Mob destroys Joseph's Tomb

Through the lenses of television cameras, Israelis and the world watched horrified four years ago in October, 2000, as Palestinian terrorists overran the Jewish holy site of the Tomb of Joseph and tore it apart, stone by stone. In the course of their rampage, an Israeli soldier - a Druse- was shot and bled to death because Israeli forces were not permitted to evacuate him. After pulling apart the tomb and destroying many of the prayer books, Torahs, and other ritual objects at the site, the Palestinians established a mosque on top of the tomb - situated in the heart the Palestinian town of Nablus, or biblical Shechem.

According to sources in the Bible, including the book of Genesis, Jacob bought the piece of land that the Tomb rests on from the sons of Hamor, and it was there that Joshua later buried the bones of Joseph after the Exodus from Egypt. For these reasons, the Tomb of Joseph is considered by many to be the third most important Jewish holy site in the land of Israel, after the Temple Mount and the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, and remains an important site at which Jews pray.

In the two years after the Palestinians wrested the Tomb from the Jewish people, small groups of worshippers made secret visits to the tomb at the peril of their lives, to pray in the presence of the Patriarch's remains. On more than one occasion, the worshippers were shot at and once had to be evacuated under the protection of the Israel Defense Forces.

Exactly two years after the destruction of the tomb by the Palestinians, about 100 Jewish worshippers were allowed to visit Joseph's Tomb during Succot, under the watchful eye of the IDF. Again the following year on Succot, hundreds of worshippers were permitted to visit the Tomb under the aegis of the army.

Praying in the ruins of Joseph's Tomb

At the urging of the Yeshivat Od Yosef Chai (Joseph Still Lives Yeshiva), the army began over a year ago to supervise once a month visits by worshippers. The Yeshiva was previously located at the site of Joseph's Tomb. Today it is located in Yitzhar, one of the communities of the Shomron Regional Council.

One day a month worshippers can enter the tomb at one of three entrance times. The Tomb, which was restored two years ago and has since been continually vandalized by Palestinian residents of Nablus, can accommodate 150 people at a time. The area is not used the rest of the month for worship by the Palestinians, rather, according to volunteer coordinators of the monthly worship visits, it is used as garbage dump.

Each month on the day before the visit, volunteers, under the protection of the Israeli army, come to the site to clear away garbage and rubble from the month's vandalism. Early on the morning of the visit, they must bring in generators, portable lights, portable toilets, prayer books, a sefer Torah, tables and chairs. Following the visits, everything must be cleared away and all the garbage made on that day is cleaned up. In addition, all worshippers arrive at the Tomb in bullet-proof buses provided by the Yeshiva.

Each monthly visit requires an extensive network of volunteers from the Yeshiva and from the communities from which the majority of the worshippers come. It also requires a significant amount of funds to cover the cost of the bus rental as well as all of the equipment that is set up for the day.

We are turning to you to help The Shomron Development Fund to assist those who wish to worship at Joseph's Tomb.

Here's how you can help: