by David Bedein
Jerusalem - Israeli and Vatican delegations, which this week discussed the financial and legal status of Israel’s Christian holy sites, have reached a dead end. According to Vatican sources, relations between the two are on the verge of crisis, and these same sources are also threatening to sever diplomatic ties with Israel.
The Israeli delegation, directed by Israel Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, flew to the Vatican in order to discuss the status of the Vatican’s assets in Israel, and also the Vatican’s demand to receive ownership of the Room of the Last Supper on Jerusalem’s Mount Zion, where, according to Christian tradition, Jesus held the Passover dinner with his 12 disciples before being crucified.
The two committees were unable to reach an agreement on any issue, and decided to postpone their discussions to May 27. A source in the Vatican told the Israeli media that they had been waiting 15 years to reach an agreement with Israel over the status of the holy sites, but that Israeli governments were unable to reach a decision on any matter.
Mr. Ayalon told Ma’ariv that he’d rather not refer to the matter as a crisis, and added that the delegations had decided to part cordially and refrain from speaking of a crisis. “There was no breakthrough, and we therefore agreed to end the meeting with the phrase ‘we have agreed not to agree.’” But the deputy minister also added that “Israeli and Vatican delegations reached an impasse.”
Mr. Ayalon evinced to the Vatican that Israel would not forfeit its sovereignty and possessions in Mount Zion, where the Room of the Last Supper is located - one of the key issues of contention between the two delegations. The Vatican seeks to be the only body to operate the site and to conduct prayers taking place there, whereas Israel opposes this request seeing that according to Jewish faith, King David is buried under the hall.
Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai opposes granting the Vatican exclusive rights to the hall, and also other officials, among them rabbis and organizations dealing with activities in the Jewish Quarter, have asked that the asset remain in Israeli hands.
View the original article in the Philadelphia Bulletin
Showing posts with label Vatican. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vatican. Show all posts
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Papal Visit Planned Today at Yad Vashem
by David Bedein
Israel’s leading daily paper, Yediot Ahronot, ran a stinging editorial yesterday, on the eve of the Papal visit.
The editorial attacked Pope Benedict XVI for his involuntary service in the Hitler Youth and German Wehrmacht during World War II as well as the mistakes surrounding lifting the excommunication of Richard Williamson, a Holocaust-denying bishop, earlier this year.
The Pope joined the Hitler Youth as he was legally bound to do under German law at the time, but according to his book Salt of the Earth, he did everything he could to get out and was allowed to leave because he desired to enter seminary. The book also recounts how the then-Joseph Ratzinger served in the German army under an anti-Nazi officer who allowed him to desert his unit.
The editorial said: “Pope Benedict XVI will arrive [today] for his historic visit to Israel... Under this dark shadow, the Pope will visit Yad Vashem [today] at noon, a visit whose importance cannot be exaggerated.
“The Holy See, the head of the Catholic Church, the same church whose Pope, during World War II, did nothing to save Jews from the gas chambers, will meet there with those who survived that hell and succeeded in establishing a state here. The meeting will be too difficult for some concentration camp survivors who do not understand why they should host Pope Benedict XVI so nicely.”
However, six survivors of the Nazi horrors have volunteered to greet the Pope at the Yad Vashem Memorial for 6 Million Jews.
Gita Calderon, 83, is one of them.
“I feel that I am my people’s emissary to the Pope,” Ms. Calderon, whose entire family was killed in the Holocaust, said over the weekend. “If I could, I would tell him that the wound of the Holocaust has never healed for me. The wound is painful and bleeds all the time.”
Ms. Calderon is aware of Pope Benedict XVI’s past, but thinks that one should look ahead.
“I know that in his youth, the Pope was in the Hitler Youth and in the German army,” she says. “I hope that he did so because he was too young to understand. I hope that he also regrets it. The actions of the Nazis can never be forgiven. But we must demand of the Pope that he agree to rectify the errors that he made when he was young.”
Dan Landsberg, 70, will also shake the Pope’s hand today. Unlike Ms. Calderon, he claims that he is not excited by the occasion.
