Location of Kever Rochel and other kevarim

Rashi says that when the words AD HAYOM HAZEH are in the passuk we are take it literally.

I thought that there have always been some Jews in E”Y.

I don’t know what Possuk he is referring to, but I would imagine that it doesn’t say that there was not one single Yid in EY. It probably just means that it was relatively inhabited – like a desert with a few random bedouins wandering around.

The location of Kever Rachel was still known at the beginning of galus bavel as Rashi brings down on Breshis 48:7 that Rahel Imeinu was davka buried there so Am Yisrael could go pass her tziun on the way to Bavel. If the mesora of the tzium was preserved for hundreds of years until then, it’s not such a stretch to assume the location was known 70 years later when the galus was over and even more so after people started coming back.

I’ve heard several theories that the site known today isn’t valid but it’s from academically minded sources – I’ve yet to hear a Torah based svara. For example I’ve heard that the real location is in Adam or another that it’s in the north, however the pasukim are pretty clear that it’s a parsa from Beit Lechem in Efrat. There are those who want to say there have been multiple ancient locations named Beit Lechem but again there is only one area known as Efrat so it doesn’t make sense to assume it’s a Beit Lechem other than the one there.

Yeshiva News has reported on Rav Kanievsky visiting the site so presumably he holds it’s the right one, and there was a story about 8 years ago involving Rav Mordechai Eliyahu davening there and having a gilui of Rachel Imeinu so it would seem he held it was the right location as well. Between Bayis Sheni and the rule of the Turkish Sultan I’m not sure if there are recorded sources of the mesorah but it would be something interesting to look up.

I usually reference kevertzadik when looking for kivrei tzadikim – one of their guys does a lot of research into the sites.

Geordie – thanks for quoting the possuk. One would have to see what the mefarshim say of course, but it still seems to me that it is possible that it doesn’t mean literally “no-one”. Also, it could mean that there were specific places where no one passed by. If there were only a few Yidden left in EY, it makes sense that many parts of EY would be deserted (since the few people would probably live near each other).

lebidik yankel, Off topic, but is your username connected to song of the same title I heard a few years ago in Manchester?

It is not a Rashi in chumash but in the gemorah. I am trying to recall where.

Geordie613 and Lilmod,

I think I have the answer. Rashi on that posuk and the Gemara in Shabbos 145b limit the application of the posuk to Yehudah. ??? ????? ???? ?”? ??? ?? ??? ??? ?????? ????? (?????? ?, ?) ?? ????? ??? ??? ???? ???’ ???? ????? ??? ???? ???? ????

Yehudah refers to the portion of E”Y that was held by the Malchus Bais David after the split. So it may very well be that no person walked in Yehudah for 52 years, but other parts of E”Y were still populated and still had Jews.

Assurnet, its been a while, but you have an old post referencing “kevertzadik” as someone that does extensive research into kivrei tzedikim. For years I have wondered as to the authenticity and certainty of various kevarim. Does the aforementioned name have a web site that posts the results of his research? Do you or anyone else know of other sources that clarify “probability” or “certainty” of authenticity? Based of course on Torah, messorah and chachmei yisroel…..