Walking in the Sewers of Ancient Jerusalem

July 27-28, 2012 / 8 Av 5772

Shabbat Devarim

Torah Portion: Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22 / Haftarah Portion: Isaiah 1:1-27

Erev Tisha B’Av

“Walking in the Sewers of Ancient Jerusalem”

Dear Friends,

On Saturday evening, the Jewish world will begin the observance of ‘Tisha B’Av,’ a date in the Jewish calendar which commemorates the two destructions of ancient Jerusalem, first by the Babylonians and later by the Romans.  For many Jews, these events seem so far off that they bear little meaning to our contemporary lives.  For my wife Dawn and me, this year’s observance has added significance.

Earlier this month, while visiting Israel, we had the opportunity to visit the newest excavations in Jerusalem’s City of David.  This is where Jerusalem earliest habitations are found.  The City of David is where it all began.  Archaeological research is ongoing and marvelous discoveries are made virtually each and every day.  While on tour, we visited the remnants of the earliest walls of the ancient city, going back more than four thousand years!  We were given exclusive behind-the-scenes VIP access to areas of current excavation containing recent finds that are electrifying the archaeological magazines.  We visited the ancient water systems and saw some tunnels and pools that were still being excavated.  Then our guide took us to see something very special, the recently discovered sewer system of Roman-era Jerusalem.  They have just been opened to the public.

What made this experience deeply meaningful is a citation from Flavius Josephus’ book about the Jewish revolt against Rome, The Jewish War, which was written as the fighting raged on.  Josephus remarks that at the time that the Romans had broken into Jerusalem and began their campaign of destruction and slaughter of the Jewish residents of the city, many Jews went below to hide in the sewers.  There they stayed until the Romans found them, ripped open the sewer covers and slaughtered thousands.  Recently, excavators found cooking pots and household implements from this era set up in makeshift camps in these very sewers.  As we walked, I could sense that we were in the very place where our ancestors hid.  I could sense the fear of those hiding while Jerusalem burned over their heads.  I thought of the Jews of Warsaw, Vilna and other ghettoes in Nazi Europe who also hid in sewers.  I thought how all to often throughout history, we Jews have run for the sewers as our only protection.

As we hiked in the ancient sewers from the Kidron Valley all the way up to Robinson’s Arch near the Temple Mount, I marveled at this discovery and thought about how this site witnessed the terrible destruction.  If stones could only talk...  And then we emerged into sunlight and I was amazed at what I saw.  I beheld the bustling Old City of Jerusalem with people of all faiths flocking to worship at holy sites such as the Western Wall as well as numerous mosques and churches.  I saw Israeli flags flying proudly on rooftops.  I saw Hebrew signs and heard Hebrew spoken all around me.  I saw a new, proud, healthy and lively Jewish city, the capital of the reborn and modern Jewish State of Israel.

What would our ancestors have thought?  If they could only have known that two thousand years after their calamity, the Jewish people would still be here and that the State of Israel would be free and independent.  If only they could have known that the Jewish people would be proudly living all over the world in communities such as Shir Hadash.  They would have been very pleased.  This year, as Tisha B’Av approaches, I will dwell not only on the destructions our people has endured, but also on our survival, revival and flourishing in our day.  Am Yisrael Chai – The Jewish People Lives!

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow