Instructions for unsubscribing can be found in the footer of this message.
————————————————————————–
October 6, 2009 3rd day of Hol ha-Moed, Sukkot 5770
A thousand people in Shdema!!
Member of Knesset Zeev Elkin to Those Celebrating at Shdema:
“Not Granting Building Permits in Judea and Samaria Must Stop”
Member of Knesset Zeev Elkin, head of the Likud and head of the coalition, has been living for several months in a caravan (mobile housing unit) in the Gush Etzion settlement of El-David-Nokdim, a three minute drive from Shdema. He told the masses of celebrants who came to Shdema on the 1st day of Hol ha-Moed: “Shdema must be in Jewish hands. It is situated in an extremely strategic location, from both the security aspect and for settlement continuity between Jerusalem and eastern Gush Etzion. The Arabs’ desire to take control of Shdema is fueled by nationalist reasons. The Arabs have plenty of places to build a hospital in Bethlehem and Beit Sahur. Their desire to build here, specifically,in Shdema, comes from their desire to take over the hill.”
Member of Knesset Elkin was already involved in aiding the activists of the Committee for Jewish Shdema during the previous Knesset. He is consistent in his demand that Shdema remain in Jewish hands, together with many other Knesset Members from all the parties, along with government ministers Moshe Kahlon and Daniel Hershkowitz.
On the eve of the Sukkot holiday, Herzl Yehekzel, the chairman of the Har Homah neighborhood administration, wrote in a letter to the residents of Har Homah: “Our neighborhood has a central place in the new Jerusalem outline plan. According to the plan, thousands of new apartments are to be built, mainly in the west of the neighborhood, in the direction of Gilo. Fortunately, this plan was sent back by the Minister of the Interior for amendments … construction must develop to the east. There is a building plan for stages D and E to the southeast of the neighborhood, that were not approved, and it contains about three thousand additional apartments. Their construction must be completed, and only afterward to go over to the implementation of construction to the west. The realization of these building plans will bring the neighborhood [Har Homah] to the magnitude of a tremendous neighborhood in the south of the city that will join Gilo in the west and with the goal of joining the Shdema camp in the southeast of the neighborhood. In order to achieve this important goal of the creation of Jewish settlement continuity and the maintenance of the demographic balance in greater Jerusalem, there is no option other than stopping the expansion of Zur Bahr to the south. Obviously, in the south of the neighborhood, we must complete the development of public institutions and the country club, for leisure-time activities.”
In a message to their neighbors from Har Homah, many of whom came to the happening at Shdema, the activists of the Committee for a Jewish Shdema said, at the Sukkot event in Shdema, that the cultural center at Shdema has already begun to take shape, by means of the cultural activity that has been conducted at Shdema for the past year and a half. With G-d’s help, when the buildings at Shdema will be restored and new buildings will be constructed, this Eretz Israel cultural center will create this necessary continuity between Jerusalem and eastern Gush Etzion.
The successful happening at Shdema, to which about a thousand people came from throughout Israel, opened with warm greetings by Rabbi Yaron Durani, the rabbi of Nokdim and a member of the Committee for a Jewish Shdema.
Rabbi Dov Lior, Rabbi of Kiryat Arba-Hebron, the city of the Patriarchs, inspired the celebrants and activists at Shdema as he saw the hundreds of people there and said: “The people of Israel is healthy. The leadership must be strengthened, and, with G-d’s help, the people of Israel will live in peace in its land, in strength, faith, and by force of the act of inhabiting every place in Eretz Israel.”
Former Member of Knesset and Deputy Minister Moshe Peled, who came directly from the Lakhish region, where he is establishing the settlements for those expelled from Gush Katif, said: “It already happened in the history of the Jewish people that settlements were abandoned, but the Jewish people always returned to them. And so it will be at Shdema.” He further stated that settlement and security have always been intertwined. “Where the plow digs into the earth, there the borders of Israel will be established.” The organizers of the happening at Shdema gave Moshe Peled their best wishes that he would succeed in rebuilding a stronger, larger, and more enduring Gush Katif.
The happening at Shdema centered around the slogan of “Aliya to Shdema,” with the aim of uniting many olim (immigrants), both veteran and new.
The entire happening was conducted in Hebrew and in English, for the benefit of the multitude of new immigrants who came. Rabbi Yosef Mendelovitch told the fascinating story of his aliyah to Israel, with all the self-sacrifice that it entailed.
The happening opened with the photograph exhibition by the photographers Rivka Ryback of Kiryat Arba-Hebron and Gemma Blech and Avigail Browning of Jerusalem, who have accompanied and documented the activity at Shdema for a year and a half.
While the adults enjoyed the wonderful music of Musa Berlin and his band, the speeches and greetings by the guest speakers, the Simhat Beit ha-Sho’evah of the Me’Shir Zion band of Benzi Thee and Avi Schmell, and the vendors’ stands, the children enjoyed the inflatables, the art workshops, a clown, the juggler, balloons, movies, and a ride on the Messiah’s donkey.
Everyone was moved to tears by the sight of hundreds of automobiles coming up to Shdema with people coming from as far as Haifa, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Bet Shemesh, Herzliya, Ramat Gan , Jerusalem as well as Kiryat Arba Hevron, Tekoa, Efrat, Gush Etzion to identify with the struggle for a Jewish Shdema and the long lines of children for the various amusements.
