Day 666 - From our archives: Archaeological evidence of ancient destruction on Temple Mount

The Times of Israel Daily Briefing

The Times of Israel

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4.4 • 864 Ratings

🗓️ 2 August 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

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Summary

Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing. Today, we have a special episode that we pulled from our archives.

Just ahead of this year's observance of Tisha B’Av on Sunday, which commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples, we are replaying an episode of our former weekly podcast, Times Will Tell, in which we went onsite in Jerusalem to the Temple Mount Sifting Project.

We speak with archaeologist Zachi Dvira, who is the co-director of the project. He’ll explain its controversial genesis and continuing struggle. At the end of our conversation, you'll hear as we wet-sift a bucket of earth taken from the Temple Mount.

Founded in 2004 near the Mount of Olives, it’s now at a location called Mitzpe Hamasuot, near the Hebrew University. The site is easily accessible and has an auditorium and a shady picnic grove, which was made possible with the help of American Friends of Beit Orot.

Dvira calls for all who have not been to help sift through thousands of years of Temple Mount history to "hurry up!"

IMAGE: Visitors sifting buckets of earth from the Temple Mount at the relaunch of the Temple Mount Sifting Project, June 2, 2019. (Yosef Huri)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everyone, this is Mandur Hualdahn and welcome to Times Will Tell the weekly podcast from
0:09.9	the Times of Israel. This week, I head of Tishaba Avon Sunday, which commemorates the destruction
0:15.6	of the first and second temples. I go on-site in Jerusalem to the Temple Mount Sifting Project, founded in 2004
0:24.4	near the Mount of Olives.
0:25.9	It's now at a new site called Mitspe Hamasurot, which is near the Hebrew University and has
0:31.4	an auditorium and a shady picnic grove.
0:34.6	I speak with Tzachit Vira, who is the co-director of the project. He'll explain its
0:40.1	Genesis and at the end will wet sift a bucket of earth that was taken from the Temple Mount. Enjoy.
0:48.0	Hi, Tzachi. Thank you for letting me join you today at the Temple Mount Sifting Project. Where are we
0:52.9	exactly right now in Jerusalem?
0:55.1	Hi, Amanda. Great speaking to you and thank you for invite me to speak with you.
0:59.9	We are now at Mitspah Maswort, the Masthwart Lookout. It's on Mount Scopus just near the Hebrew
1:07.6	University. And this site is now hosting the Temple Mount Sifting project since 2019.
1:14.6	This is our new location.
1:15.6	That's fantastic.
1:17.6	Some of our listeners might here in the background, the Moazine from a nearby East Jerusalem village or Arab neighborhood.
1:23.6	We're really within the borders of Jerusalem Jerusalem and we can hear buses going by and
1:28.1	we can hear tourists here. It's very bustling, actually. So you've been here since 2019,
1:35.2	but tell us a little bit about how the project actually began way back when. Wow. That's a very
1:42.7	long story.
1:46.6	But we'll try and make it short.
1:52.7	Actually, in 1996, the Muslim authorities of the Temple Mount, Muslim waq,
	...

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