Israel: Ancient Burial Sites
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The Tomb Of The Son’s Of Hezir In Jerusalem
The Tomb of The Son’s of Hezir, located in the Kidron Valley adjacent to Jerusalem’s Old City, is actually historically correct (unlike the Tomb of Absalom and the Tomb of Zechariah that are neither tombs nor for those attributed!) and was teh burial cave for an important family of Kohanim, priests in the Holy Temple. This hewn (meaning carved from the hill) burial cave is dated to the Hasmonean period (the second century BCE), and above the opening is an inscription identifying the deceased which says: “This is the tomb and the nefesh of Eliezer, Haniah, Joezer, Judah, Simeon, Johanan, sons of Joseph son of Obed. Joseph and Eliezer sons…
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The Tomb Of Zechariah In Jerusalem
The Tomb of Zechariah, which is located in the Kidron Valley at the foot of the Mount of Olives is truly a stunning site. But please don’t be disappointed to learn that Zechariah is not buried here. It was constructed apparently for someone else, who for whatever reason did not merit to have their name associated with it thousands of years later. Such is life! Or rather such is history, things get mixed up a bit, sort of like the game of telephone, but over a long period of time. Will Americans understand in a thousand years why kleenex is called kleenex? Do you even know why is it called…
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The Tomb Of Absalom In Jerusalem
This past Passover holiday I finally had the chance to visit a spot previously only seen from the car, The Tomb of Absalom. Absolutely do include this in your next visit to Jerusalem’s Old City, it is truly interesting! Located in the Kidron Valley, or Valley of The Kings, at the bottom of the Mount of Olives Jewish cemetary, the Tomb of Absalom is not really a tomb as far as anyone knows, and if it it, not of Absalom, but so be it, history gets a bit mixed up sometimes over the course of thousands of years! Just as the Tower of David has nothing to do with David,…
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Where Is Nachum Ish Gamzu Buried?
Where is Nachum Ish Gamzu buried, you may ask? Or more likely, who is Nachum Ish Gamzu? Or what language is that anyway? Well dear readers, let me tell you, Nachum Ish Gamzu, or more correctly, Rebbe Nachum Ish Gamzu was a Tanna, a rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 10-220 CE! Okay that is seriously a long time ago, and yet he was such an important figure that we are still talking about him and visiting his gravesite! One of the things for which Rebbe Nachum Ish Gamzu is known is that he was the teacher of the even more well know Rebbe Akiva!…
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The Ancient Cemetary Of Safed Covered In Yellow Wild Flowers
The fields of Northern Israel are indeed a world unto their own, and I just love to watch the progressive show as wildflowers and maidenhair fern and thistle, to name a few, each bloom during their own special time slot, only to dry up and be replaced by the next species in line. It really is truly magnificent, and while of course this show has a general theme that is the same year to year, this year I noticed that a particular yellow dasy-like wild flower seems to have really taken over, and the hills are golden and lovely, well at least they were two weeks ago when I took…
- Adventures With Children, Israel: Ancient Burial Sites, Israel: Holy Sites, Israel: Nature, Israel: Northern
A Visit To The Gravesite Of Devorah The Prophetess
Above: A Roman era sarcaphogus, not actually used to bury Devorah, but the same location was used for hundreds even a thousand years after Devorah for burial as well. During the week of Passover we were fortunate to have enough lovely weather (though quite a bit rain as well) to venture out a bit and do some exploring here in Northern Israel, not far from home. The Galil, especially the area close to Lebanon is lush and lovely in the Spring, and this time we went to visit the gravesite of Devorah (Deborah, yes THE Deborah) the Prophetess, located in a place call Tel Kedesh, about 500 meters from the…
