Down the road from us there is an Islamic viallge named "Bethlehem" (most Christians have fled due to modern persecutions). During Christian holidays, the place gets transformed, and all is gaity, and Christians arrive to bring their babies to be placed on a star in the floor that basically means "This is the spot". So they lay their babies there, take the picture, and move along.
Now is that the spot? Not likely. Who the heck went back and found the spot?!
The Tomb of Rachael is also there, and I took an armored bus there once to check it out. When Jacob dropped his wife in a grave, and then centuries go by and the Jews return, who the heck found the right spot? And based on a biblical reference explained by Rashi, the Bethlehem to the North seems a more likely place. (The Jews were supposed to pass by her grave during exile from Jerusalem to Assyria. They would not have been heading south.)
And then we have the grave of Shimon bar Yochai that on Lag B'Omer, tends of thousands (if not more) people go to his gravesite to give the 3-years old boys their first haircut. How do we know he is buried there? Because a famous kabbalist once visited Sfad, walked up a hill, and said "I feel the soul of Shimon bar Yochai at this spot", and so they placed a marker!
Rabbi Meir Baal HaNess also has 2 grave sites, although only the really tacky one is really visited much (nice view of the water).
My point is, nobody knows where people who historically existed (Shimon bar Yochai and Rabbi Meir, at least) are really buried, but at least they get some mention by the historians of their day. But people don't care, they believe what they are told and stop thinking about it.
Nobody knows where he was born, because that star on the floor of the church sure isn't it. Nobody really knows where he got buried, (exume it? Heaven's no. That stake in his sacred heart is the only thing that keeps the world safe!). You would think that other than a handful of polemics, the Jews would have written SOMETHING that would have matched any part of the story, rather than the later edited insertions. Or the Romans. Or the Greeks. Or somebody.
Nope. But then, it's just a matter of faith.
Now is that the spot? Not likely. Who the heck went back and found the spot?!
The Tomb of Rachael is also there, and I took an armored bus there once to check it out. When Jacob dropped his wife in a grave, and then centuries go by and the Jews return, who the heck found the right spot? And based on a biblical reference explained by Rashi, the Bethlehem to the North seems a more likely place. (The Jews were supposed to pass by her grave during exile from Jerusalem to Assyria. They would not have been heading south.)
And then we have the grave of Shimon bar Yochai that on Lag B'Omer, tends of thousands (if not more) people go to his gravesite to give the 3-years old boys their first haircut. How do we know he is buried there? Because a famous kabbalist once visited Sfad, walked up a hill, and said "I feel the soul of Shimon bar Yochai at this spot", and so they placed a marker!
Rabbi Meir Baal HaNess also has 2 grave sites, although only the really tacky one is really visited much (nice view of the water).
My point is, nobody knows where people who historically existed (Shimon bar Yochai and Rabbi Meir, at least) are really buried, but at least they get some mention by the historians of their day. But people don't care, they believe what they are told and stop thinking about it.
Nobody knows where he was born, because that star on the floor of the church sure isn't it. Nobody really knows where he got buried, (exume it? Heaven's no. That stake in his sacred heart is the only thing that keeps the world safe!). You would think that other than a handful of polemics, the Jews would have written SOMETHING that would have matched any part of the story, rather than the later edited insertions. Or the Romans. Or the Greeks. Or somebody.
Nope. But then, it's just a matter of faith.
“I've done everything the Bible says — even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff!"— Ned Flanders
