSE Jews DID NOT live there. Had Jews lived in Shechem I have no doubt that just as we have access to Ma'arat HaMachpela, so too would we have access to this holy site.

For 700 hundred years this is the way it was for Jews in Hebron. They could pray at the 7th step, outside Ma'arat HaMachpela, the 2nd holiest site to Jews in all the world. And today?

Hundreds of thousands visit Hebron and Ma'arat HaMachpela annually. Only because there are Jews living in Hebron. The Arabs tell us straight out: Should they ever, G-d forbid, control this site, we will not be able to worship here. So, what do we choose - this photo or one of the above?

And the last point: Children. The question is focussed on children: how can you bring children to Hebron? My answer, many times over is, how can you not bring children to Hebron? You know, there are problems with kids all over the world. But in Hebron, we don't have problems with drugs, prostitution, and other such epidemics. Our children, when they finish their military service, don't travel to India or Thailand searching for their guru, because their guru is in their backyard  - they pray there every day and every week - Avraham, Yitzhak, Ya'akov, Sarah, Rivka, and Leah - at Ma'arat HaMachpela.

We too have problems with youth, who doesn't. But our kids don't live for a 'bigger house' or a 'bigger car.' They live ideals, they grow up on ideals, and they escort these ideals into the future. Our kids continue living in Hebron, or in other communities in Judea and Samaria. Some, the really dedicated ones, make their way to Ramat Gan and Tel Aviv, to bring some of the idealism of Hebron to the Big City, where idealism is usually translated into how many vacations have people taken outside Israel. These kids, the ones from Hebron, from Gush Katif, from Yehuda and Shomron, these kids are the future leadership of the Jewish people in Israel. They live faith, they have nerves of steel, and they won't let the White House, or anyone else bully them into betraying their beliefs. Watch and see. They are our future.

Is is dangerous? Perhaps. More dangerous than elsewhere? I don't know. But I do know that if we don't live our ideals, if we abandon our homeland, our cities, there is no such thing as a vacuum. And those who fill the vacuum we leave have no intentions of stopping in Hebron, or Beit El or Elon Moreh. They too have ideals, which they hope will lead them to Haifa, Tel Aviv and Beer Sheva. If we continue living where we are today, that won't happen.

So, briefly, that's why we live in Hebron, and refuse to treat this holy city as was Shechem. We prefer our presence at Ma'arat HaMachpela to the kinds of pictures of Arabs dancing on the ruins of Kever Yosef. And above and beyond that, we really truely love Hebron. We will never abandon our Saba and Savta, our Grandma and Grandpa, here in Hebron

(See also: http://web.israelinsider.com/Views/2502.htm)

Communication - that's what this is all about.
Well, I guess this is it. There's a first time for everything.

No, in truth I have a couple of blogs floating around the web - but writing for Arutz 7 - IsraelNationalNews is special.

I've labeled this as an all-around blog - Hebron, Eretz Yisrael, and other assorted subjects. I'm davka not going to start with politics, even though there's a lot to write about. I'm going to begin with something personal - perhaps for those of you who don't know me, or aren't familiar with my past writing, a kind of 'getting to know you' blog.
Let's start two weeks ago. It snowed here in Hebron. I like the snow - so very white - it cheers me up. I also like snow because the snowy scenery is great to photograph. I've been playing around with photography for the past 10 or eleven years, after discovering the wonders of a digital camera and real-time web photo posting. This time around I got some great photos. Here are a few of my favorites from this time around:

 
Beit HaShalom (The Peace House)

Ma'arat HaMachpela

The Tomb of Yishai and Rut (Jesse and Ruth)

This time though, the snow gave us some stomach flutters. One of my daughters, Ophira, was getting married and the thought of snow on a wedding day is problematic. The roads are closed, it is impossible to get anywhere, and this is the kind of stuff nightmares are made of.

But, a week later, that is a exactly a week ago tomorrow night, the weather was great. And so was the wedding.

 
Ophira at Ma'arat HaMachpela 

Ophira and Nachshon under the Chupa

I consider my wife and I to be a "mixed marriage." She's a pure Sepharadi and I'm a pure
Ashkenazi.  So my kids are a 50-50 mix. Ophira married a 'Temani' - that is a Yemenite. Actually only half a Yemenite. Nachshon's mother is from Morocco.  But the wedding had a definite Yemenite flavor.  The Yemenite Rabbi who married the couple, Rabbi Eden, followed Yemenite customs, and there was much Yemenite dancing during the wedding celebration. I told a few friends that now I feel like a real Israeli - finally having some Yemenite blood in the family.

It was a great wedding. Ophira is named for the Jewish city on the Red Sea, better known as 'Sharm El-Shech. When many people were flocking to Yamit way back in 1981-82 to protest the withdrawal from Sinai, my wife and I went to Ophira, where we participated with a few other families and a large group of yeshiva high school 11th and 12th graders, starting a Yeshiva, Yishivat Gvul Yisrael (the Yeshiva on the border of Israel). We lived there for a few months before being expelled a week before Purim. A year later, when we had a baby daughter, we named her after the destroyed Jewish city.

Today, some 25 years later, Ophira is a charming young woman, finishing her BA and working part time in Jerusalem. She and her new husband, Nachshon, are living in the Shomron community of Tapuach, where his family lived for many years before moving to Elkana. They have a small home, fine for a brand new young couple.

This past Shabbat we hosted almost 60 people for Shabbat, celebrating the wedding here in Hebron. (The wedding was in Jerusalem.) Our guests, many of them from my new 'hatan's (son-in-law's) family, stayed at the Hebron Guest House, Beit Beitar, in the Avraham Avinu neighborhood. We davened at Ma'arat HaMachpela on Friday night and Saturday morning. The evening prayers are particularly joyous, as we sing and dance to famous "Carlebach" Shabbat tunes.

On Saturday afternoon I led a tour of Hebron to those who had strength to walk around and didn't want to go to sleep. We made it all the way up the hill to Tel Rumeida, and then back to Beit Hadassah (where I live). I think everyone had a good time. Some of Nachshon's family hadn't been in Hebron in almost 40 years so it mus
writing for Arutz 7 - IsraelNationalNews is special.
t have been quite an eye-opener for them. Things have changed here quite a bit in the past four decades.

In any case, the wedding is over, as is the festive Shabbat, and now life is getting back to normal. But I thought this a good way to introduce myself in this new setting - an Arutz 7 Blog.

Of course, not all blogs will necessarily be personal - there's much going on in Israel that needs discussing. I'll look forward to your thoughts and comments. Communication - that's what this is all about.

So, that's it for now -
With blessings from Hebron.