Last night marked the 10th anniversary of the revival the ancient custom of encircling the walls of Jerusalem's Old City on the eve of Tisha B'Av - the 9th day of the Jewish month of Av, the day the first and second Temples were destroyed.
The revival of the ancient custom was initiated by the Women In Green organization, headed by Nadia and Ruth Matar. They first requested a permit from the Jerusalem Police in 1994 to allow the march, but were turned down on the grounds that such a march through eastern Jerusalem would constitute a provocation. Women in Green then turned to Israel's High Court, which ruled that the march could take place, but only with 500 women wearing identifiable green hats. Whoever marched in addition to those 500 would have to march as an individual, the Court ruled.
The march has grown steadily over the past decade, and last night's encirclement of the walls attracted more than 10,000 participants. The silent march was preceded by the traditional reading of Eichah (the Book of Lamentations) in the large plaza that abuts Jerusalem's City Hall.
Knesset members "still loyal to the Land of Israel," in Nadia Matar's words, as well as rabbis took part in the march. They addressed the crowd opposite Lions Gate, where IDF Paratroopers entered the Old City in 1967 to liberate the Temple Mount.
"We stand here on the 9th of Av not only to mourn the destruction of our first and second Temples," said former Cabinet Minister Rabbi Benny Elon (National Union). "The Fast of the 9th of Av also marks the day when the twelve spies sent to scout out the Land of Israel returned, with ten of them saying that the Land was unconquerable, and two of them insisting the opposite: 'Arise, let us conquer it, for God is with us.'"
"We see from this biblical episode that what is right is not decided by the majority," said Elon. "On Tisha B'Av we are prohibited from greeting one another, in order to set each person apart with only himself and the Creator. This is so that each Jew can look beyond the loud slogans of the tired majority, break away from the flock and decide on his own what is right for the eternal Nation of Israel."
Other speakers included MK Dr. Aryeh Eldad (National Union) and Har Nof's Rabbi Shalom Gold of the Aloh Naaleh organization, which encourages North American rabbis to make Aliyah (immigrate to Israel) together with their congregations.
Women in Green's co-founder Nadia Matar delivered a stirring speech that echoed through the City of David, below the Old City. She said,
"On June 7, 1967, our paratroopers broke through the Lions Gate, and liberated the entire Old City. At 10 AM, three paratroopers, following General Motta Gur's orders, climbed to the top of the Dome of the Rock and unfurled an Israeli flag over it. Four hours later, at 2 PM, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan arrived, surrounded by his entourage. Nadav Shragai writes in his book The Contested Mount:
'Dayan was immersed in his thoughts when IDF Chief Prosecutor Meir Shamgar drew his attention to the fact that the Israeli flag had been raised over the Temple Mount since the morning. Dayan ordered that it immediately be lowered. Then Dayan spotted a paratrooper company that was preparing for permanent deployment in the northern part of the Temple Mount, and he ordered that they, too, be removed from the Mount.
'Central Region Commander Uzi Narkiss sought to persuade Dayan, reminding him that Jordan, as well, had kept a military unit on the Mount to maintain order. Dayan was not convinced. He told Narkiss that it seemed to him that the place had to be entrusted to the Muslims.'
"Several days later, Dayan decided finally that the place and its administration were to be entrusted to the Muslim Waqf. At the same time, he decided to insist that Jews be allowed to visit the Temple Mount, but not pray there. Later on, Dayan gave an explanation for his scandalous decision - a decision that proved to all just how much Dayan was an assimilated Jew and an ignoramus. He explained that, 'since for the Muslims the Temple Mount is a Muslim mosque for prayer, while for Jews it is merely a historical site recalling the past, the Arabs are not to be disturbed in acting there as they do now, and the right of the Muslims to control it must be recognized.'
"My friends, the State of Israel exists for 56 years. Of these, we were truly, in the words of the HaTikvah, Israel's national anthem, a 'free people in its land' only for four hours. Those four hours were those in which the Israeli flag waved above the Temple Mount. [It is] as the poet Uri Tzvi Greenberg knew, that whoever controls the Temple Mount controls all of the Land of Israel.
"The order to lower the Israeli flag from the Temple Mount in '67 constituted the beginning of the continued withdrawal and collapse by Israel's governments to the Arab enemy. There is a clear and direct connection between the removal of the Israeli flag from the Temple Mount in '67 and the retreat from Yamit, from there to the criminal Oslo accords, from there to the Wye agreements, and from there to Ariel Sharon's ethnic cleansing plan to deport Jews and hand over vast portions of our homeland to the enemy. Obviously, anyone who abandons the Temple Mount, the very heart of the Jewish people, will eventually hand over the rest of the homeland to that same Arab foe.
