Torah Event Calms Angry Arabs

While tensions rise in mixed Jewish-Arab towns such as Akko and Lod, a recent Torah dedication event at the new Yafo (Jaffa) yeshiva had a calming effect: Arabs who came to protest had a sudden change of heart and joined in the festivities.

The peaceful relations which began that day continued last week when a summit meeting of all religious leaders in Yafo – Muslim, Christian and Jewish - was held in the house of Rabbi Eliyahu Mali, the pioneer of the Jewish return to Yafo and Dean of the new, religious-Zionist Yafo Yeshiva (house of study).

 

Why a new yeshiva in Yafo?

Yafo boasted a large Jewish population until approximately 10 to 15 years ago, when Arabs began spreading from the Arab Ajami neighborhood and taking over house after house in the Jewish sections. As the Arab population expanded, apartment prices dropped and Jews began to flee, selling their homes to Arabs and boarding up dozens of empty synagogues where Jews had worshipped and studied for decades.

 

The Yafo port, a short distance from the new Yafo Yeshiva

Former Beit El resident Rabbi Eliyahu Mali set out to reverse the tide and restore Jewish life, Torah, and prayer to the synagogues and streets of the ancient biblical town. His immediate objective was to set up a yeshiva at a key location on the very street which divides the rising Arab and dwindling Jewish populations.

When Rabbi Mali met with the sextons at the Ohr Yisrael Synagogue (named after the famous Yisrael Baal Shem Tov), they proposed that their synagogue house the new yeshiva to save the edifice from the fate of many of the neighboring synagogues.

“The synagogue was a dump,” said one of the contractors whom Rabbi Mali brought in for renovations. “Half the roof had caved in, and the backyard was a jungle of high weeds and snakes through which you had to tread to reach the remains of the bathrooms.” The other half of the synagogue roof leaked on the worshippers whose numbers barely reached the quorum of 10 required for public prayers.

After raising funds, including loans, and recruiting students, Rabbi Mali opened the yeshiva with 30 dedicated young Jews on September 1. He wanted no publicity, preferring to get the project off the ground with as little tensions as possible.

The youth were touched by Rabbi Mali’s leadership and arrived to the mixed neighborhood imbued with a mission of bringing the sound of Torah study back to streets where Jonah the prophet once walked. They intend to be interactive with the community, teaching Torah to interested secular Jews who cannot afford to move out to quieter Tel Aviv suburbs.

The Torah dedication ceremony

Hours before the dedication of the new Torah scroll, the Hebrew Ynet website published a hate article against Rabbi Mali and quoted Rafat Tourak, an Arab party candidate for Tel Aviv-Yafo city council. He called Rabbi Mali a "settler" who came to disturb the delicate peace that prevailed in the mixed town. The Arab politician said that the yeshiva’s mission was to expel Arabs from their Yafo homes.

When the festivities to inaugurate the new Torah scroll had just begun, an alarmed student alerted Rabbi Mali that a group of Arabs was approaching. At the head of the would-be mob was a local Imam (Moslem leader), the head of the local Arab council and the Arab Community Center director. Rabbi Mali approached the Imam head-on.

“We have nothing to do with that article in Ynet,” said Rabbi Mali, whose towering six-foot build was softened by his respectful, but firm tone. “The whole article was filled with hate and meant to malign us. It doesn’t represent us,” he added. “Are you against Jews learning Torah,” he asked the Imam, who responded, “No, G-d forbid. Learn as much Torah as you want.”

“Then join us in the Torah dedication,” said Rabbi Mali with an inviting smile, “and together we’ll prove Ynet wrong. We’ll show them that Jews and Arabs can be together.”

The Imam signaled the masses of Arab locals to disperse, and Rabbi Mali escorted the Arab dignitary and several of his aides into the room where the final letters of the Torah scroll were being written. Rabbi Mali gave the Imam a seat up front where he stayed for a short while and parted in peace.

