Editing Hebron (section)

=== Religious traditions ===
[[File:Abraham's Oak Holy Trinity Monastery.jpg|left|thumb|[[:File:Russian Orthodox Monastery in Hebron.jpg|Russian Orthodox Monastery in Hebron]]]]
Some Jewish traditions regarding [[Adam]] place him in Hebron after his expulsion from [[Garden of Eden|Eden]]. Another has [[Cain]] kill [[Abel]] there. A third has [[Adam and Eve]] buried in the cave of Machpelah. A Jewish-Christian tradition had it that Adam was formed from the red clay of the field of [[Damascus]], near Hebron.<ref name="Vilnay 1973 170–172">{{harvnb|Vilnay|1973|pp=170–72}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=bSpJAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA223 Miscellanies of divinitie: divided into three books] Edward Kellet, 1633. p. 223: "Sixthly, the field of Damascus, where the red earth lieth, of which they report Adam was formed; which earth is tough, and may be wrought like wax, and lieth close by Hebron."</ref> A tradition arose in medieval Jewish texts that the Cave of the Patriarchs itself was the very entrance to the [[Garden of Eden]].<ref>{{harvnb|Neuman|2018|p=1}}</ref> During the Middle Ages, pilgrims and the inhabitants of Hebron would eat the red earth as a charm against misfortune.<ref>{{cite book|author=Marcus Milwright|title=The Fortress of the Raven: Karak in the Middle Islamic Period (1100 -1650)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y7w7TW4NVBcC&pg=PA119|year=2008|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-16519-9|page=119}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=J. G. R. Forlong|title=Encyclopedia of Religions Or Faiths of Man 1906, Part 2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7jz-6wHrg2QC&pg=PA220|year=2003|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|isbn=978-0-7661-4308-1|page=220}} {{dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> Others report that the soil was harvested for export as a precious medicinal spice in [[Egypt]], [[Arabia]], [[Ethiopia]] and [[India]] and that the earth refilled after every digging.<ref name="Vilnay 1973 170–172"/> Legend also tells that [[Noah]] planted his vineyard on Mount Hebron.<ref>{{cite book|author=Zev Vilnay|title=The Sacred land|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IEUwAAAAYAAJ|volume=2|year=1975|publisher=Jewish Publication Society of America|isbn=978-0-8276-0064-5|page=47}}</ref> In [[History of Christianity#Early Middle Ages (476–842)|medieval Christian]] tradition, Hebron was one of the three cities where [[Elizabeth (Biblical person)|Elizabeth]] was said to live, the legend implying that it might have been the birthplace of [[John the Baptist]].<ref>{{harvnb|Craveri|1967|p=25}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Milman|1840|p=49}}.</ref>

One Islamic tradition has it that [[Muhammad]] alighted in Hebron during his [[Isra and Mi'raj|night journey]] from Mecca to Jerusalem, and the mosque in the city is said to conserve one of his shoes.<ref>{{harvnb|Gil|1997|p=100}}.</ref> Another tradition states that Muhammad arranged for Hebron and its surrounding villages to become part of [[Tamim al-Dari]]'s domain; this was implemented during [[Umar]]'s reign as caliph. According to the arrangement, al-Dari and his descendants were only permitted to tax the residents for their land and the ''[[waqf]]'' of the Ibrahimi Mosque was entrusted to them.<ref>{{harvnb|Levi della Vida|1993|p=648}}</ref> The ''simat al-Khalil'' or "Table of Abraham" is attested to in the writings of the 11th century [[Persian people|Persian]] traveler [[Nasir-i Khusraw]].<ref name=":10" /> According to the account, this early Islamic food distribution center — which predates the Ottoman ''[[imaret]]s'' — gave all visitors to Hebron a loaf of bread, a bowl of [[lentil]]s in [[olive oil]], and some [[raisins]].<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Routledge| isbn = 978-1-136-49894-7| last = Woodhead| first = Christine| title = The Ottoman World| page=73 |date = December 15, 2011}}</ref>

According to Tamara Neuman, settlement by a community of Jewish religious fundamentalists has brought about three major changes by redesigning a Palestinian area in terms of biblical imagery and origins: remaking over these revamped religious sites to endow them with an innovative centrality to Jewish worship, that, she argues, effectively erases the [[diaspora|diasporic thrust]] of Jewish tradition; and writing out the overlapping aspects of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in such a way that the possibility of accommodation between the three intertwined traditions is eradicated, while the presence of Palestinians themselves is erased by violent methods.<ref>{{harvnb|Neuman|2018|p=5|ps=: "This narrowed or fundamentalist focus involves three further changes that are also useful for framing this study: the first is that religiously inscribed space, particularly the remaking of many Palestinian areas into a geography of biblical sites and origins, has been given a new significance in the construction of a distinct Jewish (settler) identity. Spatial reorganization has also resulted in a range of incremental practices included under the rubric of religion that link up with this process of inscription— including renaming, reenvisioning, and rebuilding. These practices in turn support and magnify resolute place-based attachments. The second shift is that these remade biblical sites, specifically in Hebron and within the Tomb of the Patriarchs itself, are being given a new centrality in Jewish observance, one that largely cancels out the exilic orientation of Jewish tradition. They give rise to a form of Jewish observance focusing on exact origins and specific graves to the exclusion of a more characteristic yearning for the messianic future. Third, the final change entails writing out the many historical convergences between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam reflected in the traditions themselves so as to eliminate possibilities for accommodating difference, while using Jewish observance and forms of direct violence in order to erase the presence of an existing Palestinian population."}}</ref>