The Lion’s Trail Through Biblical Israel: First in a Series

 

By Jerry Klinger

BOYNTON BEACH, Florida — Benny Kashriel, the mayor of Ma’ale Adumim, a bedroom community of 30,000 just over the Green Line from Jerusalem, shared with me in November 2022 that Ma’ale Adumim is mentioned in the book of Joshua 18:17.

The mayor presented me with a special recognition.  Judy and I had donated the centerpiece of the developing Shamir Peace Park – a 60’ sculpted Olive Tree, the biggest in the world.  The Tree is called the Tree of Life. It was created by noted Jerusalem based sculptor, Sam Philipe.

Guinness and other record services were not interested in the Tree because Ma’ale Adumim was built on “occupied” West Bank Palestinian land. We argued, “contested land.” Ma’ale Adumim is located on land annexed by Jordan in 1950.  Jordan considered it their land. Israel defeated Jordan in the 1967, Six Day War. Ownership of the land remains disputed.

Benny said Jews have lived here for over three thousand years.  He pulled out a Bible and showed me the reference.

יז  וְתָאַר מִצָּפוֹן, וְיָצָא עֵין שֶׁמֶשׁ, וְיָצָא אֶל-גְּלִילוֹת, אֲשֶׁר-נֹכַח מַעֲלֵה אֲדֻמִּים; וְיָרַד, אֶבֶן בֹּהַן בֶּן-רְאוּבֵן.

”And it was drawn on the north, and went out at En-shemesh, and went out to Geliloth, which is over against the ascent of Adumim; and it went down to the Stone of Bohan the son of Reuben.”

Benny’s innocently planted seed would grow into a major project.

I did not know the Biblical link to Ma’ale Adumim. Very few, including Israelis, know Ma’ale Adumim is mentioned in the Bible.  Pro-Palestinian denigrators, including Jewish ones, see any Jewish footprint over the 1949 Armistice lines, the Green Line, as illegal, anti-historical.  They deny Jewish connections of millennia to the land whether inside or outside of the Green Line.

The vicious antisemitic chant, From the River to Sea, Palestine will be free, really means free of Jews, the end of Israel.  When questioned, most Palestinians insist Jewish civilization and Jewish Kingdoms on Palestinian Land is a modern Israeli lie.

Throughout Israel’s long history, which included repeated invasions, subjugations and exiles, there always were Jews in “Palestine.” Tradition says in the early 19^th century, in the tiny Galilean village of Peki  “one Jewish family was left, the Zinati family who could trace their roots to the Second Temple Times.  The Zinati family claim may be wrong as by the mid-to- late 19^th century, before modern Hovevei Zion/Herzlian Political Zionism became a reality, the majority population of Jerusalem was Jewish.

Pro-Palestinian narratives deny Zionism was part of Jewish life and memory for millennia.  The Palestine Liberation Organization – the first Palestinian National Political entity —  was created in Cairo in 1964, just 60 years ago. The Jewish nation was liberated from Egyptian slavery ~3,300 years ago.

The Passover Exodus from Egypt was not to Kenya but to return to Canaan where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had lived, where they were buried. Galut history is replete with stories of failed Jewish efforts to return to Israel long before Herzl.

The heartfelt chant at the end of Yom Kippur and at the close of the Passover Seder is Zionist, “Next Year in Jerusalem.”  The chant has been documented since at least the 10^th century, perhaps Jews weeping by the “Waters of Babylon,” first said it. The Prophet Ezra led the second wave of Aliyah from Babylon to Israel not the first.

Jews have always been Zionists. They come in every flavor, shape, and color – religious, ethnic, cultural, political.  The modern Pro-Palestinian anti-Israel narratives are deliberately distorted because their narratives do not have the proofs of recorded time and history.

How to counter the distortions?  That was the thought that Kashriel planted.

The Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation (JASHP) counters ignorance, bigotry and hate by creating permanent historical interpretive markers and projects.  Our efforts are tightly vetted.  If a denier learns something different about the Jewish story from our effort, we have been successful.

A chance to tell the Jewish Biblical story emerged in the north. It was nearly as far north as anyone can go and remain within Biblical Israel – the Golan Heights.

A scandalously terminated ecumenical project near the sixth-century Golan synagogue of Ein Ha’Keshatot became the opportunity.  Jewish religious narrowmindedness paved the road.

The Golan project left a question – can this be repeated, can something bigger be created to visually affirm Jewish historical legitimacy to the land? What should be the medium of interpretation? Where can this be done?

The idea evolved.

Since, the Golan project, giant nine-foot Lions, the commonly recognized symbol of the tribe of Judah, the City of Jerusalem and frequently Modern Israel, have been commissioned and are being placed about Israel.

To follow the Lion’s Trail is to journey into history, the indivisible link of the Jewish people to the Land. The Lions do more than tell history, they promote cultural tourism, diversity, and economic activity. One of the Lions tells the extraordinary story of brotherhood, the Druze and Israel.

Ten Lions have been placed so far from the Golan to Dimona in the Negev.  More are being considered.  All have the same message – Jews have lived here for 3,000 years.

Over the next few months, their stories will be serialized.

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Jerry Klinger is the president of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation. www.JASHP.org