The Story of Margalit Zinati: A New Beit Midrash Peki’in!

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Yom Shleeshee

Tuesday

9 Shevat 5782

January 11, 2022

The Humorous Quote of the Day

“I am asymptomatic. When I was told yesterday that my security guard was infected, I went straight home. We need to set an example . . . The public’s criticism is not about the government, it is about the Corona.” 

Former boxer and newsbroadcaster turned Foreign Minister Yair Lapid

Your humble servant can barely stop laughing. Here we have Yair Lapid who has been gallivanting on the public dole in every direction while doling out jobs to relatives talking about setting an example.

And on top of that, the same Lapid, who continually lambasted former PM Netanyahu for his handling of the Corona crisis, declaring that public criticism about the current Corona situation is not being directed toward the government but toward the virus.  Everyone in Israel, no matter what side of the political spectrum they are on, realizes that the Bennett-Lapid government doesn’t have the slightest idea what it is doing about Corona.

By the way, Lapid tested positive for Corona later in the day.

The News on the Israeli Street

Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .

From Gaza:

Palestinian terrorists fired two missiles that exploded of the coast near Ashdod yesterday. The hard concussive blasts were heard from Ashkelon all the way to Tel Aviv.

You will not read or hear about these attacks anywhere else because the IDF did not report them, and in today’s “Hamas is our friend” environment being promulgated by our ridiculous government, no report will be made unless some resident happens to take a photo of the missile or missiles exploding (such as what happened off the coast of Tel Aviv last week).

In Judea and Samaria (from reports to Rescue without Borders SSF/Rescue Judea and Samaria):

Palestinian terrorists using “rocks” and Molotovs attempted to murder Israelis on Road 55 near Ponduk, on the Tapuach-Migdalim Road, on Road 60 near Luban a-Sharqiya, on the Gush Etzion-Hevron Road near Beit Omer, and at a dozen other locations.

The daily Corona update . . .

Every day sets a new dubious record: 37,887 Israelis tested positive for Corona yesterday.

There are now an astonishing 185,753 active cases of Corona in the country.

247 are in serious condition; 59 are in critical condition on ventilators.

8,271 Israelis have died–an increase of 2 since yesterday.

T0day’s Blog:

The Story of Margalit Zinati: A New Beit Midrash Peki’in!

In the past few days, Druze living in the predominantly Druze northern Galilee city of Peki’in took over a plot of land in front of the visitor’s center of Beit Zinati. They razed what was on the plot even to the point of uprooting a huge and ancient fig tree that grew there.

All of this despite previous agreements not to do so with the police and Antiquities Authority.

And all of this despite the screaming of 90-year-old Margalit Zinati who stood there alone  protesting what was taking place.

Perhaps we should step back for a long moment and understand who Margalit Zinati is and why that plot of land is so important to her.

What follows is the slightly abridged version of a blog I wrote 9 years ago:

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Margalit Zinati: the last remaining member of a Jewish family that has lived in Peki’in Israel since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE–and in the land of Israel for over a thousand years before that.

Put things in perspective.

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Think about all the dangers that Israelis face on any given day: PLO attacks in Judea and Samaria,  Hezbollah terrorism in the north, Hamas and Islamic Jihad missiles from Palestinian Gaza, Iranian proxy infiltrations from Syria, and threatened nuclear annihilation from Iran.

But what if your family had survived the Assyrian invasion of 715 BCE during which hundreds of thousands of your neighbors and friends were slaughtered and taken off into captivity–never to be seen again? And then had managed to survive the Babylonian invasion of 586 BCE which saw the First Temple destroyed and, again, hundreds of thousands of your neighbors and friends killed or taken off into captivity?

Or the three Roman wars from 70-135 CE during which the Second Temple was destroyed and over a million of your fellow Jews were massacred and hundreds of thousands more carted off into servitude? And yet you were still there when the Arabs came in 637 CE, and the Crusaders came in 1099 CE, and the Turks came in 1519?

There are ancient Jewish communities and families living in Israel today who have lived continuously in the land of Israel for over 3300 years. These Jews are called the Musta’arib and they live in isolated pockets in Jerusalem, Tzfat (Safed), and in the northern Galilee.

Take, for example, the tiny village of Peki’in which is located at the base of Mt. Meron near the Lebanese border. Today, Peki’in is composed mainly of Israeli Arabic Druze and Christians. But there is also Margalit Zinati and her small group of ancient Jews.

But before we get to Margalit, a little bit about the history of that community of Peki’in Jews.

Their history is a book in itself, but suffice it to say that the community was formed by three priestly families from the Second Temple who managed to escape the destruction and massacres in Jerusalem in 70 CE to make their way north–carrying with them stones from the destroyed Second Temple and two stone tablets.

One of the stone tablets in the Peki’in synagogue–brought from Jerusalem by the three families 1,951 years ago.

One of the first things these families did was to build a Beit Midrash (a Torah study academy) which became the Beit Midrash of Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah in the 2nd century CE.

The front edifice of the Peki’in Synagogue–built on the site of the ancient synagogue: both synagogues were built by Margalit Zinati’s ancestors. The plot of land and the fig tree just taken over were part of the Jewish community’s compound.

Two hundred years later, the descendants of these families used the stones from the Second Temple and the tablets they brought with them from Jerusalem in the construction of a synagogue that was destroyed and rebuilt numerous times over the course of centuries because of earthquakes. Today’s synagogue in Peki’in (built in 1873) is built on the site of the ancient synagogue and still contains the same stone tablets and stones from the Second Temple.

And so Jewish life in Peki’in continued until the 1930s when the community was largely wiped out by Arab pogroms. All of those who survived were forced to flee to other locales in Israel.

Some of the Peki’in Jewish community in the early 1930s including members of the Zinati family.

Only Margalit Zinati’s family–direct descendants of one of the three priestly families who escaped Jerusalem in 70 CE–returned two years later. Over the years, Margalit’s family has slowly passed away, and sadly, Margalit–who never married–is the last of her family’s line.

Today, this remarkable woman is revered throughout Peki’in and throughout the northern Galilee. She, alone, keeps the keys of the Peki’in synagogue, and if one knocks on her door, she will gladly take you across the street and show you the wonders of that synagogue.

So when you hear people tell you about how Jews first came to Israel in 1947 or that Jews have no connection to the land of Israel, remember Margalit Zinati and her fellow Musta’arib Jews who have lived in the land of Israel since before the time of King Saul and King David–since time immemorial.

By the way, your humble servant will be knocking on Margalit’s door next month–and, of course, will tell you about the experience.

Addenda:

Margalit Zinati is even on youtube.

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And so as I stated in that blog 9 years ago, I did visit Beit Zinati and have done so several times since.

Margalit Zinati on her 86th birthday in the Beit Zinati Visitors’ Center: she is the last remaining member of a Jewish family that has lived in Peki’in Israel since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE–and in the land of Israel for over a thousand years before that.

But back to today.

In light of what happened this past week, there is a movement underway this morning to reestablish Beit Midrash Peki’in in the tiny synagogue.

The primary purpose of the Beit Midrash is to protect the ancient Jewish connection to Peki’in and to provide badly needed support for Margalit Zinati.

If you are interested in helping out or hearing more details, this name and number was published today:

Hemda, Midreshet Peki’in 0527343505

We here at OneIsrael are hard-pressed to think of a better cause to be involved with!