Skverer Rebbe Visits Hebron with Over 2,000 Followers

The community of Hebron was transformed on Monday as thousands of Skverer hasidim accompanied their leader, the Skverer Rebbe to the city. Rabbi David Twersky of New Square, New York is this generation’s leader of the hasidic movement that began in the Ukrainian city of Chernobyl in the mid 1700s.  

 

The Rebbe’s visit to Israel has galvanized interest both in the general community and the hasidic world. On Sunday January 10th, he inaugurated a study center in Jerusalem, before traveling to the city of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs with approximately 2,000 supporters. 

The Rebbe personally traveled in one of the 42 buses that left Jerusalem for Hebron. According to Yeshiva World News, the Rebbe defied a security warning advising not to visit the city, considered the second holiest in Judaism, due to the recent stabbing and shooting attacks. However he personally requested that he travel along with his supporters in one of the buses rather then in a private car. 

 

In Hebron, the local community prepared for the visit. A special stage was erected by the famous “seventh step” outside the Tomb of Machpela complex as thousands of followers packed the plaza for the recitation of Psalms. The seventh step was the site of prayers for generations during the time period when the Jewish community was banned from entering the actual building by non-Jewish authorities.

 

Representatives of the Hebron Jewish community came to greet the Rebbe as well as students from local schools. They noted that the visit was well-coordinated and everything went according to plan, despite the difficult logistics of arranging such a large visit. 

The excitement was palpable a s the buses arrived into the city. In front of the Cave of Machpela, Hasidic melodies floated through the air as the thousands of supporters engaged in communal singing in front of the ancient building, built long ago by King Herod the Great. The visit coincided with Rosh Hodesh Shvat, the first of the month of Shvat on the Hebrew calendar. 

 

The Jewish Press reported that a multitude of followers from New York communities such as New Square, Monsey, Brooklyn and other locations left their place of residence to join the Rebbe on his travels. Similar prayer services were conducted at other holy sites in Israel such as the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

 

Public officials in Hebron note that the visit of the Skverer hasidim marks the continued upswing in interest in the ancient site, which houses the graves of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca and Jacob and Leah, among other Biblical figures, as described in the Book of Genesis.