BREAKING NEWS: MAJOR BIBLICAL DISCOVERY ROCKS THE WORLD – MUSLIMS ARE LIVID by Shari Menzel

This is exciting! Archeologists have made a biblical discovery that is the first of its kind! Muslims are pissed because there is new evidence that the Jews ruled Israel long before Palestinians claimed the land.

Charisma News reports that the royal seal of Kind Hezekiah, who ruled around 700 B.C. has been added to the nation’s extensive collection of ancient artifacts.

Hezekiah was described in the bible as a daring monarch- “There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him” (2 Kings 18:5)-who was dedicated to eliminating idolatry in his kingdom.

This is the first time that a seal impression of an Israelite or Judean king has ever come to light in a scientific archaeological excavation,’’ Mazar said.

The detailed clay seal, known as a bulla, was uncovered near the southern part of the wall surrounding Jerusalem’s Old City. It was mistakenly buried in a refuse dump around the time of the Israelite king.

After five years of research, a team member was able to decipher the text.

The dots help separate the words:”Belonging to Hezekiah (son of) Ahaz king of Judah.” “It’s always a question, what are the real facts behind biblical stories,” Mazar said. “Here we have a chance to get as close as possible to the person himself, to the king himself.”

Researchers were ecstatic to reveal that they have stumbled upon the first found seal of a biblical Israelite king.

However this discovery not only has a biblical significance, but is relevant to Palestine conflict today. The word “Palestine” is believed by many to be a name derived from the Egyptian and Hebrew term for “migrants” or “wanderers”, and comes from the biblical tribe of the Philistines, who were barbaric nomads determined to conquer the Israelite. However, as the bible describes, the Philistines’ giant fighter, Goliath, was defeated by a shepherd named David, who went on to become the king of Israel in the 10th century B.C.

This seal precedes even the earliest mention of an official derivative of Palestine- 200 years after King Hezekiah.

This means there is tangible proof that an Israelite king ruled the area known as Israel today long before anyone mildly considered a Palestinian lived in the area.

So all the claims of Islam being the true ancestral owners of the land that Israel now occupies and the claims that Israel stole the land given them by “Allah” are all FALSE!

One thing is for sure, what happens next is going to be an awesome manifestation of biblical prophecy unfolding right before our eyes!!

ELDER OF ZION: Al Aqsa Foundation declares all Biblical archaeology to be lies

The Al Aqsa Foundation issued a statement today saying that every piece of evidence that points to the existence of any Jewish Temple - first or second - on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is a lie.

The group says that it rejects these myths and confirma the Islamic and Arab character of the area.

According to the statement, they say that all the experts in the Israel Antiquities Authority who claim they found stones and jewelry and seals in the area of ​​the Al Aqsa Mosque, claiming they are archaeological discoveries of Jewish objects dating from the time of the First and Second Temples, are lying, since there were no Temples. The group said "these lies and myths are a figment of the imagination," and said that international and even Israeli archaeologists have confirmed through research and vigorous exploration that was scientific and objective that there were no structures in the area that were Jewish temples. 

They stressed that Arabs Canaanites were the first residents who built Jerusalem, with Jebusites and Amorites living there for thousands of years, while "the Jews" were there for only a short time. 

The Al-Aqsa Foundation says that the Israel Antiquities Authority and other groups are trying desperately to fabricate history of Hebrew presence in Jerusalem, through the myths and legends of the alleged phantom structure in the place of or under the Al Aqsa Mosque, to the point of wanting to demolish the mosque. The groups asserted that the real history is clear and it has proved beyond a doubt that the al-Aqsa mosque is for Muslims alone,

The foundation even says that relics found by sifting through the tons of debris that were criminally excavated from the site by the Islamic Waqf and dumped outside Jerusalem were really not from the Temple area at all. 

They even illustrate the article with some of these lying relics.

