The Significance Of Hebron: In memory of Dror Weinberg, Hy”d

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Dror Weinberg, Hy”d

Following the horrific pogrom that befell the Jewish community in Hebron in the month of Av, 1929, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook made these powerful and prophetic remarks: “Whoever does not help to assist in the rebuilding of Hebron in essence is acting against the source of our nation…and if the wicked ones have perpetrated this evil against us, we have no other answer than return to Hebron which will be rebuilt with the help of Hashem in all its glory and honor.”

And so it was following the miraculous victory of the Six-Day War that we returned to the Biblical city of our forefathers in Hebron and to the ancient site of the Cave of the Patriarchs – Me’arat HaMachpela.

When the twelve spies returned from their mission to Canaan, Calev emphatically stated to the entire nation, against the opinion of the vast majority of the other spies, “We can surely go up and conquer the land.” Forty-five years later, following the defeat of the 31 nation-states in the land of Canaan, the same Calev stated to Joshua, “I am as strong today as I was when Moshe sent me.” Commenting on these words of Calev, Rabbi Hanan Porat z”l writes that Hebron symbolizes the incredible determination of the people of Israel to cling to their faith with unswerving dedication.

If we go back to the original purchase of the ancient cave in order to bury Sarah, the Torah describes the negotiations between Abraham and Ephron in great detail. Commenting on the reason why the Torah tells us of this purchase of a burial plot at such length, the Ramban comments (Genesis 23:18): “The Torah wanted to inform us of where Sarah was buried because of our eternal obligation to honor the place of the burial of our holy forefathers.”

That the very first parcel of land purchased in Eretz Yisrael was a burial cave is remarkable. That acquisition was not a home or a building, but rather a memorial, an eternal memorial that connects us to our past, to our forefathers, and to our land. Even when Jacob dies at the end of the book of Genesis, Joseph asks permission from Pharoah to go up to Hebron in order to bury him in the cave of his ancestors, a journey that must have taken several months. It was a journey in which he would demonstrate for all future generations the great importance of honoring one’s ancestors.

Hebron was not only the site of the Cave of the Patriarchs, but also symbolic of the beginning of the reign of King David over a united nation following the death of Ishboshet. Saul’s son. A bloody civil war had lasted for seven years until the elders went to King David in Hebron in order to pledge their allegiance to him. Rav Kook emphasizes the importance of David’s reign beginning in Hebron, saying, “There the kingdom of David was created and will last forever and ever for all eternity.”

The modern story of Hebron, however, begins with the miraculous victory of the Six-Day War and the return to Judea and Samaria. One of the many holy places that we redeemed in that war was Hebron, but the journey to the re-establishment and rebuilding of the ancient city entailed many struggles and difficulties. After the Six-Day War, the Israeli government did not permit any Jewish presence in Hebron, and it was not until 1979 that the residents of Kiryat Arba took upon themselves the awesome task of beginning the process of redeeming and settling the holy site.

Describing that moment when 10 women and 35 children walked down the road from Kiryat Arba to Beit Hadassah (the former medical clinic in the heart of the old Jewish quarter), Jerold S. Auerbach wrote, “The excited children sang ‘V’shavu banim l’gvulam’ (‘And the children shall return to their borders’). When a soldier stationed nearby went to investigate the noise and inquired how they had entered the building, a four-year-old girl responded, ‘Jacob, our forefather, built us a ladder and we climbed in.’”

Several months later when a group of families, led by Rabbi Moshe Levinger, z”l, conducted the first Pesach Seder there, Miriam Grabovsky remarked, “To be a Jew in Hebron is to live as close as possible to the Patriarchs and Matriarchs and to absorb new strength from them; to be a mother in Hebron is to be a soldier without uniform and to actively participate in the process of redemption.”

The Hebron community grew gradually over the years following that first entry into Beit Hadassah, but on Rosh Hashana 2001, the second Intifada erupted throughout Israel. While communities throughout Judea and Samaria were attacked, Hebron was the seat of the militant Hamas terrorist group and became an extremely dangerous area for the small Jewish conclave.

On Friday evening, the eleventh of Kislev, 2002, Arab terrorists opened fire on the road that led from Kiryat Arba to Hebron. Almost immediately, soldiers under the leadership of Dror Weinberg, the commander of the Hebron brigade, responded to the attack. During the course of the exchange of fire, Dror was severely wounded and later died. Along with the tragic loss of Dror Weinberg, eleven other soldiers and security personnel also lost their lives.

Eulogizing Weinberg, Yoni Bliechbard, then the security officer of Hebron said, “Dror always strived to be the leader… He was an initiator… His style of command was a combination of humanity and empathy, parallel to his integration of military professionalism and his spiritual path in Merkaz HaRav yeshiva.”

On the 20th anniversary of the tragedy that took the lives of so many young people, Dr. Avshalom Kor reflected on the meaning of Hebron for our times, saying, “Here in Hebron, the beginning of David’s kingdom, the royal line of the people of Israel, began. Our connection with the city of Hebron embodies within it the story of our roots as the people of Israel in the Land of Israel.”

May the memory of Dror Weinberg be an eternal blessing for the entire nation of Israel, and may we merit to see the complete redemption speedily in our days!