I have a cousin from a kibbutz in the north, a kibbutz that used to make shoes but they found out that it was more profitable for Arabs in Hebron to make the shoes and the kibbutz would sell them as its brand.
As part of his job, the cousin comes to Hebron every week, but he did not enter Kiryat Arba as an ideological principle. He never came to visit me.
One time he came after I accidentally found out he was in Hebron every week and I was very angry with him for not coming to visit. I said you must come to Kiryat Arba, so he came to the gate of Kiryat Arba with his Arab but they did not let the Arab enter because he did not have a security clearance. The cousin called and said if he didn't come in, I didn't come in either.
I once explained to him that in relation to the mitzvah of settling any place in the Land of Israel there is a reservation, if it is a dangerous place exempt from the mitzvah, but the criterion of dangerous is if a person can not enter there in matters of livelihood because it is dangerous.
I explained to him that thanks to him, the halakhah became clear that there was an obligation to settle Hebron as well. It cannot be suspected that he came for national biblical reasons, he came for a living.
The cousin said to me, "Believe me, if you promise me you will leave Hebron if I leave Hebron - I will leave, I am willing to give my life for that too."
Rabbi Eli Horowitz
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