Rachel's tomb Bethlehem what it looks like. From the editor. In Holy Scripture

The first information about the burial place of the foremother Rachel is given in the Torah:

“And Rachel died and was buried on the road to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem.” - Gen.35:19

In the book of the prophet Jeremiah, when describing from the land of Israel to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, it is said how Rachel escorts her descendants, who are taken into captivity along the road passing near her grave. She cries and asks God to have mercy on them:

“Thus says the Lord: a voice is heard in Rama, a cry and bitter weeping; Rachel cries for her children and does not want to be comforted for her children, for they are not. Thus says the Lord: keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your labor, says the Lord, and they will return from the land of the enemy. And there is hope for your future, says the Lord, and your sons will return to their borders.” - Jer.31:15–17

These words, spoken 2500 years ago, turned Rachel's tomb into a symbol of hope for the return of the Jewish people to their land.

Rachel's grave is also mentioned in the First Book of Kings (1 Samuel 10:2), where it is said that Rachel was buried on the border of the allotment. There, on the territory of the tribe of Benjamin, was Rama, who is mentioned in the book of Jeremiah. It is known that Bethlehem was located in the territory. Therefore, scientists cannot agree on whether the “Tomb of Rachel” is really the burial place of the foremother Rachel.

In historical sources

For two thousand years, historians and travelers who visited the land of Israel described the tomb located near Bethlehem.

First millennium

Among them is the father of Christian church history (c. 263-340) - a Roman historian who lived in, the Traveler from Bordeaux - who traveled to Palestine in 333-334, - a church writer who lived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the 5th century. and many others.

The largest number of visitors is celebrated on the 11th of Cheshvan - this date is traditionally regarded as the day of the death of the foremother Rachel.

Photo gallery

Helpful information

Opening hours

• 24/7, but due to security reasons temporarily closed Sun-Thu: 22:30-1:30, Saturday and holidays

Address and contacts

Entrance to Bethlehem, Hebron Road, before the checkpoint on the border between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Traditions

From generation to generation, the tomb of the foremother Rachel was a place of prayer, to which Jews came from all over the world. Benjamin of Tudela talks about the custom of pilgrims to leave their name on a tombstone. There were special prayers read near this place.

A traveler from Prague, who visited the land of Israel in the 17th century, talks about the custom of coming to Rachel’s grave on semi-holidays and praying there, listening to sermons, eating, drinking and dancing.

Other sources mention the custom of praying at Rachel's grave on the days of mourning before Tisha B'Av, in the month of Elul and on the days of Trembling between and.

The day of the largest pilgrimage from generation to generation was the 11th of Cheshvan.

Ivan Bunin (1870–1953)

“And she died and Jacob buried
She’s on her way...” And she’s not on the tomb
No name, no inscriptions, no signs.

At night sometimes a faint light shines in it,
And the dome of the coffin, whitened with chalk,
Dressed in mysterious pallor,

I approach in the dusk timidly
And with trepidation I kiss the chalk and dust
On this stone, convex and white...

The sweetest of earthly words! Rachel!

For many centuries it has been a place of pilgrimage for Jews, as well as a holy place for Christians and Muslims. The tomb is under Israeli control and is surrounded by concrete walls. The building houses a synagogue.

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In Holy Scripture

The first information about the burial place of the foremother Rachel is given in the Old Testament: “And Rachel died and was buried on the road to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. Jacob erected a monument over her tomb. This is Rachel’s tombstone to this day” (Gen.).

In the book of the prophet Jeremiah (31:14-16), when describing the expulsion of the Jews from the land of Israel to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, it is said how Rachel escorts her descendants as they are taken into captivity along the road passing near her grave. She cries and asks God to have mercy on them: “ Thus says the Lord: a voice is heard in Rama, a cry and a bitter sob; Rachel cries for her children and does not want to be comforted for her children, for they are not there. Thus says the Lord: keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your labor, says the Lord, and they will return from the land of the enemy. And there is hope for your future, says the Lord, and your sons will return to their borders." These words, spoken two and a half thousand years ago, turned Rachel's tomb into a symbol of hope for the return of the Jewish people to their land.

