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Capturing
the tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai at Mt.Meron in 1948,
during the War of Independence
By Solly Ganor
On October 29, 1948 late at night, the 72nd battalion
of the 7th armored brigade moved from Tzaft to capture
the tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai at Mt.Meron.
I was a soldier in B’ company of that battalion.
The majority of the 72nd battalion were volunteers from
South Africa, Canada the US and England, known as Mahal.
It was a dark night as we moved through Nachal Amud
when we came up against the tomb. From where we stood
the massive stones of the tomb were towering above us,
its windows darkened and lifeless.
I remembered the stories my grand father used to tell
me about the holy man, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai when
I was a little boy in Lithuania.
‘He was one of the greatest of Jewish gaonim,
perhaps even greater than our own gaon of Vilna. He
wrote the book of Zohar, which is one of the greatest
book about our religion.’ I remembered my grand
father telling me in an awed voice.
Looking
up the tomb, where the man my grand father talked about
lay buried I had an overpowering feeling that destiny
brought me here.
Only
a few years ago I was a sub human, as the Nazis called
us, Jewish slave laborer in one of the Dachau camps
in Germany, condemned to a slow death of starvation,
beatings and hard labor.
And here I was a soldier in the Israeli army about to
liberate the holy tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. I
had a mystical sensation that I survived the Holocaust
for that purpose, to liberate the tomb for the Jewish
people.
My
mystical feelings were interrupted by massive machine
gun fire pouring out of the windows of the tomb. Bullets
were whistling all around us hitting the rocks behind
which we were hiding, setting off sparks in all directions.
Dax, a volunteer from England who was originally from
Vienna, and came to England in the ‘Kinder Transport’,
didn’t duck fast enough; a bullet pierced his
head. He was our first casualty. We were ordered by
our officer, captain Shutzman, an American volunteer
to begin shooting at the windows.
One of our boys began shooting ‘Piat’ shells
at the windows, setting off a rain of sparks when it
hit the stony walls. After a few minutes, seargent Smith
from England ordered us to by pass the tomb. We climbed
through the rocks to the right of the tomb with bullets
whistling around us.
My section quickly moved towards one of court yards,
when from a small building attached to the tomb the
Arabs opened fire on us. I saw a flash from a rifle
from the narrow window and felt the bullet whistling
by my face. It was so close hat I almost felt its heat.
My three comrades who were ahead of me opened fire on
the window and I managed to join them. It was a close
call.
It began to dawn and we could see our way around.
Ahead was a stone wall with an opening in it. Two of
us slipped through the opening while my friend Jack
Kesselman, a volunteer from the US, stayed ahead of
me. Suddenly I saw an Arab on top of the building aiming
his rifle at Jack’s back. I managed to shout out
a warning:
‘’Jack look out!”
The Arab turned around and aimed his rifle at me. I
carried my rifle under my arm, and didin’t have
time to take aim the Arab. I simple squeezed off a round
in his direction. We must have shot at each other at
the same time, because Jack later told me that he only
heard one shot.
Fortunately for me, I was standing at an angle which
made a poor target, although I did feel the bullet woosh
by me. The way her recoiled I think that I wounded him..
For a brief moment we stood looking at each other, but
then he jumped down to a lower part of the building
and disappeared from view.
Later in the day, we found him about fifty meters from
the tomb. He caught a burst of machine gun fire from
Neal Goodman, an American volunteer, who had captured
one of the rooms of the tomb and saw the Arab trying
to escape through the woods. We fought our way room
by room until we cleared the whole tomb of the enemy.
The tomb was in our hands.
The Arabs defending the tomb were soldiers under the
command of Kaukdji. Some were Palestinians, some Syrians,
we later found out.
For
me personally, the battle of the tomb was one of the
most significant emotional experiences of the War of
Indepencdence. I almost got shot twice, but survived
unhurt. Perhaps Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai had something
to do with it, Today, when we visit the tomb at Lag
Ba’omer, I feel with certain pride that my comrades,
the Mahal volunteers, and I secured the tomb for generations
to celebrate there Lag Ba’omer.
I also think of Dax, may he rest in peace, who escaped
the Nazis from Vienna to England, volunteered to fight
for Israel and found his death while liberating the
tomb. Too bad that 250,000 people who came today to
the tomb didn’t know about Dax who sacrificed
his life, so they can celebrate Lag Ba’omer.
If they knew perhaps they would light a candle for his
soul.
Solly
Ganor
Herzelia, Israel
Lag Ba’omer. 2007
See bellow the Lag Ba’omer celebrations at Mt.
Meron as reported by Neta Sela.
A peek at Mt Meron annual celebration
Hundreds of thousands gather near Rabbi Shimon
Bar Yochai’s tomb in Mt Meron to celebrate anniversary
of his death
Neta
Sela
Published: 05.06.07, 19:30 / Israel Jewish Scene
Each Lag Ba’omer, nearly 250,000 people from all
across Israel gather at Mount Meron to celebrate the
anniversary of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yoachai’s death
at his tomb.
On Saturday evening, the traditional Hilulah was opened
at the Meron and attended by tens of thousands of people.
By Sunday afternoon, police estimated that the number
grew to several hundred thousands.
Rabbi Bar Yochai is attributed with the authorship of
the Zohar, one of the holiest books to Jews.
The belief in the powers of Rabbi Shimon has been growing
over the years, and sociologists and theologists from
across the world arrive at the site each year on Lag
Ba’omer to experience the unique phenomenon, which
is almost exclusive in the field of religion studied.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3396372,00.html
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