Who Wants To Speak Like Ben-Gvir?

Most will react, "not me", but why? Consider this:

The term "Big Bang" is insensitive to unimaginable quantum states that turned on spacetime, particles, elements, stars and galaxies, but mostly, because the universe has no center the term is also grossly inaccurate.

3 billion acids, attached to sugars, make up DNA of the human genome. A change to any can lead to the birth of a super talented individual, a genius, a leader who stands out from the crowd, or it may cause excessive anxiety, depression, suffering, disease and even death. Technologies manipulate DNA, test results and compute vast cellular networks that inform us about previously unknown sensitive, but transformative events. 

The Bible recalls that one frog emerged from the Nile and resulted in a plague of frogs that engulfed Ancient Egypt. We can only imagine this super-species was initiated through a small DNA alteration, in a progenitor, that rapidly accumulated and was programmed to annihilate shortly after its ascent onto land. 

Some plagues in Egypt were easily replicated by the necromancer opponents of Moses. Others distracted them, caused their concentration lapse and suddenly they were defeated. We disconnect from the sensitivities behind these events because our noisy world distracts us. 

Simchat Torah 5784 (7 October 2023) marked a distraction with disastrous affect for Israel. The Jewish people have always experienced periods of unification followed by utter distraction that plunged them into the abyss of suffering. On each occasion Israel has valiantly returned from its exiled state to a heightened awareness where people speak more kindly of each other. 

Indeed the Hebrew word for speak is also the plague of pestilence or דבר (DeVeR) the preceded hail or ברד (BaRaD) through a one letter switch that changed the outcome for millions. 

We hate our present state of exile, our suffering, but it reminds us to be aware, to speak more kindly of each other and to anticipate the delicate possibility of redemption. In suffering we suppress our base, emotional instincts to amplify our personal voices and attack others. In good times the status-quo is nice, life is generally good, that's when we can sink to defend our comfort.

We may not like what Ben-Gvir has to say, or how his offensive confronts us and our preference to deny uncomfortable, inconvenient truths about frenemies. Apparently, for some, he promotes suffering and how do we respond? We attack the disrupter of our comfortable beliefs, our status-quo! We protest, amplify our voices, disrupt others and become polarized. Then, redemption dissipates and distraction passes the baton to enemies who are patient, dedicated and poised to dispel their disaster upon us.

A laissez faire approach to Palestinian frenemies, by Israel's elected governments of the past 30 years, resulted in Hamas rising, arming, training and unfortunately exploiting the inconvenient truth. We must wise up, respect each other, focus on security and let Israel's politicians do our tough talking, but we must not let this moment pass, we must demand they do more.

For the honor of those who have fallen and those, 100 days later, who continue suffering the most, we should all endeavor to make Simchat Torah 5784 the beginning of our full and final redemption.

The New, Better Israel

MK Simcha Rothman,
 Chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee

Israeli disunity and distress leading up to the Simchat Torah 5783 (October 7, 2023) attack parallels ancient events. To understand these I provide some background.

The holiday of our Redemption is commonly known as Passover or Pesach and the traditional meal ends with participants saying: “Next Year in Jerusalem”. That would be ok, unless your dinner happens to be located in Jerusalem, where all attendees sing out the same ‘Next year in Jerusalem’. Seems strange doesn’t it? 

The universal tradition renders it a personal statement. Regardless of location, each attendee has not realized their fullest redemption from self imposed exile, perhaps it will be, next year.

The traditional Seder dinner focuses on the story of Israel’s exodus from Egypt, in Hebrew Mitzrayim. The word rendered as: M-tZ-R-Y-M can be segmented as Ma-tZ-eR Ya-M, translated as ‘Sea of Distress’. In other words, in Egypt, Israel was drowning in a Sea of Distress. 

Israelite enslavement started under an Egyptian Pharoah whose ministers grew anxious that Israel's flourishing population posed a civil threat that could topple their regime. The antidote was a birth control decree that banned male babies, requiring them to be killed at birth. This exacerbated the national distress for millions of Israelites as Egyptian authorities pursued pregnant mothers. 

