Weekly Commentary: Heritage Sites Must Include Key Biblical Sites
Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 18 February 2010

The most powerful Jewish advisor to a foreign superpower returned home to
Israel to bury his father in the family crypt.

He stood there with his brothers, knowing that they had no choice but to
return to the formidable foreign entourage waiting for them across the
border.

For while he was second only to the ruler of the foreign empire, he and his
brothers had to leave their children and cattle behind in what at the time
was a gilded cage as a guarantee that they would not exploit this
opportunity to permanently return home to Israel.

And today, we can stand at that very same place and as we let the pathos
sink in of that heart wrenching moment we also celebrate how lucky we are
that we have been honored to be able to not only visit, but to stay, rather
than turn back to face generations of servitude on foreign soil.

That's what strikes me when I visit the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.

It is right there in Genesis Chapter 50.

When Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu talked about the critical need for
Israelis to link to their past in his 3 February speech at the Herzliya
Conference, the Cave of the Patriarchs - now covered by the only intact
Herodian period building - came immediately to mind.

And this with the added "bonus" that prayer arrangements at the site shared
by Jews and Moslems serve as living proof that Jewish controlled holy sites
can indeed be open to all. This in sharp contrast to Moslem controlled
multi-religion sites where non-Moslem prayer is strictly restricted.

Yes, there are many interesting sites within the Green Line, but that's no
excuse for excluding some of the most famous and moving biblical Jewish
sites in the Land of Israel from a national initiative to link this and
coming generations to our past.

These are links that should transcend politics (Lefties can tell their
children as they visit how they look forward to the day that Palestinians
rather than Israelis man the entrances to the sites).

This Sunday the cabinet will meet in special session at Tel Hai where the
"heritage sites" are to be announced.

All kinds of technical excuses are already being offered to explain why the
list of "heritage sites" is brutally thin on biblical "heritage".

But there can be no excuse.

There is still more than enough time for Mr. Netanyahu's aids to come up
with a"B" as in "Bible" list that will somehow also be highlighted by an
expanded program.

Otherwise, the message from Tel Hai won't be that we are determined to
embrace our past but instead that we hesitate.

And that's a very destructive message.

Because if we are not steadfast to preserve our ties to our biblical
national heritage it's a message to our enemies that our connection to the
Land is transient in nature.

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il