Hundreds Daven at Kever Yehoshua

Over 800 people jammed into the Arab village of Kifl Haris Monday night to visit the kever of Yehoshua Bin-Nun in advance of tzom Asara B’Teves. Dozens of IDF troops were on patrol to prevent security incidents. B’chasdei Shamayim the evening went smoothly, with no unusual events reported.

The kever is located in an Arab village adjacent to the city of Ariel, but permission from security forces is required for Jews to visit it. Before the visitors arrived, security officials who were preparing the site for the visitors discovered anti-Semitic graffiti scrawled on the walls of the building, along with a swastika. Volunteers cleaned up the site before the visitors arrived.

In a statement, the IDF said that “on Monday night we had a mass entry into the kevarim in Kifl Haris in honor of Asarah B’Teves. We see these visits as important, providing an opportunity for large numbers of people to daven here. We are prepared for these visits from a security and organizational point of view. We wish everyone an easy and meaningful fast.”