This Thursday night access will be available to the graves of Yehoshua Bin Nun and Kalev ben Yefuneh in the Arab village of Kifl Harsa, aka Timnat Heres. The army has made the arrangements and given their approval. The reason for the trip this Thursday night is to be able to pray by their graves right before the parsha of Shlach in which we will read about the spies, and how Yehoshua and Kalev tried to thwart their plans.

Details of the trip are n the poster below..




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Quote Of The Day

Israel's leaders, and the prime minister at the head of them, need to learn from Yehoshua bin Nun how to lead a nation and a country - with faith, with national honor and with strength. I hope that the light of Yehoshua bin Nun will return to the leaders of Israel and help them reach the correct path. Our leaders should learn from the strength and the decisive way of Yehoshua. When it was necessary to conquer the land he did not hesitate and consider what "they" would say..

  -- Head of Shomron Regional Council Gershon Mesika, while preparing for tonight's visit to the grave of Yehoshua bin Nun in Timnat Cheres

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Kever Yehoshua is going to be open tomorrow night for Jewish visitors.

The announcement was only made today, fairly last-minute, because the army only gave its approval at the last-minute..

The kever will be open to Jews Thursday night, from 11 PM until 3 AM.

The kvarim of Yehoshua bin Nun and Caleb ben Yefuneh, and Nun father of Yehoshua are located d in an Arab village called Kafr Harsa, known to us as Timnat Heres.
The village is right across the street from the entrance to Ariel. You can park at the entrance to Ariel, cross over and walk in or take shuttles from the entrance to the kvarim.

Buried Treasure: Kever Yosef

the Shechem 1 organization, that promotes and organizes approved entry into holy sites in the Shomron, sent me the following notice of an approved entry this Thursday night to the kvarim of Yehoshua bin Nun and Caleb ben Yefuneh, and Nun father of Yehoshua. They are buried in an Arab village called Kafr Harsa, known to us as Timnat Heres.
The village is right across the street from the entrance to Ariel. You can park at the entrance to Ariel, cross over and walk in or take shuttles from the entrance to the kvarim. It will be open from 10pm until 4am. Women are welcome as well.

Public Service Announcement

As of right now, the army has approved the opening to Jews of Kever Yehoshua bin Nun (and that of Nun) and Kever Calev ben Yefuneh tomorrow night, the eve of the Fast of the 10th of Teves.

The graves are located in the Arab village of Kifl Hares, adjacent to the town of Ariel. Access to Jews will be granted Thursday night between 11 PM and 2 AM. There is no need to register in advance, as there is no limitation on the number of people who can enter.

You drive to the entrance of Kifl Hares and park at the staging area the army will have set up. There will be shuttles (free of charge) from the entrance of Kifl Hares to the middle of the village where the graves are located.

Kever Yehoshua is going to be open tonight, allowing people the opportunity to pray at the grave site of Yehoshua bin Nun, along with those of his father Nun, and Kalev ben Yefuna, on what is considered the yahrtzeit of Yehoshua.

The grave is located in the center of an Arab village in the Shomron called Kifl al Har'es - in Tanakh, Yehoshua's final resting place is called Timnas Heres. Normally this village is off limits to Jews, but a couple times a year the IDF, in coordination with the PA, open it up for Jewish visitors for a few hours during the night.

If you are interested in going, just drive out there from midnight and on until nearly sunrise. Kifr Harsa is just opposite the city of Ariel. The IDF sets up a staging area just outside of the village and there is tons of parking available. If you need transportation, they have buses going from different parts of the country, but I dont have details of departure points or times. (If anybody wants to know, leave a comment and I will try to find out for you).

While I will not be going tonight, I have gone a number of times in the past. You can see my series of posts regarding Kever Yehoshua trips in the past, with pictures, in my "Kever Yehoshua" tag.

Last night was the annual entry to Kifl Harith, or by its biblical name "Timnas Heres" to celebrate the yahrtzeit of Yehoshua bin Nun and daven by his gravesite. Buried nearby is his father Nun, and Calev ben Yefuneh.