“I know that the Pope is a very important person, but I don’t look at this whole meeting from a personal perspective,” he said. “I was chosen to be a representative of the state and of my people, and all I need to do is to try to represent my people honorably.”
The Pope will also shake the hand of survivors Ed Mossberg, Yisraela Har-El, Avraham Ashkenazi and Ruth Bondy, and the hand of a “Righteous Gentile” Ivan Varantich who saved Jews during the war.
Other survivors politely refused the invitation to the historic event. Among them was former Member of Israel’s Knesset, Shmuel Halpert.
“I think that the Pope never should have been invited to the State of Israel,” Mr. Halpert told Yediot Ahronot. “Pope Benedict XVI was a member of the Nazi movement, and as a Holocaust survivor I cannot participate in ceremony honoring such a man, who was part of the war against the Jewish people. Everybody knows about the thundering silence of Pope Pius XII during World War II. Pope Pius XII and his people could have saved at least hundreds of thousands of Jews, but did not.”
These contentions, however, are disputed by world-renowned Jewish scholar, Rabbi David Dalin, whose research claims Pius XII saved more Jews during the Holocaust than Oskar Schindler, Raoul Wallenberg and other notables who saved Jews from the Nazis.
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, who survived the Bergen Belsen concentration camp as a small child and who now serves as the rabbi of Tel Aviv-Jaffa and as the head of Yad Vashem’s board, said that despite the “stumblings” of the Pope, his visit to Israel should not be rejected “in order not to give Israel’s enemies an occasion to speak.”
“I expect that during the Pope’s speech at Yad Vashem, he will make statements that will dispel the fog around his relationship with Judaism and strengthen the bridge that his predecessor built,” he said.
Rabbi Lau recalls that, over the past several weeks, many people contacted him about the meeting with the Pope.
“Some asked for an opportunity to shake the Pope’s hand, while others wanted to give him notes or other souvenirs. Still others said that their families had been in contact with the Pope’s family, the Ratzingers, and wanted to reminisce with him. He must be received politely and with respect, but we must not be obsequious toward him.”
See this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this story at Israel Behind the News
Israel’s leading daily paper, Yediot Ahronot, ran a stinging editorial yesterday, on the eve of the Papal visit.
The editorial attacked Pope Benedict XVI for his involuntary service in the Hitler Youth and German Wehrmacht during World War II as well as the mistakes surrounding lifting the excommunication of Richard Williamson, a Holocaust-denying bishop, earlier this year.
The Pope joined the Hitler Youth as he was legally bound to do under German law at the time, but according to his book Salt of the Earth, he did everything he could to get out and was allowed to leave because he desired to enter seminary. The book also recounts how the then-Joseph Ratzinger served in the German army under an anti-Nazi officer who allowed him to desert his unit.
The editorial said: “Pope Benedict XVI will arrive [today] for his historic visit to Israel... Under this dark shadow, the Pope will visit Yad Vashem [today] at noon, a visit whose importance cannot be exaggerated.
“The Holy See, the head of the Catholic Church, the same church whose Pope, during World War II, did nothing to save Jews from the gas chambers, will meet there with those who survived that hell and succeeded in establishing a state here. The meeting will be too difficult for some concentration camp survivors who do not understand why they should host Pope Benedict XVI so nicely.”
However, six survivors of the Nazi horrors have volunteered to greet the Pope at the Yad Vashem Memorial for 6 Million Jews.
Gita Calderon, 83, is one of them.
“I feel that I am my people’s emissary to the Pope,” Ms. Calderon, whose entire family was killed in the Holocaust, said over the weekend. “If I could, I would tell him that the wound of the Holocaust has never healed for me. The wound is painful and bleeds all the time.”
Ms. Calderon is aware of Pope Benedict XVI’s past, but thinks that one should look ahead.
“I know that in his youth, the Pope was in the Hitler Youth and in the German army,” she says. “I hope that he did so because he was too young to understand. I hope that he also regrets it. The actions of the Nazis can never be forgiven. But we must demand of the Pope that he agree to rectify the errors that he made when he was young.”
