Beit Shaarim and Beit Alpha Tiyul

by Alex Milgram,      10^th grade,      New Jersey

entrance to the Cave of the Coffins at Beit Shaarim National Park

The purpose of our tiyul to Beit Shaarim and Beit Alpha was to understand the life of the Sanhedrin through examining their tombs; and answering the question: why is all this seemingly un-kosher art present there?  The Sanhedrin was the highest Jewish law court of 70 rabbis in ancient Israel.  As we approached the Beit Shaarim burial caves we were able to tell it was a Jewish city right away because of  the Hebrew writing and also the doors that resembled the gates to the Temple. We are able to conclude from this that generations after the destruction of the Second Temple, it was still in the minds of the rabbis at that time in the second century. As we squeezed our way in the damp caves we were greeted by the first ancient coffin of the day (a sarcophagus in Greek). It was made out of stone and lacked any engraving. The only thing that stuck out about it were the 4 corners which were pointed up. Our teacher David explained that this design likely resembles that of the temple’s alter. As we explored deeper into the cave we passed a few more coffins, they shared the same design as previous ones. When we got to the end of the cave our class was taken by surprise, there stood a huge coffin with the engravings of two lions! We threw out ideas of why there is un-kosher art but David claimed the worst is yet to come, and boy was he right! We walked to another part of the cave and were surrounded by coffins with pictures of birds, lions, and fish, but nothing compared to the Tomb of Nike. That tomb had the puzzling engraving of a Greek goddess Nike along with a swoosh, resembling the Nike logo. While pictures of animals may have been bad, the engraving of a Greek goddess definitely crossed the line of what is acceptable “kosher” art. So why are they there?

a giant stone menorah engraved into the wall of the Beit Shaarim burial cave

 

a sarcophagus featuring engraved lions at Beit Shaarim National Park

To answer this question we traveled to Beit Alpha, an ancient synagogue from the 5^th or 6^th century, home to a beautiful but questionable mosaic floor. It was divided into 3 parts, the bottom part showing what appears to be the biblical story of the binding of Isaac, a scene from Genesis. The middle panel, and more controversial part contains a zodiac wheel with the Greek god Helios in the middle. The third panel was centralized around a depiction of the Temple decorated by menorahs and lions. There are many theories behind the mosaic floor. Some say that it is a representation of the Amida prayer, showing the past present, and future. The past, being the binding of Isaac, the present being under the rule of the surrounding Greek culture that was dominant in the ruling Byzantine Empire, and the future, the dream of rebuilding the Temple for the third and final time.

 

panel of the mosaic showing the binding of Isaac

middle panel of the mosaic showing the zodiac wheel and Helios

top panel of the mosaic showing the Temple in Jerusalem

However for me the answer to the question “why is all this un-kosher art present?”…we can conclude that those Jews who lived in the Talmudic era (500 CE), like the Jewish community today don't mind incorporating other cultures into Jewish life. Jews today have such a strong pride for who we are, and so we are not threatened by the presence of other cultures. So why all the un-kosher art? Why not?