(Image: Bereshit [Genesis] by local artist Baruch Nachshon. For more information visit http://nachshonart.com.)
Adam and Eve, as described in the book of Genesis, were the first people in the world and lived in the Garden of Eden. According to Jewish tradition, they are buried in the Tomb of Machpela. Both Jewish and non-Jewish traditions have identified the cave in Hebron as the final resting place of the mother and father of all humanity.
The reason Adam chose this location as a burial site is because the Cave of Machepla is the entrance into the Garden of Eden. To this day, people can visit the small circular entrance into the underground caves and report feeling a cool breeze coming up from the opening.
Today, a small stone slab is displayed behind iron bars is referred to as Adam’s footprint. It is situated behind the cenotaph of Abraham.
(Photo: The stone referred to as “Adam’s Footprint.”)
A Jewish traveler from the Middle Ages named Jacob the son of Rabbi Nathaniel ha Cohen (also know as Rabbi Ya’akov ben Netanel HaCohen) mentions Adam’s burial in his travel writings.
Researchers believe based on his reference to the Crusades, that he made his journey to Israel in the year 1187. His journals were translated into English and printed in Jewish Travellers in the Middle Ages: 19 Firsthand Accounts by Elkan Nathan Adler. Rabbi Jacob writes as follows:
“I, Jacob the son of R. Nathaniel ha Cohen, journeyed with much difficulty, but God helped me to enter the Holy land, and I saw the graves of our righteous Patriarchs in Hebron… There is the place out of which Adam, the first man, was created. They take earth from it and build houses with it, but it never grows less and is always full…” page 98.
One of Israel’s greatest historical researchers, Prof. Ze’ev Vilnai (1900–1988), added to this account that this earth was near the spring of Abraham and was called “the Field of Adam HaRishon, the first man.”
Arculf, a Frankish Bishop visited the Land of Israel around the year 680. He wrote of visiting Hebron and viewing the tombs of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah, as well as “the tomb of Adam, which is of meaner workmanship, lies not far from them, at the furthest extremity to the north.”
The Midrash reports:
Adam sat and pondered and he said: ”For I know that You will return me to die and at meeting place of all living” (Job 30:23). “As long as I am still alive I will build a house outside of Mount Moriah.” He dug and built himself a house. Then he thought, these tablets (the Ten Commandments) which will be written by the hand of G-d will chase away the waters of the Jordan river; my body, made by God’s own hands and given a soul by Him. After my death my body and my bones will be taken and be made into idolatry. So, therefore, I will bury my casket deep under and inside the cave. Therefore, the Cave is called the Cave of the Machpela -The Multiple Cave and there is where they are: Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah. And therefore it is called Kiryat Arba – the city of the four – because four couples were buried there.
The Zohar, the main work of the Kabbalah, Judaism’s mystical teachings, has several references to Adam and Eve in Hebron.
Discovery of the Machpela
Rabbi Rehumai said: God Himself created Adam and He Himself took care of Adam at his death. No one knew of Adam’s burial place until Abraham came, entered the cave and saw him. As Abraham entered, the place was filled with the scent of the Garden of Eden and the voice of the ministering angels saying: “Adam is buried here. Abraham and Isaac will be prepared for this place.” Abraham saw the lit candle and went out. At that moment he developed a desire for the place.
(Zohar Ruth: 79, 4)
Meeting of Abraham and Adam
The first time Abraham entered the Machpelah Cave he saw a light and two graves were revealed to him. At that time Adam looked at Abraham and his expression was that of happiness. Hence Abraham knew that he was destined to be buried there. Said Abraham to Adam: “Is there an opening here” (for the light)? Answered Adam: “The All-Mighty has buried me here and since that time I have been hidden from human eyes-like the roots in the ground- until you came to world. From now on, the covenant for me and for humanity will exist because of you.