The arrangements were slightly different than in the past. They changed some of the road in the immediate area, and paved the entrance to the village. So what used to be used as the staging area for the army and a parking lot for the visitors no longer exists in a usable fashion, for the most part. So the police and army with a cadre of "sadranim" direct visitors to parking nearby across the street.

Another difference was the time of entry. I remember in the past it was open from 12 until about 5 or so. This time they opened up relatively early - they scheduled entry from 10pm. The actual entry was not approved until about 10:45, but it is still better than only starting at 12.





After parking and finally being allowed in, we walked from the entrance of the village all the way to the graves, first encountering the gravesite of Calev. I saw no sign of the shuttles that were advertised. That being the first site, it was packed as everyone crammed in there right away.

While in the room with the grave of Calev, in walked Baruch Marzel escorting Rav Yaakov Yosef (the son of Rav Ovadia Yosef).




Later, outside the grave of Yehoshua, I saw Ichud Leumi MK Michael Ben-Ari.

By Yehoshua, he is supposedly buried under the wall of the room. It is not a proper grave-headstone. So many were just davening outside. the room inside is very small and cramped. With tens of people packed in at the same time davening, the air gets very scarce. The davening was intense, and of course there was the Breslav wail every few minutes. If you see a picture on other sites of Rav Yaakov Yosef in Joshua's Tomb, you might see me as well. Inside the tomb of Joshua I was standing right next to him davening as we entered at about the same time.

Most of the buzz int he area was outside of Joshua's Tomb. there was a class of 5 year olds who arrived with rebbes and were dancing. I think there was an upsherin as well. The tables of refreshments were there. This was the central area.





There were thousands of jews of all types, affiliations and styles who came out to daven. It seemed much busier than I remember it from the past. While I initially thought we would be in and out quickly because of the early start, I was wrong. The large crowds, the dark and the long distances to walk made it take much longer than expected. We got out at about 1am and got home a bit before 2am. needless to say, my boys slept in this morning and went to school late.

Tonight is the yahrtzeit of Moshe Rabbeinu. 7th of Adar.

In honor of the date, the IDF has agreed to open the access to kever Yehoshua tonight. Kever Yehoshua is in an Arab village near Ariel in the Shomron called Kafr Harsa.

According to the notice, access will be available from midnight until 2am. While we used to go and drive right up to the entrance to Kafr Harsa, as the army would secure the whole area, this time you will have to park at Tzomet Ariel and take a secure bus (no charge)in to, and back out of, the site.

If you go, daven well!

If you were planning on going to Kafr Harsa tonight to "celebrate" the unknown yahrtzeit of Yehoshua and Calev, you should know that it has been canceled.

The army has decided that it is too difficult to secure considering the heightened tensions due to the security situation.

Chassidut Breslav, the prime people behind the push to Kever yehoshua, among other kivrei tzaddikim, expressed tremendous understanding for the situation. Considering the fact that they go, in normal situations, against the army's orders and sneak in to the various sites without protection, their words were an exemplary example of showing understanding and acceptance. Breslav organization Yesod Olam said "We understand and accept the decision of the security forces, and we will tell our people not to go."

Aritz 7 has posted the following video from last week's trip to Kever Yehoshua...

I was not able to go last night to Kever Yehoshua. I was way too tired, so at the last minute I decided to pass.

A reader went though, and he sent me a bunch of pictures for me to share with you. These are the ones I selected (unfortunately I cannot post them all due to space restrictions, so I had to choose). His review is posted after the pictures...

Yasher Koach to you for sending this!





Last night we traveled from Efrat and RBS up to Kever Yehoshua and Kalev. The keverim are located inside an Arab town called Kefel Hares, located in the Shomron just outside Ariel. Tzahal allows access once a year, on the night of Yehoshua's yarzheit from 11 PM until dawn.

The Shomron Moatzah had cleared a large parking lot / staging area just outside of Ariel and it was prepped to hold over 500 cars and buses. Surprisingly (and not very Israeli), the situation when we arrived was VERY organized. Reflective vest wearing people were directing people where to park and leave their buses and cars. We tried to find a decent spot that would allow us to get out afterward without being blocked in by other cars. But we assumed we would end up being blocked in and stuck.

