Thursday, February 19, 2015

Tomb of Ezra now a mosque?

Iraq: Video Shows Tomb of Ezra The Scribe Turned into a Mosque. Squeezed by ISIS and Iranian-backed Shia militias, Iraq's ancient Jewish heritage is slowly being destroyed and Islamized. (Lyn Julius, Arutz Sheva).
A recent Facebook video from the shrine of Ezra the Scribe, some 400 kilometres south of Baghdad, has confirmed what many have suspected for some years: this tomb, that Jews have revered since Biblical times, has now been transformed into a mosque.

[...]

But the video does show that Hebrew inscriptions still survive, namely psalms inscribed on marble or wooden plaques. These are typical of Jewish holy places in Iraq. They are shaped like lamps - the menorot of the Temple - and bear the ineffable four-letter name of God.

Peer through a window into the sarcophagus and you will see an inscription in Hebrew identifying it as the final resting place of Ezra the Scribe.

[...]
As the article notes, this seems to contradict some earlier reports that raised concern that the site had been damaged or destroyed. I haven't seen the video in question and would not have the specific knowledge necessary to evaluate its veracity. And there seems to be some confusion between this site and a synagogue in Basra.

Background here. Background on the (traditional) Tomb of Ezekiel (mentioned in the article) is here with many links.