The Great Rebellion of the Jews against the Romans was not pre-planned. It started with a not-too-extraordinary riot in Jerusalem during Passover in 66 CE. During the Jewish pilgrimage festivals, the Romans stationed military forces in Jerusalem to control the crowds. But this time, when Roman soldiers tried to steal from the treasures of the Temple, violent riots broke out. The procurator, Gessius Florus, had to retreat with his forces to the safety of Herod’s palace. The Jews quickly took control of the Temple Mount and bottled up the procurator and his forces in the palace. King Agrippa, upon hearing of the riots, hurried to the city in order to try to convince the people that fighting Rome was of no avail. But as he was trying to placate the Jerusalemites, a group of Sicarii, led by Menahem of Gamla, managed to overcome the Roman garrison in Masada, take possession of the large quantities of weapons stored there, and hurry to Jerusalem with the weapons. While the Sicarii were on their way, local anti-Roman priests stopped the daily sacrifices for the well-being of the emperor. The rebellion against Rome was now official. Once Menahem and his Sicarii arrived in the city, the palaces of the high priest, of Agrippa, and of his sister Bernice were torched, together with the city archive that contained all records of debts and loans. The Roman garrison, still holding out in the Antonia Fortress that overlooked the great Temple platform, was attacked. After two days of fighting, the fortress fell and the remainder of the Roman defenders retreated to Herod’s palace. The Roman soldiers agreed to put down their weapons in return for safe conduct out of the city, but once they allowed the rebels into the palace, they were all slaughtered. The rebellion spread throughout the country. In the cities with both Jewish and pagan communities, riots broke out between Jews, Samaritans, and Pagans. When it became clear that the local Roman forces could not restore order, Cestius Gallus, the governor of Syria, set out for Judea at the head of the Twelfth Roman Legion and auxiliary forces. After restoring a semblance of order along the coast, he arrived in Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles. When he failed to break into the city, he decided, for no apparent reason, to retreat – which turned his entire military campaign into a fiasco. The Jews pursued the retreating Romans and attacked as the legion made its way down to the coastal plain. Some 6,000 Roman legionnaires fell in the battle and the rebels gained a supply of armor, weapons, and military equipment. The victory united all the factions of the Jewish population. A provisional government was set up and governors were sent to different parts of the country. Jerusalem was put under the command of Joseph, son of Gorion, and the high priest, Hanan; Edom was given to Joshua, son of Sapphias and the priest Elazar ben Hanania. Joseph, son of Matityahu, the future historian Josephus Flavius, was put in charge of the Galilee. In the spring of 67 CE, Nero put his most seasoned general, Vespasian, at the head of the 60,000-man military force that would be sent to Judea to suppress the rebellion. Vespasian started his offense by landing, unhindered, in Acre. Marching into the Galilee, he first came upon Sepphoris, which from the start had leaned towards the Romans, and took control of the town. From the outset, the Jewish forces had no chance against the might of Rome – their only hope was to ambush the Romans as they marched and to try to hold out in fortified cities against the legionnaires. To do so an experienced and united military command was needed – Josephus was no military commander. Yodefat, the stronghold that he personally commanded, held out for a few months of bitter fighting, but finally succumbed in the summer of 67 CE. Josephus turned himself over to the Romans and became the official Roman historian of the war, writing under the name Josephus Flavius – the family name of Vespasian. After Yodefat’s fall, Tiberias surrendered to the Romans. The neighboring town of Trichea (Magdala), resisted. When the town fell, the defenders continued fighting from boats on the Sea of Galilee until the Romans built a fleet and put an end to the last source of resistance around the lake. Gamla, the stronghold of the Sicarii on the Golan Heights, was then put under siege. After a bitter battle, the Romans managed to make their way into the hilltop town. The surviving defenders gathered at the top of the cliff around which the town was built, and jumped to their deaths. The Romans then moved on to Tabor and Giscala (Gush Halav) in the Upper Galilee. Gush Halav was the hometown of John of Giscala, Josephus’s old rival for the leadership in the Galilee. By this point, however, John had moved on to Jerusalem to organize the defense of the capital. The debacle in the Galilee prompted an outbreak of violence in Jerusalem, with the extremists accusing the more moderate factions, mainly composed of the priests and the wealthy, of not wholeheartedly supporting the rebellion and secretly harboring the desire to surrender to the Romans. Civil war broke out in the city. Vespasian let his armies rest during the winter and continued the conquest of the rest of the land in the spring of 68 CE. He split his forces in order to execute a pincer maneuver, sending one force to make its way along the coast and the other to proceed via the Jordan Valley. By the end of 68 CE, the only territories still under rebel control were Jerusalem and the Judean Desert. Meanwhile, despite the imminent approach of the Roman legions, the civil war in Jerusalem continued. During the year spanning 68 and 69 CE, dramatic events unfolded in Rome. Nero died and four different emperors ascended the throne in the year after his death. The fourth was Vespasian, nominated to the throne by his troops. Vespasian left the conduct of the war in Judea to his son Titus. The Jewish forces did not take advantage of this year of inactivity to organize the defense of Jerusalem. The leaders of the three main Jewish factions – John of Giscala, Eleazar ben Simon, and Simon bar Giora – continued fighting among themselves, each one controlling a different part of the city. The battle of Jerusalem started in the summer of 70 CE, when Titus besieged the city for five months. When the Jews managed to destroy the Roman ramps and siege engines, Titus decided to starve the city and surrounded it with a siege wall. In August, the Romans managed to capture the great Antonia Fortress. After the fall of the fortress, they conquered and set fire to the Temple. The upper city held out for another month, but it was clear that the battle was over. The city was set ablaze and Jerusalem was destroyed. Herod’s magnificent Temple was no more. Two fortresses south of Jerusalem still remained in the hands of the rebels: Machaerus, on the eastern side of the Dead Sea; and Masada, on the western side. Three years after the rebellion, in 72 or 73 CE, the Romans stamped out this last bastion of resistance.
