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Final Fury

A remarkable archaeological find opens
the sealed tomb of life in ancient Israel.

ERIC SILVER ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT

n exulted Ya'akov Billig
pointed at the ancient de-
struction in front of him.
"This is Tisha B'av," the
American-born archaeologist
said.
"[Previously], the Kotel (Tem-
ple Western Wall) is detached
from events. Here we have re-
vealed the Kotel with the events.
You can feel the destruction of
the Temple. This is it."
For once, this wasn't just ar-
chaeologist's hype. The 37-year-
old Mr. Billig, whose family
moved to Israel from New Jer-
sey after the Six-Day War, is one
of the team working on
Jerusalem's latest archaeologi-
cal park, which was dedicated at
the end of August as part of the
Jerusalem 3000 celebrations. It
can be viewed now from a wood-
en platform, but is expected to be
open to visitors by the end of the
year.

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served pilgrims flocking to the
Temple.
When the archaeologists
reached the Herodian street,
they found a layer of dirt up to
four inches deep, scattered with
the rubble of their trade: hun-
dreds of coins and pottery frag-
ments. Almost all dated from the
Jewish revolt, 66-70 C.E., none
from any later. The Jews, it
seems, were too busy fighting the
Romans — and each other — to
sweep the street.
But all this is overshadowed n
by the physical testimony to the
havoc wrought in 70 C.E. by the
Emperor Titus Flavius' legion
when it destroyed the holy city
and sent the Jews into their long
exile, the historic trauma com-
memorated every year on the
ninth day of the Hebrew month
of Av.
Where the Romans sent a (—/
monumental stone stairway to

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T H E D E T R O I T J E W I S H N E W S

Archaeologists unearthed houses in a village on the outskirts of Kiryat Sefer as part
of ongoing Israeli digs.

86

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THE JEWISH NEWS

The showpiece is a 75-yard-
long stretch of a 2,000-year-old
street, paved by King Herod at
the same time as he built the
Temple.
It runs along the southern ex-
tension of the Western Wall
prayer plaza, separated from it
by the ramp that goes up to the
Moors' Gate of the Temple
Mount.
The archaeologists uncovered
the magnificent street as it was:
huge flagstones, impeccably
dressed and set in place for eter-
nity. The largest limestone slabs
measure as much as six and a
half feet by ten and weigh three
tons. One was slotted to allow
rainwater to drain, another has
a carved handle and opens on a
manhole.
Opposite the wall, the exca-
vations have exposed a row of
shops — four still intact — that

the Temple crashing down from
a height of 100 feet, the paving
collapsed under the impact. The
slabs sag like the ruined bomb
sites of Oklahoma City or Chech-
niya. "When such a tremendous
mass comes down in one big
blow," Ya'akov Billig explained,
"the effect is devastating."
Beside it in a random heap lie <
hundreds of enormous, five-ton
rocks, sliced in an orgy of Roman
vandalism off the top of the re-
taining wall Herod built for his
temple platform. The present
Herodian wall stands about 50
feet above the paved street. In its
pristine glory, the wall towered
more than twice as high. The Ro-
mans literally cut it down to size.
The tumbled masonry has not (--\
been move. "This is the way we
found them," said Billig. "We

FINAL FURY page 88