The Beauty and Faith of Elon Moreh
by Prof. Eugene Narrett – copyright 2006
Sivan 5766
Elon Moreh is one of the first Jewish re-settlements in the mountains of the Shomron (“Samaria�). Astride the peaks and high ridges of Mt. Gvir (it’s usually written ‘Kabir’ on maps today), it overlooks the Tirtzah valley and plains of Moreh in which sprawls Nablus, built over the ancient Jewish city of Shechem and now a site of nightly terrorism and counter-terrorist preemption. Across the valley and its branches loom the slopes and summits of Mounts Gerizim and Ebal where the Children of Israel stood after they built an altar on Mt. Ebal and their massive host joined Joshua in reciting the blessings and prohibitions as Moshe had instructed (Deuteronomy 27; Joshua 8:30-5). To the south is Mt. Bracha where vineyards and groves of olives and almonds shelter the paratroops that bolster the self-defense capabilities of the Jewish towns.
I visited the town and outposts of Elon Moreh during the last week of May and ten days later, for the festival and following Sabbath of Shavuot. It was unforgettably vivid to share life with these brave and gracious people living on the frontlines amid mountain – valley vistas of great beauty and historical resonance. The excavated site of the altar of Joshua on a lower plateau toward the northern end of Mt. Ebal is clearly visible from many homes. Above the altar, on the top of the three-humped ridge of Ebal are the electronic detection towers of the IDF, reminders of the constant vigilance by which the Jews sustain themselves in their embattled land.
To fully appreciate the qualities, lovely features, and faithful people of Elon Moreh it is useful to review an anecdote and some insightful voices speaking a year ago, July 2005 from Nvei Dekalim, formerly of the Jewish area (Gush Katif) in the ‘Gaza Strip.’ They illuminate the challenges and opportunities that face the Jews who stand on the frontlines of faith and history, opposing not only the rage of global jihad but all those powers conspiring to drag us into the Age of Aquarius / Dagon, into an era of forgetting filled with rootless human resources roaming across erased boundaries, desperate to retain their jobs and knowing nothing of their souls, traditions or history beyond the latest headlines and interoffice memo. Forestalling and rejecting that nightmare, already greatly in place is a struggle writ large in the re-born state of Israel, especially in Jewish settlements in its ancient heartland and holy places. It is vital to us all that we see and hear and visit these people and places which major forces in the world want to expunge.
So, back to summer 2005…
Benny Cohen from Nvei Dekalim had a story to tell that ran on Israel National News (July 10, by Hillel Fendel). He had received a call from Member of Knesset Amram Mitzna who had run for PM in January 2003 on the single issue of deporting the Jews from Gush Katif, removing the IDF and all aspects of Israeli and Jewish presence. But by summer 2005 Mitzna had a more sober and caring mission: to arrange a visit to Kfar Darom and other GK towns by a prestigious physician associated with the unilateral withdrawal parties of the Israeli political spectrum. After his visit with farmers and other residents the doctor said, “I see I was wrong. I always thought we had to get rid of Gaza [sic] but now I see there are people here and the whole matter must be thought out more carefully.�
He and others, so quick to prejudge on the basis of official media ‘truths’ can be and have been transformed by visits and actual human contact, just as many Israelis in the peace-at-any-price camp have changed their minds on the basis of how badly the refugees from Gush Katif have been treated.
One other voice from those times provides an example of what one encounters in Elon Moreh and throughout the hills, farms, flock pens and towns of Judea and Samaria: a pure faith that acknowledges the providence of G-d and also the primacy of human effort and choices in activating this providence for the good, for good sooner and before rather than later and after errors and suffering.
Yossi who lived in Shirat HaYam (“song of the sea�) matter-of-factly acknowledged to A-7 the impact that various group efforts could have. He said, “a few more families [moving to GK] will not make all the difference – although if dozens of families come to every single community it could have some influence. It’s all up to G-d; but we as Jews have to do what we can, and if people begin coming down here then, in the merit of all the kindness and friendship and helping, and all the bonding that will happen, this hopefully will arouse G-d’s mercies.�
These activities and commitment “hopefully will arouse G-d’s mercies.� There, in the blend of simple trust [bitachon], acknowledgement of G-d and His response to human effort, in the sense of responsibility and the importance of individual and national initiatives is essential Judaism. Just as it was needed then, so it is needed now throughout the Promised Land to realize the goal of an integral and whole Israel, Yisrael Shleimah. Like Yossi, the people of Elon Moreh and all the Jews in Judea and Samaria “truly invite all of Israel to come and join us.�
I heard this invitation repeatedly, and now I share it with you. I heard it on the highest peak of Mt. Gvir, at Yitzhak Skali’s farm where three very simple wood-sided homes, one of them being faced with stone (after repeated attacks by jihadists), and a couple of trailers house five families and a goodly number of young men who assist with the farm. There is a tin-roofed shed for chickens and goats, an almond grove, and a beautiful one-room stone synagogue built by the men, as were all the hand-crafted wooden necessaries within: chairs, tables for prayer and study, the Aron Kodesh for the Torah Scroll… This small synagogue, a testament to faith, national memory, and self-reliance is as beautiful a labor of love and devotion as one can find anywhere, and the vistas are beyond beautiful, they are inspiriting as the pure breezes and the air freshened with sage and thyme.