The oldest-known depiction of the menorah and the sacred vessels from the Second Temple in Jerusalem appear on one of the bas-reliefs adorning the Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum. This arch was erected in the first century CE to commemorate Titus’s conquest and destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. This past spring, a second Arch of Titus was discovered in Rome. This one stood in the Circus Maximus stadium and it too commemorates the conquest of Jerusalem. This discovery, along with recently completed research confirming that the menorah in the bas-relief originally was painted a golden yellow to emphasize that it had been crafted from pure gold, sheds new light on this distinctive architectural element. > by Yadin Roman
The eve of Hanukka on December 23, 1997, was clear and starry in Rome. A group of people was gathered in the Roman Forum next to the Arch of Titus, which stands on the Via Sacra leading to the Temple of Jupiter on Capitoline Hill. Roman emperor Domitian is credited with erecting this arch in 81 CE to commemorate the deification of his brother Titus and his conquest and destruction of Jerusalem. For hundreds of years, perhaps even since the arch was completed, the rabbis of the Jewish community in Roman strictly forbade their followers from walking under the arch. Anyone who violated this ban was considered to have left Judaism and his or her soul was cut off from the Jewish people. The group that gathered by the arch on the eve of Hanukka in 1997 included then-Italian prime minister Romano Prodi, then-mayor of Rome Francesco Rutelli, Italian dignitaries, the rabbis of Rome, and the city’s entire Jewish community. In an impressive, joyous ceremony full of light, the ban on walking under the arch was formally revoked in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel. The time has come to remember the tragedy of the Holocaust and reaffirm the right of all people to live in peace and dignity in all places, the Italian prime minister declared in his speech at the ceremony. “When many people look at the sculpture under the arch,” the mayor said, “they only see the misery inflicted upon a conquered race. But look again. I see not a conquered race, but a monument to one of the greatest modern nations on earth. The conquering Romans are a footnote of history, but the Jewish nation continues to thrive, within and outside the State of Israel. That is what the arch represents to me.” After the ceremony, some Roman Jews peeked at the reliefs, which are located on the underside of the arch, but could not bring themselves to actually walk through it. The Arch of Titus is one of the 36 triumphal arches that stood in Rome in the fourth century CE, before the glory of the empire that the city’s sons had established faded. Only three of these arches still are standing today: the Arch of Titus; the Arch of Septimius Severus, which was erected in 203-205 CE; and the Arch of Constantine, which was constructed in 312 CE. The Roman triumphal arch is one of the innovations that the Romans gave to the world of architecture. Triumphal gates had been known for thousands of years before the days of Rome. Hittite, Assyrian, and Babylonian kings would boast of their victories by building monuments adorned with inscriptions and depictions relating the story of their triumphs. The Etruscans, the ancient tribe that the Romans conquered at the beginning of their rise, would erect such monuments at the entrances to their cities or on central streets as stand-alone elements not connected to a wall or a building. The Roman triumphal arch was a distinctive development because it brought together two elements that had never been seen together before: a round arch mounted on two columns or piers and a large square assemblage on top of it. These two elements had been used separately in the ancient world for hundreds of years. Arches appeared in canals and water drainage systems and as an engineering element to lower the pressure on openings in a wall such as windows and entranceways. The upper structure of the arch, a beam that connects two columns, could be seen in Greek temples as part of the system that held up the roof and provided a place for reliefs and decorations. Sculptures of gods or of the emperor were installed above the Roman triumphal arch. The sculptures on the Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum disappeared over the ages, but examples of this can be seen in the 40 odd triumphal arches erected in the world’s capitals, almost all of which were inspired by the Arch of Titus. They include the Arc de Triomphe in Paris; the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin; the triumphal arches in Saint Petersburg, Moscow, New York, London, New Delhi, and Brussels; as well as the arches in numerous other countries, such as Hungary, Italy, Iraq, Laos, Macedonia, the Philippines, Portugal, Romania, and Australia, to name a few. The first Roman triumphal arches were erected in the days of the republic by leaders and military commanders who saved the city or presided over important victories. They built monuments to commemorate their valor themselves. However, when the republic became an empire, emperor Augustus ordered that triumphal arches only be built for emperors – and only after the Senate had approved the convening of a triumphal march, known as a triumph, for them. The triumphal arch thus transformed from a personal symbol to a tool of governmental rule. Rome built imperial arches in public places, such as on main roads, at squares, at the entrances to stadiums, and so on. The goal was for the public to pass through the arch and be impressed by the message that this public monument was intended to convey. The Triumph Titus Flavius Caesar rose to power on June 23, 79 CE, following the death of his father, emperor Vespasian. In 67 CE, 13 years earlier, emperor Nero had sent Vespasian to the province of Judea to quell the Jews’ revolt. At the time, Vespasian, then 57, already had retired from public life. He had distinguished himself in his youth as a military commander fighting in Germany and participating in the invasion of England. In 63 CE, Vespasian was appointed governor of Africa. After completing his term in Africa, he returned to Rome. Vespasian was not from a wealthy family; his weak financial position after retiring from public office forced him to earn a living by trading in mules, but his business dealings were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, he was invited to join Nero’s entourage on a trip to Greece. During the visit, Vespasian was caught dozing at one of the mad emperor’s theater or musical performances and was forced to flee for his life. After the revolt broke out in Judea, and the Jewish rebels defeated the Roman governor in Syria, Nero summoned the disgraced Vespasian to duty, handing him command of the legions in the east. Nero did not choose Vespasian by chance: a military commander who was not a member of the Roman nobility was not considered a threat to the emperor. Vespasian had his oldest son, Titus, join his forces. Two years after the rebellion broke out, in 68 CE, Nero committed suicide. The empire deteriorated during a series of power struggles in a period that became known as the Year of the Four Emperors. The first to take power were the commanders of the western legions. When they did not succeed to stabilize the empire – and were murdered, one after the other – the legions in Alexandria declared Vespasian the new emperor. The legions of the east quickly joined them. Vitellius, the last of the three emperors who preceded Vespasian, was murdered and Vespasian was named emperor on July 1, 69 CE. The new emperor left his son Titus in Judea to finish the war against the Jews. During 70 CE, Titus conquered the Jordan Valley and the approach to Jericho and the Dead Sea and then set siege to Jerusalem. After a five-month siege, and the death of thousands of the city’s residents in battle and from starvation, Jerusalem fell. The Roman legions slaughtered or enslaved the surviving Jerusalemites, demolished the city’s buildings, and destroyed the magnificent Second Temple that Herod had built. Titus returned to Rome a hero, accompanied by his Jewish mistress, Bernice, the daughter of king Agrippa I and the great-granddaughter of Herod and Mariamne the Hasmonean, and Josephus Flavius, who was appointed the imperial court historian. The city honored Vespasian and Titus for the victory in Judea with a grand triumph: a procession of the legions and thousands of Jewish captives as well as a display of the great treasures plundered in the war, including the sacred Temple vessels. At the end of the victory procession, Simeon Bar Giora, who the Romans had identified as the military commander of the rebellion, was executed. Josephus provides a detailed description of the triumph in his book, The Jewish War (Book VII, 132-162, from H. St. J. Thackeray’s translation from the Greek, Loeb Classical Library, 2004). “It is impossible adequately to describe the multitude of those spectacles and their magnificence under every conceivable aspect,” Josephus