Visiting Joseph's Tomb






Most of us associate Joseph's Tomb in Shechem with Palestinian/Israeli strife; this was the location of the murder of several Israeli soldiers & civilians and of  infamous and murderous Palestinian rioters who burned and ransacked the building of the tomb.

A few weeks ago, following the lead of some of our kids, my wife and I decided to visit Joseph's Tomb in Shechem/Nablus. There are now scheduled monthly visits, organized together with the security forces, for the general public to pray at the Tomb.

We booked ourselves seats on a bus from Jerusalem with the organizers, and we were called back by a polite lady to confirm we had been approved for the visit, and allocated three seats. Midnight at Binyanei HaUma in Jerusalem. Return-by time was left 'undefined'.

The folks who turned up at our bus were mainly national religious with a scattering of chareidim. Average age around 30.

The armored bus took about an hour to arrive at the main junction, outside Shechem and we waited about half an hour at the well-secured car park (by about ten military vehicles and 50 soldiers and police), for more buses from around the country to assemble. Once there were ten buses assembled, and the previous group of buses had finished their visit, our bus set out and we completed the journey into Shechem and from there to the Tomb.

There was significant visible security – with IDF soldiers manning the junctions and escorting the buses.

Our group consisted of about 500 people, and we were permitted to stay there for about 45 minutes.
This gave us all reasonable time and access, so we could recite tehilim and daven at the tomb. There were a few stands with boys selling posters, as well as free pastries for the visitors.  

I was particularly impressed by the feeling of "amcha" – a cross-section of people. There was a scattering of Sephardim with ill-fitting kipot, settler-types, mainstream national religious, and a variety of litvish and chasidish chareidim.

Our 45 minutes up, we were called back onto the buses, and drove back through the deserted streets of Shechem. We arrived back in Jerusalem around 5am.

According to news reports, around 2000 people visited Joseph's Tomb that night.

I had previously associated the struggle for Jewish access to Joseph's Tomb with daring (extreme?) right-wing activists.

I think it is a definition of an extremist's victory, when his views/activities slide into the 'mainstream'. 

Today's radical, if successful, is tomorrow's bore.

In which case, the current status of Joseph's Tomb is at least a (partial) victory for the extreme right wing – it is definitely moving into the 'mainstream'. 

Comments

  1. Yocheved Golani2 August 2012 at 19:21

    Did you see the bubbling fountain of water there, David? It's near the mikva and surrounded by a short, man-made rock retaining wall of sorts. It never stops bubbling more water.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous16 June 2017 at 19:34

    How do i find info to help me schedule a trip to the tomb? Any help is very aporeciated- traveling from the US to Israel on July 2!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why IS That Man Taking Such An Interest In My Child??

Image
[Introductory Note: There have been several cases in Bet Shemesh/RBS in recent weeks of charismatic men who have a Pied Piper influence over kids, some of whom they allegedly have molested. The kids' parents were aware of the 'specialness' of the relationship, even the peculiarity, but were not aware of the risks. I offer this article as guidance to help parents become more aware of the potential downside of these relationships. I have used males, but whereas most pedophiles are male, their child victims can be equally likely girls or boys.]   ------- If you reminisce back to your school days,   you can probably think of a specific adult who had a profound influence on you and helped you overcome your growing-up challenges.  There are some particularly gifted and wonderful people who are able to bridge an age gap, and thereby positively engage with someone who is even many years their junior. Such people can apply this talent to working with kids and youth in a profe
Read more

Marrying a Soloveitchik

Image
Mazaltov! My nephew, Gedaliah Kestenbaum married Devori Soloveitchik in Jerusalem last week. Gedaliah has married into rabbinical aristocracy .    Devori is the daughter of  Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik, and the grand-daughter of Rabbi  Meshulam Dovid (Reb Dovid) Soloveitchik , who is Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Brisk (one of the two) in Jerusalem . The Soloveitchik's are a rabbinical dynasty descended from Rabbi  Yosef Dov (HaLevi) Soloveitchik (The "Beis Halevi") and his son Rabbi  Chaim Soloveitchik ("Reb Chaim Brisker"). Rav Chaim's sons Rabbi  Yitzchak Zev (Reb Velvel) Soloveitchik ("The GRIZ" The Brisker Rov) and Rabbi  Moshe Soloveitchik seem to have gone in different hashkafik directions. Whereas Reb Velvel's descendents are predominantly right wing hareidim, Rav Moshe's branch are leaders in the Modern Orthodox/National Religious hashkafa – most notably Rav Joseph Ber Soloveitchik ("The Rav")
Read more

Hoax Letter Sent to Synagogue

Image
            (Beis Tefillah Synagogue, Ramat Beit Shemesh) The following hoax letter has been sent to members of the Beis Tefillah Synagogue board of management, as if it was written by Rabbi CM [ed. name respectfully withheld] who serves as their rabbi: I think that as long as David Morris sets policy for L.A [ed. Lema'an Achai ], and is their public face,  I will not allow L.A. to use the Shul for fundraising purposes. This will change if: 1)David M apologizes publicly for stating,and insinuating again and again(in many forums,but especially in his childish Tzedek Tzedek blog) that , as a group ,  "Rabbis" (of RBSA ) are guilty of aiding and abetting and enabling child molesters.(And that of course that leaves LA to come to the rescue of our children.) OR IF  2)LA  publicly , clearly,and unambiguously disavows such statements .They must say--we clearly,and unambiguously ,disavow  statements or blogs which say or imply that  Rabbis  of RBSA (as a group ) aid or a
Read more