10-year old Russian tourist finds 3,000 year old seal in Temple Mount dirt
You will recall that the Muslim Waqf used bulldozers in an attempt to erase any trace of the Jewish Temples on the Temple Mount, and that Israeli archaeologists had the dirt trucked to a site near Mount Scopus where they have been carefully sifting through it for years.
Last week, a 10-year old Russian tourist found a 3,000-year old seal from the times of King David and Solomon.
The Temple Mount Sifting Project, which for more than a decade has been
sifting through the tons of topsoil discarded by the Jerusalem Waqf
Islamic trust, announced that the young Russian tourist, Matvei Tcepliaev, found a 3,000-year-old seal dating to the eras of Kings David and Solomon.
Archaeologists believe the 10th century B.C. artifact is the first seal of its kind found in Jerusalem.
The Temple Mount Sifting Project announced that the seal’s age would
place it in “the historical period of the Jebusites and the conquest of
Jerusalem by King David, as well as the construction of the [First]
Temple and the royal official compound by his son, King Solomon.”
The discovery not only offers further evidence of the Jewish
connection to Jerusalem but also of the biblical narrative about the
reigns of David and Solomon, as described in the two Books of Samuel and
1 Kings.
That would be the narrative that the 'Palestinians' deny.
Jonathan Tobin in Commentary Magazine explained the political context of the fight over archaeological evidence:
By trashing an area that was loaded with precious
artifacts buried over 30 centuries, the Palestinians hope to convince
the world that Jews have no claim to Jerusalem, let alone any part of
Israel, including the areas inside the 1967 lines.
The significance of the seal is that it shows the level of activity
that is consistent with it serving as the site of the capital of ancient
Israel. Since denying the existence of David’s Kingdom might hurt the
case for Zionism’s legitimacy, destroying evidence of that history is
key to their agenda. […]
Try as they might to call the Old City “traditionally Palestinian” or
“Arab East Jerusalem,” all you need to do to confirm Jerusalem’s Jewish
roots is to start digging.
The Sifting Project noted in its announcement of the discovery that
the seal is “particularly significant,” because it was found on the
Temple Mount which has never been excavated:
The discovery of the seal testifies to the administrative
activity which took place upon the Temple Mount during those times.
[….] Upon the base of the seal appear the images of two animals, one on
top of the other, perhaps representing a predator and its prey.
Additionally, the seal is perforated, thus enabling one to hang it from a
string.
The Sifting Project which is run by Bar-Ilan University and the City
of David Foundation invites tourists to help comb through the 400
truckloads of dirt dumped in a valley outside the Old City of Jerusalem
in 1999 by the Islamic trust.
Volunteers have also discovered hundreds of 10th century B.C. pottery
sherds and a rare bronze arrowhead believed to be from the same period.
Chag Sameyach (Happy Holiday) everyone! I will be back on Monday night because the restrictive part of this holiday is only one day here in Israel.
For those of you who - like our family - inevitably end up spending time in Jerusalem's Old City during Chol HaMoed (the intermediate days of the holiday), here's something new for you to do. On Tuesday, the largest fortress ever found in the City of David was secretly inaugurated. It's 3,800 years old.
The fortress protects the Gihon spring, which was the city's water supply. No word on why the inauguration was secret.
AVRAHAM’S RESEARCH demonstrates that Hoffman and Kallus are
political animals, not just spiritual seekers motivated by their intense
attachment to the Western Wall. And it strongly suggests that the prime
motivation of the leaders of WoW is to advance an agenda consistent with their
other political work.
The power of the Western Wall derives, in large
part, from its role as a symbol of Jewish continuity, from the time of the First
and Second Temples until today. Those who identify with organizations like Ir
Amim and Emek Shaveh, which oppose Israeli archeological work in the Old City,
as part of a sinister “Judaization of Jerusalem,” and who are allied with groups
calling for the return of east Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount and Western
Wall, to Palestinian control, are apparently not terribly moved by Jewish
continuity and its symbols.
