One of the Breslover Hassidim wounded in the Friday morning terror attack after they visited Joseph's Tomb in Shechem continues to be in serious condition. He was on his way out of Shechem around 4 AM Friday, with some 15 other worshipers, when Palestinian terrorists fired at their van, setting it ablaze and wounding seven. Foreign sources report that PA vandals have set fire to the holy site up to three separate times in the past few days.
Col. (res.) Rabbi Avi Ronsky, head of a yeshiva near Shechem, repeated to Arutz-7 today his long-held conviction that the only thing stopping Israel from taking at least a measure of control over Joseph's Tomb is not the army, but the government. "I'm not talking about taking permanent control of the site [as the Oslo Accords allow - ed. note]," he said, "because that would truly require a heavy investment of manpower. But there is no problem with allowing entry to Joseph's Tomb at set times; the army has no objections, and in fact many officers are not happy with the fact that the Arabs have thrown us out of a site by the use of force..."
Rabbi Ronsky said that at present, no Jews are permitted to visit the holy site, "except for the army or one or two special occasions when the army allows some people in. Breslover Hassidim come in almost every day; the army tries to prevent them, but they manage to get in somehow, even with the help of Arab cars that they rent. It's very dangerous, and from a straightforward Halakhic [Jewish legal] standpoint, it is definitely a violation of the Torah commandment not to endanger oneself. However, there is an iota of good and truth in what they're doing, in that they are helping arouse the matter of Joseph's Tomb, which is currently destroyed and burnt. Even in the army, which tries to prevent them from going in, there is awakening..."
Although there is no permanent IDF military presence in Shechem, Rabbi Ronsky said, "the situation in Shechem is totally different than it was before the Oslo War. The entire approach is different. We used to rely on the Palestinian Authority, and we were afraid to go into the city, and we would have to coordinate everything with them. But today, the IDF is in total control - we go in when ever we want, and no PA policeman even walks around openly with a weapon, because he knows that if we see him, he will be immediately shot..."
Col. (res.) Rabbi Avi Ronsky, head of a yeshiva near Shechem, repeated to Arutz-7 today his long-held conviction that the only thing stopping Israel from taking at least a measure of control over Joseph's Tomb is not the army, but the government. "I'm not talking about taking permanent control of the site [as the Oslo Accords allow - ed. note]," he said, "because that would truly require a heavy investment of manpower. But there is no problem with allowing entry to Joseph's Tomb at set times; the army has no objections, and in fact many officers are not happy with the fact that the Arabs have thrown us out of a site by the use of force..."
Rabbi Ronsky said that at present, no Jews are permitted to visit the holy site, "except for the army or one or two special occasions when the army allows some people in. Breslover Hassidim come in almost every day; the army tries to prevent them, but they manage to get in somehow, even with the help of Arab cars that they rent. It's very dangerous, and from a straightforward Halakhic [Jewish legal] standpoint, it is definitely a violation of the Torah commandment not to endanger oneself. However, there is an iota of good and truth in what they're doing, in that they are helping arouse the matter of Joseph's Tomb, which is currently destroyed and burnt. Even in the army, which tries to prevent them from going in, there is awakening..."
Although there is no permanent IDF military presence in Shechem, Rabbi Ronsky said, "the situation in Shechem is totally different than it was before the Oslo War. The entire approach is different. We used to rely on the Palestinian Authority, and we were afraid to go into the city, and we would have to coordinate everything with them. But today, the IDF is in total control - we go in when ever we want, and no PA policeman even walks around openly with a weapon, because he knows that if we see him, he will be immediately shot..."