We walked a few hundred meters towards a large staging area of chayalim, humvees, jeeps, bulldozers and other security vehicles. I would estimate that at this time (11:45 PM) there were about 1000 people waiting around. Suddenly, a Chayal said "Yaaleh" and they swung open a large gate leading into the town and we were off.

To get to the kever you literally have to walk about 20 minutes through a dark, windy street in this arab town. There are NO street lights and it is pitch black! You see lights of a passing jeep every now and then otherwise - darkness. We literally had to shout to each other to make sure our group stayed together.

There were NO Arabs anywhere! No lights on the in the homes, no trissim open, nothing. They were obviously told to stay indoors and not to come out at all. They were chayyalim everywhere - I would estimate over 500. On every corner and turn they were stationed to direct traffic and to watch over everything. They were in a very no nonsense mood. I began to appreciate what they feel like when they have to got into one of these towns at night to apprehend a terrorist. It's dark, quiet, and very grating on your nerves.
But tonight, none of the crowd seemed worried at all. There was some singing, whistling, and generally a very lag ba'omer atmosphere.

The first stop after about a 15 minute walk was Kever Kalev Ben Yefuneh. The chayalim had set up generators and lights to make it easier to daven and gather there. It was amazing to see hundred of Jews davening there at a kever in the middle of nowhere that's about 3500 years old! We davened maariv and then continued down even darker alleyways to Kever Yehoshua.

Kever Yehoshua is located in the middle of the town next to a large open square. There is a mosque (of course) right next door, but tonight it was all ours. It was like mini-Meron. Davening, dancing and singing Aleinu (Yehoshua wrote it), shiruim going on from various rebbes. There was soda and water to drink. And of course the required fleshig cholent and yerushalmi kugel. Lots of pushing and shoving for food.. but overall a "chavaya".

Last stop is Kever Nun - father of Yehoshua. Frankly I did not even know he had made it into Eretz Yisroel, but apparently he had! Another short tefillah and then we headed further into the town to find the road back to the parking lot.

We finally got back to our car at around 2 AM and to our surprise, all the cars were neatly parked and organized - Moshiach is truly on the way!
Back at home in bed by 3 AM.

These signs went up today around RBS, with different details than the previous sign I posted...

reminder, for anyone interested....

Wednesday April 30th at night.. open from 11:00pm until 5:00am (and then davening at 5:30am)..

For those of you who wanted to go but never seem to find out in advance....now you know in advance...

(HatTip: My Right Word)

The day began with Avraham Burg, a former Speaker of the Knesset and a former head of the Jewish Agency, along with a former leader of the Labor Party and son of Yosef Burg, one of the founders of the National Zionist Party, granting an interview to the Ha'Aretz newspaper.

The interview was on the occasion of the publication of his newly published book, "Defeating Hitler". Burg was pretty much tossed out of Israeli politics when he lost his position near the top of the Labor Party. He chose not to fight to get back on top and instead left Israel and went into international business, basing himself in Europe, specifically France.

He spoke about how anybody who can possibly get himself a foreign passport should do so and leave Israel. He criticized the hanging of Eichmann, he compared Israel to Nazi Germany and more...

All this seemed inappropriate especially on the eve of the reading of the Torah portion Shlach, in which the story of the spies is related. The spies spoke ill of the Land of Israel in an attempt to dissuade the Jewish people from wanting to continue to travel towards the land. As a punishment, the trip was lengthened and all the people of the generation had to die in the desert before the Jewish Nation could enter Israel.

I found out that day that that night (Thursday night) the IDF would be opening the gravesite of Yehoshua Bin Nun to Jewish visitors. The grave of Yehoshua (and Calev and Nun - Yehoshua's father) is located in the middle of an Arab village called Kifl Harsa, in the Central Shomron, right across from the Israeli town of Ariel. The IDf only opens the location to Jews twice a year. Once on Yehoshua's yahrtzeit and the second time right before the reading of Parshat Shlach, due to Yehoshua and Calev having been two of the spies and the only two that tried to convinve the people to trust Hashem and enter Israel.

