About three hundred young people from all over the country flocked to the destroyed community of Homesh in Samaria as part of the "Shabbat of the Land of Israel," an initiative that has been taking place for several years in order to connect the youth to the values of the Land of Israel.
Homesh was one of the four communities in northern Samaria which were destroyed during the 2005 Disengagement. In recent years, the Shabbat was held in Homesh in order to support the yeshiva's activities in the area and to strengthen its students.
On Shabbat, Rabbi Elishama Cohen, Rosh Yeshiva of the renewed Homesh Yeshiva, who greeted the guests and spoke about the verse in the weekly Torah portion, "You have returned every man to his estate. We have a duty to strengthen with faith and confidence that God is the leader of the land. And pray that G-d will give the heart of the ministers and members of the Knesset to join the thousands who visit Homesh, to the dozens of Chachamim (sages) who support and return to Homesh."
Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, told the participants: "You are strengthening your hands in the settlement of Homesh. The vast majority of the people of Israel are behind you and the people of Homesh are pioneers and tzadikim (righteous people). Those who strengthen them strengthen the Land of Israel.."
Avishai, one of the participants, added, "On one Shabbat a year, I am privileged to take an active part in the settlement of the land, which connects us to the Land of Israel.
Earlier last week, a group of Knesset members visited Homesh together with Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein as part of the struggle led by the Samaria Council headed by Yossi Dagan to return to northern Samaria and to annul the Disengagement Law."
During the visit, the Speaker of the Knesset said: "The founding fathers of our country said that the borders will be determined where the Jewish plow passes. I think that here, too, thanks to the Torah scholars, who have been devoted to Rabbi Elishama Cohen, are sitting and learning here, with the help of Gd-, this community will be rebuilt and lead to a chain of settlements that have been evacuated and perhaps even more."
During the tour, he said: "I appeal to my legislators. It will be our task in this Knesset to annul the Disengagement Law."
The yeshiva STATED: "The yeshiva is attended by 40 students, half of whom have families who have settled in Homesh. Every day the yeshiva leads the demand to return and correct the sin of expulsion.The yeshiva students study in difficult conditions, without regular electricity and water, which does not prevent them from continuing to study in depth and to conduct study programs as is customary in the yeshiva world."