Today was one of my must see trips. I took a tour with the Hebron Fund. I had a very, very spiritual time. I almost didn't go! I as rushing the whole morning trying to get out the door on time. No time for breakfast, so I grabbed a cup of coffee. Mind you, it had no lid. As I am getting into the taxi, the coffee spills on the seat and door. I wipe it up, apologizing profusely. I settled in, and off we went. I took a sip of my coffee just as the driver started to go by a light. Do I need to tell you what happened next? Yup, spilled coffee down my front. Did it go on my water-proof jacket? No. It went straight down UNDER my jacket. Just perfect! I get to the meeting place, and check my phone. Yeah, I was rushing to get there at 8:30 and the group was meeting at 9:15. Isn't that special??? I decided that I'm going to go back and change my top, since I had 45 minutes. I'm looking for my pocketbook, and I don't have it. Oh yes, I left it on the chair I was sitting on. Remember ... This is Israel, where they blow up packages and backpacks with no owner. Luckily, no one saw it. I took a quick trip back to Shauly's house, and after putting on clean clothes, headed back out the door.
So our first stop was Kever Rochel. The tomb is inside a huge walled area. You get to a check point and there are walls I'm guessing to be about 25, maybe 30 feet high. Barbed wire is on most of the fences.
The area we traveled through belonged to the tribe of Yehuda. The land (that I could see through the window) is beautiful. Exactly how Hashem described it. Beautiful green fields and fields with little trees. Just an incredible area to be in. We passed the Gush Etzion junction where there are tons of incidents. The US media rarely reports it. There is a hill top where the community of Efrat has put a beautiful picture of the three boys who were murdered.. Every Friday there is a group of people who go and learn Torah l'luey nishmas. They named the mountain with their initals, but I don't remember what it is right now. Mi k'amcha Yisroel! How beautiful are the people of this great nation! As a bereaved parent, I can only imagine how much nechama these families get from knowing that Torah is being learned in their boys memories.
We traveled to Chevron, one of the most holiest cities in Israel. There we meet up with our tour guide, Simcha Hochbaum. We saw a wall that is 4000 years old, and a pathway that is 3800 years old.
We saw a coffee pot where some Arab tried to kill someone, but every bullet ended up in the pot! According to Simcha Hochbaum, Nes Cafe is now the preferred coffee in Chevron. (get it? Nes - miracle)
Now let's talk about hashgacha protis. Everything is meant to be and everything happens for a reason. We don't always see the puzzle pieces come in place, but sometimes we do. At first I was very disappointed when my trip got pushed back a day. Then I realized how good it was. It gave me another day to prepare. I was able to push my Chevron trip back a week, and it all worked out perfectly. Now I found out just how perfect it was. Today is the yartzeit of Rebbitzen Menucha Rochel. And guess where she is buried! Our tour had several other Lubavitcher families on board, and the tour guide agreed too deviate a little from his regular route. He added a stop at the Rebbitzen's kever.
It just so happens that she is a special tzedakes to daven for children. I was able to daven for the childless families on my list.
We were taken to a special 4-D movie. It was about Meoras Hamachpaila. A well thought out and moving (literally!) experience. Once you leave the movie, you exit into these rooms that are artistically painted from top to bottom. However, the pictures that are on the walls tell a very sad story. (The walls are like nature and night and sky. The pictures are actual pictures in frames from a very sad time in Jewish history.) In 1929 there was a horrific massacre in Chevron. I'm not going to go into details; you can Google it for yourself. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/hebron29.html Suffice it to say, before this happened, the Jews lived side by side with the Arabs. They thought that they were safe. The country of Israel didn't even exist to give them an excuse. It was pure hatred that led them to do this. The head Muslim in Yerushalayim told them to do this. To rise up against their friends and neighbors. To butcher, main, and kill every single Jew, man, woman, and child. The acts of they committed could only be described as barbaric. The building we were in was the hospital. They showed no mercy on the women and children who were there. Even after the massacre, they did not allow the dead to rest in peace. They desecrated the grave with garbage and feces, etc. It was a very somber experience. I regret not taking pictures of the gorgeous rooms. I did get one shot of the memorial for the kedoshim who were slaughtered.
Anyway, you climb up several flights of stairs and arrive at the building. You walk through a shul, and arrive at a room with a Aron kodesh in the middle, and off to the side on either side are smaller rooms with an Aron kodesh in them as well. As I said, we davened mincha in this room. We faced Soroh Imanu's grave.
On the trip back, I was able to catch a glimpse of Kever Rochel again. I wasn't able to figure out which is the actual structure though.
One thing that has been really bothering me on this trip is the total hypocrisy of the liberal mainstream media. Not that this is new to me or anything like that. The world literally has an agenda. There are Arab sections of Chevron. It is massive, taking over a good 80% of the city. Gorgeous, gorgeous houses. A hospital and a university. Not begrudging them this. Just, the media will go out of its way to find poor Arabs, and they make it out like this is how all Arabs in Israel live. It is so not true! Yes, there are poor Arabs. But you know what? There are so many religious families that are living well below poverty level. I don't need to go into detail; do your own research. But to see these huge towns and vast open spaces with tons of room, and to know that there are families with 10 kids living in a two bedroom apartment and all they want to do is add on a room ... THAT is destroying the "peace" process. The Hebron Fund indirectly bought a house from an Arab (who had sold it to an Arab who sold it to a Jew who sold it to the Hebron Fund). They had to do it like this so that the first Arab wouldn't get killed for selling a house to a Jew. We drove by this house. As we got close, the bus slowed down. Suddenly, two women in red shirts came running over to stand in front of the house. Guess who they are? International watchers to make sure that G-d forbid a Jew should try to enter this house. Seriously? This is what the UN has to pay people to do??? Every where we went in Chevron we saw IDF. There is a very, very heavy IDF presence there. They are never alone either. I saw them in groups of three. And again, these poor kids had to wear these heavy, heavy bulletproof and slash proof vests. Just today a 19 year old IDF soldier in Yerushalayim was murdered by a terrorist. HY"D, may her death be quickly avenged from G-d Himself!
I did end off my day with taking my granddaughter Rikki to the park. A happy way to end a very solemn and meaningful day.
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