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56-664: Abu Tor is bounded by the Valley of Hinnom on the north, by the Valley of Azal (Wadi Yasul/Nahal Azal) on the south, Hebron Road and the old Jerusalem Railway Station to the west, and the Sherover Promenade, Armon HaNetziv and Peace Forest to the south. The "official" Hebrew name of the neighborhood is Givat Hananya ("Hananya's Hill"). According to a traditional story, during the Ayyubid period after Saladin captured Jerusalem in 1187,

112-517: A Righteous Gentile who saved the lives of 1,200 Jews in the Holocaust , is buried. Notable burials in the Protestant cemetery on Mt. Zion include a number of prominent individuals from the 19th and 20th centuries. These include explorers and archaeologists such as: Flinders Petrie , Charles Frederick Tyrwhitt Drake , James Duncan, Clarence Stanley Fisher , Charles Lambert and James Leslie Starkey ;

168-720: A library, classrooms and art galleries. The complex, which began operating in 2015, also screens films on the Sabbath. 31°45′49.1″N 35°13′57.5″E  /  31.763639°N 35.232639°E  / 31.763639; 35.232639 Valley of Hinnom The Valley of Hinnom , Gehinnom ( Hebrew : גֵּיא בֶן־הִנֹּם , romanized :  Gēʾ ḇen-Hīnnōm , or גֵי־הִנֹּם , Gē-Hīnnōm ) or Gehenna ( / ɡ ɪ ˈ h ɛ n ə / ghi- HEN -ə ; Ancient Greek : Γέεννα , romanized :  Géenna ), also known as Wadi el-Rababa ( Arabic : وادي الربابة , romanized :  Wādī l-Rabāba , lit.   'Valley of

224-620: A load of 250 kilograms was designed for this purpose. The cable car was only used at night and lowered into the valley during the day to escape detection; it is still in place at what is now the Mount Zion Hotel. The ride from the Israeli position at the St. John Eye Hospital to Mount Zion took two minutes. Between 1948 and 1967, when the Old City was under Jordanian rule , Israelis were forbidden access to

280-462: A state of consciousness of remorse. In classic rabbinic sources, Gehinnom occasionally occurs as a place of punishment or destruction of the wicked. The specific rabbinical term for heresies, or religious divisions due to an unlawful spirit, is minim (lit. 'kinds [of belief]'; the singular min , for "heretic" or "Gnostic," is coined idiomatically, like goy and am ha'aretz ; see Gnosticism ). The law "You shall not cut yourselves" (לא תתגדדו)

336-654: Is a hill in Jerusalem , located just outside the walls of the Old City to the south. The term Mount Zion has been used in the Hebrew Bible first for the City of David ( 2 Samuel 5:7 , 1 Chronicles 11:5 ; 1 Kings 8:1 , 2 Chronicles 5:2 ) and later for the Temple Mount , but its meaning has shifted and it is now used as the name of ancient Jerusalem's Western Hill. In a wider sense,

392-674: Is also the final resting place for a number of soldiers who fought in the First World War, as well as members of the Palestinian Police who served under the British mandate . Several persons buried here were killed in the bombing of the King David Hotel on the morning of 22 July 1946. In 1874, an Englishman, Henry Maudsley, discovered a large segment of rock scarp and numerous ancient dressed stones on Mount Zion that were believed to be

448-407: Is evidence however that the southwest shoulder of this valley ( Ketef Hinnom ) was a burial location with numerous burial chambers that were reused by generations of families from as early as the seventh until the fifth century BCE. The use of this area for tombs continued into the first centuries BCE and CE. By 70 CE, the area was not only a burial site but also a place for cremation of the dead with

504-458: Is interpreted by the rabbis: "You shall not form divisions [לא תעשו אגודות אגודות], but shall form one bond" (after Amos 9:6 , A. V. "troop"). Besides the term min (מין) for "heretic," the Talmud uses the words ḥitzonim (outsiders), apikoros , and kofer ba-Torah , or kofer ba-ikkar (he who denies the fundamentals of faith); also poresh mi-darke tzibbur (he who deviates from the customs of

560-525: Is recorded that Josiah destroyed the shrine of Moloch on Topheth to prevent anyone sacrificing children there ( 2 Kings 23:10 ). Despite Josiah's ending of the practice, Jeremiah also included a prophecy that Jerusalem itself would be made like Gehenna and Topheth ( 19:2–6 , 19:11–14 ). A final purely geographical reference is found in Neh. 11:30 to the exiles returning from Babylon camping from Beersheba to Hinnom. The ancient Aramaic paraphrase-translations of

