Rabbi Elyashiv Joins Battle For Jerusalem*

by Ezra HaLevi

(IsraelNN.com) In the opening shot of the battle for Jerusalem, top
rabbis of the Hareidi-religious and Jerusalemite communities have joined
Rabbi Avraham Shapira’s final statement against dividing Jerusalem.

A large gathering planned for Sunday at the Ramban Synagogue in the Old
City is being organized by Chief Rabbi of the Old City, Rabbi Avigdor
Nebenzahl and Rabbi Eliyahu Medina. Joining the protest is Rabbi Yosef
Shalom Elyashiv, considered the head of the Lithuanian Hareidi-religious
public.

The assembly is being called under the banner “Over Jerusalem they cast
lots” – a verse from Ovadiah (1:11) – and will include “prayers and
supplications to G-d.”

The event will begin after the 12:30 PM afternoon prayer at the
synagogue, which is located in the Jewish Quarter’s main square.

Earlier this month, Vice-Premier Chaim Ramon outlined his political plan
for dividing Jerusalem, saying: “The Jewish neighborhoods will be
recognized by both sides as Israeli neighborhoods under Israeli
sovereignty. Likewise, Arab neighborhoods such as Shuafat will be
recognized as Palestinian neighborhoods. There will be arrangements to
ensure, free, safe passages between the various Israeli neighborhoods
and likewise between the Palestinian ones.”

With regard to the Old City, Ramon wrote: “On the matter of the "holy
basin" – as the area including the Temple Mount and other holy sites is
being referred to – there will be a special authority that will include
the expression of Israel’s special interests and manage the holy
sites…The Western Wall, the Jewish Quarter and the other Jewish holy
sites in the Jerusalem region will stay in the hands of Israel forever.”

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has refused to comment on the Ramon plan,
though commentators compare the situation to when Olmert himself
introduced the idea of unilaterally withdrawing from Gaza ahead of
then-PM Ariel Sharon’s open adoption of the policy. Ramon is a close
friend and political ally of Olmert's.

On the eve of the Sukkot festival, just prior to his passing away,
former Chief Rabbi and Rosh Yeshiva of the Merkaz HaRav Kook
religious-Zionist center Rabbi Avraham Shapira signed a strongly-worded
statement against the plan. “The Land of Israel belongs to the Nation of
Israel and was granted to us as an inheritance by the Creator of the
world. Neither the Prime Minister nor anybody else has the right to give
away areas, or even a grain, of the holy Land of Israel. The entire Land
of Israel, according to the borders outlined in the Torah – belonged in
the past, and belong in the present and future, only to the Nation of
Israel, and it is forbidden by severe Torah prohibition to give up any
of the territory of our holy land.”

The rabbi, who had issued a call prior to the Disengagement for soldiers
and police to disobey orders to take part in the expulsion, continued:
“Did we not learn a lesson from the expulsion of our heroic brethren
from Gush Katif and northern Samaria who were uprooted from their homes?
We call upon the public to protest against these statements, for the
Prime Minister to repudiate them, and to show concern for the rights of
the Nation of Israel in its land.”