Rabbis in Arab Towns - Sakhnin (סחנין, سخنين‎‎) and Arrabe (ערבה, عرّابة‎‎)

Sadly the media has established the stereotype of claims and counter-claims by Jews and Arabs for ancient tombs and - worse - images of Arab destruction and desecration of tombs, such as that of Joseph at Shechem (Nablus). And that is a grave whose occupant is revered by both religions!

But the Galilee is (usually) somewhat quieter and more tolerant. So in the 100% Arab towns of Sakhnin and Arabbe, which sit next to each other below where we live in Eshchar, it might surprise many people to know that there are graves of tsadikim - wise and learned Rabbis from a millennium ago. And apart from some minimalist graffiti outside one of the tombs - which are open and accessible 24/7 - they are well kept and respected.

We started in Sakhnin, seen in the picture below from Eshchar, some 160 metres above.

In the old city of Sakhnin may be found a cave containing the sarcophagi of three rabbis, but it isn't easy to locate, and even the marker on Google maps is misplaced by several hundred metres (though with luck they will have accepted my correction by the time you read this. But if you ask the locals, you will often receive directions. Known by the Arabs as the grave of the Alsadiq (a corruption of tsadik) or Nabi a-Sadiq, the grave of Rabbi Yehoshua D'Sakhnin is in the Christian quarter, behind a Muslim cemetery! Hiding down an alleyway which passes between houses and the cemetery, a gate opens into a small courtyard of trees, with the tomb sunken below ground level in a half-cave. The slideshow below has captioned pictures (you may have to hover your cursor over the pictures to see the captions).

Rabbi Yehoshua D'Sakhnin (רבי יהושע דסכנין) was a forth generation Amora (a scholar of the period from about 200 to 500 CE who expounded the teachings of the Oral Torah) who lived there in the 2nd century CE. He was a student of Rabbi Levi and a friend of Rabbi Yossi of Malachia. Often can be found quoting the words of his teacher throughout the Jerusalem Talmud and Midrashim. In the Babylonian Talmud, Rabbi Yehoshua of Sakhnin is mentioned only once. He was the spiritual leader of the town of Sichnin, as it was then known, where he is buried in gigantic stone coffin, alongside Rabbi Shimaya Chasida and Rabbi Shimon of Sakhnin. The grave became a place of pilgrimage, visited during the 14th century by a student of the Ramban. The local Arab population used to kiss the tomb's walls and ask the dead Rabbi to heal them and their relatives.

So what are these rabbis doing in a town which is 100% Arab (95% Muslim and 5% Christian)? A town which has been wholly Muslim since the Arab invasion in the seventh century?

In fact settlement at Sakhnin dates back 3,500 years to Egyptian times, when it is first mentioned by Thutmose II in 1479 BCE, as a centre for production of indigo dye. To this day one of the creeks leaving the Sakhnin valley is called Hilazon, after the sea creature from which the dye was made. Sargon II also makes mention of it as Suginin.

The answer to our question is that, as Sakhni, the town was included in King David’s kingdom and, following the kingdom’s division under Rehav’am, King Solomon’s son, Sakhni was included in the northern Kingdom of Israel. Sakhni was famous for its olive and fig trees (See Rashi to Deuteronomy 32:13). It was one of the Jewish towns fortified by Josephus against the Romans in 66 CE (Josephus refers to it as Sogane). During the Mishna and Talmud period Sakhni became a spiritual centre, one of a number of Torah study centres established by Jews in the Galilee. Its synagogue is mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud, and the town was famous for its teachers and Talmudic sages. Rabbi Hanina ben Teradion, who lived in Sakhnin and was head of the local Beth Din, was considered among the greatest sages of his generation. It is known that a synagogue still existed in Sakhni in the 3rd century CE. Thus the town flourished during the Roman conquest and remained a Jewish town until the Arab invasion in the 7th century CE.

Although in the Crusader era the town was known as Zecanin and, in 1174 it was one of the casales (villages) given to Phillipe le Rous, it was never again a Jewish town.

As well as the two rabbis buried with Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Hanina ben Taradion is also thought by some to be buried in Sakhnin, although tradition is that his grave is in the cave of the Tanna Rebbe Zecharia Ben Hakatzav, at ancient Kfar Hanania. His name is remembered in the Teradion industrial park at the western entrance of the town.

Sakhnin's "old city" contains many old stone buildings, though some are dilapidated, others are still in use. Many are in fact hidden beneath and behind modern extensions and additions in concrete, but occasional facades and other masonry elements are to be seen, as in the pictures below.

We left Sakhnin and travelled the 5 km east along the valley to Arrabe - though it is becoming shorter as the two towns expand and threaten to merge. At the first roundabout we saw a group of Arab youth refurbishing it and planting new flowers and shrubs.