The Bible explains this is the time that Moses was born, rescued and raised in the palace of Pharaoh. When he was older he became incensed by an Egyptian taskmasters abuse of an Israelite woman and subsequent beating of her husband. Moses struck out and killed the Egyptian.

Had it not been for Israelite disunity Moses could have triggered the rebellion Egyptians feared most. Instead the victim blamed Moses for highlighting their plight. accused him of being a self-appointed judge and reported his action to the authorities. Moses fled and Israel's torturous conditions prevailed.

Now, our babies have been dismembered, murdered, kidnapped, as hostages our woman raped and our men beaten. Is this the result of our Israelite disunity, our national disorder that appears to parallel events in Egypt? On Simchat Torah the disunity was brought to a head. Now Israel has choices to make, either prolong the suffering, like it was in Egypt, or come to the full behavioral realization that our redemption moment has arrived. Take it or leave it. 

In the words of MK Simcha Rothman, chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee: "When the war is over, we will all be different. Because we learned something. My camp created a great deal of fear in people and did not do enough to reduce the fear. In the future, I will do everything not to pry into the other side's wounds in a manner that would make them unable to listen".

This time we must be different, politics has its place as it must, but we are above that and this is our moment to shine! 

We must not allow this holy day to be denigrated by calling it 10/7, 7/10 or the October 7 massacre. Instead, in honor to those who have sacrificed the most, we must elevate it to the highest spiritual order. It is Israel's calling, its Simchat Torah Redemption - soon in Jerusalem! 

Yes, Gaza Is Aza - End The 4000 Year Curse.

All Jews must prepare for a Holy war that lasts beyond evil Jihad. After Israel bombs more buildings, completes its ground invasion, kills lots of terrorists, rescues as many hostages as it can, buries and grieves its dead, we must ensure it corrects the 4000 year old curse of Aza by immediately securing land and possessing it in Gaza.

This curse relates to Abraham and Isaacs pact with the King of Philistines who attacked their wells, then demanded concessions for peace. Sound familiar? They granted him and his future generations the right to live on the land of Aza.

[Think tribal]: On Israel's return to its land, the tribe of Dan were allotted land that included Aza. The other 11 tribes of Israel, had already settled their land but, they failed to assist Dan conquer its allotment. Disenfranchised and demotivated, Dan's tribal leaders wandered aimlessly often promoting idolatry to other tribes. Then, Samson became a leader of Dan and the nations highest judge. Single handedly he attempted to draw attention to the problem. He went to Aza, ripped the iron gates off the city walls and carried them to the graves of Israel's Patriarchs and Matriarchs in Hebron. Sadly no tribe stepped up to help the tribe of Dan. 

Samson belittled the powerful Philistines until he destroyed their temple of idolatry perishing with their leaders and thousands of congregants. Later, the Philistines raided all of Israel's tribes and stole the nations most holy possession, the Ark of Covenant, from their temple, in Shilo. The peace-pact was shattered a thousand years after Abraham and Isaac. But, Dan and Israel were dispossessed of their land and never returned to Aza. 

Yes, Aza is Gaza. Resurrecting that pact, the Romans named all of Israel Syria Palestina, and the British adopted the Roman resurrection calling it Palestine. On Simchat Torah 5784, of the Hebrew Year, Israel paid a very heavy price. Now, it must break the enemy curse and finally possess Aza. 

ISRAEL MUST NEVER LEAVE GAZA! 

There, Israel must immediately build a Hesder Yeshiva and protect it with everything it’s got. Then, build another and another and another…until holy places of Jewish Torah learning and their communities are secured in all of Gaza. This is how Aza's neighborhoods can begin to be normalized. The plan has been implemented and is working for resilient Jewish communities in The City of David, Silwan, Nazareth elit, Bat Yam, Lud, Jabel MuKabar, Hebron and many other places in Israel. 

