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By Leibel Reznick agree. Sad to say, many Jewish scholars er ed by the flow of rushing water that also agree. This article addresses that was conducted into the fortr ess by an important issue. aqueduct that crossed the val l e y . Th e “Whose is it?” is a The sun’s brilliant rays broke forth sound of the groaning of the gears and question asked frequently these days. th r ough the windows of the overc a s t the sight of these colossal statues struc k The areas under contention are the sk y , illuminating the great stone walls fear in the hearts of all that beheld them. An army of metal giants! , the , and East of the city. The inspired leader of the King shouted across the val- Jerusalem. The Arab position is that , King David, and his army any Biblical claims the Jewish People ley, “We have come to take possession stood upon the hill not far from the have to these areas are purely fictitious. of what is rightfully ours by Divine ci t y . David gazed out across the val l e y . Over the course of the past ten years, I decree.” Rising up on the other side of the val - have presented the readers ofJewish The captain of the fortress ley was the mighty stone fortr ess of the Action incontrovertible archaeological called back, “Your father Abraham and to the south of the evidence that theT emple Mount is the swore to our father Avimelech that site of the BiblicalB eit HaMikdash. fo rt r ess was the city of his drea m s , Abraham’s descendants would leave us No independent scholar doubts this. Jer usalem. Huge bron z e statues, plated in peace. That treaty was honored by However, the Biblical claim to the Old with gold and silver , giant statues of his son Issac the blind, and by his son City of Jerusalem is a different matter. blind men and lame men, stood upon Jacob the lame. Your leader Joshua, The Palestinian argument is that the ramparts of the fortr ess bearing who captured all the land of Canaan, Biblical Jerusalem was not located with- battle clubs and other implements of left us in peace. King Saul likewise in the walled Old City. Many scholars wa r . The Israelites watched in amaze- did not dare to capture this land. Go ment as these deified metal Gol i a t h s now, honor the treaty of your forefa- Reznick is the author ofThe mo ved and haphazardly swung their thers and leave us in peace.” Holy Temple Revisited; Woe aw esome weapons at anyone who King David retorted, “The treaty Jerusalem; A Time to Weep and The da r ed approach the walls. These grea t was to last until the kingdom of Mystery of Bar Kokhba. His website molten images wer e capable of move- was united under the house of Jesse. I dealing with the Beit Hamikdash is at ment by means of a sophisticated sys- am the son of Jesse and the kingdom www.campsci.com tem of weights, gears, and pulleys pow- has been united under me.”

Summer 5761/2001 JEWISH ACTION The echoes of their voices calling west of the Temple Mount.6 This tradi- sands of tourists visit the site each yea r . back and forth continued but the tion goes back to the first century Not far away, on Mount , is the Jebusites were unyielding. King David Jewish historian, Flavius. Tomb of King David. Over the course spread word among his troops that Throughout recorded history a great of the centuries, a whole mystique and whoever enabled the conquest of the fortress has stood at the entranceway body of legends grew up around this Jebusite fortress would be proclaimed of old Jerusalem. It was built and traditional burial site, however it does commander in chief of the Israelite rebuilt by kings of Judea and com- not attract the same throngs of visi- army. Joab, the son of Tzeruyah, was manders of invading armies. Here the tors. In fact, it is difficult to even emboldened. He crawled through the Maccabees gained victory over the infi- locate the building. There are no narrow aqueduct which led into the dels. And, within its walls, the Roman signs. Once inside its hushed hall- fortress. Once inside the Jebusite general, Titus, proclaimed Judea ways, the occasional visitor is taken by stronghold he disabled the mechanism surprise. Hardly anyone is there. A Capta. The Christian Byzantines were of the mighty bronze statues. The few elderly women stand over the here. The European Crusaders were moaning of the grinding gears stone tomb marker reciting the Psalms here. The Moslems of Egypt and Syria stopped. The motion of the giant stat- of David. A few candles burn on a were here. For over 400 years the ues suddenly ceased. The Jebusites, stone ledge nearby. But, it was not Ottoman Turks were here. Even the upon seeing their deities stilled, lost always this way. Matters changed over Kahn’s Mongol hordes, and the stately heart. The Israelites took courage and the course of the past century when British, and the Hashmenite invaded the fortress. Jerusalem was in , the tomb of King David, Jordanians were all there. From the hands of the .1 the City of David, and the Citadel Abraham and Avimelech, Kings David “Their statues are silver and gold, were all moved. Two thousand