Rabbi Moshe Levinger, of blessed memory, one of the founders of the Gush Emunim settlement movement and founder of the modern-day Jewish community in Hevron, was laid to rest in Hevron on Sunday. 

President Reuven Rivlin eulogized Rabbi Levinger.

“[Levinger] wrote a letter to David Ben-Gurion and for the renewal of Jewish settlement in Hevron,” Rivlin noted, adding that he had called Hevron a “sister city” to Jerusalem. “It’s hard for us to say goodbye.” 

Rivlin described the figure of Rabbi Moshe Levinger and said that while he “would never call himself a man of consensus,” he wanted “brothers from all sides.” 

Former Rabbi of Kiryat Arba-Hevron, Rabbi Dov Lior, also eulogized Levinger.

“We are gathered here on the day of the liberation of Jerusalem” began Rabbi Lior, “and a significant part of what we had to do liberate Jerusalem is due to Rabbi Moshe, who drove and worked to liberate [other] parts of our country.”

“There is no doubt that it was the center of his life’s ambitions,” Rabbi Lior continued. “With Gush Emunim, the public wanted to settle all parts of the country, Rabbi Levinger drew the public here, to a hotel, on that famous Passover. Then the community was allowed to settle other areas.” 

After the eulogies, mourners moved from the ceremony at the Cave of the Patriarchs to the ancient Jewish cemetery in Hevron, where Rabbi Levinger will be laid to rest.

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