The captive from Hebron

In those days, Hebron was in the hands of the Crusaders. A Christian house of worship stood on the Cave of the Patriarchs and a large golden cross was perched on top of the roof. Bells rang and the city was full of drunkards and drunkards, while the Jews and Muslims were persecuted and tortured by the Christians.

And in the area of the Cave of the Patriarchs they allocated a small space for a Jewish synagogue and a Muslim mosque. However, the crusaders and their debauched masses went on a rampage and abused the Jews and Muslims and pushed their feet everywhere. But the troubles of the Jews were greater than the troubles of the Ishmaelites. Many times the holy places of the Jews were desecrated and the doors of the synagogue were more than once locked by missing hands.

In those days there lived in Hebron a righteous and upright man, zealous for God and his word, repaying kindness to the poor and welcoming guests like Abraham our father in his time, his name was Meir ben Eliyahu. And a worm gnawed at his heart every day, as he passed near the Cave of the Patriarchs, and when he saw the cross resting on the graves of the ancestors - the same cross under whose shadow and name holy communities from Israel were slaughtered and destroyed. And his anger grew and his soul was greatly agitated, when the Christians erected one of their statues on the roof of the house of Yarat. And he doesn't have the chance and enters the house, and here are the pictures of their saints and their statues painted all around on all the walls.

There was a Meir walking through the alleys of Hebron and his spirit was agitated: "What happened to us? Abraham, our father, in his time, rebelled against his idolatrous father, broke and smashed photographers and statues and gave himself up to be burned for the unity of God. And today, with our many iniquities, Cuba is full of statues on his grave?..."

And a spirit of jealousy passed through him and he began to embitter the lives of the priests from the House of Awe on the Cave of the Patriarchs. Every day the priests found broken statues, carved images, and disappeared from them by those who committed these acts. After a few months it became known that my hand was playing "tricks" and they decided to take their revenge on him.

And it happened today and Meir disappeared from Hebron. The Jewish community and his wife searched for him throughout the city and district and he was not found. They gave up on him and his wife was a mockery. And the rumor spread: Meir was kidnapped by the Christians, brought to Jaffa, and there they put him on a ship going to Rome.

The Christian residents of Hebron recognized and knew that Meir was a saint, and did not want to shed his blood, but only to keep him away from the city of his ancestors, in order to put him in a seminary for priests and influence him to leave the religion of Israel. Therefore they dressed him in priests' clothes and began to preach to him the laws of their religion. Meir understood that there was no savior, and he would wait impatiently for the hour of fitness. And he dedicated himself to studying the book of the Bible and would meditate on it day and night, until he knew the entire Bible by heart - and his friends called him: "Kahlat".

Years have passed. The eve of Yom Kippur has arrived, and Meir is walking in Rome lost in thought among the boulevards of trees. The sun stands at the top of the trees, and he knows that soon the terrible day will be sanctified - Yom Kippur. Jews wrapped in tallit and barefoot are flocking to the synagogues, the sun turns to the evening, and shines through the cables. what will he do And he's a prisoner!

He began to sing to himself verses from the poets of the terrible days and his soul was exalted and longed for the highest and highest, and he felt as if a great soul had come to him. His spirit has left the place not for her, and will move to its first place... and the verses in his mouth continue... He can only come to a Jewish school.

And here a Jew walked towards him. The Jew was surprised to hear a priest singing poems of the terrible days and thought him a convert or a madman. Meir was so engrossed in prayer that he did not feel the curious Jew. After a few moments he turned to him with the pleasantness of prayer and said: "I am a Jew, Meir ben Eliyahu, from Hebron"!

When they both sobered up from their daydream, they entered into a conversation. It is to save and it is to be saved, and set a second meeting after the fast. That day they were both very excited and could not rest, one in his turban and the other in his priest's robe. The day after Yom Kippur they met again and made a plan to escape.

And it came to be evening, the night of Sukkot, and they both ran away that night. After six months of arduous and adventure-filled travel, Meir ben Eliyahu arrived in the Land of Israel. And it came to pass when Hebron came, and the whole city came to the coming of the "disappeared."

(Book of Hebron according to 'Yalkot Hebron' for Israel)