A new path in the Walls Around Jerusalem National Park has opened to the public, allowing visitors to walk between 2,000-year-old mikvot (ritual baths) that were used by pilgrims going up to the Temple Mount. The Ophel site is part of the extended City of David (the oldest part of Jerusalem) as mentioned in the Books of Chronicles and Nehemiah.
The Biblical word ophel refers to an elevated portion of a city where a king resided or an administrative center was situated. In Jerusalem, entry to the Temple Mount was from the south; pilgrims ascended from the Siloam Pool by way of the City of the David to Ophel where they washed in its ritual baths before entering the House of God. The children of Israel were commanded to go up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord three times a year— at Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (The Feast of Weeks) and Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles)—the pinnacle of personal and national devotion to the God of Israel.
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