Top 10 Topics from 5777

I can’t believe that another year has passed. As Rosh Hashanah approaches, I want to take a minute to look back at the crazy year we have had. To be honest, we have had a lot of ups and downs, but through it all, our biggest strength has been our supporters. Your generosity and messages of encouragement have helped us to continue our important work and have helped us climb those mountains of bad news that have faced us this past year. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

So let’s take a look at the past year! I went through our English Facebook Page (follow us if you haven’t already!) and tallied up the posts that made the most impact: most likes, shares, views, and comments. From finds, to videos, to urgent appeals for support, you have stood by us and shared this with us.

10. Early Islamic Artifacts

This post talked about some Early Islamic Period artifacts and linked to our blog post about the possible destruction layer we uncovered.

Golden Mosaics from the Dome of the Rock

9. Evidence of the Greeks on the Temple Mount

This post celebrated the holiday of Channukkah and talked about Greek finds on the Temple Mount including a coin with the face of Antiochus Epiphanes IV who is the villain of the Channukkah story. Check out the whole story HERE.

Greek coin with the face of King Antiochus Epiphanes IV

8. Archaeologists Restore Temple Mount Flooring from Waqf’s Trash

This was an article about our reconstructed Second Temple floor patterns published by Haaretz. Our floors have always been a popular topic. 🙂 Here is a link to the whole article: http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/archaeology/1.740548

7. Lost and Found: A modern day bracelet

We found a modern day 10K gold bracelet and are (still) trying to find the owner. It has an Israeli girl’s name written in English letters. It is very small and may have belonged to a child. It was lost on the Temple Mount before 1999. Share the story and help us find the owner!

6. Our video asking you to “Join Us” in our Annual Appeal.

Thank you to everyone who liked, shared, and donated in our Annual Appeal. Knowing that we have consistent supporters really makes us feel like you are part of our Sifting Project Family. Don’t forget, it’s an annual appeal so you will be hearing from me again ;).

5. Six-Day War Artifacts in the Temple Mount Soil.

Machine gun magazines, bullets, Jordanian coins, and uniform badges were found in sifting the soil from the Temple Mount. The artifacts tell the story of the unification of Jerusalem during the Six-Day War. Check out the whole article in the Times of Israel and watch the video we put together in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Unification of Jerusalem.

4. Evidence of the Jewish Temples on the Temple Mount

Last October, UNESCO adopted a biased and political resolution that disregarded Judaism’s historic connection to the Temple Mount, cast doubts regarding the Jewish connection to the Western Wall, and protested against the Israel Antiquities Authority’s attempts to supervise construction work on and around the Temple Mount in order to preserve the antiquities and other archaeological data. In response to this resolution, we wrote a blog post that outlined a lot of the archaeological evidence that we have of the Jewish temples on the Temple Mount. This was widely shared and is one of the most important posts we have written. Please read and share because the Temple Denial Movement is real and we have to know how to respond to it with educated answers. Click here for the full text of the post.

Artifacts from the First and Second Temples

3. The Most Powerful Video about UNESCO and the Temple Denial Movement

This video was put out by Channel 2 News here in Israel. Seen in Hebrew by more than 1 MILLION people on Facebook alone, we added English subtitles so that it could be shared with people around the world. It is important to respect the narratives of people today, but this needs to be in addition to, and not at the expense of, real history. It is also easier to find common ground when relating to each other through facts and history than solely through hard-won respect for beliefs and narratives. Please watch and share.

2. Our Temple Mount Tour videos

Over the past few weeks, we have posted 11 (so far) videos touring the Temple Mount with Dr. Gabriel Barkay and Zachi Dvira and talking about different features on the Temple Mount. All of these videos have been very popular and we promise to keep making them. Here is a link to the whole playlist on YouTube.

1. Closing the Sifting Project

When we were forced to stop sifting the Temple Mount material this past April, we were all in shock. How were we going to move forward? How were we going to continue our research? We turned to you and let you know about the situation. You shared the video hundreds of times and it reached more than 34,000 people. We were able to raise over 200,000 shekels and because of that we were able to continue our research this year while we try to come up with the funding to resume the sifting. We cannot thank you enough for your support. At our darkest hour, you made such a difference to us and to our project. Government help takes a long time to initiate and we aren’t in the clear yet, but knowing that we can count on you makes all the difference.

Make Me a Match!

“Matchmaker Matchmaker make me a match! Find me a find! Catch me a catch!”

Well we’ve definitely got finds, but starting today, we’ve also got matching!

Starting Today, thanks to a very generous donor, every donation made on www.half-shekel.org will be DOUBLED until we raise $20,000.

2000 years ago, you would have given a half-shekel coin as tribute to the Temple.

You could only give HALF of what was needed and your neighbor’s contribution would COMPLETE the donation.

We are officially in the three weeks of Jewish mourning that culminates in the fast day on the 9th of Av to commemorate the destruction of the Temple and many other terrible events in Jewish history. It is a common practice to learn about the Temple construction and laws during this time. We will do our part by providing videos and information from our research about these topics.

Do your part by helping us complete our research on First and Second Temple Period architectural fragments and other artifacts.

Give now at www.half-shekel.org and double YOUR impact.

What Can We Do with NIS 300,000?

End of the Giveback Campaign : Continuation at Half-shekel.org

 

We can’t believe that this campaign is already over. We are so grateful to each and every one of you who showed your support for our project and became a backer of this campaign. You have showed the Israeli government and the world that this project needs to continue and has the support of the local community and the world.

We have raised NIS 300,782 from 1117 backers which is 120% of our original goal. We are now able to keep our lab open until the end of the year, and we are now able to expand some of our research topics. We are on course to reach our publication deadline in 2019 and if we can continue to receive the support that we need, we will be able to resume the sifting of the Temple Mount earth.

You are the reason that we do what we do. Archaeological research means nothing if it is not shared. Your messages, emails, volunteering, and your donations help strengthen our resolve and shows us that we are doing the right thing. We could not do what we do without you, and we want to let you know that you are now, and forever will be, part of our TMSP family.

Gifts

We had an overwhelming response to this campaign. That being said, we hope to send out all gifts within two months.

If you are attending one of our gift tours, we will send out information about where to meet and when by email as soon as possible. All tours are in Hebrew only. The tour with Zachi Dvira on the Temple Mount will take place on June 8^th. The tour with Eli Shukrun at Ir David will take place on June 15^th. The tour with Gaby Barkay on the Temple Mount will take place on June 18^th. There are still places available to join the tour on the 15^th and the 18^th of June. Please contact development@tmsifting.org if you know someone interested in attending. We are also happy to organize tours in English for groups of 10+.

If you will receive an invitation to visit us at our research lab, or to have a lecture in your community, we will be in touch to set up a time to do so. If you have any questions or special requests, please feel free to be in touch with development@tmsifting.org.

Continuing

We will be continuing to work toward our publication goal by continuing this campaign in English and Hebrew as well as many other languages at www.half-shekel.org. There are options to give in shekel and dollars as well as tax-deductible donations from the US and the UK. Please pass on this information to your friends and family.

If you would like to continue to receive updates about our project as well as hear about current research and finds, please sign up for our quarterly English newsletter. Also, like our English or Hebrew page (or both!) on facebook and follow our blog or follow us on Twitter @TMSifting.

Thank You

Again, thank you so much for your support. There are no words to express our deepest gratitude. Thank you.

~Dr. Gabriel Barkay, Zachi Dvira, and the staff of the Temple Mount Sifting Project