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2000-Year-Old Ring Found in Ancient Mikvah at ‘Ir David’ in Jerusalem


A two-thousand-year-old ring with a solitaire gem stone was uncovered in archaeological excavations in the City of David National Park in Jerusalem. The ring was found by Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists in what appears to be an ancient Mikvah on the Pilgrimage Road which dates back to the time of the Bayis Sheni. The ancient paved road runs up from the Shiloach pool to Har Habayis and is thought to have been the main thoroughfare taken by pilgrims to the Beis Hamikdash.

According to archaeologists Nachshon Zenton, Moran Hajabi, Ari Levy and Dr. Joe Uziel, “Just like today, it would appear that in the past, rings and jewelry were removed before bathing, and sometimes forgotten. This phenomenon, perhaps, is behind the discovery of the ring in what appears to be a mikvah. This ring allows us to personally connect with an individual’s personal story from 2,000 years ago. The ring, along with other finds, can shed light and expose the lives of people during the Bayis Sheni period.”

Doron Speilman, Vice President of the City of David Foundation which oversees the City of David National Park where the ring was found added: “It’s incredible to think that this beautiful ring sat at the bottom of a Mikvah on the ancient Pilgrimage Road for two thousand years, until it was uncovered by archaeologists in the City of David. It is yet another piece in the puzzle that is ancient Jerusalem”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem/Photo Credit: City of David PR)

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6 Responses

  1. Yes, we Charedim keep the same halachah exactly as the Jews did 2000 years ago. Halachah states that rings are removed before immersion in a mikvah. That’s how we did it then and that’s how we do it now….along with everything else.
    Let this be a lesson to the conservatives and reform, ‘Your bankrupt plastic Judaism, will not last two generations, and your great grandchildren will be gentiles. Only adhering to the Shulchan Oruch is what constitutes real Judaism…..”

  2. “MO” Jews are also nizzur in taharah and they also remove chatzitizos before immersion. The idea that modern chareidi practice more than remotely resembles Judaism as practiced in Bayis Sheini is, frankly, laughable. If Hillel and Shamai were transported to current day Bene Brak or Geulah they would, in all likelihood, think that they were in a sectarian community resembling the Essenes.

    P.S. “MO” is in quotation marks because it is chareidism is the modern innovation. So called “MO” is authentic Judaism as practice for the last 2000 years. Judaism was, then as now, part of and immersed in local and world culture.

  3. Redleg- And of course you were there with Shamai and Hillel so you can testify to what you just made up!!!
    Anyway, I was talking about reform and conservative who don’t follow the shulchan aruch. Nobody was claiming Shamai and Hillel wore black hats..
    But yes, they did wear tzitzis…..

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