As we sit on the floor and mourn Jerusalem, Yossi Avdo and Rabbi Zvi Grynszpan embark on a special documentary journey beneath the surface.
From the City of David to the Davidson Center, they show up close how the destruction is not just a fairy tale – but a physical reality that can actually be touched. The camera turns on, and the journey to the bowels of the earth begins.
A street that millions of pilgrims walked on singing. Two meters below it, in the darkness, the last Jews hid in Jerusalem’s final days. These two floors – life and destruction – exist one above the other to this day. In the past decade, the Jerusalem of the Second Temple has been revealed at an unprecedented pace, and the destruction that we mourn during the fast is becoming a physical find that can be touched. Now, they are descending to it underground.
“We are in the City of David National Park, one of the most prominent and significant heritage sites in Israel,” Yossi Avdo begins the broadcast. From here, the journey begins, together with Rabbi Zvi Grynszpan on the Pilgrims’ Path!
The pool, the street, and the crowds.
Rabbi Zvi Grinszpan, a tour guide and tour guide in the Old City, started at the first stop, the Pool of Siloam. For years, only a small section of it had been uncovered. Recently, its full circumference was discovered: seventy meters wide. "This vast area is much larger than the needs of the city's residents," explains Rabbi Zvi Grinszpan. "It was intended for the crowds of pilgrims."
Here, in the waters of the Spring of Life, the crowds were baptized. From here the water was pumped to anoint the altar during Sukkot, and from here it was taken for the purification of the Red Cow. From the Pool of Siloam begins the "Pilgrims' Path" - a paved avenue 50 meters wide, which was buried under rubble and was only excavated in the last 15 years.
How many people really walked on these stones? The Talmud says that King Agrippa counted about one million two hundred thousand Passover victims. With a quick calculation of 11 people per group, that's about 13 million people.
Life and Death, Two Meters Below Ground
Underneath the magnificent pavement on which the pilgrims sang, runs the city's drainage canal. In 70 AD, it became a death trap. Cooking pots, oil lamps, and even a Roman sword in a scabbard were uncovered between the canal's walls.
From the tunnel and the darkness, the cameras emerge into the light. "We have arrived at the Davidson Center for Archaeology, one of the most important and exciting heritage sites in Jerusalem and Israel, part of the tourist attractions of the Jewish Quarter."
Here, at the foot of the Southern Wall and the Temple Mount, the finds are rare. In a unique purification bath that was uncovered there, a separating railing was built in the middle of the steps - to prevent contact between an impure person who goes down into the water and a pure person who comes up from them.
Nearby, lies a huge stone that fell from the corner of the Temple Mount, and on it are engraved the words: "To the house of the smiting." This is the original sign that instructed the priests (many of whom came to the vigil only once every six months and were unfamiliar with the Temple) where to stand to blow the trumpets for the start of the Sabbath.
The stones that were not moved
"Zion will be plowed up," Jeremiah prophesied, and yet the vast Western Wall survived. The remaining stones of the Temple that fell were taken by Arabs and Muslim rulers about 1,300 years ago to build their palaces. To this day, in the Old City, stones from the destruction can be found incorporated into Arab residences in Old Bir.
At the end of the route, the original staircase from the Second Temple was revealed, with the "Hulda Gates" above it. The southern entrance for the masses to the Temple Mount. This is the closest point to the Temple that can be reached. "We are standing here in the closest place to the Divine Presence. Despite the immense destruction. It is still here," concludes Rabbi Grynszpan.
A visit to the route connecting the City of David to the Davidson Center is a journey to the heartbeat of ancient Jerusalem, where history simply came to life from the ground. The rare finds turn the pages of history into a living reality, with each stone telling a story of glory, destruction and hope, and bridging two thousand years of separation.
This is a must-see experience for anyone who wants to touch the stones that remember everything, to walk exactly on the path our ancestors walked, and to feel up close the deep and eternal connection to the roots of the people of Israel.
Credits:
Research and submission: Yossi Abdo, Photography: Shmuel Aryeh, Video editing: Yedidia Cohen, Content editing: Yossi Abdo, Production: Asher Roth, Thanks: Davidson Center and the City of David.
