A TALE OF TWO HILLS

Scene 1:  May 13, 1948  - Gush Etzion, Southwest of Jerusalem:- On a Thursday afternoon, the day before the Declaration of the State of Israel, the kibbutz of Kfar Etzion is under heavy attack by units of the Jordanian legion and units of the local Arab Militia.  The defenders of the kibbutz included most of the male members of the kibbutz, and a dozen or so wives and female volunteers.  They were complimented by a number of well-trained Palmach fighters assigned to help them defend the four kibbutzim of Gush Etzion and protect the southern highway to Jerusalem.     During the battles of the previous day, the Jordanians had used their armored vehicles to penetrate he defenses of the four Kibbutzim that formed Gush Etzion – the Etzion block. The Jordanians succeeded in taking control of the tallest hill in the area - the hill in the center of all four kibbutzim.  On the morning of May 13^th having divided the kibbutzim one from another, the enemy had focused its attack on the southernmost Kibbutz, Kfar Etzion.  The defenders repulsed attack after attack running out of ammunition and reeling from the heavy number of casualties.  By the early afternoon, the Jordanians attacked once again with several armored vehicles and the beleaguered defenders could not hold them off. As the enemy soldiers penetrated their last lines of defense, a white flag was raised and the Jewish defenders of the kibbutz came forward and lay down their arms.  Unpredictably, at some point, the surrender went terribly wrong.  Arab soldiers opened fire and in the wild chaos that followed only 4 of the approximately 60-90 remaining defenders managed to survive.  Three of the four survivors were saved by the grace of two Arab soldiers that refused to participate in the massacre.  By the next afternoon all four Kibbutzim of Gush Etzion had surrendered. As the Shabbat approached in Jerusalem, and while Ben Gurion began to read the Declaration of Independence in Tel Aviv, four plumes of smoke were visible in the hills to the south west of Jerusalem.  Some observers compared them to four Shabbat candles that commemorated the birth of the new Jewish State.  The Jewish enclave of Gush Etzion had yet again been eradicated, now for the third time. 

Scene 2:  July 1967 (About a month after the Six Day War): - A meeting took place in the Prime Ministers office in Jerusalem between   Prime Minister Levi Eshkol and a committee representing the children of the Members of Kibbutz Kfar Etzion.  Hanan Porat, a son of the Kibbutz, spoke emotionally about their desire to return to Kfar Etzion and reestablish the Kibbutz on the very hill where their parents had settled in 1945 and where so many of the previous generation had given their lives.  Levi Eshkol looked at them and with a glint in his eye he said “Kinderlach (my children) If you want so much to go back up to that mountain - then go.” Hanan Porat, with urgency in his voice pushed on with an element of Hutzpah and said “It is important to us to be settled there in time to organize regular prayers there for the High Holy Days Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. You will be attending prayers in your kibbutz, Degania, and we want to attend services in our Kibbutz, Kfar Etzion.” The Prime Minister agreed – how could he not agree -  and immediately he passed on the order to the head of community development, Raanan Weitz, to supply these young Kibbutz members with the support and infrastructure that was required to assist them in realizing their dream. Indeed, the first group of residents in the renewed Kfar Eztion arrived on the 22 of Elul seven days before Rosh Hashana.  Just over three years later the Kibbutz invited Rav Yehudah Amital, a holocaust Survivor, to come and live in Gush Eztion and establish a Yeshiva (a post high school educational institution for in-depth Jewish study) on the site.  Yeshivat Har Etzion began with just 30 students. In the course of time, a magnificent Structure was built on one of the tallest of the nearby hills to house the Yeshiva and the town of Alon Shvut grew up around this new Yeshiva building.  This is the same hill that played such a central role in the battles of 1948.

Scene 3: Septembr 29, 2012  - Gush Etzion, Southwest of Jerusalem:-  During the Yom Kippur holiday that took place this past September 2012, my wife Shauna and I decided to participate in a fairly unusual service.  We packed up a small bag with bed sheets and pillows and drove nearby to the Women’s Yeshiva located next door to Kibbutz Midgal Oz.  Services at Migdal Oz were made up of about 40 or so men who formed the requisite Minyan or Jewish quorum for religious services. They ostensibly ran the services but behind them sat approximately 400-500 women who prayed in behind a mehitza or opaque separation that separated between men and women, in the Orthodox tradition.  The men were located in the small triangular section on the north side of an immense study hall.  The bulk of the room in the study hall was taken up naturally by the 400-500 female participants in the services.  When I say that the services were ostensibly led by the men and their male cantor I say that only because there was a wonderful symbiotic relationship between the small group of young women who led the female voices, and the cantor who seemed to know which tunes would be popular or appreciated and decided when to stop and start each song.  If truth be told, occasionally it was the women who determined which tunes to sing and the duration of each song.  Occasionally their enthusiasm was not to be denied.  During the services we sang at every opportunity, however our 40 male voices could not compete and the sound of women singing voices filled the hall.  The singing by the way cannot be described as anything but glorious.  Their voices were beautiful, thoughtful, exuberant, and pious.  These young women needed no instruction. They understood the meaning and the significance of each prayer as well as anyone there.  Clearly, it was their service.  There was something indescribably emotional about women’s voices praying with that kind of intensity, and intelligence that went beyond anything I have ever experienced before.

Yom Kippur is a fast day.  At one point, I felt a bit claustrophobic and needed some fresh air and I walked out onto the balcony adjacent to the men’s section where the view of the surrounding area startled me and took my breath away.  Migdal Oz Women’s College is located on the top of a tall hill and the small triangle at the point of the study hall faces north, naturally – towards Jerusalem.  Spread out before me were a few of the 22 towns and Kibbutzim that make up the modern Gush Etzion.  Gush Etzion has come a long way in 45 years. There in front of me was the city of Efrat, and beside that to the left he town of Elazar, and my own home of Neve Daniel.  Farther yet to the left was Alon Shvut and at the crest of the hill I could clearly see the large peaked roof of the men’s Yeshiva of Har Etzion where I had prayed on many other occasions and during other holidays.  I knew that parallel services were taking place there and the singing was almost as loud and intense as at the services behind me.  Suddenly it struck me.  Here were two elevated hills with two parallels services.  Both took place in huge peaked roof study hall filled for the most part with dedicated young adults, knowledgeable, idealistic, and intense.  In both study halls quite probably stood many of the future leaders of the Jewish people and Israeli society and a chill went up and down my spine.  I remember thinking of all those who had sacrificed so much so that we could be standing there at that moment. I remember praying that all those lost their lives on these very hills 64 years ago could somehow see the direct results of their devotion and self-sacrifice and in some sense realize that they had not died in vein.  The baton has been passed, and I cannot help asking myself what will the next 45 years will be like.