EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

Torah Champions

values," Wilder said. "They were the embodiment of what
_life should be — of what life is really all about."

D

ina and Rabbi Eli Horowitz of Kiryat Arba had
A State For Terrorists?
just finished Shabbat dinner in their ground-floor
With their deaths, symbolic of all who have died in
apartment last Friday when two Palestinians dis-
Palestinian-provoked terror, the Jewish people must unite in
guised as yeshivah students entered a side window
exposing
the danger of a Palestinian state led by Yasser Arafat.
and murdered them. The rabbi tried to shield his wife, but
Take
it
from Morton Klein, the Zionist Organization of
both died in a hail of gunfire. A dinner guest was slightly
America
president,
who was in Southfield on March 9: "It
hurt before fleeing into a courtyard.
would
be
the
first
time
in history that a state is established
Earlier that day, Dina, 50, and Eli, 52, hiked the flower-
not
to
benefit
its
people
but-to destroy another state."
draped hills of Eretz Yisrae4 the Land of Israel they so loved.
Klein
spoke
at
the
annual
dinner of the West Bloomfield-
Following Shabbat, David Wilder, a friend and student of
based
Sara
Tugman
Bais
Chabad
Torah Center. "We must
the couple, visited the shot-up apartment in Building 35 of
make
it
clear
to
the
terrorists
—
they'll
get nothing as a
Kiryat Arba, a Hebron suburb in the Judea
reward
for
terrorism,"
he
said.
"That's
why
it's such a mistake
region south of Jerusalem:
to
speak
out
in
favor
of
a
Palestinian
state.
They must know
"It was a scene straight out of Sodom and
they
have
no
hope
to
achieve
any
of
their
goals
while perpet-
Gemorrah — total chaos, the feel of death
uating
terrorism."
and destruction, and so much blood," said
Says a Hebron spokesman: "The Arabs know no fear —
Wilder on Israeli TV.
and
they are continuing to kill Jews. And the government is
Two other civilians and four soldiers were
sitting
back and saying, 'tough luck,' 'be strong' and 'it will
hurt that evening of March 7 in a 30-minute
take
a
long
time to find a solution.'"
rampage that began when two terrorists
About the same time as the Kiryat
ROBERT A. breached Kiryat Arba's
Arba attack, Israeli troops killed two
SKLAR
security fence and
Palestinian terrorists with explosives
Editor
eluded a guard on
—
thwarting a related attack on the
patrol. It was the first
southern
Hebron hills settlement of
act of terror in the 32-year-old city —
Negohot,
about 10 miles away.
the first renewed Jewish community in
Three
nights
later, Palestinian ter-
Judea and Samaria, which make up the
rorists shot six soldiers, killing one, as
disputed territory of the West Bank.
they patrolled the road between
In 'a gun battle, Israeli troops hit an
Hebron and Kiryat Arba. Over the
explosive on one of the terrorists and
past
four months, terror has taken at
killed him. Soldiers stormed Building
least
25 Israelis in or near Hebron,
35 and killed the second gunman.
home
to the Cave of Machpelah, the-
How much more terrorism must
world's
most ancient Jewish site.
Israel endure? Clearly, Muslim mili-
Dina
and
Rabbi
Eli
Horowitz
I
appreciate
the Jewish community
tants want to lay claim to our ancestral
of
Hebron
urging
the Sharon govern-
homeland. Over the past 29 months, at
ment
to
expel
families
of terrorists to
least 757 Israelis and foreigners-have died in Islamist terror
Lebanon,
Syria
or
Jordan.
I
sense
their
disdain
that the Israeli
justified as the wish of Allah.
army is under orders not to unleash its full defensive fury.
Mort Klein is right: "The defense of Zionism is moral and
Sharing God's Will
just."
Both Dina and Eli were born in America, and their families
I echo Bais Chabad dinner keynoter Daniel Pipes, a -
once both lived in Washington. But they met in Israel in the
national authority on the Middle East, who would shelve
early 1970s and were married in 1973. Nineteen years ago,
peace talks until the Palestinians accept Israel as the Jewish
they moved from Jerusalem to Kiryat Arba, now home to
state. "When the Jews of Hebron need as little security as the
6,000 Jews.
Arabs of Nazareth," he said, "it becomes germane and perti-
Eli taught at five Torah centers, including Midreshet
nent and correct and legitimate to start having negotiations
HaRova in Jerusalem's Old City. He enjoyed carpentry and
on secondary issues of land, water and Jerusalem.
discussing politics. Dina taught at Kiryat Arba Ulpana Girls'
"But not until then."
High School and Midreshet HaRova. She loved giving piano
We all can take heart in the message of Elisheva Harrow,
lessons.
21, of Efrat, who admired Dina and Eli Horowitz: "We —
The couple left four children ages 20-30, five grandchil-
our families, friends, neighbors, relatives — are being target-
dren and an indelible imprint on all whom they spiritually
ed and killed. Young and old, armed or unarmed. It makes
touched.
no difference to our enemy. We're scared, we're angry and
Both were teachers and very special. They inspired their
we're frustrated. We try, but many times it's very hard to see
students to listen intently to others, even when they dis-
the light at the end of the tunnel. Yet we have to learn from
agreed. They treated their students as family. They taught not
our ancestors, whose blood flows in our veins and whose
for money but the love of teaching. They also counseled mar-
stubbornness and tenacity has kept us going for almost 4,000
ried couples. God's word embraced them. •
years.".
"Eli and Dina didn't teach Torah," Wilder wrote in a
Purim — a holiday commemorating Jewish ingenuity,
remembrance. "They were Torah. They were living examples
resolve and survival — begins at sundown March 17. At the
of how life should be — of patience, of understanding, of
Bais Chabad dinner, Rabbi Elimelech Silberberg related
wisdom, of fear of God."
Purim's story to the Middle East struggle confronting Jews
The couple had so much more to give.
today. As he put it: "Then, as now, we're not bowing down.
"They were people of hope and prayer, of optimism and of
We're not negotiating with evil. We are God's 'people." ❑

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2003