פורסם ב: טז' טבת תשע"ח

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Shabbat Vayechi all second year students at the mechina went to the Holy City of Chevron to spend a Shabbat where our forefathers and mothers lived and were active.

Friday we went on a trip to Derech Ha'Avot (the Way of the Forefathers) in Gush Etzion with Meni Gertler, a graduate of Bnei David. There we saw the houses in the Netiv Avot neighborhood that are slated for demolition by an obtuse court order, and a vineyard that was planted in memory of Bnei David graduates who fell in battle.

Shabbat we stayed at the Gutnick Center that is a hall near the Cave of the Patriarchs.

Erev Shabbat we received the Shabbat with song and dance in the Cave of the Patriarchs. After the Shabbat meal we visited the Shavei Chevron Yeshiva and participated in a class given by Harav Mordechai Shternberg, Rosh Yeshiva of Har Hamor.

In the morning after prayers we hiked in the "casbah", where the Jewish quarter once was and where to this day there are many Jewish-owned properties. After the meal we went on a long, guided tour of the entire Jewish area of Chevron. At the last minute before sundown we hurried to the third meal with Noam Arnon, the spokesman of the Jewish Community in Chevron. He explained to us what daily life is like in the city, the moral dilemmas involved in living in the City of the Patriarchs, as well as telling us his thrilling story of entering the cave under the monumental building many years ago…

The Shabbat was uplifting and full of meetings with Torah scholars and wonderful people who live in Chevron, who connected our hearts – and our legs! – to the city and the community.

We returned to the mechina exhausted but very much connected to the city of the patriarchs and matriarchs, and we hope to absorb some of the intense energies we felt there Shabbat.