Chanukah at Joseph's Tomb

December 18, 2009

Rabbi Moshe Goldsmith, mayor of Itamar, had the privilege of visiting the Tomb of Joseph together with the head of the Shomron regional council, Gershon Masikah. Since the desecration and burning down of the tomb, Jewish access to the holy site has been virtually put on halt. Once in a while permission is granted by the army to visit the grave site.


Lighting Chanukah Candles at Joseph's Tomb



Since Gershon was elected about a year ago, he has been working very hard to allow Am Yisrael to have free access to the holy place. Baruch Hashem he has succeeded in working out with the army more frequent visits. We hope this will lead to the opening up of the doors completely.

David Haivri, from the Shomron liaison office asked Rabbi Goldsmith to escort two newsmen into the holy site to report on the special experience of visiting with Joseph during Chanukah. Please enjoy the pictures of the Chanukah candles lighting of and of the army battalion commander that brought his son and family to visit the holy site as well!



Battalion Commander and his son!



A Chanukah Miracle

A Chanukah miracle occurred on Itamar when 200 goats of the Avri farm were stolen by three nearby villagers. The Itamar response team acted quickly and were able to catch up with the stolen flock and return it to its owner, Avri Ran. Unfortunately, the criminals got away but thank G-D no one was hurt.

Triplets Born To Boaz Shabo - Terrorist Victim Now Rejoices!

October 16, 2009



Itamar wishes a big Mazal Tov to Boaz Shabo on the birth of triplets (a girl and two boys) on Succoth!

Boaz was one of the founders of Itamar and suffered the terrible tragedy of losing his wife and three of his 7 children at the hand of terrorists on Itamar. (See Link to his story)

The miracle is that G-D blessed him with three new precious souls! Boaz already gave a name to his daughter Yahil Simchah (Simcha named after Boaz's mother who recently passed away and Yahil referring to light.

After the terrible darkness Boaz has now been blessed with light. The two boys don't have names yet since their circumcision has been put off until they get a little bigger. In the name of the community of Itamar we wish Boaz and his family only happiness and success with a lot of nachat from his children.

Please enjoy the picture of Boaz wearing on his arm the three bracelets of his new born babies.

Joseph'Tomb

October 5, 2009

A few days ago the people of Itamar had the privilege of saying Selichot at the Tomb of Joseph which unfortunately still remains desecrated after the Arab riots that burnt it to the ground nine years ago. Four busses were allowed to enter the holy site in the early hours of the morning under heavy army protection.

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Rabbi Moshe Praying At Joseph's Tomb

Israeli Soldiers Worshipping and Guarding

A Miracle In Itamar

Bullet Hole

July 10, 2009

The Goldsmith family held a special thanks giving meal on Wednesday night after experiencing a miracle that occurred in their home that same morning. Here is the amazing story! Their daughter Achishena was sleeping in her bed in the late morning hours while the Israeli army was training in the shooting range about a kilometer and a half away right below Itamar. The unusual thing was that the army was practicing with heavy machine guns as opposed to the normal routine of using light weapons like m-16 rifles etc.

A stray bullet from a FN MAG 58 7.62 mm (a Belgium weapon used by the Israeli army) penetrated the exterior wall of Achishena's bedroom on a direct course towards her. The miracle was that the bullet hit the chest of drawers near the wall upon entry and was deflected slightly higher and skipped over her head and went into the book case on the other side of the room. Achishena remained sleeping throughout the whole incident and later woke up without noticing what had happened.

At around one o'clock, when her older sister Merav came to the room, she started to yell "who made a hole my wall". Leah came and called Rabbi Moshe Goldsmith who was in the Itamar office at the time to come home quickly. She yelled "someone opened fire on the house!" The Rabbi came running home together with the head of Itamar security and discovered the amazing miracle that had occurred.

The army and police were called in and took pictures of the event. Later on the head of the Shomron Brigade came personally together with other army personal to apologize for the terrible accident. That evening, Rabbi Mayor Moshe and Leah Goldsmith decided to make a special meal to
thank Hashem for the miracle that happened to their daughter.