writes before offering a survey of the wealth of gold, silver, and ivory vessels, tapestries dyed with the rare purple dye, precious stones, and sculptures. The procession also included many species of animals and multitudes of finely dressed people, including the captives, Josephus continues, noting, “the variety and beauty of their dresses concealing from view any unsightliness arising from bodily disfigurement.” Soldiers carried huge mobile stages depicting the story of the war in which “a prosperous country was devastated, … also every place full of slaughter…. The spoils in general were borne in promiscuous heaps; but conspicuous above all stood out those captured in the temple at Jerusalem. These consisted of a golden table, many talents in weight, and a lampstead [the menorah], likewise made of gold, but constructed on a different pattern from those which we use in ordinary life. Affixed to a pedestal was a central shaft, from which there extended slender branches, arranged trident-fashion, a wrought lamp being attached to the extremity of each branch; of these there were seven, indicating the honour paid to that number among the Jews. After these, and last of the spoils, was carried a copy the Jewish Law [a Torah scroll]…. “The triumphal procession ended at the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, on reaching which they halted; for it was a time-honoured custom to wait there until the execution of the enemy’s general was announced. This was Simon, son of Gioras, who had just figured in the pageant among the prisoners, and then, with a halter thrown over him and scourged meanwhile by his conductors, had been hauled to the spot abutting on the Forum, where Roman law requires that malefactors condemned to death should be executed. After the announcement that Simon was no more and the shouts of universal applause which greeted it, the princes [Vespasian and Titus] began the sacrifices, which having been duly offered with the customary prayers, they withdrew to the palace.” After the triumphal festivities ended, Vespasian built a temple to peace and “Here, too, he laid up the vessels of gold from the temple of the Jews, on which he prided himself; but their Law [Torah scroll] and the purple hangings of the sanctuary he ordered to be deposited and kept in the palace.” Vespasian used the extensive spoils from the Second Temple to finance building the grand Colosseum stadium. When he died in 79 CE, Titus succeeded him; this was the first time in the Roman empire that a son succeeded his father. Titus ruled for only two years, during which he faithfully dealt with the victims of the eruption of the volcano of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, the great fire that broke out in Rome in 80 CE, and the victims of the plague that swept his empire. He also completed the construction of the Colosseum before his death in September 81 CE. Domitian, the brother of Titus, succeeded him. Today it is commonly accepted that he erected the Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum shortly after his brother’s death. The arch commemorates the deification of Titus – something which happens after his death – and so the accepted explanation is that Domitian built it to reinforce his connection to the acts of valor performed by his father and brother, acts that won him the throne. The Temple Menorah The Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum has a monumental inscription on its facade: “The Senate and the People of Rome to the late divine Titus Vespasian, Augustus, son of the late divine Vespasian.” The inscription on the opposite side of the arch was added much later, after the arch was restored in 1882, after having been used for generations as part of the wall surrounding the estate of a wealthy resident of Rome. This inscription describes the restoration work, which was performed at the orders of pope Pius VII. When one walks under the arch and looks up, there is a relief in the center of the underside depicting the deification of Titus. However, the arch’s main significance comes from two other reliefs, which are located high up on the inner sides of the arch. Both of these reliefs depict the triumph to celebrate crushing the rebellion in Judea. One shows Titus riding a chariot harnessed to four white horses with an eagle, the symbol of Roman power, perched on his shoulder. Soldiers are depicted marching alongside the chariot and in front of it are rows of captives. The second relief shows Roman soldiers carrying the sacred vessels of the Temple, with the golden menorah at the center, surrounded by the table of the shew bread, trumpets, and incense shovels. This is the oldest known depiction of the sacred Temple vessels, leading researchers to accept it as an accurate depiction of the menorah that stood in the Second Temple. However, as more and more ancient synagogues were dug up by archaeologists, a different kind of menorah came to light, this time depicted on the mosaic floors of these synagogues from the talmudic period. These mosaic menorahs, which were dated to later periods than the Arch of Titus, were shown standing on three legs, not on a base, as it is shown on the Arch of Titus. A very active debate on the topic has been underway for decades – did the Jewish mosaic floor artists get it wrong? Some claim that the base seen on the menorah in the arch is simply a box that was built around the menorah so that it could be carried easily in the triumph. The latest of the many studies of the menorah on the Arch of Titus was conducted in June 2012 by a team of archaeologists from Yeshivah University in New York, US, working with archaeologists from Rome. They performed high-resolution, three-dimensional scans of the reliefs of the menorah and the deification. One of their most interesting findings was the discovery of traces of yellow ochre on the menorah’s base and arms. It turns out that the menorah was painted a golden yellow, including the base, as befits an item made of pure gold. Who Built the Arch of Titus? There is no doubt that the Arch of Titus was erected in the Roman Forum after the death of Titus. The emperor was deified only after his death and the inscription in the arch refers to “the divine Titus Vespasian” as does the relief in the ceiling of the arch showing the deification of Titus. Many concluded that the other Arch of Titus, the one that had stood at the great Circus Maximus arena, was the one dedicated to Titus during his lifetime. In the Middle Ages, it still was possible to see this arch and an anonymous source who visited ancient Rome preserved the inscription that was carved on it: “The Senate and the People of Rome dedicate this arch to the emperor Titus Caesar, son of the divine Vespasian, Augustus, the high priest, holding authority in the tenth tribune, the seventeenth emperor, the eighth consul, father of the homeland, ruler of the nation, since according to his father’s command and the advice of fate he subdued the Jewish people and destroyed the city of Jerusalem, a city that was assailed in vain before him by military commanders, kings, and nations.” In this inscription, Vespasian is divine, while Titus is the emperor, which could be a hint that the arch was built during the lifetime of Titus and by Titus. Until recently, it was assumed that this arch had been completed destroyed and its stones were looted to be used in other structures. However, this year, the base of an arch was found three meters below ground level on the eastern side of the Circus Maximus, which archaeologists believe is the missing second arch. Over 300 fragments of marble that had been part of the arch were scattered across a large area surrounding the foundation. Some of these fragments are several meters long. Judging by the foundation, this arch was 17 meters wide and 15 meters long. There is no doubt that emperors and military commanders once walked under this arch in triumphal processions on their way to the temple on Capitoline Hill. This arch too most likely was adorned with reliefs depicting the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple. If Titus built the arch in the Circus Maximus to commemorate his victory over the Jewish people and the destruction of Jerusalem, it is not clear why another arch was constructed after his death commemorating the same exact event. Like most historic dilemmas, there is not a simple, obvious answer. Donald McFayden of the University of Chicago in the US wrote one of the few studies that addresses when the arches were constructed. It was published a century ago, in 1915, in The Classical Journal. McFayden notes that the list of buildings mentioned as being constructed by Domitian in Latin sources makes no mention of these arches. Furthermore, in one of the writings of the Roman poet Martial from 85/86 CE, he explains to a servant the route from his home to the home of a friend on Capitoline Hill. Martial describes all the buildings that the messenger must pass on the way to his friend’s home. The route goes right by the Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum, but he does not mention the arch. The Roman historian Suetonius, who