Avraham Fried and MBD were scheduled to visit Kever Yosef...

I went last night to Kever Yosef. They opened it up for Jewish access on the night of the "ushpizin" of Yosef HaTzaddik, and my boys wanted to go, so off we went.

The experience was a little different this time. We were there early - our bus was in the first wave of buses rather than in a later wave. It meant less pressure. There were 8 buses in our wave, meaning about 400 people. They had put up a mechitza in the room of the kever, with women entering from one side and men from the other, and maybe that also contributed to the experience - less pushing and squeezing in. There was also a sukka behind the mausoleum, and when I went to grab a bite and get a drink, Rav Rafi Peretz, the Chief Rabbi of the IDF, had just come in to the sukka and started speaking - see my video below....

Another aspect of how the experience was different, they did not rush us. They usually move people in and out quickly. They give each wave about 20-30 minutes and then they start sending people back to the buses. This time they gave us 45 minutes before sending us back.

Thee was also less food than usual, maybe because of the limited space of a small sukka to eat it in...

pictures after the video..

Last night I was fortunate to join a couple thousand other people who got permission to pay a visit to the kever of Yosef HaTzaddik. Last nights visit is the traditional visit during sefirat ha'Omer on the 41st day. The day is associated with the kabbalistic count of Yesod she'b'Yesod, and that is associated with Yosef. I have no idea what any of that means, but that is what it is. So, in addition to the various other times of the year groups are allowed in to visit the kever of Yosef, the 41st day of the Omer is always one of those days.

I took 3 of my boys along, and it was fairly easy this time. There was a bus approved to go from Bet Shemesh, so at 11:00 PM we went to the meeting spot in Bet Shemesh, and got on the bus with everyone else..

There was a very high percentage of Breslavers, and they always seem to have a lot of energy. The way they were energetic in the middle of the night on the bus makes me wonder what a flight to Uman before Rosh Hashana might look like...




The bus went out to the staging grounds at the Tapuach Junction. This is right where the young father of 5 was killed last week. We had to wait there for the various cycles of buses to be routed in groups. It took a bit longer than expected.. While waiting at the Tapuach Junction, people milled about, smoked their joints (I watched a small group roll their joints) and cigarettes, danced and sang Breslav songs...



When getting back on the bus to finish the last 15 minutes of the ride out to Shchem, many more people were there trying to get onto buses. The police and army do not allow people to be standing on the bullet-proof buses. Everyone must have a seat. That means, nobody else can jump onto the bus, as all the buses come to Tapuach already full. Yet a lot of people somehow are at Tapuach trying to get spots on the buses. Maybe they come from yishuvim in the area or maybe they hitched rides to Tapuach from other areas. They all pile onto the buses and there ends up being  a lot of fighting because they cause further delays as the police/army do not allow the buses to continue with all these extra people on board. These [mostly] young men are very creative in finding ways to hide themselves, either laying under the feet of passengers with seats or, as you can see in these pictures, climbing into the back section of the bus which is closed off by a curtain (I dont know if that is a space for the engine or just storage). The police removed some extra people, but some people got away with it.


We finally arrived, somewhere around 3 am.




There was a massive crush of people going into the small room with the kever. I got in with my younger son, but the pushing was so bad I was worried he would get crushed so we quickly fought our way out and davened in the areas around the complex rather than right in. This is a view from the outside via a window to inside the room with the kever.



There was a kallah in her wedding dress davening at Kever Yosef. I assume it was after the wedding, but I did not ask her. if it was the night before the wedding I do not know why she would have been wearing her wedding dress...


They always serve free refreshments... this was the cholent and kugel being distributed. There was also a table of pastries. Drinks seemed to have been finished by the time we got there...

They only give each cycle of buses about a half an hour to be there and daven. They need to cycle through all the groups of buses and have everyone out by daybreak....

The army did a pretty good job. I remember times when things were so inefficient and unorganized and everything was a big balagan. Things are much better now, even if it takes a lot of time to get it all done with..

They said the next trip will be on Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, supposedly the yahrtzeit of Yosef, and they expect to have 2 buses from Bet Shemesh. I don't know if I will be on that trip, but contact me if you want the number of the local organizer...

From the local email list...

Bezrat HaShem there will be an IDF authorized and escorted bus going from Beit Shemesh to Kever Yosef HaTzadik on Monday night, the19th of Tishrei (17/10/2011).

The bus will leave from BMTL (Asher corner of Reuven) at 23:00 and will return at approximately 3:45 am.
The cost is 60 shekels per seat and seats are available on a first come first served basis.
To order please contactdan at dan@zomet.org or 0524-295-294

Quote Of The Day

Kever Yosef has been desecrated for the 9th time by Arab rioters. I request the President of Israel to show that he is also the president of the Jews, to go to the place and to cry out against the desecration of a holy-site of Israel, just as he did this week in the village of Tuva Zangaria.

