When people enter a new home it is usually occasion for simcha but when it pertains to yidden in Yehuda and Shomron, at times they must enter under the veil of darkness, as was the case in Hebron during the night.

Once again, the Hebron Jewish community if faced with the state’s discriminatory practices, a state that evicts an entire Jewish community from Migron while challenging the legal sale of a residential structure in Hebron. This is the situation for the 15 families and a number of singles now living in the three-story building in the area of the Machpelah parking lot. They moved in during the night.

Shlomo Levinger, one of the residents, explains that the actual sale was completed months ago but after they learned the PA (Palestinian Authority) became aware of the transaction, there were mounting fears the PA may work to sabotage the Jewish community’s efforts to take possession of the building. This prompted the move to enter during the night.

The Arab who sold the building to the Jewish community has been arrested by the PA and his is being interrogated. In the PA, selling a home to Jews is a capital offense, and Settlement Council leader Danny Danon called on Israel to intervene to save the man’s life before it is too late.

Levinger explained it has been 45 years since Rabbi Moshe Levinger and his followers launched the renewed Jewish presence in the holy city and Baruch Hashem, today they are in a new building.

Unfortunately, the challenges facing efforts to expand the Jewish presence in the Ir HaAvos are quite formidable, having to contend with the left-wing judicial system and state-run media as well as the government and other agencies. The IDF has declared the building a closed military zone, which means only residents of the building may enter, but they are not being permitted to leave. So this Shabbos, the residents will not be davening in the Ma’aras HaMachpela as they believed they would be, now being held prisoner by the IDF. The military released an official statement early in the morning, 6 Nissan 5772, calling the Jewish presence in the building a “dangerous provocation”.

The army is also concerned with the timing, on the eve of Land Day. Levinger however remains optimistic, aware that in Hebron, nothing is accomplished without mesirus nefesh.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)