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The Holy City of Hebron

JEWISH LIFE IN HEBRON FOR 3,000 YEARS

Hebron is a city in Eretz Israel 19 miles (32 km.) south of Jerusalem in the Judean Hills. The name Hebron derives from the root "h- b-r" meaning friend. In the Bible, Hebron is also referred to as Kiryat Arba: "Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiryat Arba" (Joshua 14:15).

To the south of modern Hebron, on the hill known as Tel Rumayda, was the site of the Israelite city. Numbers 13:22 states that Hebron was founded seven years before Zoan, the capital of the Hyksos, which was founded in about 1720 BCE. The city was conquered by Caleb son of Jephunneh (Joshua 15:13; Judges 1:20).

After the death of Saul, David chose Hebron as his royal city and was anointed there as king over Judah (II Samuel 2:1-4). In addition, Abner was buried there (3:32), his traditional tomb is still standing. Eventually David was anointed king over all Israel in Hebron (5:1-3). The city was also one of the levitical cities and a city of refuge (Joshua 21:13; I Chronicles 6:42); it was an important administrative center and this was the reason why Rehoboam fortified it (II Chronicles 11:10).

After the destruction of the First Temple the Jewish inhabitants of Hebron were exiled. According to Nehemiah 11:25, however, there were still some Jewish families living in the town. In I Maccabees 5:65 Hebron was attacked by Judah Maccabee and its towers set on fire. The reincorporation of the town into Judah took place after the conquest by John Hyrcanus at the end of the second century BCE and Hebron again became a Jewish city. During the first war against the Romans, Hebron was conquered by Simeon Bar Giora, the leader of the Zealots. It was later burned down by the Roman commander Cerealius, but Jews continued to live there.

The first period of Arab conquest (638-1100) was a relief for the Jews of Hebron after the cruel Byzantine rule. The testimony of historians from an earlier period and documents discovered in the Genizah give a fairly clear picture of the continuity of the Jewish settlement in Hebron. A story appears in several versions in both Muslim and Christian sources which tells of the permission Omar gave to the Jews to build a synagogue near the Cave of Machpelah, as well as a cemetery.

There is tangible evidence from the 11th century (1000) about continuing Jewish settlement. From documents from the Genizah it is possible to formulate a genealogical reconstruction for four to six generations of two Hebron families, from which it can be seen that the Jewish population was concentrated around the Cave of Machpelah and that the synagogue was built near the cave. One of these two families held the inherited title "people of the tombs of our forefathers" and was in charge of maintaining the holy place. This even included the burying of the dead brought by Jews from near and far for burial close to the Cave of Machpelah.

Crusader rule (1100-1260) brought a temporary end to the Jewish settlement in Hebron when the Crusaders captured the city and expelled the Jews. It is possible that Jews began to settle again in Hebron toward the end of the period of Crusader rule, and by the beginning of the 13th century (1210) mention is made of a Jewish dyer "and his group" in Hebron.

The Mamluks (1260-1517), who expelled the Crusaders, made Hebron their district capital, at which time the Jewish settlement was perceptibly renewed. Nahmanides, who immigrated to Eretz Irael in 1267, wrote to his son that he could "go to Hebron to dig a grave for himself there." Such an action would have been unthinkable had there not been a Jewish settlement in Hebron.

The tolerant Muslim attitude toward the Jews which had existed in pre-Crusader times did not continue with the return of the Muslims. In 1266 it was decreed that the Jews were not to enter the Cave of Machpelah, and this decree was strictly enforced until 1967. A Christian traveler who visited Hebron in the first half of the 14th century reported that "Christian and Jewish people are regarded by them (by the Muslims) as dogs, and they do not allow them to enter such a holy place." The prohibition is mentioned by both Meshullam of Volterra (1481) and Obadiah of Bertinoro (1488), who visited Hebron. They both recount that the Muslims "built a wall at the entrance of the cave, in which they made a small window through which the Jews pray." According to these same accounts, the number of Jews at that time was 20 households.

Nevertheless, Jewish settlement in Hebron was considered as very important by the Jews, as seen in evidence found in both Christian and Jewish sources. At the end of the 15th century Christian pilgrims report about a Jewish pilgrimage to Hebron: "the Jews recognize them (the graves of the Patriarchs) and hold them in great esteem...and make pilgrimage there from Jerusalem and even from other countries." "There is a tradition among all the people of the land that burial in Hebron is better than in Jerusalem."