years the handiwork of man. Their mouths and , through Herod and of tradition had come to an end. I cannot speak; their eyes cannot see; Agripas, to German Kaisers and shall explain. their ears cannot hear; their noses can- United States presidents, all have In my last article in Jewish Action not smell; their hands cannot feel; walked within its walls. David’s (Summer 5760/2000), I pointed out their feet cannot walk; they cannot Fortress is the geographical axis upon the discovery of a small underground utter from their throats. Let those which the wheel of history turns. stream south of the Temple Mount who made them be like them unto all The Fort r ess of David, also called the identified by archaeologists as the 2 those who trust in Hashem.” Citadel and Tower of David, has water source for ancient Jerusalem. After the fortress was securely in the become the symbolic emblem of This was the Holy City’s only source hands of King David, he established Jer usalem. Images of the fortr ess grace of fresh water. The northern end of his royal residence within its protective the covers of prayer books. Pai n t i n g s the 1750-foot long stream was identi- walls. The fortress was quite extensive and photographs depicting its fied as the “missing” Gichon River and and David had homes and buildings arabesque arch i t e c t u r e are found in the southern end was confirmed to be constructed within the fortress com- countless Jewish homes. (It is interes t - the “vanished” Shiloach Brook. This pound. This fortress was called the ing to note that the tall round tower misidentificationgave birth to a school Citadel and the fortress compound which is rep re s e n t a t i v e of the Citadel is of revisionist historians called the 3 was known as the City of David. And, actually a Moslem minaret, a tower Minimalists. 4 the mountain was called Zion. Thirty- which was part of a that was The underground Gichon/Shiloach three years later, when built inside the fortr ess.) Tens of thou- brook is quite the reign of David small indeed. The ended, he was buried only access to its in his beloved City of waters is very far 5 David. south of the Traditionally and Temple Mount, at historically, David’s the base of a steep Fortress and the City hill. Surely this of David have been small, hardly identified with the accessible brook Jewish and Armenian could not sustain Quarters of the Old a large popula- City of Jerusalem, just tion. Ancient Opposite: Fortress of David, Jerusalem must the Citadel. This page: have been quite Tomb of King David. small, perhaps a

Summer 5761/2001 JEWISH ACTION dozen acres or so, (modern day The ultra-Minimalists claimed that the reduced to piles of rubble. After the Jerusalem is about 45,000 acres), with inscription should be translated as area was captured by , further a population of a few hundred people. Uncle’s House, or Beloved’s House, or devastation and desecration occurred. The Minimalists were convinced that Clay Pot’s House — anything, but the Historical houses of worship, such as this small hill, sloping south of the House of David. the Ramban Synagogue and the Rebbe Temple Mount, was the true site of As the scientific exploration and dig- Yochanan ben Zakkai complex, were the ancient Citadel and the City of ging of the “City of David” got under looted and converted into animal David. They gave the area the archae- way, the Minimalists’ theory seemed to stalls. The had little interest in ological name of “City of David.” be borne out. Ancient homes and rebuilding the former Jewish Quarter. Today, signs with arrows pointing mighty walls were uncovered. A few And so it remained — gaping holes in south show the way to this new “City traces of pottery from the original the narrow streets, bombed out homes, of David.” They believe that here is Jebusite inhabitants were found. Even fallen debris scattered everywhere. where the great king of Israel, David, a clay seal with the name of Baruch The Old City was regained during lived and that somewhere here he was ben Neriyah, the prophet and scribe, the victorious war in June 1967. Th i s buried. Here is where Solomon ruled the disciple of and mentor of ga v e archaeologists a unique opportu n i - and dispensed his noble wisdom. Ezra, was discovered. Homes of ty . Rarely had any serious “di g s ” been Here was the true Mount Zion, south Israelites and massive buildings of carried out in the Jewish Qua r ter and of the Temple Mount and not to the public institutions were exposed. understandably so. Thousands of peo- west as our ancestors mistakenly Ashes of destruction, arrows of war, ple had lived in that densely populated believed for 2,000 years. According to and traces of the Babylonian invasion qu a rt e r . During the summer of 1967 the Minimalists, Biblical Jerusalem was were uncovered. Everyone was con- the area was in Jewish hands, not yet not an impressive site at all. vinced that the Minimalists were right repopulated, and the buildings that had Since the Minimalists did not view on target — that is, until the stood in the way of arch a e o l o g i c a l the traditional