THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
60 Friday, July 3, 1981
Israel's Ancient History Revealed Through Archeological Digs
By AVRAHAM BIRAN
Israel Govt. Tourist Office
JERUSALEM —"How do
you know where to dig?" is
the question often asked
when visitors admire the
Canaanite mud brick gate
and the Israelite "high
place," where cult practices
were conducted, discovered
in the course of our excava-
tions at Tel Dan, the north-
ernmost archeological site
in Israel.
The assumption is that an
archeologist working in the
field is seeking something
specific. Such is not always
the case.
True, when the Dead Sea
Scrolls were discovered, the
possibility of finding
further scrolls prompted ar-
theologists to survey and
explore the caves around
the Dead Sea.
We know a lot about
some of the 3,500 regis-
tered antiquity sites in Is-
rael without carrying out
any excavations because
their history is inscribed
in clay and stone and de-
scribed in books. Without
turning a single spade in
Jerusalem, for example,
we know a great deal
about the city's past.
We know that in the days
of Abraham its king was
Malchizedek. We
know not only that David
made it his capital, but that
he fell in love with
Bathsheba, whom he saw
bathing on the roof. We
Beth Shalom Bond Event
A tong. Beth Shalom reception for Israel Bonds
saw $130,000 in Israel Bond sales. Shown are, from
left, hosts Dr. and Mrs. Paul (Barbara) Goodman,
guest speaker Reuven Klein and Rabbi David Nelson.
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know that Solomon built
the Temple in Jerusalem,
although no archeological
remains have yet been
found.
We knew that Herod
erected the Second Temple
and made it into one of the
most magnificent
structures of the Roman
Period, and, thanks to the
excavations of the past 10
years in Jerusalem, some of
the physical remains of the
glory that was Jerusalem at
the end of the Second Tem-
ple Period have been re-
vealed.
Sometimes it is possible
to anticipate precisely what
the archeologist's spade will
uncover. After discovering
the city gates which Sol-
omon built in Hazo and
Megiddo, the archeologists
knew where to find the city
gate of Gezer which, accord-
ing to the Bible, was built by
Solomon at the same time.
Many of the antiquity
sites reveal unknown
chapters in the history of
the land. The Chal-
colithic civilization in the
Golan Heights, a civiliza-
tion known from other
parts of the country, was
brought to light only
after the Six-Day War,
when Israeli ar-
cheologists began the
exploration of the Golan,
to which they had not had
access until then.
This discovery opened up
new horizons concerning
the civilization of the area
in the fourth millennium
BCE. The excitement
aroused by these discoveries
is matched only by that of
the discovery that the Golan
was thickly populated at the
end of the Second Temple
Period and through the first
centuries of the Christian
Era. Synagogues, Talmudic
schools, large villages, tes-
tify to a rich cultural life
and to economic prosperity
which was linked to the
Jewish community in
Galilee, which had its own
synagogues and centers of
learning. Evidence has also
been found of churches and
monasteries flourishing
along with synagogues,
with the advent of Chris-
tianity.
The passionate interest in
archeology in Israel is the
result of the study and
knowledge of the Bible. So
many biblical sites have
been geographically pin-
pointed, and so much of the
history of Israel is centered
around these places, that for
an Israeli to excavate such a
site is more than a matter of
a desire to uncover the past
or even a search for identity
— it is in fact a return home.
Anathot, Jeremia's
birthplace, Timna, where
Samson lived; Beersheba,
where the Patriarchs
camped; Kadesh Barnea,
where the Israelites stayed
for 40 years when they came
out of Egypt; Dan and Be-
thel, where Jeroboam set
the golden calves; Hazor,
which Joshua conquered;
Modiim, birthplace of the
Maccabees; to name just a
few, are sites whose excava-
tion reveals the physical
Volunteers at work on the excavations at Tel
Afek, a 13th Century Mameluke fortress.
reality of Israel's identifica-
tion with its past. This past
sometimes goes back be-
yond the emergence of Is-
rael as a people, but is
equally relevant.
Emergency digs have
become a regular occur-
rence for the ar-
cheologists in Israel and
their archeological in-
stitutions. Such activities
were also undertaken be-
fore the state of Israel
was established, but the
rapid development of the
country since then, the
building of roads and
houses, irrigation ditches
and soil reclamation, de-
fense projects and air-
fields, has uncovered
hundreds of previously
unknown vestiges of the
past which have required
immediate exploration
and excavation.
