| We then moved on to Kfar Tapuach, a community many of whose 700 residents are followers of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane. We were met by Lenny Goldberg and Debbie Friedman, both transplanted Americans. Kfar Tapuach is one of five communities that make up the Ariel group of Jewish communities that lie south of Nablus (Shechem). Only Ariel is slated to remain within the route of the proposed security fence. Kfar Tapuach, Immanuel, Karnei Shomron, and Yizhar are outside the proposed route. Lenny and Debbie took us to see the remains (shown here) of a Kfar Tapuach synagogue that was destroyed in January 2004 by the Israeli army, because the residents allegedly did not have a "building permit." Even the cement floor was hacked to pieces to prevent the residents from rebuilding the synagogue, which was to be dedicated to Binyamin Kahane (son of Meir Kahane) and his wife, Talia, both of whom were viciously gunned down by Arab terrorists in their car on Dec. 31, 2000, leaving six children orphaned. Lenny explained that thousands of people had come to the reception for the Torah scroll, dedicated to the memory of Binyamin and Talia. To add insult to injury, military rabbis even stood by to oversee the debacle. We were deeply moved when Lenny told us that his 15-year-old son does not dream of growing up to enlist in an elite unit of the IDF (Israeli army). Instead, he sees the army as his enemy, since they are the ones with whom he has fought to preserve his home. It is both sad and perverse when the Israeli government is ordering the destruction of synagogues, but that is apparently part of Sharon's peace plan. When Jewish synagogues are destroyed by order of a Jewish government, by a Jewish army, under the supervision of Jewish rabbis, then Israel has lost its moral compass. |