In truth, Hoffman has always been rather
forthright that the Western Wall Plaza had value in her eyes primarily as a
place to make political statements – “to be seen,” in her words – and provoke
confrontation. Hoffman admits she feels no particular attachment to places, the
Western Wall included. And her Reform Movement long ago declared, “One should
not consider the Western Wall as possessing any sanctity.”
She has no
answer for the question posed long ago by Hillel Halkin, “Are there no other
places in Jerusalem to practice Jewish feminism, that they must do it at the one
site where it is sure to infuriate large numbers of Orthodox Jews?” – a question
that takes on special gravity given Hoffman’s admission that the Western Wall
has no real sanctity in her eyes.
Offending others is not an unfortunate
byproduct, but the very purpose of WoW. Again, Hoffman admitted as much recently
in explaining her theoretical acceptance of Jewish Agency chairman Natan
Sharansky’s proposal for WoW to move their prayer rites from the current Western
Wall Plaza to a fully refurbished area further south on the Western Wall (albeit
while conditioning that acceptance on 16 untenable conditions). “WoW,” she
conceded, in explanation of the new approach, “is not the right group for
bringing about change in the Orthodox world.”
In other words, the 25
years of confrontation were not, at least for Hoffman, about the yearning for
proximity to the Western Wall, but to “model” new and better modes of prayer for
her benighted Orthodox sisters.
IT IS IMPORTANT to understand the ways in
which WoW’s activities serve the radical agenda of Hoffman, Kallus and Sachs.
WoW serves to “kasher” many of the organizations with which it is associated, in
particular the NIF, which serves as both a funder of WoW and a conduit for its
tax-deductible contributions.
WoW wraps itself in the cloak of religious
pluralism.
For most American Jews, the belief that “there is no right way
to be a Jew” is both the first and last of their theological principles.
Accordingly, religious pluralism is as “American Jewish” as apple pie and
motherhood – sadly, a good deal more so than the latter.
By selling
itself as an organization committed to the benign cause – at least in the eyes
of non-Orthodox American Jews – of religious pluralism, the NIF is able to
obscure other parts of its agenda that might find less favor with many of its
contributors.
But there is another more insidious way in which WoW helps
to advance the radical Left agenda in Israel.
Groups like B’Tselem and
Breaking the Silence, which uses former IDF soldiers to advance a narrative of
widespread Israeli war crimes, seek to alienate American Jews from their
identification with Israel. By doing so, they hope to increase Israeli Jews’
sense of isolation and lack of international support, and to thereby convince
them that the only way out is to conclude a “peace” with the Palestinians on
almost any terms.
News of PA digs at the site is particularly of concern given the
organization's penchant for rewriting history. In 2011, amid renewed PA
digs in Shechem, which the Bible records was bought by Jacob (Yaakov),
Hamdan Taha, director of the PA's Department of Antiquities, said the
dig would help in “writing or rewriting the history of Palestine.”
The Field School guides discovered the archaeological digging during a
trip taken in advance of a walking tour planned for December 6 during
Hanukkah. The Field School said Israeli groups have not traveled the
area in roughly 20 years.
Given the lack of a mandate for rule and for IDF involvement in Area
A, the School said "all that's left is to hope that the findings will be
dealt with according to the great importance the site has to the Jewish
people."
The Hasmoneans successfully forced the occupying Greek Empire out of
Israel and established their own dynasty over 2,000 years ago.
Their revolt, sparked by Greek decrees outlawing Judaism, lead to the
purification and rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
Regarding the site, representatives from the School explained that
Judah Maccabee, a key leader in the uprising, died three years after the
Temple was purified. Following his death "the Hellenist Jews together
with the Greek army returned to rule over Judea and the gains
accomplished by the Hasmonean revolt nearly fell completely. The
recovery from this hard setback happened in the Judean desert between
Bethlehem and Tekoa at the hill named Beit Betzi."
At the ruins remains of a magnificent fortress from the Hasmonean and
Early Roman period were found. According to Dr. David Amit's research
in the 1980s the site played a critical role in the Hasmonean struggle
against Greek forces.
'Tis the season to try maintain a truthful narrative....
