Century-Old Arab Inscriptions Unearthed
The last thing the two restoration artists expected was to find inscriptions in Arabic, almost 150 years old, on the walls of the small stone house in Tel Aviv’s German colony.
Carefully removing the layers from the interior walls with sharp knives, the artists have been searching for inscriptions and drawings from the second half of the 19th century made by masons from the Temple Society, the German Protestant sect that built the colony.
“We’ve been scraping the walls here for a few days,” says Ben Buchenbacher, pointing at the stone pillars behind him. Built in 1872, the pillars are adorned with German inscriptions, which was to be expected, but also with Arabic ones. “We didn’t expect to find something so special,” he says.
The inscriptions are religious in nature, consisting of verses from the Old and New Testaments. An Arabic one says, “For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3). Another reads, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom” (Psalms 111:10 ). Other inscriptions speak about the “Kingdom of Allah.”
For more, go to Haaretz.com
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!