On April 9, the shrine revered by Jews as the burial place of the biblical Joseph was vandalized by a Palestinian mob—and not for the first time. David Isaac traces the ancient and recent history of Joseph’s tomb, explaining why many Arabs are intent on destroying it and why Jewish pilgrims continue to visit despite the risks.
Though under the Oslo agreements the tomb remained in Israeli hands despite being located in Area A of Judea and Samaria, the government abandoned the site days after a deadly attack there in October 1, 2000. Following that attack, in which an Israeli border policeman was killed, the government decided that its location in Nablus (biblical Shechem) made it too difficult to defend. Although the government did elicit a promise from the Palestinian Authority that the site would be protected after Israeli security forces withdrew, it was destroyed shortly afterwards.
However, two years later, security conditions in Judea and Samaria had deteriorated to the point that the Israel Defense Force again began operating in the city. At first, small groups of Jews made risky attempts to visit the tomb, unauthorized and without IDF escort. Larger groups now enter at night, accompanied by heavy military presence.
Why does Joseph’s Tomb continue to attract Jewish pilgrims despite the dangers?
Jeffrey Woolf, professor of Talmud at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, cited three main reasons: 1) Jewish tradition considers it one of three sites in ancient Israel in which “the world will have absolutely no claims against us”; 2) a written record stretching back 1,700 years identifies the current site as Joseph’s Tomb, and, Woolf says, “we can assume an oral tradition that goes back even further”; and, 3) Joseph’s story symbolizes the Jewish people’s longing to return to their homeland.
Read more on JNS: https://www.jns.org/josephs-tomb-a-jewish-site-with-an-ancient-past-palestinians-are-intent-to-destroy/