Jews throng to the tomb of Simeon the Just, 1927

The Tomb of Simeon the Just or Simeon the Righteous ( he, קבר שמעון הצדיק; translit. ''Kever Shimon haTzadik'') is an ancient tomb in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. According to scholarly consensus, based on an ''in situ'' inscription, it is the 2nd-century CE burial site of a Roman matron named Julia Sabina. However, according to a medieval

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

tradition, is believed to be the burial place of

Simeon the Just Simeon the Righteous or Simeon the Just ( he, שִׁמְעוֹן הַצַדִּיק ''Šīməʿōn haṢadīq'') was a Jewish High Priest during the Second Temple period. He is also referred to in the Mishnah, where he is described as one of the la ...

and his students. It is located adjacent to the

Cave of the Minor Sanhedrin The Cave of the Minor Sanhedrin is a burial cave located next to the Tomb of Simeon the Just in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem. It contains 26 burial niches, in which the 26{{citation needed, date=October 2016 members of the Minor Sa ...

in the

Shimon HaTzadik Shimon HaTzadik is an Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem, established around the Tomb of Simeon the Just, after whom it was named. The neighborhood was established in 1890 and abandoned during the Palestine war. At the beginning of the new ...

settlement within the

Sheikh Jarrah Sheikh Jarrah ( ar, الشيخ جراح, he, שייח' ג'ראח) is a predominantly Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem, north of the Old City, on the road to Mount Scopus. It received its name from the 13th-century tomb of Sheikh Ja ...

neighborhood.

Identification

Galilee location

In the 12th century,

Benjamin of Tudela Benjamin of Tudela ( he, בִּנְיָמִין מִטּוּדֶלָה, ; ar, بنيامين التطيلي ''Binyamin al-Tutayli'';‎ Tudela, Kingdom of Navarre, 1130 Castile, 1173) was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe, Asia, and ...

wrote that the tomb of Simeon was at "Tymin or Timnathah", between

Tiberias Tiberias ( ; he, טְבֶרְיָה, ; ar, طبريا, Ṭabariyyā) is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's F ...

and Meiron.

Jerusalem location

Rabbi Jacob, the messenger of Jehiel of Paris, wrote in 1238–1244 that "the cave of Simeon the Just and his disciples is near Jerusalem". Obadiah da Bertinoro wrote around 1490 that "The sepulchre of the seventy Elders, which lies about 2,000 cubits from Jerusalem, is splendid, especially that of Simon the Just."

History

During the Ottoman period,

Wasif Jawhariyyeh ;14 January 1897 – 1972) was a composer, oud player, poet and chronicler. He is known for his memoirs, ''The Diaries of Wasif Jawhariyyeh'', that spans over six decades from 1904 to 1968, covering Jerusalem's turbulent modern history, includin ...

mentions the site as the location of communal festivities known as the Yehudia, attended by Jewish, Christian, and Muslims in honour of Shimon the Just. While Jewish people flock to the tomb of

Shimon bar Yochai Shimon bar Yochai ( Zoharic Aramaic: שמעון בר יוחאי, ''Shim'on bar Yoḥai'') or Shimon ben Yochai (Mishnaic Hebrew: שמעון בן יוחאי, ''Shim'on ben Yoḥai''), also known by the acronym Rashbi, was a 2nd-century ''tannaiti ...

Lag Ba'omer Lag BaOmer ( he, , ''LaG Bāʿōmer''), also Lag B'Omer or Lag LaOmer, is a Jewish religious holiday celebrated on the 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer, which occurs on the 18th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar. According to some Rishon ...

to perform the Upsherin ceremony, the ''Tomb of Simeon the Just'' is used by many as an alternative location. A 19th century traveller, John Wilson, describes this practice in his book ''The Lands of the Bible Visited and Described'', published in 1847.

Authenticity

In 1871,

Clermont-Ganneau Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau (19 February 1846 – 15 February 1923) was a noted French Orientalist and archaeologist. Biography Clermont-Ganneau was born in Paris, the son of Simon Ganneau, a sculptor and mystic who died in 1851 when Clerm ...

discovered The inscription had been badly damaged by hammering, but the first line clearly read ''Juliae Sabinae'', indicating to Clermont-Ganneau that the tomb was that of a Roman matron named Julia Sabina. Clermont-Ganneau surmised that she was the wife or daughter of Julius Sabina, first centurion of the Tenth Legion "Fretensis", whose inscription elsewhere showed very similar lettering. Because of this inscription, and other reasons, historians and archaeologists have reached the consensus that the tomb cannot be that of Simon the Just. Kloner and Zissu date the tomb to the late Second Temple period. However, because of the absence of the narrow burial shafts called kokhim, they suggest it may have been used to store the bones of people originally buried elsewhere, rather than fresh corpses. Such a need arose when the "third wall" of Jerusalem surrounded many tombs during the first century CE, since Jewish law forbids burials within the city limits. Kloner and Zissu conjecture that the association with Simeon dated from the discovery during the Middle Ages of an

ossuary An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the ...

bearing the common name "Simeon".

References

External links

Shimon Hatzaddik (yarzheit.com)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tomb Of Simeon The Just Jewish pilgrimage sites Shrines in Jerusalem Rock-cut tombs