wrote in the second century CE, also hints that Domitian did not build the arch. Since the arch expresses the sorrow of the people of Rome and the Senate over the death of Titus, who was one of the most beloved of the Roman emperors, researchers assumed that it was only logical that it had been built immediately after his death, when the mourning for him was assumed to be strongest. However, that does not take into account Domitian’s personality. Suetonius explicitly writes that Domitian was jealous of his father and Titus for their military achievements, which he was not a partner to. Domitian tended to play down the importance of the victory in Judea, claiming that Vespasian and Titus actually owe their ascent to power to him because while they were in the east, he remained in Rome and worked to have power transferred to Vespasian. If he hated his brother, it does not make sense for him to erect an arch to commemorate his achievements. The inscriptions on the arches also raise another problem. The inscription on the arch in Circus Maximus mentions that Titus only completed the work that his father began before him. The arch in the Roman Forum, however, only mentions Titus in the inscription and he is depicted riding alone in the triumphal carriage and being honored for his triumphs. Titus was only his father’s representative (legatus) when he conquered Jerusalem. In Roman law, a triumph achieved by a representative is considered the triumph of the person who sent him into battle. In other words, Vespasian was the great victor of the war in Judea and only he deserved to receive a triumphal parade for it. It does not seem logical that Domitian would agree to give Titus all the credit for the victory in Judea, mainly because he did not deserve it. At the very least, if he had completed the arch in the Roman Forum that Titus had started to build, he would have corrected this disregard for protocol in its inscription. Domitian’s sole claim to the throne was that he was the son of the Flavian family, a family which was not part of Rome’s nobility. For Domitian, the only way to justify his rule was deifying his family. Domitian asserted that his family was worthy to rule due to its divine origins, not due to the victory in Judea. He reinforced his understanding of divinity by cultivating the cult of the emperor, building two temples in Rome dedicated to this cult and founding a priestly order whose purpose was the worship of the Flavian emperors. Historians of the time describe Domitian as one of the most hated emperors by the residents of Rome and the empire. Romans would secretly express their loathing of Domitian by praising his brother Titus, the benevolent and loved emperor. Meanwhile, opposition to Domitian grew stronger among circles in the Roman nobility, which gave rise to several attempts to assassinate him. Domitian responded by executing and exiling the suspects and confiscating their property. The last three years of his rule were characterized by severe persecution of the nobility and the senators. They finally rebelled against the emperor and assassinated him in 96 CE. Following Domitian’s death, the Senate selected Nerva to serve as the new emperor. A member of the Senate and the scion of a noble family, Nerva needed to calm the army, which was loyal to the Flavian family, and strengthen his rapport with the most respected commander in the army in those days, Trajan. When Nerva died only two years later in 98 CE, Trajan succeeded him as emperor. In the years following Domitian’s death, the Senate destroyed all traces of the dark days of his rule. His statues were removed from public squares and his name was removed from inscriptions. Historians of the time, such Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, Juvenal, and Suetonius, joined the campaign, painting a dark picture of Domitian. With time, Domitian became known as a cowardly, cruel, and perverse tyrant, though modern historic research has found he was an effective administrator and that the empire actually flourished during his reign. Expressing hatred of Domitian by presenting his brother Titus as the “darling of the human race,” in the words of Suetonius, also continued during this time. Worship of Titus, which had been neglected during his brother’s reign, was renewed and he was considered the one who stood at the head of the Flavian dynasty. Since it was possible to credit Titus, and only Titus, with the great victory over the Jews during the reign of Nerva or the beginning of the reign of Trajan, that may be when the triumphal arch in the Roman Forum that praises only Titus, and not Vespasian, was erected. Amnon and Ruth in the Jezreel Valley The Hanukka ceremony in 1997 completed a process that began when the Jewish Brigade of the British Army, made up of soldiers from the Land of Israel, arrived in Rome in 1944. Its soldiers marched under the Arch of Titus as a group, in defiance of the ban. That same year, Isaac Ben Israel, a member of the Jewish Brigade, wrote the Hebrew poem, “All Roads Lead to Rome.” Zvi Ben Yosef put it to music and Hannah Meron and Yossi Yadin, who were indeed “a couple in love” then, performed it, singing:
“A couple in love, two Sabras from Canaan, Ruth and Amnon from the Jezreel Valley Take a trip never taken before To the Arch of Titus at midnight! And under the Arch of Titus, in the shadow of the antiquities Kisses bloomed – what else is there to wait for Oh Titus, Titus, if you had seen, To who is the triumph, to who are the songs of praise By the arch that you built A couple in love from the land of Israel By the arch that the respected emperor built then A pair of soldiers from the Land of Israel.”
The day that the State of Israel was established, May 15, 1948, the Jews of Rome also flouted the ban and marched under the Arch of Titus in the opposite direction of the triumphal procession, from the Roman Forum towards the Land of Israel. The following year, brothers Gabriel and Maxime Shamir designed the official symbol of the new state. At its center is the seven-branched menorah, as it appears on the Arch of Titus. The menorah that was taken to Rome and that symbolized the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE thus returned symbolically to Israel upon the renewal of the Jewish people in its land.
Over the past year, civil society in Israel has emerged from the shadows. It has always existed, but social solidarity, mutual aid, and unity have all crumbled in the last three decades, and the essential need for civil organizations has become central to safeguarding our democracy. The attempted judicial revolution and the massacre of October 7 placed a mirror in front of us through which we could see the reflection of our society. It was a broken view, shattering to pieces all that we believed about the resilience of Israel. For many, it was a wake-up call to take action. Since its founding 40 years ago, “ERETZ Magazine” has focused on the history, heritage, and culture of the Land of Israel. However, it is impossible to ignore the enormous changes that are taking place and still be faithful to our editorial mission: Yediat Ha-Aretz – Knowledge of the Land. In this issue, we focused on a few lesser-known aspects of Israel’s civic society that illustrate the overall atmosphere. Two weeks after October 7, Talya Yarom, a senior event producer, decided to hold a concert with a thousand musicians and singers at the Roman Theater in Caesarea to express the need for the immediate return of the hostages. All concert participants, singers, stage people, film crews, and editing crews did their work voluntarily. The concert received millions of views online. Liri Roman, whose sister Yarden and sister-in-law Carmel were held hostage in Gaza, decided to set up a giant sand clock to illustrate that time is running out for the hostages. Today, sand clocks are displayed in Tel Aviv, New York, and Berlin. Five more are about to go up in Israel. Shomrim, the Center for Media and Democracy, decided to establish an emergency fund to provide emotional assistance for journalists and media personnel exposed to the atrocities of October 7. The fund raised 400 thousand dollars, enough to aid nearly 200 journalists. The story of Kibbutz Manara, its members evacuated from their Lebanese border home and settled as a kibbutz within a kibbutz at Kibbutz Gadot, illustrates the strength of the Kibbutz Movement, that with a new General Secretary plans to take the lead in Israeli society, and shape the values needed to repair our shattered mirror. I must disclose that I have personal connections to all these stories. The Caesarea Theater played an important part in our Caesarea issue. Gili Roman is my brother’s son. One of an amazing group of young people who left whatever they were doing to fight for the release of the hostages. I learned about the emergency fund of Shomrim from my wife, who works there, and I have a particularly warm place for Manara, where I grew up. Special thanks go to my friend and army buddy, Zvika Tzur, from Kibbutz Gvat. Without his amazing efficiency and sage advice, many of these articles would not have made their way to print.