There are two known graves of tsadikim in Arrabe, and we sought them out. And you've guessed it: they are here because Arrabe was a Jewish town too. As Arav, the town was mentioned in the Mishnah and the Jerusalem Talmud in the sixteenth chapter of Tractate Shabbat. During the Second Temple period Arav was a central Jewish city in the Lower Galilee, the third largest of all the Jewish Galilean cities. In fact two residents of Arav were buried in the ancient cemetery of Beit She'arim where, on one tombstone the name Arav was written, while on the other, its Greek name, Gavra was given, by which Josephus referred to the town.

Arav became a centre for Torah studies and Rabbi Yohanan Ben Zakay, the Rabbi who established the Sanhedrin in Yavne, lived there for 18 years. His presence in Arav attracted Rabbi Haninna ben Dossa (see Berakhot 34b), and the two founded a Yeshiva there, where they taught together with the teacher Reuben Ha-Iztruballi, who also lived in Arav. Another Yeshiva was established in Arav by Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai. During the Jewish war with Rome, Vespasian sacked the city, killing those of its Jewish citizens who had not already fled. In the 5th or 6th century CE there were Christians living in Arrabe, as witnessed by a church whose mosaic floor and inscription have been unearthed, but Arav remained a Jewish town until the Arab invasion of the 7th Century. In the Crusader era, it was known as Arabiam and, by 1174 it was one of the casales (villages) given to Phillipe le Rous, but sold to the Teutonic knights by 1250. There have been no Jewish inhabitants since, and today it has a Muslim majority, with some Christians.

We sought the graves of Rabbi Haninna ben Dosa and Reuben Ha-Iztruballi. The first was easily found on a wide road, inside a Muslim cemetery. A closed barrel-roofed tomb over a cave, it was marked and well kept, but with no entrance. However we did see what appeared to be a very weathered stone sarcophagus lid placed over what appeared to be a hold in the ground leading into the cave, but it would not be possible to move it.

Below you can see a slideshow of pictures, suitably captioned.

Both this and the next burial cave has been dated to the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE. But the next, the tomb of Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa, was harder to find. After wandering through alleyways on a steep hillside where we were sure it was to be found, an Arab lady asked if she could help us. We mentioned kever [the grave of] Hanina ben Dosa and she immediately understood and took us through several houses and gardens into hers, from the wall of which you could see the tomb. She then pointed us in the right direction to find it.

The tomb is separate from, though part of, a sprawling Muslim cemetery behind it which spreads up the hill back towards the house of the lady who helped us, and is divided into sections by alleyways and houses. A huge Atlantic Pistachia tree, said to be the oldest in the country, shades the grave where Rabbi Hanina is buried next to his wife.

Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa lived in complete poverty, devoting himself to the sustenance of his generation in their faith. Each week he would survive on a small quantity of carobs. He was so poor that the Talmud cited him as the prime example of a righteous individual who did not benefit at all from 'This World' and was given complete success in the 'Next World'. There are several stories told of miracles involving this tsadik. For instance, it is told that when his son became ill, Rabban Gamliel sent two Torah scholars to Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa requesting that he beseech G-d for mercy. Upon seeing them, Rabbi Hanina ascended to his attic and began praying. Coming down later he informed the messengers to go home since the boy's fever had gone away. They asked him how he could make such a certain statement as if he were a prophet. Rabbi Hanina replied, "I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet but I have a tradition that if my prayers flow in my mouth they are accepted, and if not I know they were consumed." Wanting to test this, the messengers marked down the exact time at which the Rabbi had informed them of the boy's recovery. Upon returning to Rabban Gamliel he confirmed that at that exact moment his son's fever had indeed gone away and he had asked for a drink of water.

While he is reckoned among the Tannaim (the Rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 10-220 CE) and is quoted in connection the Arav Yeshiva and its disciples, no halachot and but few aggadot are preserved as from him (Baraita of R. Eliezer xxix, xxxi; Midr. Mishle x 2). His popularity, however, which he enjoyed throughout his life, and which rendered him immortal among the mystics, rests not on his scholarship, but on his saintliness and the miracles he performed. Several sayings are attributed to him: "Whosoever's fear of sin precedes his wisdom, his wisdom will endure; but where wisdom precedes fear of sin, wisdom will not endure;" "Where a man's works are greater than his learning, his learning will stand; but where his learning is greater than his works, his learning will not stand;" "Whosoever earns the good-will of humanity is loved of God; but whoso is not beloved of man is not beloved of God." His popularity continues to this day, as you will see from the pictures in the slideshow below: his and his wife's tombs are covered with embroidered, velvet mantles which, unlike the other graves we had been to, is frequently visited by Jews. There is a covered prayer area outside the cave, and several yahrzeit candles were burning inside.

Finally we climbed back up the hill to the car, via another tomb in the same cemetery which we had noticed whilst the Arab lady was pointing out Rabbi Hanina's tomb. Unmarked and uncared for, it appeared to be a sheik's tomb, the interior doubling as a store room for the grave digger, with some rather old and dusty cloths spread over the rendered sarcophagus. A mystery to end our tour of Jewish Arrabe!

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