"But there is also good news. We, the people, are capable of changing the situation. Admittedly, we have many weak and tired political leaders, who are no different from the ten spies who slandered the Land of Israel. Those scouts were afraid. They did not believe or have the faith that we could conquer our Land. As is common knowledge, it was specifically for the sin of the spies that we were punished. G-d turned the day on which the Land was besmirched by these messengers, which fell on the ninth of Av, into a day of destruction and mourning. Today, we must correct this sin. Today, the People of Israel rejects the way our people reacted in the wilderness. Then, the response of the people was to believe the ten spies, to weep, to complain, and to tearfully implore Moses to return to Egypt.
"Yesterday we had a magnificent human chain, with more than 200,000 participants, from Gush Katif to the Temple Mount. Today, we have tens of thousands participants in the Walk, who encircle the Temple Mount as a bride encircles her groom under the wedding canopy. This Walk has been held for ten years in succession now, and just grows from year to year. All of this demonstrates that the majority of the people received the genes of Caleb ben Yefuneh and Joshua ben Nun, who believed in the justness of our Cause, and who did not fear to say, 'We will certainly go up, and we shall gain possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it' (Numbers 13:30).
"We must deliver an unequivocal message to all the politicians today who, once again, slander the Land and are willing to surrender parts of it: This shall not come to pass. The people shall not allow you, even if you cook up a majority in the Knesset and the government. The majority of the people of Israel, throughout the ages, clearly say: 'The Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel, in accordance with the Torah of Israel, and no one has the right to cede it.' Don't delude yourselves: Yesterday we stood in the human chain like nice and very disciplined children, and today we are holding a quiet and respectable march - but you should know that for us the Land of Israel is like our child, and if, Heaven forbid, the patently illegal order should come to take our child from us, the masses that we saw yesterday in the human chain, and today in this Walk, will be forced to react as a lioness defending her cubs against criminal and murderous hunters.
"With G-d's help, we will not have to face such harsh situations. With G-d's help, in the coming months we will succeed in sending home, to early retirement, all the political leaders who today are betraying Zionism and Judaism, and thereby bury their plan of destruction. In their place we shall find true, proud Jewish leaders, leaders who shall fearlessly proclaim throughout the whole world: 'The Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel, in accordance with the Torah of Israel.'"
Psalm 137 about Jerusalem was read aloud, a shofar was blown, and the marchers then continued to the Kotel, the western wall of the Temple Mount. Well over 100,000 people visited the Wall last night and today, reciting the liturgical Kinnot lamenting the destruction, exile, and other catastrophes Israel has undergone.
The revival of the ancient custom was initiated by the Women In Green organization, headed by Nadia and Ruth Matar. They first requested a permit from the Jerusalem Police in 1994 to allow the march, but were turned down on the grounds that such a march through eastern Jerusalem would constitute a provocation. Women in Green then turned to Israel's High Court, which ruled that the march could take place, but only with 500 women wearing identifiable green hats. Whoever marched in addition to those 500 would have to march as an individual, the Court ruled.
The march has grown steadily over the past decade, and last night's encirclement of the walls attracted more than 10,000 participants. The silent march was preceded by the traditional reading of Eichah (the Book of Lamentations) in the large plaza that abuts Jerusalem's City Hall.
Knesset members "still loyal to the Land of Israel," in Nadia Matar's words, as well as rabbis took part in the march. They addressed the crowd opposite Lions Gate, where IDF Paratroopers entered the Old City in 1967 to liberate the Temple Mount.
"We stand here on the 9th of Av not only to mourn the destruction of our first and second Temples," said former Cabinet Minister Rabbi Benny Elon (National Union). "The Fast of the 9th of Av also marks the day when the twelve spies sent to scout out the Land of Israel returned, with ten of them saying that the Land was unconquerable, and two of them insisting the opposite: 'Arise, let us conquer it, for God is with us.'"
"We see from this biblical episode that what is right is not decided by the majority," said Elon. "On Tisha B'Av we are prohibited from greeting one another, in order to set each person apart with only himself and the Creator. This is so that each Jew can look beyond the loud slogans of the tired majority, break away from the flock and decide on his own what is right for the eternal Nation of Israel."
Other speakers included MK Dr. Aryeh Eldad (National Union) and Har Nof's Rabbi Shalom Gold of the Aloh Naaleh organization, which encourages North American rabbis to make Aliyah (immigrate to Israel) together with their congregations.
