Kibbutz Parod (or Farod), like its neighbour, moshav Shefer, is built on the site of ancient Parod, also known as Paradia and, subsequently by the Arabs, as Faraddiyya, although the Arab village was on the hill to the south, between modern Parod and Horvat Kfar Hanania.
As we started down the hillside along the dry bed of the seasonal Nahal Tsalmon outside Parod, passing the remains of a series of small aqueducts which presumably diverted the river to feed long-gone water mills, we passed an Arab couple as the husband finished his lunchtime prayers, and began to play the flute. The Nahal is very picturesque, the valley being set out in various terraces, some naturally supported by cliffs, others helped by man. We first came to the two graves which over the centuries have been sites of pilgrimage.
Rabbi Nehemiah Hamsoni (רבי נחמיה העמסוני) is thought to have been a disciple of Rabbi Akiva, though another opinion is that he was Rabbi Nachum Ish Gamzu, whose more accepted grave is in Tzfat.
Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha “Ba’al HaBaraita” (90-135 CE) (רבי ישמעאל בעל הברייתא) was a third generation Tanna (a rabbinic sage whose views are recorded in the Mishnah). The Baraita for which he is named explains his thirteen hermeneutic rules by which Halacha was derived from the Torah. A Baraita (Aramaic: ברייתא meaning "external" or "outside") designates a tradition in the Jewish oral law not incorporated in the Mishnah.
Continuing down the river, as the view opened up down Nahal Tsalmon, with the northern sides of the hills of Horvat Be’er Sheva and Horvat Kfar Hananya, we first found a natural cave, with no particular evidence of burials.
The view of the Tsalmon valley opening up between Horvat Be'er Sheva (on the right hand hill in the picture below) and Horvat Kfar Hanania (on the left) was stunning!
But soon we came to two arch-entranced caves which were clearly burial chambers. The entrance to the first was partly submerged with debris, but we were able to enter to find a cuboid room carved from the rock, with two large, arched, full-length burial niches, unmarked.
The entrance to the second was submerged so that one could only enter by crawling, which we didn’t, but we took a picture with a flash, revealing a similar interior, but with at least six impressive arched niches leading off. We have been unable to find out any information as to whether these graves have been identified with particular people, but they must have been important people locally for the caves to be so beautifully crafted.
Further along the ridge, away from the river, we found a further, smaller, unidentified grave (below).
In 1933, a sheikh’s tomb in the vicinity of these unidentified tombs was identified with the tomb of Rabbi Tanhum of Parod, though I haven’t been able to confirm which, if any, of the tombs we found might be this one.
You can see the remains of some stone buildings, possibly Ottoman, belonging to the Arab village of Farradiyya, which was built to the south of the area we walked, on the remains of ancient Parod.
Yonatan had such fun he didn't want to go, and after a picnic of pitta and salami, he hid in the boot!
