Four week seminar in Shdema, Gush Etzion

From Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green) -

Dear Friends,

The first part of our Thursday-Friday four week seminar in Shdema, Gush Etzion, was, thank G-d, a huge success. Hundreds of participants from all over the country filled the rooms of the Land of Israel cultural and educational center in Shdema, hoping that, please G-d, we will soon be able to renovate the place and actually rebuild it.

The seminar started on Thursday, the 17th of Tammuz, with a very needed battle against the Arabs who had turned on huge loudspeakers at the bottom of the hill, blasting music from the illegally built compound, with the very clear intention to disturb our event at the top of the hill in Shdema.

Thanks to the intervention of members of Knesset of the National Union (Ichud Leumi), and from the Gush Etzion Local Council and thanks to the determination of the Committee for a Jewish Shdema who made it clear that the Arab's disturbances are not to be tolerated, the Arab use of the loudspeakers was put to a stop.

The spreading of the news of the increased audacity of the Arabs in Shdema had as a reaction that on Friday even more people showed up to participate in the Shdema seminar and thus be part in the struggle to keep Shdema in Jewish hands. Obviously one cannot sit by idly while the Arabs, funded by USAID and European organizations build an entire complex illegally at the bottom of our hill. Destruction orders of those buildings are given to the Arabs by the civil Administration, but never implemented.

On the other hand, we activists for a Jewish Shdema are not allowed to stay in Shdema for long periods, with the IDF and the Civil Administration checking each and every of our activities we do.

The time has come for the government and the Civil Administration to deal with the real lawbreakers and make sure not to abandon any part of Shdema into the hands of the Arab enemy.

We expect that in our next seminar that, please G-d, will take place in Shdema this coming Thursday-Friday, even more lovers of the land of Israel will attend and thus will pass on a clear message to the authorities: we demand Shdema to stay in Jewish hands!

Summary of the speakers: On Thursday, the 17th of Tammuz, we had the pleasure to listen to Arie Klein who said that one of the lessons we must learn from the 1929 pogrom in Hevron is that the Jews must never abandon the mountain ridge. The only way to protect those living on the coast is by having a large Jewish settlement in the mountains of Judea and Samaria.

Dr. Chaggi Ben Artzi spoke after him about the influence of King Herod's rule on the destruction of the Temple.

A moving prayer of Mincha was held with a Torah scroll that was brought from Kiryat Arba Hevron. After Maariv we broke the fast with a light meal and then watched the movie "The Katif dream" produced by Yuval and Aliza Ginzburg. Watching the movie rekindled in us the anger over the criminal expulsion of our brothers and sisters from Gush Katif and Northern Shomron. We also realized how naive our camp was at the time and now, four years later, fighting for Shdema and other places in the land of Israel, we vowed: never again will we allow such a crime to take place.

The next day, Friday, Dr. Gershon Bar Kochba fascinated over 200 people with his lecture on the Great Revolt.

In the Shdema main hall we held an exhibition of beautiful paintings by artist Michael Morgenstern of Psagot.

Next Thursday we will, please G-d, have lectures (in Hebrew) by Prof. Rafi Yisraeli on the Islamic danger and by Yoram Ettinger on the "Demographic demon" followed by a play "Waiting for the Rear Guard" based on a poem by Uri Tzvi Greenberg.

The public is invited to come enjoy a real Eretz Israel experience and simultaneously be part in the struggle for a Jewish Shdema.

The complete schedule of our seminar can be found on the Women in Green's Hebrew website: http://www.womeningreen.org.il/

Pictures by Rivka Ryback of our Thursday-Friday seminar and of the davening and of the exhibition, can be found by clicking on the following link:

http://www.yeshabulletin.com/FIGHT%20BACK/FightBack.htm
(click on the picture of the lecturers and you will enjoy seeing a gallery of pictures)

Shavua Tov,

The Committee for a Jewish Shdema & Women in Green
For details:
Nadia Matar 050-5500834
Yehudit Katzover 050-7161818
http://www.womeningreen.org/


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Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green)
POB 7352, Jerusalem 91072, Israel
Tel: 972-2-624-9887 Fax: 972-2-624-5380
mailto:wfit2@womeningreen.org
http://www.womeningreen.org/