Gaza and the Chashmonaim

Seleucid ArrowheadsThe history that goes beyond the days of Chanukah

Everyone knows the story of Chanukah, but for some reason the years of the Chashmonean Empire that followed from 152 BCE to the Roman conquest of Eretz Yisrael in 63 BCE are barely understood. In this period, the Jewish people came into conflict for the second time with the occupants of what is now the Gaza Strip and the southern coastal plain of Israel. In antiquity, this area ran farther north than today’s Gaza, continuing northward up through Ashkelon and Ashdod.

The first contact had been shortly after bnei Yisrael entered Canaan. Groups from the Aegean region, known to historians as Sea Peoples, took control of the area known as Pleshes (Philistia). The area had previously been under Egyptian control, as shown by both written sources and archaeological excavations. The Sea Peoples, referred to in Tanach as the Plishtim (Philistines), waged constant guerilla attacks against the Israelites after they settled in the hill country of Yehudah and Shomron, despoiling their livestock and crops. The constant threat of the Plishtim led bnei Yisrael to ask for a king in order to unify the tribes and defend their territory from the constant raids.… Continue reading

Uncovering the Kingdom of Dovıd

City of David Excavation Site

City of David excavation site. By Davidbena – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=108076335

New archaeology has revealed the wide reach and large buildings of the monarchies of Shaul, Dovid and Shlomo Hamelech

Recent archaeological research is revealing the key role that cities played in the growth of ancient Israel during the United Monarchy of Shaul, Dovid and Shlomo. New findings have identified a string of planned fortified sites dating to the tenth century BCE that are among the earliest evidence for the process of urbanization that helped establish and defend the kingdom of ancient Israel. What these discoveries tell us about the urbanization process in the northern Shefeilah (the Judean foothills) throws light on the role of the significance of the cities throughout the land. Further, these discoveries show without any question the existence of a centralized government that we know to have been centered in Yerushalayim.

Read the rest of Uncovering the Kingdom of Dovid in Ami Magazine.

The Myth of Vatican Treasures, Once Again

Arch of Titus

Arch of Titus by Daniel Ventura – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4545911

Despite recent reports, keilim from the Bayis Sheini aren’t held in Rome

There is a saying that old myths never die. This has certainly been the case with the persistent myth that the Vatican is holding the treasures of the Bayis Sheini, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, including the menorah from the Beis Hamikdash. This myth got a new boost when an unnamed Italian parliamentarian supposedly told Amichai Eliyahu, Israel’s minister of heritage, that “Rome” had possession of the Temple vessels and was prepared to return them.

According to the accounts, the parliamentarian went on to offer tremendous praise of Israel and the Jewish people.

Although it is always nice to hear good things about the Jewish people these days, what is really amazing is that this parliamentary representative somehow found out about the widespread false belief that the Vatican possesses the menorah and other treasures of the Beis Hamikdash and that he came to believe it—to the extent that he apparently proposed their return to Minister Eliyahu. We note, by the way, that Amichai Eliyahu himself has not made any… Continue reading