Whilst staying in Jerusalem, and having dropped off Riva for a haircut, Yonatan and I parked up at the Liberty Bell Park (A, see map below) and took a stroll along the Hinnom valley to Siloam, thence up the Kidron valley past the impressive First and Second Temple graves and monuments, to the Mount of Olives. I have wanted to see these monuments at close hand my whole life, but for some reason was always frustrated, either by time, lack of nearby parking, or heat! Yonatan was moved by my final achievement in middle age. At the end of the walk, before retracing our steps the three kilometres we had come, and despite being hot and tired, Yonatan quite rightly insisted we walk a little further up the Mount and visit the grave of his great, great grandfather, Menachem Mendel.
Map of the walk: The letters mark landmarks referred to in the text in red.
But to start at the beginning: Hell!
Crossing the busy Hebron Road we entered the green and tranquil Valley of Hinnom, below Jerusalem’s Old City walls, reveals beautiful views but has evil associations. It was here that the people of Judah offered their children to the fire god Molech and to Baal (Jeremiah 7:31; 32:35) – for which, Jeremiah warned them, they would pay with the destruction of the Temple and exile.
The full name of this low-lying and fertile land is the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, though there is no record who that may have been. The valley’s name in Hebrew is Gei Ben-Hinnom or simply Gei-Hinnom. In light of the sacrifices to the fire god, the latter name gave rise to the word “Gehenna,” which over time became a synonym for hell. Early Jewish sages saw Isaiah 31:9 – which says God’s “fire is in Zion” and “furnace in Jerusalem” – as a reference to this valley, which they described as the gates of hell. The valley’s other biblical name, Topheth, means inferno, adding to its image as a place of eternal torment.
On a more positive note, when the people of Judah returned from exile around 538 BC, according to Nehemiah they took up “living all the way from Beersheba to the Valley of Hinnom” (Nehemiah 11:30).
Looking east down the Hinnom Valley towards Siloam.
But in the New Testament, this was the place where the chief priests bought a potter’s field with Judas Iscariot’s infamous 30 pieces of silver. Not wanting to keep the money, they decided to use it to buy a burial place for foreigners. “That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day” (Matthew 27:6-8). The version of the story in the Book of Acts adds gory detail: “With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood” (Acts 1:18-19).
Today, the Greek Orthodox St Onuphrios' convent of the Akeldema (C) marks the site of the “field of blood” (Akaldema in Aramaic) – the cemetery for foreigners purchased with the money Judas received for betraying Jesus, and where he hanged himself (Matt. 27:3-8; Acts 1:18). The convent was built atop a mediaeval church in 1874, and is now home to four nuns. The church is built around one of the site’s many Second Temple-era burial caves, where St Onuphrius, a desert-dwelling fourth-century monk, is said to have lived in solitary contemplation.
The Greek Orthodox St Onuphrios' convent of the Akeldema - view from the pool of Siloam.
Beneath the convent you can see a set of excavated family tombs dated to the 1st Century CE . These are luxury tombs composed of several rooms with carved burial niches. These structures and the ossuaries within them are evidence of a burial style practiced by Jerusalem Jews at the time of the Second Temple, supported by inscriptions found on some of the tombs and the ossuaries. The tombs’ wealth and their presence on this slope testify to the centrality of Jerusalem and of the temple. Pilgrims from throughout the ancient world made their way to Jerusalem, and the rich among them invested a great deal of money to purchase burial grounds and build opulent family graves. The graves served these families over several generations. Inscriptions found on some of the graves include names that appear to belong to families originating outside Jerusalem, such as the cave of the Ariston family, which was based in Apamea, Syria.
The entrance to the convent.
The valley was also "hell" during the War of Independence when the terrain and Jordanian sniper fire made it difficult to move men and supplies between the western part of the city and Mount Zion, both in Israeli hands. A tunnel was dug crossing the wadi but this only provided limited access. So in December 1948 Uriel Hefetz, an engineering corps commander at the Etzioni Brigade, conceived of the idea of stretching a 200-meter steel cable across the Hinnom Valley from a room in the then hospital (formerly of the order of St John) to the Israeli post at the Eretz Hatzvi school on Mount Zion. It was used during the night to transfer medicine and arms to Mount Zion and the wounded to the hospital. During the day the cable was lowered to the ground so it would not be discovered by the Jordanians. The cable was inclined with a maximum height of about 50 meters above the wadi. The cart that ran on the cable was just large enough for one person but could carry a weight of about 250 kilos. The original room has been made into a small museum housing the winch mechanism and other period artifacts.
