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tanks was still there. I thought he had We advanced toward Chevron, and approaching. That was the first Israeli
perhaps taken the first tank and driven when we entered the city we saw all tank to enter Chevron, and it was
to Chevron to get there first. the houses along the main road fes- adorned with an improvised flag – a
tooned with white sheets hanging sheet on which someone had drawn a
I told my driver to advance toward from the balconies. The Chevron blue Magen David.
Chevron, regardless of what the battal- Municipality and the military forces
ion was doing. We were two vehicles, had decided on a self-imposed curfew When the tank arrived, I saw the sol-
the one I was in and the escorting Mil- and ordered that no-one leave their diers had a crowbar. My driver and I
itary Rabbinate jeep. On the way, we homes. I wanted to inform them that put the bar into the gate and worked it
passed the battalion’s reconnaissance the IDF had already conquered Chev- off its hinges until the gate fell to the
company. ron, even though the IDF force was ground and we could enter the Cave of
only me and the jeep at this stage. the Patriarchs.
Suddenly, my driver said, “Rabbi, we’re
the first ones here. There are no sol- In the center of town was a podium We saw two Arabs inside, trembling
diers ahead of us. The entire brigade where a policeman usually stood to like a lulav, and one of them was hold-
is behind us. We could get stuck in direct the traffic. I climbed onto the ing the keys to the gate – even though
Chevron alone, and who knows what podium and fired a magazine of bul- they had told me they didn’t have any
they’ll do to us.” lets into the air, to notify the residents keys. My driver went over to him, took
that the Israel Defense Forces had cap- the keys, and we went into the Cave of
“Drive on,” I told him. tured Chevron. the Patriarchs, where I blew the shofar.
When we drew closer to Chevron, I My declared goal had been to be the I took the sefer Torah I had brought
saw white flags waving over all the first to reach the Cave of the Patri- with me and read the portion of
houses along the way. There would archs. I saw an Arab boy at one of the Chayei Sara, which relates how Avra-
be no battles here I thought. There windows. “Where is the grave of Avra- ham bought the Cave of the Patriarchs
wasn’t a single Jordanian flag, so there ham Avinu?” I shouted up to him, but from the sons of Chet. It was still early
was nothing to fear. We were entering he said he was afraid to come down in the morning and we were able to
Chevron as victors, without having because of the curfew. He wouldn’t be daven Shacharit there, the first Jews to
fired a single shot. able to get back home. I promised him daven freely in the Cave of Machpelah
my driver would bring him back, and
“There’s a Jordanian flag flying from the boy agreed to show us. in 19 years.
the third floor of one of the houses,”
my driver said as we drove past We reached the Cave and began to
Halhul. “They might fire on us.” climb the stairs toward the gates at the
top of the two staircases. I climbed to
“Take the Uzi and cover me,” I said. the top of the staircase on the north
“I’m going up there to take down the side, where everyone prayed, and saw
flag.” the gate was locked.

My driver said they might kill me, so “Ifta el-bab!” I shouted in Arabic.
he would go. “Open the gates!”

“You’re still young,” I told him. “You I heard voices inside.
still have to build a home and a family.
I’ve already lived my life. I’ll go up, and “Mefish maftuah,” they said. “We don’t
whatever happens, happens.” have a key.”

One of the drivers accompanied me If they don’t have a key, I thought
to the second floor, and from there I to myself, how did they get inside? I Rabbi Shlomo Goren z”l (1917–1994) served
as the first head of the IDF’s Military Rab-
went up to the third floor. I reached began firing bullets at the gates, but binate and was later elected Chief Rabbi of
the flag and took it down. they didn’t budge. To this day you can Israel. He was awarded the Israel Prize in
see the holes I made, which the Arabs Rabbinical Literature. He participated in the
“Salaam Alaikum,” I said to the ten- call “Rabbi Goren’s holes.” For three liberation of the Old City of Jerusalem in the
ants. I took the flag and they didn’t say hours, we tried to break down the Six-Day War and one day later, he ‘liberated’
a word. gates, until I heard the sound of a tank Chevron.

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