Yitzhak Skali established his farm in 1999 with the agreement of the National Land Preserves so he should be exempt from the Bush – Sharon agreements that no Jewish settlement in Judea or Samaria would be permitted after 2001. But Skali is not free from the harassment of the Euro-funded International Solidarity Movement, of the American – Israeli government and the courts. The Jews must fight their battles on many fronts and usually without vigorous self-defense for which, in any case, they will be blamed and sometimes prosecuted, — such is the terrible consistency of the western and Islamic worlds’ hatred for Jews, and such is their hold on the client regime in Jerusalem. But after all, what is the so-called world community or any group of politicians or judges, Israeli or other to proscribe Jews from settling anywhere in Israel? This is why we must visit, learn about, strengthen and be strengthened by these people of wonderful courage and faith…
They live as it was in America two or three hundred years ago: every night one is on guard, but here a Jew is also fulfilling the ancient promise that gives coherence and balance to the world and to all peoples. Eliezer Gelbard, an immigrant from Uruguay and resident of Elon Moreh, an ambulance drive, teacher at the Spanish – Hebrew school and father of nine guided me across the slopes on an unforgettable day. Past the farm of Itzhik Skali and that of Zecharia Hezi, the slanted tin roof of its animal sheds held in place by concrete blocks I heard stories of Arab marauders and the periodic theft of sheep. Taken into Area ‘A,’ given to the PLO at Oslo, the farmers or IDF could track the stolen property but not take them back. But there is no breaking the commitment or good nature of these people. They know they are fulfilling the most long-standing promise in the world and activating a flourishing of land and spirit all people urgently need…
In the amazingly varied and lovely garden around their small patch of lawn, rose bushes line the path to the door of Zev and Rochelle Saffer, pioneering founders of Kedumim, Itamar and Elon Moreh. The Saffer’s grow plums, apricots, pistachios, almonds and the four kinds of species holy to the festival of Sukkot: a border hedge of myrtle bushes, willows, and citron and date palm trees. There is shade and breeze on the hottest of days and in the mornings especially, the bird song is rich and melodious. Although the hills stretch quite a ways above their home, so steep is the slope that from their lawn there is an alpine view across the Tirtzah valley to Mts. Gerizim and Ebal. From the second floor terrace, one sees all the way south down Israel’s north central valley and surrounding hills to Shiloh. Zev points out the site of Joshua’s altar and mentions the excavations of archaeologist Adam Zartal (http://ebal.haifa.ac.il ) who found there the ramps for the priests to ascend, exactly as described, the bones and ashes of more than one hundred kosher animals, and, among other finds, a coin of Rameses II (c. 1250 BCE) whose successor Mernepta boasted had defeated Israel (see the Mernepta – stele). A former Israeli slave had carried the coin from Egypt, given it to his son or daughter, and the coin had been offered as tribute to the Priests at the altar when the land was claimed.
My host, Zev noted some of the threatening and bitter ironies of Israel’s situation especially that of the people in the beautiful hills of Judea and Samaria. “My wife’s great uncle was born a hundred years ago and listed on his birth record as a “Palestinian: why can’t we stay there? My wife’s father’s parents were born in Jerusalem before the British arrived…â€? Jews had ancestors living west of the Jordan in the 18th – 19th centuries or earlier when many travelers, like Mark Twain (Innocents Abroad) of Count Volney (The Ruins of Empires, c. 1795) wrote about the desolated and de-populated condition of the land.
“When we came here [first to Itamar and then to the present site of Elon Moreh],â€? Zev continued, “there was nothing. I didn’t throw anyone off their land. I used to spend my money in the market in Shechem and even now they [the Arabs] get their water and electricity from us. I used to walk into Shechem with my wife and kids. There are a lot of historical sites there, not only Kever Yosef [the Tomb of Joseph]. The media slant makes us feel like we’re not human.â€? Indeed, the mainstream Israeli, international and Arab presses all vilify the Jewish settlers of Israel’s heartland as if they were a problem, no, — the problem in the world and as if expunging Jews from Judea and Samaria would bring it peace.
Amid such malicious madness, simple people live lives of creativity, courage, faith and grace. I remember a happy festival dinner with Rabbi Menachem Felix and his wife, spirited, witty, and intelligent people also among the original founders of Elon Moreh. They lost a teenaged daughter to a terrorist ambush. Her picture, with a beautiful smile, is on the wall.