  --- MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari

Last night there was an approved entry into Kever Yosef, the complex of Joseph's Tomb, in Shchem. News reports are saying more than 2000 people went in. The guy running our bus told me that he thought 24 buses had been approved.

Today, the 8th of Tishrei, is the 11th anniversary of Israel abandoning Joseph's Tomb to Palestinian rioters.

I have not been to Kever Yosef in a few years. It has been very difficult to get on the list of entry, and the one time they recently included me, they only called me at the last minute and I was not able to go. This trip was unusual in the sense that somebody local to Bet Shemesh got approval to bring in a bus directly from bet Shemesh. he is connected to the Shechem1 organization, that arranges these entries, and they were willing to work with him.

He filled up the bus pretty quickly, and there were even people waiting to see if someone would not show up. he hopes that next time he will be allotted two buses. They expect another entry during Chol HaMoed Sukkos.

One thing that clearly defines these excursions to Kever Yosef is the waiting. There is a lot of waiting. the bus is uncomfortable, as it is a bullet-proof bus. We waited to leave, we waited at various army checkposts. There is a lot of waiting. It took us about 3 hours to get there - we were supposed to leave at 10 PM, and we got on the bus then, and only arrived at Kever Yosef at a bit after 1 AM. The way back was much quicker - just over an hour.

The organizer of our bus spoke while en route. he had learned in the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva and spent much time by the kever. he described what it was like back then. After that, Rav Rosen spoke about Kever Yosef through history and with biblical sources.

Getting there was an exciting experience. i have always liked to go to Kever Yosef, and have gone a number of times. I think the adventure is a large part of it, and the rarity of it being accessible. In the past, since I have not been there the past few years, I was used to seeing the complex in disrepair, in ruin, The dome at the top was always broken, the building was full of soot, the grave itself was a pile of rocks from the destroyed tombstone. As well, the organization was always a bit lacking, you kind of just went, pushed your way forward and moved along.

Last night, the place was clean, repainted, the dome was complete, the tombstone was rebuilt and covered. I know the news is reporting that there were swastikas graffiti'ed but I did not see them and the pictures they show seem like it was not very noticeable.

The organization was also much improved. There were ushers, they scheduled who could go in when, and everything flowed. Our convoy of buses was the first of the night and each convoy was being allotted 30 minutes in the complex. The women went in to the kever area first for 15 minutes while the men said selichos or tehillim in the area where the Beis Medrash of the old Od Yosef Chai yeshiva was. And then the men went in for 15 minutes.

They had refreshments as well, but none of the famous cholent or kugel as in previous excursions. Just danishes and drinks.

By the kever as well we continued saying selichos along with personal prayers. It was a very uplifting experience to be there right before Yom Kippur, at a very "prayer high" point of the year. And all types of Jews were there together - not religious, religious, haredi, dati leumi, hassidic, men, women and children, police and soldiers were davening as well. There was a woman there who "bentched gomel". It was really an experience of klal yisrael together.

Buried Treasure: Kever Yosef

The people of Itamar are in a very unusual situation right now. Because of the grisly murder of the Fogel family, there is an outpouring of sympathy towards the people of Itamar. It also helps that they have responded so responsibly, for lack of a better word, and have not made calls for revenge, they have avoided the "price tag" policy of retribution that is fairly common among other similar yishuvim, but have showed a tremendous level of faith and commitment. Right now, they can ask for whatever they want, and Israel will rush to try to help with a sympathetic ear.

2 examples:
1. It turns out that the yishuv of Itamar has never received its final approval signature as a legal yishuv with construction approval, despite its being built by the government and in existence for 27 years! (source: Srugim)

During the shiva, with the rush of MKs visiting the shiva house, this was discussed, and many MKs were receptive and insistent on this being taken care of immediately. The final signature has to be given by the Defense Minister, because it is in the West Bank, and for some reason, no DM has granted his signature. This is actually why many of the yishuvim have illegal status, despite having been constructed and promoted for many years by the government - because of a technical situation of one signature being withheld.

2. A couple that was due to get married last night, in the yishuv, decided that they wanted to get married in Kever Yosef.

That is not an easy request to fulfill. Kever Yosef is a hot situation, and it requires a lot of coordination between the PA and the IDF. Until recently, visits to Kever Yosef were only approved very sparingly, though in the past half year it seems to have opened up a bit more.


