Andrew Sullivan goes off the deep end
Having forcibly evicted Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem, the new inhabitants sing songs in praise of the mass murderer Baruch Goldstein. And you really think the decision to make the site of that massacre a national heritage site for Israel had nothing to do with this association?
The claim that the designation of the Machpeila Cave (the Cave of the Patriarchs) as a Jewish heritage site had anything to do with Baruch Goldstein is offensive. It's on a par with the claim that the Jewish people's right to the land of Israel is based upon the Holocaust.
If we rank-ordered holy sites, the Machpeila Cave is the second holiest site in Judaism. And it was holy for thousands of years before Goldstein and 29 'Palestinians' died there in 1994. It is the burial place of the fathers and mothers of the Jewish people, Abraham and his wife Sara, Isaac and his wife Rebbecca, and Jacob and his wife Leah. It is also the burial place of Adam and Eve. The Machpeila Cave's holiness and its place as a Jewish heritage site have nothing to do with Baruch Goldstein. The Cave is holy and is a Jewish heritage site because Jews have gone to the Machpeila Cave to pray for centuries.
See Genesis 23 and Numbers 13 among others.
Goldstein is not buried in the Machpeila Cave and his family never asked to bury him there. His family asked to bury him in the old Hebron cemetery, where he would have been one grave among many. Instead, the Rabin government insisted that he had to be buried alone. So they had him buried on the outskirts of Kiryat Arba, where there is no cemetery, and where his grave is alone. The result was precisely the opposite of what the government intended: Goldstein's grave became a shrine and Goldstein's mystique was enhanced.
If we rank-ordered holy sites, the Machpeila Cave is the second holiest site in Judaism. And it was holy for thousands of years before Goldstein and 29 'Palestinians' died there in 1994. It is the burial place of the fathers and mothers of the Jewish people, Abraham and his wife Sara, Isaac and his wife Rebbecca, and Jacob and his wife Leah. It is also the burial place of Adam and Eve. The Machpeila Cave's holiness and its place as a Jewish heritage site have nothing to do with Baruch Goldstein. The Cave is holy and is a Jewish heritage site because Jews have gone to the Machpeila Cave to pray for centuries.
See Genesis 23 and Numbers 13 among others.
Goldstein is not buried in the Machpeila Cave and his family never asked to bury him there. His family asked to bury him in the old Hebron cemetery, where he would have been one grave among many. Instead, the Rabin government insisted that he had to be buried alone. So they had him buried on the outskirts of Kiryat Arba, where there is no cemetery, and where his grave is alone. The result was precisely the opposite of what the government intended: Goldstein's grave became a shrine and Goldstein's mystique was enhanced.
Israel Matzav: Andrew Sullivan goes off the deep end
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