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bhead of Yeshivat Slobodka, had moved the entire yeshiva to bHebron just four years earlier, breathing new spiritual life into bthe ancient town. Such synagogues as Avraham Avinu, the syn- bagogue named after Reb Yehuda Bibas, and two Chabad syn- bagogues were there. The Chabad yeshiva, Toras Emes, was bfounded there. Jews lived and worked and prayed and studied— band then—their Arab neighbors rose up to massacre, in cold bblood, sixty-seven of them. Scores of others were wounded; all bthe rest fled, leaving their property behind. That was twenty byears before Dir Yassin. bThroughout the land there was growing tension as roving bbands of Arab gangsters, egged on by the Supreme Muslim bCouncil and the Mufti, agitated against the Jews. Incidents had bbeen reported in various places, but the Jews of Hebron were not bparticularly worried. In the first place, they had lived in peace bfor many, many years with their Arab neighbors. How was it bconceivable that those neighbors, for whom they had done so bmuch, would betray them? After all, despite various incidents bthat had taken place in the past decade in Jerusalem, Jaffa, bSafad, and other places, there had never been trouble in bHebron. Second, Arab dignitaries had repeatedly assured them bthat no harm would come to them. bJust how sure the Jews of Hebron were that no problem bexisted can be seen from the fact that Rabbi Avraham Yaakov bOrlinski, the Rabbi of Zichron Ya’akov, had arrived the pre- bvious day with his wife to celebrate the Sabbath with their bdaughter and son-in-law, Eliezer Don Slonim. A delegation of brabbis who met with the Arab governor of the town were in- bformed that there was nothing to fear. He had more than enough bmen to protect the Jews in case of any problem, and everyone bknew that the Hebron Arabs were opposed to the Supreme bMuslim Council. The Jews were reassured, but at a meeting of bseveral leaders (Messrs. Slonim, Melamed, Shneirson, Chaim bBajayo, and others) it was planned to bring some of the Jews bwho lived outside the main concentration of Jews into the center bof town. At about 1:00 P.M., after the Arabs had left the mosques, ba group of notables visited Slonim to boast of the quiet at- bmosphere in town and again guaranteed that nothing would bhappen. bAt approximately 2:30, an Arab courier arrived by motor- b
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