Rachel's grave is also mentioned in the First Book of Kings (10:2), where it is said that Rachel was buried on the border of the allotment of the tribe of Benjamin. There, on the territory of the tribe of Benjamin, is Rama, about whom the book of Jeremiah speaks. It is known that Bethlehem is located in the territory of the tribe of Judah. Therefore, scientists cannot agree on whether the “Tomb of Rachel” is really the burial place of the foremother Rachel.

In historical sources

For two thousand years, historians and travelers who visited the land of Israel described the tomb located near Bethlehem.

First millennium AD e.

Among them are the father of Christian church history, Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 263-340) - a Roman historian who lived in Caesarea, a traveler from Bordeaux - who traveled to Palestine in 333-334, Jerome of Stridon - a church writer who lived in Bethlehem at the beginning of V centuries and many others. On the 6th century Madaba map near Efrat and Beit Lehem there is a symbolic image with the inscription “a voice is heard in Ramah” - part of a quote from the book of the prophet Jeremiah (31:14) describing the tomb of Rachel. The French priest Arculf, who visited the land of Israel in 670, describes a stone tombstone without decoration. Numerous notes from medieval travelers have been preserved, from which one can judge how Rachel’s tomb looked and changed.

Middle Ages

Benjamin of Tudela, a Spanish rabbi who undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1165-1173, and other travelers of the 12th century describe a tombstone of 11 stones, and above them a dome standing on four pillars. In the 13th century, the dome and pillars were destroyed and restored in the 15th century. Meshulam of Veltra, who visited Palestine in 1481, again reports a tombstone surrounded by four pillars and a dome over them. In the 16th century, in addition to the main dome, two secondary ones were added, and individual stones were combined into a single monument. In 1621-1622, the Muslim ruler of Jerusalem allowed the Jews to build walls around four pillars surrounding the tomb and it became an enclosed space.

In modern times

File:Rachel's Tomb 1.jpg

Concrete fence around Rachel's Tomb 2012

In the 18th-19th centuries, near the tomb of Rachel, the Bedouins began to bury their dead and, gradually, a Muslim cemetery was formed around the tomb.

In 1839, the famous Jewish philanthropist Moshe Montefiore and his wife visited Rachel's tomb. They decided to allocate money to renovate and expand the old building. Permission for construction was obtained from the Turkish Sultan. A room was added to the 17th-century premises, the use of which was divided by hour between Jews and Muslims. The premises built by Montefiore have survived to this day.

At the beginning of the 21st century, the building was surrounded by a high concrete fence, necessary for the safety of visitors and their protection from hostile Arab residents of the surrounding areas. Currently, numerous tourists from all over the world come to Rachel’s tomb. Operates inside the building

In her youth, Rachel tended her father Laban's cattle in Padan Aram. In the Pentateuch she is described as "beautiful and slender." At age 15, she met Yaakov, who fled to Padan Aram on his mother's advice to escape the wrath of his brother Esau. The Pentateuch tells that Jacob helped Rachel water the cattle by using superhuman effort to roll a huge stone from the mouth of the well.

After a month of staying in the house of his uncle Laban, Yaakov asked him for the hand of his daughter Rachel. Since in those days it was customary to pay the bride's father a bride price, and Yaakov had nothing in his heart, he offered to work for Laban for free for seven years as a bride price. Laban agreed to this deal, and Jacob began working as a shepherd.

But seven years have passed, the desired day has finally arrived, and Laban invited all the villagers to the wedding celebration. Everyone had fun and rejoiced at this wedding - everyone except Rachel's older sister, Leah. Now that her younger sister was marrying Jacob, she was destined to become the wife of his evil older brother, Esau.

Yaakov did not trust the cunning Laban and therefore agreed with his beloved on conventional signs by which he could recognize her even in complete darkness. Now Yaakov was sure that Laban would not give him someone else instead of his own daughter.

So Yaakov stands under the chuppah, waiting for the bride to appear. Here she appears, her face hidden by a veil. No one will guess that under the veil is not Rachel, but her sister Leah. Leah enters under the chuppah and gives Yaakov the sign he had agreed upon with her sister. It was Rachel, realizing that her sister would be disgraced if Laban’s cunning was revealed, who chose to give her her lover, whom she had been waiting for for seven years.

