A look back at Purim 5754 (1994):
Who was in the Machpela Cave?
– Attributed to Daniel Pinner
The overall story is well-known: in 5754 (1994), the Moslem holy month of Ramadan coincided with the Jewish month of Adar. Since Ramadan, like most Islamic events, is traditionally celebrated by murdering Jews, it is always a tense time in Israel. When it coincided with Purim, when we commemorate the only time in history that an anti-Semite was hanged before he could start a pogrom, at the height of the Oslo death process, in Hebron – the tensest place imaginable – the mix was explosive. The Hamas in Hebron was preparing to massacre the Jews; the Jews of Hebron had approached the army, the police, and the civil administration, all who whom refused to pre-empt the massacre and defend Jewish lives; the medical corps of the army instructed Dr Baruch Goldstein to stock up on medical supplies to care for the dozens (hundreds?) of expected Jewish casualties; the Hamas distributed flyers among the Arabs of Hebron to stock up on supplies of food, because after the massacre that they would perpetrate, they expected the Israeli Army to impose a prolonged curfew. And the Jews of Hebron waited.
But the Hamas’ plan to murder Jews backfired – all too literally – when the Tzaddik of Kiryat Arba, Dr Baruch Goldstein Hy”d, entered the Machpela cave in the early morning of Purim – the second Friday of Ramadan, they day when the Arabs of Hebron had planned to continue Haman’s work, “to exterminate, to kill, and to destroy all the Jews, from youngest to oldest, children and women, on one day” (Esther 3:13). Baruch entered the Machpela Cave with his army-issue Galil assault rifle, and opened fire on the Moslems who were praying there and, as part of their prayers, howling their traditional cry of itbach el-Yahud – slaughter the Jews. When his bullets were depleted (or when his gun jammed, or when the Arabs succeeded in rushing him and grabbing his rifle), he was bludgeoned to death. And he prevented the planned massacre of Jews later on that day.
Lest anybody claim that this is an attempt at whitewashing a heinous crime, I point out here that even the Shamgar Commission tacitly accepted this as fact. This Commission of State Enquiry comprised five members: Abdul Rahman Zuabi, a District Court judge; Eliezer Goldberg, a Supreme Court judge; Moshe Levy, former Chief of Staff of the IDF and Lieutenant General in the Reserves; Professor Menahem Ya’ari, the President of the Open University; and the head of the Commission, Meir Shamgar, former President of the Supreme Court. So this Commission comprised one Arab, two leftists, one extreme leftist, and one of unknown politics – hardly a pro-settler mix. Indeed, even before the Commission even heard all the evidence, three of its members (Zuabi, Levy, and Ya’ari) were already consistently referring to Baruch Goldstein as a murderer. No one could suspect the Shamgar Commission of being pro-settler, or even neutral. Their extreme anti-settler prejudice was a given from before they even convened for the first time. And yet, even the Shamgar Commission accepted that Baruch Goldstein’s “massacre” (in their words) prevented an Arab massacre of Jews.
And out of all the smoke and dust – both literal and figurative – that was churned up by that morning’s shooting, a very strange fact emerged. All the eye-witnesses agreed that Baruch Goldstein Hy”d entered the Machpela Cave alone; and all the eye-witnesses agreed that two Jews were in Ulam Yitzchak (the Hall of Isaac) – Baruch was shooting, and another man was throwing him magazines to re-load his rifle.
Remarkably, these reports of the second man are consistent, and all the Arabs agreed on a general description: he was dressed as a soldier, he was old, and had a long white beard. This was clearly not a fantasy, neither was it the imagination of Arabs who were panicking while they were under fire. There was no reason for the Arabs to have invented this second man – they had nothing to gain by such an invention. But no traces of a second Jew were ever found – neither a body, nor any reports of a live Jew leaving the hall.
