Editor: Batsheva Pomerantz The background to the Biriya ascent were the restrictions imposed on Jewish immigration and the purchase of land during the British Mandate, as promulgated in its official White Books. The last White Book of 1939 limited the quota of Jews to 75,000 over a five-year period, preventing more Jews from immigrating during the Holocaust. When the war ended, many Jewish refugees wanting to start a new life in a place they could call home were barred entry. The yishuv fought the British in different ways including armed struggle, illegal immigration ("ha'apala") and settlement. The Mizrahi movement founded the settlement of Biriya in 1945. It was also a stronghold of the Hagana. In 1946, upon discovering a cache of arms, the British attacked Biriya, destroyed its structures, and sent its settlers to Acre Prison. Aryeh Kroll, of Kibbutz Sa'ad, was one of the pioneers who rebuilt Biriya as a Bnei Akiva leader. Kroll recounts the sequence of events: "It was the first time that the British destroyed a Jewish place. In response to this, 5,000 young people came from all over to ascend Biriya on the 11th of Adar under cover of going to nearby Tel Chai to commemorate the Tel Chai battle (in March 1920). They built huts, which the British destroyed. This again happened a second time. I went up the third time with nineteen others, and we finally succeeded". Kroll stayed for a year, and shortly after this and other developments, the British left the country for good. Kroll was an Israel Prize recipient in 1999 for his work with the Jews behind the Iron Curtain. Discovering their plight in 1965 while visiting his sisters in his native Russia, he realized that the Jews still had a spark of Yiddishkeit, despite the oppressive regime. He risked his life in secret missions in order to keep up this interest. For over 20 years Kroll coordinated and sent youth missions to encourage activities among the Soviet Jews. Many Jews were inspired and eventually came on Aliyah. Kroll continued with the klita of these Jews, and today coordinates World Bnei Akiva and Kibbutz haDati activities in the FSU. Regarding the North American Jews, Kroll
says: "We have a problem, and encouraging Aliyah should be done with a
Zionist education at home. Education is the key against assimilation. If G-d
forbid, there would be a situation that masses of American Jews would have
to come to Israel, there would be a problem because of the high assmilation
rate. Today, it is a great miracle that some 2,000 American Jews come on
Aliyah every year!" Tourists on missions of synagogues,
universities, birthright and Bar/Bat Mitzva groups participate in this
project by bringing in some of the items and preparing the packages at
Jerusalem's Livnot U'Lehebanot campus. For more information:
www.apackagefromhome.org • tel: (02) 623-2548, fax: 02-623-2667 • email:
emess@netvision.net.il The diverse "Only in Israel" experiences
presented here by Dr. David Rosen of Har Nof, Jerusalem have anchored his
commitment to Israel. These are but a few vignettes that well up our eyes, yet curiously anchor our Aliyah. Life is precarious everywhere, but here it is LIVED. The Lebanon War, my first personal encounter with "grown-up" fear, shortly after arrival, was my crucible of commitment. The purifying fire we call "Israel" did not consume, on the contrary, it is the medium that fuels rich experiences and molds true friendships. My first job here was in a precision machine shop; "who would have imagined" the joy of having my first piece scrutinized, then accepted with words the "Yashar Koach!" (Well Done!). Another of those first year jobs was to beat the calendar and plant some 2000 vine saplings before TU b'Av, the new counting of the "Orlah", first fruits year. The verdant vineyard can be seen today immediately east of the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway minutes after one transits the Kibbutz Sha'alvim road overpass and meets up with the Trans Israel Highway. A pat on the back from an officer, a good 12 years my junior, when told to guard this precious patch of Jewish Homeland, is yet another forging of our steadfastness. With our Aliyah going on eighteen years -- it certainly has been a L'Chayim. "Life happens when you're busy making plans", rings here: Air raid sirens of the first Gulf War and the toddler children knowing, instinctively, to crawl into their gas protection cribs. The prayers and anguish after fanatic homicidal bus attacks. The joyous bracha on affixing a Mezuzah
in our home -- Jerusalem -- the focus of longing of our people for 2000
years. Four mornings a week we bicycle to work through the pine woods of the
JNF planted Jerusalem Forest. Meeting joggers and morning exercisers, who
range from acquaintances of past university days in Boston, to the honorable
Speaker of the Knesset, is the norm. As we pass, a quick exchange: "Shalom,
Shalom" says it all. We have our language, we again have our country, we
have assumed our destiny in Zion and G-d bestows His blessings. The neighborhood is built on what was the village of Deir Yassin before the War of Independence. Deir Yassin was used as a base of operations by Arabs against nearby Jewish neighborhoods. Members of the Lehi and Etzel underground movements attacked the village on April 9, 1948. In the battle, many villagers were killed. Since then, Arab propaganda has claimed that the events of Deir Yassin were a premeditated massacre. Lehi and Etzel have always said they did the maximum possible to prevent civilian casualties. In Talmudic times, Har Nof was an agricultural area serving the city of Jerusalem. Within the neighborhood are remains of ancient wine presses as well as a farmhouse built over 1500 years ago. At the edge of the neighborhood are remains of ancient farming terraces, similar to those built by our ancestors of the Tribe of Yehuda who settled the area at the time of Yehoshua bin Nun. Har Nof is exclusively a religious neighborhood. Predominantly Haredi, it has a vibrant Dati Leumi community as well. As a religious neighborhood, Har Nof is blessed with many yeshivot, both for Israeli and foreign students, as well as an abundance of shuls and chessed organizations. The Jerusalem Forest surrounds Har Nof on
three sides. The Committee for Quality of Life actively works to preserve a
suitable balance between preserving the greenbelt and developing the
neighborhood. The name Har Nof translates as "mountain view", and visitors
to the neighborhood will see that it has earned its name. Among the projects of Aloh Na'aleh, are... the weekly feature in Torah Tidbits - CHIZUK and IDUD, Divrei Torah on the weekly Torah reading, submitted by a different writer each week. Each D'var Torah focuses on some aspect of the significance of Eretz Yisrael. and... Chosen People to the Chosen Land, the monthly (appears in the Shabbat M'vorchim issue of TT) 4-pager edited by Batsheva Pomerantz. [The Parshat
Vayaqhel-P'kudei Homepage]
|