Dan Landsberg, 70, will also shake the Pope’s hand today. Unlike Ms. Calderon, he claims that he is not excited by the occasion.
“I know that the Pope is a very important person, but I don’t look at this whole meeting from a personal perspective,” he said. “I was chosen to be a representative of the state and of my people, and all I need to do is to try to represent my people honorably.”
The Pope will also shake the hand of survivors Ed Mossberg, Yisraela Har-El, Avraham Ashkenazi and Ruth Bondy, and the hand of a “Righteous Gentile” Ivan Varantich who saved Jews during the war.
Other survivors politely refused the invitation to the historic event. Among them was former Member of Israel’s Knesset, Shmuel Halpert.
“I think that the Pope never should have been invited to the State of Israel,” Mr. Halpert told Yediot Ahronot. “Pope Benedict XVI was a member of the Nazi movement, and as a Holocaust survivor I cannot participate in ceremony honoring such a man, who was part of the war against the Jewish people. Everybody knows about the thundering silence of Pope Pius XII during World War II. Pope Pius XII and his people could have saved at least hundreds of thousands of Jews, but did not.”
These contentions, however, are disputed by world-renowned Jewish scholar, Rabbi David Dalin, whose research claims Pius XII saved more Jews during the Holocaust than Oskar Schindler, Raoul Wallenberg and other notables who saved Jews from the Nazis.
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, who survived the Bergen Belsen concentration camp as a small child and who now serves as the rabbi of Tel Aviv-Jaffa and as the head of Yad Vashem’s board, said that despite the “stumblings” of the Pope, his visit to Israel should not be rejected “in order not to give Israel’s enemies an occasion to speak.”
“I expect that during the Pope’s speech at Yad Vashem, he will make statements that will dispel the fog around his relationship with Judaism and strengthen the bridge that his predecessor built,” he said.
Rabbi Lau recalls that, over the past several weeks, many people contacted him about the meeting with the Pope.
“Some asked for an opportunity to shake the Pope’s hand, while others wanted to give him notes or other souvenirs. Still others said that their families had been in contact with the Pope’s family, the Ratzingers, and wanted to reminisce with him. He must be received politely and with respect, but we must not be obsequious toward him.”
See this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this story at Israel Behind the News
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Behind the Scenes of the Papal Visit
by David Bedein
Arguments behind the scenes have preceded Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked to speak at the reception for the Pope at Ben-Gurion Airport, but the Vatican politely refused.
The Vatican argued only heads of state give speeches at such receptions, and the Pope’s counterpart in Israel, the Vatican said, was President Shimon Peres, not Mr. Netanyahu.
Mr. Netanyahu, Vatican officials said, was the counterpart of the Vatican’s prime minister, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. The Vatican officials also said this was a “religious visit without political aspects.”
At a certain stage, Vatican officials agreed to permit Mr. Netanyahu to speak, but only at the state reception in the President’s residence.
However, since Mr. Netanyahu has to leave immediately after the state reception at Ben-Gurion Airport for his meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, he will not be attending the reception at the President’s residence in Jerusalem.
A likely compromise would allow Mr. Netanyahu to speak at Ben-Gurion Airport alongside Cardinal Bertone.
The two parties disagreed not only about Mr. Netanyahu’s speech, but also about the meeting between the Pope and the prime minister.
According to protocol, the Pope, owing to his diplomatic status, does not need go to the Prime Minister’s Bureau to meet with the Israeli premier.
Instead, the Israeli premier is supposed to come to see him. When the previous Pope visited Israel in 2000 Ehud Barak, who was prime minister at the time, went to meet with Pope John Paul II at the Mount of Beatitudes in Northern Israel.
Mr. Netanyahu believes the appropriate place to meet the Pope, if not in his office, is at the Prime Minister’s Residence, but the Vatican refused to follow his wishes.
