In Their Own Words

Th e Gush Etzion Sto r y

Modern toric moment, writing in their Journal: But in November of 1947, the settlement of For us this day marks the end of one United Nations Partition Plan put the Judean period and the beginning of another – a Gush Etzion in Arab territory. Ever Hills began period of conquest and settlement… In hopeful, yet with dark foreboding, the in 1927 Kfar Etzion we shall be opening up a with the new and exceedingly difficult area for Migdal Eder founding of Jewish settlement. We shall have to ded- Migdal Eder by a icate all our spiritual and material group of Jews from Jerusalem, many of resources to strike sturdy roots in this Yemenite origin. Their intention was area… to establish a dairy farm and plant orchards, but the village was aban- By 1945, another farm community, doned and destroyed during the Arab Kibbutz Massuot Yitzchak, had also riots of 1929. The same fate befell the settled in the region. Two more early settlement of Kfar Etzion, groups joined the deter- The children of Kfar Etzion, 1948 founded in 1934, when Massuot Yitchak mined effort, kibbutz members began digging the Arabs rioted in one comprised trenches and building defense posi- 1936. Even as Europe of Israeli Bnei tions. The children and many of the darkened and commu- Akiva pioneers women were evacuated to Jerusalem. nities were annihilated and the other A letter from Kfar Etzion dated in the Holocaust, set- of Israeli January 5, 1948, attests to the impact tlers moved to Gush Hashomer of this move: Etzion, boldly taking Hatzair youth, The departure of the mothers and chil- on the harsh weather founding dren has left an aching void in the vil- conditions, rocky soil and Kibbutz Ein lage. …Kfar Etzion, humming with hostile Arab neighbors. Kfar Etzion Tsurim and Revadim respectively. By activity, thriving with its stone buildings, was reestablished in 1943. Trained in the fall of 1947, more than 400 Jewish its gardens, now has the appearance of a Poland as members of the Bnei Akiva residents lived on 2,500 acres of the fortified military camp. Religious Zionist movement, many of Etzion Bloc. There were ambitious A letter from Yoseph Damast of the founders were conscious of this his- plans for the future. Kfar Etzion to his wife in Jerusalem

