Page 46 - HaMizrachi Tisha B'Av AUS 2021

THE PEOPLE AND THE LAND PLACES IN ISRAEL

Shulie Mishkin

A Snapshot of Jewish Life

After the Temple’s Destruction

Ancient Sussya laws about property, courtyards, Hebron Hills synagogues was not
streets, shops and more will unusual. But the orientation of
find this place fascinating, the synagogue is odd – east to
as it brings the text to life. west, even though the ark is
outh of what most people consider
the land of Judah, long past the city Jewish elements of the in the north; the same ori-
of Hebron, the landscape begins to town abound. There entation as the Temple. The
Schange. Instead of grapevines and is a niche in one of the inscriptions here are all in
green terraced hills, the surroundings are doorposts, presumably Hebrew or Aramaic, unlike
more desert-like; dusty expanses with for a mezuzah. A menorah is synagogues in the north where
flocks of sheep and goats roaming in the incised on a stone in one of the the language is more likely to be
distance. houses. Mikvaot (ritual baths) are Greek. In addition, the inscriptions
everywhere. And at the highest point of include dates: not the date of the current
Welcome to the Southern Hebron Hills, the Roman emperor, but how many years
desert edge of Judah. In Biblical times this the town is a beautiful synagogue, with a since creation and what year in the shem-
area was on the cusp of civilization. King number of important mosaics as well as itah cycle it was! And finally, mentioned in
David in his shepherding days protected a secret tunnel that leads inside, which the inscriptions are the names of kohanim
the flocks of the wealthy Naval, whose allowed the residents to hide in the syn- (Mar Issi HaKohen), something not found
home and business dealings were in Maon agogue if they were besieged by invaders. in other ancient synagogues.
and Carmel. The landscape does not look In the excavations of Sussya conducted
so different today, even when you enter after the Six-Day War, the archaeologists Do these pieces add up to a whole? Some
one of the beautiful Jewish communities noticed some interesting and unique finds. scholars think they do. Dr. Doron Sar-Avi of
down here. Nestled in the desert is a place Most prominent is the ubiquity of mikvaot. the Sussya field school, and others, suggest
that is a snapshot of Jewish life after the Over 35 mikvaot were found here. This, in a that the Southern Hebron Hills became a
destruction of the Second Temple. time when the Temple has been destroyed refuge for kohanim after the Bar Kochba
Next door to the modern community of for at least three centuries! Who was so revolt. As the Jewish population aban-
Sussya is the ancient town of Sussya. concerned about purity that they needed doned Judea and moved north, one group
Sussya is a town whose origins go back a mikveh for every few households? stubbornly stayed behind – the kohanim.
to late Second Temple times and it was The burial cave at the entrance to the town They knew that even though the Temple
settled until at least the Moslem period was also curious. By this point in time, was destroyed and the Jews were defeated
(8th century CE or so). The layer exposed to Jews had abandoned burial in ossuaries, twice in one century, someday they would
visitors today goes back to the 4th–6th cen- small bone boxes, and had moved to burial return to Jerusalem. And when that hap-
turies CE. What makes Sussya so fascinat- in sarcophagi, like our coffins. But the pened, the kohanim wanted to be close by.
ing is that the town was largely preserved Jews of Sussya were still using ossuaries. So they stayed in the neighborhood, hold-
intact and it was clearly a Jewish town. Why were they so behind the times? ing on to old traditions regarding burial,
You can walk the streets and see how wide putting up a synagogue that reminded
they were, check out the alleyways and The synagogue had its own interesting them of the Temple and continuing to eat
remember the laws of carrying and eruv on quirks. The theme of a menorah is cer- their food in purity. All the while saying,
Shabbat and descend to the caves used by tainly a common one in ancient syna- ׁ ש ָ ּ ד ְק ִּ מ ַה תי ֵּ ב ה ֶנ ָּ בִי ה ָר ֵה ְמ, let the Temple be
the residents for storage, living and secu- gogues, so the fact there are prominent rebuilt speedily. Amen!
rity. Anyone who has learned Talmudic menorahs here and in other Southern

Shulie Mishkin is an Israel tour guide
who specialized in “back to the sources”
tours.

A member of the Mizrachi Speakers Bureau
mizrachi.org/speakers

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