[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] The Jews who sneaked into the Cave of the Patriarchs from 1450-1929

In its article on the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, Wikipedia notes:

The Mamluks forbade Jews from entering the site, only allowing them as close as the fifth step on a staircase at the southeast, but after some time this was increased to the seventh step....

After the Israeli victory in 1967 in which Israel gained control of Hebron, the first Jew who entered the Cave of Machpelah for about 700 years, was the Chief Rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces, Major-General Rabbi Shlomo Goren. "About 700 years ago, the Muslim Mamelukes conquered Hebron, declared the structure a mosque and forbade entry to Jews, who were not allowed past the seventh step on a staircase outside the building."

However, it appears that Rabbi Goren was not the first Jew to enter the Cave in 700 years - not by a longshot. Many dedicated, heroic Jews over the centuries were willing to risk their lives to visit the second-holiest spot in Judaism.

The women.

From A Separate People: Jewish Women in Palestine, Syria, and Egypt in the Sixteenth Centur by Rût Lamdān:

This was corroborated centuries later by Israel's future second president, Yitzchak Ben-Zvi, who wrote as he described his banning from entering the Cave in the early 20th century:

The entrance to the Patriarchs' Cave was prohibited to non-Muslims. Jews were allowed to climb no higher than the seventh step in the courtyard. Only brave-hearted Jewish women dared enter, masquerading in Arab garb and their faces veiled according to Arab custom.

His wife Rachel wrote separately:

Hebron's Jewish women would sometimes infiltrate the cave veiled and costumed like Arabs. Only by stealth could they pray at our forefathers' tombs. When Hebron's Arab fanaticism escalated, Jews were forbidden even to glance into the cave. Hate spewed from the Arab guards' eyes and from Arab worshipers who brushed against us on their way in. We arrived at the steps and stood silent. I refused to climb the seven permitted stairs. The insult was too searing.

The bravery of these women, risking their very lives to be able to pray at the venerated spot, is awe-inspiring.

This is undoubtedly the best use of a burqa in recorded history.

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Posted By Elder of Ziyon to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 8/15/2013 10:00:00 AM