Rabbi Nava Hefetz
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You take groups on tours of the separation barrier. What is the goal of these tours?
My discourse is very complex. It isn't the Left's discourse which says we don't need a wall. I think today we need a wall and I am in favor of one. On the one hand, this wall is protecting me. On the other hand, I have a problem with its route because it infringes on human rights. The wall was built as a unilateral decision rather than a decision taken by both sides. But, I think we need separation now. I begin the tours with studying Talmudic1 sources. We examine Jewish [theological] sources' approach to the idea of a wall, a fence between neighbors, and from that we try to understand how that applies to our circumstances. I begin in Gilo, a [Jewish] neighborhood in southern Jerusalem, at the monastery at Tantur and from there we continue northward. In south Jerusalem, the fence is almost built on the '67 borders. Almost. I show the complexity.- 1The Talmud is comprised of two parts: 1) the Mishna - recorded Jewish oral law; and 2) the Gemara - rabbinic discussions of the law. See "Talmud/Mishna/Gemara." Jewish Virtual Library. 22 July 2011. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/talmud_&_mishna.html.