Temple Glass Discovered?!

Simcha TV ^ | June 19, 2013 | Simcha Jacobovici

[SunkenCiv]

Not many people realize this but the biggest slab of raw glass from the ancient world was discovered in northern Israel in "Beit She'arim", in the Galilee, in 1956. The rectangular glass slab is 11?.5?.5 feet, weighing 9 tons. Beit She'arim is a cemetery where the editor of the Mishna (the first "layer" of the Talmud), Rabbi Judah the Prince/Yehudah haNasi (135 to 217 CE) is buried. Most people visiting this cemetery are not aware that the chunk of glass is there, looking somewhat opaque on the floor of the cave that serves as the visitors' center...

Again, no one realizes this, but to reiterate; the biggest piece of glass, the largest factory and the oldest blown glass in the world were all found in Israel. Why were Jews so interested in glass? First of all, it was a secret recipe guarded for millennia with more care than the recipe for Coca Cola. Second of all, according to Jewish law, glass does not absorb "tuma" i.e., impurity. If a piece of pork makes contact with ceramic - you've invalidated the plate and have to destroy it. But if glass comes into contact with the ham, wash the plate and you're good to go. So the Jewish people have a religious reason to desire glass. Which brings us back to the biggest slab sitting in the Galilee to this day. What's it doing there?

[SunkenCiv]

What is a 9-ton slab of glass doing in the middle of a burial cave in Beit Shearim, Israel?

And why does such a small town needs a wall, what were they protecting?

Beit Shearim is an ancient Jewish necropolis where Yehuda Ha Nasi, the head of the Sanhedrin, was buried. This catacomb cave dates back to the second century AD and is one of the greatest archeological sites in Israel.

9-Ton Slab of Glass Found in the Cave of Beit Shearim | Sergio & Rhoda in Israel | Season 1, Episode 21 | Published on September 17, 2017

UPDATE MARCH 2019: In 1999, Ian Freestone and Yael Gorin-Rosen posited that the great glass slab at Beth She'arim dates to the 9th century A.D. Therefore, rather than being an example of typical Roman period glassmaking, the slab represents a transitional phase at the beginning of early Islamic glass production, when glassmakers began to replace mineral natron with plant ash as a fluxing agent. The early Islamic date proposed by Freestone and Gorin-Rosen has been generally accepted by other scholars.

The Mystery Slab of Beth She'arim | Katherine Larson, Assistant Curator of Ancient and Islamic Glass, Corning Museum of Glass, Published on December 8, 2011

[SunkenCiv]

[A strike]

AD 135 to 217, NOT 135 to 217 CE

[Pontiac]

Ian Freestone and Yael Gorin-Rosen posited that the great glass slab at Beth She'arim dates to the 9th century A.D.

Regardless of how old it is, the question remains: Why would you want a 9 ton slab of glass?

Then having produce this monstrosity, why put it in a cave?

[sauropod]

Should be AD, not CE.

I don’t buy into this PC Woke garbage rewriting of our language.

Simcha should buy a clue.

[Jonty30]

Bureaucrats did it to use up their budget for the year.

[Pontiac]

Were you in the Navy?

[knarf]

You are a FR treasure with some of the most fascinating stuff most of us either never knew or could ever dream up.

Thanx, Sunken Civ.

[moose07]

What's it doing there?

Or more to the point , is it older than they think...far older?
Nine tons is a lot of glass to pour in one go and then tempur , so it doesn't explode if anything hits it.

[outofsalt]

"Why would you want a 9 ton slab of glass?"

Well, the article goes on to note the kosher aspect of glass, "If a piece of pork makes contact with ceramic - you've invalidated the plate and have to destroy it. But if glass comes into contact with the ham, wash the plate and you're good to go. So the Jewish people have a religious reason to desire glass." Maybe it was a buffet table?

[Larry Lucido]

First of all, it was a secret recipe guarded for millennia with more care than the recipe for Coca Cola.

Didn't realize Coca Cola was that old. Wonder if the slab was some of their "New Glass" before they went back to their "Glass Classic" formula?

[Larry Lucido]

Nine tons is a lot of glass to pour in one go and then tempur

That's it! It was a tempura buffet table!

[Pontiac]

I read that

But you don’t eat off a 9 ton plate

The only way that argument makes sense is it is a sacrificial alter for large animals

[moose07]

LOL!
Oops.
So the secret buffet table of old Jerusalem has been located at last!

[Wonder Warthog]

I don’t see why the article makes a big deal about “high temperatures”. Pottery kilns have to reach and maintain similar, if not higher, temperatures, for as long or longer than for glass fabrication. I would speculate that the initial discovery of glass was made by a pottery firing business.

They were probably trying to come up with a new decorative flux and stumbled over the formulation for glass.

[oincobx]

>>>AD 135 to 217, NOT 135 to 217 CE

This looks like a Jewish web site, so as far as they are concerned, we are still BC.

[Big Red Badger]

Interesting

[jjotto]

This is from the Islamic Period. Citing the Temple and Mishna is distraction.

Slab was same size as a big furnace there. Big slabs were made, then broken up for export. Something to do with additive ‘natron’ made this slab undesirable for trade.

[Adder]

who would ever have imagined that, at the beginning of the 5th century, glass technologists had the ability—

So not Islamic...

[Redcitizen]

“ why would you want a 9 to.n slab of glass?”

Tourist trap. Worlds biggest slab of glass!