The original plan actually was for the residents of the Mateh Binyamin council, north of Jerusalem, to host their threatened friends from Gush Katif. But the timing - only five and a half weeks from the date on which Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans to begin to demolish 25 Jewish Land of Israel communities in Katif and Shomron – was not felt to be ideal for a mass exodus, however temporary, away from the threatened areas. “We’ll come to you and host you in your homes,” the Mateh Binyamin people therefore said – and it happened this Sabbath.
Well over 200 people came from Beit El, the largest community in the Binyamin area, to N’vei Dekalim, the capital of Gush Katif. Sleeping and eating arrangements were somewhat helter-skelter, with some people sleeping in unused, rundown rooms in one of the nearby yeshivot, and others making do with classrooms in the local school. The meals were had wherever there was room: in the school dining room/synagogue on Friday night, and in the hall under the main synagogue in town the next day. Local residents took part in the meals, as well as in classes, youth gatherings, and other activities arranged by the visitors. The traditional Third Meal just before twilight as Sabbath neared its end was a moving get-together of hundreds of residents of both towns. – Many called it an “engagement,” or “union,” in contrast with Sharon’s attempt to “disengage.”
David Banjo of N’vei Dekalim, who thanked the people of Beit El on behalf of his neighbors, said, “I had the opportunity to drive [well-known Torah lecturer] Rabbi Elisha Vishlitzky around the Katif area just before the Sabbath, and as we looked out over the ocean, we saw a fascinating, gripping sight: the endless blue horizon meshing with the setting orange sun. It seemed to symbolize our very struggle here in the Gush: the infinite t’chelet blue sky, standing for the holiness of our Torah commandments and the eternity of the Jewish people – meshing with the orange that stands for our struggle today. [Orange is the color of the struggle to save Gush Katif and the Shomron, and can be seen on cars, in the streets, and in every facet of Israeli life. – ed.] Our job now is to mesh the two, and raise up the orange so that it truly is one with the Divine infinite.”
Some 150 people came from Kokhav Yaakov to Gan-Or, a small farming yishuv (community) just a bicycle ride away from N’vei Dekalim. They slept in tents they set up on the main lawn opposite the main synagogue, visited with the residents, and similarly hosted the townspeople for the Third Meal, with food they brought and prepared themselves. Expressing some of the frustrations of the past few months – which has featured well-meaning visitors from all over bombarding Gush Katif, often with no advance notice – one resident exclaimed happily, “Finally, someone is coming to host us, and not the other way around!”
The most dramatic encounter was possibly in B'dolach, which means Crystal. Close to 150 students and teachers of the Machon Meir institute in Jerusalem arrived, complete with their own food and tents. In addition to providing encouragement for the residents, who are suffering from the uncertainty of the current period more than in many other Katif towns, many of the visitors themselves were overcome with emotion. “One of them said to me this was the first time he had ever been to Gush Katif, and that he had no idea of the amazing enterprise going on here,” said Rabbi Yoram Eliyahu of Machon Meir. “These students themselves are in the middle of a dramatic and significant process [of returning to Judaism], and this was a real eye-opener for them.”
Rabbi Dov Begun, Dean of Machon Meir and childhood friend of Ehud Barak, was asked to briefly describe the Sabbath. “We came away greatly strengthened,” he said with his customary humility. Later on, at a musical event for all of Gush Katif and their hosts/guests from Binyamin, Rabbi Begun said, “Let it be clear: In the battle for Gush Etzion 57 years ago, our fighters - who fought literally to their last bullet –were given strength because they knew they were fighting not only for their homes, but also for Jerusalem. The same is true today! Our enemies, and the whole world, has marked Jerusalem as their goal – and they are hoping to get Jerusalem via Gush Katif!”
Rabbi Begun also had a message for the “day of the evacuation, if, Heaven forbid, it should come to pass.” On the one hand, he said, soldiers and policemen are forbidden by Torah law to take part in the expulsion activities, but on the other hand, “We must not raise a hand against them. They are our soldiers, our policemen. The only thing we can do is to fight with our eyes – by looking straight at them, into their eyes… The whole world will be looking at Gush Katif – and we will stand tall and proud, and show them how the Jewish People act.”
