Reaching Our Goal!

Shalom to all of our supporters,   

We did it! Despite the difficulties and obstacles, we managed to exceed our first target and raise over NIS 250,000! Our deep and heartfelt thanks go out to the 889 backers who immediately came forward to support our campaign and show the world that they care about the heritage of the Temple Mount.

We are thrilled by the broad support we have received from the general public and from the media that covered the issue and a special thanks goes out to Avri Gilad (an Israeli TV and radio top celebrity) whose viral video in support of our project brought us an additional 200 backers in this campaign. Your support enables us to continue the research on the artifacts from the Temple Mount until the end of this year!

We reached our goal so quickly, we are now able to go on to phase two! We are continuing to strive and reach funding sources for the continuation of our research in the years to come, the types of artifacts that do not yet have funding, and the publication of this research. The full study will yield many more discoveries about the artifacts we have recovered. This will be included in a series of volumes of scientific publications (the first 4 are planned for 2019), as well as a number of articles for the general public. Once we’ve funded the full research, we will also be able to resume the sifting work that has stopped.

GOAL 2: Fully Fund Our Research and Resume Sifting

We need about NIS 6.8 million ($1.8M). Since this is a significant amount, we are working to obtain the balance of the funding from several channels. Here is our plan on how to get it (with your help):

1) Several government offices are working on findings solutions for our funding needs though nothing is concrete yet and we still don’t have promises with specifics (We received pledges for full funding of the project and meetings were scheduled, but no decision has yet been made). We will update you once something has been officially announced.

2) Public support – so far we have raised NIS 250,000 with your help! We will continue to run the Headstart Campaign for our Israeli supporters, but we will also reopen our half-shekel.org platform. This will enable donors to give in dollars as well as have an option to give a tax-deductible donation in the US and UK. Please share our campaign on half-shekel.org with your friends who could not give in NIS.

3) Philanthropic donors – We have been promised $70,000 in donations so far and are working on applications for grants and matching campaigns.

We will update the text of the campaign pages to keep you apprised of the situation and we will post any important updates on the blog as well. This way, you can monitor our progress and keep track of the government’s promises.

Showing your support for our campaign has far-reaching effects.

So far, our campaign has been the catalyst for momentum in various processes within government institutions and also with donors from abroad. Many influential people (including the Prime Mininster’s Office) are following the public’s support for the campaign. The state’s obligation to protect its heritage can no longer be ignored because YOUR support has created a new discourse and standards that have never before existed.

Even more, your contribution and your caring has encouraged philanthropists to reach out to our project. This means that your donation is being matched many times over.

Israel Antiquities Authority director, Israel Hasson, said last week on the radio that he sees “great value in the current campaign which is bringing the public closer to this important cause.” Your support of our project and of this campaign is an act that indicates that the public is at the front of the struggle for the future of the protection of heritage and cultural values.

Giving to our campaign is almost like signing a petition for the protection of Temple Mount Heritage, and every name on the list, no matter the size of the donation, has a huge impact.

This is even more important in the wake of resolutions like that of UNESCO last October and as recently as this week on Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day. When the world tries to tell us that there is no Jewish or Christian connection to Jerusalem, or that there was never a Jewish Temple upon the Temple Mount, your voice in support of our archaeological research that provides evidence to contradict these outrageous resolutions is even more important. Your support shows the world that we will not stand for the rewriting of history, the ignorance of evidence and research, and the erasure of our heritage.

We cherish, appreciate, and thank each and every one of you. With great appreciation,

Gabriel Barkay, Zachi Dvira, and the TMSP Team

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Updates, News, and Tours

Hello blogworld!

We have a number of important updates to share with you.

Current Campaign Stats:

189,200 shekel 

pledged by 550 backers.

That’s 76% of our goal!

 

BUT…

Our momentum has slowed because of two statements issued by the Prime Minister’s Office and the Israel Antiquities Authority assuring everyone that they are taking care of our project. We appreciate all the help that we can get, but unfortunately, these two statements are based on vague promises not actions, and have detrimentally affected our campaign. Everyone we have spoken to or reached out to has said, “but isn’t the government now taking care of it?”

In short, the answer is no. None of these offices have given us any concrete pledge or solution.

We need your help to share the truth of the situation and help us get the momentum of our campaign running again. So here are the facts:

Facts:

1. This campaign is all or nothing. According to the rules of this campaign, if we do not reach our initial target amount (250,000 NIS), your credit card will not be charged and we will not receive a single shekel that has been donated so far. That is over $50,000 that we will not see.
2. The Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement saying that our problems had been resolved, but in practice, even a meeting had not yet been scheduled.
3. The Antiquities Authority also issued a statement that they were searching for a solution to our problem, but we have not even been contacted to discuss this.
4. Even if the government eventually steps in, they will provide support – not funding for the whole project. This will also take time we do not have before we have to close our doors.
5. At this stage, we are raising the funds necessary to complete our research on the artifacts already discovered by our project.
6. Only once we have funded our research will we be able to move on to our second goal which is to publish this research and then resume the sifting of the rest of the material from the Temple Mount.
7. The sifting activity currently taking place at Emek Tzurim through Ir David is no longer related to our project. They are not sifting material from the Temple Mount, but rather material from various IAA excavations.

Unfortunately, and as we all know, promises are not actions. Please help us spread the word that these official statements from the different government offices are not telling the full truth of the situation.

How can we reach our goal? With YOUR help.

Please massively distribute the link to our project’s campaign to your circles of influence with an explanation of its importance and a warm recommendation to support our crowdfunding campaign.