From ERETZ magazine – issue no. 187 – December 2023
My mother was an avid fan of Aldous Huxley. A dozen of his novels in hardcover and matching jackets stood on a library shelf in my childhood home. My mother even corresponded with Huxley in the early 1940s. I had never read any of the books; however, one name on the book-backs drew my attention: “Eyeless in Gaza.” I wondered why this English author wrote about Gaza. Eventually, I learned that the book was not about Gaza but about a young English socialite who had lost his way in life. Huxley, who was half-blind in one eye, dwelled a lot on the blindness inflicted on society by the principles of mass production and Pavlovian conditioning. The book’s title was from a verse in the drama “Samson Agonistes,” written by John Milton in 1671. Milton depicts the biblical Samson, the once-mighty warrior, as blinded and a prisoner of the Philistines (“eyeless in Gaza at the mill with slaves”).
The same motive appears in a 1991 collection of essays by Shulamit Har-Even. In the title essay, “Blind in Gaza,” Har-Even tells of a visit to a family in the Rimal quarter in Gaza during the Israeli occupation.
Last winter, with my wife, I set out on a trip to Kibbutz Be’eri. It was a spontaneous last-minute decision, and my niece Yarden, who lives on the Kibbutz, was absent. However, we drove along the green fields surrounding the Kibbutz, descended to the “Concrete Road” built by the British in preparation for the Second World War, visited Nakhabir – the original site of Be’eri, and continued to the memorial to the Australian and New Zealand soldiers who had fought at Gaza during the First World War. The monument is just off the security barrier around Gaza, and I felt slightly uneasy as we climbed the steps to the top of the memorial.
On October 7, my niece, her three-year-old daughter Geffen, and her husband Alon were taken hostage at Be’eri. Five terrorists forced them into a car and sped toward Gaza along the same road we had taken a few months earlier. On the way, an Israeli tank appeared, and the terrorists halted for a minute. Yarden, with Geffen in her arms, and Alon, jumped out of the vehicle and ran. The terrorists opened fire and gave chase. After a few moments, Yarden handed Geffen to Alon. “Run for your life she told him.” Yarden took shelter from the bullets behind a tree and was captured and taken to Gaza. Alon and Geffen managed to escape.
Somehow, the tragedy of that day, with thousands killed and wounded and nearly 250 taken hostage, brought me back to thinking about Samson, eyeless and chained in the Philistine temple in Gaza. Why were we so blind, shorn of our ability and strength?
Huxley’s most famous work, “Brave New World” is an Orwellian dystopian novel. However, the time has come for us to create a different New World. A world that will bring us back to the ideals that were our country’s core: social justice, innovative agriculture, education and science, and a quest for peace.
I hope that we will manage to release all the hostages and overcome the Hamas and Hezbollah. Then, we can finally put ourselves to the difficult task of regaining our vision, rebuilding, and rejuvenating our country with the ideals that gave us our strength.
Adi Davis (right) and Yarden Roman at Nahal Rahaf (Photo: Alon Brookstein)
My niece Yarden, the daughter of my brother Jony, was taken hostage by Hamas from Kibbutz Be’eri to Gaza on Saturday, October 7, 2023. She was an avid rock climber from an early age, well known in the small community of Israeli rock־climbing adventurers. Together with the Israel Climbers’ Association, we have put together a photo gallery of some of the climbing adventures in Israel – waiting for the day she returns to climb again
Yadin Roman
From ERETZ magazine – issue no. 187 – December 2023
My niece, Yarden Roman־Gat, was kidnapped at Kibbutz Be’eri on Saturday morning, October 7, together with her three־year־old daughter Geffen and her husband Alon. They were bundled into a small car by four terrorists that sped towards the border fence with Gaza. Near the fence, the terrorists spotted an Israeli tank and stopped for a minute. With Geffen in her arms, Yarden and Alon, in a split־second decision, jumped out of the car and began to run up a small ravine. The terrorists fired after them with automatic weapons and gave chase. After running for about 200 yards, with bullets zipping around them, Yarden handed Geffen over to Alon and told him to run as quickly as he could. Yarden took off in a different direction and took refuge from the bullets behind a tree, directing the fire and the terrorists toward her.
Inbal Katzenelson climbing Gita Cliff (Photo: Diego Rosman)
Alon, with Geffen, found a niche in the ground and scrambled into it, concealing their whereabouts with branches and bushes. For 12 hours, Alon and Geffen hid in their makeshift shelter with terrorists all around searching for them. The following day, Alon, with Geffen in his hands, made his way to the Kibbutz, where fighting between the terrorists and the army was still going on. Circumventing the Kibbutz, he reached the main road and the Israeli forces. The next day, Gili, Yarden’s brother, went to where she had last been seen. He scoured the area for four days with volunteers from the armed forces, including Bedouin trackers. No trace of Yarden was found. She had been retaken by her captors and taken to Gaza.
Yarden Roman (left) and Adi Davis (right) rappelling in Nahal Rahaf (Photo: Alon Brookstein)
Since she was a small child, Yarden loved the outdoors. Hiking and camping trips were her favorite pastime. Above all, she loved climbing. Rocks, cliffs, boulders, climbing walls, the lot. She was a member of her hometown climbing club, won a few trophies, and scaled many of the highest cliffs in the country. She met her future husband, Alon, at one of these climbing meets. Three months after they met, Yarden and Alon set out on a trip to the United States to reach some of the better־known sport־climbing sites. After Geffen was born, adventures had to be toned down a little, but the love for the sport remained. They planned to visit Australia and New Zealand to reach well-known rock climbing sites.
Valeri Kremer climbing the cliff in Ein Prat (Photo: Gilad Furst)
Rock climbing in Israel is a young sport. However, it is gaining in popularity. In 2019, the Israel Climbers’ Association was founded to serve the approximately 15,000 climbing enthusiasts in the country. Rotem Jacobs, one of the Association’s directors, knows Yarden well. Three decades ago, the small group of cliff lovers met repeatedly in competitions, events, and on the cliffs. “In a small country like Israel,” says Jacobs, “there aren’t many authorized climbing sites. The most challenging is at Ein Prat, in the Judean Desert. Others are at Beit Ariyeh, the Timna Park in the southern Arava Valley – where the management of the park is encouraging the development of this challenging sport – sites in the Judean Mountains, in the Ramim cliff overlooking Kiryat Shemona, in the Carmel and more. One of the tasks of the Association is to add more official climbing sites around Israel.”