Holy Torah is the only weapon Israel has to dispel and resist any misconstrued, Jihad! Israel must not fall into the trap of building fences around empty tracts of land on which Palestinians can be recruited by the next Jihadist terror regime. That would be an invitation for the next disastrous tragedy in years or decades to come. Never again!

Humble Expectations On Jerusalem's Mount Moriah

In his quest for meaning Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z'l speaks:

Now, I want to ask you a simple question. King Solomon built a Temple. Is that a good thing or not? Well, it must have been a good thing. It was the greatest thing ever, right? But were there some downsides to it? Were there some downsides to building the Temple? Okay, have a look at the beginning of the story of the building of the Temple. Can you see what it says? [I Kings 5:27-30]

King Solomon conscripted labourers from all Israel, 30,000 men. He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of 10,000 a month. So they spent one month in Lebanon, two months at home... Solomon had 70,000 carriers and 80,000 stonecutters in the hills, as well as 3,300 foreman who supervised... How many people did he have building the Temple? Can you do your arithmetic? (Congregation member speaks) A lot, exactly so. Precisely so, 183,000 and some, okay? That remind you of anything? When was the last time you heard about the Israelites being turned into a labour force? (Congregation member speaks - Egypt) Correct. Hang on, we were supposed to leave Egypt, right? Solomon seems to have taken the people back into slavery.

Now, have a look here at [I Kings 9:20-23]. All the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites who were not of the people of Israel, these Solomon drafted to be slaves, and so they are to this day. But the people of Israel Solomon made no slaves. Can you read that? The Torah has to tell us, King Solomon didn't make the Israelites slaves. That's quite striking, is it not? Tell me, how long did it take Solomon to build the Temple? Anyone know?

Have a look, [I Kings 6:37-38]. In the fourth year the foundation of the House of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv. And in the 11th year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it. It took him seven years to build the Temple, okay? Now look at the very next verse in Tanach. Can you see it?

[I Kings 7:1] Solomon was building his own house for thirteen years. Is that telling you something? He spent almost twice as long building his own palace as he spent building a House for God. So the Temple was a wonderful, wonderful thing, the greatest thing ever, but it practically reduced the whole of the Israelites to slavery. So that the Torah has to tell us, well he didn't actually make them into slaves, because at the end of seven years they could go free. And he spent twice as long building a house for himself as he spent building a House for God. That is a bit of a critique, right?

Now, do you remember what God said to David, when David said, "I've got to build a Temple for God." Anyone know what God said? Have a look, David says to the Prophet Nathan, "I want to build a house for God." Nathan says, that's a great idea, go ahead and do it. But, then we read... [II Samuel 7:4-7] But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord, would you build Me a house to dwell in? I haven't lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Egypt to this day. I've been moving about in a Tent for My dwelling. In all the places I've moved with the people of Israel, did I speak a word about any of the Judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people, saying, "Why haven't you built Me a house of cedar?"

I don't want a House. I'm happy with a Tent. So, we see that there is an undercurrent here. It's not the primary meaning, the Beit HaMikdash was the holiest thing ever, but there's an undercurrent that God didn't want this kind of palace. That it would turn the Israelites into a corvée, a nation of slave labourers. That it would be like every other nation in the ancient world, the modern world and everything in between. You want to announce, I'm great? You build monumental buildings. Everyone did it. Every, single nation there ever was. And God is saying to David, do you think I'm like that? Did I ever ask for such a thing? I was happy with a Tent. What was the name of that tent, by the way? It was called the Mishkan. Incidentally, how do English Bibles translate the word “Mishkan”. Anyone know? (congregation member answers: Tabernacle) “Tabernacle”. Does that remind you of something. (congregation members: Succot – the Festival of Tabernacles - Succah's) Are you with me? So, as house is to succah, so mikdash is to Mishkan as Temple is to Tabernacle. Right?

