About 30,000 people attended a rainy yet positive Shabbat Chayei Sarah in Hebron. The annual gathering marks the reading of the weekly Torah portion in which Abraham purchases the Cave of Machpela.
Volunteers shared food and accommodations as the first heavy rains of the season came down on the City of the Ancestors.
The festival atmosphere includes people camping out in front of the Machpela complex. Due to the rains, many moved their personal camping tents inside the massive tents erected for the group Shabbat meals. Some even took advantage of the weather to play in the rain-soaked streets.
Elimelech Karzen, a Hebron native and manager of the Machpela complex administration stated, “as someone who gets to live and work here, this Shabbat inspires us every year, and this time even more. To see men, women, families, children sleeping in tents and vehicles, elderly, some of them with crutches or wheelchairs, who are in no way willing to give up participating in Shabbat Chayei Sarah, this incredible sight is for me a wonderful reminder of the meaning and sacredness of this wonderful place.”
The Hebron Fund held a sold-out VIP Shabbat program in which participants had meals and accommodations. They met with Members of Knesset, IDF Generals & soldiers, and community leaders.
Rabbi Dan Rosenstein Executive Director of the Hebron Fund thanked the donors who sponsored the lone soldiers and IDF officers who joined the meals. Among those who spoke to their group were Jen Airley, mother of IDF Sgt Binyamin Airley, hy”d. The group also released a Chayei Sarah guide online for people to print out and use at home. It contains trivia and games and can be downloaded for free by clicking here.
MACHPELA JURISDICTION
Ahead of the Shabbat weekend, Member of Knesset Zvi Sukkot submitted a bill calling for full sovereignty to be applied to the Maarat HaMachpela compound (Tomb of the Patriarchs & Matriarchs) with 26 fellow MKs signing the proposal. Over the summer, MK Sukkot successfully lobbied to have Israel take over maintenance of the site after the Muslim Waqf repeatedly refused to help add new roofing to prevent flooding or a new fire safety system.
In 2023, a committee headed by MK Sukkot successfully led to the building of a handicapped elevator after decades of refusal by the Muslim Waqf.
HISTORY OF THE TOMB COMPLEX
The Machpela complex is a shared holy site with separate entrances for Muslims and Jews. The Muslim Waqf has main control over the site with an Israeli administrative body maintaining the Jewish side.
There are ten days out of the year corresponding to holidays and important dates in which each religious group gets exclusive access to the site. Shabbat Chayei Sarah is one of those days, and the Hall of Isaac and Rebecca, usually reserved exclusively for Muslims was opened to Jewish prayer services.
During these days, Muslim signs, carpets and other items are neatly removed and stored and then returned the next day. During Muslim holidays, Jewish books and Hebrew signs are removed and stored. In the past Jews have returned the next day to find vandalism to Jewish ritual items, specifically the mezuzah on the doorpost which was repeatedly removed or found smashed.
The structure was built 2,000 years ago by King Herod the Great to memorialize the burial cave below. In later generations it was transformed into a church and then a mosque. In 1267, the Mamelukes banned Jews from entering the site, relegating them to being able to ascend only to the seventh step of the outdoor staircase. This ended after the Six Day War in 1967 in which the site was then opened to people of all faiths.
Even after Israel regained control of the city of Hebron, authorities were slow to allow Jews access to the site. So as not to arouse the anger of the Muslims who oncer had exclusive control, Israeli authorities only allowed Jews to enter during certain prayers hours. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, this was slowly changed to full access, but only in the Jewish designated area of the complex.
Shabbat Chayei Sarah gatherings began in the 1990s as a show of solidarity after some Members of Knesset submitted proposals to have the entire Jewish community removed.
Today, Hebron has become a consensus issue, with elected officials from a wide range of pollical outlooks visiting.
