On two days in November and December 2022, Yonatan and I explored Gush Chalav and its various sites. You can read more about Gush Chalav, its sites and its ancient synagogues here. In this post I concentrate of the various ancient Jewish tombs.
Historical sources from the Middle Ages (10th-15th centuries CE)—including some in the Cairo Geniza—describe Gush Chalav (גוש חלב), also known as Jish (ג'ש, الجش) and, in Roman times, Giscala, as a large Jewish village, and the Arab geographer, Al-Muqaddasi, mentions it in the 10th century. In 1172, the Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela found about twenty Jews living there, and Ishtori Haparchi—the pen name of the 14th century Jewish physician, geographer and traveller, Isaac HaKohen ben Moses—describes attending a megilla reading when he visited in 1322. Eliakim Carmoly’s Itineraires de la Terre-Sainte of 1847 records that the village contained in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the tombs of several illustrious Rabbis, an ancient synagogue, and a school. Even in these periods the village remained on the upper slope, and there was a large cemetery on the lower slope to the south where the modern village has extended. Of this cemetery, a number of tombs of Jewish sages (tzadikim) remain to this day, and are well-kept and frequented by pilgrims. These include the Tomb of Rabbi Meir Bar Yitzhak Halevi, an eleventh century and composer of piyot, the grave of Yochai & Sara, parents of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the Rashbi, whom we commemorate at Lag B’Omer, and is buried in nearby Meron. There are also graves of Avtalyon and Shmaya, converts to Judaism or the descendants of converts; by tradition they were descended from King Sennacherib of Assyria but, despite this, they were influential and beloved. To the north west of the village is a further grave site which Jewish tradition identifies with the prophet Yo’el (Joel). All the various graves are well kept, and the villagers are proud of them; they are also all frequently visited by Jewish pilgrims.
The Tomb of Yochai & Sara—the parents of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the Rashbi, the famous author of the Zohar, the foundational book of Kabbala (the esoteric discipline in Jewish mysticism), who is buried in nearby Meron, and whom we commemorate at Lag B’Omer—is to be found down a steep flight of stairs in the garden of a house in the lower village of Gush Chalav, right at the foot of the hill. Like his famous son, Rabbi Yochai was himself a Tana (the Tannaim were the rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishna, the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah, and who lived from approximately 10–220 CE) was the father of the famous Kabbalist Rebbe Shimon. He is said to have had connections with the Roman government.
The Tomb of Rabbi Meir Bar Yitzhak Halevi (Nehorai) of Orléans is to be found down some steps from the main street of the lower town, also in the garden of a house. Rabbi Meir lived in Worms in the second half of the eleventh century CE, where he served as a cantor, hence he is known as Rav Meir Shatz (‘ש"ץ’, abbreviation for ‘שליח ציבו’)—Shatz being a nickname meaning literally a ‘public messenger’.
Rav Meir composed piyyutim (liturgical poems intended to be sung, chanted, or recited during religious services), many of which have become an integral part of the prayer service to this day. The most important of his piyyutim and the most well-known is ‘Akdamut’, which is recited in almost all Ashkenazi synagogues on the first day of Shavuot (the festival of Weeks) during the Torah reading, as an introduction to the reading of the ‘Aseret ha-dibrot’ (Ten Commandments). For this reason he is also known as ‘Ba’al haAkdumot’ (master of the Akdamut, which literally means ‘introduction’). In his poetry Rabbi Meir combined words of Halacha (the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torahs) and legend from the Mishna, the Babylonian Talmud and many other sources.
The Tombs of Shemaya and Avtalyon are to be found down an alleyway between two houses on the southern edge of the town, on the (now-former) main road from meron to Sasa. Shemaya and Avtalyon were the descendants of converts and, according to some opinions, converts themselves; by tradition they were descended from King Sancherev (Sennacherib) of Assyria but, despite this, they were influential and beloved. They are buried in the vicinity of Adarmelech and Shartzer, sons of Sennacherib, who were blood relatives of Shemaya and Avtalyon.
The story of King Sancherev's attempted siege of Jerusalem is told in the Second book of Kings (Chapters 18-19). When the Assyrians were besieging Jerusalem, King Chizakiyahu (Hezekiah) prayed to G-d in the Temple, and received G-d's reply through the prophet Yashayahu (Isaiah), and during the following night the Angel of the Lord smote the Assyrians camp.