616-538: Is the word for Zion in Arabic and Syriac . A valley called Wâdi Sahyûn ( wadi being the Arabic for "valley") seemingly preserves the name and is located approximately one and three-quarter miles (2.8 km) from the Old City of Jerusalem 's Jaffa Gate . The phrase Har Tzion , lit. "Mount Zion", appears nine times in the Tanakh . The name Mount Zion referred successively to three locations, as Jerusalemites preserved

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672-534: Is used 11 times in these writings. In certain usage, the Christian Bible refers to it as a place where both soul (Greek: ψυχή, psyche) and body could be destroyed ( Matthew 10:28 ) in "unquenchable fire" ( Mark 9:43 ). Christian usage of Gehenna often serves to admonish adherents of the religion to live righteous lives. Examples of Gehenna in the Christian New Testament include: Another book to use

728-467: Is what today is called Mount Zion. In the second half of the First Temple period, the city expanded westward and its defensive walls were extended to include the entire Western Hill behind them. Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed the city almost completely around 586 BCE , severing the continuity of historical memory. A long period of rebuilding followed, ending with Jerusalem's second total destruction at

784-623: The Book of Psalms , and the First Book of Maccabees (c. 2nd century BCE; 1 Maccabees 4:36–38 ) seems to refer to the top of the hill, generally known as the Temple Mount . The last shift of the name Mount Zion was to the Western Hill, which is more dominant than the Eastern Hill and seemed to first-century CE Jerusalemites the worthier location for the by-then lost palace of King David. The Western Hill

840-557: The City of David "from the City of David, which is Zion (1 Kings 8:1–2; 2 Chron. 5:2)". 2 Samuel 5:7 also reads, "David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David," which identifies Mount Tzion as part of the City of David, and not an area outside today's Old City of Jerusalem. Rashi identifies the location as the source of "joy" mentioned in the Psalm as the Temple Courtyard ,

896-646: The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church . In the King James Version of the Bible, the term appears 13 times in 11 different verses as Valley of Hinnom , Valley of the son of Hinnom or Valley of the children of Hinnom . In the synoptic Gospels the various authors describe Jesus , who was Jewish, as using the word Gehenna to describe the opposite to life in the Kingdom ( Mark 9:43–48 ). The term

952-559: The Gospel of Mark addition of "Gehenna" to the quotation of the Isaiah verses describing the corpses "where their worm does not die". Gehinnom became a figurative name for the place of spiritual purification for the wicked dead in Judaism. According to most Jewish sources, the period of purification or punishment is limited to only 12 months and every Sabbath day is excluded from punishment, while

1008-550: The Rebab '), is a historic valley surrounding Jerusalem from the west and southwest that has acquired various theological connotations, including as a place of divine punishment, in Jewish eschatology . The valley surrounds the Old City of Jerusalem and the adjacent Mount Zion from the west and south. It meets and merges with the Kidron Valley , the other principal valley around

1064-428: The "Hill of Evil Counsel", referring to a legend that it was the site of the house of Caiaphas , where Judas plotted to betray Jesus. A monastery or convent dedicated to St. Mark (whose emblem was an ox) may have once been there. Abu Tor was developed as a residential quarter in the late 19th century by Muslim and Christian Arabs from Jerusalem. A Jewish neighborhood called Beit Yosef was established in 1888. Abu Tor

1120-535: The "stronghold of Zion" that was conquered by King David , then renamed and partially rebuilt by him as the "City of David", where he erected his palace . Once the First Temple was erected at the top of the Eastern Hill, the name "Mount Zion" migrated there too. After the conquest of the Jebusite city, its built-up area expanded northward towards the uppermost part of the same, Eastern Hill. This highest part became

1176-670: The Armenian Monastery of St. Saviour , King David's Tomb and the Room of the Last Supper . Most historians and archeologists today do not regard "David's Tomb" there to be the actual burial place of King David . The Chamber of the Holocaust ( Martef HaShoah ), the precursor of Yad Vashem , is also located on Mount Zion. Another place of interest is the Catholic cemetery where Oskar Schindler ,

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1232-615: The Hebrew Bible known as Targums supply the term "Gehinnom" frequently to verses touching upon resurrection, judgment, and the fate of the wicked. This may also include addition of the phrase " second death ", as in the final chapter of the Book of Isaiah , where the Hebrew version does not mention either Gehinnom or the Second Death, whereas the Targums add both. In this the Targums are parallel to