Obviously, different theories have sprung up. We can discount Yasser Arafat’s ridiculous piece of diseased fantasy, that 12 men, including soldiers, took part. Barry Chamish (as one might expect) has used this as a central theme in his claim that the Hebron massacre was actually a conspiracy orchestrated by the Shabak, in which Baruch was an unwitting patsy. The Shamgar Commission simply chose the option that all the Arab eye-witnesses somehow made the same mistake.
Now, clearly we will never know what really happened there that morning. But I offer an explanation of all these apparent contradictory statements. I am the first to concede that what I am about to say is insane; but please bear with me till the end.
Just before Jacob died in Egypt, he adjured his sons to carry his remains across the Sinai Desert into Israel, there to bury him in the Machpela Cave (Genesis 47:29-31). They did as Joseph had sworn (ibid. 50:4-14), burying their father Jacob in the Machpela Cave.
And here, the Talmud relates an episode which the Torah barely hints at: “When they arrived at the Machpela Cave, Esau came, trying to prevent them [from burying Jacob]. He said...: ‘[Jacob] has already buried Leah in his section, and the section that remains belongs to me’. They responded: ‘But you have sold it’. He replied to them: ‘I agree that I sold my birthright, but does this mean that I also sold my right to my inheritance?’ They responded: ‘Yes’.... [Esau] said: ‘Bring me the deed of sale’. They said to him: ‘The deed of sale is in the land of Egypt. And who will go [to fetch it]? Naphtali, because he runs as swiftly as a hind, as it is written, “Naphtali is a hind let loose.”’ (Genesis 50:
... Chushim, the son of Dan, was there, and he was deaf. He asked: ‘What is happening?’ They told him: ‘This man [Esau] is preventing the funeral until Naphtali returns from the land of Egypt’. He said to them: ‘And until Naphtali comes from the land of Egypt, will my father lie in disgrace?’ He took a club and smote [Esau] on the head; his eyes popped out and rolled to Jacob’s feet. Jacob opened his eyes and laughed; and this is what is meant in the verse, ‘Let the tzaddik rejoice when he sees vengeance, he will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.’ (Psalms 58:11)” (Sotah 13a).
In the Machpela Cave, our father Jacob, even though he was already dead, could nevertheless open his eyes and laugh in delight when his grandson killed his wicked great-uncle, Jacob’s twin brother, Esau. It is through the Machpela Cave that souls pass in order to reach the Garden of Eden (Zohar, Chayyei Sarah, Section 1, 127b) – in other words, it is the place where the souls of our Fathers, whose bodies have died, still live on.
Could it be that on that Purim morning, when Baruch Goldstein reached the highest level of Kiddush Hashem – sacrificing his own life to prevent a massacre of untold numbers of Jews – our Father Isaac arose from his grave to stand by his side in those last few moments of his life?
Call this theory crazy if you will; I agree. It is, indeed, crazy – maybe, just maybe, crazy enough to be true. Anywhere else in the world it would be impossible; but in the Machpela Cave, even the crazy is commonplace. The other theories are untenable: Barry Chamish’s explanation assumes that the Arabs who were there and survived, the Shabak, the Jewish soldiers and officers who were guarding the site, the five members of the Shamgar Commission, and the expert witnesses who testified before the Commission, all collaborated with each other, and maintained that deception with the secrecy inherent in it for fourteen years. The Shamgar Commission’s explanation assumes that all the Arab eye-witnesses and all the Jewish witnesses made the same mistake (or told the same deliberate lie) – down to describing the same imaginary man. These theories are no less insane, no less impossible.
Of course, we do not know for certain what really happened in the Machpela Cave that Purim morning fourteen years ago. But if ever there was a time and a place when our Father Isaac could arise and open his eyes for a few moments, it was then.
Allow me to conclude with a simple question: Given the choice between Barry Chamish, the Shamgar Commission, and the Midrash – which of these three would you consider to be the most reliable source to explain the otherwise inexplicable events in the Machpela Cave?
Topic: A look back at Purim 5754 (1994): Who was in the Machpela Cave? (Read 1089 times)