Despite the cancellation of the mass event, Israel Today has learned that various meetings are planning to arrive in Hebron. • Chairman of the Kiryat Arba Council: "Entry will be banned out of national responsibility"
Shabbat Chai Sarah (Archive photo)
Photography:
Border Police spokeswoman
Students of ultra-Orthodox yeshivas and national religions plan to visit Kiryat Arba and the city of Hebron next week and celebrate Shabbat "Chai Sara", despite the community's decision to cancel the traditional Shabbat, for the first time in 25 years, due to the corona.
Last week, it was reported in "Israel Today" that for the first time in 25 years, the traditional hospitality Shabbat will not take place this year in the Cave of the Patriarchs on Shabbat "Sarah's Life", which will take place on November 14.
In a standard year, tens of thousands of people come to Hebron and Kiryat Kiryat, touring the place where, according to tradition, the fathers and mothers of the Jewish nation are buried, but due to the corona virus, it was decided to cancel the event.
Over the years, more than twenty thousand people came to the Cave of the Patriarchs on the Sabbath of Chai Chai Sarah, the Shabbat in which the parsha "Chai Chara" in the Book of Genesis is read.
Visitors are hosted by the locals or stay in special tents, and pray on Saturday night and in the morning in the Cave of the Patriarchs.
In addition, dozens of Torah lessons and study gatherings are held in the Moshava system and in the locality of Kiryat Arba in a normal year.
Thousands of devotees come to the Shabbat with their Admors. However, due to the Corona plague, the Kiryat Arba Hebron Council decided not to hold the traditional event.
Despite the cancellation of the event, "Israel Today" learned that at various yeshivas around the country, they began planning to arrive in Kiryat Arba Hebron.
It is not clear how they planned to settle in the place in light of the public call not to come to the place.
It should be noted that in a standard year, many of the young people live in tents and sometimes even on roofless lawns, and it is possible that they planned to do the same this year.
On the other hand, Kiryat Arba began planning drastic measures that would prevent young people and other visitors from reaching the settlement, including a voluntary closure.
In the past week, letters have been sent from the local council to the residents, urging them not to host visitors next Saturday, and actions have been taken with the authorities to close the entire settlement, and in particular the Cave of the Patriarchs, to outside visitors.
In response to "Israel Today"'s request, the head of the local council, Eliyahu Libman, confirmed that people who are not residents of Kiryat Arba will not be allowed to reach the area next weekend, in agreement with law enforcement agencies.
"We have a very heavy responsibility and therefore it was decided by the various factors and to maintain public health and prevent infection of outside guests from tightening the entrance area to the Cave of the Patriarchs on Shabbat Chai Sarah," he said.
"The responsibility of all of us is not only for Kiryat Arba Hebron only but for every place in the country, we do not want the grace and peace of the infection to be here but it will be distributed throughout the country.
"Kiryat Arba Hebron has been commissioning in recent weeks to eradicate the corona virus and with the help of the name we managed to make the council bright green, to keep the infection rates low we must impose a kind of closure on the cave area.