1288-506: The Jewish holy places. Mount Zion was a designated no-man's land between Israel and Jordan. Mount Zion was the closest accessible site to the ancient Jewish Temple . Until East Jerusalem was captured by Israel in the Six-Day War , Israelis would climb to the rooftop of David's Tomb to pray. The winding road leading up to Mount Zion is known as Pope's Way ( Derekh Ha'apifyor ). In his Epistle to

1344-531: The Jewish section of Abu Tor is predominantly secular, the neighborhood has two synagogues - Har Refaim Synagogue for Ashkenazi Jews on Nachshon Street, and Shalom V'Achva Synagogue for Sephardi Jews . Abu Tor had a population of 15,500 in 2010. A large multiplex cinema, the Sherover complex, is located in Abu Tor. The center, just off Hebron Road, houses seven movie theaters, coffee shops and restaurants, an auditorium,

1400-592: The New Testament, the New International Version , New Living Translation, New American Standard Bible (among others) all reserve the term "hell" for the translation of Gehenna or Tartarus (see above), transliterating Hades as a term directly from the equivalent Greek term. Treatment of Gehenna in Christianity is significantly affected by whether the distinction in Hebrew and Greek between Gehenna and Hades

1456-572: The Old City, near the Pool of Siloam which lies to the southeastern corner of Ancient Jerusalem. The northwestern part of the valley is now an urban park . The place is first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as part of the border between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin ( Joshua 15:8 ). During the late First Temple period , it was the site of the Tophet , where some of the kings of Judah had sacrificed their children by fire ( Jeremiah 7:31 ). Thereafter, it

1512-487: The Romans, Paul noted: “Happy is he whose conscience does not condemn him in that which he allows” (Romans 14:22) It was paved in honor of the historic visit to Jerusalem of Pope Paul VI in 1964. The Tanakh reference to Har Tzion (Mount Tzion) that identifies its location is derived from the Psalm 48 composed by the sons of Korah , i.e. Levites, as "the northern side of the city of the great king", which Radak interprets as

1568-612: The Valley of Hinnom is disputed. George Adam Smith wrote in 1907 that there are three possible locations considered by historical writers: Child sacrifice at other Tophets contemporary with the Bible accounts (700–600 BCE) of the reigns of Ahaz and Manasseh have been established, such as the bones of children sacrificed at the Tophet to the goddess Tanit in Phoenician Carthage , and also child sacrifice in ancient Syria-Palestine. Scholars such as Mosca (1975) have concluded that

1624-422: The actions of Josiah "And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech." (2 Kings 23). A minority of scholars have attempted to argue that the Bible does not portray actual child sacrifice, but only dedication to the god by fire; however, they are judged to have been "convincingly disproved" (Hay, 2011). There

1680-462: The architect Conrad Schick ; and pioneers in the fields of medicine, education, religion, diplomacy and social services such as James Edward Hanauer , Ernest Masterman, John Nicholayson , Paul Palmer, Max Sandreczky , Johann Ludwig Schneller, Horatio G. Spafford , author of the hymn It Is Well With My Soul . Also buried in the cemetery are G. Douglas Young, founder of Jerusalem University College , and his wife Georgina (Snook) Young. The cemetery

1736-474: The area of Abu Tor was assigned by Al-Aziz Uthman to an officer in Saladin's army. His name was Sheikh Shehab ed Din, but he was called "Sheikh Ahmed et Toreh" (Sheikh Ahmed of the bull) or "Abu Tor" (the man with the bull, or the father of the bull) as he was said to have accompanied Saladin riding on a bull. The hill on which Abu Tor stands was called "Jebel Deir Abu Tor" (mountain of the monastery of Abu Tor), or

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1792-511: The arrival of the Tenth Roman Legion , who were the only group known to practice cremation in this region. The oldest historical reference to “the Valley of the Son of Hinnom” is found in the Book of Joshua ( 15:8 and 18:16 ) which describe tribal boundaries. The following reference to the valley is at the time of King Ahaz of Judah, who, according to 2 Chronicles 28:3 , “burnt incense in

1848-541: The child is thrown into the fire. The Book of Isaiah does not mention Gehenna by name, but the "burning place" ( 30:33 ) in which the Assyrian army is to be destroyed, may be read "Topheth", and the final verse of Isaiah which concerns those that have rebelled against God ( Isaiah 66:24 ). In the reign of Josiah a call came from Jeremiah to destroy the shrines in Topheth and to end the practice ( Jeremiah 7:31–32 , 32:35 ). It

