From Hebron to Jerusalem
This week, I traveled to Hebron (Chevron), located 25 miles south of Jerusalem. While modern headlines focus on its political conflict, this ancient city holds deep biblical roots.
Our connection to Chevron begins in Genesis 13:18, when Abraham established his tents at the oak trees of Mamre in Chevron. Decades later, his wife, Sarah, passed away at the age of 127.
Genesis chapter 23 details how Avraham purchased a family burial plot containing a double cave from Ephron the Hittite. Refusing a free handout that could later be disputed, Avraham paid the full, exorbitant price of 400 shekels of silver. Today, this site is revered as the Cave of the Patriarchs (Me'arat HaMachpelah), the final resting place of Avraham and Sarah, Yitzchok and Rivka, and Yaacov and Leah.
Almost 1,000 years after Avraham, Chevron became Israel's first capital under King David. As recorded in 2 Samuel chapter 5, David ruled in Chevron for seven years and six months.
David later relocated his capital to Jerusalem after liberating it from the Yevusim. David ruled Israel from Jerusalem for 33 years, reigning from a beautiful palace he had built. Amazingly, in 2005, archaeologists unearthed a monumental 10th-century BCE building matching the biblical location and timeline of King David’s palace. Today, this palace and the "City of David" stand as major tourist attractions.
After his death, David’s son Solomon became King and built the First Temple (Beit HaMikdash) in Jerusalem. During its dedication, as described in 1 Kings 8:46–49, Solomon prophetically warned that if the Jewish people were ever exiled for their sins, they should direct their prayers toward Jerusalem and the Temple, and God would hear their prayers from captivity.
This exile became a reality 410 years later when the Babylonians destroyed the Temple. Among the captives was the Prophet Daniel. According to the book of Daniel, Chapter 6, Daniel opened his windows and prayed three times a day toward Jerusalem, thereby fulfilling the prophetic guideline Solomon had established centuries earlier.
The power of prayer was understood even before the incident with Daniel. During the time of the prophet Hosea, generations before the Babylonian exile, Jews in the northern kingdom of Samaria were unable to offer sacrifices in Jerusalem. Hosea, 14:3, directed those Jews to “offer their prayers in place of sacrifices.”
Taking all of this into consideration, the Talmud (Berakhot 30a) and the Code of Jewish Law codified Daniel's practice as universal Jewish law. To this day, Jews worldwide pray facing Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Far from a modern, "man-made" ritual as certain critics and missionaries claim, facing Jerusalem is an unbroken, deeply biblical practice that has directed and inspired Jewish prayer for millennia.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Bentzion Kravitz
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