Rebuilt Outpost Celebrates Rededication of Synagogue

Personal observation ^ | 21/12/11 | Eleutheria5

[Eleutheria5]

Today I followed the installation procession from Remat Mamre to the tiny outpost of Mitzpeh Avihai on Hill 18. Accompanied by a throng of hundreds, we held a wedding canopy, or 'huppa' over the Torah scroll and walked into the night along the hilly, windy path down into the valley and up to the height of Hill 18, immediately opposite the exclusively Arab enclave of North Hebron. The procession was illuminated by torchlight, and accompanied by a guitar and flute duet as the revellers sang and danced along. In between the Remat Mamre and Hayekev communities, a high barbed wire fence separates us from our neighbors, due to the occasional murders when things are hot here. but at Mitzpeh Avihai, there is no barbed wire fence. The eight plywood and flakeboard dwellings stands alone, due to the blatant hostility of Ehud Barak's Defense Ministry. The residents are all armed and keep large dogs. Over a year ago, I visited Mitzpeh Avihai for the first time. Their synagogue was in ruins, having recently been bulldozed by the IDF. Prayer books lay scattered on the ground. My young son saw a shopping cart lying on its side nearby, and when I helped him right it, he began putting the desecrated books inside. The one Mitzpeh Avihai resident on premises at the time, an idealistic young man of eighteen, was deeply disheartened and looked defeated. But as we spoke and my son kept piling books into the cart, his spirits lifted. We finished piling them in and offered to take them to the local shamus box (depository for worn out sacred items), so they could at least be disposed of with respect, but by then he kindly declined the offer and said they would be rebuilding.

[Eleutheria5]

So tonight was the night. As the assembled crowd ate donuts and cake, along with a vegetable soup and Turkish coffee, the Torah Scroll was joyously installed into the new Ark in the roughly built synagogue. The honor was given to the highest bidder, who paid over 2,000 NIS to carry it from the reading table into its new home. But I had a special honor of my own. The mezuzah on the front door was one that I wrote and checked myself (I am a practicing scribe), and sold to the congregation. Perhaps one day the IDF will be ordered to bulldoze this tiny community once again. But they will rebuild as they have before. They can only destroy what is above the ground. Underneath, these brave young people have roots that run deep and that constantly renew all of our ties to the land. I only hope to celebrate more renewals along with them.

Photos and videos to follow as I obtain them from those who had enough foresight to tote cameras.

[Former Fetus]

That's right, never give up! That's the true Chanukah spirit.

"Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced." - Psalm 105:4-5