On the Hebron Road

"And Yaacov told Yosef, go down and check on your brothers..."

What an emotional day on the Hebron Road, hearing the true stories of Hebron and learning about our first purchase in the land of Eretz Yisrael.


First stop, Rachel's Tomb.  Rachel was buried on the road, and you can still hear her weeping for her children to be gathered from the four corners of the earth and return...

The Cave of Machpelach was the Jewish people's first possession in the Land of Israel.  It is the burial place of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Rebecca, and Leah.  According to an ancient Jewish tradition, this place has a special kind of sanctity. The Zohar states that Ma'arat HaMachpela is the entrace to the Garden of Eden and that Adam discovered this secret by smelling the aroma of Eden there.  After his discovery, Adam dug out the cave, buried Eve in it, and is entombed there as well.  The special fragrance was revealed to Abraham and he chose to purchase it and designate is as Sarah's burial place (the first purchase of the Jewish people in Eretz Yisrael, 2000 years ago).  According to Jewish tradition, it is through Ma'arat HaMachpela that souls ascent to the Garden of Eden and prayers rise to the highest realms. How meaningful and emotional to enter this sacred place and offer a prayer.  I know when I say the Amidah I will always close my eyes and return here.

Finally we visited 3 Jewish neighborhoods in Hebron.  King David built his capital in Hebron.  After the Spanish Inquisition there was a large Jewish population in Hebron.  Jews and Arab neighbors lived side by side until a massacre in1929.  The synagogue was destroyed and a young teen saved a Torah as the British evacuated the surviving Jewish population.  That boy vowed to return that Torah one day, and when a new synagogue was recently dedicated, he had the joy to return it to the ark.

Siddur in the synagogue:  "Od Avinu Chai"