I went about two months ago, the first time they opened it up this year, and I decided I wanted to go the second time as well. If you do not remember, the previous time was a very spontaneous trip, and I barely made it. I ran to Jerusalem at 2:30 in the morning and managed to get on the last bus to Kever Yehoshua. This time I decided I did not want to do it like that. I did not want to waste all that time going to Jerusalem and waiting for a bus and fighting to get on, etc. I decided this time, for the first time, I would drive right up to the Arab village and go right in.

Kifl Harsa is different than Shchem (the site of Kever Yosef). When going to Shchem, one has to go to the Jewish areas nearby, park and get a bus in. There is no other choice. Shchem is a city and a very dangerous one to boot. One cannot just go right in. With Kifl Harsa, it is an Arab village and supposedly fairly dangerous if one were to wander in on his own, but when they open it to Jews, one can generally park on the outskirts of the village and walk in, as the army secures the area. It was still a bit tense, as I had never done so before and was not sure how easy or hard it would be to find.

So, at about 11:45 pm, after finishing my shiurim and chavrusas for the night, I went to pick up my partners in crime, Eliyahu (who has gone with me together a number of time to Kever Yosef) and tnspr569.

We first ran into the big accident you might have heard of in which a hatzala member was killed in a car accident in Bet Shemesh. They had shut down the road to clear the accident, so I had to drive around the other way. They had needed ambulances, firetrucks (to peel open the cars) and helicopters (not sure why). It was a high speed head on collision and two people were killed and one seriously injured.

Anyways, we get on the way and drive about 45 minutes to Kifl Harsa. This time I had a full tank of gas, so we would not have that aspect of the excitement that we had last time when we tried to go to Kever Yosef.

It was pretty easy to find. It was right off the side of the main highway. We pull into a dirt lot and park the car. It was already showing signs of being a busy night, with about 50 cars there and a couple of buses. They only opened the site at about 12am to Jews, and now it was about 12:45 or so.

We park and walk in the 3 kilometers or so through the village. It was pitch black, but there were a lot of people walking through and there were IDF soldiers stationed at every point the road curved. When walking in from the external parking lot, one first encounters the grave site of Calev Ben Yefuneh. We went in. The floodlights were off, so it was dark inside. People were using cellphones for illumination, so they could read from prayer books or special pamphlets passed around with special prayers for the site.

It got pretty crowded. The crowd was pretty mixed. Often the majority of people on these trips are Breslaver chassidim, with a lot of "settlers" and then a few yeshiva guys and random people (like me). This time there was just a big mix of people. A lot of "settlers", a lot of chassidim, some breslav but many other types as well, and a lot of yeshiva guys, and regular people (like me) as well. Isn't it amazing how I remain the "regular guy" no matter what the crowd is??

We daven by Calev for a bit, then it is time to move on. We move on and go up through the village to the site of Yehoshua's grave. The big crowd is there. The grave of Yehoshua is not demarcated, rather it is under the wall of the building marking the grave, so some people daven outside at the wall and some go inside.

The site of Yehoshua's grave is generally defaced with Arab graffiti. The IDF, before they let the Jews in, whitewashes over the graffiti with a fresh coat of paint. The paint was only about 90% dry, so people were coming out with whitewash smeared all over the jackets and hats. Inside the building is two small rooms, One is open-air (no roof) and the second is enclosed with a domed ceiling. They were both full of people praying and reading from the Torah portion about the spies and from the book of Joshua. Another prayer, aside from general tehillim, being said was the prayer of Aleinu, which was written by Yehoshua.

After davening for a bit there it was time to move on. We walked further through the village on to the site of Nun's grave. Nun was the father of Yehoshua. I know nothing else about him, but he is buried nearby, so went there as well.

Nun, in contrast to Calev and Yehoshua, has his grave right on the side of the road, with a big headstone (rather than in a building). We davened there and then went back to the grave site of Yehoshua. People were putting out refreshments, so we had something to drink, and then it was time to go home.

Just as we were leaving, the commander of the IDF unit securing the site drove up. I said thank you to him for making out entry possible. I also asked him why they do this at night. There is so much noise and disturbance, that I can't imagine why the Arabs only agree to let us in in the middle of the night. It must disturb their sleep. So why do they not get smart and let us in by day and not make trouble and then they can sleep at night. But instead of that, they don't want to see us, so they only let us in at night and then their whole night is disturbed!

