Ahead of Shabbat Chayei Sarah, we spoke with Shlomo Levinger, a member of the Harchivi Makom Ohalech association, who describes the momentum in the efforts to redeem houses in the city of Hebron.
Levinger recalls the days when his father, Rabbi Moshe Levinger, obm, arrived in Hebron at the head of a group of settlers immediately after the Six-Day War.
“The call was for Jews to return to Hebron, and indeed they rented an Arab hotel in Hebron, and the expectation was that after the Jews, the government would follow, and the city of Hebron would return to being a Hebrew city - and it was a Hebrew city even before Tel Aviv,” he recalls.
Click here to help redeem the houses in Hebron
“In the end, it did not work that way. They built Kiryat Arba while in Hebron there were no Jews, until in Nissan 5739 a group of mothers and their children - I was one of the children - we moved to live in Hebron. Even then, the expectation was that the matter would be carried out by KKL or branches of the government. That did not happen, and my father worked to establish an association that would follow the path of our forefather Abraham, to redeem Hebron with money.”
Levinger says that the first building redeemed this way was Beit Hashalom (Peace House) in 2003, after the severe terror attack on the Worshippers’ Route. The understanding was that the government was not ready for the process, and that those who needed to carry out the actions were individuals.
The association, he says, “merited to redeem and buy houses and buildings from Arabs, with each such building becoming a neighborhood.” He also notes that on all sides there are structures that have been purchased, and recently there is also a new building north of the Cave of the Patriarchs, Beit Ma’aleh Doron. “The aspiration is to return and to grow,” Levinger stresses.
“For me, it is part of my father Rabbi Levinger’s will - to redeem Hebron and to return the city to what it once was - a Hebrew city,” he says, and describes the excitement of seeing families with their children and belongings arriving as they enter a purchased home.
Click here to help redeem the houses in Hebron
“In the last two years, as a result of the war, a transformation has taken place. Before the war, we had to search step by step for those Arabs who would sell to us - and even that we succeeded in - but the recent war has caused many Arabs to want to begin life somewhere else. The immigration plan can begin here. People want to leave and sell their homes for good money, and now it is only a matter of money and not a matter of willingness. That is what we are aiming for.”
At the same time, he says, “More and more people are becoming aware of the possibility of redeeming the houses. I call it ideological real estate. Many come here, see the reality, and say they want their own four cubits in Hebron.” Because of this, he says, several additional projects are now reaching maturity.
“We have been fortunate, and the supply is greater than the demand, and we call on everyone to come buy, come support. In the past year, half a million Jews visited the city. One can also support in a simple way, with a monthly bank transfer. If each person donates fifty shekels - multiplied by a thousand people - times 12 months, that means that on your next visit to Hebron, you will see here another new building of Jews.”