Beit Jimal

Beit Jimal

Beit Jimal - general view
Beit Jimal
Coordinates: 31°43′30″N 34°58′35″E / 31.72500°N 34.97639°ECoordinates: 31°43′30″N 34°58′35″E / 31.72500°N 34.97639°E
St Stephen's Church
Fifth-century mosaic exterior wall of St. Stephen's Church

Beit Jimal (or Beit Jamal; Hebrew: בית ג'מאל; Arabic: بيت جمال / الحكمه‎), was once a small village, although all that remains today is a Catholic monastery, run by Salesian monks. The monks identify the site with the Byzantine town of Caphargamala, and believe that a cave there may have been the tomb of St. Stephen or to have conserved his relics. An alternative suggests that the cave site may have contained a mikveh belonging to a wealthy Jewish family. The name Beit Jamal appears to preserve the toponym Caphar Gamala (Gamala Village), which in turn suggests a link to rabbi Gamaliel.[1]

The property was purchased in 1869 by Fr. Antonio Belloni, who set up the Beit Gemal School of Agriculture for the benefit of underprivileged youth, especially orphans in 1873.[1] By 1881, a Latin Convent was being built there.[2] Fr. Belloni, who is said to have come under the influence of the ideas of John Bosco, joined the Salesians, who then took over the property in 1892.[1][3] The monastery is located in the Judean hills next to the city of Beit Shemesh. There are actually two separate monasteries, one for men and a second for women, as well as a small and well-appointed church, called St. Stephen, built in 1930 on the ruins of a 5th-century Byzantine church discovered on the site discovered in 1916, during works to enlarge the monastery garden. The mosaics on the external walls are those excavated from the Byzantine church. Tradition holds that St. Stephen was buried by Gamaliel in his own private tomb in Caphargamala.[1]Fine mosaics from the period were also brought to light.[1]The monastery produces and markets its own honey, olive oil and wine, the last of which is processed at the Cremisan monastery winery just south of Jerusalem. The monastery has a small shop that offers its locally made olive oil and red wines.[1]

There is a small concert hall, where concerts are played on some weekends. The nuns do not belong to Salesian Sisters, but rather to the Sisters of Bethlehem, part of the Sisters of the Assumption of the Virgin and the Sisters of Saint Bruno. These nuns have taken a vow of silence.

The statue, erected in 2000, commemorating St Stephen's martyerdom is the handiwork of Israeli Israeli artist Yigal Tomarkin.[1]

Name

In Arabic and Hebrew the site is known as Beit Jamal – the monastery is sometimes referenced as Beit Gemal or Beit Jimal. The name of the site is said to be from its local name (in years past), Kfar Gamla, purportedly so named for Rabban Gamliel I, or Gamaliel in Greek – president of the Sanhedrin. The Christian tradition believes that Gamaliel was buried here, as were St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr and Nicodemus. In 415 their remains were disclosed in a dream and discovered by the priest Lucian, and removed at the orders of John, Bishop of Jerusalem, for depositing in the Church of Hagia Sion on Mt. Zion, at the site of today's Abbey of the Dormition.[4] Thanks to the excavations carried out by Andrzej Strus on site, it is now largely accepted that in Byzantine times this was considered to be the burial site of St Stephen, Gamaliel, Nicodemus and Gamaliel's son Abibos.[5] In 2003, near a circular structure uncovered by Strus, was found a stone architrave or lintel with a tabula ansata. The writing on it was eventually deciphered by Emile Puech, expert in ancient writing from the Ecole Biblique.[6] The writing ran: "DIAKONIKON STEPHANOU PROTOMARTYROS", "the diakonikon of Stephen the Protomartyr". A diakonikon of a Byzantine church was one of the two spaces or chapels flanking the sanctuary, which often housed holy relics. This is therefore solid evidence for identifying Bet Gemal with the ancient Kfar Gamla, the traditional burial site of St Stephen. [7]

Geography

The Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine in 1883 described Beit Jimal (alt. sp. Beit el Jemâl) as possessing a natural spring three-quarters of a mile to the east, while to the south are caves.[8] Natural brushwood consisting mainly of oak, buckthorn and mastic trees can be seen on the adjacent hill country lying to its south. To the east of Beit Jimal at a few hours' walking distance was the Arab village, Bayt Nattif.

Meteorological Station

Israel's first meteorological station was created in Beit Jimal in 1919 and is still in operation today.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Aviva and Shmuel Bar-Am, 'Find a spiritual oasis with the monks of Beit Jamal,' The Times of Israel 14 March 2015.
  2. ↑ Conder and Kitchener, The Survey of Western Palestine, vol. iii, London 1883, p. 24
  3. ↑ Don Bosco in Terra Santa / en Terre Sainte / in the Holy Land 1891-1991. Centenario dell'arrivo dei Salesiani e delle Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice in Terra Santa (Jerusalem, 1991), 106.
  4. ↑ Antonio Scudu, Santo Stefano: primo martire cristiano: morire perdonando (booklet published by Salesiani Don Bosco, Bet Gemal, 2007) 6. (Earlier published in the magazine Maria Ausiliatrice (Turin), December 2006).
  5. ↑ Scudu 8-9. A. Strus, "Beit-Gemal puo' essere il luogo di sepoltura di Santo Stefano?" Salesianum 54 (1992) 1-26. A. Strus, Bet Gemal: Pathway to the tradition of Saints Stephen and Gamaliel, (Rome, 2000). A. Strus, Khirbet Fattir - Bet Gemal. Two Ancient Jewish and Christian Sites in Israel (Rome: LAS, 2003. A. Strus, "Bet Gemal and the Byzantine Tradition regarding St Stephen," Ecce ascendimus Jerosolymam (Lc 18, 31), ed. F. Mosetto (Rome: LAS, 2003) 399-418. Edgar Krentz, Review of Khirbet Fattir—Bet Gemal: Two Ancient Jewish and Christian Sites in Israel by Andrzej Strus, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 66/3 (July 2007) 234.
  6. ↑ Emile Puech, "Un mausolée de saint Etienne à Khirbet Jiljil - Beit Gimal (Pl. I)", Revue Biblique 113/1 (January 2006) 100-126.
  7. ↑ Scudu 9.
  8. ↑ Conder and Kitchener, The Survey of Western Palestine, vol. iii, London 1883, p. 24

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