It is true that there is only fragmentary yet intriguing archaeological  evidence so far of the First Temple, because it was replaced by the Second Temple and no one is allowed to dig underneath the Temple Mount to look for it. But lots of the Second Temple is still there, as Wikipedia summarizes:

After 1967, archaeologists found that the wall extended all the way around the Temple Mount and is part of the city wall near the Lion's Gate. Thus, the Western Wall is not the only remaining part of the Temple Mount. Currently, Robinson's Arch (named after American Edward Robinson) remains as the beginning of an arch that spanned the gap between the top of the platform and the higher ground farther away. This had been used by the priests as an entrance. Commoners had entered through the still-extant, but now plugged, gates on the southern side which led through beautiful colonnades to the top of the platform. One of these colonnades is still extant and reachable through the Temple Mount. The Southern wall was designed as a grand entrance. Recent archeological digs have found thousands of mikvehs (ceremonial bathtubs) for the ritual purification of the worshipers, as well as a grand stairway leading to the now blocked entrance. Inside the walls, the platform was supported by a series of vaulted archways, now called Solomon's Stables, which still exist and whose current renovation by the Waqf is extremely controversial. The temple itself was constructed of imported white marble that gleamed in the daylight.

On September 25, 2007 Yuval Baruch, archaeologist with the Israeli Antiquities Authority announced the discovery of a quarry compound which may have provided King Herod with the stones to build his Temple on the Temple Mount. Coins, pottery and an iron stake found proved the date of the quarrying to be about 19 BCE. Archaeologist Ehud Netzer confirmed that the large outlines of the stone cuts is evidence that it was a massive public project worked by hundreds of slaves.[30]

Moreover, there is a significant and growing collection of artifacts that verify specific parts of the Biblical narrative.

But I guess they are all fake too.

Also, as I learned during my tour of the Temple Mount earlier this year, the Al Aqsa Mosque itself was constructed on top of the Herodian extensions of the Mount, meaning that the Temple was not underneath it - the Temple was where the Dome of the Rock is.

JEWISH PRESS: Jerusalem Home Harbors Buried Second Temple Artifacts The Siebenberg House Museum in Jerusalem’s Old City Reopens to Public

Archeological digging at Siebenberg Museum.

Miriam Siebenberg lives in a very unusual house – unusual because of the fact that her home was built on top of another home, one that existed over 2,000 years ago. Within the ancient walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, Miriam and her husband Theo purchased a house after the Six Day War, eventually discovering that it contained a treasure trove of history buried deep underground.

In the Siebenberg’s house, a collection of archaeological artifacts discovered after years of digging in the basement, appear on display. Arrowheads, ink-wells, coins, ancient pottery, a glass cup and pieces of jewelry including a bronze key ring, likely used in the Second Temple era by a woman to unlock her jewelry box, can all be seen in the display.

But even more intriguing is what lies beneath their home. One can see the remains of an ancient Jewish residence and a way of life that dates back to the days of King Solomon and the Second Temple period. “The further we dug, the more history we uncovered,” Seibenberg told Tazpit News Agency in an exclusive interview.

Siebenberg credits her husband Theo with the drive to initiate the not-so-simple years of digging under their modern four-story house that eventually led to the archaeological discoveries

“When we moved into our finished home in 1970, Theo had a feeling that there was much more to this place,” said Siebenberg.

At that time, archaeological discoveries by Hebrew University archaeologists in the Jewish Quarter including the area around the Siebenberg’s home were making headlines. The Siebenbergs believed that perhaps there were artifacts buried under their home as well so Theo applied to the Department of Antiquities for a permit to excavate beneath their house.

“We invested our own money, brought in engineers, architects, archaeologists expert diggers, and donkeys to remove the rubble, digging up to 60 feet down to discover all this,” Siebenberg explains.

During more than 18 years of unearthing, the Siebenbergs discovered a ritual bath, known as a mikveh used by Jews during the Second Temple era, an aqueduct, a Byzantine water cistern, and even empty burial chambers believed to have been used by Jewish royalty in the 10^th century B.C. during King Solomon’s reign.

Eventually, the remnants of the base wall of what is believed to be a Jewish home that stood 2,000 years ago, were also uncovered as were ancient Hasmonean stones, including one with a menorah engraving. Evidence of the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. was also discovered –a line of ash sealed into sedimentary rock was sent to a special lab in South Africa for testing, which found that the ashes were indeed from that time. In the 1980s, the story behind the Siebenberg’s basement, which Theo had transformed into a museum for the public in 1985, received much international attention. National Geographic, the New York Times, BBC, ABC, NBC, and many other international media sources devoted coverage to the history being uncovered under the Siebenberg House.

“We had groups from all around the world visiting our archaeological museum including European parliamentarians, US Congressmen, foreign press and other leading figures,” Siebenberg told Tazpit News Agency.