וְגַנּוֹתִ֛י אֶל־הָעִ֥יר הַזֹּ֖את לְהֽוֹשִׁיעָ֑הּ לְמַֽעֲנִ֔י וּלְמַ֖עַן דָּוִ֥ד עַבְדִּֽי:
וַיְהִי֘ בַּלַּ֣יְלָה הַהוּא֒ וַיֵּצֵ֣א | מַלְאַ֣ךְ יְהֹוָ֗ה וַיַּךְ֙ בְּמַחֲנֵ֣ה אַשּׁ֔וּר מֵאָ֛ה שְׁמוֹנִ֥ים וַחֲמִשָּׁ֖ה אָ֑לֶף וַיַּשְׁכִּ֣ימוּ בַבֹּ֔קֶר וְהִנֵּ֥ה כֻלָּ֖ם פְּגָרִ֥ים מֵתִֽים:
וַיִּסַּ֣ע וַיֵּ֔לֶךְ וַיָּ֖שָׁב סַנְחֵרִ֣יב מֶֽלֶךְ־אַשּׁ֑וּר וַיֵּ֖שֶׁב בְּנִֽינְוֵֽה:
וַיְהִי֩ ה֨וּא מִֽשְׁתַּחֲוֶ֜ה בֵּ֣ית | נִסְרֹ֣ךְ אֱלֹהָ֗יו וְֽאַדְרַמֶּ֨לֶךְ וְשַׂרְאֶ֚צֶר הִכֻּ֣הוּ בַחֶ֔רֶב וְהֵ֥מָּה נִמְלְט֖וּ אֶ֣רֶץ אֲרָרָ֑ט וַיִּמְלֹ֛ךְ אֵֽסַר־חַדֹּ֥ן בְּנ֖וֹ תַּחְתָּֽיו:
מלכים ,2 19:לד-לז
[So has the Lord said:] 'And I will protect this city to save it, for My sake and for the sake of My servant David.'
And it came to pass on that night that an angel of the Lord went out and slew one hundred eighty-five thousand of the camp of Assyria. And they arose in the morning, and behold they were all dead corpses.
And Sancherev, the king of Assyria, left and went away, and he returned and dwelt in Nineveh.
And he was prostrating himself in the temple of Nisroch his god, and Adramelech and Sharezer, his sons, slew him with a sword, and they fled to the land of Ararat, and his son Esarhaddon reigned in his stead.
2 Kings 19:34-37
According the Kabbala (the esoteric discipline in Jewish mysticism), Adramelech and Sharezer were among the few survivors of Sancherev's camp which was laying siege to Jerusalem, and was struck down in midst of sleep and, a is related above, being shocked by what they had witnessed, they killed their own father, Sancherev, after hearing that he was planning to sacrifice them to his god, Nisroch, in exchange for salvation. The Kabbala relates that, when Adramelech and Sharezer escaped to Ararat, they converted to Judaism. Although their intent was good, Adramelech and Shartzer still had to rectify the deed of murdering their own father, which was accomplished in their reincarnation as Shemaya and Avtalyon.
The story of Sancherev's army's destruction is famously told in Lord Byron's 1815 poem, The Destruction of Semnacherib:
The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold; And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.
For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!
And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.
And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.
And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail, And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal; And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword, Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!
Both Shemaya and Avtalyon belonged to the fourth pair of Zugot (literally ‘pairs’, referring to the five successive pairs of religious teachers who were the spiritual leaders of the Jews during the two hundred year Second Temple period from about 170 BCE to 30 CE); they studied under Shimon ben Shetach and Yehuda ben Tabai, the third pair of Zugot and leaders of their generation. When the wicked King Yani (Alexander Jannaeus) killed all the Torah Sages, Yehuda ben Tabai escaped to Alexandria, Egypt. It can be assumed that Shemaya and Avtalyon went into exile along with their teacher to escape the massacre. They returned after the death of Yani under the reign of Queen Shelomtzion (Alexandra Salome).
Shemaya served as the Nasi (president) of the Sanhedrin (the assembly of elders, appointed to sit as a tribunal in every city in the Land of Israel) at the end of the Chashmonaim (Hasmonean) rulership, after the death of Shimon ben Shetach, in middle of the first century BCE, 100 years before the destruction of the Second Temple.
Avtalyon lived at the same time as Shemaya. After the death of Yehuda ben Tabai, Avtalyon was appointed Av Beit Din (literally ‘father’ or ‘head of the court’) which made him vice president of the Sanhedrin under Shemaya.
