Rachel's Tomb
Rachel's Tomb is a site revered as the burial place of the Biblical matriarch Rachel. The site is also referred to as the Bilal bin Rabah mosque. The tomb is held in esteem by Jews, Christians, and Muslims. The tomb, located at the northern entrance to the West Bank city of Bethlehem, next to the Rachel's Tomb checkpoint, is built in the style of a traditional maqam, Arabic for shrine.
The burial place of the matriarch Rachel had a matzevah erected at the site according to ; the site was also mentioned in Muslim literature. Although the site is considered by some scholars as unlikely to be the actual site of the grave – several other sites to the north have been proposed – it is by far the most recognized candidate. The earliest extra-biblical records describing this tomb as Rachel's burial place date to the first decades of the 4th century CE. The structure in its current form dates from the Ottoman period, and is situated in a Christian and Muslim cemetery dating from at least the Mamluk period.
The first historically recorded pilgrimages to the site were by early Christians. Throughout history, the site was rarely considered a shrine exclusive to one religion and is described as being "held in esteem equally by Jews, Muslims, and Christians". Rachel's Tomb has been a site of Jewish pilgrimage since at least the eleventh century—possibly since ancient times—and remains a holy pilgrimage site for modern Jews. Meron Benvenisti described it as "one of the cornerstones of Jewish-Israeli identity".
British Jewish financier Sir Moses Montefiore significantly expanded the building in 1841, obtaining the keys for the Jewish community while building an antechamber, including a mihrab for Muslim prayer. Following a 1929 British memorandum, in 1949 the UN ruled that the Status Quo—an arrangement approved by the 1878 Treaty of Berlin concerning rights, privileges and practices in certain Holy Places—applies to the site. According to the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, the tomb was to be part of the internationally administered zone of Jerusalem, but the area was ruled by Jordan, which prohibited Jews from entering the area. Following the Israeli occupation of the West Bank in 1967, the site's position was formalized in 1995 under the Oslo II Accord in a Palestinian enclave, with a special arrangement making it subject to the security responsibility of Israel. In 2005, following Israeli approval on 11 September 2002, the Israeli West Bank barrier was built around the tomb, effectively annexing it to Jerusalem; Checkpoint 300 – also known as Rachel's Tomb Checkpoint – was built adjacent to the site. A 2005 report from OHCHR Special Rapporteur John Dugard noted that: "Although Rachel's Tomb is a site holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians, it has effectively been closed to Muslims and Christians." On October 21, 2015, UNESCO adopted a resolution reaffirming a 2010 statement that Rachel's Tomb was "an integral part of Palestine." On 22 October 2015, the tomb was separated from Bethlehem with a series of concrete barriers.
Biblical accounts and disputed location
Northern vis-à-vis southern version
Biblical scholarship identifies two different traditions in the Hebrew Bible concerning the site of Rachel's burial, respectively a northern version, locating it north of Jerusalem near Ramah, modern Al-Ram, and a southern narrative locating it close to Bethlehem. In rabbinical tradition the duality is resolved by using two different terms in Hebrew to designate these different localities. In the Hebrew version given in Genesis, Rachel and Jacob journey from Shechem to Hebron, a short distance from Ephrath, which is glossed as Bethlehem. She dies on the way giving birth to Benjamin:"And Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day." — Genesis 35:19–20
Tom Selwyn notes that R. A. S. Macalister, the most authoritative voice on the topography of Rachel's tomb, advanced the view in 1912 that the identification with Bethlehem was based on a copyist's mistake.
The Judean scribal gloss " which is Bethlehem" was added to distinguish it from a similar toponym Ephrathah in the Bethlehem region. Some consider as certain, however, that Rachel's tomb lay to the north, in Benjamite, not in Judean territory, and that the Bethlehem gloss represents a Judean appropriation of the grave, originally in the north, to enhance Judah's prestige. At 1 Samuel 10:2, Rachel's tomb is located in the 'territory of Benjamin at Zelzah.' In the monarchic period down to the Babylonian captivity, it would follow, Rachel's tomb was thought to lie in Ramah. The indications for this are based on 1 Sam 10:2 and Jer. 31:15, which give an alternative location north of Jerusalem, in the vicinity of ar-Ram, biblical Ramah, five miles south of Bethel. One conjecture is that before David's conquest of Jerusalem, the ridge road from Bethel might have been called "the Ephrath road", hence the passage in Genesis meant 'the road to Ephrath or Bethlehem,' on which Ramah, if that word refers to a toponym, lay. A possible location in Ramah could be the five stone monuments north of Hizma. Known as Qubur Bene Isra'in, the largest so-called tomb of the group, the function of which is obscure, has the name Qabr Umm beni Isra'in, that is, "tomb of the mother of the descendants of Israel".