Now, talks are being held in an attempt to change the venue of the meeting away from Nazareth, where it was originally planned, to Capernaum.
A number of problems cropped up with respect to the festive celebration being planned for the Pope by Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat in the Tower of David in the Old City.
According to the plan, Mr. Misezhnikov, who is the cabinet minister responsible for the trip, and Mayor Barkat are supposed to speak at the event and to welcome the members of the Vatican.
But Vatican officials have demanded that Mr. Barkat not be permitted to speak at
the event because the Vatican does not recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Old City of Jerusalem.
Israel was forthcoming with the Vatican on this issue and removed symbols of the State of Israel and the Jerusalem municipality from the invitations. But Israel staunchly refused the Vatican’s demand that Mayor Barkat not be permitted to speak at the event.
Mr. Misezhnikov informed the Vatican representatives he invitations had already been sent, and they explicitly said Mr. Barkat would speak.
See this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this story at Israel Behind the News
Arguments behind the scenes have preceded Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked to speak at the reception for the Pope at Ben-Gurion Airport, but the Vatican politely refused.
The Vatican argued only heads of state give speeches at such receptions, and the Pope’s counterpart in Israel, the Vatican said, was President Shimon Peres, not Mr. Netanyahu.
Mr. Netanyahu, Vatican officials said, was the counterpart of the Vatican’s prime minister, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. The Vatican officials also said this was a “religious visit without political aspects.”
At a certain stage, Vatican officials agreed to permit Mr. Netanyahu to speak, but only at the state reception in the President’s residence.
However, since Mr. Netanyahu has to leave immediately after the state reception at Ben-Gurion Airport for his meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, he will not be attending the reception at the President’s residence in Jerusalem.
A likely compromise would allow Mr. Netanyahu to speak at Ben-Gurion Airport alongside Cardinal Bertone.
The two parties disagreed not only about Mr. Netanyahu’s speech, but also about the meeting between the Pope and the prime minister.
According to protocol, the Pope, owing to his diplomatic status, does not need go to the Prime Minister’s Bureau to meet with the Israeli premier.
Instead, the Israeli premier is supposed to come to see him. When the previous Pope visited Israel in 2000 Ehud Barak, who was prime minister at the time, went to meet with Pope John Paul II at the Mount of Beatitudes in Northern Israel.
Mr. Netanyahu believes the appropriate place to meet the Pope, if not in his office, is at the Prime Minister’s Residence, but the Vatican refused to follow his wishes.
Now, talks are being held in an attempt to change the venue of the meeting away from Nazareth, where it was originally planned, to Capernaum.
A number of problems cropped up with respect to the festive celebration being planned for the Pope by Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat in the Tower of David in the Old City.
According to the plan, Mr. Misezhnikov, who is the cabinet minister responsible for the trip, and Mayor Barkat are supposed to speak at the event and to welcome the members of the Vatican.
But Vatican officials have demanded that Mr. Barkat not be permitted to speak at
the event because the Vatican does not recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Old City of Jerusalem.
Israel was forthcoming with the Vatican on this issue and removed symbols of the State of Israel and the Jerusalem municipality from the invitations. But Israel staunchly refused the Vatican’s demand that Mayor Barkat not be permitted to speak at the event.
Mr. Misezhnikov informed the Vatican representatives he invitations had already been sent, and they explicitly said Mr. Barkat would speak.
See this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this story at Israel Behind the News
Friday, May 8, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: No Substance to Rumors of a Mount Zion Transfer
by David Bedein
Peres: Israeli Would Not Agree To Hand Over Site To Vatican
As the Papal visit in Jerusalem approaches, rumors have run rampant that the Israeli government, including Israeli President Shimon Peres, plans to use the timing of the visit to endorse a diplomatic request from the Catholic Church to hand over the site of the Last Supper on Mount Zion in Jerusalem to Vatican authorities.
When reached in Washington, Mr. Peres, now on a sensitive state visit there, said the rumors were untrue and explained the Israeli government would not agree to such a request.
