80 years ago, at the end of Yom Kippur's Neilah (closing) service at the Kotel, 26 year old Moshe Segal blew the shofar. He was promptly arrested and taken to jail, still fasting. He was only released when Rav Kook, the Chief Rabbi, interceded later that night.
What was his crime?
In the aftermath of the Arab riots throughout Palestine in 1929, the British convened a commission of inquiry to investigate the cause of the unrest. The Shaw Commission's recommendations granted the Arabs absolute ownership of the Western Wall and adjacent property. Jews were forbidden to bring Torah scrolls to the Kotel, to pray loudly, or to blow the Shofar, so as not to offend the Arab population.
Despite this restriction, for the next seventeen years, the shofar was sounded at the Kotel every Yom Kippur. Shofars were smuggled in to the Kotel where brave teenagers defiantly blew them at the conclusion of the fast. Some managed to get away - others were captured and sent to jail for up to six months.
Six of these men are still alive.
Two weeks ago, these six men returned to the scene of their "crime". Armed with shofars, they recounted their individual stories and blew shofar again at the Kotel.
Their powerful and inspiring story is told in Echoes of a Shofar, the first installment in the "Eyewitness 1948" short film series produced by Toldot Yisrael and the History Channel. It is the centerpiece of an educational pilot program being developed with The iCenter and made possible through the generous support of the Jim Joseph Foundation.
Toldot Yisrael is a Jerusalem based nonprofit dedicated to recording and sharing the firsthand testimonies of the men and women who helped found the State of Israel. Over 300 video interviews have been conducted with those who were involved during the pre-State struggle and the momentous events of 1948. Our aim is to conduct hundreds more over the next several years – while it is still possible. The Eyewitness 1948 series will present stories that address the heroism of the era as well as the complex moral dilemmas confronted as the young nation battled for its existence. Toldot Yisrael’s footage will serve as primary source materials for the Israel Education curriculum, bringing to life the founding of the State of Israel for today’s young Jews.
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד
ank you for sharing. This made me cry.
ReplyDeleteOne of these shofars and the story about it is exhibited in the Etsel museum in Jaffa (border of Tel Aviv Jaffa).
ReplyDeleteWhat a moving video.
ReplyDeleteThere's a nice story in "A Tzadik in Our Time." R' Aryeh Levin had come to daven with the prisoners on Yom Kippur, and they told him he should go home to Nachlaot before Neilah, so he wouldn't have to wait before breaking the fast afterwards. (He wouldn't have been able to eat in the prison.) But he stuck around, and quietly said to one of the prisoners, "We're going to have a new 'guest' tonight." Sure enough, the shofar blower for that year, a Beitar member, was brought in after the fast- R' Aryeh had stuck around so he'd be able to bring word to the boy's family as to where he was. (No one else could get him to even give his name.)
This is a very well-done film and bodes well for the rest of the series. History told from the point of view of the individual can have a much greater impact than the traditional way of teaching history.
ReplyDeletea) all the shofar blowers were either members of Betar, Brit HaBiryonim or the Etzel. Or friends of them.
ReplyDeleteb) R'Moshe was incarerated in the Kishleh (the picture is wrong in the clip).
c) that British law as regards the shofar was only instituted after the 1929 riots although setting up a mechitza was a problem from the beginning of the Mandate with ups & downs, literally.
Sounds familiar. Only this time, it's Jewish women who can't blow the shofar at the Kotel on pain of imprisonment.
ReplyDeleteTrue, but you still get arrested.
ReplyDeleteOH PLEASE. SPARE US.
ReplyDeleterahel,
ReplyDeletemy sister and other women who truly understand the importance and role of women in judaism are the ones that keep judaism and the family strong...not the women of the wall
way to spit upon the memory of truly brave men and women
For more information about Shofar and other Holy Temple instruments, we have written extensively on the Shofar and have three websites
ReplyDeletehearingshofar (dot) com
shofar221(dot) com
shofar-sounders(dot) com
Video on How to Sound Shofar
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/29qhh3g
Article http://tinyurl.com/27ykf94
For a different perspective from the time, here's an extract from "Tidings from Zion: Helen Bentwich's letters from Jerusalem, 1919-1931" edited by Jenifer Glynn
ReplyDelete"12.10.29: ... There's more trouble about the blowing of the shofar at the Wailing Wall. How unutterably childish it all is! If it's going to lead to more massacres & bloodshed, for heaven's sake don't blow it, is my view. And personally, I'd give up the whole place rather than one Jew more should die. The government is so afraid still, it does nothing"
My cousin Helen Bentwich was the wife of Norman Bentwich, the British Mandate Attorney General. For perspective, note that's she's writing less than 2 months after the massacres of 1929 in Hebron, Tzefat and elsewhere. If I had been there at the time, I would probably have been on the side of the people blowing the Shofar, but it's interesting to see another point of view.
Thanks for posting this.
ReplyDeleteWhere can you get a high res version to download or DVD of this? I'd like to show it to a youth group.
David
@David - If your computer is fast enough and you choose the 480 resolution on the YouTube page, you ought to be able to watch it full screen without a problem.
ReplyDeleteTo give background to Helen's letter, the Kotel affair began in 1928 when the mechitza was removed (read this) and then built up the entire year.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you should read this article.
check Appendix X here for the November 1928 White Paper.
Here's a picture Rav Moshe Segal, at bottom now.
ReplyDeleteHow soon before our liberal Jewish brethren start calling the Kotel "Burquas wall"
ReplyDeleteNice play on Burak Wall.
ReplyDeleteBut, Burkha? the niqab is already here. For men!
O wow.
ReplyDeleteWow wow wow!
Thanks for emailing this, Jameel. Worth having that pesky unread starred email in my inbox for so long ;)
It is 2 a.m and I am sitting here weeping.. what a beautiful story - THANK you
ReplyDeleteGill K