Bethlehem structure
As to the structure outside Bethlehem being placed exactly over an ancient tomb, it was revealed during excavations in around 1825 that it was not built over a cavern; however, a deep cavern was discovered a small distance from the site.History
Byzantine period
Traditions regarding the tomb at this location date back to the beginning of the 4th century AD. Eusebius' Onomasticon, the Bordeaux Pilgrim, and Jerome mention the tomb as being located 4 miles from Jerusalem.The anonymous pilgrim of Piacenza also mentions the tomb, writing that a church had recently been erected on the site.
Early Muslim period
In the late 7th century Arculf reported a tomb "of crude workmanship, without any adornment, surrounded by a stone coping" marked with the name "Rachel." Bede similarly describes "an unopened tomb marked with the name Rachel".During the 10th century, Muqaddasi and other geographers fail to mention the tomb, which indicates that it may have lost importance until the Crusaders revived its veneration.
Crusader period
writes, "Half-way down the road is the tomb of Rachel, the mother of Joseph and of Benjamin, the two sons of Jacob peace upon them all! The tomb is covered by twelve stones, and above it is a dome vaulted." Pseudo-Beda similarly writes "Over her tomb Jacob piled up twelve great stones for a memorial of his twelve sons. Her tomb, together with these stones, remains to this day."Benjamin of Tudela and were the first Jewish pilgrims to describe visits to the tomb. Benjamin mentioned a monument made of 11 stones and a cupola resting on four columns "and all the Jews that pass by carve their names upon the stones of the monument." Benjamin and Jacob explain that the 11 stones represent the tribes of Israel, excluding the baby Benjamin, while Petachiah of Regensburg and the "student of Nachmanides" argue that Joseph did not contribute a stone either, with the 11th stone representing Jacob: "The monument is of 12 stones. Each stone is as wide as the grave and half as long, so that five layers of two stones each make ten. A final stone rests on top, which is as wide and as long as the grave." Already in the 11th century Tobiah ben Eliezer had written, "Each son contributed one of the 11 stones." Petachiah says the stones were "marble" and that "Jacob's stone is very large, the burden of many men. The local priests tried several times to take it for use in a church, but each time they awoke to find it had returned to its place. It is engraved with 'Jacob'".
Mamluk period
In 1327, Antony of Cremona referred to the cenotaph as "the most wonderful tomb that I shall ever see. I do not think that with 20 pairs of oxen it would be possible to extract or move one of its stones." A Jewish pilgrimage guide describes a large dome, open on all four sides, with ten stones "ten fingers long" topped by one "sixteen fingers long". Nicolas of Poggibonsi describes the grave, including the "twelve stones", as 7 feet high and enclosed by a rounded tomb with three gates.In the 15th century, if not earlier, the tomb was "appropriated by the Muslims" and rebuilt.
The Russian deacon Zosimus describes a "Saracen mosque" in 1421, and John Poloner describes a "Saracen building" in 1422. A guide published in 1467 credits Shahin al-Dhahiri with the building of a cupola, cistern and drinking fountain at the site. The Muslim rebuilding of the "dome on four columns" was also mentioned by Francesco Suriano in 1485. Felix Fabri described it as being "a lofty pyramid, built of square and polished white stone"; He also noted a drinking water trough at its side and reported that "this place is venerated alike by Muslims, Jews, and Christians". Bernhard von Breidenbach of Mainz described women praying at the tomb and collecting stones to take home, believing that they would ease their labour. Pietro Casola described it as being "beautiful and much honoured by the Moors". Obadiah of Bertinoro writes that "There is a round dome built upon it but it does not look old to me." Mujir al-Din al-'Ulaymi, the Jerusalemite qadi and Arab historian, writes under the heading of Qoubbeh Râhîl that Rachel's tomb lies under this dome on the road between Bethlehem and Bayt Jala and that the edifice is turned towards the Sakhrah and widely visited by pilgrims.
Noe Bianco describes "three beautiful domes, each with four columns".