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.