A new photograph exhibition documenting the aliyah and activity at Shdema by photographers Gemma Blech, Rivka Ryback and Avigail Browning became the centerpiece of a holiday afternoon at the site on Sunday.
The opening of the exhibition, sponsored by the Committee for a Jewish Shdema, began with a musical celebration of "Songs of Eretz Israel" performed by Musa Berlin and his band.
Children found inflatables and other activities to hold their interest, while adults browsed through booths offering various foods, arts and crafts. An open sukkah was available.
Greetings to guests were delivered by Rabbi Dov Lior, the Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Arba-Hevron, Likud coalition chairman and Knesset Member Ze'ev Elkin, and Shaul Goldstein, head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council. IDF Col. (res.) Moshe Peled delivered an address on Settlement and Security, and Rabbi Yosef Mendelovitch described the exciting story of the aliyah itself to Shdema.
The event was scheduled to conclude with festive Simchat Beit HaSho'eva dancing with the Me'Shir Band of Benzi Thee and Avi Schmell.
Shdema, located between Jerusalem and eastern Gush Etzion, was the site of a Hasmonean fortress 2,000 years ago, served as a Jordanian army base between 1948 and 1967, and was an IDF base until two years ago.
After the IDF abandoned it, government officials began planning to give it to the Palestinian Authority as the site of a new Arab town. When Gush Etzion residents and others heard, they immediately began a series of actions designed to nip the plans in the bud – and turn the area into a Jewish town instead.
The hilltop has remained under Jewish control, largely due to the efforts of activists who maintain a constant, dynamic presence there.
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