38 JEWISH ACTION Winter 5760/1999 describes some of the urgent debate the battle subsided, the officer took me ed to bury the Tor ah scrolls to preve n t that went on when the Jewish Agency back to the village and demanded that I their violation. We dug a hole and wer e proposed to transfer the married men show him where the arms caches were. about to place the scrolls in it. Sud d e n l y to another settlement where they could When we passed by the doorway of the one of the members voiced his stron g reunite with their families and contin- shelter…he put a grenade in my hand, pr otest. He claimed that the pit must be ue life as civilians: pulled out the pin and ordered me to enlarged so that the scrolls could be …A nd now, my dear, a bit about poli- throw it into the shelter. I held the buried in the ark and thereb y be pre- tics. Discussions reg a r ding our future are grenade in my hand, for I was prepared se r ved. “Some day we will ret u r n to this taking place this entire week. At the gen- to kill myself rather than to obey this place!” he concluded with great faith… er al meeting two basic approaches wer e order. The officer took it from me and At half past seven that night, two Legion ex p r essed. The first favors the acceptance threw it into the shelter himself…(Aliza of fi cers arrived with their men… We of the proposal. Its supporters claim that Feuchtwanger) asked a Legion officer to permit us to take we should unite the families wherev er pos- Only four Jews survived. Kfar a Tor ah scroll with us and he consented. sible at a new site where the political and Etzion was looted and burned. The …The men and women are being economic future is more promising. Th e other three villages had no choice but taken to Chevron, the wounded to Beit second approach disapproves of the ver y to surrender to the Legion. Several Lechem… Tonight we shall no longer be discussion! Its proponents insist that as survivors wrote of the experience: here. So ends the chapter of Gush long as Kfar Etzion exists we must Massuot Yitzchak: May 14, 1948 Etzion. remain, and under no circumstances are In the early afternoon we wer e alone, we to consider evac u a t i o n … the only settlement remaining in the A particular oak tree, strong and Etzion Bloc. The settlers of Ein Tsu r i m imposing, had been the focal point of During the agonizing five and Rev adim had been taken off in an community activity when Gush Etzion months that followed, the outnum- un k n o wn direction… Hours passed and had bustled with the joys of building bered Gush Etzion defenders held out the Red Cross delegation had not come… and success. “The lone tree,” now in the belief that help would come. The sun was setting. Shabbat was captive in Arab territory, beckoned to Yet, on the day of the founding of the ap p r oaching. One of the members came its exiled children from afar. A mem- State of Israel, the well-equipped forces up and said that Shabbat pray ers would ber of the Revadim community wrote: of the Jordanian Legion directly be held in the open. It was hard for me For 19 years we looked longingly at attacked the kibbutzim; battles raged to attend a public service… I had not Gush Etzion from a distance. Annually, for three days. In the end, 151 on the date of the birthday of the kibbutz, Jewish defenders were killed, others we would take a trip to the Judean Hills. taken prisoner, and Gush Etzion From the heights of Bar Giora, Abu Gosh fell. Survivors’ accounts of the or Maale Hachamishah we could see the defeat attest to the heroism of the tree. It symbolized Gush Etzion for us, defenders. the place where our kibbutz was initially The last moments at Kfar Etzion: founded. We would look, relate stories May 13, 1948 and reminisce… After rebuffing successive attacks United by common memory and the entire morning, the Jewish loss, the children of Gush Etzion commander requested a cease-fire. remained in contact, meeting at special The defenders were assembled in summer camps and vowing that the the center of the village to hand over Etzion Bloc, 1948 day would come when they would return their weapons. home. When the Six Day War in 1967 A photographer dressed in European reconciled myself to the catastrophe that restored the region to Jewish hands, they clothes and wearing a white kaffiyeh had over whelmed us. The verses of the were the first to rush there. Yochanan came on the scene and photographed pra y ers seemed at odds with my pain and Ben Yaakov, a returning son, wrote: us… When the photographer had fin- so r r ow… But it was a religious duty, I wanted to visit immediately, to be ished, fire was suddenly opened upon us instilled in me since childhood and, there at Gush Etzion, but the area was from every direction. Most of the assem- putting aside my hesitation, I joined the still closed by the army. Entrance was bled members were hit… co n g r egation… Tears ran down my face restricted to soldiers on duty. I was still I jumped into a ditch near the and I felt that I was beginning to accept a soldier in uniform and my “duty” was school… It was an officer of the Legion what Fate had decreed. Together with the – to return home! Permission was grant- who saved me. He solemnly promised co n g r egation, I uttered: ‘To declare that ed to proceed. that he would do me no harm. When the Lord is righteous…’ We passed the familiar sites we had …The previous evening we had decid-

JEWISH ACTION Winter 5760/1999 39 I looked about — and tears of grief mingled with tears of joy. Prime Minister Levi Eshkol was peti- tioned to allow the resettlement of Kfar Etzion and after due consideration granted his consent with the blessing, “Children, you may return home.” Preparations were hastily concluded and on September 27, 1967, the grown chil- dren of Gush Etzion first visited the graves of their parents and promised to continue their work. Then a line of cars – led by the armored car that had evacuated them in 1948 – made its way through the Judean Hills and back to the site of Kfar Etzion. The “children” return, September 1967 It has now been more than 30 years since that day of return, and visitors can read about – Kever Rachel, Beit the fruit trees, the homes, the cultural readily see that the children of Etzion, Lechem…and then began the steep hall?… Nothing remained. Everything joined by many others, continue to climb to the beautiful hill country…. had been destroyed. restore the Land to its former glory. JA We arrived at the entrance of Gush I stood rooted to the ground. All that Etzion: the Russian Hill on the left, the I knew about Kfar Etzion was racing “lone tree” on the right and beyond through my mind. I had asked to visit, Adapted from “The Etzion Bloc in the Rocky Hill, Kfar Etzion! Where were and now found it impossible to leave as Hills of Judea” by Aryeh Routtenberg.

The Lone Tree

40 JEWISH ACTION Winter 5760/1999