Rachel's Tomb: Back from the Brink
How a small group of individuals saved religious site

March 16, 2005

BETHLEHEM – In a decision hailed by many in Israel, the Knesset voted to keep Rachel's Tomb, Judaism's third holiest site and the area most directly associated with prayer throughout Jewish history, inside a "security zone" that will remain under Israeli control.

The decision was particularly euphoric to a small group of individuals who over the past few years have been quietly responsible for reviving the holy site devastated by the outbreak of Palestinian violence, some even taking out personal loans to bus in visitors to the tomb.

They made their stories public for the first time this week in exclusive interviews.

The vote yesterday will annex a small, trapezoid-shaped area around the tomb, which is just meters outside a Jerusalem security checkpoint near Bethlehem's northern entrance, to be included in Area C, land under full Israeli control. The tomb was originally slated during the 1993 Oslo Accords for inclusion in Area A territory under Palestinian control.

According to the Old Testament, the tomb is the final resting place of Jacob's wife, Rachel, who died after going into labor while traveling. Jacob decided to bury Rachel on the spot and not in the cemetery of his family, the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, because he foresaw his descendants would need to pray at the site when they passed through during the forced exile in Babylon.

Jacob set up a monument over her roadside grave so that exiled Jews could recognize the site and be comforted as they were being led into captivity. Ancient writings describe the grave marker as 12 stones representing the 12 tribes of Israel with one large stone that symbolized Jacob.

Rachel's Tomb remained a principle site for Jews throughout the centuries, and was renovated by Moses Montefiore, a wealthy British Jew, in 1841, adding to it a prayer room and enclosing the dome over the grave marker so pilgrims could find shelter from the elements.

Jews were later restricted from the tomb during Jordanian control of the site from 1949 to the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol ordered the tomb to be annexed to Jerusalem. The instructions were never carried out because of objections by defense minister Moshe Dayan, and so Jews continued to venture past Israel proper into the Bethlehem neighborhood that still houses the tomb.

The onset of violence in the early 1990s brought a halt to the number of Jews visiting the site, which some say initially prompted the Israeli government to offer the section to the Palestinians as part of the Oslo negotiations.

But then the Eshet Chayil Foundation, a small American Jewish group fostering peace in Israel, worked quickly to revive the tomb and bring in large numbers of visitors.


Susan Roth

Susan Roth, director of the foundation, personally hired hundreds of buses to bring in anyone who wished to pray at the site. Several hundred people came every week for months, prominent rabbis delivered regular sermons at the tomb, and weekly programs were held for large crowds in an effort credited for sparking renewed life at the site.

"After we did this, the Israeli government, at the time led by Rabin, dropped the idea of giving up Rachel's Tomb, a site so very dear to every Jew around the world," Roth said. "The foundation couldn't just sit there and allow the place specifically set aside for Jewish prayer by our father Jacob to fall out of Israeli control."

Roth also cleaned up the site and brought over to Rachel's Tomb the covers to the tombs of Joseph and his sons, Monashe and Ephraim, after Joseph's tomb was burned by Palestinian rioters in 2000. Her foundation also erected on the side of the Rachel's tomb a perpetual memorial lamp to the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, so that, as Roth says, "Rachel can weep for all her children."

But in late 2000 and often during 2001 and early 2002, there were shooting incidents near the tomb that closed the site for much of that time, once again bringing Jewish visitation to a trickle. The tomb was reopened about a year ago, but few at first made the journey.


Bluma and Moshe Kluger

Then a Jewish Israeli couple, Bluma and Moshe Kluger, personally intervened. They founded Rachel's Tomb Institute, a group consisting of the Klugers, their in-laws and a few volunteers, that has facilitated tens of thousands of visits to the tomb.

Moshe Kluger, who described himself as "not a wealthy person," engaged in a fund-raising campaign and also took out personal loans to fund three private, bullet-proof buses per weekday that make stops throughout Jerusalem for those wanting to pray at the tomb. The buses have been running for almost a year, and bring in approximately 4,000 people each month. The Israeli public-transportation system restarted service to the area, but many feel more comfortable in bullet-proof busing.

The Klugers can be found daily at Rachel's tomb, and routinely escort new visitors who say they are nervous about traveling into the Palestinian neighborhood.

Moshe and Bluma also renewed learning at Rachel's Tomb by helping to establish a Yeshiva, which offers daily classes and leads prayer services in the afternoons and evenings. Moshe teaches many of the courses.

The Klugers hold special events each month for the general public and personally serve food to Israeli soldiers stationed at and around the tomb area.

"My husband and I have been going to the tomb now for almost twelve years," said Bluma, who was reluctant to talk to the media. "When we saw people were afraid to come, we had to take action."

Kluger says she was inspired by the efforts of Roth and other foundations involved in Rachel's Tomb activities. "We just had to get the buses started again. And we couldn't wait. My husband's motto is do now and get the funds later."

The Klugers have raised some money, but have gone into substantial debt, with bus payments nearing several hundred thousand dollars. They say the satisfaction of keeping the tomb alive is more than worth their monetary efforts. The Eshet Chayil Foundation still helps out by annually underwriting the learning institute and providing its members with food for the Sabbath and Jewish holidays.

"Thankfully, Rachel's Tomb is busy again and cannot be put aside or given up," said Bluma.

Her institute also opened a hotline in Israel, 011-9722-580-0863, manned by Moshe's sister, Chaya, taking calls 24-hours-a-day from those around the world in need of a prayer at the tomb. Individuals can sponsor a day, week or month of learning, or the recital in their honor of the entire book of psalms.

"The stories we have seen through the hotline are just unbelievable," says Bluma. "One time there was a man terminally ill with cancer. He was beyond treatment and the doctors really said he had almost no chance. A family member remembered we were involved with Rachel's Tomb and quickly sponsored a whole month of learning, plus reading of the psalms. Exactly two days after the month, he was cured and walking around. My husband was absolutely amazed. ...

"I was very touched when once a woman was in labor for many hours and the baby couldn't be delivered properly. They were starting to get scared. They called my husband on his cell phone, and he happened to be at the tomb. A prayer was quickly said, and minutes later a healthy baby was delivered."

The Knesset decision yesterday comes as the weekly Jewish Torah portion includes a reference to Rachel weeping for her children. The passage ends by stating the "children shall return."

Minister's from Shas, a national religious party, visited the site yesterday to applaud the decision and highlight what they called the eternal Jewish connection to the Tomb.

Meanwhile, the Klugers say they will continue their efforts "for as long as it takes. The Jewish people will never forsake our mother Rachel."

SOURCE: News from Israel