"And his (Lord's) feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee" (Zechariah 14:4-5).
This passage from Bible has made the valley (Kidron) the most sought out land for burying the dead for Jews, Christians and Muslims. It is the ambition of every pious Jew to be buried on the slopes of this valley. It is believed that those burried here will be the first to be resurrected when Messiah comes (for Jews) or Jesus returns (for Christians). You can see Jewish, Christian and Muslim tombs everywhere. But the most prominent is the Jewish Cemetery where at least 150,000 graves are visible with some dating from 2000 years. Today many important Jewish rabbis and political leaders from the 15th to the 20th centuries are buried there, including the former Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin. You can see orthodox Jewish families visiting their dear ones, in the typical black garbs (see photographs below).
No comments:
Post a Comment