Onward to the Eitam Hill in Efrat

(attached is a picture of the aliya to Eitam in 2008
and the flyer about this weeks activity)

On Friday, Hol ha-Moed of Sukkot, the residents of Efrat and their supporters, G-d willing, will go up the Eitam Hill for a festive Shaharit morning service and Simhat Beit ha-Sho’evah.

This will begin an additional chapter in the demand to settle the hill. The Eitam Hill is the northernmost hill within the municipal jurisdiction of the Efrat Local Council.

In 2008-2009 the council heads and the residents, in cooperation with Women in Green and the Action Committees, waged a stubborn battle, leading to the proclamation of 1700 dunams as state lands, for the construction of the 2500 housing units that are planned for the hill. Construction, however, did not begin.

Now, the region’s residents, together with Women in Green, will begin a weekly campaign with the demand to settle the hill.

Residents note that Eitam is mentioned in the Jewish sources as a city in the portion of Judah, very close to Solomon’s Pools. The Talmud speaks of Eitam as the place where it was first thought to build the Temple. In the end, the Temple was not built on it, but “the aqueduct extended from Eitam” (Jerusalem Talmud, Yoma 3:8), because “the Eitam well was twenty-three cubits above the ground of the Temple Court” (Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 31a), and “the water flowed to Jerusalem by the force of gravity”.

The Committee for the Development of Eitam that is currently being formed includes rabbis, members of the Efrat Local Council, and Eretz Israel activists from Kiryat Arba-Hebron, Women in Green, and the Efrat and Gush Etzion Action Committees. In the words of the committee: “With G-d’s help, and with much perseverance, humility, and faith in the rightness of our way, it will be possible to build on Eitam, so that our children will be able to build their future on the Eitam Hill, that overlooks Jerusalem”

for details:
Yehudit Katsover – 050-7161818, Nadia Matar – 050-5500834

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“And there was a place at a distance of about fifty furlongs from Jerusalem whose name was Eitam. Pleasant and rich in both orchards and streams, to there the King (Solomon) would ride, sitting high in his chariot.”
The Antiquities of Josephus Flavius, Bk. 8, Chap. 7,3

ONWARD TO THE EITAM !

Tefillat Shacharit & Simchat Beit HaSho’ava
On the Eitam Hill in Efrat

Friday, Chol HaMoed Succot, 14/10/11

Come with the whole family and show the kids where their future homes will soon be built please G-d.

Program:
8:00 Departure from Eitam gate in Zayit (after Orot Etzion Girls school)
8:30 Tefillat Shacharit,musical Hallel with David Litke and Steve Rodan – bring your instruments
9:45 refreshments
10:00 *Greetings Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
Rabbi Shimon Golan
Mayor Oded Revivi

*Music by Bentzi Thee and Avi Shmell of the MiShir Tzion band
*Inflatables for the children
11:00 estimated conclusion

Shuttle vans will bring you to and from the Eitam starting at 8:00am –
Transportation from Kiryat Arba Hevron 7:45 – Tsomet Hagush 8:00
Eitam is accessible by private car
A sukka will be built on the hill

The Committee for the development of Eitam
Rabbi Baruch Efrati – Ruth Golan – Dovi Sheffler – Judy Auerbach – Sharon Katz –
Josh and Marilyn Adler – Zahava Englard – Ori and Gila Plasse- Yehudit Katsover – Nadia Matar

For further information: 050-7161818 or 050-5500834

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