What is intoxicating and seductive about being [in a place like Hebron]?
… Hebron is traditionally understood by rabbinic tradition of one of the four holiest cities in the land of Israel. It’s the burial place of the matriarchs and the patriarchs — of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Sarah and Rebecca and Leah. The site where they’re buried has traded between being a mosque and a church many times in the last 1,800 years. For Jews to be able to go back to that place where the founding fathers and mothers are buried is unbelievable. To be able to go back to a place where, in 1929, Jews were run out of town in a pogrom is unbelievable. To be able to say, at the age of 18 or 19, “This is where I belong,” is intoxicating after thousands of years of exile. That’s the feel. It’s like you get drunk on messianism. You believe anything is possible, because you have all the answers. … You are serving the state and you’re serving God. You’re a soldier and student. Everything comes together … and now any of the barriers, oh, no, we’ll get rid of those barriers.