In addition to the fascinating story of the Siebenberg House, the couple behind the digging has their own unique tale. Theo, named after Theodore Herzl, came from a wealthy diamond family in Antwerp that barely escaped Belgium following the Nazi takeover. While not religious, Theo grew up in a traditional Jewish family with a strong love for Israel. Siebenberg eventually emigrated to the Jewish state in 1966 after a series of successful international investments and married Miriam, who was born and raised in Tel Aviv.

“Theo always felt homeless, having been uprooted from his Antwerp home at the age of 16 by the Nazis,” says Miriam. “But he always knew he wanted to live in Jerusalem and as close as possible to where the Temple once stood – the most important place in Jewish history. This was the only place he considered home in his lifetime.”

Today, Miriam, continues to carry the legacy of the Siebenberg House. This past June, Miriam, with the help of her assistant, 27-year-old Adi Rabinowitz-Bedein, reopened the museum to the general public, providing tours of the home’s unique history while showcasing the archaeological finds. “This is our life’s work,”comments Miriam.

“My friends in Tel Aviv don’t understand why we live in Jerusalem,” says Miriam who describes herself as secular. “But I know my roots are here – both my roots and the roots of our people are right underneath this house.”

“I live the ancient past of the Jewish nation,” says Miriam. “And I want to share this history and experience with as many people as possible.”

To visit the Siebenberg House museum, call to make a reservation for a guided tour: 02-628-2341 or 0547267754. The museum is also available for cultural events and special occasions.

TIMES OF ISRAEL: Did ancient beams discarded in Old City come from first and second temples?A collection of neglected wooden beams from the Al-Aqsa mosque offer a glimpse at ancient Jerusalem — and possibly at the biblical temples themselves

Under a tarp in one little-visited corner of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem lies a pile of rotting timber that would hardly catch a visitor’s eye.

In a padlocked storage space under a building in the settlement of Ofra, in the West Bank, lies an even larger pile of similar beams, some with rusted metal nails. Still more of the same beams can be found in one of the rooms of the Rockefeller Museum, outside Jerusalem’s Old City.

The beams offer a fascinating historical record of Jerusalem, including Byzantine cathedrals, early Muslim houses of prayer and, not inconceivably, the ancient temple complex itself. But though there are signs of renewed interest in them — including an article this month in Biblical Archaeology Review, a US publication — the several hundred existing beams have never been subjected to a comprehensive academic study, and many are in danger of decay and disintegration.Despite their unprepossessing appearance, the beams are unique and important to scholars because of their place of origin — the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount — and their age: Some were hewed from trees felled nearly 3,000 years ago.

The first iteration of Al-Aqsa was built in the late 600s CE on the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary. When the Muslim builders constructed the roof and supports they re-used timber that had been used in older structures nearby, common practice in the ancient world.

Those structures, scholars say, include not only materials dating to the time of the second Jewish temple in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago — but to the time of the first, as many as eight centuries before.

Beams (left) near the Golden Gate on the Temple Mount, this week (photo credit: Matti Friedman/Times of Israel)

Many of the beams were removed from Al-Aqsa in the late 1930s, during a renovation that followed two earthquakes, and some were taken by British scholars to the Rockefeller Museum, where they remain. Other beams were removed in a later renovation of the structure’s dome under Jordanian rule in the 1960s.

In 1984, a scholar from Tel Aviv University, Nili Liphschitz, published a brief scientific paper looking at 140 of the beams in a Hebrew journal, Eretz Yisrael, along with two other scholars.

Liphschitz, a dendochronologist — a specialist in determining the age of trees — found that most of the beams she examined were of Turkish oak, with a smaller number of Lebanese cedars. There were also beams of cypress and several other types of wood.

By analyzing the tree rings and using carbon-14 dating, she found, unsurprisingly, that some of the wood was from the early Muslim period. One of the cedars, for example, was about 1,340 years old, or roughly the same age as Al-Aqsa. (The margin of error for the rather inexact dating process was 250 years.)

But others were older, dating to Byzantine times, and still others dated to Roman times, around the era of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

Even more striking were her findings regarding one of the cypress beams. The age of the beam “was found to be 2,600 years,” she wrote, with a margin of error of 180 years. That placed it near 630 B.C.E. — around 50 years before the destruction of the First Temple.

And one of the oak beams was even older: 2,860 years. That meant the tree had been cut down around 880 B.C.E, early in the First Temple period.

