the lamp post

In one of the dark alleys of old Hebron there is still a gate with a lintel built of three ashlar stones, each of which has a lamp engraved on it. However, the two extremes stand upright with their knees up, while the middle one is the other way around.

When the Yeshishis of Hebron, at the beginning of this century, were asked about the nature of this doorframe, they would tell a wonderful legend:

"The act of Rabbi Jacob ben Yosafia, who came to Rome and stood across from Titus' gate. He stood and wept until he made a vow, that if God will bless him and he ascends and comes to the Holy Land, he will build his house in the city of the ancestors and at his gate he will place a lamp carved in stone, like the carved lamp at the Titus Gate. Rabbi Yaakov Yosefia's funeral and he arrived in Hebron, he stood and mounted on the gate of his house a lintel with three stones- Gazit carved in the Hebrew lamps.

But they would ask: What are two of the pedestals standing on, and they stand upright, while the third, the middle one, is upside down? And they answered: a symbol of the three towers that were built at the time on the graves of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But when the crusaders came and approached the cave, the anger of Isaac our father rose, he was a fanatic, and he blinded those who came. The crusaders retraced their steps and their eyes were opened. When they returned a second time, he returned and blinded them again, but when they dared to enter the cave, Isaac's tower fell on his face and only the other two towers remained, Abraham's and Jacob's, which were merciful and forgiving in their ways. We stand on a rut until this day."

This is how the three lamps are: the first and last stand upright, while the middle one is upside down with its head down...

(The book of Hebron according to the poem 'The Lamp Frame in Hebron to the Land of Lebanon)