No Caving In

Photos: Elchanan Kotler | Video: SC Media Productions

When a secular Israeli archaeologist was literally moved to tears during a tour by Dr. Gershon Bar-Kochva a few years ago,

Chevron resident and veteran historian Dr. Gershon Bar-Kochva came face to face with the transformative power of the Mearas Hamachpeilah.

“It was a Chol Hamoed Pesach, there were thousands of people davening all around, but this researcher from Jerusalem was just there to see our latest findings,” says the researcher and archaeologist. “We began the tour, pointing out the massive structure built by King Herod and the subsequent building during the Crusaders and the Mameluke period, but when we stopped next to Ulam Yaakov — the hall above where Yaakov Avinu is buried — I saw I’d lost his attention. He wasn’t with me anymore. Looking around, this secular man suddenly started to cry, saying to himself, “If my savta would know where I am now!”

It’s the middle of Israel’s second coronavirus lockdown. Mask-wearing soldiers guard the largely empty building, and the torrent of visitors passionately saying Tehillim has been reduced to a trickle, but I’m admitted to Mearas Hamachpeilah with a guide no one argues with. Dr. Gershon Bar-Kochva’s handlebar moustache and flowing peyos are evidence of the eclectic influences on his life. The slight, youthful build is testament to five decades spent climbing into IDF tanks as well as straddling the ruins of ancient Chevron, peeling back the layers of the holy city’s history to reveal groundbreaking findings.