For the first time in two years, the army granted permission to a group of 78 people to pray at Joseph's Tomb this past Saturday night, the night before Yom Kippur. The commanding officer began the mission by telling the participants, "My name is Eitan, I'm the commander of the battalion that will be bringing you in. First of all, I am happy to be doing this, and it's a good thing. I would just like to ask a few things of you - things that are important both for safety reasons and in order that we be able to bring you here again..." Moshe Lieberman, 11, said Kaddish [the memorial prayer] for his father, Rabbi Hillel Lieberman, who was brutally murdered by an Arab mob two years ago on his way to Joseph's Tomb immediately after hearing that Arabs had overrun it.
Yeshivat Od Yosef Chai was stationed at the site of Joseph's Tomb for many years. The yeshiva's director Yehuda Libman told his fellow visitors to the site, "We are all very moved by this special return mission. As you heard, the army also feels very warmly about this idea, and they identify greatly with this goal of the people of Israel returning to this site, at least [from their standpoint] to atone for the sin of abandoning this place, and I think that many other IDF officers feel the same way..."
MK Uri Ariel (National Union) told Arutz-7 today that he "also had the privilege of being there. It was a very moving and exciting experience - though there was also a feeling of sadness at the tight security involved - for fear of an attack - but the joy was greater than the sadness... The real test, of course, is whether we will be able to go again; let me remind the listeners that we still cannot ascend to the Temple Mount, or to the Shalom al Yisrael synagogue in Jericho, thus that we still have a ways to go."
MK Ariel said that the group was there "for just over two hours, til 3 AM... The buildings and the stone structure over the grave are still there, though there is dirt and strewn rocks; we heard that some Hamas terrorists tried to place a bomb there designed to kill Jewish visitors, but it exploded in their hands, killing them and causing light damage to the dome over the grave and some other parts. The site is not destroyed, but it requires a major clean-up and a new reconstruction plan. I assume that Prime Minister Sharon gave his OK for our visit - it's very good and fine, but it's not enough. We must be allowed to return, and to rebuild the site..."
Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer differentiated today between the Tomb of Rachel and that of Joseph, saying, "The government feels obligated to allow every Jew who so desires to worship at Rachel's Tomb - but not so at Joseph's Tomb, which is situated in the midst of a populated Arab area." It should be noted that Joseph's Tomb was in a totally barren location when it was liberated in the 1967 Six-Day War, and for years afterwards - but Israeli authorities stood passively by as the Arabs of Shechem gradually proceeded to encroach upon the area, until it reached its present state of being totally surrounded by Arab houses. MK Ariel said that in any event, Ben-Eliezer is "sadly mistaken, as he is most definitely obligated to the entire Jewish nation to allow them to reach these sites... It's not a question of formal agreements, but rather an moral obligation to himself as a Jew and to the entire Jewish nation..."
Yeshivat Od Yosef Chai was stationed at the site of Joseph's Tomb for many years. The yeshiva's director Yehuda Libman told his fellow visitors to the site, "We are all very moved by this special return mission. As you heard, the army also feels very warmly about this idea, and they identify greatly with this goal of the people of Israel returning to this site, at least [from their standpoint] to atone for the sin of abandoning this place, and I think that many other IDF officers feel the same way..."
MK Uri Ariel (National Union) told Arutz-7 today that he "also had the privilege of being there. It was a very moving and exciting experience - though there was also a feeling of sadness at the tight security involved - for fear of an attack - but the joy was greater than the sadness... The real test, of course, is whether we will be able to go again; let me remind the listeners that we still cannot ascend to the Temple Mount, or to the Shalom al Yisrael synagogue in Jericho, thus that we still have a ways to go."
MK Ariel said that the group was there "for just over two hours, til 3 AM... The buildings and the stone structure over the grave are still there, though there is dirt and strewn rocks; we heard that some Hamas terrorists tried to place a bomb there designed to kill Jewish visitors, but it exploded in their hands, killing them and causing light damage to the dome over the grave and some other parts. The site is not destroyed, but it requires a major clean-up and a new reconstruction plan. I assume that Prime Minister Sharon gave his OK for our visit - it's very good and fine, but it's not enough. We must be allowed to return, and to rebuild the site..."
Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer differentiated today between the Tomb of Rachel and that of Joseph, saying, "The government feels obligated to allow every Jew who so desires to worship at Rachel's Tomb - but not so at Joseph's Tomb, which is situated in the midst of a populated Arab area." It should be noted that Joseph's Tomb was in a totally barren location when it was liberated in the 1967 Six-Day War, and for years afterwards - but Israeli authorities stood passively by as the Arabs of Shechem gradually proceeded to encroach upon the area, until it reached its present state of being totally surrounded by Arab houses. MK Ariel said that in any event, Ben-Eliezer is "sadly mistaken, as he is most definitely obligated to the entire Jewish nation to allow them to reach these sites... It's not a question of formal agreements, but rather an moral obligation to himself as a Jew and to the entire Jewish nation..."