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
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Fast Forward Campus encampments return one year later, and pro-Palestinian protests spark 15 arrests
-
Fast Forward Israeli left-wing group suspended at University of Haifa after protesting the war in Gaza
-
Fast Forward Jordanian national in Florida sentenced to 6 years for targeting businesses he believed supported Israel
-
Fast Forward A ‘Golden Dome for America,’ inspired by Israel, is part of Trump’s 2026 budget request
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
- 2
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 3
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
- 4
News Why Zohran Mamdani believes he’ll win over Jewish voters, as Israel critic surges to second behind Cuomo in NYC mayoral race
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Campus encampments return one year later, and pro-Palestinian protests spark 15 arrests
-
Fast Forward Israeli left-wing group suspended at University of Haifa after protesting the war in Gaza
-
Fast Forward Jordanian national in Florida sentenced to 6 years for targeting businesses he believed supported Israel
-
Fast Forward A ‘Golden Dome for America,’ inspired by Israel, is part of Trump’s 2026 budget request
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.