Just outside Yerushalayim, the small town of Kiryat Yearim, known as Telz Stone, quietly resides. The pesukim inform us of the interesting fact that the Aron was kept in Kiryat Yearim for twenty years.
Less known, however, is a fascinating story that unfolded in the year 1764 in the nearby village of Abu Ghosh. Recorded in the detailed diary of the Chida, called Maagal Tov, this incident occurred in the month of Shevat. As the Chida and his companions were journeying from Yerushalayim to Egypt, they encountered a perilous situation near Telz Stone, in Abu Ghosh, when they were confronted by a notorious bandit leader along with his cohorts, 250 of them. The Chida writes that the group was facing immediate danger, and consequently, he had no choice but “to invoke a holy name for protection on the roads, and praise Hashem, they didn’t come within four amos.”