So they made the request to move the wedding to Kever Yosef, and immediately all issues were resolved, and it was approved. They say it was the first wedding to take place in Kever Yosef in Shchem. The wedding took place, with a band, rabbis, and hundreds of guests, in the kever complex. (source: Srugim and Haaretz)

There is nothing like a visit to Kever Yosef to strengthen one's emuna - faith - that Eretz Yisrael belongs to the people of Israel. Kever Yosef is one of the places that even the other nations cannot say to us that we stole the land, as Kever Yosef was bought and paid for at full value.
The visits to holy sites are very emotional - unfortunately, we have lost some of them. We must take lessons from the past that after showing weakness brought us to losing control over important sites that are the root of the existence of the Jewish Nation. I pray that our return to [Kever Yosef] will be complete, and that every Jew will be able to come here to the holy sites and pray freely, and to other sites that we lost as well..

  -- Minister of Environment Gilad Erdan

See Srugim for quotes of what other officials said when they went together to visit Kever Yosef.

I was going to write up a detailed review of my trip to Kever Yosef, but I think the video speaks for itself, and there is little more I can add.

I will just make a couple of minor points.

1. It was a lot of work to get on the approved list to get on the bus for Kever Yosef. I had not been there in a few years, some trips were canceled at the last minute, some I could not get on, some I only found out about too late, and it was worth it.
2. They have gotten much more organized, and hopefully will have trips arranged and approved more frequently.
3. It is amazing how people are so dedicated to going, that they go out in the middle of the night to a far flung corner of Israel, with no definite forms of transportation, just on the off chance that there will be an extra space on a bus for them. There were hundreds of people who could not get on the buses but were there at various intersections on the way to Shchem, even at the entrance to Shchem itself, just on the off chance that they might be able to get on a bus.
4. I don't know what some people were thinking. These Yeshiva guys were trying to hitch from the middle of the Shomron at 4 in the morning back to Jerusalem. It was not one or two guys, who might successfully stop a passing car and get a ride. It was tens of guys at various intersections. When they left Jerusalem, they obviously had no plan how they were going to get back. How many cars dd they think would be on these roads at 4 in the morning? or did they think they would be the only ones trying to hitch a ride?
5. Kever Yosef has been cleaned up a lot since my last visit. Then the building was destroyed and painted with graffiti. The walls were covered with soot from the multiple fires started by the Arabs. Now the walls were clean, the graffiti was gone for the most part, the site was fairly clean, and it was orderly. Sure, the grave is still a pile of rubble and the roof is still destroyed, but overall it is much better taken care of now.
6. The two main groups of people there were "Settlers" and Breslavers. But there were also a lot of regular Yeshiva guys, some women, a few people who looked like they might be not religious, some other random people.
   
7. As you can see in the video, at some point in the davening, the Breslavers just start screaming with no words. Once a couple had started, everyone joined in. I had no idea what it meant or why they do it. Someone explained to me that he thinks they do it because Rebbe Nachman writes about a type of crying out to Hashem that is without words and it is more powerful and can achieve what regular prayer sometimes cannot. I will not suggest I understand that, so if anybody wants to explain, or give a different explanation of the screaming, please do so.

and here is the video again:

no time to write it up yet. For now, enjoy the video. Write-up will come later.

A few days ago, the IDF gave permission to a small group of people to go in to Shchem to daven at Kever Yosef. A YNET reporter joined the group to document the trip....

the following is a video posted on the Yesha Shelanu website that has been making the rounds. It is a video of some Breslavers sneaking into Shchem in the middle of the night to pray by Kever Yosef.

צילום אתר יש"ע שלנו

I am against this.

They think that if they go in quietly, in the middle of the night, without permission but without making a big fuss, they will be safe.

They are putting their own lives in danger, and worse, they are putting the lives of the soldiers in danger. The soldiers often have to go in and extract them from dangerous places and situations. They get lost on the way in, or on the way out. The locals hear them, see them, find out about them.

Shchem is a dangerous place. To go in there on your own without IDF security is very dangerous and foolhardy.

I will add, I think the government should change its policy. They should give us free access, all the time, whenever we want, to go to Shchem and Joseph's Tomb safely, as is stipulated in the Oslo Accords that were agreed upon by none other than Yasser Arafat himself. We should not be only allowed to go to Joseph's Tomb in the middle of the night 3 times a year and only with IDF accompaniment. It should be open to us all the time.

but until that happens, until our government stands up for what is ours, and for what is dear to us, until the government insists the PA keep its side of agreements they signed, these people who sneak in in the middle of the night on their own are crazy and they are risking too much of other people's lives.

Jameel got in on a top secret trip Sunday night to Kever Yosef. I tried every way possible to get in other than going and fighting with hundreds of others to try to get onto a bus. I could not find a way on. So I missed what looks like an amazing trip... Jameel posted a video with images of the trip and a review....

I am calling last nights events an adventure, rather than a tour/tiyul. The reason is because it was hardly a tour but very much an adventure.

During the day I found out that the trip to Kever Yosef, located in Shchem, a.k.a. Nablus, was going to be happening (thanks R'CZM).

