May 2010 – “Nahum’s Tomb” Featured on MyJewishLearning
Ahead of Shavuot (Pentecost), the Jewish holiday commemorating the traditional giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, MyJewishLearning.com published a Diarna project article, “Nahum’s Tomb: A Shavuot Like No Other.” The article explores the history of the traditional tomb of the prophet Nahum in al-Qosh, Iraq, as well as the unique pilgrimage last held at the site in the early 1950s. Here is an excerpt:
Shavuot was known locally as “Eid al-Ziyara,” Judeo-Arabic for “festival of the pilgrimage.” While individual pilgrims visited the shrine throughout the year, during the Shavuot season several thousand people–some sources say almost the entire Jewish population of Mosul and surrounding villages–would arrive en masse.
Young and old came together in special holiday dress and camped in the compound’s guest houses or in tents spread out in the surrounding fields. Some stayed for a full two weeks. Local communities formed their own prayer groups, and singing voices filled the village and the compound, which was lit at night by hundreds of candles.
The highlight of the pilgrimage was a dramatic staging of the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, and a play supposed to pre-figure the battle of Gog and Magog.