Fortunately, the institu-
tions of higher learning,
headed by the Hebrew Uni-
versity of Jerusalem and
Tel Aviv University, all
have archeological facul-
ties, and students and pro-
fessors are ready to answer
the call of these emergency
digs, often together with
foreign expeditions, notably
American. Most of the
emergency digs, however,
are conducted by the Israel
Government Department of
Antiquities.
One of the biggest proj-
ects of recent years has been
the Archeological Survey of
Israel, which has added
hundreds of new antiquity
sites to the map of Israel.
The Negev, a new site for
military installations, has
been a special focus of atten-
tion.
No one had known how
extensive the settlement
was in that area during the
Early and Middle Bronze
Ages — the third millen-
nium i3CE and the begin-
ning of the second. A chain
of settlements extending all
the way from Sinai to Arad
in the northern Negev
engaged in trade, seasonal
agriculture and prob.'
copper works.
Towns and fortresses
from the first millennium
BCE have been dis-
covered. Some were
major religious centers
during the .Judean
monarchy. They suffered
many vicissitudes, were
destroyed and rebuilt,
but continued to serve as
outposts well into the be-
ginning of the Christian
Era.
With surprises liable to
spring up at any turn of the
archeologist's spade, Israel
is one of the richest ar-
cheological areas in the
world, its finds, large and
small, from the Golan
Heights to the furthest
reaches of the desert, con-
tinuing to illuminate cen-
turies of the region's his-
tory.
Prosperity, Generosity Mark
Jewish Community in S. Africa
JERUSALEM (ZINS) —
No one knows exactly how
many South African Jews
have emigrated in the past
two decades. Emigration
has not been at a constant
rate. It tended to increase
after outbursts of racial vio-
lence (sharply after the
Soweto uprising of mid-
1976), and to decrease after
unrest subsided.
The number is probably
somewhere between
20,000-30,000. There were
1,530 South African Jews
who went to Israel in 1977
and, by strange coincidence,
precisely the same number
did so in 1978. An equal
number of South African
Jews emigrated to other
countries in those two
years, principally Canada,
Britain, and the United
States. Many of those who
emigrated were younger
people with readily mar-
ketable professional skills
or with business experience
and capital.
There has been some
offsetting immigration of
Rhodesian Jews, and Israeli
Jews have entered South
Africa in substantial num-
bers in the past few years.
There arowe-stimated to be
more than 20,000 of them in
South Africa, 15,000 in
Johannesburg alone.
The largest Jewish
community in South Af-
rica (about 60,000) is in
the metropolitan area of
Johannesburg. The next
largest community is that
of Capetown (some
25,000). Other com-
munities of size are in
Durban (5,000), Pretoria
(3,500) and Port Elizabeth
(3,000). As in other coun-
.tries, the Jewish commu-
nity has tended to con-
centrate in and around
the larger cities.
Jews have made a notable
contribution to South Afri-
ca's economic and intellec-
tugl development. Jewish
entrepreneurs were promi-
nent in mining, in com-
merce, in the professions,
and in secondary industry,
particularly the garment
and textile industry. At one
stage the largest potato,
maize, citrus and apple
farmers were all Jewish.
According to Prof. Marcus
Arkin, the professional
head of the South African
federation, the number of
Jews attending the South
African universities is be-
tween 6,000 and 7,000 most
of them studying law,
medicine, pharmacy, de-
ntistry, accounting and
engineering.
Where religious affilia-
tion is concerned, there
are Reform congrega-
tions and one or two Con-
servative ones, but most
of the congregations are
Orthodox, although
many of those who call
themselves Orthodox
would be closer to Con-
servative than to Or-
thodox by American
standards.
The Jewish community
has built up excellent
Jewish educational institu-
tions over the years. Jewish
day schools receive no fi-
nancial assistance from the
state, and all the funds
necessary to run these in-
stitutions have to come from
the community. Problems of
maintenance have risen be-
cause many who have emi-
grated over the past ten or
fifteen years were younger
Jews who might otherwise
have been sending their
children to Jewish educa-
tional institutions and thus
helping to defray the cost.
The Zionist movement
has played a central role in
South African Jewish life. A
former Chief Rabbi of the
British Empire once said
critically that Zionism had
become a substitute for
Judaism in South Africa.
Whatever his assessment of
the state of Judaism, the
fact is that Zionism is one of
the principal dynamic
forces in keeping Jewish-
ness alive in South Afr .
The community is'
Israel-oriented. There is
considerable South African
tourism to Israel and inter-
est in all facets of life in that
country is strong and in-
formed. Per capita, South
African Jews give more for
Israel than any other com-
munity. Fund-raising for
Israel is in the hands of the
Zionist movement. It is a
very prosperous community
but also an exceptionally
generous one.