The efforts to re-settle Homesh, one of the four Shomron (Samaria) towns destroyed in Ariel Sharon’s Disengagement in the summer of 2005, receive a large boost with celebrations on site.
Some 10,000 people arrived at the Homesh hilltop, where once stood a flowering town of dozens of families, for Lag BaOmer festivities Tuesday afternoon. The high point of the event will be the lighting of a huge Lag BaOmer bonfire that will be able to be seen from Tel Aviv and the Coastal Plain.
Bonfires, in addition to singing and dancing, play a prominent part in the commemorations of Kabbalah-author Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s life and death on this day some 1,900 years ago.
Homesh has been the site of a constant Jewish presence for nearly two years, and the pioneers state unabashedly their goal of resettling the site. They note that unlike Gaza, Israel has not given control of the area to a foreign entity, and there is no reason why Jews should not live there – especially in light of the failure of the 2005 Disengagement to bring security and advance peace.
The events began with a march from Shavei Shomron, several kilometers south of Homesh, to the old Sebastia train station, the birthplace of modern Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria. Modern Shomron’s first pioneers were on hand to meet with the hikers.
Other activities include the screening of film clips of Homesh at Medreshet HaShomron in Shavei Shomron, buses to Homesh, picnics, activities, guided tours and more. Musicians Chaim David (Sarachik) and Ariel Zilber performed, and Knesset Members Uri Ariel, Aryeh Eldad, Michael Ben-Ari (all of National Union), Danny Danon (Likud), and Chaim Amsalem (Shas), as well as other public figures, are on hand.
The promotional literature states, “The small flames lit in Homesh on Chanukah 5767 (2007), some two years after the expulsion, started dispersing the clouds of the expulsion… The small light became stronger and stronger, with large group ascents on the one hand, and the sound of Torah in small groups of students on the other hand; the latter, with untold dedication and self-sacrifice, wage Jewish life there, day in and day out. The nation is deciding: Enough darkness! No more expulsion! On Lag BaOmer, we will empower those ministers and MKs who wish to repair this great injustice, and who wish to restore the glory of Jewish life to Homesh and the northern Shomron. The relay torch race of the Nation of Israel will banish the darkness!”