Old Jewish Cemetery, Hebron

The old Jewish cemetery in Hebron is located on a hill to the west of the Tomb of Machpela. It has been used as a Jewish cemetery for hundreds of years. Ishtori Haparchi noted the existence of a Jewish cemetery in the area in 1322. The cemetery is also mentioned in a letter dated to 1290. Among the prominent rabbinical sages and community figures buried in the cemetery include Rabbi Eliyahu de Vidas known as the Reshit Hokhma, Rabbi Abraham Azulai, Rabbi Solomon Adeni, Rabbi Elijah Mizrachi, Rabbi Chaim Hezekiah Medini known as the Sdei Chemed, Rabbi Judah Bibas, Rabbi Haim Rahamim Yosef Franco, Rabbi Hillel Moshe Gelbstein, Rabbi Shimon Menashe Chaikin, and Menucha Rochel Slonim. Menachem Mendel of Kamenitz, the first hotelier in the Land of Israel, references his visit to the grave of Eliyahu de Vidas in his 1839 book Sefer Korot Ha-Itim. He states, "here I write of the graves of the righteous to which I paid my respects." After describing the Cave of Machpela and the tombs of such Biblical figures as Ruth and Jesse, Othniel Ben Knaz and Abner Ben Ner, he reports, "I also went to a grave said to be that of the Righteous Rav, author of "Reshit Hokhma."During the Jordanian period (1948–1967), the cemetery was intentionally destroyed and the site was cultivated by Arab residents for growing produce. Around 4,000 tombstones were removed and used for construction purposes. In t

Cemetery data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).