Taking a Look at 36 Years of Renewed Jewish Life in Ancient Shiloh

...The official mission was to dig up the past, but the true mission was to renew Jewish Life in the First Capital of the Biblical Jewish Nation, Shiloh.

Batya Medad..
Shiloh Musings..
16 January '14..

In the heart of the winter, in the beginning of the Jewish Month of Shevat thirty-six years ago seven young families and a handful of yeshiva students came to the site of the Biblical Shiloh to renew Jewish Life in one of the most important Biblical sites.

They, with the help of Gush Emunim and the more veteran Ofra residents, cleared a spot near some old roofless buildings, just south of Tel Shiloh and brought in caravans/mobile homes/trailers and a few tents. Infants, diapers and all, they were in the guise of archaeologists on a mission. The official mission was to dig up the past, but the true mission was to renew Jewish Life in the First Capital of the Biblical Jewish Nation, Shiloh.

There wasn't a proper road, no electricity, piped water, public transportation, telephones etc. And you must remember that in 1978 not only weren't there cellphones or internet, many Israelis in the major cities still had to wait years for a phone line. In nearby Tourmus Aiya, in the Valley of Shiloh, they still had the old operator system for phoning. When Jordan illegally occupied the area from 1948 until 1967, they didn't modernize anything at all. The State of Israel began modernization after the 1967 Six Days War building better and safer roads, bringing in electricity to replace the generators, water lines to replace local wells and a modern telephone system. But this all took time and money, and they hadn't yet gotten to the area of Shiloh.

Three and a half years later, when we moved to Shiloh, electricity was from a generator, water was trucked in daily and a few of proper modern phone numbers/lines had been assigned to the community that numbered over sixty families.

From Shiloh - Building For Our Future

Batya Medad..
Shilo Musings..
25 March '13..

When we first came to see Shiloh, over thirty-two years ago, while we were looking for a place to make a new home for our growing family, we discovered a piece of Land in our Biblical Homeland that was full of delicate wild flowers. It was clear that this Land had been deserted for more than centuries. There hadn't been any active communities in Shiloh since Biblical times thousands of years earlier.

In the decades since we moved to Shiloh, it has grown enormously. Our local school, which opened September 1, 1981, with eighteen students in three classes, now is two large prize-winning regional schools, one for girls and one for boys, from First Grade until Eighth Grade.

Part of the Shiloh Elementary Schools Campus

Our district extends from the Shomron, Rechalim to the north of us, Ma'ale Levona, to the west, Gitit and Ma'ale Efrayim to the East, Kochav Hashachar to the south and lots of Jewish communities in between.

The Shiloh Ramat Shmuel, Samuel Heights neighborhood was established by Ariel Sharon in the summer of 1981.

While new buildings are being built, ancient ones are being dug up.

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Eydar - Praise Peace Now

Dror Eydar..
Israel Hayom..
23 February '12..

Here is a familiar scene from recent years: Peace Now, or one of its clones, petitions the High Court of Justice against construction in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. It is a game of sorts: the settlers build and Peace Now demolishes, or tries to demolish. Eros vs. Thanatos.

Until recently, the state’s response to such petitions was that the construction was in fact wrong, that the homes were slated for demolition and so on. We will see. Everything will be fine. In short: you’re right, but … The legacy of the Olmert administration.

This situation, which has long mired the construction, has been a thorn in the side of many officials in the current government, for whom Jewish settlement is a priority.

About a year ago, the prime minister convened a meeting in which it was decided to distinguish between communities built on state lands and communities built on disputed land, which may be privately owned. It was decided further that communities built on state land would be gradually made legal and legitimized. These decisions are justified not only by the Jews’ moral right to their land, but also by international law.

Yisrael Medad: Why I Am In Shiloh

04 May '11

A wonderful video from Yisrael Medad (My Right Word) who reposted this brief excursion into the world of Shilo, approximately 10 years ago. He does point out that today they number 300 families, ken yirbu!



And for another clip Yisrael located: Shana Tova from Shilo

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Dream Education

Batya Medad
Shilo Musings
06 August '10

Twenty-five years ago, our regional council opened up its first high schools. A boys school was opened in Beit El and a girls school in Ofra. Those two yishuvim (communities) were the dominant ones at the time and unabashedly "divided the pie" of goodies between themselves. They also had the only elementary schools allowed to educate the kids up the the Eighth Grade. It took years of struggle, but today the Shiloh Elementary School also goes to the Eighth grade, as do others, but that's another story...

Ofra was the first actual yishuv in the Shomron, and its founders were visionaries, not just pioneers. Rabbi Yoel Bin Nun, well-known Bible expert and educator, was among the first in Ofra. He had been dreaming of what he considered the ideal education for a modern Torah-observant Jewish woman. Not only were the girls to study all of the standard academic and religious courses, but they were to learn sewing, cooking and the first graduation classes even learned basic car maintenance.

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A Milestone in Jewish Life

Batya Medad
Shilo Musings
06 May '10

In Jewish life, prayer is daily, actually thrice daily. For those who follow Torah Law prayer isn't just when visiting a synagogue, following the instructions of the rabbi, listening and sometimes singing along with the cantor. Prayer isn't a performance to be observed. It's participatory. The traditional text is set, written in a Siddur, prayerbook.

Like the Jewish Calender which combines, synthesizes the lunar and solar calendars, our prayer is preferably said with the community, but simultaneously individually. To create a loyalty and familiarity with the prayers, it's best to have one's own siddur.

The custom in Israel, at least in the religious schools is to have a large moving ceremony to celebrate receiving a Siddur at the end of the First Grade.

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"Densely Arab Populated," The Big Lie

Batya Medad
Shilo Musings
30 April '10

Here's another of my contributions to rebranding, trying to change that gut-level, misunderstanding most people all over the world, including Israel, have about Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

I'll never forget reading that phrase "Densely Arab Populated" in The Jerusalem Post a number of years ago. The writer was describing Judea and Samaria. Ever since then, I always request that tourists and visitors take a good look. I've even dramatically opened my dining room window, even on a freezing winter's day, to stick my hand out and say:

"Look at these empty hills. This isn't a painted mural or photograph. There's plenty of land here and no need for the Arabs to insist that it's all theirs."

I'm always amazed to hear people imply that my home and community of Shiloh must be surrounded by Arabs. That's the impression they get from the media and politicians. Here are a couple of pictures I took recently walking between Shiloh and Shvut Rachel, the Jewish community just east of my house.





It's an easy walk, just takes a few minutes. There's an unpaved road. And no, we weren't armed. This may not be what the media claims and the politicians and diplomats believe. Remember that most high political officials get their news information via a predigested news digest, summary, composed and edited by staff members with agendas. Yes, to put it simply, they (politicians and diplomats) don't know bupkes.

These are untouched, uncropped pictures I took. Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley and the Golan Heights and most of the Gaza Strip are just as empty. If you believe the press, you've been had. So please pass this around, thanks.

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Miraculously Beautiful, Tel Shiloh in the Jewish Month of Nissan

Batya Medad
Shilo Musings
21 March '10

Yes, it looks like a miniature lake. But there's neither a lake nor a pond at Tel Shiloh. This is no more than a giant puddle. Unless G-d blesses us with more rain, it will soon dry out.



I've been making a point of going to Tel Shiloh for Rosh Chodesh Prayers for over two years already, and month after month I'm WOWed by the beauty. Rosh Chodesh Nissan was stupendous, rich green leaves covering the earth and branches, wild wheat blowing in the wind like the most luxurious velvet, juicy almonds waiting to be picked and eaten and the colorful wildflowers sparkling like precious stones.



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