At Givat Amuna, I met with young settlers residing in "caravans". A caravan is a group of what we call in the US would call trailers, i.e. trailer park. As settlements grow, caravans get replaced with homes made of stone usually with red clay tiled roofs. The caravans then get moved to higher ground for a new group of settlers. The bus ride to these settlements is quite scary. Winding roads only a little wider than the buses. If the bus was to go 10 inches to the right or left, we would all die. It is a clear drop off the mountain ridge. The bus stops at the settlement and we get off. At Eli, a young woman originally from San Francisco speaks. She tells how she feels, and why she came to live here, the fruits of her labors and the danger all around. I think to myself. San Francisco - she likes hilly places to live. We get back on the bus and it begins to turn around. I can not believe it. Somehow we manage to keep the bus on the mountain. For the first time in Israel - I am scared, not of Arabs. I'm scared our bus is going to fall off the mountain.

In Tekoa, I heard Rabbi and Sherrie Mandell speak of their son Kobi's murder. Sherrie remembers our family from when she lived in Silver Spring. My daughters, Jessica and Rachel babysat for them years ago. I tried to visit Wadi Hariton, where the murder occurred, however it was too dangerous. Rabbi Mandell wants to start a special camp, where children can get the grief counseling that they need.

At Gush Etzion I heard a speaker say that, in the past, Jewish names, language and clothing gave our ancestors the merit to be redeemed from Egypt. Now it is the Land, People and Language that holds Jews together. The Temple Mount, Kever Yosef, Kever Rachel are important to our national roots. Here they have 20-40 terror incidents every day! What is abnormal has become normal. What is needed is a normal life for normal people. Children go to sleep hearing gunfire. Children play dead when traveling in a car. After all, these children know. Palestinians will not shoot someone who is already dead.

We go to Hevron. Incredible - this place could be used as a backdrop for making movies, war movies. An armed camp of Jewish settlers live in Hevron. Solders at outposts with machine guns are there to protect them. We stop at a shul called the "Avraham Avinu" Synagogue. Here we view an ancient Torah scroll saved from the Spanish Inquisition. Rescued from the 1929 Hevron riots, the scroll was returned to this synagogue after its re-building. We meet a man whose 10 month old daughter "Shalhevet" was shot in the head while being held by her mother. Murdered by a sniper in Hevron. Here in Hevron I go to Ma'arat HaMachpela and daven. This large building standing above the kevorim is the oldest building in the entire country and was built by King Herod. One can notice that the stones at the bottom resemble the bottom stones of the Kotel. These are known to be Herodian stones which are easily identifiable. It is time for Mincha and I daven in front of Leah's Kever. A short time later I am in a different room. I daven Maariv with Sara in front of me and Avraham's Kever to my back. The Arabs have a window of their own to Avraham's Kever. You can see them on the other side. I was in Hevron when our guide announced that there had been a shooting in Jerusalem, 43 people shot. We should all call home an tell our families we are ok. A couple hundred cell phones started doing their thing. Ironic, we are safe from that gunman - safe in Hevron? Hevron has a gift shop and a small restaurant. I think to myself how strange, what kind of gift would one buy in the middle of a battlefield. As usual with every where we go, people thank us for coming - "these visits keep our spirits up" we are told.