By Teresa Neumann

“Next to the mausoleum lies a large hollow in the ground, which Iranian Jews believe to be an entrance to a tunnel that stretches all the way to Jerusalem.”

(Iran)—Arutz Sheva reports that a few months ago Iran took the rather unusual step of adding a Jewish holy site to its National Heritage List. The site—the tomb of Mordechai and Esther—are now under official government protection and responsibility.

Notes the report: “The mausoleum housing the shrine of Mordechai and Esther consists of a simple brick structure crowned with a dome which was built some five to seven centuries ago over the underground gravesites. It is located in the northwestern Iranian city of Hamadan, which is about 335 kilometers west of the capital, Tehran… the site is also considered holy by Muslims and Christians, who come to pray there as well. Next to the mausoleum lies a large hollow in the ground, which Iranian Jews believe to be an entrance to a tunnel that stretches all the way to Jerusalem.”

“There is a competing tradition,” writes reporter Michael Freund, “which identifies the traditional burial place of Queen Esther and Mordechai as being on the outskirts of the village of Baram, in the upper Galilee, near Safed. As early as 1215, Rabbi Menachem Ha-Hevroni wrote that while visiting the Galilee, he came across the tomb of Queen Esther, ”who, during her lifetime, had instructed her son Cyrus to bring her there [for burial].'”

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