Over 60,000 people visited Hebron during the week-long Jewish holiday of Passover. Out of that number, 45,000 came on Tuesday and Wednesday to attend the music concert, the prayer gathering and visit the Maarat HaMachpela (Cave of the Patriarchs & Matriarchs) which was open in it’s totality.
Crowds filled the streets of the City of the Ancestors visiting the historic Jewish sites, the alleys of the Casbah, the cave of Othniel Ben Knaz, and the newly renovated Beit Gaon Yehuda house purchased by the Harchivi Mekom Aholech organization.
Thank you to the Hebron – Kiryat Arba Religious Council, the Tomb of Machpela management, the office of the Jewish Community of Hebron, the Hebron Fund, the Hebron Tourism bureau, the Hebron Local Council, the Kiryat Arba Local Council, the musicians and production teams, Midreshet Hebron college, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu and his staff, the Association of Community Rabbis in Israel, the Ministry of Transportation, Electra Afikim bus company, the Society for the Development of the Hebron Hills region, and the staff of the Tel Hevron archeological site of the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority.
Thank you to the teams that protected us including the Israel Defense Force Judea Brigade and the 50th Battalion of the Nachal unit, the Maarat HaMachpela Brigade, the Judea Region police, Hebron police and Etzion police, Magen David Adom medics and the dedicated volunteers from the Kiryat Arba team, Hebron team and Jerusalem team, to our dear members of the Rescue Without Borders organization, and to the Israel Fire and Rescue Services particularly the Kiryat Arba unit.
A special personal thank you to each and every one of the many visitors who came to be a part of the holiday joy in the City of Founding Fathers and Mothers!
Photos from the concert: Uriah Heller. Photos from Hallel prayers: Elisha Grossberg
Drone photos: Uri Elimelech HaCohen, courtesy of the Association of Community Rabbis in Israel.
