Negotiating Hebron: Then and Now

As this letter lands in your inbox, the Israeli military is scaling up their presence in Hebron in preparation for this weekend. Hebron is a city in the West Bank, located just about 30 kilometers south of Jerusalem. It is home to over 200,000 Palestinians, and -- since 1968 -- a small enclave of right-wing Jewish settlers as well. On a typical day, Hebron's 850 Jewish residents are guarded by some 650 to 1000 Israeli soldiers (about a 1:1 ratio of IDF soldiers: residents). This weekend, however, is the Shabbat of the year when Jews around the world will read Parashat Chayei Sarah, the Torah portion in which Abraham purchases the Cave of Machpelah as a burial place for his wife Sarah. Over the coming days, some 40 to 50,000 Jewish pilgrims are expected to converge on Hebron to pray at the Cave of Machpelah (also known as the Tomb of the Patriarchs), and also to march through the streets of Hebron -- with Israeli military escorts -- to loudly assert Jewish control over this holy site.

Modern day Hebron certainly isn't the only locale of the Occupation, but it is arguably among the harshest, most extreme examples. An entire section of the city has been declared a "sterilized" zone -- that is the terminology the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) uses to indicate that it's been cleared of Palestinian residents and businesses. The Jewish residents of Hebron are citizens of Israel, who vote, pay taxes, and benefit from the services and rights due to them as Israelis. In contrast, Palestinian residents live under military occupation, which means they can be searched, arrested, and held by IDF forces at any time and for any (or no) reason. This summer, the most painful and challenging day of our Kavana-Mishkan Israel trip for me was the day when we toured Hebron with Breaking the Silence and met with Palestinian activist Issa Amro there, who described the harrassment he experienced regularly at the hands of both his Jewish neighbors and Israeli soldiers. (Amro is mentioned in a Guardian article from this week, "Hebron's Jewish settlers take heart from far-right polls surge in Israel").

This week's Torah portion, Chayei Sarah, details the story of how Abraham negotiates to secure a burial plot for Sarah. Ephron the Hittite, the previous owner of the land in question, seems quite willing to grant Abraham use of the land for free so that he can bury his wife. However, Abraham insists not only on buying the property, but on paying top dollar (400 shekels of silver) for it. (Click here to read the full text of Genesis 23.) Various commentators from across Jewish history have underscored this point to emphasize the permanence of Abraham's transaction. For example, Nachmanides, who lived about 800 years ago in Spain, points out the careful steps that Abraham took to establish ownership of the land, both in paying an exorbitantly high price and in ensuring that the transaction happens in front of witnesses, all of which helps to establish the transaction as legal and binding. Despite the millenia that have passed and the number of times the land has changed ownership since Abraham's days, the tens of thousands of Jews who will spend this Shabbat in Hebron still look to Abraham's real estate deal to legitimate their claim to the land.

This past Monday evening, Benzi Sanders -- a former IDF soldier who now works for Breaking the Silence and who served as our tour-guide in Hebron this summer -- spoke to a group of Kavana and New Israel Fund (NIF) supporters here in Seattle. Since 2004, Breaking the Silence has been trying to expose the Israeli public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories, through the testimony of veteran soldiers who have served in the Israeli military since the start of the Second Intifada. Breaking the Silence writes: "We endeavor to stimulate public debate about the price paid for a reality in which young soldiers face a civilian population on a daily basis, and are engaged in the control of that population's everyday life."

At the event, we watched Rona Segal's film "Mission: Hebron," which features testimony from six IDF veterans. Although it is very painful and challenging to confront these truths head-on, Kavana showed this film, invited Breaking the Silence in to speak, and incorporated a trip to Hebron into our community's Israel trip this summer because we believe that it is incumbent on us to create spaces within the Jewish community where -- from a place of deep and abiding love for the Jewish people, and precisely because we care about the future of the State of Israel -- we can talk about evils of the occupation. (If you missed Monday evening's event, I highly recommend carving out 22 minutes to watch the film linked above, and a few more minutes to learn about our partner organizations Breaking the Silence and the New Israel Fund.)

Towards the end of Monday night's program, Benzi reflected that -- in the wake of the recent Israeli election -- he sees a new opening. With the ascendancy of the far right in Israel, sentiments that once could be dismissed as representing only fringe and rogue elements of Israeli society (e.g. the idea that Jews are the "baalei ha-bayit," the rightful "landlords" of greater Israel/Palestine) now move into the light of day, which opens them up to public scrutiny and debate.

I perceive a new opening here in the U.S. too. Votes from some of the closest races of our 2022 Midterm Elections are still being tallied, but a clear picture is emerging: that overall, American voters are beginning to push back against Trumpist fascism, conspiracy theories, and white supremacy. This leaves a gap between the political directions that Israel and the U.S. are moving in, and it's precisely into this gap that we may now have the opportunity to begin to carve out space and change the culture and discourse. Here in the U.S., we can push on our elected officials to advocate for American support for a democratic state of Israel AND an end to occupation and a full stop to settlement expansion in the West Bank.  

As we move towards Shabbat, I pray for a calm and quiet weekend in Hebron. I pray that the descendants of Abraham's younger son Isaac (i.e. our fellow Jews) will remember that the Cave of Machpelah is also a holy site for the descendants of Abraham's older son Ishmael (Muslims). I pray that Torah will be used as a force for good in the world and not a justification for oppression and evil. I pray that from our corner of the world, we can help put an end to the occupation, and support the strengthening of a State of Israel that represents our highest values and ideals. Ken yehi ratzon, so may it be.

Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum