Nebuchadnezzar’s men were so thorough in their destruction of the First Temple, that not a trace of it remained.

As predicted in Sefer Tehillim (Psalms 137:7), they uprooted its mighty stones, crying, “Aru, aru ad hayesod ba!”—”Raze it, raze it, down to its very foundations!” Because of this, archaeologists have never found even the smallest remnant of its building stones or sacred vessels.

Then, something incredible happened. In 1988 (5748), an ancient, thumb-sized ivory pomegranate was offered to the Israel Museum by an agent representing an anonymous seller. What made this pomegranate truly unique was the ancient Hebrew inscription on it, reading: “Belonging to the Temp[le] of [Hash]em, holy to the kohanim.”

This inscription firmly dated the artifact to the time of the First Temple, making it the first tangible remnant from the holiest building ever to exist. The museum purchased this extraordinary artifact for $550,000, paid into a numbered Swiss account, thus acquiring one of the rarest historical treasures.

While this is a topic seemingly unrelated to Kabbalah, it shows a very important idea that has its roots there.

Another discovery from the First Temple

In 2001 (5761), another astonishing discovery emerged. A mysterious individual came forward with an ancient stone that seemed to have come straight out of the Tanach. In the Haftarah of Parshat Shekalim (Melachim II, chapter 12), we read about King Yehoash of Yehuda, who began his reign at the age of seven and ruled in Jerusalem for forty years.

The text describes how he repaired the damaged walls of the First Temple in his twenty-third year:

“Yehoyada the Kohen took a box, made a hole in its lid, and placed it beside the altar to the right of those entering the house of Hashem. The kohanim who guarded the entrance deposited all the money brought to the house of Hashem there. The counted money was then given to those appointed to oversee the house of Hashem, and they, in turn, paid the carpenters, builders, stonemasons, and stonecutters. They bought wood and hewed stones to strengthen the damage of the house of Hashem. They did not require an accounting from the men to whom they entrusted the money, because they dealt with integrity.”

Incredibly, the inscription on the mysterious stone echoed this very story. The ancient Hebrew letters recounted how the cities of Yehuda donated large amounts of consecrated silver to purchase quarried stone, timber, copper, and labor for the restoration work. King Yehoash himself declared: “I repaired the damage of the house and the surrounding walls, the extension, the latticework, the steps, the niche, and the doors. This day stands as a testimony. Because the work was successful, Hashem will bless His people.

But was this tablet genuine? The Geological Survey of Israel subjected it to a series of rigorous tests, all of which it passed convincingly. Carbon particles embedded in the stone suggested it had been through fire, consistent with an artifact surviving the Churban (destruction). Carbon-dating of these burnt particles placed them at the time of the Mikdash. Additionally, tiny gold particles found on the tablet implied it had been inside the gold-coated sanctuary when it was consumed by fire.

Experts closely examined the surface of the tablet. Genuine ancient rocks develop a patina—a mineral coating formed by environmental chemicals over centuries. The tablet not only had an ancient patina, but the engraved letters also shared the same patina, indicating that they had been carved when the tablet was newly quarried thousands of years ago. In January 2003 (5663), the stone was authenticated and offered to the Israel Museum for at least four million dollars—quite a sum for a fragment of stone small enough to almost fit into a kitchen sink.

Hard questions in archeology

For such a hefty price, the museum directors needed more than circumstantial evidence. They began asking difficult questions:

Where did the tablet originate?

Who was its original owner?

At this point, the mysterious seller got cold feet and vanished, taking the priceless stone with him. Determined not to let such a significant artifact slip away, the Israeli Antiquities Authority launched a nine-month search. Eventually, they traced the tablet to O.G., an Israeli engineer who owned one of the largest private antiquities collections in the world. O.G. claimed that a Palestinian had found the stone in the Muslim cemetery near Shaarei Rachamim, along the eastern wall of the Temple Mount.

However, the revelation that O.G. was behind the tablet raised suspicions. He had also recently been linked to another extraordinary discovery—a stone ossuary (bone box) that supposedly held the remains of a close relative of the Notzri. Was it really possible that one man could have made two of the most sensational archaeological finds of the century in such a short time, or was he a fraud? This question led to a raid on O.G.’s apartment, where police reportedly found not only the ossuary and tablet but also what appeared to be a workshop filled with half-finished “antiques” and forging tools.

A new team of investigators was called in to subject both the tablet and the ossuary to even more rigorous scrutiny. The results were troubling. For example, an archaeologist discovered tiny marine fossils embedded in the patina covering the engraved letters of the tablet. Was Jerusalem once submerged under water? Unlikely. It became clear that the patina had been artificially created using sea-based calcium carbonate, which contained marine organisms.

Moreover, the rock used for the tablet wasn’t native to Eretz Yisrael. Investigators speculated that during the Crusades, ships arriving from Europe would load their hulls with stone ballast to stabilize the ships. These stones were often dumped on land upon arrival and later used to build a Crusader castle near Tel Aviv. O.G. had likely salvaged the rock from this site for his forgery.

The investigation committee’s report was conclusive: “We, the members of the committee for the examination of the content and script of the Yehoash inscription and the James Ossuary, conclude to the best of our scientific judgment: A) The Yehoash inscription is a forgery. B) The James Ossuary inscription is a forgery. We also conclude that the patina on both items is artificial and significantly different from the original patina.

Indictment

After an eighteen-month investigation, the police issued an indictment against O.G. and his associates. The charges included the following:

“In or around 2001, Accused No. 1 [O.G.] conspired to forge an inscription on a stone tablet, intending it to appear as an ancient artifact from the time of King Yehoash, describing the renovation of the First Temple… The accused used an ancient stone tablet and, with the assistance of another, engraved an inscription now known as the ‘Temple Repair Inscription’ or the ‘Yehoash Inscription.’ This inscription, written in ancient Hebrew script, contained dozens of letters.

“The accused undertook this act to create the impression that the inscription was a genuine remnant of the First Temple—an artifact corresponding to descriptions found in the Tanach regarding the Temple. The accused’s objective was to sell the artifact for millions of dollars. This was a calculated, premeditated attempt to forge a historical artifact, with the intent of deceiving millions of devout Jews, as well as scholars in the fields of history and archaeology worldwide. Furthermore, the accused sought to gain significant financial profit, estimated to be in the millions of dollars, and to reap other personal advantages.”

O.G., however, maintained his innocence. He argued that he rarely sold antiquities and was being framed by the Israeli Geological Authority as part of a larger conspiracy to eliminate private collectors. According to him, the number of antiquity sales he had been involved in was “fewer than the fingers on my hands.” A small group of experts still believed in the authenticity of his tablet and ossuary, and as the trial dragged into its fourth year, a final verdict seemed far off.

In the meantime, another blow to the antiquities world came when experts revealed that the Israel Museum’s famed Temple Pomegranate was also a sophisticated forgery. Investigators discovered synthetic chemicals beneath the patina of the artifact’s engraved letters, further eroding confidence in what was thought to be one of the rarest artifacts from the First Temple.

This revelation sent shockwaves through the archaeological community. With such high-quality forgeries in circulation, the authenticity of countless items in both public and private collections came under suspicion. The unsettling reality was that many of the world’s most treasured artifacts might be fake. So, if you’re ever offered an ancient relic for your collection, beware—it could very well be a forgery, no matter how convincing the salesperson may seem, even if they claim to have “made it themselves.”