The Common Ancestor

We called our blog "The Children of Abraham" because he is the common ancestor revered in sacred text and story by the three world religions that come out of the Middle East. We had our chance to pay our respects at the site that most symbolizes that common heritage, the Tomb of the Patriarchs jn Hebron. We've described the Tomb in an earlier blog post, but what we didn't say is that after the massacre in the mosque in 1994, the Israeli government responded by dividing the mosque that has held the Tombs into two sections with separate entrances. Between a quarter and a third of the mosque became a Jewish synagogue. On the other side of the separating wall, you can still experience the integrity of the original architecture of the mosque.

The differences between the two sides are similar to what we experienced at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The Jewish side is filled with a joyful chaos of personal prayer, study, and tourism. There was a circumcision going on when we visited. The Moslem side is larger so it feels more spacious, but despite the tourists it was also a space that was quiet, inviting spiritual reflection.


The four main sarcophogi for Abraham, Sarah, Jacob and Rebekkah were originally inside the prayer hall of the mosque. Now, the Abraham and Sarah tombs have been enclosed by the separation wall so that Jews and Muslims can both see them through barred windows. Only Christians or pilgrims and tourists who don't identify as either Jewish or Muslim can visit both sides. From each side, you can catch glimpses of the people on the other side looking through the bars at the common ancestor they share.




We saw Abraham's Tomb as profoundly symbolic of what has happened in the "Holy Land". Violence, exclusive claims, and walls have separated Jews and Muslims from all that they hold in common. The members of the two communities come and go from their lives through separate doors, catching fleeting glimpses of the brother or sister who peers at them over Abraham's bones.

Location:Hebron, Palestine