Have you been missing out on Israel’s most historic and meaningful areas? Do you visit Israel’s heartland or do you stick the major metropolitan areas like Jerusalem, Netanya, or Tel Aviv?
Tel Aviv is a wonderful city. It was founded on April 11, 1909, when 66 Jewish families gathered on sand dunes north of Jaffa to draw lots using seashells for plots in a new neighborhood initially called Ahuzat Bayit.
Renamed Tel Aviv (“Hill of Spring”) in 1910, inspired by Herzl’s Altneuland and the Hebrew Bible, it grew rapidly as a modern Hebrew city. It became Israel’s provisional capital in 1948 when independence was declared there, evolving into a vibrant economic and cultural hub. Today, Tel Aviv is a thriving metropolis balancing culture, the beach, and the hi-tech Start-Up Nation.
But Tel Aviv is a modern city; it doesn’t boast the long history cities like Jerusalem, Beersheba, or even 2,000-year-old Haifa.
This doesn’t mean there isn’t value to Israel’s modern cities, but they aren’t the heart – and soul – of the Jewish land.
Most of the nations of the world considers Israel’s control of the historic Judea and Samaria region (what the world calls the “West Bank”) as an illegal occupation – and Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians who live there as an apartheid.
In their vision of the future of the Middle East and the end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel would evict all its citizens from the West Bank and a Palestinian state would be founded in place of the former Israeli towns.
These nations feel comfortable demanding Israel abandon its towns and expel its citizens because they consider the West Bank Palestinian land. Most of the nations don’t even consider Jerusalem to be Jewish land.
They keep their embassies in Tel Aviv because, in their estimation, Tel Aviv and the coastline are Jewish land and the West Bank is Palestinian. They couldn’t be more mistaken.
Judea and Samaria are at the historic heartland of the Jewish people. There are locations in that area that stand as living tributes to Israel’s history. These cities are well-documented archaeological treasures that provide strong evidence of ancient Jewish historical presence and rights to the land.
Exploring Israel’s historic heartland
These places tie directly into biblical narratives of Jewish heritage, from patriarchal times through the periods of the Judges, monarchy, and beyond. They emphasize the continuous Jewish connection through worship, settlement, and governance.
Tel Shiloh is ancient Shiloh, the site where the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant stood for nearly 400 years as Israel’s central sanctuary.
Excavations have uncovered massive deposits of sacrificial animal bones (mostly kosher species), cultic vessels, altar horns, a ceramic pomegranate (symbolic in priestly contexts), and a monumental stone structure matching the Tabernacle’s biblical dimensions and east-west orientation from the Iron Age I period, the time of Joshua, Eli, and Samuel.
These confirm Shiloh as a key Israelite cultic center.
The Cave of the Patriarchs (Machpelah) in Hebron is the burial site of the biblical patriarchs and matriarchs Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, and Leah. While the cave itself remains unexcavated, the surrounding Tel Hebron reveals massive Bronze Age fortifications, Iron Age structures, and Second Temple-period mikvaot (“ritual baths”), indicating Jewish ritual purity practices, underscoring Hebron’s role as a patriarchal and Judahite center.
Rachel’s Tomb, known as Kever Rachel, located on the outskirts of Bethlehem just south of Jerusalem, is revered as the burial place of the matriarch Rachel, wife of Jacob and mother of Joseph and Benjamin. According to Jewish tradition, Jacob buried her roadside, not in the Cave of Machpelah with other patriarchs, because he prophetically foresaw her descendants passing by on that road during exile after the Temple’s destruction. This placement allowed Rachel to intercede for her “children” in their suffering, weeping and praying for them, and elicit God’s promise of eventual return and redemption.
As the quintessential Jewish mother embodying compassion, sacrifice, and endless mercy, Rachel symbolizes maternal comfort and fertility, especially for childless women who pray there, as well as the unbreakable bond between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel. It ranks among Judaism’s most meaningful sites, often third after the Temple Mount and Cave of Machpelah, and has drawn visitors for centuries, serving as a focal point for prayer, hope, and national identity.
Ancient Samaria, the capital of the Kingdom of Israel, was built by King Omri. Excavations expose the massive Israelite royal palace complex, which is one of the largest Iron Age structures in the Levant, administrative ostraca, inscribed pottery shards recording taxes and resources in ancient Hebrew, and pre-Omride cisterns and agricultural installations, proving centralized Israelite governance and economy in the region.
Qasr al-Yahud, meaning “Castle of the Jews” in Arabic, is a site on the western bank of the Jordan River in Judea and Samaria, near Jericho and about 15 kilometers north of the Dead Sea. Its name and tradition derive primarily from Jewish biblical history. It is identified as one of the key crossing points where the Israelites, led by Joshua, miraculously crossed the Jordan River and entered into the Promised Land after the Exodus from Egypt, with the river’s waters parting as the Ark of the Covenant was carried through.
Centuries later, tradition holds it as the spot where the prophet Elijah ascended to heaven in a fiery chariot, witnessed by Elisha. This deep Jewish significance, symbolizing entry into sovereignty and divine transition, predates its later Christian associations. The site gained prominence as a pilgrimage location in late antiquity, managed today by Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority as a serene riverbank spot. It has to be seen to be believed.
These treasures, rooted in verifiable digs by teams like those at Shiloh, Hebron, and Samaria, highlight the deep, factual Jewish historical footprint in Judea and Samaria, from worship sites to royal capitals.
Visiting Judea and Samaria’s sacred sites, like those mentioned in this column, offers a profound connection to Jewish heritage, revealing biblical roots through tangible archaeology.
It’s absurd to deem this as the “West Bank” and Palestinian land. Judea and Samaria are unequivocally the historic heartland of the Jewish people and integral to modern Israel, demanding recognition and preservation against misguided international claims.
The writer is a certified interfaith hospice chaplain in Jerusalem and the mayor of Mitzpe Yeriho.