Now, I asked you a simple question. Who lived in a succah in the Torah? The Israelites, never! But what is the root of the word succah? Anyone know? What do we call the roof of a succah? S’chach. The root of succah is s’chach. Does that word appear anywhere in the Torah? The answer is yes, it appears twice. In which context, does anyone know? In the Mishkan, right?

There it is [Shemot 25:20-22] Vehayu hakeruvim, The cherubs, above the Aron [the Ark] right? The cherubs, porsay chnafayim lemalah, they spread their hands over them, sochechim bechanfayhem al-hakaporet. They comfort him. They were overshadowing, they were protecting, they were shadowing the kaporet. Al hakaporet uf’nayhem ish el-achiv el hakaporet. And the cherubs were facing one another. And that is in parshat Terumah, in which we have the command to build the Mishkan and the same words appear in parshat Vayakhel when they actually made the succah.

The only context in which s’chach appears in the Torah is in relation to the Mishkan, the tent. There is a place where, I'm not sure if it's the Temple, I'm not sure if it's the Temple, none of the commentators are sure it's the Temple, but does anyone know what harachamon we say in benching (grace after meals) on Chol HaMoed Succot? (congregation members answer) Harachamon hu yakim lanu et succat David Hannofalet. Right. You will see that that is a quote from Amos. [Amos 9:11] Bayom hahu akim et-succat David hanofellet. I will restore the succah of David that has fallen down. And remember what God said to David. I prefer living in a tent than a palace, than a House of cedar.

Now I'm going to ask you a very simple question. Which of the patriarchs lived in a house? Did Abraham live in a house? No, he lived in a tent. Did Isaac live in a house? No, he lived in a tent. You know who lived in houses? Have a look. Two angels come to Lot in Sodom. [Bereishit 19:2] Vayomer hineh na-adonay suru na el-bat avadechem... Lot lives in a house. Abraham lives in a tent. You know who else lives in a house? Look at source 28. [Bereishit 24:23] Vayomer bat-mi at hagidi na li hayesh beit avich makom lanu lalin. Abraham’s servant has come to find a wife for Isaac, who lives in a house? Laban lives in a house, Lot lives in house. Is that a good advertisement for a house? Not really, okay? Abraham lives in a tent, Isaac lives in a tent. Who is the first patriarch who lives in a house? Here is the verse, can you see it?

Now, listen, this has to be one of the strangest verses in the whole Torah. Listen carefully, [Bereishit 33:17] VaYaacov nassa succotah, and Jacob travelled to Succot, vayiven lo bayit, and he made for himself a house, the first patriarch to make for himself a house, ulemiknayhu assah succot, but for his cattle, he made succot. And he is about to celebrate the fact that he's the first patriarch to build a house. What do you think he's going to call the place? Beit something or other, right? Beit-El? Beit-Lechem? You name it. What does he call the place? Al kain kara shem hamakim Succot! Succot! There you are, you just bought a house in Hampstead Garden and you name it after your garage. I mean, have you ever seen anything more extraordinary? And what is Jacob telling us, the whole time? Jews don't have to live in houses to feel secure. I'm happy to live in succot, my animals live in succot, I'm happy to live there.

What does God say in parshas Behar? When you come to the land, the Land, you will never own it in perpetuity. Why? Ki li ha’aretz ki geirim vetoshavim atem imadi [Vayikra 25:23] “You are mere strangers and temporary residents, as far as I'm concerned.”

In other words, even though you live safely in the Land of Israel, never forget where you came from. Never settle down that you become complacent. Veram veshavevcha veshachachta, So that your heart is upraised and you forget where you came from and who you owe this to. Never forget. In the immortal words of the Beatles’ last recording, get back to where you once belonged.

So just as, in Israel, they were supposed to remember the forty years of wandering in the desert, now you begin to see this extraordinary thing, that just as, even though they are worshipping in the Temple Solomon built, don't forget how you first once had God living in your midst, in a succah, called the Mishkan, called the Tabernacle. You do not need great buildings of cedar and stone to find God. You can live in a little Mishkan or a portacabin, courtesy of Ikea, I have to tell you. And still God will be there. If, of course, you're keruvim [cherubs] whose face was ish el re’eihu. You turn face to face to your human being. That is where the Shechinah, the presssence of God lives. You remember where the Keruvim were facing in Solomon's Temple? They were not facing one another, they were facing peneihem el haBayit. They were facing the House, they were not looking at each other.

