What an incredible Shabbat I was able to attend (thank you Shifra). It was so special, so fun, and such an experience I will never forget. This blog was created for exactly things like this, so I can remember all the small details later.
It started on Friday, where Daddy and Fry picked me up from Kraft. We had just won, 20-7, to improve to 2-1. I played some good defense, pulling flags, knocking down passes in the end zone, and just playing that middle linebacker role, where you are responsible for the Tight End, the QB sneak, anyone in your zone, and deciding when to blitz/with how many rushers.
We drove straight from there to Kiryat Arba, not encountering too much traffic on the way. Once we settled, we tried to find something to eat, and there was already a special feeling in the air. We found deli, pickles, Mezonot rolls, and had ourselves some lunch on a corner. We got front row seats to towing of cars that were illegally parked.
As Shabbat started to get closer, we walked down to the Meara. Good thing we did, because for the first time in my life, I was able to go into Ohel Yitzchak. As we got in, we noticed an entire crowd from Modiin. Shai and Yehuda, who I was responsible for, wanted to go outside, but I was able to convince them to stay in. It was a beautiful prayer of hundreds of people. We did go out for Maariv, and found a Minyan on the stairs. Which is great except the masses pushing to try to go up and down. Never before have I been shoved and pushed by females in the middle of Davening. After Davening, we had to try to find V and my dad, which was pretty difficult in the masses. Finally, we did, and it was time to start walking home. My dad and I got separated from the rest, and had the tough decision of waiting in case they didn't pass us yet, or walking. After 7 minutes, I realized there was no way we were in front, and we decided to walk. Finally we got back, and 10 minutes later they did (they had gone another direction).
Dinner was delicious, with yummy salads, delicious chicken soup, and my dad's pastrami. Company was great too. After dinner, we left to go til Chazon David shul to hear Ben Gvir speak. Now, we assumed that Chazon David shul would be at least the size of ours, if thats where BG would speak to presumably a lot of people. Turns out, it was a wooden shul that has been rebuilt 22 times so far. It also happened to be the spot of the Pigua last week. And it also happened to be very tiny for the crowd that was coming in. We got the last seats, but people were pouring in. This made my dad and me nervous, but it was too late to leave. Once BG was winding down, we made a break for the exit, but it took 10 minutes because people were still trying to enter. Btw , BG spoke very nicely, about going with your truth like Avraham. He gave a couple of examples where he did that over the past year.
After BG's speech, my dad and I walked down to the Meara. We smelled the entrance to Gan Eden.and then we sat down to learn Torah together we learned all the Psukim that had to do with the Meara. It was actually very cool to visualize it. After that, we walked up and down the roads with the whole nation up to Shavei Chevron. It was an amazing atmosphere, walking by the tents etc. Once we were ready, we walked back to Avichai's house for the night, finally putting our heads on the pillow at 12:30ish.
We woke up around 8, had some Fruity Pebbles (at least some of us did), and walked down to the Meara for the third time. Again, great atmosphere, but less packed than Friday night. We found the Modiin minyan, where we heard the very Torah reading that talks about how Avraham purchased the land and the cave. What a moment. After that, we found different Minyans to piece our Davening together. After davening, we walked to the bottom of the stairs for a huge, constantly running Kiddush that Chabbad put on. Drinks, fruit, chulent, Kugel. It was fantastic. We then were invited to go to the Modiin Kiddush at Beit Hashalom, but my dad told Uncle Dave we'd meet him at the same time. Realizing that these were more my dad's friends than mine, I told him to go and that we would bring Dave to Avichai. At that point, Ben Gvir walked by and I shook his hand and said Shabbat Shalom. (Side note: Man, that guy is a freaking rock star in that area.) Once I found Ephraim, we also did the walk up to Shavei. But that kid is also a rockstar in those parts. He was Mr. Popular this weekend. On this walk for example we were stopped a couple times to sing wedding songs in his honor. On our way, we passed Ben Gvir coming down. I shook his hand again, but Fry was a little up and missed him. I motioned to Ben Gvir towards Ephraim and he turned around took a couple of steps to shake his hand. Cool moment.
We found Dave, picked my dad up from the Kiddush, and made our way back up for lunch at the Kates home. Again, another delicious meal (Chulent, salads, chicken, and schwarma tortillas). Hadar and Avichai make a great meal. After the meal, we went to Eliana's principals house. He spent 45 minutes telling us the entire history of Mearat Hamachpela from creation of the world, all the way til today, and answering all our questions. He showed us pictures and diagrams as well. It was absolutely fascinating, all the way from the expulsion from Gan Eden, to why Avraham wanted it, to the Christian and Muslim periods with it, to Rav Goren saying they'd daven Shachrit there after they got Chevron back in the morning, to the little girl and then yeshiva boys going down to take pictures and see, and all the way til the archeology being dug there today.
After that, it was time to make our fourth and final trip back down. We davened mincha, and I realized I knew this Parsha by heart, and so we tried to find a minyan. There I was in the main minyan in Avraham's area, reading the Torah parts that talked about Yitzchak and Rivka having two kids, Yaakov and Eisav. Literally, reading about the pregnancy of our third forefather, and the last one to be buried right under where we standing. I don't get chills as often as I used to, but this was a really special moment, a definite highlight of this Shabbat Chevron.
From there, we left the Meara and walked out, only to see what looked like the aftermath of some issue. From that point on, there were even more soldiers, and they had helmets on. We walked up, but weren't allowed to go into the Shavei building. We stopped at the side of the road, someone gave us Rugelach, and we had a beautiful Seuda Shlishit in the holy city of Chevron, in the front of someone's yard, where there is food for soldiers. People joined us for the singing. From there, we davened Maariv, saw Baruch Marzel walking, and walked back to Avichai.
What a special weekend.
