Ma’arat Hamachpelah (the Cave of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs) is one of the holiest sites in Israel for Jews, and the most ancient. It is also one of the holiest sites for Arabs. After the murder of Muslim Arabs perpetrated there by Baruch Goldstein on Purim in 1994, the cave was closed for almost a year to everyone.
When it was finally reopened, Avraham (Avremi) Mittelman, from Jerusalem, who was then 42, decided to take action. He recognized Goldstein’s act as a battle cry calling for the Jews to come to the Ma’arah – our Ma’arah – and decided that it was important to take back Ma’arat Hamachpelah (in a non-violent way). Mittelman formed a minyan that has been meeting at the Cave every Friday at 6:40 a.m. for the last 29 years. The week of parshat Teruma was their anniversary. On the days when the Cave is closed to Jews, the minyan prays outside. Mittelman wanted to bring more awareness of the importance of praying at the Cave and not just for the people who live in Hevron or come for the holidays.
Some of the minyan members drive to Hevron via Kever Rachel, where they say Tehillim for 15 minutes before going to the Ma’arah.
At the height of the minyan’s popularity, there were so many participants that 18 buses were chartered from Jerusalem, subsidized by Eitan Ben-David, another of the founding members. But events such as the Intifada, Covid, and the recent war have seen a fall in attendance.
Dr. Dahvid and Leah Wolf made aliyah from Rochester, New York in 1978 and live in Meitar. They have been attending the minyan for most of the last 29 years. Leah and Dahvid, a dentist, used to demonstrate every time there was a terrorist attack. Finally, he said, “I’d rather be davening in Hevron,” and they joined the minyan. “It gives him his spiritual vitamins,” Leah says.
People come from all over the country to join this minyan. Avremi’s brother lives in Kfar Haroeh up North and used to come every week, but now comes less often. There are always tourists. Leah Wolf says that people heard about the minyan and would call Avremi up in the middle of the night to get information. Now there’s a WhatsApp group, so they don’t wake him up as much.
These days, the number of people who attend depends on many factors including the time of year, the security situation or the weather, but baruch Hashem, they always have a minyan, and many women come as well.
Zvi Sand has been a member of the minyan since its inception. A real estate developer originally from Montreal, Zvi made aliyah with his family when he was nine years old. For the last 35 years, he has been the chazan at Ma’arat Hamachpelah for Shabbat Chayei Sara. Every week, he brings guests – family and friends who are visiting Israel – to the very early Friday morning minyan.
Sand also has an arrangement with Yeshivat Moshe Chayim, a chassidic yeshiva that caters to all streams of chassidut in Har Nof. Every week Zvi picks up a few students and takes them to join the minyan as well. Generations of students have already joined.
With the different populations, the minyan is a fairly eclectic affair. “It brings a lot of Jews together,” says Sand, “and, baruch Hashem, it’s going strong.”
Effi Eizenbach and his wife Ronit used to go on Friday mornings to the vatikin minyan at the Kotel. About seven years ago their daughter Zion, who’s good friends with the Wolf’s daughter Ayelet, told them about the minyan at the Cave. The minyan members gave them a warm welcome, and since then they have been going every week. After praying there, they learn the Netivot Shalom with whichever family members accompany them. Ilana Yifrach, the grandmother of Eyal Yifrach, who was one of the three boys kidnapped and killed in 2014, Hy”d, goes to pray at Ma’arat Hamachpelah every day and joins them in their learning session on Fridays.
Effi tells a story that brings the whole thing full circle. As at the Kotel, there’s an area where people put money and kvitelim asking for blessings. The area is behind a netted door to which only the Arabs have the keys. One Friday, he saw a boy of around 11 or 12 who had stuck scotch tape to a long stick and was trying to get the money out from behind the door.
“He saw me watching him and assuming what I was thinking, he told me that the next day the Cave was going over to the Arabs and he was trying to get the money out to give it to tzedakah. That was a lesson in judging favorably,” Effi says.
There are areas in the Cave where only Jews are allowed most of the year (the graves of Avraham and Sara and Yaakov and Leah) and areas in the cave where only Arabs are allowed most of the year (the graves of Yitzchak and Rivka). Ten days a year, the entire Ma’arah is accessible only to the Jews and ten days a year the Ma’arah is accessible only to the Arabs. The boy knew that the next day the Arabs would have sole access to the area, and he was doing his best to rescue the money and give it to charity.
When the minyan celebrated its 29th anniversary, Yair Lior, who blows the shofar during Elul, said 29 is chof-tes, an acronym for ki tov.
And as Rav Kook, zt”l, famously said, in the Land of Israel (and certainly at its most holy sites), our mission is to increase the kedusha, and that’s what this minyan has been doing for close to three decades. Interestingly, the minyan has no name, no limiting affiliations. It belongs, like Ma’arat Hamachpelah, to all of Klal Yisrael.
For information about the minyan, contact Avremi Mittelman: 972 -52-2283672