(Zohar Chaye Sarah. 128:1)
Passageway to the World to Come
When Jacob entered the cave all of the Garden of Eden’s scents filled it, and a single candle illuminated it. And when the [souls of the] Patriarchs went down to Egypt, to be with Jacob, the candle was extinguished. When Jacob came back, the candle lit up and the Cave’s glory was restored. And never did or will the Cave accept anyone else (other than the four couples). And the souls of the righteous people pass in front of them in the cave so that they (Adam and Eve and the other three couples) would see their descendants and rejoice in front of G-d blessed be He.
(Zohar Genesis Vayiechi , 250)
The Scent of the Garden of Eden
Our sages ask: ”How did Isaac know the scent of “the field blessed by G-d”? However, explains the Zohar:
”These are two which are one”. It says in one place: “And Isaac went out in the evening ” (Genesis 24:63). Didn’t Isaac have a house or another place in which to pray? But that field was the field of the Machpela which Abraham purchased next to the Cave. When Isaac went to the field he saw the Divine Presence and the field became filled with sacred and supreme scents (from Garden of Eden). That is why he designated it for his prayer site. And this is, in essence, what Isaac referred to when he said: “behold my son’s scent is that of the field blessed by G-d.”
(Zohar Exodus 39:2)
Other traditions connect the Spring of Abraham, a local historical site, to Adam and Eve.
Dean Stanley in his 1862 book Sermons from the East discusses visiting the spring and states: “In the early morning I visited, in company with Dr. Rosen, some of the remains of antiquity on the wooded hill facing the town of Hebron on the south. An ancient well on the slope of the hill is sometimes called ‘the Spring of Abraham,’ sometimes ‘the New Spring’ Ain-el-Jedidi ; this last title, as often the case in local designations, indicating rather the antiquity than the novelty of the place in question. It is vaulted over with masonry, and the channel, when not filled with water, is believed in the neighbourhood to reach to the Mosque. In this vault the local tradition (attaching itself to the curious mistake before noticed, respecting the connection of Adam with Hebron) represents that Adam and Eve hid themselves after their flight from Paradise.” (page 166 – 167)
David Wilder, veteran spokesperson for the Jewish Community of Hebron comments on the Adam and Eve connection stating:
This beautiful legend is quite fitting, as according to very holy Jewish literature, Adam and Eve when trying to discover the way back to the Garden of Eden, dug a cave within a cave, until a voice from the heavens commanded them to stop, saying that they’d dug far enough. Known as the entrance to paradise, or the entrance to the Garden of Eden, this is where the first man and woman were later buried. That site remained hidden until the days of Abraham, who discovered this sacred cave-tomb. That site is today known as Ma’arat HaMachpela – the ‘double cave of Machpela, where later, the Patriarchs and Matriarchs were buried.
Therefore, it seems that not only was the first man buried in Hebron. Here too, he was created, not more than two kilometers from Machpela. I’m sure, if the first man really was created at this spot, he undoubtedly bathed in the waters of the nearby spring.
That being the case, these waters, which purified Adam, and maybe too Eve, as well as Abraham and Sarah, and most likely King David also, are a direct link from the beginning of time, through this very day. Water symbolizes life, for without water there is no life. This spring represents our life, as a people, as a nation, continuing to flow, without stopping, for thousands of years. That is our essence: life, purity and an uninterrupted flow of holiness. This is Hebron, from the Hebrew root ‘lechaber’ – to join together, to unify – bonding us from conception of our world, to the present.
HEBRON CONTACT INFORMATION
United States contact info:
http://www.hebronfund.org
1760 Ocean Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11230
718-677-6886
info@hebronfund.org
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Israeli contact info:
http://en.hebron.org.il/
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office@hebron.com
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United States contact info:
http://www.hebronfund.org
1760 Ocean Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11230
718-677-6886
info@hebronfund.org
* Facebook * YouTube * Instagram * TikTok * Twitter *Reddit
Israeli contact info:
http://en.hebron.org.il/
02-996-5333
office@hebron.com
* Facebook * YouTube * Instagram
RECOMMENDED LINKS:
* Hebron in the Talmud
* Hebron in the Bible
* Shimon Bar Kochba and Hebron