The cable and cart from the 1948 war of independence.
The Hinnom Valley is the continuation of an area called Katef Hinnom (Hinnom Shoulder)/Ras a-Dabus, which lies from St. Andrews Church in west Jerusalem to Al-Bustan in the east. The entire area served for burials over thousands of years. The valley contains caves that contain many tombs, some of which were inhabited by monks over the centuries.
Judean Kingdom (8-7 Century BCE) burial caves, carved into the south side of Hinnom Valley where the road runs from Abu Tor into the valley (B).
The interior of one of the Judean Kingdom (8-7 Century BCE) burial caves.
Some of the tombs are within gardens owned by the residents of Abu Tor. We entered the garden of the Siam family of Abu Tor, on the south slope of Hinnom Valley. Although private and walled off, the garden may easily be entered through a gate in the valley. It is perhaps an example of the difficulty involved in marking off archeology from area residents. The area is fenced in by a stone fence leading to a rocky slope with tomb excavations. The burial style suggests they should be dated to the 7-8th Centuries BCE.
Yonatan at the garden gate.
The Siam family's garden.
A tomb, dated to the 7-8th Centuries BCE, in the Siam's garden.
The interior of the tomb, used as a store for old furniture.
Just around the corner from the convent is Siloam - Hebrew: Shiloach (שילוח), Arabic: Silwan (سلوان) - an Arab neighborhood. The Arab village was augmented at the end of the 19th century by Jews from Yemen who lived well with their neighbours, and seemingly were not attacked during the Arab riots of 1929. Nevertheless they were forced to leave after the 1936 riots and did not return. Today some Jews are returning to the former sites of the Yemeni settlement.
Yonatan surveys Siloam from Derech Shiloach.
A tree house in a smallholding in Siloam.
On the western edge of Siloam is the Pool of Siloam (D). There, archaeologists have uncovered the remains of the Second Temple (lower) pool where Jesus told a blind man to wash to restore his sight (John 9:1-11). But the Pool of Siloam (בריכת השילוח) is mentioned several more times in the Bible. Isaiah 8:6 mentions the pool's waters, while Isaiah 22:9 ff. refers to the construction of Hezekiah's tunnel.
The Lower Siloam Pool.
Beyond the Siloam Pool to the west lies the City of David, the subject of a future post I hope.
To the north lies the Kidron valley as it exetnds through Siloam towards the Mount of Olives. It is also known, in its upper reaches, as the Valley of Kings (because of the noble monuments I will decsribe) and the Valley of Jehoshephat (because of a burial complex thought to belong to the King of that name).
Yonatan entering the Kidron Valley from Siloam.
The first grave as you enter the Kidron valley from Siloam is that of Rabbi Ovadiah ben Avraham of Bartenura (Bertinoro) ( עובדיה מברטנורא), known simply as "The Bartenura," a holy sage and the best known commentor on the Mishnah. He was born in 1445 in Italy, ending up in Jerusalem in 1488. There he died sometime between 1500 and 1510. The importance of the Bartenura’s commentary is illustrated by the fact that since its first appearance (Venice, 1549), hardly an edition of the Mishnah has been printed without it. The Bartenura is also the author of a supercommentary upon Rashi's Torah commentary called Amar Naka.
The grave of the Bartenura.
It is well known that the Mount of Olives and the immediate adjoining areas have been a Jewish cemetery for 3,000 years. It is believed the resurrection of the dead will begin on the Mount when Moshiach (the Messiah) comes. Legend has it that a miraculous bridge will span the valley at the end of time, over which the righteous will pass on their way to the Temple Mount. Now on the southern slopes of the Mount of Olives, dispersed between houses of the Ras Al-Amud neighbourhood of the village of Silwan, are ancient burial caves from the First Temple Period. The edges of this cemetery can be seen from the Kidron valley. A little to the North, along the Kidron, are the magnificent monuments of the Second Temple Period, that constituted part of the burial area of Jerusalem during those times. So these are the two areas we saw next.
There are some fifty burial caves and structures extant within Silwan, which has long incorporated them into (or even as) its houses, following the previous Byzantine practice of hermit monks living inside the caves. Most of them are inaccesible, or only with some difficulty, but a number may be seen in the eastern cliff of the Kidron, beneath the houses on the edge of Silwan (E), which are built over them as if on stilts.