This unsubstantiated rumor began in 1993, when the late Dr. Manfred Lehman, a historian with a great interest in the Vatican, told reporters at the time of the signing of the Vatican-Israel diplomatic agreement, that the Israeli
government had made secret agreements to hand over such a site in the future.
People who were engaged in an e-mail campaign against the Papal visit started the rumor. They claimed that the Israeli government was about to make this gesture to the Vatican.
When these e-mail campaigners were asked for documentation of their claim, they said that they had none.
Based on that e-mail campaign, Israel Army radio, the Jerusalem Post and UPI still published the claim that the Israeli government had agreed to hand over Mount Zion during this Papal visit.
None of these news agencies had any substantiation for their reports from any Israeli government official.
The most prominent site in question is the room on Mount Zion said to mark the burial site of Kings Solomon and Hezekiah, known by Catholics as the Last Supper Room.
It is also located in the same structure that houses King David’s Tomb. Said to be the oldest Catholic church in the world, the building has also served as a synagogue and a mosque in the past; Muslim inscriptions still adorn the walls.
Since 1967, however, it has been under Israeli control, part of a complex leased and run by a Jewish seminary for over 40 years.
An estimated 10,000 Jewish students have studied in this seminary, also known as a yeshiva, since then. For many of them, it was their first stop on their way to becoming more Jewish and their first step in their immigration to Israel.
“We were forced to give over part of the compound to the Israel Ministry of Religious Affairs,” says Rabbi Mordechai Goldstein, founder and dean of the seminary, “which then gave it over to the Ministry of the Interior. Ever since then, the Church has been making demands and claims on the area... Their goal, ultimately, is to conduct religious services here, with hundreds of thousands of Christian tourists coming through.
A Bilateral Permanent Working Commission - a team of Israeli and Vatican representatives who have been negotiating fiscal and property questions since March 1999 - released an optimistic news release at the end of last week. The commission announced “meaningful progress,” “great cordiality” and a mutual commitment to reach a final agreement “as soon as possible.”
Shmuel Ben-Shmuel, the head of the Religions Department in the Israel Foreign Ministry, affirmed there is no chance of Israel “giving away” this property.
Israeli Attorney Aviad Visoly, who represents the Jewish seminary on Mount Zion, said that recent meetings between Israel and the Vatican had nothing to do with Mount Zion, adding the meeting is held annually and will be nothing more than a briefing on the status of the negotiations thus far.
He said Israel has politely decline the Vatican request for sovereignty on Mt. Zion, and the Vatican respected that position.
Rabbi Goldstein added, however, there is constant pressure - financial and otherwise - to allow the Church to build a passageway through the Jewish seminary to enable for thousands of Christian visitors and worshipers to gain easy access the Upper Room, where the Last Supper is said to have taken place.
See this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this story at Israel Behind the News
Peres: Israeli Would Not Agree To Hand Over Site To Vatican
As the Papal visit in Jerusalem approaches, rumors have run rampant that the Israeli government, including Israeli President Shimon Peres, plans to use the timing of the visit to endorse a diplomatic request from the Catholic Church to hand over the site of the Last Supper on Mount Zion in Jerusalem to Vatican authorities.
When reached in Washington, Mr. Peres, now on a sensitive state visit there, said the rumors were untrue and explained the Israeli government would not agree to such a request.
This unsubstantiated rumor began in 1993, when the late Dr. Manfred Lehman, a historian with a great interest in the Vatican, told reporters at the time of the signing of the Vatican-Israel diplomatic agreement, that the Israeli
government had made secret agreements to hand over such a site in the future.
People who were engaged in an e-mail campaign against the Papal visit started the rumor. They claimed that the Israeli government was about to make this gesture to the Vatican.
When these e-mail campaigners were asked for documentation of their claim, they said that they had none.
Based on that e-mail campaign, Israel Army radio, the Jerusalem Post and UPI still published the claim that the Israeli government had agreed to hand over Mount Zion during this Papal visit.
None of these news agencies had any substantiation for their reports from any Israeli government official.
