Brit Milah held at Joseph’s Tomb, the first in years
Twenty years after Israel’s abandonment of Kever Yosef (Joseph’s Tomb) in Shechem (Nablus), a Brit Milah (circumcision) was held early Thursday morning at the holy site, as part of a limited visit for the purpose of cleaning and maintenance work.
Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus – the domed building Photo: Henry Benjamin/J-Wire
The entry to the site, under Palestinian Authority (PA) control, took place despite the lack of security coordination between Israel and the PA.
At the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000, rioting Muslims looted and razed the site. Following Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, Jewish groups returned there and visit intermittently to pray.
Thursday’s visit was the second limited entry since the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in February. Due to the pandemic, there was no mass entry for prayer, and only 20 people attended this visit.
The exciting Brit ceremony took place with only the immediate family attending. The family has been associated for many years with Joseph’s Tomb and asked not to publish its name.
The boy was named Benjamin, after the son of the Matriarch Rachel, whose date of death was marked on Thursday, and who passed away as she gave birth to her son Benjamin. Therefore, Thursday was also Benjamin’s birthday, the brother of Joseph who is buried at the site.
The Brit was held on the Kiseh Eliyahu (Elijah’s chair) that was placed at Joseph’s Tomb in 2000. At the time of the abandonment of the tomb by the IDF, an order was given to leave everything behind except the holy books. However, one of the officers saved Elijah’s chair and it was returned to Joseph Tomb for the first time in 20 years.
Yossi Dagan, Head of the Shomron Regional Council who attended the Brit, said that “it is exciting to come here on the day of the death of our mother Rachel, and Benjamin’s birthday.”
“It’s history, a Brit at Joseph’s Tomb after so many years. I wish the newborn and the family that the Bar Mitzvah will be done here with the Yeshiva of Joseph’s Tomb in full, with an army that is here all the time, that we will be privileged to return here,” he added.
Please G-D by the time of little Binyamin’s Bar Mitsva, Shechem will be a Jewish city again and there will be no need for Tsahal to stand guard as all terrorist activity will by then have ceased. Od lo avda tikvateinu!