The Cave Discovered Thanks to a Dog
Beneath the alleys and houses of the Muslim quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem hides a huge, man-made cave. The opening leading to the cave, located near the Nablus Gate, is small and narrow relative to its size, so the surprise when entering it is redoubled.
The Zedekiah Cave is the largest man-made cave in Israel, and is entirely carved out of the hard limestone rock of Jerusalem. The cave was initially natural and small, but the residents of the city began to use it as a quarry and gradually enlarged it over the years. The stonecutters left rock pillars and walls to support the cave’s ceiling, and today it is divided into halls and large spaces.
In English, the cave is called "King Solomon's Quarries", although there is no evidence that it was indeed used during the First Temple period. However, there is reason to believe that it was used as the main source of stones when King Herod rebuilt the Second Temple. The last time the cave was used as a quarry was in 1907, when the Ottoman authorities built a clock tower on the Jaffa Gate in honor of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. The tower was dismantled by the British in 1922.
Jewish tradition connects the cave to King Zedekiah, the last king of Judah. According to this tradition, when the Babylonians were besieging Jerusalem, the king hid in the cave and escaped to the Jericho plains. As described in the book of Jeremiah, the Babylonians pursued Zedekiah and captured him, killed his sons in front of him, gouged out his eyes and imprisoned him until his death. The small spring that flows inside the cave was created, according to this tradition, from the tears of the blind king, who continues to mourn the destruction of the city to this day.
After the conquest of Jerusalem by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Great in the 16th century, a new city wall was built and the entrance to the cave was blocked, and as a result forgotten for about 300 years. The cave entrance was rediscovered only in 1854, thanks to a dog. The British biblical scholar James Barclay went for a walk with his dog near the Nablus gate, but suddenly the dog disappeared. During the search it turned out that it fell into the opening of a large cave that was covered with garbage and exposed by the heavy rains that fell that year.
Many graffiti inscriptions can be found at the lower part of the cave, and many legends and tales have been associated with it, such as stories about lost treasures that were buried in it. Due to the connection, apparently wrong, of the cave with King Solomon, it became an important site for the Freemasons as well, since King Solomon as the Great Mason is considered as the spiritual father of the Order. Charles Warren, one of the first and most important researchers of Jerusalem in the 19th century, who was a Freemason, got permission from the Ottoman authorities to hold the ceremonies of the Jerusalem Chamber of the Freemasons in the largest hall of the cave. Since then to this day, for many years, various lodge ceremonies are held in this hall, which is why it is called the "Masonic Hall".
(Anecdote authored by: עמיר)
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English 
עִבְרִית