Send it to your email list, publish it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, family, friends, neighbors, colleagues and more.

Click HERE for the link 

You are the heart and motivation of the sifting and research of the heritage of the Temple Mount and for this you have our deepest thanks.

Please help us complete this process.

In Other News:

• Our arrowhead replicas are ready to go (and available as gifts on our campaign website)!

• NEW! Guided Tours!

June 8th – Tour the Temple Mount itself with our Director Zachi Dvira who has been studying this holy and complex site for the last 18 years. (Hebrew)

June 15th – Tour Ir David with one of its excavators. Learn the inside scoop about the history of this fantastic city. (Hebrew)

Join a tour by clicking on the appropriate gift in our crowdfunding campaign. Not only will you learn something, have a great day out on the (ancient) town, but you will do a huge mitzvah in helping our project too!

Can’t make it?

Form a group of 10+ and we can schedule a private tour in English or Hebrew.

Is this Egyptian statue fragment the last artifact to be shared with you?

Has part of an Egyptian Statue been discovered on the Temple Mount?

Fragment of a finger of an Egyptian statue

A finger of a statue has been discovered by the Temple Mount Sifting Project. The finger is currently being examined by the leading experts in the field who have determined that the statue probably originated in Egypt, though there is a need for further in-depth research in order to accurately date it. The Temple Mount Sifting Project, which is struggling to remain open in the face of depleted funds, has recently launched a crowdfunding campaign calling on the public to support the research and publication of the many finds discovered over the years, and secure the project’s future.

The statue fragment was discovered within the soil dumped in the Kidron Valley by the Muslim Waqf in 1999; soil which originated from an illegal excavation which took place on the Temple Mount.

Statue of Egyptian Pharoah, Thutmose III from the British Museum (GoogleImages)

“This is a fragment of a life-size statue, which was made in Egypt and imported to Canaan,” reports Dr. Gabriel Barkay, co-director of the Temple Mount Sifting Project. “We clearly notice that this is part of a pinky finger measuring 3.5 cm, from a man’s hand, which includes also a fingernail. The statue is made of a hard black stone originating in Egypt. The statue most likely represented a figure of a god or king. The black stone from which the statue is manufactured testifies to its Egyptian origin.”

The finger has been examined by archaeologists who specialize in early art from the Land of Israel. Though the identification and dating are not yet certain, according to Dr. Barkay the statue fragment was probably made in the Egyptian art style common during the Late Bronze Age (about 3500 years ago). We cannot exclude the possibility that the statue is from a later period.

The Temple Mount Sifting Project has yielded additional artifacts which were imported from Egypt or manufactured under Egyptian influence. Among them is an additional statue fragment of a man’s shoulder, scarabs (amulets shaped like dung beetles), seal impressions, and Egyptian-style jewelry all dating to the Late Bronze Age.

Egyptian scarabs found in the Temple Mount soil by the Sifting Project

Amulet of Thutmose III found in the Temple Mount soil by the Sifting Project

These artifacts join others from this period which were discovered in recent years in the City of David, as well as artifacts which may testify to the existence of an Egyptian Temple in Jerusalem in the area of the St. Etienne Monastery near Damascus Gate, and dated to the 13^th century BCE (prior to the date traditionally attributed to the Exodus of Israelites from Egypt).

Ancient Egypt ruled over the Land of Israel during the second half of the 2nd Millennium BCE, the days of the Egyptian New Kingdom and of the 18^th, 19^th and 20^th dynasties. Jerusalem is known to have been a semi-autonomous city-state, located in the Egyptian province of Canaan.

The finger fragment found by the project will be handed over to additional experts who can clarify its date.

Check out our cool video where Dr. Aaron Greener speaks about this Egyptian Finger!

The accurate dating of this artifact is just one example of the many research questions which the Temple Mount Sifting Project is attempting to solve while researching the many finds accumulated during the past 12 years of sifting. Unfortunately, many archaeological excavations fail to publish scientific reports and many important finds are left in the oblivion of the warehouses of University, museum, or government archaeological institutes. Without publication, it is as if these artifacts had never been found. The directors of the Temple Mount Sifting Project are working tirelessly to prevent a similar fate for the hundreds of thousands of artifacts discovered by the project. Publication is crucial due to the archaeological importance and national significance of these artifacts. They are also the cultural heritage of billions of people around the world who have a right to know about them.

The Temple Mount Sifting Project launched a crowdfunding campaign a few days ago in order to recruit wide public support to help the project continue the important work of researching these artifacts. Zachi Dvira, founder and co-director of the project, said that the public has demonstrated how much the historical heritage is dear to them. Half of the full sum needed for funding the annual research was raised within the first three days of the campaign. “We hope that the public – recognizing the great significance of the project – will continue to support us in the future.”

Important note: Last week media reports about Prime Minister Netanyahu’s intervention for resuming the sifting were not accurate. The sifting was not resumed, but a meeting will be scheduled for after the Passover holiday to resolve the crisis in order to resume the sifting. As we mentioned in our first announcement, the main problem we are facing is finding the funding for the research and publication of the many artifacts that we have recovered. The sifting cannot be resumed until this is solved.

Please consider giving to our crowdfunding campaign. We’ve already raised over 168,000 shekel of our goal, but we need your help to go all the way. In this campaign, we get all or nothing, so please help us make sure that this campaign succeeds and we can continue our important research, and share it with you, this year.

Don’t let this be the last bit of research we can complete

and share with you.

Click Here to Donate Now