Houses of the Ras Al-Amud neighborhood of Siloam on the eastern side of the Kidron valley, built over grave openings of the 8th - 7th centuries BCE.
Detail of the houses built over grave openings of the 8th - 7th centuries BCE.
The most impressive tomb is the so-called Pharaoh's Daughter's Tomb, dated 8th - 7th centuries BCE. The tomb is so-named because of its shape, which suggests Egyptian architecture, even without its original pyramidal roof, which was purloined over the centuries for its masonry. It is one of the most oppulent of the area, which was identified as part of the cemetery of the Jerusalem nobility from the Judean Kingdom, on the eastern slopes of the Kidron valley, while their homes were built right across it, on the western slope. Most of the tombs were ancestral family tombs where many generations were buried.
The Tomb of Pharaoh's Daughter.
About 100 metres up the valley from these tombs one comes to the monuments and graves of the Second Temple period (F), as mentioned. This part of the Kidron is also called the Valley of Jehosafat, where God will judge the nations of the world (Joel 3:12). Another name for the valley is the Valley of the King; it was once intensely cultivated and the revenues went to the king. The first of these tombs is the impressive pair of the Tomb of Zechariah and the Tomb of Benei Hezir.
The Tomb of Zechariah (right) and the Tomb of Benei Hezir (left). On the right of the Tomb of Zechariah is another ancient burial cave complex with a façade similar to, but far less impressive than, that of Benei Hezir. It has no tradition associated with it and its origin is unknown.
The Tomb of Zechariah is a monolith completely carved out of the solid rock as a monument (it does not contain a burial chamber). Above the crepidoma, a base made of three steps, is a stylobate, upon which there is a decoration of two ionic columns between two half ionic columns and at the corners there are two pilasters. The capitals are of the Ionic order and are decorated with the egg-and-dart decoration. The upper part of the monument is an Egyptian-style cornice upon which sits a pyramid. Interestingly the fine masonry and decoration that is visible on the western side, the facade, is on the western side alone. On the other sides of the tomb the work is extremely rough and unfinished; it seems as if the work was abruptly stopped before the artists could finish the job.
The Tomb of Zechariah.
According to a Jewish tradition, first suggested in the writings of Menahem haHebroni (1215 CE), this is the tomb of the priest Zechariah Ben Jehoiada, a figure that the Book of Chronicles records to have been stoned:
“And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you. And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord.”
However there is no documentary evidence as to where Zechariah was buried, and some believe that the structure is simply a “nefesh” monument to the adjacent Tomb of Benei Hezir, supported by the staircase leading from its base to the second entrance of that tomb (see below).
Hebrew inscriptions, of which there are many, inscribed on the side of the Tomb of Zechariah throughout history.
Niche carved beneath the Tomb of Zechariah, apparently with stairs leading to an inner chamber. This hole was revealed by the Jordanians while clearing the area. On the left is a stone staircase leading to the second entrance to the Tomb of Benei Hezir (see below).
Adjacent to the Tomb of Zechariah is the Tomb of Benei Hezir, the oldest of four monumental rock-cut tombs that stand in the Kidron Valley and date to the period of the Second Temple. It is a complex of burial caves. The tomb was originally accessed from a single rock-cut stair-well which descends to the tomb from the north. At a later period an additional entrance was created by quarrying a tunnel from the courtyard of the Tomb of Zechariah (see above picture), and this is accessed by rock-cut stairs in front of the Tomb of Zechariah. The complex features a Hebrew inscription which makes it clear that this was the burial site of a Priestly family by the name of Benei Hezir. The inscription reads:
"זה הקבר והנפש שלאלעזר חניה יועזר יהודה שמעון יוחנן בני יוסף בן עובד יוסף ואלעזר בני חניה כהנים מבני חזיר."
“This is the grave and the Nefesh - burial monument of Eliezer Hania Yoazar Yehuda Shimon Yochanan Benei-(sons of) Yosef Ben-(son of) Oved Yosef and Elazar Benei-(sons of) Hania, priests of the Hezir family”
The façade of the Tomb of Benei Hezir.
