Legends of the
Dome of the Rock:
16 / THE CANDLES AT THE TEMPLE SITE
In the Dome of the Rock there are many lamps and
candles which serve the worshipers during the nights, especially those of
feasts and holidays. Hebrew legend relates that on the night of the ninth of
the month Ab (Tisha be-Av), the day commemorating the destruction of the
Temple, the lamps would be extinguished of themselves, and all efforts to
relight them would be of no avail.
Rabbi Meshullam of Volterra (Italy), who visited the
Holy Land in 1481, writes about the Dome of the Rock mosque: "There are
Arab servants who keep themselves in strict purity. Inside the mosque they
light seven candles. Remember, gentle readers, that what I am about to relate
is no myth. Every year when the Jews go to their synagogues on the eve of Tisha
be-Av, all candles in the mosque go out of their own accord, and it is
impossible to rekindle them. And the Arabs know when it is Tisha Be-Av, and
therefore they keep it, as the Jews do. This is clear and well known to
everybody, without the slightest doubt."
In 1489 Rabbi Obadiah of Bertinoro, Italy, writes from
Jerusalem: "You ask me about the miracles which are said to take place at
the Temple Mount What can I tell you, my brother, about them?
"I have not seen them. As for the lights on the
site of the Temple, of which you have heard that they always cease to burn on
the ninth of Ab, I have been told that this is the case, but I cannot speak
with certainty respecting it."
Source: Eisenstein (ed) Otzar Massaoth, 1926, pp. 100, 121.
Culled
from: Zev Vilnay: Legends of Jerusalem, Jewish Publication Society,
1973.
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