The Gemara in Bava Batra, [daf 99a] says, when Israel do the will of God, the cherubs face each other. When they don't do the will of God, they face the Bayit (House). That is an extraordinary Gemara. It's telling us that the Mishkan was closer to what Hashem wanted than Solomon's Temple. And what Succot is telling us is: Succot is when the Israelites went to the Temple and celebrated the produce of the fields and they thanked HaKadosh Baruch Hu, but they never forgot where they came from. Because every time a nation forgets its youth, its childhood, the hard times they had when they were struggling to make a go, they become decadent and they eventually decline and fall. But Jews never are allowed to do that because it's enough that you’re gerim and toshavim, that you’re temporary residence, and you're always asking Me [i.e. God] for another year of life. And it's enough, don't think you've got a great, big Temple, as good as the Egyptians, and the Mesopotamians. I tell you, I'm good enough with a Mishkan. Because that is the succah, that's the s’chach, that memory of the Mishkan is good enough for Me.

And we now understand exactly the argument of Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Eliezer. What is a succah? Rabbi Akiva is right. A succah was a succah mamash. Not a hut the Israelites lived in but the Mishkan, the portable, temporary dwelling that God dwelled in. And Rabbi Eliezer was right when he said annanei kavod. Because where were the annanei kavod? (Congregation member answers) Do you think they covered the people? If you look in the Torah, you will see they covered the Mishkan.

As long as they were in camp, the Cloud was over the Mishkan. When it moved beyond the Mishkan, then it was time to travel on. The Mishkan was a temporary dwelling.

But the odd thing is that the Temple was a permanent dwelling and yet it was destroyed twice, and we don't have it anymore. But the Mishkan, which could move anywhere, because God is everywhere, became the symbol of the shul that you can build in Jerusalem, but also, not bad, in Hampstead Garden Suburb. That became the permanent symbol. The temporary became permanent and the permanent turned out only to be temporary.

Ki besuccot hoshavti et Bnei Yisrael - when I brought them out of Egypt [Vayikra 23:42] It wasn't the Israelites who lived in a succah, it was God who lived in a succah. And the succah is telling us something absolutely unbelievable. That you don't need to have megabucks to buy a home for God. All you need is a garden shed and a bit of faith. And you have your schach and they overshadow you the way the cherubs overshadowed the Ark. And between the Keruvim is the Clouds of Glory.

The simplest, poorest Jew, who turns his face to his brother or sister, and builds a little succah is bathed in Clouds of Glory. And he has built his own, private equivalent of the Mishkan.

Why Hide Israel's Exodus Evidence?

The Amarna diplomatic letters exposed vassal relationships between field commanders who acted as local kings and Pharaoh their Egyptian ruler. Commanders of field garrisons defended Egyptian territories and at times expressed conflicting interests that triggered a spate of letter writing. Victories, defeats or political turmoil weighed heavily on the writings.

The tablets appear to have been buried with Akhenaten at El Amarna, but they are not the originals, mostly made of clay from areas east of the Jordan River, they are deemed authentic, diplomatic copies. One such letter #254 titled "Neither Rebel nor Delinquent" by Labaya, commander of the Samaria region from Sakmu the biblical city of Shechem, exposed serious allegations against him for having surrendered land to the Habiru (see Deuteronomy 11:30 and Genesis 12:6). This and the related letters further south at Uru-Salem, biblical Jerusalem discuss battles waged by the Habiru. 