Ten families from Neriah and Maaleh Levonah spent the Sabbath in Morag, the most isolated yishuv in Gush Katif. Among the guests was also famed pre-1948 Lechi fighter Ezra Yachin, who lives to this day in a lone Jewish building in the Arab neighborhood of Beit Hanina in northern Jerusalem.
A dozen families from Dolev were in Gadid, adjacent to N’vei Dekalim, joining a group of families that have arrived over the past several weeks to fill up an empty neighborhood in town. Yitzchak Ben-Aryeh, one of the newcomers, said, “It was Ariel Sharon who, as Housing Minister many years ago, built these and many other houses. For some reason, they were never filled – but now, in his merit, their original purpose is being fulfilled.” His newly-placed 150 square feet of fresh green sod on the sand of his front yard are evidence of the family’s plans to remain.
Among the other “connections” that were made were:
25 families from Maaleh Michmas in Netzer Hazani, the oldest yishuv in Gush Katif;
15 families from Psagot in the seaside community of Shirat HaYam, whose 16 families have grown to 21 over the past three months, and to where three more families are set to move in this week;
some 20 people from Shilo in Rafiach Yam – and some of them are planning to move there later this week or next.
Possibly the most poignant message was delivered by Gush Katif’s Chief Rabbi Yigal Kaminetzky, at the Bar Mitzvah of the son of a well-known family in N’vei Dekalim: “The Torah tells us that we are taken to task for not fulfilling the commandments with sufficient joy, even though we may have ‘rov kol’ – the best of everything. Yet here, all of our ‘rov kol’ is under threat – our neighborhood and communal life, our education, our schools, our jobs – everything, and yet we are still rejoicing. This is the clearest sign of our strength, of our commitment, of the fact that we cannot be defeated. Who would have ever thought that now, on Rosh Chodesh Tammuz [the beginning of the month of Tammuz], we would be celebrating such an occasion! All the experts thought that by now, half of us or more would have been gone already! Yet here we are – and [presenting the Bar Mitzvah boy with a set of Torah books on behalf of the congregation] – we expect to test you on what you have learned from these books, right here in this very place next year!”
Well over 200 people came from Beit El, the largest community in the Binyamin area, to N’vei Dekalim, the capital of Gush Katif. Sleeping and eating arrangements were somewhat helter-skelter, with some people sleeping in unused, rundown rooms in one of the nearby yeshivot, and others making do with classrooms in the local school. The meals were had wherever there was room: in the school dining room/synagogue on Friday night, and in the hall under the main synagogue in town the next day. Local residents took part in the meals, as well as in classes, youth gatherings, and other activities arranged by the visitors. The traditional Third Meal just before twilight as Sabbath neared its end was a moving get-together of hundreds of residents of both towns. – Many called it an “engagement,” or “union,” in contrast with Sharon’s attempt to “disengage.”
David Banjo of N’vei Dekalim, who thanked the people of Beit El on behalf of his neighbors, said, “I had the opportunity to drive [well-known Torah lecturer] Rabbi Elisha Vishlitzky around the Katif area just before the Sabbath, and as we looked out over the ocean, we saw a fascinating, gripping sight: the endless blue horizon meshing with the setting orange sun. It seemed to symbolize our very struggle here in the Gush: the infinite t’chelet blue sky, standing for the holiness of our Torah commandments and the eternity of the Jewish people – meshing with the orange that stands for our struggle today. [Orange is the color of the struggle to save Gush Katif and the Shomron, and can be seen on cars, in the streets, and in every facet of Israeli life. – ed.] Our job now is to mesh the two, and raise up the orange so that it truly is one with the Divine infinite.”
Some 150 people came from Kokhav Yaakov to Gan-Or, a small farming yishuv (community) just a bicycle ride away from N’vei Dekalim. They slept in tents they set up on the main lawn opposite the main synagogue, visited with the residents, and similarly hosted the townspeople for the Third Meal, with food they brought and prepared themselves. Expressing some of the frustrations of the past few months – which has featured well-meaning visitors from all over bombarding Gush Katif, often with no advance notice – one resident exclaimed happily, “Finally, someone is coming to host us, and not the other way around!”