People were making so much noise. Cars honking, people singing and dancing in the streets, general talking and prayers. A lot of noise for 2 in the morning in the middle of a village!

The commander told me they considered it but the one time they did so the Arabs stoned people, so the army decided even with agreement it is still safer at night.

We hike back to the car and head off back to home to catch some sleep. I had intended to run over to Hebron for sunrise morning services, but just could not get up with only 45 minutes of sleep (especially after having had only 2 hours of sleep the night before because of a late work night).

According to the news the next morning, I was one of (or we were three of) 1300 people who visited the site over the course of the night. As well, the news reported that a few people had desecrated a nearby Muslim cemetery. I did not see details of what they did in the cemetery, but it is wrong to desecrate any cemetery, even that of Muslims. The organizers of the event were quoted as to decrying the defacement, and declared it was just a few people who did so, while most people were respectful and did not make trouble.

At the same time that I say this, while our media make a big deal about how a few people desecrated the Muslim cemetery, no word is mentioned how the Arabs desecrated Jewish cemeteries. There was no mention of the graffiti sprayed all over the grave site of Yehoshua, that had to be painted over by the IDF before we got there. There is generally no word of the other Jewish grave sites in Muslim areas that get desecrated. There is generally no word and for sure no public outcry regarding the horrible desecration of Kever Yosef, which was burned down multiple times and demolished to rubble by the local Arabs.

Despite all this, it is wrong to desecrate a cemetery, but I wish the Jewish/Israeli media would be just as concerned about Jewish cemeteries and grave sites as non-Jewish ones...

INN reported on the nighttime visit to Kever Yehoshua Bin Nun and broadcast this video:

What were you doing last night at 3am?

I am not someone who does things spontaneously. I do not like surprises and like to stick to my general plans. Last night I did what is definitely one of the most spontaneous things I have done in a very long time.

At about 2:30 AM I get an sms text message from my friend Elchonon. I do not know why I saw it, but the message said that he had to beat up 50 people to get on the bus. I asked back "the bus to where?" and he tells me he is at the grave of Yehoshua Bin Nun. I told him I had been there a few years ago and had he told me about the trip I wold have like to go with him. He told me there are buses all night and I can go to Geula in jerusalem and get on the last bus still.

I got dressed and I was out of the house by 2:40 am and on my way to Jerusalem. I found the bus location and fought my way on to the last bus. I slept most of the way there and when I woke up we were already in the middle of the Arab village called Timnas Harsa, a.k.a. Timnas Heres as it is called in the navi Yehoshua described as the burial place of Yehoshua Bin Nun.

This shabbos is the yahrtzeit of Yehoshua Bin Nun and every year the army opens up his grave site for access to Jews on his yahrtzeit. It is the one day a year Jews can go there to pray.

Along with Yehoshua Bin Nun, in the same village is also buried Calev Ben Yefune. The grave with the blue marker is that of Calev, while the white-walled gravesite is that of Yehoshua. They are covered with graffitti as you can see from the following pictures.

as you can see from this picture below, someone had painted a swastika on the wall of the gravesite of Yehoshua and it was whitewashed over just before our visit to the grave

I got back at about 9 am, just a few minutes late for my weekly Friday morning chavrusa. Definitely a worthwhile trip, even though I lost a night of sleep.

It was a special experience to be able to go to Yehoshua's gravesite. He was one of our early leaders. He brought our nation into Israel and administered the division of the land among the Tribes. Yehoshua was the student and assistant of Moshe Rabeinu. We study the book he wrote as the first book of the Neviim. This was an experience of connecting with our past. An experience that is rare, and the opportunity must be jumped at.

I just found out that this night at Kever Yehoshua seems to have been sponsored by the jblog society. Every shift that was at the kever last night had a jblogger, which is pretty amazing considering 90% of the attendees are Breslaver Chassidim. I just got off the phone with Jameel - he was there on the first shift from 12:00 am to 1:30 am. Elchonon was there from about 1:30 until about 3:30. I was there from about 4:15 until 6:45.