site of King David’s Jordanian bombs fell on Jerusalem. res e a r ch wer e no longer standing. Tomb as the actual burial site of the During the Israeli War of Intense and frenzied work got under illustrious Israelite king, many Jews Independence in 1948, the Old City wa y . Fascinating discoveries wer e made. felt there was no point in paying their of Jerusalem was heavily bombed by A complex of mansions dating back to respects to that shrine. The area sur- the Jordanians. Great synagogues, the era was found. Th e rounding the tomb was forsaken and which were sacred landmarks, were home of Bar Katros, a priestly family abandoned to the churches and mentioned in the Talmud, was uncov- Christian cemeteries. This was only er ed. Par t of the ancient Cardo marke t one of the consequences of the place was once again bathed in sunlight. Minimalists’ philosophy. Over the The area around the Western and years the overwhelming majority of Southern Temple Walls wer e explored , archaeologists and historians were rev ealing many interesting and exci t - heavily influenced by ing things. Minimalism and it wasn’t long The oldest discoveries dated before much of the religious back to the Second Temple community unwittingly Era. Nothing was found in joined their ranks. The this section that related to most insidious and the First Temple Era. threatening aspect of According to the Minimalism was to assert Minimalists this was to be that Biblical claims about expected since no Jews the significance of would have lived there Jerusalem were highly during that time. Then, exaggerated. The the Wall was discovered — Minimalists cast doubt on the northern city wall of the veracity of the Tanach and the First Temple Era. It was some even claimed that there found near the northern was no evidence that the historical boundary of the Jewish Quarter. In King David ever existed. a single day the area of the “City of Not too long ago a mosaic inscrip- tion was found in Tel Dan with the Seal of Baruch ben Neriyah, found in the arche- words “Bet Dovid” (House of David). ological City of David

Summer 5761/2001 JEWISH ACTION next to the Broad Wall are ancient homes. In fact the Broad Wall goes right through those homes. Wh y would a city wall go right throu g h so m e o n e ’s living room? I believe that the stones of those homes wer e taken do wn and used to repair the brea c h e s in the wall. The wall was rel o c a t e d slightly to minimize the labor of trans- po r ting the stones; the wall was built right through the homes of that area. Not long after the discovery of the Broad Wall another segment of the wall was found not too far away, in the Citadel, in the old Fortress of David, in the old City of David. The prophet Isaiah had said that the parts of the wall of the City of David had fallen in. Homes were dismantled to repair the wall. In the vicinity of the old City of David there is stark evidence of a first Temple Era wall that was repaired from the stones of dismantled homes. I have a large, black metal sign that hangs in my garage. It is written in Heb r ew, , and English. It rea d s : Six - r oom building, Israelite Per i o d , Sev enth Century B.C.E. No, it does not refer to my house in Mon s e y , New Yor k. About 20 years ago, the founda- tions of a six room home wer e found outside the western Old City wall, with- in the shadow of the Citadel. I asked two archaeologists why a First Tem p l e era building would be located so far away from the archaeological “City of Dav i d ” and why was it located outside "Broad Wall" from the FirstT emple Era the city wall. They had no plausible an s we r . I believe that not only was this David” had increased tenfold. stone. During the First Temple Era, ar ea th e City of David, but that the The 131-foot segment of wall was city walls consisted of two parallel original western city wall was located dubbed the “Broad Wall” after a refer- walls made of large boulders. The two ev en farther west than it is today, mak- 7 ence in the book of Nehemiah to a parallel walls were between 15 and 20 ing the City of David area larger than broad city wall. This wall was quite feet apart. The space between the ev en I suspected. The six-room build- broad indeed — 23 feet wide. walls was filled with earth and smaller ing was actually located within the walls Though only 10 feet of its height stones. As you can tell from the photo of the ancient City of Dav i d . remain today, the estimated original of the Broad Wall, it is definitely a Several years ago, I again passed the height was 66 feet. The curious reader First Temple Era wall. location of the six-room structure. It 8 may legitimately wonder how one dif- The prophet, Isa i a h tells us that in had been totally demolished by Arab ferentiates between a First Temple Era days of old, segments of the wall of the vandals. Weeds and grass had overtak- wall and a Second Temple Era wall. City of David had fallen down. Th e en the area. Lying on the ground, dis- Isn’t one large wall just like another? I king decreed that whoever had more carded, was the rusting, black sign. I shall