The Temple Mount, with the black-domed Al-Aqsa mosque in the foreground (photo credit: Nati Shohat/Flash90)

There was no evidence connecting the beams to the temple itself, and in her paper Liphshitz seemed less interested in the possible human or biblical connections than in what the beams related about climate changes in the region. The truncated size of some of the tree rings, she wrote, seemed to indicate that a heavy drought had struck the region in the 5^th century C.E.

Her paper drew little public notice, but a lecture she delivered the same year happened to be attended by two residents of Ofra, one of the first communities established in the West Bank by Gush Emunim, the religious settler movement. One of the men was Ze’ev Erlich, today a well-known tour guide and historian. The other was Yehuda Etzion, a prominent settler leader and a fervent believer in the return of Jewish ritual to the Temple Mount.

“Yehuda walked out after the lecture and said — we have to get those beams,” Erlich recalled.

After the renovation of the 1960s, it appeared, the Waqf — the Islamic body still in charge of the day-to-day running of the holy site — had sold some of the beams as scrap to an Armenian dealer, Mussa Baziyan, who had a junkyard north of Jerusalem. Baziyan was selling the wood to carpenters. As it happened, the Ofra settlers had done business with the dealer, buying second-hand bunk beds from an insane asylum for use in a new dormitory.

Etzion arranged for the local government in charge of Ofra to pay, and had trucks ferry the 100 or so remaining beams from Baziyan’s yard to the settlement.

Later that year, Etzion was arrested as part of a Jewish underground that had killed Palestinian seminary students, maimed mayors of West Bank cities, planned to bomb Arab buses in East Jerusalem — and was plotting to blow up the Islamic shrines of the Noble Sanctuary to pave the way for the reconstruction of a Jewish temple on the mount.

The beams lay outside for a time. Later, Erlich had them transferred to an indoor storage space, where he showed them to a reporter this week. Six beams which were found to have carved decorations are stored at an undisclosed location elsewhere in the settlement. Samples from 14 of the beams at Ofra have been taken to the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot for carbon dating, and Erlich is currently awaiting the results.

Some of the Al-Aqsa beams include inscriptions in Arabic and Greek. One beam at the Rockefeller Museum, for example, bears the Greek words, “In the time of the most holy archbishop and patriarch Peter and the most God-beloved this whole house of St. Thomas was erected.” The Peter in question was patriarch of Jerusalem in the mid-500s C.E., and the beam must have been used in a Byzantine church of the time.

In a 1997 paper, Liphschitz and a second scholar, Gideon Biger, suggested that some of the wood for Al-Aqsa may have come from the ruins of the grandiose Byzantine church known as the Nea, destroyed by earthquake or war in the early 600s. Other beams might have come from an earlier wooden mosque that a 7^th-century pilgrim described existing on the Temple Mount before Al-Aqsa was constructed.

Beams in a storeroom at Ofra, this week (photo credit: Matti Friedman/Times of Israel)

Those structures also almost certainly used wood from earlier buildings. The story of the beams — moving from conqueror to conqueror and from one religion to another through the centuries — is the story of Jerusalem.

“The cypress timber, dated to the 1^st century BC, was probably taken from a more ancient monumental construction, built in or around Jerusalem in that era,” the two scholars wrote. That was the time of Herod’s massive rebuilding of the Second Temple complex.

In this month’s article in Biblical Archaeology Review, Israeli archaeologist Peretz Reuven singled out another beam, among those currently kept on the Temple Mount, in a pile next to the Golden Gate. It was cataloged by British Mandate officials in the 1930s as number 13.

Beam 13, he wrote, not only has Roman-style decorations but also signs of columns at intervals of 10.8 feet. “There was a similar interval between the columns in Herod’s Royal Stoa, a magnificent basilica that stood on the southern end of the Temple Mount,” Reuven noted. That is where Al-Aqsa now sits.

Might some of the beams lying around Jerusalem and elsewhere be from Herod’s temple complex? “I believe the answer is ‘yes,’” Reuven wrote. “Some of the beams may even be from the Temple.”

It is unusual for wood to survive for thousands of years, according to archaeologist Aren Maeir of Bar-Ilan University. At Maeir’s ongoing excavation of the three-millennia-old Philistine city of Gath, for example, only carbonized wood fragments survive.

But it is different if wood is kept indoors and cared for, he said.

“Usually, wood does not survive in Mediterranean climate — save when beams are used again and again and are curated long after they would have normally survived,” he said.

