The "Harchivi Mekom Aholech" organization, which has operated in Hebron for over 18 years, engages in what's known locally as "redeeming homes" – purchasing Arab buildings with full cash payment, transferring them to Jewish ownership, and revitalizing the Jewish fabric of the city.

"Our goal is to make Hebron Jewish," said Miriam Fleishman, the organization's director, with a smile that doesn't hide the determination. "We're not ashamed of it. Hebron is the city of the patriarchs. There was always a Jewish ember there; now we're expanding it."

According to Fleishman, recent months have brought dramatic change on the ground. "Since the war broke out, we receive at least five inquiries per month from Arabs who want to sell their homes and leave for Europe," she said. "They saw what happened in Gaza and are doing soul-searching. We know how to help them. Sometimes we literally smuggle them to Europe after the purchase."

It turns out that this isn't a simple matter – each building purchase costs millions of shekels and includes not only the purchase of the structure itself, but also full assistance with the emigration of the selling family. The organization doesn't receive government money and relies primarily on donations "from Jews only," Fleishman stressed, "and a few ideological investors willing to risk their money for the city."

The first stage of the process is actually intelligence work. "We have people from elite units, Arabic speakers with all the nuances," Fleishman said. "They know how to identify who really wants to sell. After that, the legal department springs into action and checks real ownership, so we don't fall for imposters. And then comes the stage of military approvals, forming families who will live in the building, and lots more bureaucracy."

To date, the organization has successfully acquired eight buildings, with several more already at an advanced stage of development. Fleishman described real climate change. "Since Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich took office, the atmosphere on the ground has been more positive," she said. "Even in the military, they say when Jews live in the neighborhoods, security improves; it doesn't get complicated."

Aryeh Gottlieb, a city resident, described a rare sense of satisfaction. "We're 40 meters from the Cave. Give me the most luxurious villa in Savyon, I'm not leaving," he said. "Every coffee I drink in Hebron is a commandment of settling the land. It's not like drinking coffee in a cafe."

According to him, security forces also understand the contribution. "They told us we think they're protecting us, but actually we're protecting them," he said. "Our very presence helps."

Tzviya Ben Shai, a third-generation Hebron resident, has returned to live in the city after being away for more than 50 years. "I always wanted to be close to the Cave. This is the most suitable place for me," she said. "Today it feels like a neighborhood, people walk on foot, enter, and exit. There's movement, there's life. In another year, there will be a real city here."

Fleishman summed up with a sharp message. "We need to be in the Arab cities themselves, not just around them. Settlement around them is important, but holding the heart of the cities is critical," she said. "'Harchivi Mekom Aholech,' translates to "expand our place, I will go," isn't just a slogan. It's a mission. And we call on the public, whoever wants to see a Jewish Hebron, they should know – this is in our hands, and it depends on money."

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2.
In the twelfth century, Rabbi Judah Halevi asked with emotion: "Zion, will you not ask after the welfare of your captives, your seekers of peace who are the remnant of your flocks? And later, he longed to wander through "the places where God appeared to your prophets and messengers." In his imagination he reached Hebron and the resting place of the great founders of the nation: "Even as I stand upon the graves of my forefathers, I am struck silent in Hebron before your choicest tombs."

When Moses sent spies to scout the land of Israel, the only place they knew from the stories was Hebron and within it the Cave of the Patriarchs: "They went up and scouted the land... they went up through the Negev and came to Hebron" (Numbers 13:21–22).

Two of them withstood social pressure and clung to the truth against the ten who slandered the land. One was Caleb son of Jephunneh, who after the entry into the land conquered Hebron and made it the capital of the tribe of Judah. Years later, the reign of King David began in Hebron, and from there, it spread across the land and history, until it reached Jerusalem.

3.
The negotiations  between Abraham and Hittites described in the Torah echo well-known conventions of the ancient Near East and Hittite documents, yet they contain a unique innovation. Abraham says to the Hittites: "I am a resident alien among you. Grant me a burial holding among you so that I may bury my dead before me" (Genesis 23:4).

A resident alien was someone who arrived from another country and settled in a place, typically with the consent of the local landowners. His residence was considered temporary and he lacked rights to acquire land permanently, certainly not for a family burial estate.

