                        Don't Pray Here!
                 Do You Want to Start A Pogrom?
                       February 24, 1992
                     by Gary M. Cooperberg

       Although he may well have asked that question in all sincerity, the reserve soldier at
the Cave of Machpelah was really saying, "Keep a low profile and don't say or do anything
which might upset the Arabs.  I don't want any trouble." 
       Now I realize that this fellow is really a very nice guy.  He has an unpleasant job to
do and is responsible for keeping things quiet in the Mosque housing the Tombs of the Jewish
Patriarchs.  I truly don't wish to cause him problems nor do I, indeed, want to start a
"pogrom".
       BUT, aside from the fact that I had arrived well after the official time when a Jewish
presence is permitted in the Hall of Isaac, there are other very important factors of which this
nice fellow is most certainly unaware and which my efforts to explain will fall on deaf ears:

       1) The Cave of Machpelah is a Jewish holy place.
       2) Arabs are not the owners of it.
       3) We are governed here by Jewish authority.
       4) The soldiers are all Jewish, serving the Jewish State.
       5) If the presence of a Jew at prayer by the tombs of his      Fathers causes Arabs to react with a "pogrom", a Jewish    soldier should not look to blame the Jew.  Such an unlikely      "pogrom" can and should be swiftly quashed by the ever      present IDF.
       6) The very presence of the Arabs after their time of          prayer, as well as their continued loud chanting, is a     deliberate attempt to disturb and prevent Jewish prayer.
                     7) Why is there never a fear of a Jewish "pogrom" in                                                                                                                                                                                                        response to Arab provocations?

       It never fails to amaze me to find that so many Jews naturally accept the sanctity of
prayer for others, while looking upon Jewish prayer as a "provocation".
       I am sick to my stomach at the fact that we have demeaned ourselves at our holiest
site, the Temple Mount, to the degree that Arab guards can and do enforce the outrageous
rule that a Jew is forbidden to as much as appear to be uttering a prayer while visiting that
site!  This has occurred because we have voluntarily given that holy place over to our enemies. 
The Israeli Police guards stationed there are Arabs, and the IDF presence is a very scant one. 
Even should a Knesset delegation choose to visit that site, it needs an army escort for its
protection!
       At Machpelah the situation is much different.  Rather than having a fairly large and
uncontrolled area, we have a closed building which is patrolled and guarded by the IDF.  For
over ten years now I have been praying there with the vatiken (sunrise) minyan nearly every
day, and, more often than not, alone in the last Arab stronghold, the large Hall of Isaac.  
       Veteran readers of the Jewish Press remember the many problems I faced for
refusing to give up the right to pray at this holy site.  Ever since the dismissal of Yair
Blumenthal, the Arab loving, Shabbat violating IDF officer who wore a Kipa on his head as he
personally interfered with Jewish worshippers during their time of prayer, things have been
much quieter at the cave. 
       The fact still remains, however, that Jewish fear of disturbing Arabs, however
imagined it may be, is a prevailing factor in determining how a soldier will react.
       So I continue my custom to follow in the footsteps of our Father, Abraham, and go
to Machpelah every morning in the predawn darkness to offer my morning prayers.  I am
unafraid of the Arabs, but I am extremely apprehensive at the prospect of having to face a
Jewish soldier who "doesn't want to start a pogrom".   