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May 6, 2011
Tale of two holy tombs
The controversy over religious sites is not new.
DAVE GORDON
A familiar refrain in news reports about the Temple Mount is that it’s the holiest site to Jews, and the third holiest site to Muslims. But what few Jews seem to know is that their second holiest site – Ma’arat HaMachpelah – is going through struggles, controversy and growth of its own.
Ma’arat HaMachpelah in Hebron is where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob and Leah, the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Jewish people, are said to be buried. (The matriarch Rachel, Jacob’s second wife, is said to be buried in a tomb on the outskirts of Bethlehem.) Some 4,000 years ago, the Torah relates, Abraham selected the cave below as the burial place for his wife, Sarah, and purchased it for 400 silver shekels – roughly $700,000 in today’s currency, according to the Hebron Fund, a fundraising arm for the city and site.
The holy site has been the centre of news items and anniversaries in 2011. In recent weeks, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declared Kever Rachel (Rachel’s Tomb) and Ma’arat HaMachpelah national Jewish heritage sites. Also, last month marked the 10th anniversary of the murder of 10-month-old Shalhevet Pass, shot and killed by a sniper from the Abu Seneh hills in Hebron. A monument and garden has been erected in her memory. Tours through the Hebron Fund take visitors to the square where Shalhevet was shot, and meet with the first responder, a medic who was on the scene within minutes, who describes the event.
In mid-February, Israel’s Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar, called for every Israeli schoolchild to visit Machpelah to reinforce its religious and historical importance. Yet, in the 44 years that Israel has had possession of the site, the Israeli government has not transferred any financial assistance to it, say representatives from the Hebron Fund. At present, the Jewish community of Hebron is responsible for the upkeep of the site, including cleaning, landscaping, organizing events, stocking literature and tours.
“Each step has been difficult,” said Rabbi Simcha Hochbaum, Hebron’s director of tourism. “It was a slow progress to bring in siddurim, Torahs, texts and other holy objects.” A recent brochure from the site informs that a roof canopy has fallen into disrepair, and that politics and a lack of funds have stalled its replacement.
The massive structure of stone over the cave was built some 2,000 years ago during the reign of Herod in the Second Temple period. Today, it is the only building in the area that has stood intact for more than two millennia, serving uninterrupted as a place of worship.
Inside the various tomb rooms, the walls are covered in Arabic inscriptions, vestiges of Muslim occupiers over the millennia. While in Muslim hands, from 1267 to 1967, Jews were forbidden to enter the site.
After the Six Day War in 1967, Jews were once again allowed to enter. However, their rights are restricted: for nearly the whole calendar year, Jews are permitted to visit only one-fifth of the area, while Muslims have the remainder. Jews are given 10 days a year to explore the entire site.
The Muslim authorities have heavily restricted archeological excavations and research as well, according to the Hebron Fund. In a rare exception, the cave under the building was rediscovered 10 years ago, and Jewish remains were found along with implements from the First Temple period. The entrance to the actual caves and graves of the patriarchs remain sealed.
According to Hochbaum, around 900 Jews live among 15,000 directly neighboring Arabs, and Hebron is geographically split, with approximately 15 percent for Jews, and the remainder for Arabs.
According to the Hebron Fund’s brochure, more than half a million people visit Hebron annually and less than half of the visitors are Muslim. This Passover alone saw some 29,000 Jewish visitors to Machpelah, said Hochbaum.
Meanwhile, another important Jewish holy site is going through its own ups and downs. Kever Rachel, in Bethlehem, abuts a new bypass road and 50-foot-tall concrete walls on all sides, to keep it sealed from attack. This measure was in response to the desecration of Joseph’s Tomb when rioting Palestinians burned it about a month into the Second Intifada, nearly 11 years ago.
When Jordan controlled the site from 1948 to 1967, no tourists or prayer-goers could visit Rachel’s Tomb, explained Hochbaum during a recent tour. But that changed when a group, referred to as the Women of the Tomb, began protesting. Led by Miriam Levinger and Leah Hochbaum (Simcha’s wife) with some 20 other women, they traveled to Bethlehem daily in an attempt to pray at Rachel’s Tomb. Some slept in nearby tents.
“They came in, demanding the right to daven [pray] at the kever,” he said, describing how the Israel Defence Forces kept turning them away, for various political and safety reasons.
“The women’s case was that it was bad enough we sold our brother [Joseph], but we’re not abandoning our mother [Rachel],” by which they meant the Israeli government’s handing over Joseph’s Tomb to the Palestinian Authority for control, Hochbaum said. Bethlehem is also under PA control.
It took seven weeks of demonstrations until soldiers, moved by the women’s cause, allowed them inside for 20 minutes and then escorted them out. “Eventually, we were able to reestablish a constant Jewish presence [at] the tomb,” said Hochbaum.
Last year, however, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization declared Rachel’s Tomb a mosque. Out of 58 member states, only the United States voted against the decision.
For more information on Hebron, including a timeline of the Jewish community there, visit hebron.com.
Dave Gordon is a freelance writer based in Toronto. His website is davegordonwrites.com.
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