Thousands of people entered Joseph's Tomb last night (Sunday to Monday), on the occasion of Rosh Chodesh Kislev, and as part of the regular visits organized by the Samaria Regional Council, the Administration of Joseph's Tomb and the Holy Places of the Samaria Council, and under the security of the Samaria Brigade.
Chief Rabbi David Yosef, Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, Head of the Samaria Council Yossi Dagan and Samaria Brigade Commander Col. Ariel Gonen participated in the visit.
Before entering Joseph's Tomb, the Chief Rabbi was greeted by hundreds of yeshiva students in Elon Moreh and residents of Samaria, singing and dancing. He gave a shiur, strengthened the yeshiva students and residents of Samaria, and at the entrance to Joseph's Tomb he prayed for the peace of the IDF soldiers and the hostages. Rabbi Levanon prayed for the recovery of the soldiers and the return of the hostages.
"Why are we here? Because it's ours," Rabbi Yosef declared. "We are here, because the people of Israel are the owners, not only of this place, but of the entire Land of Israel. And our presence here is because God gave us the Land of Israel. We are in the midst of the book of Genesis, each and every parasha, we read over and over again that God has promised us this land. And we are here, we are exercising our ownership of the Land of Israel."
The Chief Rabbi emphasized, "We want to strengthen the hands of all the settlers in Samaria, and in all the territories of the Land of Israel, everything that belongs to us. Our confidence is that there are Jews here all the time, and with God's help, we will live in all parts of the Land of Israel and we will settle it."
* Arutz 7 contributed to this article.