The group purchased eight buildings over 18 years with full-price cash, facilitating Arab emigration and Jewish return to the city
Tens of thousands of Israelis poured into the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron this Sabbath for the reading of the Chayei Sarah (Genesis 23:1–25:18) weekly Torah portion in the place where Abraham purchased the first piece of land for the Jewish people in Israel. There are those working around the clock to turn that symbolic occasion into a daily reality.
The Harchivi Mekom Aholech organization, which has operated in Hebron for more than 18 years, engages in “redeeming homes”—purchasing buildings from Arabs with full cash payment, transferring them to Jewish ownership, and revitalizing the Jewish fabric of the city.
“Our goal is to make Hebron Jewish,” said Miriam Fleishman, the organization’s director, with a smile that doesn’t hide her determination. “We’re not ashamed of it. Hebron is the city of the patriarchs. There was always a Jewish ember there; now we’re expanding it.”