JERUSALEM (VINnews) — During an arrest raid in the Arab village of Kafr Sa’ir north of Hevron, the IDF soldiers arrived at a 2,000-year-old fort in the village, which is apparently maintaining the name of the town of Tzior, mentioned in the book of Yehoshua as adjacent to Kiryat Arba.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The ancient fort dates back to the Talmudic era. On its walls, the soldiers found engraved menorahs, with straight branches following the view of the Rambam.
“During arrest operations in Kafr Sa’ir near Hebron, we arrived at the fort of the village, which 2,000 years ago was a Jewish village in the time of the Talmud,” described Lieutenant Colonel Maoz Schwartz, commander of Battalion 7007. “On the doorway of the house there was an engraving of a menorah.”
Thanking historian Ze’ev (Jabo) Ehrlich, who accompanied him on the arrest operation, he added, “Thank you to the amazing Jabo, one of the best historians, and the intelligence chief of our Battalion 7007 for 10 years, between 1979-1989.”
Jabo explained, “In a home within the heart of the fort in Kafr S’ir, we found two menorahs next to us from the time of the Talmud. Beside them was a plant-like decoration, a half-circle, and a star. We recognize these things from other places.”
Nothing to do with Menorah from Beis Hamikdash (which is what Rambam and Rishonim are referring to when discussing it). There are four branches on at least one side of this Menorah engraving (on each of the engravings respectively- obviously not a mistake etc). The Beis Hamikdash had only three branches on each side. And if this engraving is depicting a Chanukah Menorah, (which was only instituted as a Mitzvah M’Drabanon after around year 3623), then this would not show anything either way about the shape of the Menorah in the Beis Hamikdash.
Straight branches as in Rambam’s famous drawing!