1904-493: The community). It is said that all these groups are consigned to Gehinnom for all eternity and have no possibility of a portion in the world to come . The traditional explanation that a burning rubbish heap in the Valley of Hinnom south of Jerusalem gave rise to the idea of a fiery Gehenna of judgment is attributed to Rabbi David Kimhi 's commentary on Psalms 27:13 ( c.  1200 CE ). He maintained that in this loathsome valley fires were kept burning perpetually to consume

1960-467: The descriptions of Gehinnom as a place of punishment in rabbinic literature, were pedagogically motivated inventions to encourage respect of the Torah commandments by mankind, which had been regarded as immature. Instead of being sent to Gehenna, the souls of the wicked would actually get annihilated. Frequent references to "Gehenna" are also made in the books of Meqabyan , which are considered canonical in

2016-402: The filth and cadavers thrown into it. However, Hermann Strack and Paul Billerbeck state that there is neither archaeological nor literary evidence in support of this claim, in either the earlier intertestamental or the later rabbinic sources. Also, Lloyd R. Bailey's "Gehenna: The Topography of Hell" from 1986 holds a similar view. Maimonides declares, in his 13 principles of faith , that

2072-403: The fires of Gehinnom are banked and its tortures are suspended. For the duration of Shabbat, the spirits who are serving time there are released to roam the earth. At Motza'ei Shabbat , the angel Dumah, who has charge over the souls of the wicked, herds them back for another week of torment. After this the soul will move on to Olam Ha-Ba (the world to come), be destroyed, or continue to exist in

2128-484: The hands of the Romans in 70 CE. Josephus , the first-century CE historian who knew the city as it was before this second catastrophic event, identified Mount Zion as being the Western Hill, separated from the lower, Eastern Hill, by what he calls the " Tyropoeon Valley ". It must however be said that Josephus never used the name "Mount Zion" in any of his writings, but described the "Citadel" of King David as being situated on

2184-600: The higher and longer hill, thus pointing at the Western Hill as what the Bible calls Mount Zion. At the end of the Roman period, a synagogue was built at the entrance of the structure known as David's Tomb, probably based on the belief that David brought the Ark of the Covenant here from Beit Shemesh and Kiryat Ye'arim before the construction of the Temple. During the 1948 war , Mount Zion

2240-472: The kings of Judah had ever known, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My mind; therefore, behold, days are coming", declares the Lord, "when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-Hinnom, but rather

2296-648: The lake of fire, but a prophetic metaphor for the horrible fate that awaited the many civilians killed in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. The name given to Hell in Islam, Jahannam , directly derives from Gehenna. The Quran contains 77 references to the Islamic interpretation of Gehenna (جهنم), but does not mention Sheol / Hades as the "abode of the dead", and instead uses the word "Qabr" (قبر, meaning grave). Mount Zion Mount Zion ( Hebrew : הַר צִיּוֹן , Har Ṣīyyōn ; Arabic : جبل صهيون , Jabal Sahyoun )

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2352-572: The location of atonement offerings in the northern part of the Temple complex . In the New Testament, Mount Zion is used metaphorically to refer to the heavenly Jerusalem, God's holy, eternal city. Christians are said to have "come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven" (Hebrews 12:22–23, cf. Revelation 14:1). Important sites on Mount Zion are Dormition Abbey ,

2408-514: The name is similar in Arabic and may be connected to the root ṣiyya ("dry land") or the Arabic šanā ("protect" or "citadel"). It might also be related to the Arabic root ṣahî ("ascend to the top") or ṣuhhay ("tower" or "the top of the mountain"). A non-Semitic relationship to the Hurrian word šeya ("river" or "brook") has also been suggested. Sahyun ( Arabic : صهيون , Ṣahyūn or Ṣihyūn )

2464-570: The sacrifice recorded in the Hebrew Bible, such as Jeremiah's comment that the worshippers of Baal had "filled this place with the blood of innocents", is literal. Yet, the biblical words in the Book of Jeremiah describe events taking place in the seventh century in the place of Ben-Hinnom: "Because they [the Israelites] have forsaken Me and have made this an alien place and have burned sacrifices in it to other gods, that neither they nor their forefathers nor