The façade of the tomb is a classical dystillos-in-antis two pillars between two pilasters above which there is undecorated architrave containing an engraved a Hebrew inscription. Above the architrave there is a Doric frieze and a cornice. The tomb's architectural style is influenced by ancient Greek architecture only (two pillars with Dorian capitals), without ancient Egyptian architectural influences.
Inside the Tomb of Benei Hezir is a corridor that leads to a cluster of 3 halls and additional rooms. The picture shows the staircase leading through the tunnel into the tomb, from the Tomb of Zechariah, which was a sceond entrance made later.
To the south of the Tomb of Zechariah is another ancient burial cave complex with a façade similar to, but far less detailed than, that of Benei Hezir. It has no tradition associated with it and its origin is unknown.
A burial cave complex to the south of the Tomb of Zechariah whose origin is unknown.
Perhaps the best known of the monuments is the conical-roofed Yad Avshalom (Absalom’s Tomb or Pillar), which received its name because the Bible says this rebellious son of David built a monument here so he would be remembered. Absalom was eventually killed by his father’s men, and Jerusalemites of old would bring their sons to pelt the tomb with stones and recall the fate of rebellious offspring. For 3,000 years the site was covered by small rocks, thrown on the tomb by visitors that showed their disgust against the acts of the son raising against his father. In 1925 the area was cleaned and the stone piles were removed.
The conical-roofed Yad Avshalom (Absalom’s Tomb or pillar), with the entrance to the Cave of Jehoshaphat behind.
In fact the monument is likely to be dated to the 1st century CE. Absalom's Pillar is approximately 20 metres (65 feet) in height. The monument proper stands on a square base and consists of two distinct parts. The lower section has been hewn out of the rocky slope of the Mount of Olives, while the upper part, rising higher than the original bedrock, is built of neatly cut ashlars. The lower half is thus a solid, almost perfectly cubical monolithic block, about twenty feet square by twenty-one feet high, surrounded on three sides by passageways which separate it from the vertically-cut rock of the Mount of Olives. It is decorated from the outside on each side by pairs of Ionic half-columns, flanked in the corners by quarter-columns and pillars (a so-called distyle in antis arrangement). The four square façades are crowned by a Doric frieze of triglyphs and metopes and an Egyptian cornice.The upper, ashlar-built part of the monument consists of three differently-shaped segments: a square base set on top of the Egyptian cornice of the lower part, followed by a round drum crowned by a rope-shaped decoration, which sustains a conical roof with concave sides (the easily recognisable "hat"), topped by a half-closed lotus flower.
The four square facades of Absalom's Pillar are crowned by a Doric frieze of triglyphs and metopes and an Egyptian cornice.
On the inside, the upper part of the monument is mostly hollow, with a small arched entrance on the south side set above the seam area (where the masonry part starts). Inside this entrance a short staircase leads down to a burial chamber carved out of the solid, lower section. The chamber is eight feet square, with arcosolium graves on two sides and a small burial niche. The tomb was found empty when first researched by archaeologists. The upper part of the monument corresponds to the outline of a classical tholos and is not unlike contemporary Nabatean structures from Petra.The irregular-shaped holes made into the monument are of later date, probably from the Byzantine Period. Even the original entrance has been widened in rather a defacing manner.
The tomb rises in front of the "Cave of King Jehoshaphat", a large burial complex named for the fourth king of the Kingdom of Judah. The single entrance gives access to a cluster of burial caves comprising eight chambers. Most of the chambers contain rock-cut benches for placing sarcophagi or ossuaries, as well as loculi in which the deceased's bodies were laid for primary burial. The gable over the entrance is decorated with floral motifs carved in the stone. This burial cluster may have been built at the same time around the 1st century CE.
Entrance to the Cave of King Jehoshaphat.
The central hall seen through the entrance to the Cave of Jehoshaphat.
Yonatan and I carried on up the last slope of the Kidron valley to the foot of the Mount of Olives, coming first to the Catholic cemetery on the valley floor, before reaching the Jericho Road which winds its way up the Mount from the Old City, passing through the Jewish cemetery. More on this ancient cemetery shortly, but first we took a look at some interesting non-Jewish landmarks, though we didn't enter any of them this time, reserving this and more for a future trip.
Yonatan in from of the Catholic cemetery, with the Gate of Mercy (Golden Gate) in the background.
Michael, with Absalom's Pillar and the southeast corner of the Old City walls in the background.