R. Isaac Hilo from Larissa (Greece) reported in 1333 that the Jews of Hebron were engaged in a prosperous trade in cotton, which they themselves wove and spun, and that they were also engaged in all types of glasswork. Some scholars maintain that the Venetian Jews who immigrated after the Crusades introduced the art of glasswork to Hebron. R. Hilo also mentioned "an ancient synagogue in which they prayed day and night."

The Jews of Hebron suffered a great calamity at the beginning of the Ottoman period (1517-1917). In 1518 Japheth b. Manasseh from Corfu wrote about the attack by "Murad Bey, the deputy of the king and ruler in Jerusalem," on the Jews of Hebron. Many were killed, their property plundered, and the remainder fled for their lives. Later in the 16th century some of those Jews who were expelled from Spain settled in Hebron.

The consolidation of the Hebron settlement took place in 1540 when Malkiel Ashkenazi settled in the town. Ashkenazi bought the courtyard in which the Jews of Hebron lived and built some additional buildings in the same location as the well-known synagogue, which was named for Abraham the Patriarch. Askhenazi served as Hebron's rabbi and his legal decisions and customs were regarded as irrevocable Jewish law not only in his time but in subsequent generations as well.

Toward the end of the 16th and at the beginning of the 17th centuries some of the most important kabbalists of Safed moved to Hebron. The most famous among these was Elijah de Vidas, author of the well-known moralistic work _Reshit Hokhmah_ and a student of Moses Cordovero and Isaac Luria, as well as Isaac Arha and Menahem b. Moses Ha-Bavli, also disciples of Luria. The teachings of the Kabbalah and mysticism made a deep impression on the spiritual life of Hebron, and a spirit of asceticism was widespread. These were prevalent in Hebron for approximatley 300 years until the settlement of the Habad Hasidim in the 19th century. Thus, the settlement in Hebron grew and became stabilized.

The community was a beneficiary of contributions from the diaspora and the general campaign for the four holy cities (Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed, and Tiberias). In the 16th century the charitable organization known as Yahaz was established. This was a kind of united fund whose name was a combination of the first letters of Jerusalem, Hebron, and Safed.

A central factor in the difficult situation of Hebron's Jews in the 17th century was the huge debt owed by the community to the ruling authorities as a result of various decrees. Characteristic of the situation is the legend which tells about a tyrannical governor who forced the community to pay him thousands of grushim by threatening to burn half of the town and sell the other half into slavery.

In the middle of the 17th century (1659) the famous philanthropist from Amsterdam, R. Abraham Pereira, established the yeshivah Hesed le- Avraham in Hebron, where distinguished rabbis and scholars lived at that time.

Jewish life in the 18th century was marked by decrees of explusion and a blood libel, yet there was a certain increase in population as a result of the breakdown of the Jewish settlement of Jerusalem in 1721 and the immigration of Abraham Gershon of Kutow, the brother-in-law of Israel Baal Shem Tov. Gershon relates that in the single Jewish courtyard there was so little room that they could not even let him bring his family. In the beginning of the 19th century the Hebron settlement was to gain some relief when in 1807 and 1811 the Jews bought and leased over 800 dunams of land.

Among the scholars of Hebron in the second half of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries was Hayyim Joseph David Azulai (called Hida), R. Mordecai Rubio, the rabbi of Hebron and head of the Hesed le- Avraham yeshivah, and Raphael Hazzan, author of works of Jewish law. During this period the philanthropist Simon Wertheimer established a large fund which regularly supported the poor of Jerusalem, Hebron, and Safed. In 1814 Hayyim Baruch of Ostrava was appointed as the emissary of Hebron and he succeeded in organizing a network of funds. Sir Moses Montefiore, who visited Hebron in 1839 and was impressed with its beauty, also made generous contributions to the town. There is also evidence of independent economic progress made by the Jews who dealt in wine (1838), crafts, and trade (1876 and after).

