In the hills of Judea, precisely where the Prophet Amos gave over his final message, the Land of Israel Network is commemorating the 50th anniversary of the reestablishment of Judea by inaugurating their international headquarters and learning center.
The Israeli victory unifying Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War will be celebrated next Wednesday, but no less miraculous was the return of Gush Etzion, a region of Judea south of Jerusalem, to the Jews in that war. The event, inaugurating their future headquarters, will be be internationally live-streamed on the anniversary of the first day of the Six-Day War, Sunday, May 21.
“While we commemorate the return of Jerusalem, our national soul, Judea is our nation’s heart,” said Rabbi Ari Abramowitz, a co-founder of the network, to Breaking Israel News. “We want to send a very clear message to the world – there is nothing more natural than a Jew in Judea.”
“We chose this date to inaugurate our international headquarters in the hills of Judea because the 50th year is not only a historic milestone, but a spiritual one,” added Rabbi Jeremy Gimpel, the other co-founder of the network. “On the Jubilee year, a shofar is blasted declaring freedom throughout the Land. This Sunday night we will be sounding the shofar declaring one powerful truth – ‘Jews will live in freedom in Judea’.”
The location and time of the broadcast represent a remarkably significant confluence, bringing to life a Biblical prophecy.
“A Jew named Amos prophesied in these exact mountains that when Israel returns to the Land we will be plant vineyards and drink of their wine – never to be uprooted again,” Rabbi Gimpel told Breaking Israel News.
And I will turn the captivity of My people Yisrael and they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens and eat the fruit of them. Amos 9:14
The soon-to-be inaugurated Land of Israel Headquarters is currently under construction. Built using the natural stone from the site, the group of buildings rises up from the ground like a natural part of the from the ground.
“Our meter thick Judean stone walls reflect the eternal roots with which we are connected to this land,” Rabbi Gimpel said proudly.
Though the two have worked together for 15 years in what they call “spiritual advocacy for Israel”, Rabbis Gimpel and Abramowitz have very different visions of what their new headquarters in Eastern Gush Etzion will be.
“I see it as a ‘Judean embassy’, projecting a message of Jewish identity and nationhood,” said Rabbi Abramowitz. “Parliamentarians, Jews and non-Jews, can come from around the world can come to learn what it means to be a Jew in our homeland.”
Rabbi Gimpel sees the new structures as modern incarnations of the fabled yeshiva (school for religious studies, or seminary) of Shem and Eber. The Talmud describes the school in which Noah’s son Shem, and Shem’s great grandson Eber, taught. Jacob and Esau were purported to have learned in the yeshiva, which is described as being a school for universal wisdom in the service of God.
“I envision it as a place where people can come for seminars on parenting, relationships, prayer and meditation, as well as Bible studies,” Rabbi Gimpel said. “It will be a place where Jews and the righteous from the nations can come together, to learn and to reconnect to the land.”
The rural setting is essential to the learning experience. Part of a 50-acre farm that is disconnected from the electrical grid, it has an orchard, vineyard, and flocks of sheep. It is what its founders describe as the “real Judean Jewish experience”.
“Paint a picture of the Messianic era in living color, when each man will dwell under his vine and fig tree,” said Rabbi Gimpel. “To learn this type of Torah, each person has to be literally connected to the land.”
The inauguration event will be live-streamed around the world on their website.
