More than 30,000 people were guests in Hevron and nearby Kiryat Arba' on Shabbat, to mark the Torah reading of Chayei Sarah, which described patriarch Abraham's purchase of the Me'arat Hamachpelah Cave of the Patriarchs.
About 3,000 of them had a giant Sabbath meal in an expansive and elegant ten put up by Chabad of Hebron next to the tomb. Chabad headquarters said demand broke records this year and in addition to those who came, some 5,000 additional people asked to come, but could not do so for lack of space.