In Elon Moreh every holy day, at the Yizkor (memorial) service, a long list of names is read of people who have been murdered or killed doing national duty. Every Saturday evening, men gather to bid farewell to the Sabbath outside the home of the Gavish family, four of whom were murdered by terrorists in an infiltration a few years ago. The house is empty to this day, like the Shabo home in nearby Itamar where a similar attack occurred.
Zev and Rochelle were among the earliest Jewish re-settlers of the Shomron, beginning in the army base at Camp Kadum (now the town of Kedumim) over the mountains about fifteen miles west southwest of Elon Moreh. They lived in tents, the weather and conditions were daunting. Many politicians wanted them, as they did the pioneers in Hebron to give up and leave. There is a headline from those days quoting Yitzhak Rabin as threatening, “Elon Moreh or me� [get rid of them or I quit the government]. There also is a full page newspaper story from Maariv in the late fall of that year in which the reporter interviewed Zev’s young boys. “Won’t you be too cold in the winter,� they were asked. Aren’t you worried about staying here with no heat or house? Don’t you want to leave the reporter probed the kids to undermine the parents.
“No, we’re not scared,� the boys replied. “We have army jackets and boots: yihyeh b’seder! [“It will be okay�].� That is the spirit that has been re-settling the heartland of Israel, the good cheer, persistence, and faith that for some strange reason the powers of the world can’t abide.
And I remember young Elishai ben Yosef who animatedly showed and described to me his collection of Lego’s. His father Chanan, my host for the afternoon, gave me a pocket-sized book of psalms which I prize, its tiny cover adorned with a photo of Joseph’s tomb.
There is an enchanting story from thirty years ago, of a June 1976 visit to camp Kadum by a concert pianist (also a distinguished journalist), David bar Ilan. The artist’s wife Beverly wrote a lyrical, wonderfully descriptive and touching essay about the event that took fourteen months to get printed in the New York Times (September 3, 1977). She recounts it in moving and evocative terms:
“… It was a shock to realize that this area, hardly thirty-five minutes from Tel Aviv is so close to the heart of Israel.
“The piano arrived just before we did. It stood on a wooden stage covered by a slanted roof. There were colored lights and huge tins filled with flowers and slender young trees. At the front of the stage was a white banner with a verse from Jeremiah…
“I had noticed that many of the settlers were already gardening and attempting to beautify their surroundings. A sense of home, hospitality, and digging-in permeated the air… Though living year round in tiny trailers behind the gates and barbed-wire fences of an army base, nothing seemed to faze them. Settling in, they faced the future with absolutely no guarantees of anything.
“Hundreds of people gathered from the concert. They had come from all over the country. It must have meant a great deal to those settlers, so isolated and removed to realize that their struggle to make Judea and Samaria again a place where Jews can live was a dream so many shared.�
Here one sees the courage and faith of the people in Judea and Samaria today, and one understands afresh the Jews in Gush Katif who always were so glad and hospitable when anyone came to their embattled position to share and affirm their dream, the right of Jews to live rather than be expelled from their ancient land. One sees also the love for life, the joy of working to make any place productive and lovely, to make a long-barren hilltop a place of bread and roses…
And so the article continued: “For the thousand who traveled to Kadum and back it was more than a musical experience, sitting high up in the hills of Samaria with the moon and stars overhead, the sound of music filling the night.�
As Zev Saffer recalls it, “there we were, sitting as if in a dream, in a pool of light on a hill in Samaria and this great concert pianist playing for us, for all of Israel…�
Mrs. Bar-Ilan described how she and her husband received many simple gifts from the audience after he played. “One young lady, her eyes brimming, handed me a bouquet of wild wheat and I wondered as I held it how ancient were its seeds… A man approached me and said, ‘it’s been nearly three thousand years since Jews heard music in these hills.’ Three thousand years; an eternity: Such an agonizingly long time for anyone to wait.�
The gratitude and generosity of spirit, the scarcely imaginable endurance, hope and efforts to realize the dream and sanctify G-d’s Name by giving one’s life to His promise, all these definitive features of the Jewish people are present in this remembered moment and in the daily reality of Elon Moreh, a besieged and beautiful Jewish town restored on the hills above the site where Abraham raised the first altar to G-d the Creator of the universe (Genesis 12:7). Perhaps this is why the birdsong is so abundant and melodious: the restoration of this site brings very close promises that lead to elation that articulates the beauty and freshness of a dream coming true.
To end where we began, with signs of active faith that people are struggling to realize the dream, as this is written there is a march by hundreds of young people from Elon Moreh and Itamar across the hills and fields to Shiloh, Eli, and Kol Tzion [“voice of Zion�] settlements, asserting Jewish rights to the land just as Abraham and Jacob did: “arise and walk the land. For to you and to your descendants after you I will give it.�
EN