From: ateret@virtual.co.il

Av Tarpat - August 23, 1929 - Old City of Jerusalem

Avraham Eizen and his friend Baruch Shor - - two fourteen year olds - were up on the rooftop of their home in the Rand Courtyard to hear Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini deliver the Friday noon sermon. From the rooftop, about a block from the Haram (site of the Gold Dome on the Temple Mount), they could clearly see Husseini passing out "Mabruk" (Good Luck!) cigarettes from a huge sack to the masses of Arabs who had been called to the Temple Mount. "Itback al-Yahud!" ("Slaughter the Jews!") They heard him goad the already incited crowd, as he sent them out to wreak havoc in the nearby Jewish neighborhoods. Some 30 Jewish families were trapped in the Rand Courtyard Friday afternoon and night, and it was not until the next morning that they dared dash across the street to the nearby Chayei Olam Yeshiva, one of the tallest buildings in the neighborhood, where there was a small Hagana outpost. A few grenades were tossed at Chayei Olam, but there were no casualties, and the families were able to hold Shabbat services in the synagogue while under siege. From the windows they watched helplessly as the Arab rioters murdered an old man in the street below. He had gone to the Strauss Free Soup Kitchen a block away to get himself some Shabbat food. The next day, under British guard, the Jews returned to their gutted homes to salvage the little that was left and to move in with relatives in the New City.

A small number of students continued to study in Chayei Olam, once the largest Chassidic yeshiva in Eretz Israel, until the Arab riots of 1936. Until 1981, Arab families occupied the building, which has now been renovated and enlarged by the Breslav Yeshiva, Shuvu Banim.

Rosh HaShana 5761 - September 29, 2000

At the conclusion of morning prayers on the first day of Rosh HaShana, we looked out of the windows of the women's gallery of Chayai Olam - now a Breslav yeshiva during the week, and on Shabbat and holidays an Ateret Cohanim minyan. From our high position we could clearly see the rock throwers about two blocks away, on the rooftops adjacent to the Temple Mount - and the enormous new Palestinian flag covering one of the (illegally) newly renovated buildings adjacent to the Mount. We could not see the streets below, nor know exactly whether they were stoning police cars, soldiers, or innocent pedestrians. They seemed to be having a great time, and completely uninhibited, jumping from one domed roof-top to another, heaving large building blocks down onto the streets below. We watched them play cat and dog with the heavily armed Israeli police. Although the rock throwers were nowhere near us, we were not allowed to leave the building until the streets were completely quiet. The Israeli police far outnumbered them, but because they are so careful not to do anything which could escalate the incident or heat up the atmosphere, and not to injure the rock-throwers, it was over an hour until we could go out into the street and make our way home.

Since last Thursday, this has been the "norm" for families living in the Old City outside of the Jewish Quarter. Thank G-d, no one has been injured or hurt in any way. But life has certainly become more complicated, because you never know when you leave home, whether you will be able to come back whenever you want.

Nevertheless, it is a far cry from the days when Jews had no rights, almost no way to defend themselves, and Jewish lives meant nothing. I am thankful to G-d for this wonderful country and these wonderful people, who have the strength to defend themselves while at the same time protecting the lives of their enemies to the utmost.

We must not close our eyes and ears to the fact that - just as in 1929 - the incitement to riot has come from the holiest place to the Jewish People: The Temple Mount. It is time to act upon the lesson we have been taught.