The Kidron Valley below the Jericho Road, with the Catholic cemetery to the right.
There are several impressive churches on the Mount, and we inspected three of them from the Jericho Road (the others are hidden in the orchards on the north of the Mount. The Church of All Nations (G), also known as the Church or Basilica of the Agony, is a Roman Catholic church located on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, next to the Garden of Gethsemane. It enshrines a section of bedrock where Jesus is said to have prayedbefore his arrest (Mark 14:32-42). The current church rests on the foundations of two earlier ones, that of a small 12th century Crusader chapel abandoned in 1345, and a 4th-century Byzantine basilica, destroyed by an earthquake in 746. In 1920, during work on the foundations, a column was found two meters beneath the floor of the medieval crusader chapel. Fragments of a magnificent mosaic were also found. Following this discovery the architect immediately removed the new foundations and began excavations of the earlier church. After the remains of the Byzantine era church were fully excavated plans for the new church were altered and work continued on the current basilica from April 19, 1922 until June 1924 when it was consecrated. The church is a landmark for its impressive façade: a massive tetrastyle portico supporting a pediment the tymapnum of which contains a mosaic (designed by Giulio Bargellini) depicting Jesus as mediator between God and man. The church itself was designed by Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi, built between 1919 and 1924 using funds donated from many different countries, hence its name of the Church of All Nations, and is currently held in trust by the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land.
The Church of All Nations.
The Church of Mary Magdalene is a Russian Orthodox church on the Mount of Olives behind the Church of All Nations, near the Garden of Gethsemane, built in 1886 by Tsar Alexander III to honor his mother, Empress Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. It was constructed toDavid Grimm's design in the traditional tented roof style popular in 16th- and 17th-century Russia, and includes seven distinctive, gilded onion domes. In the 1930s, Princess Alice of Battenberg, mother of the Duke of Edinburgh, visited the Church of Mary Magdalene and asked to be buried near her aunt, the Grand-Duchess Elizabeth. In 1969, she died at Buckingham Palace. In 1988, her remains were transferred to a crypt below the church.
The Church of Mary Magdalene.
The Church of the Sepulchre of Saint Mary or Tomb of the Virgin Mary (H), at the foot of the Mount, on the bend of the road as it crosses the Kidron brook, is believed by Eastern Christians to be the burial place of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The 12th century church is built on the site of an earlier 5th century church, destroyed in the Persian invasion of 614. The current church was destroyed by Saladin in 1187, but the crypt was still respected; all that was left was the current south entrance and staircase, the masonry of the upper church being used to build the walls of Jerusalem. In the second half of the 14th century Franciscan friars rebuilt the church once more. It was taken over by the Greek Orthodox in 1757, and today the Armenian and Greek Orthodox Patriarchates are in possession of the shrine. The Syriacs, the Copts, and the Abyssinians have minor rights.
The precinct and 12th Century façade (preserved by Salasin when he destroyed the church) of the Tomb of the Virgin Mary.
The Armenian Belfry of the Tomb of Mary, flying the Armenian tricolor.
An Armenian terracotta khachkar on the west side of the courtyard of Mary's Tomb, erected in 2014 by the Armenian faithful. Also known as an Armenian cross-stone, a khachkar is a carved, memorial stele bearing a cross, and often with additional motifs such as rosettes, interlaces, and botanical motifs, especially characteristic of Medieval Christian Armenian art.
On the Jericho Road, right above the Tomb of Mary, is the tomb (also H) of Mujīr al-Dīn al-'Ulaymī (Arabic: مجير الدين العليمي) (1456–1522), often simply referred to as Mujir al-Din.
The tomb of Mujīr al-Dīn al-'Ulaymī
Mujir al-Dinwas a Jerusalemite qadi (Islamic judge) and historian of the Mamluk period, descended from a number of notable native Jerusalem families including that of the second Rashidun caliph. Something of a prodigy in terms of his early education, he spent ten years studying in Cairo from the age of eighteen, before returning to Jerusalem. Thereafter he served as the qadi of Ramla from 1484, and of Jerusalem from 1486, retiring after almost three decades in 1516. He wrote two volumes of Quranic exegesis, a biographical dictionary of Hanbali scholars, a general history from the time of Adam through to the Middle Ages, and a work on the visitation of holy places, but the only one of these to be published was "The glorious history of Jerusalem and Hebron" which, despite its title, was a comprehensive history of Jerusalem, unique in its scope and design. It is divided into four distinct parts: a history of Jerusalem and Hebron from the time of Adam to the end of the thirteenth century, including pre- and non-Islamic events; a description of shrines and landmarks in Jerusalem and Hebron; biographies of governors of Jerusalem and Hebron in the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods, as well as those of notable Mamluk figures who undertook special works in the cities; and the history of Jerusalem during Mujir al-Din's own lifetime, under the rule of Mamluk Sultan Qait Bay. The work continues to be influential and is still quoted by scholars.
