Mearat Hamachpela

Two buses took people from Yerushalayim to Chevron after making a stop to pick up more people near Efrat/Gush Etzion for Shmuel's bar mitzva. The plan was for shacharis to be at Mearat Hamachpela and we were very excited since the kids had never been there and Shira and I hadn't been there in years. On the bus we found out that a last minute Muslim holiday meant that Jews weren't allowed inside. Apparently for all Muslim holidays they close it and no Jews are allowed to go. This is a pretty minor holiday and many Muslims don't even celebrate it so the bar mitzva planners only found out at the last minute. In the end we went to the Beit Knesset Avraham Avinu. That was very meaningful though because we used a sefer Torah there that was donated by my sister, Ethel and her family in memory of her brother-in-law, Yitzchak Boanish. He was murdered by Arabs a few years ago when he responded after the Arabs had opened fire on people returning from Mearat Hamachpela. The tour guide took us just outside of Mearat Hamachpela and gave us some history and stories before we had a delicous brunch at a hall there. We still had a good time there but now we have to go back to Chevron so the kids can actually go inside.