In order to finally get Rachel as his wife, Jacob had to work for Laban for seven more years.

The Torah tells that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, but Leah gave birth to sons, while Rachel was childless. This led to jealousy and rivalry between the sisters.

One day, Reuven, Leah's eldest son, found and brought his mother a rare plant, mandrake, which, according to legend, helps childless women become pregnant. Upon learning of this, Rachel begged Leah to give her the mandrake in exchange for a night with Jacob. Leia agreed and as a result gave birth to another son.

In order to have at least adopted children, Rachel gave Jacob her slave Bila, and she gave birth to two sons - Dan and Naphtali.

After years of suffering and despair, Rachel finally gave birth to her first child, Yosef.

After twenty years spent in his father-in-law's house, Yaakov decides to return to his homeland. Secretly, under the cover of darkness, he sets off on a journey with his wives and children. Leaving her father's house, Rachel steals idols from the family chapel.

Having discovered the flight of Yaakov and his family and the disappearance of the idols, Laban sets off in pursuit. Having caught up with Yaakov, Laban accuses him of stealing idols and demands that his belongings be searched. Rachel, hearing about the search, calmly sits on the stolen idols and apologizes that she cannot stand in front of her father because of a woman’s illness. Laban's stormy meeting with Yaakov ends with the conclusion of a peace treaty.

Jacob and his family reach Canaan, and here, on the road from Beit Lehem to Ephrat, Rachel dies of childbirth at the age of 36. Jacob names his newborn son Binyamin.

That's the whole short story of the life of foremother Rachel.

Two sisters, Rachel and Leah, seemed to change roles after death. Leah, a happy mother who has suffered all her life from her husband’s cold attitude, lies next to Jacob in the family tomb. And his beloved wife Rachel, who had prayed to the Almighty for a child for many years, became the main foremother in the minds of the people.

The Prophet Hermiyahu raises Rachel to the level of a national symbol, makes her the main of the four foremothers, the patroness of all the sons of Israel. The Midrash considers Rachel a symbol of motherhood.

The unique love story of Yaakov and Rachel, her dream of having children, her tragic death make the image of Rachel heroic, and her grave in Beit Lechem - a center of pilgrimage for childless women and unmarried girls. They all pray at the grave of their foremother Rachel for the creation of a family and the birth of children.

The Midrash claims that Rachel voluntarily chose premature death on the road in order to be buried not in the family tomb in Hebron, next to her husband, but in Beit Lechem, past which the first exiles would go to Babylon. Yaakov also foresaw that his descendants would go into exile past Rachel’s grave, and she would pray for their deliverance and, in general, for the complete and final Deliverance of the Jewish people.

And there is also a story in the Midrash about how the Almighty was angry with the Jewish people and decided to destroy the Temple forever because they installed a pagan idol in it. And then the souls of the forefathers and foremothers stood up and began to pray to the Almighty to forgive the Jews and not condemn them to eternal exile. They mentioned their merits in the hope that the payment for them would be the forgiveness of the Jewish people. Abraham mentioned that he was the first to spread monotheism in the world. Isaac - that he agreed to be sacrificed. But neither these nor other merits of the forefathers and foremothers forced the Almighty to change his decision. And then Rachel spoke. “Lord of the world,” she said, “for seven long years I have waited for the day when I could become the wife of my beloved. But when that day came, I refused it and gave the symbol to my sister Leah, so as not to expose her to shame. Then I didn’t yet know that I was bringing a rival into my house, that You would give her children, but not me. And if I was able to endure all this, how much more can You, Almighty, restrain your anger at your rival - the pagan idol brought into the Temple.” It was then that the Almighty said: “Do not cry and do not shed tears, for there is a payment for your actions, and your sons will return to their borders.”

RACHEL

RACHEL (רָחֵל, Rachel) - one of the four foremothers of the Jewish people, the youngest daughter of Laban, sister of Leah, second wife of Jacob, mother of Joseph and Benjamin.