But a second wave of Arab and Jewish anarchists from outside of Yafo awaited Rabbi Mali as the Torah dedication procession advanced a short distance to the yeshiva hall. The angry group waved Palestinian flags and called out slogans against the Jews, which were drowned out by the singing and dancing of the procession.

After former Chief Rabbi of Israel Yisrael Meir Lau addressed the attendees in the yeshiva hall and the Torah scroll was placed in the ark, the participants partook in a festive meal in the grass field across the street which affords a view of the Mediterranean Sea a mere two blocks away. In the video below, Chief Rabbi Lau says, "Everyone who will give a hand or shoulder to help and to support this magnificent affair will be blessed by the Almighty from heaven."

The shouts of the Peace Now activists and anarchists didn’t upset anyone. “We sat with no fear or tension, like in a bubble. It was a surrealistic picture: they stood off to the side in the dark and shouted at the top of their lungs waving flags, while our guests sat in a lit grassy field decorated with tables of food and flowers listening to words of Torah. No one paid attention to the protestors.”

The only people who noticed the Peace Now outsiders were the Arabs and Jews of the neighborhood. “You should be ashamed of yourselves for demonstrating against the dedication of a Torah scroll,” said one Jewish secular woman to the Peace Now Arabs. “When we hear your mosques five times a day at full volume, do we say, ‘Not here?’”

One Arab local who lives across the street from the yeshiva was so angry at the Peace Now agitators that he wanted to strike them. Raising his fist, he shouted, “These Jews at the yeshiva are educated people who are good and behave nicely.” As his anger at Peace Now began to intensify, a Jewish neighbor told him, “Just ignore them. You and I are here 30 years, and we have never had complications with the police. Do you want to start having problems now?”

“The local Arabs were on our side. They told us that the demonstrators are not from Yafo. They came from the outside to incite, and score political gain for their party in the municipal elections,” said Rabbi Mali. “The local Arabs are pleased with our arrival. They see that our intention is to study and teach Torah. The influx of Jews raises the value of their apartments.”

When Rabbi Mali was called upon to speak on the grass, the Peace Now outsiders hushed up for a few minutes out of curiosity to hear an expected belligerent message of hate. To their disappointment, they heard instead a statement of purpose: We are here to teach how to be a better and more complete person. How to have better lives filled with purpose and spirituality. We will accomplish this through Torah study.”

Out of concern that the civil unrest in other mixed Jewish-Arab towns may spread to Yafo, Knesset Member Nadia Hilou (Labor), a Christian Arab resident of Yafo, initiated a summit at Rabbi Mali’s house last week. In attendance were Sheikh Sarur, Bishop Constantine, the Ajami neighborhood council head Kamal Agbaria, and MK Hilou, all residents of Yafo.

Rabbi Mali taught his fellow religious leaders a chapter from Rabbi A.Y Kook’s Ethics of Your Father. MK Hilou summed up saying, “The summit was held in a comfortable and positive atmosphere, just as our communal lives should be. We opened a track of dialogue, and I hope that this message will seep into the hearts of the residents so that we can safeguard Yafo as a mixed town.”

While Rabbi Mali has invested considerable resources in the yeshiva facilities, his own home is in utter shambles. The home was vacant for 15 years until his family moved to it in late August. “First, we will rebuild G-d’s House of study, then we will fix up my home,” said the up and coming rabbinical leader.

Yafo Yeshiva Director Ariel Elmaliach says that the newborn institution seeks aid in returning loans and maintaining the high operational costs of a yeshiva in Tel Aviv/Yafo.

“The yeshiva students have brought vigor and joy to the Jews of Yafo. Where ever I go, people that I have never met stop me in the street and thank me for restoring happiness to the daily routine of city life in Yafo,” Rabbi Mali said.

Contact Ariel Elmaliach: myyafo@gmail.com +972-52-431-7404