The Easter fast, which falls every year on the 3rd of Adar, will start this year two days earlier, on the 1st of Adar because it is not customary to fast on Shabbat. Until the destruction of the Second Temple, the 13th of Adar, there was the “Nicanor Day” holiday, in which they celebrated the victory of Judah the Maccabee over the Greeks in the seventh battle of the Hasmonean rebellion. But after the destruction of the Second Temple, they began to observe the Fast of Esther as a reminder of Queen Esther’s request to the Jews, to beg for her before her entry into Achashvarosh. This year, the Fast of Esther takes a turn, when instead of going from holiday to day, we do the opposite and go from mourning to joy. How? On this day, two significant events occurred for Zionism. On the 11th of Adar 1920 Tel Hai fell , and 26 years later, on the 11th of Adar 1946 (1946), we succeeded in conquering the capital.
Tel Hai – its foundation and fall
In 1893, Baron Rothschild purchased an area of approximately 13,000 dunams, with most of it allocated to the Metula colony. 12 years later, six pioneers came to the village of Talha with the aim of demonstrating presence and control, they developed the place and established an agricultural farm there until at the end of 1918 a group of workers announced the establishment of the Tel Hai kibbutz.
According to the Sykes-Picot agreement, the finger of Galilee was under French rule, against which the Arabs in the region rebelled. At that time, only about 20 people lived in Tel Hai, and in order to deal with the Arab riots in the area, the residents of the Finger of the Galilee asked for help and reinforcements with people and ammunition. Following the murder of two Tel Hai residents in one of the attacks in the area, the leader of the Hashomer organization asked Trumpeldor to come to the Galilee and strengthen the settlement, and so it happened.
In 2011, the Bedouins led by Sheikh Kamil Effendi arrived in Tel Hai and promised that they did not intend to harm the Jews, but only to look for Frenchmen who were hiding in the settlement. During the search, they entered a central building and went up to the second floor, where they encountered Deborah, a pioneer, with a gun in her hand. Kamil tried to take the gun from her and she resisted and shouted “They are taking my gun!”, and by mistake, a bullet was fired from her hand.
Following the shout and hearing the Hiria, Trumpeldor was sure that the Arabs were attacking his men and ordered to open fire. A riot developed there, as Jewish forces fought against the Arab forces waiting outside the gate, while Kamil and his men fortified themselves inside the attic and fired at the Jews below. During the battle Trumpeldor ran to the aid of Jacob Toker who was standing at the gate trying to prevent the Bedouins from entering, but on the way he was mortally wounded by three bullets. The doctor who treated him claims that before his death Trumpeldor said the famous sentence: “It is good to die for our country”. Although the Bedouin retreated and did not even return to occupy the place because they knew they were unable, the great loss resulted in the abandonment of Tel Hai.
The story of the conquest of Beriya and the settlement there
26 years after the fall of Tel Hai, the Palmach began to establish isolated settlement points in the Galilee, one of which was Biriya. On January 8, 1945, a nucleus of the religious department of the Palmach settled in Biriya and established a military fortress there. The residents spent their time in training, tours, and forestry work on behalf of the National Fund for Israel. The people of Biriya saw their destiny in protecting the Safed Jews who were a minority in a city that was mostly Arab at the time.
On February 28, 1946, all the residents of Biriya were arrested by the British, following a shooting incident at the Arab Legion camp on Mount Canaan. Two Seliks were found there with many weapons and documents that linked the settlement to the Haganah and the Palmach. A number of notim were immediately assigned to the settlement and held the point while the residents were under arrest, but on March 5, 1946, the British army announced the occupation of the city, the deportation of the notim, and the ban on living there.
After a week and a half, on the 11th day of Adar 2555, thousands of youths came to the area and established a new settlement point near Biriya A, some of them left within a few hours and the rest were forcibly evicted by the British. Three days later, hundreds of teenagers were recruited, who climbed to the place by detours and stayed there until the holiday of Purim. At the end of arduous negotiations, the British agreed to allow 20 people to live in Biriya. The event was seen as a great victory for the Jewish settlement, and the mountain on which the citadel was built has since been called the “Mountain of the Brave”.
On the contrary – in those days at this time
This year the stories of Tel Hai and Beriya, which took place on the 11th of Adar, take on a different meaning, when on that date we will fast the Fast of Esther. During the Second Temple period and shortly after its destruction, there were times when they celebrated the 13th of Adar as a holiday, and after the destruction they celebrated the 13th of Adar today but
Hundreds of years later, the 11th of Adar took a turn when it turned from a day of mourning – the fall of Tel Hai to a day of good and joy – the conquest of the Beriya. Throughout the history of the Jewish people, this date had two sides – good and bad, joy and mourning, victory and loss. As then and today – We are facing the same crossroads, at the height of a war against our enemies and those who wish us harm. Where will we turn this year, will we lose or will we know victory? It is up to us.
The Fast of Esther was determined by Queen Esther’s cry: “Go, gather all the Jews.” So is the war of iron swords, which began when we were in great disunity and division among the people. That is why this year, in preparation for the joy of Purim, it is appropriate that we stop and take stock, multiply with free love and soothe the brokenness in the nation. With God’s help, from this we can write another victory in the glorious history of the Jewish people.
The author is a tour guide at the Orot HaGalil Tour and Study Center from the Eshkolot Organization, the Israeli Tour and Consciousness Centers
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