No matter where we went or what we saw, the question would not go away: WHY is innocent blood being spilled? WHY was Shalhevet murdered? WHY was a bus full of children bombed?
The answer is that they hate us. They hate us for what we are. Not for being settlers, not for living in trailers, but because we are Jews. But is there relief or consolation for this? The answer to that would come soon.
Darkness and Light
After eating a meal at the Gutnick Center and spending some time in the gift shop, we finally entered the Meorat Hamachpela. It was late afternoon, and the sun was slowly setting. We entered the main hall between Avraham and Sarah and Yaakov and Leah. What happened to Yitzchak and Rivkah? What happened is that the Arabs have control of that part ? and only because we Jews want it. Yitzchak means nothing to them, yet they use it to pray so that we cannot. It is absolutely true ? wherever we built a synagogue, they built a mosque.
Well, we figured out a way to pray with having all three of our forefathers present. We decided we would pray in front of Avraham and Yaakov the prayer that Yitzchak invented – Mincha. We started davening, and when I said the words “v’zocher chasdei avos umevei goel l’ivenei beneihem” (“Hashem, who recalls the kindness of the Patriarchs and brings a redeemer to their children’s children”) I realized that if we ask for it on the merits of our forefathers, Hashem will bring the Redeemer to their children’s children – meaning us.
At the end of Mincha we said “bayom hahu yehyeh Hashem echad ushimo echad” (“on that day Hashem will be One and his name will be One”). The day will come when there will be no more fraudulent ‘peace’ talks, no more suicide bombers, no more snipers, no more stone throwers. On that day all the land – Yesha, the Gush, Hebron and all of Jerusalem – will be ours.
Mincha is the prayer one says as the darkness approaches. It must get dark in order for the sun to shine again and a new day to be born. As we daven Mincha we know that darkness is inevitable – but that before long it will be morning, the sun will come out and it will be a bright and beautiful new day. It will be The Day After.