The organizers were very satisfied as they summed up the happening, in terms of the people of Israel’s support for the struggle for a Jewish Shdema, but are well aware that the struggle is still underway, and must continue and even intensify, until, with God’s help, Shdema will stay in Jewish hands and an Eretz Israel cultural center will arise at Shdema that will link Jerusalem with Gush Etzion.
Due to the transition to winter time, the Friday activities at Shdema will now begin at 9:00 a.m. The public is requested to continue to participate.
“Salem became His abode [sukkato]; Zion, His den” – this verse, from Psalms 76:3, mentions the commandment of sukkah together with the obligation of the settlement of Eretz Israel. Just as the commandment is to make a sukkah, and not that it come to be of itself, so, too, the commandment of Eretz Israel is that it will not be built until we build it ourselves, in a natural manner, in this world.
The successful day at Shdema could not have taken place without the assistance and hard work of many people; our thanks to them all:
* to Arutz 7, that broadcasted the happening live, by means of the Share-Live service
* to the marvelous youth who came up to the hill with us, at 5:00 in the morning, to organize, arrange, build the large sukkah, the ecological toilets, and the huge shades, and so skillfully decorated the entrance and the ascent to Shdema with dozens of Israeli flags:
Amiad Katzover, Yosef Zigelman, Eliashiv Kimchi, Zuri Botusch, Itzik and Shani Halamish, Yair Felus, and Zurnatan Durani
* to Uri Palsi, who came especially from Galilee to help with everything
* to the indefatigable Batyah, who brought us all the chairs, and the donkeys for the enjoyment of the children
* to Zvikah Zabari, who brought the extensive equipment in his truck
* to the Tekoa secretariat, that gave us some of the chairs
* to the Efrat Local Council, that gave us the stage
* to the Gush Etzion Local Council, that provided us with a bus for bringing and returning people
* to Shmuel Durchler, for organizing all the other transportation vans
* to Woly, who brought us the stage and organized the wonderful sound equipment on site, and the screening of the movies for the children
* to the photographers Rivka Ryback, Gemma Blech, and Avigail Browning for the marvelous photographs that
enable us to document the struggle, and to gain strength to continue
* to Yehudit Eisenberg, who volunteered to organize the arts workshops for the children
* to Merav Kimchi and her friends, for running the children’s activities
* to Eleazar Brandt and his friend, for the balloons and the juggling
* to the IDF, for providing security for the happening
* to the wonderful public of lovers of Eretz Israel, who donate money to Women in Green. By your merit, and solely by your merit, we can finance all the activities and the struggle at Shdema, and in Eretz Israel in general. Continue in this way!
To everyone, in the name of the entire Committee of Jewish Shdema, thanks and a tremendous “Well done!” for your partnership in the struggle for Eretz Israel.
To view the short film taken by Sharon Katz, the editor of the VOICES magazine: http://voices-magazine.com/voices-videos.php?id=41
To view Gemma Blech’s photographs of the happening: http://picasaweb.google.com/gemmablech/ShdemaSuccot2009#
To view Rivka Ryback’s photographs of the happening: http://www.yeshabulletin.com/FIGHT%20BACK/FightBack.htm
For Arutz 7’s live broadcast, by courtesy of the Share-Live service (available only for one week),
Part 1: http://213.8.150.37/?siteID=801&mediaID=24414&userID=5&key=1
Part 2: http://213.8.150.37/?siteID=801&mediaID=24406&userID=5&key=1
With the blessing: “Let us by all means go up, and we shall gain possession of it” (Numbers 13:30),
The Committee for Jewish Shdema & Women in Green
Rabbi Yaron Durani (El-David, Nokdim), Zuri Botusch, Shdema Youth (Jerusalem), Igor Bialski (Tekoa), Elisheva Ginsberg (Alon Shvut), Orly Glauber (Maaleh Rehavam), Ruti Wallfish (Tekoa), Ina Vinyarski (Tekoa), Yehudit Tier (Beit Horon), Timna Katz (Neveh Daniel), Tomer Karazi (Tekoa pre-army mekhinah). Nadia Matar (Efrat) – 050-5500834, Gedaliah Friedman (Neveh Daniel), Yehudit Katzover (Kiryat Arba-Hebron) – 050-7161818, Eli Rodan (Elazar)
Contact : Yehudit Katzover – 050-7161818 Nadia Matar – 050-5500834
www.womeningreen.org
=============================================
Women For Israel’s Tomorrow (Women in Green)
POB 7352, Jerusalem 91072, Israel
Tel: 972-2-624-9887 Fax: 972-2-624-5380
mailto:wfit2@womeningreen.org
http://www.womeningreen.org
To subscribe to the Women in Green list,
please send a blank email message to:
list4-subscribe@womeningreen.org
Check your spam filter for confirmation to reply to
To unsubscribe from the Women in Green list,
please send a blank email message to:
list4-unsubscribe@womeningreen.org
——————————————————————————–
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG – www.avg.com
Version: 8.5.420 / Virus Database: 270.14.4/2417 – Release Date: 10/06/09 06:50:00