Before retracing our steps, at Yonatan's suggestion and with my emphatic agreement, we proceeded to visit the grave of our ancestor, Menachem Mendel Levitt. Menachem Mendel is an important figure in our family, since he is the earliest figure of whom we can with certainlty say that he was a comitted Zionist, leaving his daughter and her family to travel alone, in his seventies, after the death of his wife, from a shtetl in Lithuania to live his last days in Jerusalem. So many of his descendants have similarly made aliyah over the years that, perhaps, he is their influence through his inspiring example, even if subconsiously. Menachem Mendel is Michael's great grandfather, and also Riva's great, great grandfather, so he is Yonatan and Amber's great, great- or great, great, great garndfather?! But more of him shortly.
Thus we ascended the Mount of Olives along the Jericho Road, enjoying the tremendous views which develop across the Jewish cemetery, through which the road cuts, towards the Old City.
The Mosque of Omar or Al Aqsa, at the southern end of Har HaBáyit (the Temple Mount), which the Muslims call the Haram al-Sharif from Mount of Olives.
Detail of the Al Aqsa Mosque showing a rose window, testament to its use by the Crusaders during the First Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099-1187). The Mosque was named "Templum Solomonis", first becoming a royal palace until the completion of the purpose-built royal palace near the Jaffa Gate, after which the King of Jerusalem gave it to the Knights Templar, who set up their headquarters inside the mosque for much of the 12th century (1119–1187). Some other architectural additions to the mosque complex also date to this period.
The Dome of the Rock from the Mount of Olives.
The Gate of Mercy (Golden Gate) from the Mount of Olives. It is the oldest of the current gates in Jerusalem's Old City Walls. According to Jewish tradition, the Shekhinah (שכינה) (Divine Presence) used to appear through this gate, and will appear again when Moshiach comes (Ezekiel 44:1–3) and a new gate replaces the present one; that is why Jews used to pray for mercy at the former gate at this location, hence the name שער הרחמים, the Gate of Mercy. In Christian apocryphal texts, the gate was the scene of a meeting between the parents of Mary, so that Joachim and Anne Meeting at the Golden Gate became a standard subject in cycles depicting the Life of the Virgin. It is also said that Jesus passed through this gate on Palm Sunday. In Arabic, it is known as the Gate of Eternal Life. Some equate it with the Beautiful Gate mentioned in Acts 3. Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent sealed off the Golden Gate in 1541, it is said to prevent Moshiach's entrance. The Ottomans also made a cemetery in front of the gate, in the belief that Moshiach's precursor, Elijah, would not be able to pass through the gate, being a Cohen, and thus prevent Moshiach's entry.
View of the Mount of Corruption, the peak to the south of the Mount of Olives. In the trees is the Maison d’Abraham (flying a tricolor), founded by Monsignor Jean Rodhain, President of Secours Catholique (Caritas France) in 1965 at the request of Pope Paul VI during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The guesthouse is in the former Syrian Catholic Seminary at Ras al-’Amud, and comes under the jurisdiction of the Apostolic Delegate in Jerusalem.
