A knife-wielding 22-year-old Arab, who infiltrated the community of Beit El on Friday night, was shot and killed minutes later by the town\'s security officer, Yehuda Dana. The Arab managed to stab Dana in the shoulder-neck area, but Dana spun around and killed him with several shots to the stomach and chest. Dana was taken to a Jerusalem hospital where he underwent surgery, and was given a hero\'s welcome by hundreds of townspeople and schoolchildren this afternoon when he arrived home.
The Arab, who came from the nearby village of Dura al-Kara, managed to cut through the community\'s security fence. He went to the first house he saw - the town\'s northern-most building, home of Rabbi T., head of Bnei Tzvi Yeshiva High School in Beit El - and turned off its water supply. Although this was an apparent attempt to draw the residents out, the terrorist for some reason did not wait around, and \"missed\" the chance to stab the father of the household, who in fact came out, turned on the water, returned to his home, and locked the door once more. Only a few seconds later, when he heard wild knocking first on one door, then on another, and then Arab-accented Hebrew demanding \"Open the door!\" did Rabbi T. connect the water turn-off with the terrorist attack he realized was now in progress.
While his wife gathered the children into an inside room and notified the town\'s security services, Rabbi T. tried to scare the terrorist away by shooting through the front door. Security Chief Dana soon arrived on the scene and encountered the terrorist, whose last act on earth was to moderately wound Dana with a knife wound. Within seconds the terrorist was dead, and very shortly afterwards Dana was in an ambulance on his way to Jerusalem. Beit El residents, who were told only that a terrorist had infiltrated, were asked to remain in their homes with lights off until security personnel combed the area and ascertained that the dead terrorist was in fact the only one.
At a spontaneously joyous welcoming ceremony for Yehuda Dana this afternoon, Rabbi T. spoke and said, \"The terrorist tried to get into our house for over ten minutes, yet was unable to. Another miracle was that he did not try to get into other homes nearby, which were [less well-protected]. And a third miracle was that Yehuda was not seriously hurt when he was attacked, but managed to kill the terrorist instead. Now I will ask all the children here: Do you know what merit helped us deserve these kindnesses?\" Many of the children called out, \"Torah study,\" and Rabbi T. agreed: \"It was in the merit of the Torah study of [the recent holiday of] Shavuot [when many people stay up all night to study], and the Torah study all year round of all the children and adults, and all the self-sacrifice in many other areas...\"
After Yehuda Dana then spoke and told his friends and neighbors exactly what happened, he emotionally recited the HaGomel blessing, thanking G-d for the chain of events that enabled him to escape death and to kill the terrorist. Beit El\'s Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed then addressed the crowd and said that in addition to the prayers of thanks we must offer, \"we must also build a new neighborhood so that Rabbi T. will no longer live at the edge of the community. However, we are not sure if we should name it after Yehuda or after the T. family - so we\'ll have to build two!\"
The Arab, who came from the nearby village of Dura al-Kara, managed to cut through the community\'s security fence. He went to the first house he saw - the town\'s northern-most building, home of Rabbi T., head of Bnei Tzvi Yeshiva High School in Beit El - and turned off its water supply. Although this was an apparent attempt to draw the residents out, the terrorist for some reason did not wait around, and \"missed\" the chance to stab the father of the household, who in fact came out, turned on the water, returned to his home, and locked the door once more. Only a few seconds later, when he heard wild knocking first on one door, then on another, and then Arab-accented Hebrew demanding \"Open the door!\" did Rabbi T. connect the water turn-off with the terrorist attack he realized was now in progress.
While his wife gathered the children into an inside room and notified the town\'s security services, Rabbi T. tried to scare the terrorist away by shooting through the front door. Security Chief Dana soon arrived on the scene and encountered the terrorist, whose last act on earth was to moderately wound Dana with a knife wound. Within seconds the terrorist was dead, and very shortly afterwards Dana was in an ambulance on his way to Jerusalem. Beit El residents, who were told only that a terrorist had infiltrated, were asked to remain in their homes with lights off until security personnel combed the area and ascertained that the dead terrorist was in fact the only one.
At a spontaneously joyous welcoming ceremony for Yehuda Dana this afternoon, Rabbi T. spoke and said, \"The terrorist tried to get into our house for over ten minutes, yet was unable to. Another miracle was that he did not try to get into other homes nearby, which were [less well-protected]. And a third miracle was that Yehuda was not seriously hurt when he was attacked, but managed to kill the terrorist instead. Now I will ask all the children here: Do you know what merit helped us deserve these kindnesses?\" Many of the children called out, \"Torah study,\" and Rabbi T. agreed: \"It was in the merit of the Torah study of [the recent holiday of] Shavuot [when many people stay up all night to study], and the Torah study all year round of all the children and adults, and all the self-sacrifice in many other areas...\"
After Yehuda Dana then spoke and told his friends and neighbors exactly what happened, he emotionally recited the HaGomel blessing, thanking G-d for the chain of events that enabled him to escape death and to kill the terrorist. Beit El\'s Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed then addressed the crowd and said that in addition to the prayers of thanks we must offer, \"we must also build a new neighborhood so that Rabbi T. will no longer live at the edge of the community. However, we are not sure if we should name it after Yehuda or after the T. family - so we\'ll have to build two!\"