Piece of stone, only remnant of the original gravestone of Joseph's Tomb in Shechem (Nablus).
The present stone was taken from the site of Joseph's Tomb in Shechem, after it was set on fire and destroyed by Palestinian rioters. The grave's stone marker was then completely shattered, and its fragments later disposed of. The present stone was taken before the site was cleared out, and is the last remnant of the gravestone which marked Joseph's Tomb since the Ottoman period. The stone was rescued by R. Nachman (Nachi) Weiss, a Breslov Chassid and prominent activist of behalf of Joseph's Tomb, and he guarded it for many years.
Background:
In 1868, the British consul in Damascus, Edward Thomas Rogers, built a structure with a dome over Joseph's Tomb. The building was later renovated in 1894-1900, and the adjacent rooms were added, with the funding of Abdul Hamid II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
For over a century, the structure over the tombstone stood, serving as a pilgrimage site for Jews, Samaritans, Christians and Muslims alike.
After the Oslo Accords, Joseph's Tomb, which stands in the center of the Balata refugee camp, became a target for attacks. With the outbreak of the Second Intifada, thousands of Palestinian residents of Nablus went and set the Tomb complex ablaze, while the Israel Defense Force fled the site under fire - abandoning Jewish control of the site since 1967. Shortly thereafter, the site was renovated under the orders of Yasser Arafat, but the place remained desolate for close to two years. Only in 2002, under Operation Protective Shield, did large groups of Breslov Chassidim begin to pay clandestine visits to the site, and the IDF later allowed entry to organized groups.
In July 2002, terrorists placed an explosive device in the room of the tomb, and the structure was severely damaged from the blast. Three months later, on Yom Kippur 2002, the structure was again set alight and burnt for 24 hours straight, due to huge amounts of kerosene and chemicals poured onto it. The site of the Tomb was destroyed, and throughout that winter, Palestinian rioters continued vandalizing the place, gradually breaking the stone marker until they destroyed it completely.
R. Nachman (Nachi) Weiss, a Breslov Chassid and leading activist on behalf of Joseph's Tomb, was one of the regular visitors to the site, and he documented these events with his camera. On one of the Breslov infiltrations to the site, Weiss decided to take one stone from the remnants of the shattered gravestone, which would serve as a souvenir of the gravestone where Jews had prayed for generations.
Some 8 years after it was abandoned, on Chanukah 2008, a group of Jewish workers alongside workers of the Palestinian council of Nablus entered the site and began clearing out all garbage and waste in preparation for its renovation. Throughout the night, Joseph's Tomb was cleared of waste, stones, scraps of metal and cars, which the council trucks evacuated to the central landfill. This was done without any governmental or organizational supervision, and without distinguishing between the large amount of waste and the fragments of the actual stone marker. Thus, the gravestone was discarded and this stone is actually the only remnant of the original gravestone.
For years, Weiss guarded the stone in a safe, and dreamed of setting it in the unfinished square cubit on the wall of his home in remembrance of the destruction of the Temple. Yet recently, Weiss declared his intention to sell this stone, to fund the publication of his upcoming book.
Stone: approx. 20X8X3.5 cm. Inscribed: "Incursion in Nablus, Adar II 2003, with Moshe Berber and Breslov Chassidim, at 6:30 am".
Enclosed: Book, Kever Yosef - Kach Nifretzah HaDerech by Nachman Weiss, Jerusalem 2018.