The climbing group in Kochav Yair hanging in Nahal Rahaf (Photo: Alon Brookstein)
Timna Park is one of Israel’s most adventurous and challenging climbing sites. The Timna Valley is a horseshoe־shaped basin surrounded by high Nubian Sandstone cliffs in the southern Arava Valley. The Valley is famous for its many copper veins, one of the first places in the world where copper was mined. Archaeological excavations in the Valley have ascertained that copper mining activities started during the 5th and 6th millennia BCE and have continued throughout the ages. Dozens of copper mines and mining tunnels have been located in the Valley, with remnants of mining sites initially attributed to the Edomites and King Solomon (hence the sandstone pillars known as Solomon’s Pillars).
Mor Sapir climbing in Timna Park (Photo: Diego Rosman)
In Timna Park, over 85 climbing sites have been marked, 10־50meters high, encompassing all the different styles of sport climbing. The majority scale the smooth, straight sandstone cliffs; a few others scramble up single־standing boulders along the edges of the cliff face. Climbers from around Israel volunteered to help with this article, sending us information and photographs of climbing events. The Climbers’ Association is planning a climbing event, open to the public, in honor of Yarden and as part of the efforts to keep the struggle to release all the hostages foremost in the public eye.
Yosi Ben Yosef climbing in Timna Park (Photo: Diego Rosman)
It was midnight in the ancient cemetery of Safed on a dark, moonless night. It was rosh hodesh, the beginning of the month according to the Jewish calendar, and a sliver of the new moon had yet to make its first appearance. Instead of moonlight, hundreds of memorial candles illuminated the cemetery, their small flames flickering against the sky-blue tombstones of the tzaddikim on the mountain slope. As always, on the first night of the month, the cemetery hummed with supplicants; masses of them had gathered on the plaza near the tomb of Isaac Luria Ashkenazi, who is commonly known by his acronym, the Ari (Hebrew for the lion). Murmurs of private prayers rose from the plaza and were joined by those coming from the darkness in other parts of the cemetery. The mikve of the Ari was full. Men were immersing themselves in the freezing water that tumbles out of a small channel in the rock into the ritual bath. A line of black hats hung from the hooks along the wall, together with long black coats, long white undergarments, and tassels of tzizit. It was a regular rosh hodesh night in the spiritual capital of Galilee. A local tradition in Safed recounts that when the Herzliya hotel was built there in 1925, the workers found a prehistoric skull with an arrow embedded in it lodged in the hollowed-out, thousand-year-old olive tree in the hotel garden. Old-timers consider this an indication of how ancient this city is. The spiritual and national leaders of the nascent Jewish community in Palestine holidayed there every summer, reclining on armchairs in the shade of this ancient olive tree. Hayyim Nahman Bialik, the national poet, came. So did Meir Dizengoff, the first mayor of Tel Aviv, painters Man-Katz and Reuven Rubin, actress Hanna Rovina, and many more. In the 1930s, Safed was the leading resort in the Land of Israel. Thousands flocked to the town in order to spend the hot, humid summer months in the cool, clear mountain air of the Upper Galilee. Dozens of hotels, numerous restaurants, and a wealth of dance halls and night clubs attended to them. In 1933, Kaete Dan, scion of a famous Berlin family of hoteliers, took up residence in Safed. The hotel that she built was the most modern in the land; it provided not only accommodations and food, but also an entertainment team that included belly dancers and hostesses from Beirut. Her establishment thus recreated the merry atmosphere found in the capital of the Weimar Republic. In the first decade after the founding of the State of Israel, the country’s leading artists established the Artists Colony in the city’s picturesque abandoned Arab houses. Painters such as Isaac Frenkel, Sionah Tagger, Menahem Shemi, Azriel Awret, Moshe Castel, Arieh Merzer and many others took up residence in the derelict stone houses. Art lovers subsequently joined the annual crowds of summer tourists, coming to the town to browse around the studios and galleries. In the 1960s, Safed became the summer abode of Israeli bohemia and a long line of night clubs began to operate in the old city – all open until the early hours of the morning. The most famous was the Sha’ot Haketanot (Hebrew for “the Wee Hours”), but others like Canaan Nights, the Fortress Club, the Vault Club, the Bedouin Tent, Moulin Rouge, Milo Club, and more made Safed into a very lively place. The foremost entertainers in Israel appeared here: Alexander Yahalomi, Zadok Savir, Shoshana Damari, Shai K. Ophir, and Yaffa Yarkoni, among others. The famous Tarnegolim troupe regularly performed on the small club stages and the Gashash Hahiver, soon to become an icon of Israeli culture, took its first steps here. Cabaret entertainment flourished, including nude dancers that arrived straight from the famous Moulin Rouge club in Haifa. From the middle of the 1960s, festivals were added to the range of attractions. The first international film festival in the country was held in Safed, together with festivals dedicated to various musical instruments. As the 1970s came to a close, tourism to Safed crashed. Air conditioning allowed other resorts to compete with the cool air of the mountains and the relaxation of foreign currency restrictions on Israelis made travel abroad an increasingly tempting option for them. The political atmosphere during Israel’s first decades had not looked favorably on the hotel owners of Safed. Independent tourism establishments owned by private entrepreneurs who were not connected to the socialist elite that ran the country had to compete with the hotels and resorts that mushroomed in the kibbutzim run by people with better government connections. The new competition, boosted by sponsored vacations for government employees and workers in cooperative factories, also curbed the number of visitors to Safed. Gradually, the hotels closed, the night clubs shut their doors, and the artists, now much older, moved to Tel Aviv. Despite this, Safed’s appeal and charm remained; it was kept alive by its warm spontaneous hospitality, blue-painted alleys, and ancient synagogues. At the turn of the twenty-first century, an attempt was made to rejuvenate its tourism industry. A government-sponsored tourism administration was created, new bed-and-breakfast establishments were encouraged, and a few hotels were refurbished. But the government investment did not bring about the desired turnaround and soon budgets dwindled and the city sunk into travel limbo. Safed today is not your usual tourist destination. There are no marketing campaigns, formal tourism sites, or shopping centers. The gems of Safed are secluded and it is up to the visitor to discover them. The city’s charm peeks out from behind ancient iron gates and from its enclosed courtyards, galleries, small museums, synagogues, and quaint coffeehouses. Safed is full of stories whose sources have been obscured by time; they may be traditions or legends and some may even be true tales. One tells of a couple that came for a visit. When they could not find the room that they had reserved, they asked a local passerby for directions. He escorted them to the place and then beseeched them to come to his house for a Shabbat meal. That evening, the two sat down to dinner with their newfound host and ended up singing Shabbat hymns with him until the middle of the night. Then their new friend gave them a night tour of Safed. “That is not out of the ordinary,” the people of Safed will say, “inviting a traveler into your home is part of the local tradition.” Havdalah candles, visitors to the candle factory in Safed will be told, must have at least two wicks – just like Safed, with its intertwined traditions of kabbalah and mysticism on the one hand and traditional hospitality on the other. “Three things captured my heart,” rabbi Solomon Molcho wrote 340 years ago to his beloved in Safed, “the blue skies of Galilee, the blue walls of Safed, and the blue of your eyes.” This too is the key to the romance of Safed: the coming together of great beauty.