Rabbi David ben Amram al Adani, author of the Midrash Hagadol (Yemen, mid-14th century), writes: "Come and see the humility of our father Abraham. The Holy One blessed be He promised to give him and his descendants the land forever, yet now he found no burial place except by paying money, and he did not question the ways of God or protest. Moreover, he spoke to the inhabitants of the land only with humility, as it says, a resident alien. God said to him: Because you lowered yourself, I swear I will make you a lord and leader over them."

It is a timely message: faith is measured in historical patience regarding the gap between what is hoped for and what is present, both personally and nationally. Many times, we protest political or military decisions that appear weak, only to discover later that they were part of broader stroke, whose value becomes clear with time.

4.
The Hittites offer Abraham their choicest burial sites as a gift, but he insists on purchasing one. A gift can be regretted, if not now then in future generations. So what of the prohibition on selling land to foreigners? The solution comes through a legal workaround: the place is given as a gift for which one pays a tremendous price. "Abraham weighed out to Ephron the silver he had spoken of before the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver of the accepted weight. And the field of Ephron in Machpelah, facing Mamre, was established as Abraham's property in the presence of the Hittites and of all who entered the gate of his city") Genesis 23:16–18(. And today we may add: before all of humanity.

The cave held within it the fathers and mothers of the nation, like seeds planted in the earth that sprouted not as words in books but as living reality. A central symbol weaving through the Book of Genesis is the womb. The Garden of Eden appears as a cosmic womb containing the embryo of humanity in the form of Adam and Eve. Noah's Ark is a human-made womb that also holds humanity in its embryonic state. Then comes the cave to which Lot and his daughters fled, where Moab was born, from whom came Ruth, the ancestral mother of King David. And now the Cave of Machpelah. And what is the cave if not a womb holding the memory of the nation until its rebirth?

5.
In many myths and folktales we meet a hero who sets out in search of a treasure hidden in a cave. This reflects a quest for the treasure that the psychoanalyst Carl Jung called the self, the deep core of our being beneath disguises and masks. Jung distinguished the self from the ego, which is only the center of consciousness, while the self is the whole personality toward which we grow.

Guardians protect the treasure: a dragon, a serpent, a monster. They symbolize the binding force of the Great Mother, a figure whose dominance can overwhelm us and prevent the development of an independent self. Overcoming the dragon represents the triumph of the emerging self over the old ego, shedding the masks and emotional chains that imprison us. It is the release from the heavy shadow of our parents. After a painful and demanding process, the hero gains his essence and independent identity and is reborn in the cave. This is true both personally and nationally.

"Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening, and he lifted his eyes... and Rebekah lifted her eyes, saw Isaac and fell from the camel... and she took the veil and covered herself" (Genesis 24:63–65). Isaac goes out to pour out his soul in the field of Machpelah. He had mourned his mother for three years, her only son, visiting her grave throughout that time. Even now he enters the cave where his mother lies, a place where his self is bound to her memory. Something within him is stuck. The Abrahamic movement of lech lecha has frozen. Isaac stops laughing.

Did Abraham see this paralysis in his son? Perhaps that is why he sent his servant to find a wife for Isaac, to release him from the paralyzing memory and help him build an independent life. And so, Isaac emerges from the cave with eyes blurred by tears and longing. Then Rebekah approaches him, and the hope of the house of Abraham is reborn, the hope of thousand years: "Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother. He married Rebekah, she became his wife and he loved her, and Isaac was comforted after his mother" (Genesis 24:67). And with him, we too are comforted.

6.
Judah Halevi ends his poem of longing for Zion: "Happy is he who waits and arrives and sees the radiance of your dawn, whose mornings break forth upon him, who sees the goodness of your chosen ones and rejoices in your joy when you return to the days of your youth."

Here is a great Jew who lived nearly a millennium ago and expressed the essence of Zionism: the Jewish people return home to their father and mother. Once our first father was a resident alien here, but then our mother Sarah, the first Hebrew woman, died. Abraham purchased a burial estate, and from it began our permanent settlement. We returned not because our ancestors are buried here, but because they lived here, because these were "the days of Sarah's life", because here they created and founded a nation with an eternal message.

As I write these words, my eyes are filled with harsh videos of the wave of antisemitism sweeping the Jewish world. These verses are more relevant than ever: our brothers and sisters, come home. This is your place.