According to the biblical account, Jacob met Rachel when he arrived in Haran to escape the wrath of his brother Esau; Jacob fell in love with her at first sight and agreed to work for her Lavana seven years. When the deadline expired, Laban resorted to a trick and replaced Rachel with Leah on their wedding night.

Mauricius Gottlieb. Rachel

Tomb of Julius II, Rachel and Leah, 1515,

Church of San Pietro in Vicoli.

Jacob and Rachel at the well
Oil on canvas, 230 x 190 cm, 2006

When Jacob discovered the substitution the next morning, Laban explained that he was obliged to marry off his eldest daughter before the younger one, and agreed to give him Rachel too if Jacob agreed to work for him for another seven years.

Giacomo d'Antonio de Nigretti Palma Vecchio.

Meeting between Rachel and Jacob.

According to the Bible, Rachel was “beautiful in form and beautiful in face,” and Jacob loved her more than “weak in eyes.” However, Rachel remained barren and was jealous of Leah's fertility. Desperate, she, like Sarah before, gave her maidservant Bilkh as a concubine to her husband; Rachel considered the children born to Bilkh oi Dana and Naftali to be her own sons.

Forefather Rachel and forefather Jacob.

Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary

Rachel eventually became pregnant and gave birth to a son, saying: “God has taken away (asaph) my shame. And she called his name Joseph, saying, The Lord will give (yosef) me another son.”

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. Rachel Hiding the Idols. 1726

The tomb of the foremother Rachel - this is what it looked like in the 18th century.

According to the Haggadah, Jacob buried Rachel along the road near Bethlehem because he foresaw that those exiled to Babylonia would pass here, and Rachel would pray to God to have mercy on them. Jewish travelers, beginning with Benjamin of Tudela (about 1170), speak of a monument consisting of twelve stones, eleven of which were laid by the sons of Jacob, and on them a large stone laid by Jacob himself. A dome on four columns was built over the grave.

Tomb Rachel. Late 19th century

At the end of the 18th century. A building was erected around the grave, which was repaired in 1841 with funds provided by M. Montefiore. During the Jordanian occupation (1948-67), the area around Rachel's grave was turned into a Muslim cemetery. After the Six-Day War, the building was restored by the Israeli Ministry of Religious Affairs and serves as a site of mass pilgrimage and tourism.

The largest number of Jewish pilgrims visit Rachel's tomb on the new moon, throughout the month of Nisan and on the 14th day of the month of Cheshvan - the traditional date of death of "our mother" Rachel."

Abel Pann (1883-1963). Rachel

Anna Akhmatova

Bible Verses: Rachel

And Jacob served for Rachel seven years; and they appeared to him in a few days, because he loved her. Book of Genesis And Jacob met Rachel in the valley, He bowed to her like a homeless wanderer. The herds raised hot dust, the source was filled with a huge stone. He rolled away the stone with his own hand and gave clean water to the sheep to drink. But his heart began to feel sad in his chest, to ache like an open wound, and he agreed to serve as a shepherd for Laban for seven years for the maiden. Rachel! For the one who is in your power, Seven years are like seven dazzling days. But the money-lover Laban is much wise, And pity is unknown to him. He thinks: everyone will be forgiven for deceiving For the glory of Laban's house. And with a firm hand He brings blind Leah to Jacob into the nuptial rest. The high night flows over the desert, Drops cool dew, And Laban’s youngest daughter groans, tearing her fluffy braids, curses her sister and blasphemes God, and commands the Angel of Death to appear. And Jacob dreams of a sweet hour: The transparent source of the valley, The cheerful gaze of Rachel’s eyes And her dove-like voice: Jacob, weren’t you the one who kissed me and called me your black dove? December 25, 1921 M. Chagall. Rachel hides her father's teraphim***

O Book of Books! Who hasn't tried

in your changing fate,

how do you aim the one who betrayed

your weary spirit?

In a series of unchanging visions

how perfect and pure

your pages are soulful

unfading beauty.

All the abysses of years have not been drowned out

divinely simple motive.

The image of feminine Rachel is alive,

God-fighting Israel is alive...