Noon in the Nazareth market, the largest open-air market in Israel. The two small tables at Abu Mahmoud’s coffee shop are full. A backgammon game is in full swing at one. At the other table, four card players are intensely focused on their hands. Water bubbles in the water pipes and thick black coffee residue coats the bottom of the traditional coffee cups – the little, handle-less porcelain cup known as a finjan in Arabic. The pleasant atmosphere quietly fills with that hint of suspicion that arises when members of different Israeli sectors meet. “Tfadalu [welcome],” Abu Mahmoud says, inviting us inside with a wide smile that immediately breaks the ice. The Tel Aviv members of our small group order bottled soft drinks from the refrigerator standing in the large domed room of the coffee shop. The veterans of many a trip around the country order coffee – black, freshly brewed, and spiced with cardamom from the market. We sit on cushioned benches along the wall and sip from the small porcelain cups. “Are you from Nazareth?” we ask, the most banal of questions, yet a good opening line for many a conversation. “Of course,” comes the answer from both tables. We continue with the Hebrew catchphrase, Ma Hamazav? It literally means, “What is the situation?” but actually means, “How is everything with you?” leaving many options for an answer, from the personal to the general state of the Middle East. The silence in the room turns into a conversation. “Nazareth is not a city,” our hosts explain. “It is a village, a village that has expanded, developed, and broken out in all directions. But at its base, it remains a village.” And villages all over the world are the same. They have close-knit clans, historic feuds, and memories of forbidden love stories and sordid betrayals that go back for generations. In Nazareth, however, the feuds and love stories are between Muslims and Christians, Jews and Muslims, Christians and Jews, and all other possible combinations between the three faiths that believe in one God. As a village, Nazareth’s fame spread around the world. This Galilean hamlet is where the Holy Family lived. Here, the archangel Gabriel announced to the young Mary that she was about to give birth to a son. The father of the boy was not her husband Joseph, but the Holy Spirit. History did not record what the wagging tongues of the village had to say about this pregnancy. They may have mentioned that Joseph was not originally from Nazareth. He had come there from afar, from Bethlehem in Judea. It is unclear what brought Joseph to Nazareth during the last years of Herod’s reign. The elderly king was about to die and winds of a dynastic battle and popular uprising were in the air. Maybe Joseph thought it was better to move to the countryside, to get away from the unrest brewing around Jerusalem. Perhaps he came to seek work at the grand building projects of Herod Antipas, Herod’s son and the ruler of Galilee who was planning to build a new capital for the Galilee by renewing abandoned, destroyed Sepphoris on the great road trunk from Acre to Damascus. Sepphoris was less than three miles from Nazareth and would have attracted builders and carpenters as well as stonemasons from around the country. Joseph, who was a wood worker, would have found ample employment in the magnificent mansions going up in Sepphoris. What the young Jesus – then a popular shortened version of the name Joshua – did in his early years in Nazareth is unknown. Maybe he accompanied his father on the 40-minute walk to Sepphoris, where later traditions would place the home of Mary’s parents, and helped him with his work. The scriptures and the early Christian historians have left very few details on Jesus’ life in Nazareth. However, once Christianity began to spread, in the second and third centuries CE, Nazareth began to attract increasing numbers of pilgrims, and the little hamlet in Galilee added pilgrimage to agriculture as a source of livelihood. Even though Christians make up the bulk of the tourists who come to Israel today and Nazareth is chock full of churches, monasteries, and other Christian sites, the city is not flourishing as a tourist destination. Tourists rush through it, staying for only a few hours on average, and then off they go to another destination in the Galilee. As a Muslim city, Nazareth saw more success. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, wealthy Arab families settled in the town and built large mansions in it – beautiful houses with painted ceilings and stucco ornamentation in the style of traditional Turkish-Lebanese architecture. During the final years of the Ottoman Empire and the British Mandate, Nazareth developed as the administrative and economic center of the Galilee, with the offices, services, and businesses that accompany a center of power. The Israeli War of Independence and the first decades of the State of Israel were not kind to Nazareth. Refugees from the Arab villages of Galilee crowded into the town, settling in neighborhoods that became known by the names of the uprooted families’ villages. The new Israeli authorities looked on the town as a backwater for political dealings, creating a series of local Arab parties that mainly supported the leading labor parties that ruled Israel. In 1956, following a plan to settle more Jews in the Galilee, land from Nazareth and the surrounding Arab villages was expropriated to create a Jewish town overlooking Nazareth, which was dubbed Nazerat Illit (Upper Nazareth). Despite all this, Nazareth continued to grow and develop. Farming was no longer an option as much of its land had been expropriated, but the schools of the Christian organizations and institutions gave rise to an educated, professional population that supported itself very well in the modern economy of Israel by supplying professional, trade, and local government services. Meanwhile, the second and third generations of Israeli Arabs were learning how to demand their share of government funds and take their rightful place in the country’s political structure. Nazareth prospered and soon became the largest Arab city in Israel with a population of over 100,000. Despite its fame worldwide, Nazareth remains an undiscovered travel destination. Its alleys are magical, filled with traditional workshops and ancient mansions. It boasts a unique and lively culinary scene, with some of the best restaurants and coffee shops in Israel. The walls of the monasteries and churches hide serene, beautiful gardens where nuns and monks have secluded themselves in order to seek peace and serenity in a world dedicated to faith and prayer. The painted ceilings adorning the mansions of the Old City artistically depict scenes from days long gone, while colorful, symbolic icons adorn its many churches, which represent an amazing variety of traditions. The Anglican Church looks as if it were transplanted from an old English parish. The mosques invite the visitor to rest in their carpeted prayer halls. Then there is the hummus. It is definitely the best in the country – ask all the bus and truck drivers from all over the country who make sure to stop at one of the many hummus eateries in Nazareth whenever they are in the Galilee. This guide attempts to shine some light on the magic of this still unknown place. It is an invitation to the reader to stroll through the alleys, to venture away from the beaten path, and to spend the night. As Abu Mahmoud greets visitor to his coffee shop, “Tfadalu,” and be enchanted by this very special place.