The most dramatic encounter was possibly in B'dolach, which means Crystal. Close to 150 students and teachers of the Machon Meir institute in Jerusalem arrived, complete with their own food and tents. In addition to providing encouragement for the residents, who are suffering from the uncertainty of the current period more than in many other Katif towns, many of the visitors themselves were overcome with emotion. “One of them said to me this was the first time he had ever been to Gush Katif, and that he had no idea of the amazing enterprise going on here,” said Rabbi Yoram Eliyahu of Machon Meir. “These students themselves are in the middle of a dramatic and significant process [of returning to Judaism], and this was a real eye-opener for them.”
Rabbi Dov Begun, Dean of Machon Meir and childhood friend of Ehud Barak, was asked to briefly describe the Sabbath. “We came away greatly strengthened,” he said with his customary humility. Later on, at a musical event for all of Gush Katif and their hosts/guests from Binyamin, Rabbi Begun said, “Let it be clear: In the battle for Gush Etzion 57 years ago, our fighters - who fought literally to their last bullet –were given strength because they knew they were fighting not only for their homes, but also for Jerusalem. The same is true today! Our enemies, and the whole world, has marked Jerusalem as their goal – and they are hoping to get Jerusalem via Gush Katif!”
Rabbi Begun also had a message for the “day of the evacuation, if, Heaven forbid, it should come to pass.” On the one hand, he said, soldiers and policemen are forbidden by Torah law to take part in the expulsion activities, but on the other hand, “We must not raise a hand against them. They are our soldiers, our policemen. The only thing we can do is to fight with our eyes – by looking straight at them, into their eyes… The whole world will be looking at Gush Katif – and we will stand tall and proud, and show them how the Jewish People act.”
Ten families from Neriah and Maaleh Levonah spent the Sabbath in Morag, the most isolated yishuv in Gush Katif. Among the guests was also famed pre-1948 Lechi fighter Ezra Yachin, who lives to this day in a lone Jewish building in the Arab neighborhood of Beit Hanina in northern Jerusalem.
A dozen families from Dolev were in Gadid, adjacent to N’vei Dekalim, joining a group of families that have arrived over the past several weeks to fill up an empty neighborhood in town. Yitzchak Ben-Aryeh, one of the newcomers, said, “It was Ariel Sharon who, as Housing Minister many years ago, built these and many other houses. For some reason, they were never filled – but now, in his merit, their original purpose is being fulfilled.” His newly-placed 150 square feet of fresh green sod on the sand of his front yard are evidence of the family’s plans to remain.
Among the other “connections” that were made were:
25 families from Maaleh Michmas in Netzer Hazani, the oldest yishuv in Gush Katif;
15 families from Psagot in the seaside community of Shirat HaYam, whose 16 families have grown to 21 over the past three months, and to where three more families are set to move in this week;
some 20 people from Shilo in Rafiach Yam – and some of them are planning to move there later this week or next.
Possibly the most poignant message was delivered by Gush Katif’s Chief Rabbi Yigal Kaminetzky, at the Bar Mitzvah of the son of a well-known family in N’vei Dekalim: “The Torah tells us that we are taken to task for not fulfilling the commandments with sufficient joy, even though we may have ‘rov kol’ – the best of everything. Yet here, all of our ‘rov kol’ is under threat – our neighborhood and communal life, our education, our schools, our jobs – everything, and yet we are still rejoicing. This is the clearest sign of our strength, of our commitment, of the fact that we cannot be defeated. Who would have ever thought that now, on Rosh Chodesh Tammuz [the beginning of the month of Tammuz], we would be celebrating such an occasion! All the experts thought that by now, half of us or more would have been gone already! Yet here we are – and [presenting the Bar Mitzvah boy with a set of Torah books on behalf of the congregation] – we expect to test you on what you have learned from these books, right here in this very place next year!”