2520-534: The site of Solomon's Temple . The identification of the pre-Israelite (Jebusite) and Israelite towns on the Eastern Hill is based on the existence of only one perennial water source in the area, the Gihon Spring , and on archaeological excavations revealing sections of the Bronze Age and Iron Age city walls and water systems. The "Mount Zion" mentioned in the later parts of the Book of Isaiah ( Isaiah 60:14 ), in

2576-410: The status of Jerusalem. Dayan presented the partition of Jerusalem as a common interest, and offered an exchange of territories that included the military post in Abu Tor, but his offer was turned down. Abu Tor is one of the few Jerusalem neighborhoods with a mixed Arab and Jewish population. Due to its mixed population, many journalists, diplomats and United Nations employees choose to live there. While

2632-531: The term Zion is also used for the entire Land of Israel . The etymology of the word Zion is uncertain. Mentioned in the Bible in the Book of Samuel (2 Samuel 5:7) as the name of the Jebusite fortress conquered by King David , its origin likely predates the Israelites . If Semitic , it may be associated with the Hebrew root ṣiyyôn ("castle"). Though not spoken in Jerusalem until 1,700 years later,

2688-422: The time-honoured name, but shifted the location they venerated as the focal point of biblical Jerusalem to the site considered most appropriate in their own time. At first, Mount Zion was the name given to the Jebusite fortified city on the lower part of ancient Jerusalem's Eastern Hill, also known as the City of David . According to the Book of Samuel , Mount Zion was the site of the Jebusite fortress called

2744-516: The valley as the "Valley of the son of Hinnom" (Hebrew: גֵּיא בֶן־הִנֹּם ), or "Valley of Hinnom" ( גֵי־הִנֹּם ). In Mishnaic Hebrew and Judeo-Aramaic languages , the name was contracted into Gēhīnnōm ( גֵיהִינֹּם ) or Gēhīnnām ( גֵיהִינָּם ) meaning "hell". The name "Gehenna" derives from the Koine Greek transliteration ( Γέεννα ) found in the New Testament . The exact location of

2800-569: The valley of Slaughter". J. Day, Heider, and Mosca believe that the Moloch cult took place in the valley of Hinnom at the Topheth. No archaeological evidence such as mass children's graves has been found; however, it has been suggested that such a find may be compromised by the heavy population history of the Jerusalem area compared to the Tophet found in Tunisia. The site would also have been disrupted by

2856-518: The valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire”. Later, in 33:6 , it is said that Ahaz's grandson, king Manasseh of Judah , also “caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom”. Debate remains as to whether the phrase "cause his children to pass through the fire" referred to a religious ceremony in which the Moloch priest would walk the child between two lanes of fire, or to literal child sacrifice wherein

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2912-492: The word Gehenna in the New Testament is James: The New Testament also refers to Hades as a place distinct from Gehenna. Unlike Gehenna, Hades typically conveys neither fire nor punishment but forgetfulness. The Book of Revelation describes Hades being cast into the lake of fire ( Revelation 20:14 ). The King James Version is the only English translation in modern use to translate Sheol, Hades, Tartarus (Greek ταρταρώσας; lemma: ταρταρόω tartaroō ), and Gehenna as Hell. In

2968-508: Was conquered by the Harel Brigade on May 18, 1948, and became the only part of the Old City to stay in Israeli hands until the armistice. At first it was linked to the Jewish neighborhood of Yemin Moshe across the Valley of Hinnom via a narrow tunnel, but eventually an alternative was needed to evacuate the wounded and transport supplies to soldiers on Mount Zion. A cable car capable of carrying

3024-533: Was cursed by the biblical prophet Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 19:2 – 6 ). In later rabbinic literature , "Gehinnom" became associated with divine punishment as the destination of the wicked for the atonement of their sins. The term is different from the more neutral term Sheol , the abode of the dead . The King James Version of the Bible translates both with the Anglo-Saxon word hell . The Hebrew Bible refers to

3080-402: Was incorporated into the Jerusalem municipal district during the British Mandate period. From the establishment of Israel in 1948 until 1967, the border between Israel and Jordan ran through Abu Tor. The first four roads beyond Hebron Road were Israeli and the remaining roads were Jordanian. In January 1949, Israel and Jordan, represented by Moshe Dayan and Abdullah el-Tell , held talks on

3136-408: Was maintained: Translations with a distinction: Translations without a distinction: Many modern Christians consider Gehenna to be a place of eternal punishment. Annihilationist Christians, however, imagine Gehenna to be a place where sinners are tormented until they are eventually destroyed, soul and all. Some Christian scholars, however, have suggested that Gehenna may not be synonymous with

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