Military correspondence from Canaan, in Egypt it was known as Retenju 

Dating and sources of the Amarna letters are thought to span Egyptian Pharaoh's Amenhotep III, Akhenaten, through possibly Smenkhkare or Tutankhamun around 150 years. These Pharaoh's may have overlapped the Israelite presence, enslavement in or exile from Egypt, early Canaanite wars and land resettlement. However, published chronologies have left much open to speculation, here we propose a resolution: The Labaya tablet #254 and others reference Pharaoh in his 32nd year of reign leaving only Amenhotep III who held power for 36-38 years during the Amarna period. According to the classic chronology Amenhotep III died in 1351 BCE.

The Bible describes Israel's 40 year sojourn after leaving Egypt, before it entered the land of Canaan where Joshua, the Israelite leader is said to have ruled 32 years after that. If there is a Biblical relationship to the Habiru, even if only some Habiru were Hebrew Israelite's raiding Canaan then letter #254 must have been written during the overlap of Amenhotep III and Joshua's 32 year reign, which according to the Biblical record ended in 1245 BCE. To align Amenhotep III and Joshua, the 100 year gap between the Bible and the Amarna records needs to be closed.

The eldest son of Amenhotep III, Prince Thutmose, died in the third decade of his fathers reign. Stepping in, his younger brother Amenhotep IV (also known as Akhenaten) became the "strange" Pharaoh as depicted in uncharacteristically abstract art from his reign. From evidence at Amarna we know the mummified elite of Egypt had a poor state of health despite opposite representations reflected in artwork of the time. Amarna depicts how distance enabled diplomatic façade, appearance of control and power, yet reality was always different. For Akhenaten losing control of Retjenu (Canaan) may have been his diplomatic inheritance and retrospective downfall in Egyptian art.

From the evidence, toward the end of the 13th century BCE, Papyrus Anastasi III, Merneptah Stele (1203 BCE), Egyptian late bronze age temple at Jerusalem's École biblique and tombs north and north-west of Jerusalem's Mount Moriah we learn about a prolonged Egyptian commitment and interest in Canaan during the approximately 250 years of military activity from Amenhotep III to Merneptah. In addition to its strategic and regional benefits, a long term commitment to hold Canaan may have been etched in the psyche of Egyptian leaders by Egypt's founder and first Pharaoh Khem (the ancient name given to Egypt km.t). According to the Biblical record Khem (Biblical Ham) may have incestuously fathered Canaan which explains why Canaan had no place in Egypt. The place name Canaan is common throughout Egyptian and Biblical records.

This 250 year, most tumultuous military period directly overlaps Israelite tribes who were displacing local Canaanite leaders and populations, long connected with Egypt, as they settled their indigenous land and entitlements east and west of the Jordan River. This re-settlement spanned a period of 300 years from Joshua until King David culminating the Israelite inheritance consistent with biblical teachings and tribal agreements.

In one letter, Adoni-Tzedek pleaded to convince Akhenaten to take the faster coastal route to rescue his dire situation in Jerusalem. And a letter, early in the reign of Akhenaten showed that the coast road was still open (pg278) which King Dusratta (Mitanni Empire) had written to his son-in-law Akhenaten twenty years later, but no help appears to have been sent. If this letter #254 describes the Biblical events that took place in 1273 BCE, at the beginning of Joshua's reign, which included a raid on Jerusalem, the Egyptian chronology immediately prior to the Amarna period would have to be revised forward by around ~100 years. This would be difficult for classical Egyptologists to digest. Joshua must then have overlapped Amenhotep III and Akhenaten, which if we wind back 40 years, would make Thutmose IV the prime candidate at the time of the Israelite Exodus led by Moses. 

Even though the lower Galilee was, for some few years subdued, under Philistia and Syria it was reconquered by Rameses II, whose battle relief also mentions "Shalem" (Jerusalem). However, historians have revealed that neither Rameses II or his garrisons ever entered the Judæan mountains because they were impassable for chariots, Egypt's supreme weapon of war. Seemingly, Jerusalem had been abandoned by Rameses II as well.

