Hebron’s Jewish Community Completes Restoration of the Tomb of Yishai and Ruth, Ancestors of King David

Hebron’s Jewish community completed a four-year restoration of the Tomb of Yishai and Ruth atop Tel Hebron in Judea and Samaria on Tuesday, September 15. The work was spearheaded by the community’s international spokesperson, Yishai Fleisher. The tomb is held by Jewish sources to be the burial place of the biblical King David’s father, Yishai (Jesse), and his great-grandmother, Ruth the Moabite.

“The location of the site in Hebron, city of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, the first acquisition of the Jews in the Land of Israel, made by our forefather Abraham, carries important spiritual significance,” Fleisher said. “There is a connection between the Tomb of Yishai and Ruth and the Cave of the [Patriarchs].” David, he added, “is the one who fulfills the dream of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, the dream of a united and strong people in their land, living in holiness.”

Working with a team of historians and artisans, Fleisher drew on the turquoise usually associated with Safed, departing from the site’s traditional browns and greens. The graves themselves were redesigned using stone, calligraphic inscriptions, a Star of David, and a wheat motif representing Ruth’s biblical story. A new synagogue and study hall were established at the site, built mainly of local Hebron stone, wrought iron, and wood, and a chamber dating to the Byzantine and medieval periods was converted into a working studio where a scribe writes on parchment in view of visitors. The project cost roughly one million dollars, raised from donors around the world.

(JPost/VFI News)

“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.” – Isaiah 11:1