Monday, February 16, 2015

Tomb of Ezra being destroyed?

BAD NEWS: Iraqi Terrorists Destroy Synagogue, Take Over Ezra's Tomb. Systemic destruction of Jewish holy sites in Iraq continues; embargo imposed on local media. (Tova Dvorin, Arutz Sheva). The report comes from media in Arabic. More links are found in this Israel Today article.

There is speculation that ISIS is involved, based on their past actions, but this is not confirmed.

As with the various other tombs of prophets in Iraq, the Tomb of Ezra is the traditional tomb of the biblical figure (who is a scribe in Ezra-Nehemiah, but becomes a prophet in works like 4 Ezra); the actual location of Ezra's burial site is unknown. Nevertheless, any harm done to it is tragic damage to a Jewish cultural icon in Iraq. More on the traditional Tomb of Ezra is here.