Women in Green's co-founder Nadia Matar delivered a stirring speech that echoed through the City of David, below the Old City. She said,
"On June 7, 1967, our paratroopers broke through the Lions Gate, and liberated the entire Old City. At 10 AM, three paratroopers, following General Motta Gur's orders, climbed to the top of the Dome of the Rock and unfurled an Israeli flag over it. Four hours later, at 2 PM, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan arrived, surrounded by his entourage. Nadav Shragai writes in his book The Contested Mount:
'Dayan was immersed in his thoughts when IDF Chief Prosecutor Meir Shamgar drew his attention to the fact that the Israeli flag had been raised over the Temple Mount since the morning. Dayan ordered that it immediately be lowered. Then Dayan spotted a paratrooper company that was preparing for permanent deployment in the northern part of the Temple Mount, and he ordered that they, too, be removed from the Mount.
'Central Region Commander Uzi Narkiss sought to persuade Dayan, reminding him that Jordan, as well, had kept a military unit on the Mount to maintain order. Dayan was not convinced. He told Narkiss that it seemed to him that the place had to be entrusted to the Muslims.'
"Several days later, Dayan decided finally that the place and its administration were to be entrusted to the Muslim Waqf. At the same time, he decided to insist that Jews be allowed to visit the Temple Mount, but not pray there. Later on, Dayan gave an explanation for his scandalous decision - a decision that proved to all just how much Dayan was an assimilated Jew and an ignoramus. He explained that, 'since for the Muslims the Temple Mount is a Muslim mosque for prayer, while for Jews it is merely a historical site recalling the past, the Arabs are not to be disturbed in acting there as they do now, and the right of the Muslims to control it must be recognized.'
"My friends, the State of Israel exists for 56 years. Of these, we were truly, in the words of the HaTikvah, Israel's national anthem, a 'free people in its land' only for four hours. Those four hours were those in which the Israeli flag waved above the Temple Mount. [It is] as the poet Uri Tzvi Greenberg knew, that whoever controls the Temple Mount controls all of the Land of Israel.
"The order to lower the Israeli flag from the Temple Mount in '67 constituted the beginning of the continued withdrawal and collapse by Israel's governments to the Arab enemy. There is a clear and direct connection between the removal of the Israeli flag from the Temple Mount in '67 and the retreat from Yamit, from there to the criminal Oslo accords, from there to the Wye agreements, and from there to Ariel Sharon's ethnic cleansing plan to deport Jews and hand over vast portions of our homeland to the enemy. Obviously, anyone who abandons the Temple Mount, the very heart of the Jewish people, will eventually hand over the rest of the homeland to that same Arab foe.
"But there is also good news. We, the people, are capable of changing the situation. Admittedly, we have many weak and tired political leaders, who are no different from the ten spies who slandered the Land of Israel. Those scouts were afraid. They did not believe or have the faith that we could conquer our Land. As is common knowledge, it was specifically for the sin of the spies that we were punished. G-d turned the day on which the Land was besmirched by these messengers, which fell on the ninth of Av, into a day of destruction and mourning. Today, we must correct this sin. Today, the People of Israel rejects the way our people reacted in the wilderness. Then, the response of the people was to believe the ten spies, to weep, to complain, and to tearfully implore Moses to return to Egypt.
"Yesterday we had a magnificent human chain, with more than 200,000 participants, from Gush Katif to the Temple Mount. Today, we have tens of thousands participants in the Walk, who encircle the Temple Mount as a bride encircles her groom under the wedding canopy. This Walk has been held for ten years in succession now, and just grows from year to year. All of this demonstrates that the majority of the people received the genes of Caleb ben Yefuneh and Joshua ben Nun, who believed in the justness of our Cause, and who did not fear to say, 'We will certainly go up, and we shall gain possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it' (Numbers 13:30).
"We must deliver an unequivocal message to all the politicians today who, once again, slander the Land and are willing to surrender parts of it: This shall not come to pass. The people shall not allow you, even if you cook up a majority in the Knesset and the government. The majority of the people of Israel, throughout the ages, clearly say: 'The Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel, in accordance with the Torah of Israel, and no one has the right to cede it.' Don't delude yourselves: Yesterday we stood in the human chain like nice and very disciplined children, and today we are holding a quiet and respectable march - but you should know that for us the Land of Israel is like our child, and if, Heaven forbid, the patently illegal order should come to take our child from us, the masses that we saw yesterday in the human chain, and today in this Walk, will be forced to react as a lioness defending her cubs against criminal and murderous hunters.
"With G-d's help, we will not have to face such harsh situations. With G-d's help, in the coming months we will succeed in sending home, to early retirement, all the political leaders who today are betraying Zionism and Judaism, and thereby bury their plan of destruction. In their place we shall find true, proud Jewish leaders, leaders who shall fearlessly proclaim throughout the whole world: 'The Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel, in accordance with the Torah of Israel.'"
Psalm 137 about Jerusalem was read aloud, a shofar was blown, and the marchers then continued to the Kotel, the western wall of the Temple Mount. Well over 100,000 people visited the Wall last night and today, reciting the liturgical Kinnot lamenting the destruction, exile, and other catastrophes Israel has undergone.