The alleyway leading to the tomb of Shemaya and Avtalyon (left); the entrance to the Tsion (right)
Most of their leadership was during the reign of Hurkanus (Hyrcanus II) and Aristobulus (Aristobulus II). Together, Shemaya and Avtalyon ran the central Beit Midrash (Torah study hall). To gain entrance, each student had to pay a daily admittance fee of a half tropaika (the tropaika was a half-dinar, according to the Talmud identified as a Roman sestertius). This changed after Hillel nearly froze to death trying to listen to a Torah discourse through the study hall skylight on a freezing winter night. This incident happened on Shabbat (Sabbath) morning causing Shemaya and Avtalyon to desecrated the Shabbat to save the life of Hillel. When it became known Hillel risked his life since he was unable to afford the entrance fee, paid entry to the Beit Midrash was abolished making Torah study accessible to all. Shemaya's and Avtalyon’s main students were Hillel and Shami, the sages who were to give their names to the two schools of thought during the period of tannaim. Hillel was careful to use the exact wording of his teachers when he quoted them.
Shemaya is rarely mentioned in the Mishna. In Avos he says “Love working for a living. Hate serving in positions of authority. Do not get friendly with the government.” This clearly refers to the corrupt rulership during his time and its massacre of the Perushuim and Torah scholars. In the Mechilta of Rebbe Yishmael, Shemaiah credits the splitting of the Red Sea in merit of the faith that Avraham Avinu (Abraham) had in G-d.
Similarly Avtalyon is rarely mentioned in the Mishnah. In Pirkei Avos (‘Ethics of the Fathers’) he warns the Sages to be careful with their words, to avoid having them misinterpreted by their students, even if one is certain his students have a proper understanding, since one day he might be forced into exile and his students will become exposed to foreign philosophies which might corrupt the teachings and bring about their death and the death of their followers as a result. This may be a reference to an incident that Avtalyon and his teacher Yehuda ben Tabai experienced while living in Alexandria, where many Jews lived under Hellenistic Greek influence.
Shemaya and Avtalyon were very respected by all the people, and in the Talmud they are referred to as Gidolay Hador (‘great of their generation’) and Darshanim (preachers). Once they passed by the Kohen Gadol (High Priest in the Temple) as he left the Temple after Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) in midst of a great procession, celebrating his return from the Holy of Holies. To the dismay of this somewhat self-important High Priest, all the people abandoned him and gathered around Shemaya and Avtalyon. As they separated, the High Priest called out “Peace to you sons of the nations”, a derogatory reference to their being foreigners by birth, thus referring to their being of convert stock. Shemaya and Avtalyon responded pointing out that it was better to be a convert that acts like Aharon (Aaron) the High Priest then a Kohen Gadol that acts like the non-Jewish nations!
The leadership of Shemaya and Avtalyon lasted for only six years and, after they died, the Jewish leadership was given to the Beni Besera, who eventually passed it on to Hillel and Menachem, who was eventually replaced by Shami.
The Arizal, Rabbi Isaac ben Solomon Luria Ashkenazi of Tzfat, used to pray at the graves of Shemaya and Avtalyon with his students. It is told that on one occasion he told them that Shemaya and Avtalyon beseeched them to pray for the life of ‘Moshiach ben Yosef’. When they did not realize that this was a reference to the Arizal himself, he passed away shortly afterwards.
Just south of Gush Chalav, opposite Kfar Hoshen, is a natural spring water mikva (ritual bath) that is attributed to Shemaya and Avtalyon. According to this tradition Shemaya used to immerse in the mikva during his lifetime. The structure over the mikva is not, however, ancient.
The Tomb of the prophet Yo’el (Joel) can be found in the valley to the west of Gush Chalav. Yo’el Hanavi ben Petuel was a prophet—the second of the Trei Asar (twelve minor prophets) and author of the Book of Yo’el—who lived either during the reign of Yehorum ben Achav (9th Century BCE) or during the time of Menashe, King of Judah (8th century BCE). According to the second opinion he was a student of Micha and prophesised at the same time as Nachum and Chavakuk (Micah, Nahum and Habakkuk, other minor prophets of the 7th century BCE). During Yo’el’s time, Israel was attacked with a mixed swarm of locust that consumed all the foliage. The first two chapters of the Book of Yo’el deal with the plague of the locust—which may be an allegory of Israel's enemies—and the last two about vengeance against the nations at the End of the Days.
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