Page 51 - HaMizrachi #29 Yom HaAtzmaut 2021 USA

PLACES IN ISRAEL THE PEOPLE AND THE LAND

Gael Grunewald Michael Even-Esh

Ein Keshatot

Mother of All Symbols

pile of rocks! That’s all you could happen. It began in 2003 with a survey; in our synagogue architecture. If walls
see here for years; just a pile of afterwards, a huge crane was placed over could talk…
A cks. Except for a few archae- the rubble. From atop the crane, 3-D Compared to others in the area, this Beit
o
r
ologists, guides and hikers, this site was digital photos were made of the ancient Knesset is large and fancy. How did the
way off the beaten path in the Golan debris, which allowed an analysis and Jewish citizens of this backwater village
Heights. interpretation of the ruins. Every stone manage to pay for the construction and
As of now, we don’t know the ancient had a number and an installed micro- decoration of this magnificent monu-
name of this site, but today it goes by the chip with its “profile.” For two seasons, ment? The answer might be found near
modern name of Ein Keshatot (“Spring the crane removed more than 1,500 the village spring. Two of the arches
of the Arches”). This name derives from stones from the collapsed structure. stand today over the water that was
the site’s Arabic name: Um el-Kanatir Then it was time to rebuild! Yehoshua used for drinking, home use, and other
(literally: “The Mother of Arches”). And “scanned” each stone, and a computer purposes. But on the western side of the
indeed, the village spring still lies under program “told” him where it should be spring was an “industrial zone.” The pool
impressive arches to this day. here was used, apparently, for preparing
placed and in which position. In 2018,
Since the 19 century, explorers and the site was finally opened to the public. flax for use in luxury linen clothes. This
th
scholars have agreed that an ancient It is an absolute masterpiece! wasn’t just any shmatteh enterprise; it
was big business!
synagogue had been located here, but for
most visitors, Um el-Kanatir could just Today, visitors to Ein Keshatot can enter This is only a small part of the fasci-
as well have been called “The Mother of the sixth century synagogue, pray the nating story of Ein Keshatot – its rise
all Rubble.” (We know today that “Ra’ash very words that our ancestors prayed, and fall, its discovery, its rebirth, and its
Shvi’it”, a fierce earthquake during the and be surrounded by the very same inspiring archaeological finds. But one
Shmittah year of 749 CE, destroyed the stones. But the jewel in the crown of this question remains: why visit here davka
village.) site is on top of the bima. A magnificent on Yom HaAtzmaut?
ark complex (“heichalit”) stands in all
But then… somebody dared to think out its glory. Although the wooden cabinet Golan resident Effie Eitam (Brigadier
of the box! that held the Torah scrolls didn’t survive, General, res.), said it best: “This entire
The premier archaeologist in the Golan, the stone structure that surrounded it site is symbolic of the rebirth of the
Chaim Ben-David from Moshav Keshet, did. And it is a sight to behold! Look at Jewish people and the State of Israel.
For centuries, it was just a pile of stones.
came to visit the site with ancient tech- the heichalit’s pillars and you’ll see the
nology expert Yehoshua Dray. To para- engraved symbols of a menorah, lulav, Nobody believed it could be rebuilt.
Nevertheless, a few energetic visionary
phrase and condense their conversation, etrog and shofar.
Chaim said: “So what do you think?” pioneers came and put it back together
again, stone-by-stone.”
And Yehoshua said: “We can do it!” But what about that strange-looking
dustpan-like thing? What’s that? It’s
And so for the first time, somebody took an incense shovel, akin to that in the
the very rocks of a destroyed synagogue, Temple in Yerushalayim. This arte-
and built the original Beit Knesset, fact tells us, without a doubt, that the
ancient-rock-by-ancient-rock (techni- builders and decorators of this syna-
cally, this process is not called “recon- gogue were invoking the image of the
struction,” but rather “anastylosis”). Beit HaMikdash. As if to say, this is our

Ben-David, Dray, archaeologist Ilana Mikdash Me’at, our mini-Temple. We Michael Even-Esh is an outdoor educator,
cave explorer and snake catcher. He and
Gonen and the Golan Regional Council don’t just pray towards Yerushalayim, his family live in Moshav Nov in the Golan
all came together to make the project but we invoke the Beit HaMikdash itself Heights. evenesh@gmail.com.

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