The Mount of Olives or Mount Olivet (הר הזיתים, Har HaZeitim; جبل الزيتون, الطور, Jabal az-Zaytūn, Aț-Țūr) and the immediate adjoining areas have been a Jewish cemetery for 3,000 years. Both because it is situated outside the boundaries of the ancient city, and because the Mount of Olives is made up of chalk rock that is easy to chisel out, it was a natural location for a burial ground, and was used by the Jews of Jerusalem from as early as the First Temple Period. The cemetery is still in active use today. As we saw, on the southern slopes of the Mount of Olives, dispersed between houses of the village of Silwan, are ancient burial caves from the First Temple Period. A little to the North, along the Wadi, are the magnificent monuments of the Second Temple Period, that constituted part of the burial area of Jerusalem during those times. Higher up on the Mount of Olives on the grounds of the Dominus Flevit Church and in "the Cave of the Prophets," above the Church of All Nations, there are more burial caves. The Mount of Olives was not used as a Jewish burial site in all periods of history. In the Middle Ages, the Jews of the city were buried on the eastern slopes of the Temple Mount opposite the Mount. Later the cemetery spread along the Kidron Valley and to its east, to the foot of the Mount of Olives and up the mount. The earliest dated tombstone from this period is from 1636. At first, members of all the different communities were buried in one cemetery at the bottom of the hill. In the middle of the 19th century, with the fast growth of the Jewish population of Jerusalem, primarily the Ashkenazi population, an additional area was purchased further up the hill (today – west of the Seven Arches Hotel), and a separate Ashkenazi cemetery was established there. The Sephardi community continued to be buried in the original site, but later purchased areas south of the Ashkenazi area (Hatzur and Helkat Miriam). The split in the Ashkenazi communities brought about the purchase of an additional area, Prushim, where Menachem Mendel Levitt is buried, above the first Ashkenazi plot and to its south. Later a further plot, Hassidit, was acquired and then another Prushit, so that by the middle of the 20th century most of the western and southern slopes of the Mount had become a Jewish cemetery.
Plan of the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives (Wikimedia Commons), showing the position of the grave of Menachem Mendel Levitt and the 1950s Jordanian mosque that so nearly obliterated it..
Under Jordanian rule (1948-1967) the cemetery was desecrated. The tombstones were destroyed or uprooted and some of them were used as paving stones for the new hotel and for Jordanian army camps. During this period a new road was paved from the top of the Mount of Olives southward and the main road to Jericho was widened, both on top of graves. In fact the grave of Menachem Mendel Levitt (J) was lucky not to be obliterated when the Jordanians built a mosque in the cemetery in the 1950s, it is a matter of a dozen metres behind the mosque, which remains to this day, testament to Jewish tolerance for Muslim sensitivities in the face of wanton vandalism.
The 1950s Jordanian mosque which was built atop Jewish graves, destroying the tombs. Menachem Mendel's grave is a mere dozen metres behind.
Menachem Mendel's grave. The memorial stone was smashed by the Jordanians, but could be located precisely from cemetery records. Riva's grandmother, Tova (Yoni) Burshtein, whose mother was Menachem Mendel's daugther whom he left behind in Lithuania, had a new memotial stone made.
After the Six Day War a comprehensive but slow restoration operation of the various plots was launched. The cemetery started being used again and has even grown over the years. Many famous names from the Torah world and from the Zionist leadership are buried on the Mount of Olives. They include: the Ohr Ha-Chaim, Rabbi Chaim Ben-Attar and Rabbi Yehuda Alcalay who were among the heralds of Zionism; Hassidic rebbes of various dynasties and Rabbis of "Hayeshuv Hayashan" (the old – pre-Zionist - Jewish settlement) together with Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, the first Askenazic Chief Rabbi, and his circle; Henrietta Szold, the founder of the Hadassah Organization and the poetess, Elza Lasker-Schiller; Eliezer Ben Yehuda, the father of Modern Hebrew, S. Y. Agnon, the Nobel Laureate for Literature, and Boris Schatz, the founder of the Bezalel School of Art; Israel's sixth Prime Minister, Menachem Begin, the victims of the 1929 and 1936-39 Arab riots, the fallen from the 1948 War of Independence, and Jews of all generations in all their diversity.
The lower Sephardi cemetery (K), looking north. Though reset and generally tidied and restored, many of the tomb stones remain smashed, a reminder of Arab malice.
The "Rothschilds of the East," The Sasoon family, originally of Baghdad, have an enclosure in the lower Sephardi section. This is the grave of Saliman (Solomon) David Sassoon (1841-1894). Born in India, one of the younger sons of David Sassoon, he went to China as an assistant to his father, and later served as head of David Sassoon & Co. until his death. The family creast has Hebrew and Latin mottoes: אמת ואמונה (truth & faith) and candide et constanter (with candour and constance), somewhat of a paraphrase!
The lower Sephardi section, looking east up the Mount of Olives.
Having enjoyed our historical walk, and ended it with a personal link to our own family, as well as fulfilling the important obligation of honoring the deceased by visiting his grave, Yonatan and I made the return walk to the car!
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