According to the info, it was going to be happening with or without army permission. The army has not given permission to enter Joseph's Tomb in Nablus in a few years.

This day is considered special and uniquely associated with Yosef. The 41st day of the Omer is called Y'Sod She'b'ysod and somehow that relates to Yosef. Also, the date of his death is unknown but historically has been associated with the 41st day of the Omer. There has always been pilgrimages to pray at his gravesite on this day and until about 3 years ago the army would give permission to go in during the night and pray on this special day. I have been to Joseph's Tomb about 6 or 7 times in the past. I do not know what changed, but about 3 years ago the army stopped giving permission for this trip.

The people, and some politicians, were putting a lot of pressure on the army to give the ishurim for the trip. There were well over a thousand people who registered for the trip which was only announced a number of hours prior to the trip and spread by word of mouth. A thousand registered. Even more came at the last minute, when they heard about it but it was too late to register. As of 8 pm, there was still no final announcement of any ishur and people were making plans how to sneak in.
I have one friend who was planning to go with me who told me he will only go if there was no ishur. If there is an ishur it will be a waste of time, as they will limit it and we will not be able to do anything, but if there is no ishur it would be historic and he would not miss it.

Anyway, so after hearing about it and trying to get as much information as I could, Jameel and I spoke a number of times sharing info and trying to coordinate our plans.

After some miscalculations and delays in my schedule, I finally got to leave home towards Shchem at about 12:30 am. At that point I almost did not go because I had been delayed so much I figured there was no chance I would get in. Jameel told me (from on location outside of Shchem) that they were announcing more buses for 1:30 am or so. So I decided to take the chance and head out.

I went and picked up tnspr569 who had never been there and wanted to try going. We head out and go in the direction of the Shomron. I have never travelled much through the Shomron and not much recently. So there we are, on the dark road, with only less than a quarter tank of gas (I was in a rush when I left so I figured I would fill up later, after kever Yosef), in an area I am not too familiar with, in an area that is considered relatively dangerous.

So we are heading towards Tzomet Tapuach. That was the devlared meeting spot where the buses would pick people up and go into Shchem. Sometimes the trips have been from Itamar which is one of the closest Jewish yishuvim to Nablus, sometimes from Yitzhar, and sometimes from Tzomet Tapuach. This time it started out near Yitzhar at Tzomet Bat Shalosh (that is where Jameel got stuck after his run in with the police at Ariel), but then the staging point was moved back to Tzomet Tapuach.

So we finally make it at about 1:35 am. There were about 500 or so people in the parking lot at Tzomet Tapuach. Nobody knew what was going on and there was nobody in charge. Everyone is waiting to find a way in to Shchem. the sodiers and police were not being nice but were physically pushing people around. Even just to take two steps back for no particular reason. Nobody had anywhere to go, as it was all blocked off, but they would decide everyone had to stand only in a certain area and they would start shoving people around. Then they would let people wander around and then they would do it again.

Finally, after about twenty minutes of our standing there waiting, two buses show up. Right away they get mobbed as everyone swarms around them hoping to be among the select few to get a spot on the buses. Don't forget there are about 500 people and enough seats for 100 (if the buses would even be going into Shchem, at that point noboy knew).

The buses are being mobbed by people, and they have not even opened their doors! They drive around a bit making the people crazy (I wonder if the drivers were just trying to have a good time) as they followed the buses around, not wanting to miss the moment the doors would open to let them on.

Eventually one of the buses opened its doors. The people went crazy. There was fighting and pushing and shoving to get onto the bus. The police and soldiers had 3 or 4 reps on the bus at the door letting the next survivor of the mob on. They were also participating in the mob and they were shoving people off and pushing and hitting people. At one point we even saw a policeman grab somebody by the neck, choke him holding him like that for a minute or so while the guy's face tururned red, and then he threw the guy off the bus. tnspr569 was in terrible shock when he saw that! I have been by protests and rallies before where I witnessed police brutality, but I think that was the first time for tnspr569.

We decided not to fight the mob, and after the bus filled up, it drove about 10 feet and stopped. People were still mobbing it, trying to get on. The second bus was still dark and not moving.

After about 15 minutes of watching that bus just sit there and not move, we were pretty confident that our chances of getting into Shchem were dipping well into the negative numbers, so we decided to go home.

I got home about 3:30 am, pretty sure I was driving on fumes most of the way. There are very few gas stations open at that time of night. I found an open gas station near Bet Shemesh, and consider it a miracle that I made it that far. I was sure I would be spending the night on the side of the highway. I filled up the tank with 62 liters of gasoline, for a 65 liter tank! Man that was close!

At least we tried! According to the news, over the course of the night 10 buses were let in. That would be about 700 or so people. A friend of mine told me his brother got in. 700 got in, but probably double that tried to get n but could not.