Armed With A Bible

I took a Bible Tour today, davka, to Shiloh. It was more than just Shiloh. We went to Nebi Samuel. I have vague memories of going there a long time ago. There's a commanding view, and many Biblical scholars think it's the location of "Mitzpeh," which means, "Lookout," "Watch."










We spent a lot of time there. Then we went to Shiloh. I felt forced to correct the guide who kept referring to the route we were taking as "Derech Avot," the Patriarch's Path. I was getting very annoyed. The section of "Derech Avot" between Jerusalem and the northern end of Waadi Charamiya is judenrein, "cleansed of Jews." That includes the section of the road which goes to Beit El.

As part of Yitzchak Rabin's Oslo, he built new roads. We no longer have to are allowed to go on the road to the west of Beit El, past the Jelazoon refugee camp, Beit El and Ramaalla. Arabs only travel that road. They also travel the new road. There are no restrictions on Arabs.

The new road, OK, not all that new now, about thirteen years old, is well to the east and makes Ofra convenient and closes in Beit El, now the end of a dead end road.

The guide doesn't live in this area, so isn't sensitive to the problem with her "little white lie." Calling the new road by the old name is like what happened in the early years of the State of Israel. Suddenly the Land of Israel lost its importance and only the borders of the State of Israel became "holy." After the great victory of the 1967 Six Days War, many Israelis reacted to the liberation of our historic HomeLand with:

"Who need it? We have enough land without it."

And that's why we're in such a terrible state today.