The most prominent site in question is the room on Mount Zion said to mark the burial site of Kings Solomon and Hezekiah, known by Catholics as the Last Supper Room.
It is also located in the same structure that houses King David’s Tomb. Said to be the oldest Catholic church in the world, the building has also served as a synagogue and a mosque in the past; Muslim inscriptions still adorn the walls.
Since 1967, however, it has been under Israeli control, part of a complex leased and run by a Jewish seminary for over 40 years.
An estimated 10,000 Jewish students have studied in this seminary, also known as a yeshiva, since then. For many of them, it was their first stop on their way to becoming more Jewish and their first step in their immigration to Israel.
“We were forced to give over part of the compound to the Israel Ministry of Religious Affairs,” says Rabbi Mordechai Goldstein, founder and dean of the seminary, “which then gave it over to the Ministry of the Interior. Ever since then, the Church has been making demands and claims on the area... Their goal, ultimately, is to conduct religious services here, with hundreds of thousands of Christian tourists coming through.
A Bilateral Permanent Working Commission - a team of Israeli and Vatican representatives who have been negotiating fiscal and property questions since March 1999 - released an optimistic news release at the end of last week. The commission announced “meaningful progress,” “great cordiality” and a mutual commitment to reach a final agreement “as soon as possible.”
Shmuel Ben-Shmuel, the head of the Religions Department in the Israel Foreign Ministry, affirmed there is no chance of Israel “giving away” this property.
Israeli Attorney Aviad Visoly, who represents the Jewish seminary on Mount Zion, said that recent meetings between Israel and the Vatican had nothing to do with Mount Zion, adding the meeting is held annually and will be nothing more than a briefing on the status of the negotiations thus far.
He said Israel has politely decline the Vatican request for sovereignty on Mt. Zion, and the Vatican respected that position.
Rabbi Goldstein added, however, there is constant pressure - financial and otherwise - to allow the Church to build a passageway through the Jewish seminary to enable for thousands of Christian visitors and worshipers to gain easy access the Upper Room, where the Last Supper is said to have taken place.
See this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this story at Israel Behind the News
Thursday, May 7, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Rare 2,000-Year-Old Papyrus Seized in Operation
by David Bedein
The Pope’s arrival in Jerusalem causes both Christians and Jews to consider life in the city 2,000 years ago.
By sheer coincidence, one week before the Papal visit, a document thought to be an ancient text written on papyrus 2,000 years ago was seized on Tuesday from an Arab family connected to organized crime in Jerusalem.
The document is written in ancient Hebrew script, which is characteristic of the Second Temple period and the first and second centuries A.D. This style of the writing is primarily known from the Dead Sea Scrolls and various inscriptions that occur on ossuaries and coffins.
The Undercover Unit of the Border Police in Jerusalem led the operation in cooperation with the Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery and the Archaeological Staff Officer in the Civil Administration.
The document, approximately six inches by six inches in dimension, itself is written on an incomplete piece of papyrus and was likely rolled up. Pieces of the text crumbled mainly along its bottom part. The holes along the left part of the document probably attest to the damage it incurred over time.
Fifteen lines of Hebrew text, written from right to left and one below the other, can be discerned in the document. In the upper line of the text, one can clearly read the sentence: “Year four to the destruction of Israel.”
This is likely to be the year A.D. 74 - the year when the Second Temple was destroyed during the Great Revolt. Another possibility is the year A.D. 139 - a time when the rural settlement in Judea was devastated at the end of the Bar Kokhba Revolt.
The name of a woman, “Miriam Bat Ya’aqov,” is also legible in the document followed by a name that is likely to be that of the settlement where she resided: Misalev. This is probably the settlement Salabim.
The name Miriam Bat Ya’aqov is a common name in the Second Temple period. The names of other people and families, the names of a number of ancient settlements from the Second Temple period and legal wording that deals with a widow’s property and her relinquishment of it are also mentioned in the document.