This guide is the companion to the special issue of ERETZ Magazine, The Jordan: Biography of a River, and presents a selection of sites, attractions, and villages along the entire length of the river. In an effort to provide you with a light, portable, convenient guide to use while traveling along the Jordan River, as compared to a thick, heavy tome, we tried not to stray too far from the river’s banks in determining what to include while doing justice to the sites we see as the most interesting. The resulting guide includes settlements, archaeological sites, nature attractions, and destinations that have a unique story. The guide is organized into three sections: The headwater – From Mount Hermon to the Sea of Galilee; Jordan Valley North – From the Sea of Galilee to the Beit She’an Valley; Jordan Valley South, from the Beit She’an Valley to the Dead Sea. The site numbers match their numbers on the map. The northern part of the Jordan River, from its sources until it enters the Sea of Galilee, is almost completely straight. This section of the river slopes steeply downward as it flows toward the lake. After the Hula Swamp was drained in the early 1950s, the current in this part of the river became faster and it became almost completely free of twists and turns. In contrast, the lower part of the Jordan that extends from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea flows through the floodplain known in Hebrew as Geon Hayarden and in Arabic as the Zhor. The river twists and turns so much in the expanse between the two series of cliffs flanking the flood plain that it meanders for some 250 kilometers to traverse a distance that is only 100 kilometers as the crow flies. The loops and curves of the river are not set in stone, but change from time to time as the river carves its way through the soft marl. As a result, the meanders become increasingly narrower until one end of the meets the other, forming a small pond, cut off from the river, called an oxbow lake. The river, for its part, continues along its new, straight channel until it carves another loop for itself. This process causes the channel of the riverbed to meander around and triggers rockslides that sometimes halt the flow of the river for a few hours, providing enough time for the entire people of Israel, or at least Elijah or Elisha, to cross the river without getting wet. This process is gradually moving the entire riverbed westward so the monasteries that were built on its eastern bank in the sixth century CE are no longer by the water. Today the upper part of the channel is easily accessible, while the lower part is more complicated to reach. The Israeli side of the Jordanian floodplain is behind fences and the eastern side is under the control of Jordanian military, so access to the water is obstructed on both sides. This actually is a mixed blessing as it allows the flora and fauna in the area to flourish. Since the peace agreement between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in the 1990s, Israeli military activities on the western side of the Jordan have been reduced and the abandoned IDF outposts have become home to tens of thousands of bats, including species that were thought to be extinct. Wild boars blaze trails for themselves in the marl hills, foxes, wolves, and even leopards lounge in the tangle of greenery by the banks, songbirds nest on the cliffs, falcons take up positions atop the cliffs, and migrating birds – from raptors to waterfowl – find abundant food and shelter alongside the channel of the river. Little water flows in the final stretch of the Jordan River, especially in the summer. Today the State of Israel’s main river, the one that so many songs have been written about in Hebrew and English, actually is just an unimpressive trickle that swells briefly when winter rains flood its tributaries. As the amount of water in the river dwindles, the Dead Sea shrinks in kind. Over the past three decades, the level of the Dead Sea has fallen by at least 30 meters, causing its northern coast to recede two kilometers. Due to its role as a border for most of the years that the State of Israel has existed, the Jordan River has become a fringe area that hikers rarely explore. However, it is one of the most fascinating and interesting landscapes in the Land of Israel. I hope that the combination of the special issue on the Jordan River and this guide will encourage you to get to know, preserve, and enjoy one of the world’s most famous rivers.
Latrun Fortress In the middle of the valley, on a hill to the south of the road, stands the British police fort of Latrun. It was built in 1941 as part of a series of similar British fortresses, all known as Taggart Forts after their planner. On the eve of the War of Independence, the British handed the fortress over to the Jordanian Arab League, thus effectively blocking any Jewish approach to Jerusalem. Attempt after attempt of the Israel Defense Forces to capture the fortress and open the road to Jerusalem failed. Finally, a way to build a track that would circumvent the fortress was found. The road through the mountains was called the “Burma Road.” The fortress remained in Jordanian hands until the Six Day War. The site today is a memorial to the Israeli Armored Forces. Latrun Monastery On the hill behind the fortress is the Trappist Monastery of Latrun. The monastery was built in 1890 and has vineyards and an extensive farm. The Trappists are sworn to a vow of silence. Latrun Castle On the hill above the monastery lie the remains of the Crusader castle of Latrun. The castle was built in 1150 and called “Le Toron des Chevaliers.” The hill on which the castle was built was believed to be the hill where the home village of the good thief, who was crucified with Jesus, once stood. The castle was also known as “Castrum Boni Latronis” – the castle of the good thief.
Getting to Jerusalem is very much a part of your visit to the city. A modern highway, Route 1, leads to Jerusalem from the west – from Tel Aviv and the Ben-Gurion International Airport – and this is the route taken by most visitors to the city today. However, the approach from the west has been the main road to Jerusalem only for the last 200 years. Before that, most travelers arrived at the gates of Jerusalem either from the north or the south, along the ancient Way of the Patriarchs, that ran along the mountain backbone in the center of the country; they also primarily arrived from the east – from the direction of Jericho – which was the main route to Jerusalem from the Galilee and from across the Jordan. One of the reasons that the approach from the west was never popular was the need to negotiate the relatively steep slopes of the Judean Mountains via one of three narrow defiles that led up the mountain. Many an army fleeing from Jerusalem was ambushed in these narrow defiles and many a traveler was robbed by brigands along the way. The northern and southern ascents – via Beit Horon in the north and via the Valley of Ela in the south (the place where David fought Goliath) – still have remains of the Roman military roads that ran along them. The one in the center, along the Valley of Sha’ar Hagai, is used today by Route 1. Most people on the road to Jerusalem whiz by the many interesting sites on the way. Following are a few pointers to some of them – to make the best out of the journey into the city.
The Ayalon Valley Once out of the coastal plain and over the low foothills that run along the foot of the Judean Mountains, the highway curves through a large plain – this is the Ayalon Valley, the place where the sun stood still so that Joshua could complete his victory against the five Amorite kings. The large flat valley has been a battle site for generations. Egyptians, Greeks, Hasmoneans, British, Israelites, and Jordanians have all fought major battles in this valley. At the end of the War of Independence the valley was divided between Israel and Jordan, the exact border running along the edge of the farthest field that each side managed to plow.
Latrun Fortress In the middle of the valley, on a hill to the south of the road, stands the British police fort of Latrun. It was built in 1941 as part of a series of similar British fortresses, all known as Taggart Forts after their planner. On the eve of the War of Independence, the British handed the fortress over to the Jordanian Arab League, thus effectively blocking any Jewish approach to Jerusalem. Attempt after attempt of the Israel Defense Forces to capture the fortress and open the road to Jerusalem failed. Finally, a way to build a track that would circumvent the fortress was found. The road through the mountains was called the “Burma Road.” The fortress remained in Jordanian hands until the Six Day War. The site today is a memorial to the Israeli Armored Forces.
Latrun Monastery On the hill behind the fortress is the Trappist Monastery of Latrun. The monastery was built in 1890 and has vineyards and an extensive farm. The Trappists are sworn to a vow of silence.
Latrun Castle On the hill above the monastery lie the remains of the Crusader castle of Latrun. The castle was built in 1150 and called “Le Toron des Chevaliers.” The hill on which the castle was built was believed to be the hill where the home village of the good thief, who was crucified with Jesus, once stood. The castle was also known as “Castrum Boni Latronis” – the castle of the good thief.