You are forever new century after century,

after a year, after a moment, a moment

you stand up - an altar in front of a person,

O Bible! O Book of Books!..

Valery Bryusov

OUR MAIN MOTHER

AND HER TOMB:

In our mercantile times, such concepts as national dignity, religious shrines and historical memory are used by the Jewish side mainly in the internal political struggle, for demagogic argumentation. And for the Arab side, these very concepts are the main motives for an uncompromising war. In the eyes of the Arabs, the struggle for the right to own the holy places of the Jewish people is one of the most reliable ways to resolve the issue of Jewish statehood “in the lands of Islam.”

The efforts of secular leaders in Israel, and indeed the Jewish establishment in the Western world, to obscure the religious aspects of the confrontation are bearing fruit: they talk less and less about shrines - more and more about the amounts of compensation, loans and appropriations. Meanwhile, for any unbiased person, the rights of the Jewish people to places holy to Judaism are obvious and indisputable, not only from the position of faith, but also from the position of jurisprudence. As an example, consider the story of Rachel's tomb at Beit Lehem.

In the Jewish calendar, the month of Cheshvan is strongly associated with the name of the foremother Rachel. On the eleventh of this month, she died in the arms of her inconsolable husband Jacob: “And while there was still some distance of land left to Ephrath, Rachel gave birth, and her labor was difficult. When she suffered in childbirth, the midwife said to her: Do not be afraid, for this is your son. And when her soul left her, for she was dying, she called him Benoni. But his father named him Benjamin” (Genesis 35:16-18).

Rachel's life is told in several weekly portions of the Torah, as well as in numerous midrashim. However, today we want to talk about the posthumous fate of the foremother. Rachel died in the Land of Israel, shortly after Jacob returned from Syria, reconciled with his brother Esau and settled in Canaan. However, Jacob did not bury his wife in the family tomb in the Hebron cave of Machpelah, but buried her near the road leading to Beit Lehem, southeast of Jerusalem. At least since the 10th century, this grave has become an object of Jewish pilgrimage.

The fact that Rachel’s grave is located not far from Beit Lehem is reported, for example, by Abbot Daniel, who visited Palestine in the 12th century. True, Daniel, it seems, was not at the grave itself and only said that it was located two miles from the city (see: “The Life and Walking of Daniel, Abbot of the Russian Land”). We find a more detailed description of this place in the writings of two Jewish travelers who visited Palestine several decades later than the Russian abbot.

From Jerusalem two parazangs to Bethlehem of Judea, not far from it, half a mile away, is the tomb of Rachel, at a crossroads. This monument is composed of eleven stones, according to the number of Jacob's children; above it is a dome on four columns, and all the Jews passing by write their names on the stones of the monument.

("The Journey of Rabbi Benjamin from Tudela")

On this grave a structure was made of eleven stones, according to the number of the eleven tribes of Israel; since Benjamin was born only at the death of his mother, there is no special stone for him. All these stones are marble, and Jacob's stone, also of marble, covering all the others, is so large and heavy that it would require many people to carry it.

(“Rabbi Petahia of Regensburg’s Round the World Wandering”)

Most often, Jewish women went on a pilgrimage to the grave of their foremother Rachel: since Rachel could not give birth for a long time, visiting her grave was considered a patented remedy for infertility (we find the first mention of this in the message of a Christian pilgrim from Mainz, who visited Beit Lehem in 1483 ). However, men also did not neglect the shrine.

After the expulsion of the Crusaders from Palestine, Rachel's grave came under Muslim control and a mosque was erected in its place. This is evidenced by the deacon of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery Zosima, who visited Beit Lehem in 1420: “Her tomb<Рахели>stands between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, on the Egyptian road. Jacob came from Shechem, who is called Pharaoh, and he was with Abraham's father, and went to Palestine and to the city of Ramleh. This was Jacob’s home, and here he died on the road. There is a Muslim mosque over his tomb” (see: “Zosima’s journey to Constantinople, Mount Athos and Palestine”).

