Moshe Levinger facts for kids
Moshe Levinger (Hebrew: משה לוינגר; 1935 – May 16, 2015) was an Israeli Religious Zionist activist and an Orthodox Rabbi who, since 1967, had been a leading figure in the movement to settle Jews in the territories occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War. He is especially known for leading Jewish settlement in Hebron in 1968, and for being one of the principals of the now defunct settler movement Gush Emunim, founded in 1974, among whose ranks he assumed legendary status. Levinger was reportedly involved in violent acts against Palestinians.
Early years
Levinger was born in Jerusalem in 1935, and studied at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva in Jerusalem under the guidance of Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook. In his own words, he learned "that the Land of Israel must be in the hands of the Jewish people - not just by having settlements, but that it's under Jewish sovereignty".
Settlement movement
At the time of the 1967 war, Levinger was the rabbi of the Nehalim religious moshav near Petah Tikva. Together with the Movement for Greater Israel, he organized the resettlement by Jews of the Etzion Bloc evacuated in 1948 following the Kfar Etzion massacre. There was disagreement on whether to wait for government approval, with Levinger taking the position that settlement should go ahead regardless. In the event, the government approved a Nahal military outpost at the site and kept secret that it was not military at all. Levinger himself was not one of the settlers.
Levinger first came to Hebron in 1968 after the West Bank was occupied by Israel in the Six-Day War. He rented rooms in Al-Naher Al-Khaled Hotel (which belonged to the family of former Mayor of Hebron, Fahed Al-Qwasmeh) at Ein-Sarah, on the main street of Hebron, in order to hold a Passover Seder, and then refused to leave. In a deal with the Israeli government, he moved with his family and followers to a former army base on a hill just northeast of Hebron, where, with the state's cooperation, they established the settlement of Kiryat Arba.
In April 1979, Levinger's wife, Miriam, and Sarah Nachshon led a march to the center of Al-Shuhada Street in Hebron, and occupied the Al-Dabboia building, which had been a police station used during the Ottoman era.
In 1987, Hadashot asked a panel of twenty-two leading Israelis, from all parts of the political spectrum, to name the "person of the generation, the man or woman who has had the greatest effect on Israeli society in the last twenty years". First place in this poll was shared by Menachem Begin and Levinger.[1].
In 1992, Levinger created a political party called "Torah VeEretz Yisrael" (Torah and Land of Israel) for the Knesset elections that year, but did not receive enough votes to pass the electoral threshold. Levinger has a wife, 11 children, and 50 grandchildren, most of whom live in the West Bank. His wife Miriam and several of his children are also known as activists.
Later years
Since 2000, Levinger's health had been declining, and he was no longer a visible figure in the settlement movement. In 2007, Levinger fell victim to a major stroke as well as a broken hip. He died on 16 May 2015 at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. Levinger was survived by his wife Miriam, 11 children, and numerous grandchildren. On Sunday, May 17, 2015, he was buried in the Ancient Cemetery in Hebron.
In a condolence letter sent to the family, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Rabbi Levinger as “an outstanding example of a generation that sought to realize the Zionist dream, in deed and in spirit, after the Six-Day War.”
See also
- Gush Emunim
- Gush Emunim Underground
