Almost everyone knows that the most sacred of all the Jewish
temples in the world is the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, but far less
well known is the name and location of Judaism’s second holiest
sanctuary: the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
Hebron, the largest city in the Palestinian Territories’ West
Bank region, is sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam alike,
and this is as the Cave of the Patriarchs falls within its
precincts. The Cave is a complex series of burial chambers and
caverns lying beneath a shrine known simply as the Enclosure of the
Cave of the Patriarchs and is said to be the tomb of the three
biblical patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their wives. It
is also rumored that this sacred cavern is the final resting place
of Jacob’s twelve sons from whom the Twelve Tribes of Israel took
their names.
Throughout the centuries, the area in which the Cave is located
came under the control of many different peoples including Herod
the Great’s forces, the Byzantine Empire, the Crusaders and the
Mamluks, and each occupying force left their mark on the Cave
complex. Changes made to the site of the future temple ranged from
the construction of a roofless walled enclosure by Herod’s forces
and the erection of an ornate building known as a castle, or kalah,
by Muslim occupiers to six cenotaphs - tombs - being built for the
three patriarchs and their wives.
Access to the Enclosure of the Cave of the Patriarchs, and to
the Cave itself, is strictly controlled, and tourist visits are not
allowed. Although both Jewish and Islamic religious leaders are
allowed access to the Enclosure, they must enter through different
doors, and, at present, no-one at all is allowed access to the Cave
complex itself. According to ancient accounts, however, there is a
series of three caves in the complex, with the first two being
empty and the last one containing the six tombs.
The Cave of the Patriarchs - the second most sacred of all the
Jewish temples in the world - is currently under the control of the
Waqf, a common law Muslim trust.