The events placed in these time frames may help us to better understand Egypt's political events, that pre-dated Moses, when "Pithom and Rameses", Egyptian cities built by Israelite slaves, may have underwritten the economic and political impetus that promoted the "House of Rameses" to ultimately obtain the status of Pharaoh over all of Egypt. By the time Rameses I and II became Pharaoh's it was already the latter half of Israel's 300 year resettlement of Canaan as recorded in The Book of Judges.

Often overlooked is the earliest recorded use of the Hebrew language by Eber (great-grandson of Noah) preceding Biblical Abraham, whose father, Terach and their extended families continued to live in Haran, northern Syria. They were the Ivri or Ibri also likely referred to as Habiru, but their various lineages were not Israelite. Regardless, the Habiru referred in the Amarna letters are certainly those Israelites, the Hebrew speakers, who had arrived from Egypt to conquer and re-settle Canaan.

Jerusalem's Critical Evidence?

Seldom does a "terminus post quem", the earliest date an item came into existence, and a "terminus ante quem", the latest, perfectly sandwich the artifact to define its absolute archaeological age. 

In ancient Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah's eastern slope, a crucial study by Weizmann Institute, Tel Aviv University and Israel Antiquities Authority dated evidence in a drainage channel, beneath and above a plaster layer that was built on top of clay-rich, virgin soil in a natural bedrock cavity. 

Directly beneath the plaster (its earliest date), small charcoal flecks were dated separately (sample 10293 and 9965) between 1615–1545 BCE, a "terminus post-quem" for plaster in the channel. At the bottom of the channel, above the plaster (the latest date) several grey and white laminations were found with charred material (sample 9964 and 10292), "ante-quem", understood to represent the channel was last used between 1535 and 1445 BCE.

During these approximately 100 years the drainage channel was used to propel water (by gravity) onto the bedrock floor of at least one of two rooms of the Temple Zero complex immediately below (east of) AreaU. In each room slaughtered animals would have frequently been processed and offered as a sacrifice, thus requiring water be flushed via the channel to clean blood and excrement. Almost 600 years later similar hydraulic systems were engineered and used in the first and second temples further up the mountain.  

According to Biblical chronology Jacob and his family arrived on Mount Moriah in 1553 BCE then left the region in 1523 BCE and lived in exile, in Egypt, where they remained for 210 years before the nation journeyed back to their land. The overlapping 100 year use of the drainage channel with time of Jacob makes this discovery remarkable particularly because of its potentially exciting context to the Temple Zero location.

In the Biblical context of Area U, the rock-cut-rooms of Temple Zero and the Gihon Spring, Bible commentators relate events of Adam, Noah, Shem or Malchi-Tzedek, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joshua, King David and subsequent kings. Spanning thousands of years, the area on Mount Moriah is also referred by many names including; Salem, Beit El, Yireh (Yireh-Salem), Luz, Tzion, Jebus, City of David and Jerusalem. 

Immediately after King Solomon, King Jeroboam mis-directed and split the nation in part by leveraging confusion over Jacob's Beit El. Therefore, his actions and motivations must be understood before one can truly appreciate the magnitude of  discoveries being made at Temple Zero, Jerusalem. The recently discovered, possible City of Ai (associated with Beit El) is located just 1.3 kilometers east of  Temple Zero, resolves Jeroboam's Bethel ruse, 17km north, establishing Jerusalem's Temple Zero the exclusive, common Beit El of Abraham (Genesis 12:1-8, 13:3-4) and Jacob (Genesis 28:11, 35:14).

By aligning the city of Ai and Biblical events with the 100 year overlapping use of the drainage channel, confidence rises that Temple Zero is the location Jacob erected the recently discovered matzevah on which he made a covenant, to which he returned and accepted upon himself the name "Israel". 

For the modern nation to rediscover the original beacon, erected by Jacob on which he accepted the name of their national identity would be nothing short of miraculous, perhaps too much for the archaeological fraternity to acknowledge.

