JNS
A visitor center with an amphitheater, synagogue and research library aims to breathe new life into the ancient cemetery on “Har Hazeitim.”
The Mount of Olives (or Har Hazeitim, as it is known in Hebrew) in Jerusalem is the site of the world’s oldest and most venerated Jewish cemetery. Overlooking the Temple Mount across the Kidron Valley, it was mentioned by the prophets in the Tanach, has served as a sacred Jewish graveyard for more than 3,000 years and is traditionally considered a harbinger of the Messianic era.
In May 2010, then-State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss issued a scathing report detailing the cemetery’s deterioration, warning that it was in a sad state of disrepair. Har Hazeitim had become plagued by vandalism, stone-throwing and criminal activity, largely by local Arabs. The violence not only made visits dangerous but also hindered preservation and restoration efforts.
Jeff Daube, who made aliyah from the United States in 2007 and has served since 2010 as Israel’s representative to the International Committee for Har Hazeitim (ICHH), told JNS that the situation has dramatically improved in recent years, as evidenced on its website.
“Numerous security upgrades have been made, and the last recorded act of vandalism was in 2018,” said Daube, who visits the site several times a week. “We’ve added fencing, installed hundreds of cameras, and are preparing to open a state-of-the-art police outpost inside the new visitor center to maintain safety for the entire area.”
Visitor Education Center
Construction of the Visitor Education Center is already underway, with a cornerstone ceremony planned for February 2026. “Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion has been a strong proponent,” Daube noted. “At one meeting last year, he cut through bureaucracy, ordered work to begin immediately—and within weeks, a contractor was secured and construction began.”
The center will feature an amphitheater on the roof, a synagogue, a seminar room, and a research library, all overlooking the Temple Mount and the Kidron Valley—where, tradition holds, the High Priest once passed after preparing the holy ashes of the red heifer. The facility will also enhance existing Memorial Day services for Israel’s fallen soldiers.
Among those interred on the Mount of Olives are some of the most revered figures in Jewish history: the daughter of Pharaoh, wife of King Solomon; the prophets Haggai, Malachi, Zechariah and Hulda; and modern luminaries including Prime Minister Menachem Begin and his wife, Aliza, Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog (the grandfather of Israeli President Isaac Herzog), Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, Rabbi Yitzhak Hutner, Chaim ibn Attar (known as Or ha-Ḥayyim) and Nobel laureate Shai Agnon. Some burial caves date back to the Second Temple period.
“Even the so-called ‘B- and C-listers’ have extraordinary stories,” said Daube, pointing to the 228 lone soldiers who survived the Holocaust and later fell defending Jerusalem in Israel’s War of Independence.
To preserve and share those stories, the center will feature interactive exhibits, including augmented-reality tours and QR codes placed throughout the cemetery, telling the histories of those buried there.
‘This is the real thing’
For donor Pnina Graff, whose family has generations buried at Har Hazeitim, the ICHH project is deeply personal. “My husband’s great-grandmother, Gruna Taxon, was buried there in the 1930s,” she said. “She made aliyah not from Europe, but from America, because America wasn’t religious enough.”
Graff’s father, Chaim Rand, bought two burial plots on Har Hazeitim about 30 years ago. “He was the sole survivor of his family from Eastern Europe,” she said. “When my mother died in 1999, we brought her there to be buried. My father passed away three years later. When my husband and I visited for my mother’s first yahrzeit, we decided that was the place for us.”
Although the family lived in Los Angeles, Graff said the choice was easy. “Everyone visits Jerusalem eventually. We wanted to be part of that eternal view.” Her husband, Jacob, was laid to rest there three years ago, and her brother was buried in the newer Nevi’im section, overlooking the Temple Mount.
"Our visitor center is the first Jewish construction there in 2,000 years," Graff told JNS. "Aside from the historical and archeological significance, it is also of strategic significance."
Despite common misconceptions, Daube said burial space is still available. “We average around 400 burials per year,” he said. “Plots facing the Temple Mount can cost up to $50,000, but others on the opposite side of the mountain are about $20,000. Prices reflect the general scarcity of burial land in Israel.”
Some visitors still harbor outdated fears about safety, but Graff dismisses them. “We have never been afraid to go to Har Hazeitim,” she said. “For us, this is front-row seats for Moshiach. It just feels natural.”
She recalled her most recent trip to Jerusalem, where she toured the ancient pilgrimage road connecting the City of David (Ir David) to the Temple Mount (Har Habayit). “Har Habayit, Ir David and Har Hazeitim are all contiguous in time and holiness,” she said. “This is the real thing. Everything uncovered there connects us—through time, space and sanctity—to our heritage.”
Graff told JNS that her involvement with ICHH is more than just about philanthropy. “This is not the opportunity of a lifetime,” she said. “It is the opportunity of a millennium. This is our heritage—by right, by history and by Divine inspiration."