For a long time, non-Muslims were denied access to Rachel's tomb. The situation changed only in 1615, when the Turkish ruler of Jerusalem, Muhammad Pasha, handed over this shrine to the Jews. Subsequently, their rights to the grave were confirmed by a Sultan's decree issued at the beginning of the 19th century.

In 1788 the grave was surrounded by a wall. A European traveler who visited Beit Lehem in 1824 left the following description of the foremother’s grave: “It is a stone building, undoubtedly of Turkish design, crowned with a dome. Inside the building is a tombstone... The interior walls of the building are covered with Jewish names carved by Jews.”

In the 19th century, the famous Jewish philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore visited Rachel's grave. Shortly before his visit, an earthquake occurred and the tomb was badly damaged. Montefiore gave money for repairs, and in addition, ordered the construction of an exact copy of the tomb on his estate in Ramsgate, next to his home synagogue. This mausoleum later became the tomb of Sir Moses.

After power in Palestine passed to the British, Rachel's grave became one of the epicenters of the Arab-Jewish confrontation. True, soon after the expulsion of the Turks, the Jews cleaned and repaired the shrine without any protests from the Muslims. But already in 1921, when the rabbinate approached the city authorities of Beit Lehem for permission to carry out additional renovation work, there was protest from the Arabs. And after the pogroms of 1929, Jewish pilgrimages to the grave of their foremother practically ceased; Muslims demanded that the building be transferred under their sole control.

After the War of Independence, Rachel's grave, along with many other Jewish shrines (the Western Wall, the Temple Mount, the grave of the forefathers in Hebron, the grave of Yosef in Nablus, etc.) ended up on the territory of Jordan. Access to this shrine was opened to Jews only in 1967, when, after the Six-Day War, Judea and Samaria came under Israeli control. However, in the early 1990s, the grave of the foremother was almost lost - according to the initial plans of the Rabin government, it was supposed to remain in territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority. However, this did not happen: two Orthodox deputies - Menachem Porush from Torah Jewry and Hanan Porat from the National Religious Party - achieved a meeting with the prime minister and convinced him not to give up the shrine. As a result, changes were made to the agreement, and Rachel's grave remained under Israeli control. Today, tens of thousands of Jews visit it every year. According to tradition, pilgrimage and prayer at the grave of the foremother promote healing from various diseases, including infertility, and can also help single people find their other half.

However, foremother Rachel owes her place in traditional Jewish consciousness not only to the Torah and the revered grave, but also to the colorful image used by the prophet Irmeyahu - the image of a mother mourning her children going into exile: “A voice is heard in Rama, a cry and a bitter sob; Rachel weeps for her children and does not want to be comforted for her children, for they are not” (Irmeyahu, 31:15).

The image of a mother who mourns her missing children is firmly entrenched in Jewish consciousness. Therefore, over time, Rachel turned into a kind of heavenly intercessor of the Jewish people, capable of begging the Almighty to soften the harsh sentence on the children of Israel.

According to the famous midrash Eichah Rabbah, after the destruction of the Temple, the forefathers and prophets unanimously begged the Almighty to forgive the Jews their sins and allow them to return to their homeland. G‑d, however, was adamant. And then Rachel said: “Lord, Master! You know how great was the love of Your servant Jacob for me. He served my father for me for seven years, and when the time came to become his wife, my father decided to replace me with my sister, and I was not jealous of him for my sister. I, created from flesh and blood, dust and ashes, did not become jealous of my rival; But You, the living, present and merciful King, should You be jealous of idols, dead and insignificant, and drive out my children for them?

At that moment, G-d’s mercy returned, and the LORD said: “For your sake, Rachel, I will return the people of Israel to their borders, as it is written: “Thus says the LORD: Keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, For there is a reward for your labor, says the Lord, and they will return from the land of the enemy. And there is hope for your future, says the Lord, and your sons will return to their borders” (Irmeyahu 15:16-17).

For a long time this prophecy remained only a hope for the Jews. Today we are privileged to see the beginning of its fulfillment. However, the foremother Rachel continues to pray for her sons today - and will not rest until Irmeyau’s prophecy is fully fulfilled and all the exiles scattered around the world return to their home.