 

72 Golden Bells

In 2011 a rare golden bell, in the shape of a pomegranate was discovered in a drainage channel near the Temple Mount along the route to the Siloam Pool (Shiloah) at the southern end of the City of David. The Second Temple artefact was thought to be one of 72 similar bells adorning the hem of the High Priests garment. The route along the drainage channel is one the High Priest would have frequently used.

The discovery was widely publicised prompting many to question whether this was one of the actual bells and it exposed an age-old debate among Torah scholars. The adornment of the High Priests garment is discussed in unusual detail in the section known as Tetzaveh, Exodus 28:33-34:

וְעָשִׂ֣יתָ עַל־שׁוּלָ֗יו רִמֹּנֵי֙ תְּכֵ֤לֶת וְאַרְגָּמָן֙ וְתוֹלַ֣עַת שָׁנִ֔י עַל־שׁוּלָ֖יו סָבִ֑יב וּפַעֲמֹנֵ֥י זָהָ֛ב בְּתוֹכָ֖ם סָבִֽיב׃ 

On its hem make pomegranates of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, all around the hem, with bells of gold within them all around

פַּעֲמֹ֤ן זָהָב֙ וְרִמּ֔וֹן פַּֽעֲמֹ֥ן זָהָ֖ב וְרִמּ֑וֹן עַל־שׁוּלֵ֥י הַמְּעִ֖יל סָבִֽיב׃

a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, all around the hem of the robe.

Two major commentators Rashi and Ramban had differing views about the interpretation of these words. Rabbi Jacob ben Asher (c. 1269 - c. 1343), known as Ba’al haTurim commented on these:

Tur HaArokh, Exodus 28:34:1

פעמון זהב ורמון, “a golden bell and a pomegranate.” According to Rashi the Torah speaks of two distinctly separate kinds of ornaments, one looked like a bell, the other like a pomegranate. Ramban writes  We must assume that the bells were surrounded on the outside by these “pomegranates,” the “pomegranates” being hollow, they were made to look like unripe small “pomegranates” that had not “opened” yet, and the bells were hidden within their cavities, but could be seen partially from the outside.

Perhaps the Ba'al haTurim was also saying that the golden bells were concealed by the woven yarns, as a shell around the golden bell depicted below:

Indeed we find further support for this archaeological wonder, that explains the meaning of these detailed instructions in Torah. 'זָהָ֛ב בְּתוֹכָ֖ם' - 'zahav betocham' - 'gold within' and from an earlier passage 'וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְּתוֹכָם' - 'v'shachanti betocham' provides more meaning; make Me a Sanctuary and I will dwell within them (Exodus 25:8). Here 'within' provides the key clue as to the golden pommegranate shaped bell.

A commentary from Zohar (2:95a), on the preceding sections of Exodus known as Mishpatim discusses a donkey driver whose knowledge of Torah was not sought referring; "that donkey driver, is he here? For sometimes in those empty ones, you may discover bells of gold" The commentary associates the sound of the hidden bell with the concealed presence of God in the world.

As Isaac Mozeson of Edenics so eloquently states: "We have to elevate a P'aMoaN beyond rings and bells to the פעמו of Judges 13:25 - the divine spirit of Redemption moving in the camp of Dan".

But, the proof text that this is in fact a bell from the garment of the High Priest may lie in a word relationship to Exodus 25:12 that discusses the four gold rings (אַרְבַּ֣ע פַּעֲמֹתָ֑יו). These rings were cast onto the four corners of the ark through which the poles, that suspended it for transport were secured. The word פַּעֲמֹתָ֑יו  in (25:12) relates to (28:34) פַּֽעֲמֹ֥ן, the golden pomegranate bell by at least the first three letters and vowels, which invokes a question about exactly what the word references.

If we infer the logic of (25:12) to (28:34) Torah is explaining that Moses cast a gold ring on each gold pomegranate shaped bell, through which it was attached to the High Priest garment. Indeed this is the very design of the gold pomegranate shaped bell that Eli Shukron discovered, albeit without its long disintegrated, outer woven cover.