In 1840 R. Simon Menahem Haikin moved to Hebron from Safed to headed its community of Habad Hasidim and to organize its internal life. In the middle of the 19th century Elijah Mani founded several public institutions including the Bet Hamidrash Bet Yaakov, and reorganized the Sephardi kolel in Hebron, freeing it from the administration of Jerusalem. In 1900 R. Shalom Baer of Lubavich established the yeshivah Torat Emet and in 1904 Hayyim Hezekiah Medini founded a yeshivah for young people. There was a hospital in Hebron by 1895 and the Jewish population reached 1,500 by the late 19th century. In 1907 the German Hilfsverein set up the first school that included secular studies in its curriculum.

With the outbreak of World War I, the young men were conscripted into the Turkish army, the channels of financial assistance were blocked, hunger and plagues created havoc among the populace, and the ghetto of Hebron was almost entirely emptied of its inhabitants after the closing of the kolelim in the town -- except for the Sephardi kolel. In 1918, however, when Hebron was captured by the British and World War I ended, the Jewish settlement began to recover. The education department of the Zionist organization established schools for boys and girls, as well as a kindergarten. In 1925 the Slobodka Yeshivah from Lithuania was established under the leadership of Rabbi M.M. Epstein, and the Jewish population rose to 700 in 1929 out of a total population of 18,000.

The year 1929 dealt a heavy blow to the Jewish settlement with the killing of many of Hebron's Jews by Arab rioters (see following article). However, of those who survived, 35 families went to resettle in 1931. The community slowly began to rebuild itself, but everything was again destroyed in the upheavals of 1936. On the night of April 23, 1936, the British authorities evacuated the Jewish inhabitants of Hebron. (From _Encyclopedia Judaica_, Vol. 8, pp. 226-236).

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THE 1929 ARAB RIOTS IN HEBRON
M. Sayar

Next to the Cave of Machpelah is an entrance to the Casbah of Hebron. From there it is a short distance to what was once the Jewish quarter.

On August 23, 1929, an Arab motorcyclist sent by the Mufti of Jerusalem sped into Hebron and spread the report that Muslims had been attacked in Jerusalem. At the same time, local Arab clergy incited crowds against the Jews, aided by calls from the mosque towers to go out and murder the Jews. Yet the results were relatively "light" that day, only one Jew was slaughtered by the crowds.

The next day, however, on the Sabbath, the Muslim community perpetrated a full-scale massacre. The local sheikh issued a special festive proclamation announcing that the religious leadership permitted Muslims to take the women and property of the Jews -- "just rise up and take it." The march of death to the Jewish quarter began, with the bloodthirsty mob led by the sheikh and some of the town notables. The rioters went from house to house, raping and slaughtering with no one to stop them, committing atrocities in every house they attacked. In one of the Jewish homes a girl was raped by 15 Arabs while her parents were forced to watch the terrible act. Another daughter whose clothes were stripped off pleaded that they just kill her. The rioters had mercy on her and satisfied themselves by splitting open her stomach. All of these atrocities were witnessed by the youngest daughter, hiding under the bed and unnoticed by the rioters.

Not far from there Arabs broke into the house of the pharmacist and with great merriment they cut off his leg and his two hands, then gouged out his eyes and raped his eldest daughter. His wife and other children were also seriously wounded.

The British officer commanding the Hebron police attempted at a certain point to stop the crowd. He fired into the crowd of rioters but was immediately pelted with rocks and knocked off his horse. Afterwards, he gathered his policemen next to the Hadassah Hospital and ordered them to open fire. The Arab policemen carried out the order and fired -- into the air. The hospital and the nearby buildings went up in flames. The massacre and atrocities continued.

Here and there, in the midst of the terrible atrocities, there were glimmers of humanity and neighborliness. In one house where some 20 Jews had taken refuge, the Arab owner and his son blocked the doorway and prevented any of the rioters from entering. They stood there for hours blocking the entrance until the police arrived and took out the Jews.

In a few places Arabs hid their Jewish neighbors in basements or bathrooms and took care that the rioters would not discover them. Later on, in the report sent by the Jews of Hebron to the High Commissioner it was stated that if it were not for the few Arab families who protected the Jews, not a single Jew would have been left alive in Hebron.

Fifty-nine Jews were massacred that day. Seven more of the many wounded who were brought to Jerusalem died of their wounds. The Jews of Hebron, who had numbered 400, were brought to Jerusalem under heavy guard. (_Maariv_, 27 Feb 94)