head of Yeshivat Slobodka, had moved the entire yeshiva to br

Hebron just four years earlier, breathing new spiritual life into br

the ancient town. Such synagogues as Avraham Avinu, the syn- br

agogue named after Reb Yehuda Bibas, and two Chabad syn- br

agogues were there. The Chabad yeshiva, Toras Emes, was br

founded there. Jews lived and worked and prayed and studied— br

and then—their Arab neighbors rose up to massacre, in cold br

blood, sixty-seven of them. Scores of others were wounded; all br

the rest fled, leaving their property behind. That was twenty br

years before Dir Yassin.

Throughout the land there was growing tension as roving br

bands of Arab gangsters, egged on by the Supreme Muslim br

Council and the Mufti, agitated against the Jews. Incidents had br

been reported in various places, but the Jews of Hebron were not br

particularly worried. In the first place, they had lived in peace br

for many, many years with their Arab neighbors. How was it br

conceivable that those neighbors, for whom they had done so br

much, would betray them? After all, despite various incidents br

that had taken place in the past decade in Jerusalem, Jaffa, br

Safad, and other places, there had never been trouble in br

Hebron. Second, Arab dignitaries had repeatedly assured them br

that no harm would come to them.

Just how sure the Jews of Hebron were that no problem br

existed can be seen from the fact that Rabbi Avraham Yaakov br

Orlinski, the Rabbi of Zichron Ya’akov, had arrived the pre- br

vious day with his wife to celebrate the Sabbath with their br

daughter and son-in-law, Eliezer Don Slonim. A delegation of br

rabbis who met with the Arab governor of the town were in- br

formed that there was nothing to fear. He had more than enough br

men to protect the Jews in case of any problem, and everyone br

knew that the Hebron Arabs were opposed to the Supreme br

Muslim Council. The Jews were reassured, but at a meeting of br

several leaders (Messrs. Slonim, Melamed, Shneirson, Chaim br

Bajayo, and others) it was planned to bring some of the Jews br

who lived outside the main concentration of Jews into the center br

of town. At about 1:00 P.M., after the Arabs had left the mosques, br

a group of notables visited Slonim to boast of the quiet at- br

mosphere in town and again guaranteed that nothing would br

happen.

At approximately 2:30, an Arab courier arrived by motor- br