Wakf destroys more priceless Temple Mount artifacts
We've seen this before. The 'Palestinian' Wakf is bulldozing the Temple Mount again destroying thousands of priceless artifacts.
Let's go to the videotape.
The story is told in Hebrew here. In 2004, Israel's Supreme Court ruled that excavations cannot be carried out on the Temple Mount without archeological supervision. While there is apparently some dispute as to whether a permit was obtained, what is clear is that there was no supervision other than the person in the video who sought to stop the work. The Antiquities Authority was not allowed to go through the material before it was dumped.
Image: Second Temple column tossed out by the Wakf
Journalist Michael Freund posted the image above on his Facebook page. For those who cannot recognize what it is, Freund explains.
Here,
in a pile of rubble and trash on the Temple Mount, lies a marble column
from the Second Temple that was broken and then discarded by the Muslim
Wakf which effectively controls the area. Our heritage is under
assault. It is time for the Israeli government to act, and take back
control of the Temple Mount!
It's long past time. But don't hold your breaths waiting for it to happen.
Here's another one of those discoveries that makes the Arabs seethe because it proves once again that there was Jewish life in Israel more than 2000 years ago. Archaeologists sifting through dirt that the Waqf plowed over during the course of construction on the Temple Mount have discovered a receipt from the Second Temple period.
The Antiquities Authority announced Sunday the discovery of the original store credit - an ancient seal that was used to show payments for offerings.
A 1cm by 1cm ancient seal was found with the words "Pure for God" written in Aramaic, the Antiquities Authority said.
It is the first time anything has been discovered dealing with The Second Temple administration and helps put a human spin on the day to day activities of the period.
It was discovered in Jerusalem by volunteers sifting through the dirt excavated from the north side of the Shiloah Pools in the City of David.
Due to the richness of the archaeological history, every bucket of dirt is sifted before being thrown out. About 30 coins have been found this way.
My daughter found a coin when we went to help them sift dirt during the Sukkot holiday four years ago.
City of David excavations cause problems: They prove the City belongs to Jews
Haaretz has a lengthy article complaining about the exposure of a sewage tunnel from the Temple Mount to the City of David (Silwan). Haaretz complains about the 'political' manner in which the archaeological excavations are being carried out, but what really concerns them is that the tunnel proves Josephus' narrative that Jews controlled Jerusalem, and that Jews tried to flee from the Roman armies who destroyed the Second Temple. Read the whole thing.
If you check back here later, I hope to have a video tour of the City of David excavations (the one that's mentioned in the Haaretz article). Unfortunately, it's Hebrew only.
'Palestinians' trying to make an international court case out of Israeli archaeological excavations
The 'Palestinians' and their Arab allies are trying to put together a court case to take to the 'International Court of Justice' in the Hague against Israeli archaeological excavations in Jerusalem.
Arab experts on Wednesday took the first steps towards taking international legal action against Israel for ongoing excavations near the old city of Jerusalem.
Arab archaeologists, conservationists and heritage experts met in Amman yesterday to gather what they claim are documented impacts of ongoing Israeli projects altering the identity of the Holy City.
The two-day gathering of the committee of experts, held under the auspices of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO) at the Department of Antiquities (DoA), aims to take Israel to task for violations ranging from changing historical street names to excavations underneath Al Aqsa Mosque.
Once the documentation is complete, the committee will draft a report and issue recommendations for a case to be brought before the International Court of Justice, according to DoA Director Ziad Saad.
"We aim to gather sound scientific evidence for politicians to take up the case at the international level," he told The Jordan Times on the sidelines of the meeting, which was opened by Minister of Tourism Haifa Abu Ghazaleh.
Moawiyah Ibrahim, Jordan's representative to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, said the move comes amidst concerns that Israeli authorities are abusing archaeology for political ends.
"Israel has used Biblical texts to support their national narrative and have disregarded Arab-Islamic heritage," he said.
Does anyone think that the 'international community' will stand up and call the 'Palestinians' on their denial of history by claiming that the Jewish Temples never existed? I'm still waiting to hear the Pope stand up and say that the Jewish Temples existed because Jesus was in the Second Temple.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
