Tomb of Jesse and Ruth

Tomb of Jesse and Ruth

Hebrew: קבר ישי ורות‎‎
Location	Hebron
Coordinates	31 ° 32'00" N 35 ° 05'42 "E
Type	tomb

The tomb of Jesse and Ruth (alt. Tomb of Ruth and Yishai) is an ancient structure located in the Tel Rumeida section of Hebron. Since the Middle Ages it has been claimed to be the burial tomb of the Biblical Jesse, father of King David and that of Ruth, grandmother of King David and matriarch of converts to Judaism. In Palestinian tradition it is said to be the Al-Arba'een mosque dating back to the times of Saladin.^[1]

The structure houses a small synagogue and receives visitors throughout the year, especially on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, in which the Book of Ruth is read.^[2] A medieval stone structure next to it has been excavated and is being used as a synagogue and study hall. Archaeologists postulate it could have been a Crusader fortress.

Medieval references

The identity of the location being the Tomb of Jesse is said to have been authenticated by Rabbi Isaac Luria. One of the earliest known references to the tomb comes from an unnamed student of the Ramban who visited the site between 1289 and 1290. He wrote of visiting the "cave of Jesse's grave" on a hilltop near the Cave of Machpela and the ancient Jewish Cemetery of Hebron." His words were reprinted in a collection of travel diaries of medieval Jewish travelers entitled Maasot Eretz Yisrael edited by bibliographer Abraham Yaari.

The Jewish traveler Yaakov HaShaliach mentions visiting the grave of Jesse, father of David in Hebron in the year 1235, but he does not specify the burial place. These comments were reprinted by the historian Julius Eisenstein in his 1927 book Otzar Masa'oth, an anthology of itineraries by Jewish travelers.

In 1522 Rabbi Moses ben Mordecai Bassola wrote,

"at the summit of the mountain opposite Hebron is the burial place of Jesse, David's father. It has a handsome building with a small window that looks down on the burial cave. They say that once they threw a cat through the window and it emerged from the hole in the Cave of the Patriarchs. The distance between them is half a mile."^[3]

Two Karaite travelers wrote of the site: Samuel ben David of Crimea in 1642^[4] and Benjamin Ben-Eliyahu in 1785. Rabbi Ovadia of Bartenura (1445 - 1515) mentions praying there in his travel writings.

Yihus HaAvos V'Neviim (Lineage of the Patriarch and the Prophets), a book from 1537 refers to the site as "a handsome building up on the mount, where Jesse, the King David's father is buried." It includes a drawing of the site, and notes an "ancient Israelite burial ground" nearby and Crusader courtyard.

Ottoman period

The first known written reference to the site housing the tomb of both Jesse and Ruth comes from the 1835 book Love of Jerusalem by Haim Horwitz, referencing local oral traditions.

Menachem Mendel of Kamenitz wrote in 1839,

"Here I write of the graves of the righteous to which I paid my respects. Hebron – Described above is the character and order of behavior of those coming to pray at the Cave of ha-Machpelah. I went there, between the stores, over the grave of Avner ben Ner and was required to pay a Yishmaeli – the grave was in his courtyard – to allow me to enter. Outside of the city I went to the grave of Othniel ben Kenaz and, next to him, are laid to rest 9 students in niches in the wall of a shelter standing in a vineyard. I gave 20 pa’res to the owner of the vineyard. Also in the vineyard was a shelter with 2 graves: one of Jesse, father of David, and one of Ruth, the Moabite. I gave the vineyard owner 20 pa’res. I also went to a grave said to be that of the Righteous Rav, author of “Reshit Hokhma” [Rabbi Eliyahu DeVidas – 16th C Kabbalist and disciple of Rabbi Moshe Cordovero who died in Hebron."

British mandate period

In 1935 Zev Vilnay wrote that visitors were required to pay to access the site and that it once connected to the Tomb of Machpela, but was filled in during the First World War and the entrance was now unknown.

Israeli archaeologist Jacob Pinkerfield (1897–1956) visited the site and wrote about it in his book The Synagogues in Eretz Yisra'el.

Louis-Hugues Vincent (1872 - 1960), a French monk and archaeologist who lived in Jerusalem discusses the site in his two-volume work Hebron in 1923.

Post-1967 period

In the 1970s Prof. Benzion Tavger (1930 - 1983) excavated the site and it was reopened to the public. The site was renovated in 2009.

References

Further reading

• Jerold S. Auerbach (2009-07-15). Hebron Jews: Memory and Conflict in the Land of Israel. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 9780742566156.