View of Mt. of Olives

Religious significance

Biblical references

Absalom's Tomb (Yad Avshalom)

Jewish customs

The religious ceremony marking the start of a new month was held on the Mount of Olives in the days of the Second Temple.^[3]After the destruction of the Temple, Jews celebrated the festival of Sukkot on the Mount of Olives. They made pilgrimages to the Mount of Olives because it was 80 meters higher than the Temple Mount and offered a panoramic view of the Temple site. It became a traditional place for lamenting the Temple's destruction, especially on Tisha B'Av.^[4] In 1481, an Italian Jewish pilgrim, Rabbi Meshulam Da Volterra, wrote: "And all the community of Jews, every year, goes up to Mount Zion on the day of Tisha Be-?Av to fast and mourn, and from there they move down along Yoshafat Valley and up to Mount of Olives. From there they see the whole Temple (the Temple Mount) and there they weep and lament the destruction of this House." ^[5]

New Testament references

The Mount of Olives is frequently mentioned in the New Testament (;26:30, etc.) as the route from Jerusalem to Bethany and the place where Jesus stood as when he wept over Jerusalem. Jesus is said to have spent time on the mount, teaching and prophesying to his disciples (Matthew 24-25), including the Olivet discourse, returning after each day to rest (Luke 21:37), and also coming there on the night of his betrayal (). At the foot of the Mount of Olives lies the Garden of Gethsemane.

Jewish cemetery

From biblical times until today, Jews have been buried on the Mount of Olives. There are an estimated 150,000 graves on the Mount, including tombs traditionally associated with Zechariah and Avshalom (Absalom). Important rabbis from the 15th to the 20th centuries are buried there, among them Abraham Isaac Kook, the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel. Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin asked to be buried on the Mount of Olives rather than Mount Herzl.^[6]

Roman era

Roman soldiers from the 10th Legion camped on the Mount during the Siege of Jerusalem in the year 70 CE, which led to the destruction of the city.

Jordanian rule

When the Mount of Olives was controlled by Jordan between the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and 1967, tombstones from the cemetery were used to build roads and army latrines. King Hussein permitted the construction of the Intercontinental Hotel at the summit of the Mount of Olives together with a road that cut through the cemetery which destroyed hundreds of Jewish graves, some from the First Temple Period.^[7][8][9] Some fifty thousand Jewish graves out of a total seventy thousand were destroyed or defaced during the nineteen years of Jordanian rule.^[10] After the Six-Day War, restoration work began, and the cemetery was re-opened for burials.

Today

The Arab neighborhood of at-Tur is located on the mountain's summit. Landmarks on the Mount of Olives include Yad Avshalom, the Tomb of Zechariah, the Church of all Nations, the Church of Maria Magdalene, Dominus Flevit Church, Gethsemane, Mary's Tomb and the Seven Arches Hotel.

Cultural references

Christ on the Mount of Olives is the title of an oratorio by Ludwig van Beethoven, and of a painting by Caravaggio.

Notable graves

• Abraham Isaac Kook (1864-1935); Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the British Mandate of Palestine; founder of Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav.
• Aharon Soloveichik (1917-2001); Rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Brisk, Chicago.
• Aryeh Kaplan (1934-1983); Rabbi, author of The Living Torah
• Avigdor Miller (1908-2001); American rabbi, thinker and lecturer
• Ben Ish Chai (1832-1909); posek and kabbalist
• Chaim ibn Attar (1696-1743); Talmud scholar and kabbalist
• Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (1858-1922); Linguist
• Eliyahu Asheri (1988-2006); Israeli student kidnapped and murdered by Palestinians^[11]
• Haim Moussa Douek (1905-1974); last Chief Rabbi of Egypt^[12]
• Immanuel Jakobovits (1921-1999); Chief rabbi of Great Britain and the Commonwealth
• Meir ben Judah Leib Poppers (1624-1662); rabbi and kabbalist
• Meir Feinstein (1927-1947); Irgun fighter
• Menahem Begin (1913-1992); Israel prime minister
• Ephraim Urbach, Talmudist
• Moshe Biderman (1776-1851); Hassidic rabbi
• Moshe Halberstam (1932-2006); Rosh yeshivah of the Tschakava yeshivah and dayan
• Moshe ben Nahman Gerondi - also known as 'Ramban'/'Nahmanides' (1194-1270); Catalan rabbi, philosopher, physician and biblical commentator^[11]
• Pesach Stein (1918-2002); Head of Telz yeshiva
• Princess Alice of Battenberg (1885-1969); Mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
• Robert Maxwell (1923-1991); British media tycoon
• Shaul Yedidya Elazar Taub (1886-1947); Second Modzitzer rebbe (last person to buried on the mount until 1967). His son, Rebbe Shmuel Eliyahu, was buried there in 1984; and his grandson, Rebbe Yisrael Dan, was buried there in 2006
• Shlomo Goren (1917-1994); Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel
• Shmuel Yosef Agnon (1888-1970) ;first Hebrew writer to win the Nobel Prize in literature^[11]
• Shmuel Salant (1816-1909); Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Jerusalem
• Uri Zvi Greenberg (1896-1981); poet
• Yechezkel Sarna (1890-1969); Head of Slabodka yeshiva
• Yechiel Yehoshua Rabinowicz (1900-1981); Grand Rabbi of the Biala dynasty
• Yisrael Eldad (1910-1996); philosopher
• Yitzchok Yaakov Weiss (1902-1989); Talmudic scholar, posek and chief rabbi of Edah HaChareidis
• Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld (1849-1932); Co-founder of Edah HaChareidis in Jerusalem and its first chief rabbi
• Zundel Salant (1786-1866); rabbi
• Shlomo Moussaieff (1852-1922)- Merchant and co-founder of the Bukharian Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem
• Zvi Yehuda Kook (1891-1982); Leader of the Mizrachi movement in Israel and head of Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav

Image gallery

<gallery perrow="6"> Image:Zkharia Hezir tombs.JPG|Tomb of Zechariah and of the Hezir family Image:JerMM.JPG|Church of Maria Magdalene Image:Mount of Olives-Jewish-Cemetary.jpg|Ancient Jewish cemetery Image:Mount of Olives-Overlook.jpg|Looking toward the Temple Mount </gallery>

References

External links

• Virtual Tour of Jerusalem @ jerusalem360.com - Interactive Panoramas from Israel
• Mount of Olives - 11 minutes movie - Mount of Olive`s Churches
• Detailed historical and spiritual history of the Mount from a Jewish perspective
• Jerusalem Photo Portal - Mount of Olives
• Picture slide show of Mount Olivet
• Mount of Olives - Photos and information
• Mount of Olives Photo Gallery - Including surrounding churches and scenery

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