Personal Experience in Beit Hashalom

Last Wednesday and Thursday night I slept at Beit HaShalom in Chevron. Wednesday was the night that there was an assembly in Kiryat Arba to discuss the situation with Beit HaShalom. After the assembly many people went to visit Beit HaShalom and a lot also stayed the night. That night was not so eventful I don't think. The biggest thing that I heard about was a group of people getting shot at from Arabs when they were walking a certain direction from Beit HaShalom. A friend was actually in that crowd and said it was really scary. Across from Beit HaShalom is an Arab cemetery. I would think that it would creep me out, but it actually didn't even look like a cemetery. The place was not kept nicely and didn't seem like a place people were actually buried in. Sort of like it was still in the process of being built or something. I walked around a bit and talked until I decided that I had to go to bed as it was very late and I was waking up early to tremp back to Tzur Hadassah for work. Women were sleeping on a seperate side of the building on a floor that had four families living there I believe. Women had a room for themselves. When I got to the room to go to sleep there was very little space left on the cement floor. Girls were all over the floor already asleep. I was lucky and had put my stuff on a bed that had no mattress to it when I first got to Beit HaShalom. Even though I didn't sleep well and was cold, I was still very thankful to have been spared from the the cold cement.

Thursday night when I slept in Beit HaShalom was a very different experience. Many teenagers where there that night, and all very active. There was a point to their actions. I went to bed a bit before 1:00 am only to have girls come into the room waking everyone up. We were supposed to go on a "siyur." I guess the English translation would be "a tour" or something with a similar idea. we were planned to go out at 1:30 when the boys were scheduled to come back from their "siyur."

Our strength was in our number so we stuck together. I can't say that I agree with everything that went on there, but I stuck with the girls because that is just what you do. Statements were made on that outing. We walked from Beit HaShalom to Ma'arat Hamachpelah and from there it was more spontaneous. A police vehicle was following us most of the time. A few times we took a sudden turn into a street that cars couldn't enter, but when we came out again, the police were back, too. I've always known Arab areas that I could enter to be dirty and shameful. There was a small area that we went through that was similar to the Old City in Jerusalem that has streets that are only meant for people to walk through. As we were going through this area, with no police at our backs, we left our statement that we are strong. It was chutzpah, and I don't think I agree with all of it, but it was strong, and it only showed more strength to the Jews living in Chevron. I feel that is very important because the government is constantly encouraging the Arab violence. No, I am not saying that it's all justifiable, but that there was a point. At one point on our way back a cop grabbed a guy and then a big mess started. Guys were trying to get him back and the girls were causing trouble from a distance where other police cars were. Three tires were punctured, police got some stones thrown at them from someone really dumb on the roof of Beit HaShalom. And once someone threw a stone at soldiers standing near their jeep. That really didn't go over well with me. I think someone very immature and short-sighted has not realized that he needs to give our soldiers respect. They put their life at risk for us and work hard all the time. When there is trouble and we need help, we run straight to them. I think that some youngsters get caught up in all the wrong that's going on to realize that it isn't all bad. Some is bad, some is good, and some just is. Eventually the rebbetzin from Beit HaShalom came out to calm things down. The boys made an agreement with the police that they release the two boys that they had taken and everyone goes back inside. That's how it all ended. For a little while there were some Arabs on the roof of a building nearby throwing rocks at us, and we were throwing rocks back. I thought it was pretty stupid because of the distance, but each side I think was able to reach the other somewhat. Soldiers came to protect us, G-d bless their souls. Another Arab nearby was videotaping us from his roof, and he got some rocks thrown at him. It was a bit crazy seeing the enthusiasm that these Arabs had at throwing rocks at us. There were pretty serious about it. The hate is such a shocker even though my brain knows it to be true.

Anyway, JPost wrote a negative article on the whole thing and I do think they have a point, but trying to understand both sides before coming to a definite conclusion about the whole thing is the best way to stay objective and find truth.