And not only in his poems. Judah Halevi ended his great philosophical work, the Kuzari, with a Zionist call as well, in the classic translation of Judah ibn Tibbon: "For Jerusalem will truly be rebuilt when the people of Israel long for her with the utmost longing, until they cherish her very stone and dust."

Will we listen?

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This marks the first major change to the site's governance since the 1994 Shamgar Committee recommendations, and reflects a long-standing Israeli desire to improve infrastructure and accessibility for Jewish worshippers. Chief among the proposed renovations are the construction of a permanent roof over the "Jacob's Courtyard", where Jewish prayers are held nearly year-round, and the installation of an advanced fire safety system. These plans have long been delayed due to Palestinian opposition, despite the safety concerns involved. For example, in emergencies, access to security camera footage required coordination with the Islamic Waqf, which until now had controlled the site.

At a pivotal meeting on Monday led by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and following months of preparation by the Civil Administration, a legal obstacle blocking the transfer of authority was resolved. As a result, control of the site has now officially shifted from the Hebron Municipality and the Civil Administration to the Kiryat Arba-Hebron Religious Council.

Shai Glick, CEO of the human rights organization B'Tsalmo, which has long advocated for the change, welcomed the decision. "The Cave of the Patriarchs is registered in the Book of Genesis as belonging to the Jewish people," Glick said. "For too long, due to a misguided decision by Moshe Dayan, the site was managed by the Waqf and military authorities. This move finally restores dignity and sovereignty. After making the site accessible to the disabled, it's time for it to be properly covered, air-conditioned, and upgraded with restrooms and other facilities."

Some of these changes are already underway. On Sunday, restrooms were opened on-site, a long-standing request from Jewish residents and visitors that had been blocked by Palestinian objections to any changes at the location. With hundreds of thousands of people visiting the cave annually, the facilities are expected to significantly improve the experience for worshippers, who previously had to walk long distances to access bathrooms.

The Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) confirmed: "In accordance with directives and approval from the authorized political echelon, staff work is currently underway. The plan is in advanced stages and aims to provide shade in the courtyard area for the benefit of all worshippers."

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Amiram Goldblum, the Hans J. and Tilly Weil Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the university's School of Pharmacy, uploaded a post to his personal Facebook page on Monday in which he stated: "They are hiding the truth from you because of the elections – the virus has been spreading rapidly in Israel since a group of Koreans visited the Cave of the Patriarchs. In Italy towns and cities are being quarantined to prevent the spread of the virus. In Israel, we need to quarantine [haredi towns] Elad and Bnei Brak and Modi'in Illit and Betar Illit and Netivot and Beit Shemesh, as well as large neighborhoods in Ashdod and Jerusalem."

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In another post, which he then deleted, Goldblum wrote: "A list of the sites they [the Korean tourists] visited is available in the press … they brought the virus to the Cave of the Patriarchs and from there – through mezuza-kissing Jews – it reached many synagogues throughout Israel and religious and haredi neighborhoods. Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Ashdod, Bnei Brak, Betar Illit, Modi'in Illit, and more."

The Hebrew University issued a strong condemnation of Goldblum's posts, saying that "Amiram Goldblum's disgraceful, racist comments do not reflect the position of the administration of the Hebrew University, or the position of the Hebrew University community, who are working day and night for a diverse society."

The Hebrew University student body includes many members of haredi community.

The university's statement continued: "Thanks to the Hebrew University's commitment to haredi students, we have become the leading university institution in Israel, in the acceptance of haredi students for BA, MA, and doctoral degrees."

According to Goldblum, anyone who wants to say safe will "stay away from mezuzut, not wrap tefillin provided to the public, stay away from public places in religious and haredi neighborhoods for the near future. Until we see that the virus has been eradicated in Israel, it is best to stay out of synagogues, community centers, wedding venues, polling places located in schools, and other public places! Demand that the Interior Ministry provide a polling station in a safe place."

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A Palestinian woman approached a security checkpoint at the site and pulled out a knife, then proceeded to try and stab one of the Border Police officers on duty.

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Security forces acted quickly and fired at the attacker, who was critically wounded.

None of the Border Police involved in the incident were injured.

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