The Jewish Community of Hevron marked the 80th anniversary of the 1929 pogrom, in which 67 Jews were slaughtered with axes and otherwise by their Arab neighbors, at a public ceremony in the City of the Patriarchs on Monday. Survivors and descendants of victims of the carnage were present, as were Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin (whose mother's cousins were among the victims) and Minister Yuli Edelstein.

The massacre not only destroyed the Hevron Jewish community, but was also part of a series of lethal Arab violence that shook the entire Jewish populace, known as the "yishuv," in pre-State Palestine. An early formation of the 'Hagana' defense forces prevented the massacre of the Jews of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa, and also held at bay thousands of Arabs who had come to kill the Jews of Hulda, near Rehovot. However, Jews were killed in Motza and Tzfat (Safed), and were evacuated to safety from Gaza - thus ending the long-time existence of the Jewish community there.

Former Knesset Member Elyakim HaEtzni, a Kiryat Arba resident and expert in Hevron history, told Arutz-7 that two main population sectors were seriously shaken by the massacres:

"The first group shocked by the murders was the 'Old Yishuv,' i.e., Jews who were either anti-Zionist or were not part of the pro-Zionist camp. According to their own accounts, these Jews had been living peacefully with their Arab neighbors in Hevron for generations, and had even received promises from them that nothing bad would happen to them. The Jews were convinced that the murderous Arab opposition was aimed only at the Zionists and Zionism, and they never prepared any defense against this violence, thinking that they were not part of the dispute. They also did not wish to upset the Arabs by giving them the impression that they didn't trust them."
        
"The second group traumatized by the massacres," continued HaEtzni, "was the Zionists.  The depth of their trauma can only be appreciated by studying the Zionist ethos of that period. The Zionists believed that as soon as a Jew set his foot on this soil, new rules would apply to him. The Zionists felt that the conditions of the exile simply did not apply here.  But if you compare the accounts of the 1929 Arab massacre of Jews in Hevron to the accounts of the Kishinev pogroms 25 years earlier, you will be startled by the parallels. The fact that a pogrom could take place here, simply did not jibe with the Zionist worldview."

One of the survivors of what has become known as the Tarpat Slaughter in Hevron (Tarpat is the Hebrew equivalent of the Jewish year 5689, in which the massacre occurred) was Rabbi Dov Cohen, who was a 17-year-old student in the Yeshiva of Hevron, Knesset Yisrael-Slobodka at the time. He spoke to Arutz-7 on the 70th anniversary of the massacre.
Asked if he remembers any warning signs of what was about to happen, Rabbi Cohen said:

"Until that time, in Hevron, the Jews lived in peace and quiet with the Arabs. There was tension in the country for a whole a week or two before the massacre. Not only in Hevron, but all over the country, although in Hevron it was a bit worse. As I said, relations with our Arab neighbors, prior to that night, were very good. After a day of studies, the yeshiva boys used to go for long walks on the outskirts of the city, even very late at night, and feared nothing..."

Arutz-7: Did the Arabs also attack the yeshiva in Hevron on the night of the massacre?

Rabbi Cohen:  Not exactly. Allow me to explain: On Friday, Arab youths started to throw rocks at us in our part of the city. Late that afternoon, a young student named Shmuel Rosenholtz went to the yeshiva before the rest of the students. He was there alone, and some time later, Arab rioters broke into the yeshiva and murdered him. After Shabbat began, we were informed that Shmuel had been murdered, and that he was lying dead [in the study hall].  We were instructed not to go to the yeshiva over Shabbat.

   Anyhow, that night, the son of Rabbi Slonim, who was the manager of what later became Bank Leumi, went from house to house, telling people that, upon his father's instructions,  whomever was concerned for his own safety was invited to stay in his home.  Rabbi Slonim was highly regarded in the community and even had a gun.  I was personally not so worried about the danger, and so I did not go to the Slonim home, although many people did. In the course of that Shabbat, the Arabs murdered more people in that house than anywhere else. 

   On Shabbat morning, almost the entire Jewish population gathered at the police station, Beit Romano.  Everyone recounted what had happened in his home the previous night.  We prayed the morning service. There was no Torah there from which to read, just a Bible.  After completing the Mussaf service, we prepared to recite the Kiddush prayer.  All of a sudden, we began hearing noises outside the building; masses of Arabs were gathering on the streets outside of the police station.  I looked out the window, and saw that thousands of Arabs were descending from Har Hevron to the valley below - all shouting "Itbach el Yahud! (Kill the Jews!)"  At one point, some of them tried to break down the door of the police station.



Arutz-7: What do you think today of the Jewish settlement in Hevron?

Rabbi Cohen:  I am very happy ...but I am still sad that we were exiled from Hevron, I still have a heavy heart when I think of it.  When there wasn't a Jewish community there at all, it was painful. It is a little bit of a consolation [that a Jewish community exists there today]...but it is still impossible for Jews to reach certain neighborhoods where we used to live...

Arutz-7: There is a portion of the Israeli population that believes that Jews there are guilty of harming the relations with the Arabs.

Rabbi Cohen: Why? The Jews have no right to live there? The Jews, who were bequeathed the city from the patriarchs? And who lived there hundreds of years?!