Amir Ganor, director of the Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery in the Israel Antiquities Authority, said: “Theoretically, based on the epigraphic style, the material the document is written on, the state of preservation and the text, which includes a historic date that can be deciphered, we are dealing with a document that appears to be ancient as defined by the Antiquities Law. Since this object was not discovered in a proper archaeological excavation, it still must undergo laboratory analyses in order to negate the possibility it is a modern forgery.”
He also said the document has importance from a historical and national standpoint.
Until now, few historic scrolls or documents from this period have been discovered in proper archaeological excavations.
A historic document that can be definitively dated to a historical event such as the “destruction of Israel” based on a specific reference has never been discovered. Much can be learned from this document about the names of people, their surnames and the locations of settlements in Israel during this period. From an initial reading, it seems that this document deals with the property of Miriam Bat Ya’aqov, who was apparently a widow.
The deciphering of the entire document by expert epigraphers and historians may shed light on how the people of the period managed their affairs and supplement our knowledge about their way of life. This presents a rare historic evidence about the Jewish people in their country from more than 2,000 years ago, during the days following the destruction which sent the people of Israel into exile for a very long time - until the creation of the State of Israel.
See this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this story at Israel Behind the News
The Pope’s arrival in Jerusalem causes both Christians and Jews to consider life in the city 2,000 years ago.
By sheer coincidence, one week before the Papal visit, a document thought to be an ancient text written on papyrus 2,000 years ago was seized on Tuesday from an Arab family connected to organized crime in Jerusalem.
The document is written in ancient Hebrew script, which is characteristic of the Second Temple period and the first and second centuries A.D. This style of the writing is primarily known from the Dead Sea Scrolls and various inscriptions that occur on ossuaries and coffins.
The Undercover Unit of the Border Police in Jerusalem led the operation in cooperation with the Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery and the Archaeological Staff Officer in the Civil Administration.
The document, approximately six inches by six inches in dimension, itself is written on an incomplete piece of papyrus and was likely rolled up. Pieces of the text crumbled mainly along its bottom part. The holes along the left part of the document probably attest to the damage it incurred over time.
Fifteen lines of Hebrew text, written from right to left and one below the other, can be discerned in the document. In the upper line of the text, one can clearly read the sentence: “Year four to the destruction of Israel.”
This is likely to be the year A.D. 74 - the year when the Second Temple was destroyed during the Great Revolt. Another possibility is the year A.D. 139 - a time when the rural settlement in Judea was devastated at the end of the Bar Kokhba Revolt.
The name of a woman, “Miriam Bat Ya’aqov,” is also legible in the document followed by a name that is likely to be that of the settlement where she resided: Misalev. This is probably the settlement Salabim.
The name Miriam Bat Ya’aqov is a common name in the Second Temple period. The names of other people and families, the names of a number of ancient settlements from the Second Temple period and legal wording that deals with a widow’s property and her relinquishment of it are also mentioned in the document.
Amir Ganor, director of the Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery in the Israel Antiquities Authority, said: “Theoretically, based on the epigraphic style, the material the document is written on, the state of preservation and the text, which includes a historic date that can be deciphered, we are dealing with a document that appears to be ancient as defined by the Antiquities Law. Since this object was not discovered in a proper archaeological excavation, it still must undergo laboratory analyses in order to negate the possibility it is a modern forgery.”
He also said the document has importance from a historical and national standpoint.
Until now, few historic scrolls or documents from this period have been discovered in proper archaeological excavations.
A historic document that can be definitively dated to a historical event such as the “destruction of Israel” based on a specific reference has never been discovered. Much can be learned from this document about the names of people, their surnames and the locations of settlements in Israel during this period. From an initial reading, it seems that this document deals with the property of Miriam Bat Ya’aqov, who was apparently a widow.
The deciphering of the entire document by expert epigraphers and historians may shed light on how the people of the period managed their affairs and supplement our knowledge about their way of life. This presents a rare historic evidence about the Jewish people in their country from more than 2,000 years ago, during the days following the destruction which sent the people of Israel into exile for a very long time - until the creation of the State of Israel.
See this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this story at Israel Behind the News
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