explain the major difference. than one home would have to have the brought it back home to remind me of During the Second Temple Era, city stones of the additional homes disman- this important structure that can no walls were built of huge blocks of solid tled to be used to repair the wall. Right longer be seen. Summer 5761/2001 JEWISH ACTION The following reasons now make it and not the small slope south of the sainted King David. Perhaps, as more safe to “ret u r n ” the Fort r ess of Dav i d , Temple Mount. scholars turn their attention to this Mount Zion, and the Tomb of David to One problem still has to be affront, the sounds of Tehillim will their locations of the past two millennia. addressed. How did this large area, once again echo through the vaulted 1. The first century Jewish historian, the City of David, sustain itself with halls of the tomb. who had an unbroken chain of tradi- regard to water? The small under- In 1857, the Society for Dutch and tion, records that the old Citadel was ground stream to the south of the German Jews bought a large parcel of known as the City of David. Temple Mount must have been totally land in the Jewish Quarter of 2. The discovery of the Broad Wall inadequate. In my last article in Jerusalem. They erected many two- is proof that Jerusalem in the First Jewish Action,I suggested that the two room apartments for the poor Jews of great cisterns the Holy City. It was called Batei located outside the Machseh, the Shelter Homes. It was Old City supplied surrounded by a high stone wall and the ancient city protected by a metal gate. Over the with water. The gateway was an engraved lintel stone cisterns, called the simply stating, “Shelter Homes on Upper Gichon Mount Zion.” The next time you are (the archaeological in the Old City, look for the stone. It name is Mamila is still there today.You see, my Pool) and the friends, one should not attempt to Lower Gichon (the move mountains, nor uproot historical archaeological tombs, nor destroy centuries of tradi- name is Sultan’s tion. The true location of Mount Pool) were sup- Zion is engraved in stone. JA plied with water by means of an Notes Temple elaborate aqueduct system which origi- era was much larger than the nated in Beit Lechem (). 1. The narrative is based on Samuel II Minimalists had thought and in fact Remains of the aqueduct can still be 5:6-9, Chron. I 1:4-7, and is a com- did encompass the area that was tradi- seen. Based on that article, there was posite of the commentaries of Rashi, tionally know as the Fortress of David. never any need to “move” Mount Zion Radak, Ralbag, and Malbim. 3. The verse in Isaiah refers to houses in the first place. 2. Psalms 115 that wer e dismantled to fix the brea c h e s One thing that I did not mention in 3. Samuel II 5:9 in the wall in the City of David area . that article was the existence of anoth- 4. Kings I 8:1. For an extensive discus- The exca v ation of the Broad Wall yielded er aqueduct that led from the Upper sion as to the exact location of Biblical 9 evidence of houses that wer e dismantled. Gichon into the Citadel. Remains of Mount Zion, see Ir Hakodesh 4. The six-room struc t u r e outside the that aqueduct can still be seen today. V’HaMikdashVol. II, chap. 3. Citadel further indicates that the The upper part still exists, adjacent to 5. Kings I 1:10 Min i m a l i s t s ’ view of Jer usalem is incorrec t . the pool itself. The lower part still can 6. Ir HaKodeshV ’HaMikdashby 5. The revered scholar, Rabbi Y.M. be found within the walls of the HaRav Y.M. Tuchchinsky,Vol. II, 10 Tuchchinsky, made an exhaustive Citadel. The middle section has been Chap.4 and, Wars, Josephus, Book V, study of the location of Biblical torn down to make way for modern Chap. 4 Jerusalem based on a multitude of ref- road construction. I have been told 7. 3:8, 12:38 erences in Tanach. He concluded that that during the Israeli War of 8. 22:10 Zion (the City of David) and Independence, Jews crawled through 9. Isaiah 22:10 Jerusalem were two distinct areas. that aqueduct and it was used as a 10. Ir HaKodeshV ’HaMikdash,Vol. II According to the archaeologists the secret access into and out of the Old 11. Of course the remains we see two names refer to the very same area. City. Could it be that this is the very today are not from the original 6. Tradition! Throughout the cen- same aqueduct system through which Jebusite aqueduct. It was rebuilt and turies the Citadel has been associated Joab, the son of Tzeruyah, gained reconstructed periodically throughout 11 with King David. The Tomb of King entrance into the Jebusite Fortress?! history. The Arabs have always associ- David has always been regarded as the It is indeed a shame that the influ- ated this man-made water system with historic burial site. The area from the ence of the anti-religious Minimalists King Solomon; however, the author is Citadel until King David’s Tomb has has influenced our community to positing that the origin may have roots always been known as Mount Zion, practically abandon the tomb of the in the late Jebusite era.

Summer 5761/2001 JEWISH ACTION