The visit was advertised via word of mouth, resulting in more than 300 Jews from all over the country showing up in the Shomron town of Itamar for the midnight visit. “There were hundreds of people - all different ages, men and women, hareidi-religious Jews from America, from Israel, national religious, Lubavitch and Breslav Chassidim, babies – everyone showed up,” Israel National Radio’s Avi Hyman reported. Hyman took part in the visit and will be reporting on it during his weekly program on IsraelNationalRadio.com . Hyman’s “The Activist Hour” broadcasts Sundays at 5 PM Israel time, 10 AM New York time and is archived for a week. Joseph's Tomb, prior to the October, 2000 destruction. Although Shechem was handed over to Arab military control under the Oslo Accords, the agreements maintained the right of Jewish access to Joseph’s Tomb. The Od Yosef Chai yeshiva was housed at the tomb until the outbreak of the Oslo War, when it was overrun by local Arabs who set it on fire and smashed the shrine to rubble as Israelis watched on television. Arabs were filmed proudly destroying the Jewish holy site, including prayer books and the tomb itself. Hyman reports that the destruction to the Jewish holy site was extensive and deliberate: “We were standing in a pile of rubble and soot. The actual grave of Joseph looked like someone had had a go at it with a pick axe. Last time I was there, five years ago, it was all built up, and Rabbi Hillel Lieberman [murdered by Arab terrorists shortly after Joseph’s Tomb was overrun –ed.] was showing us around.” Continued deliberate destruction of Joseph's Tomb. “It was an overwhelming shock to see it now,” Hyman said. “But I thought to myself, ‘it is not what the Arabs have done there that is so outrageous - it is that we allowed them to do it and are considering handing Shechem over to them once again.’ I mean you let a bull loose in a china shop and he’ll break the china.” The visit, which lasted several hours, filled the ancient burial plot with intense prayer and song. “It felt very much like the first time I went on the Temple Mount,” Hyman said. “The destruction and desecration overwhelm you, and it is hard to tune in to the place itself. I hope not to have to experience it that way a second time - that it will be rebuilt.” The prayers focused on seeking Heavenly intervention to thwart the government’s plan to expel the Jews of Gaza and northern Samaria from their homes and hand them over to the Palestinian Authority. According to Hyman, the IDF personnel present seemed quite pleased with the visit. “Most of the soldiers were wearing kippot,” Hyman said. “High ranking religious officers were also there – some of whom came into the main room to pray.”
