In a festive and moving ceremony today (Monday) the first kindergarten in Homesh was inaugurated, twenty years after the expulsion. This is the first kindergarten to open in communities uprooted since the Disengagement.
Present at the ceremony were Yossi Dagan, head of the Shomron Regional Council; Rabbi Elishama Cohen, head of the Homesh Yeshiva; Bnei Gal, representative of Homesh families; deputy council head Davidi Ben-Zion; representatives of the Ministry of Education; Homesh's veteran kindergarten teacher Ayala Levy; the new kindergarten teacher Atara Rubin; kindergarten assistant Sigal Samet; parents and children.
During the ceremony Dagan blessed the Shehecheyanu blessing in tears, and said, "The Disengagement is dead. The people of Israel are alive! We are now at a moment of sweet victory for the people of Israel and Zionism ... There will be many more kindergartens, with God's help, here in Homesh and in the communities that were uprooted. Justice always arrives, even if it takes 20 years".
Education Minister Yoav Kisch sent his blessing, "Twenty years after the uprooting of Homesh, we are planting new roots of education and the future there. The opening of the kindergarten in Homesh is not only an educational act - it is a Zionist act, of building and settlement".
Also Finance Minister and Minister in the Defense Ministry Bezalel Smotrich welcomed the event, "The opening of the kindergarten is not only an educational event, but a symbol of revival and renewed life in the heart of the Shomron. The children who will start their day here with laughter and song are the real answer to anyone who thought the settlement would be uprooted".
Ayala Levy, the last kindergarten teacher of Homesh before the expulsion, emotionally said she had come full circle, "We are returning Atara to its former state. I never dreamed I would one day return to Homesh's kindergarten. I wish much success and faith, and, with God's help, many more kindergartens".
Rabbi Elishama Cohen, head of the Homesh Yeshiva, said, "Man is a tree of the field. These children are the sweet fruits of the Land of Israel. They grew up here with self-sacrifice and thanks to them we merit to open a new kindergarten today".
Atara Rubin, the new kindergarten teacher, added, "For years we came here with the children in tents, on holidays and on Shabbat. Now opening a Ministry of Education kindergarten is a great privilege".
Bnei Gal, representative of Homesh families, said, "Twenty years ago we were expelled from here, and we have carried with us twenty years of struggle to return. Today we are privileged to see salvation with our own eyes, the fulfillment of a prophecy".