Cities
Hebron
Palestine
Citation Formats
General Reference
APA Style
BibTeX
Hebron holds the Cave of the Patriarchs, Ma'arat HaMachpelah in Hebrew and Al-Haram al-Ibrahimi (the Ibrahimi Mosque) to Muslims, the double cave that Genesis 23 describes Abraham purchasing from Ephron the Hittite as a family burial ground and which tradition holds contains the graves of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Leah. Herod the Great built the massive enclosure that still enshrines the site, held the second holiest place in Judaism after the Temple Mount and venerated across Judaism, Christianity and Islam alike, since Abraham is father to Isaac in the Jewish and Christian line and to Ishmael in the Islamic one.
Facts
History
Notable DevelopmentHebron is traditionally counted as one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities alongside Jerusalem, Tiberias and Safed, and the shrine over the Cave of the Patriarchs, revered by Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque, is one of the few sites at which both Jewish and Muslim communal prayer take place under the same roof, on a divided schedule. 3 Contested Use
Contested or Appropriated Modern UseFollowing a 1994 shooting at the shrine, prayer access was formally divided between its Jewish and Muslim communities, and the 1997 Hebron Protocol split the surrounding city into a Palestinian-administered majority area and a smaller Israeli-administered area around the Old City and the shrine. 2 Traditions
Sacred and Liturgical LanguagesHebrew for the Genesis narrative and Jewish veneration, Arabic for Islamic veneration as Al-Haram al-Ibrahimi. 1 Origins
FoundedThe Cave of the Patriarchs, purchased by Abraham from Ephron the Hittite as a family burial ground in Genesis 23; Herod the Great later built the massive enclosure that still stands over the site. 1 Attributions
TraditionJudaism, Christianity and Islam: the Cave of the Patriarchs is venerated across all three, held the second holiest site in Judaism after the Temple Mount. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Tradition holds the cave contains the graves of Abraham and Sarah, venerated across Judaism, Christianity and Islam alike.
This source names Herod the Great directly: "Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Leah. Herod the Great built the massive enclosure that still enshrines the site, held the second holiest place in Judaism after the Temple Mount and venerated across..."
This source names Hittites directly: "Hebron holds the Cave of the Patriarchs, Ma'arat HaMachpelah in Hebrew and Al-Haram al-Ibrahimi (the Ibrahimi Mosque) to Muslims, the double cave that Genesis 23 describes Abraham purchasing from..."
Isaac, Figures This source names Isaac directly: "the graves of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Leah."
This source names Ishmael directly: "the Jewish and Christian line and to Ishmael in the Islamic one."
Jacob, Figures This source names Jacob directly: "and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Leah."
Sarah, Figures This source names Sarah directly: "contains the graves of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Leah."
This source names Hebron directly: "the northern West Bank, a hospital in Hebron and, since 2016, a hospital in Gaza City that grew out of a clinic opened there in 1992, treating over 135,000 patients a year irrespective of race..."
Holds the Cave of the Patriarchs, the double cave Genesis 23 describes Abraham purchasing from Ephron the Hittite.
This source names Hebron directly: "reading the violence in Jerusalem, Hebron and Safed as the year the modern Arab-Israeli conflict took its lasting shape."
Contained In
Related To
Sacred To
Sources
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.