Ashel Avraham

Up a hill in the west of Hebron, in the courtyard of a Russian church - Muscovy, stands a very ancient tree popularly known as "Eshel Avraham". The tree is actually an acorn oak, one of the ancient remains of the extensive oak forest that covered the Judean Mountains in the distant past. The circumference of the trunk of the ancient tree is about 10 meters.

A mistaken legend tells that the tree is the same oak under which our father Abraham pitched his tent when he settled in the oaks of Mere near Hebron, and next to which the angels appeared to him.

The ancient tree in Hebron, attributed to the days of Abraham our father, became famous all over the world as a tree with healing properties. The tradition about the miraculous properties of the branches of the tree almost caused its destruction. After hundreds of years took leaves and branches from it, the tree was surrounded by a strong fence, to prevent further damage to it.

The genealogy of the oak tree that is interesting to Abraham our father, is wrong because Avraham planted the "Eshel" in Be'er Sheva and this tree is far from the oaks of Mera and the heart of the city of Hebron.

Today the tree is located in an area where Jews are not allowed to enter. Since the Hebron Agreement, in which the Israeli government handed over 85% of Hebron to the Palestinian Authority, the area has been under the control of the Palestinians and since then the ancient tree has dried up.