The new Gush Katif Museum in Jerusalem welcomed two well-known and influential visitors on Wednesday. Knesset Member Meir Porush (United Torah Judaism) and Chief Rabbi of Ramat Gan Rabbi Yaakov Ariel paid extensive visits to the Jerusalem museum.
Can't see the video? Click here to see MK Porush react to scenes from the Disengagement.
The museum seeks to preserve the memory of the 21 Jewish communities in Gaza and four in northern Samaria which were uprooted and destroyed in the August 2005 Disengagement. The Gush Katif museum opened just this month to an enthusiastic response from the public. Museum Director Yaakov Klein said that the exhibits will continue to expand.
MK Porush, slated to be the Agudat Yisrael party candidate for Mayor of Jerusalem, visited the museum for an hour and received detailed explanations of the exhibits from Director Klein. Porush is viewed by many as a more hawkish member of the haredi-religious Agudat Yisrael party. Some say the party could have brought down the Sharon government that executed the Disengagement.
"The heart aches," Porush said after seeing the images and videos from the 2005 expulsion. "There is the idea of remembering and never forgetting that this destruction began the day after Tisha B'Av, when we mourn the destruction of our holy Temples."
Regarding the supporters of the Disengagement, Porush said, "It's important that [they] visit here, so that they can see and remember what they fed us with, as if this thing might bring some sort of salvation or redemption, but eventually, it slapped back in their faces. None of the promises were kept."
Aside from MK Porush, another Jerusalem mayoral candidate has also expressed interest in arranging a guided visit to the museum. Representatives of Jerusalem City Council Member Nir Barkat (Kadima) called the Gush Katif Museum directors shortly after it opened to discuss the possibilities.
A well-known Torah scholar and community leader, Rabbi Ariel wrote a treatise ahead of the Disengagement detailing 40 violations of Jewish law inherent in uprooting Jews from their homes in Gush Katif and Samaria. Rabbi Ariel served as the dean of a yeshiva in the community of Yamit, which was located in the Sinai peninsula until it too was uprooted in 1982 following an agreement with Egypt.
The Gush Katif Museum is located on Shaarei Tzedek St., between Jaffa Rd. and Agripas St., not far from the Machaneh Yehuda open market in downtown Jerusalem. It is open from 1 to 8 PM on weekdays, and from 9 AM-1 PM on Fridays. Admission is free. The phone number is 02-625-5456 and the email address is mgushkatif@gmail.com.