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Ancient "Cave" Synagogue beneath Temple Mount Used by Jews of Jerusalem for Hundreds of Years

(Israel Hayom) Nadav Shragai - When Jerusalem fell to the Crusaders in 1099, the Jews took the lead in defending the city and were the last to fall, according to Gilo of Paris, a 12th-century poet. Muslim historian Ibn al-Qalanisi says that the Jews of the city fled to the Cave Synagogue, where the Crusaders burned them alive, a story corroborated by the 12th-century Arab writer Sibt Ibn al-Jawzi. Archaeologist Dan Bahat, who excavated and researched the Western Wall tunnels, thinks that he has discovered the location of the Cave Synagogue "in the area of Warren's Gate," one of four gates that led from the Western Wall to the Temple Mount. "For hundreds of years, it was the center of Jewish life in Jerusalem, but the Crusaders...wiped out the city's Jewish community, blocked off the gate, and turned the synagogue into a cistern." Documents from the Cairo Geniza from the 11th century include a request sent in 1035 by Shlomo Ben Yehuda, head of the Jerusalem yeshiva, to Rabbi Ephraim in Cairo, asking for help in rebuilding the Cave Synagogue, which had collapsed in an earthquake in 1033.
2020-07-30 00:00:00
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