These pieces of wood, he said, “were probably used repeatedly over the ages, as large beams would be in many cases. So they are definitely archaeological materials, though of course whether they are from the temple is another question.”

What Is Behind the Mysterious Sealed Gates of Jerusalem's Old City?

"Hulda Gates" on the southern side of Jerusalem's Old City. The picture
shows the sealed "Triple Gate" (circa 1900)

This summer the Yisrael HaYom newspaper reported on archaeological artifacts found by a British scholar after part of the el-Aqsa mosque collapsed in the 1927 earthquake that struck Palestine.  Reporter Nadav Shragai revealed that items from the period of the Second Jewish Temple were found but that their publication was suppressed.

Remnant of the sealed "Double Gate" of  "Hulda Gates." Above the gate's lintel are stones from Hadrian's temple to Jupiter, 
destroyed by Constantine in 400 CE and re-used by the Arabs to build al-Aqsa.  One stone is an inscription stone honoring
Hadrian who crushed the Bar-Kochba revolt in 135 CE and plowed over the Temple Mount

"Robert Hamilton, the director of the antiquities department during the Mandatory period in pre-state Israel, reach[ed] an agreement with the [Islamic] waqf that would allow archaeological investigation on the Temple Mount, for the first time ever, in the area where the mosque had collapsed."

"In the book that Hamilton later published, he makes no mention of any findings that the Muslims would have found inconvenient. It was no coincidence that these findings came from two historical periods that preceded the Muslim period in Jerusalem: the Second Temple era and the Byzantine era."

"Beneath the floor of Al-Aqsa mosque, which had collapsed in the earthquake, Hamilton discovered the remains of a Jewish mikveh [ritual pool used for purification] that dated back to the Second Temple era.  Apparently, Jews immersed in this mikveh before entering the Temple grounds."

Now we can understand other pictures in the Library of Congress collection

The collection includes two inexplicable pictures dated between 1920 and 1933 entitled "Ancient entrance to Temple beneath el-Aksa."  The pictures were taken on the other side of the Hulda Gates, one of the major entrances to the Temple by pilgrims coming from the vast Shiloah (Silwan) pool.  According to the Mishna, the gates were used for entering and exiting the Temple complex.

Original caption: "The Temple area. The Double Gate.  Ancient entrance to Temple beneath el Aqsa." Note the
staircase that apparently led to the surface and the Temple plaza.

Clearly, the American Colony photographers entered the sacred area, like Hamilton, after the earthquake destroyed parts of the mosque in 1927 to take these rare photos.  Otherwise, the area would have been off-limits.

Original caption: "The Temple area. The Double Gate.  Ancient entrance showing details of carving."

First Temple-era seal found adjacent to Kotel

From Israel's MFA:

The remains of a building dating to the end of the First Temple period were discovered below the base of the ancient drainage channel that is currently being exposed in Israel Antiquities Authority excavations beneath Robinson’s Arch in the Jerusalem Archaeological Garden, adjacent to the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. This building is the closest structure to the First Temple found to date in archaeological excavations.

In the excavations, underwritten by the Ir David Foundation, a personal Hebrew seal from the end of the First Temple period was discovered on the floor of the ancient building. The seal is made of a semi-precious stone and is engraved with the name of its owner: "Lematanyahu Ben Ho…" ("למתניהו בן הו..." meaning: "Belonging to Matanyahu Ben Ho…"). The rest of the inscription is erased.

From the very start of the excavations in this area the archaeologists decided that all of the soil removed from there would be meticulously sifted (including wet-sifting and thorough sorting of the material remnants left in the sieve). This scientific measure is being done in cooperation with thousands of pupils in the Tzurim Valley National Park. It was during the sieving process that the tiny seal was discovered.

People used personal seals in the First Temple period for the purpose of signing letters and they were set in a signet ring. The seals served to identify their owner, just as they identify officials today.

According to Eli Shukron, excavation director on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, "the name Matanyahu, like the name Netanyahu, means giving to God. These names are mentioned several times in the Bible. They are typical of the names in the Kingdom of Judah in latter part of the First Temple period - from the end of the eighth century BCE until the destruction of the Temple in 586 BCE. To find a seal from the First Temple period at the foot of the Temple Mount walls is rare and very exciting. This is a tangible greeting of sorts from a man named Matanyahu who lived here more than 2,700 years ago. We also found pottery sherds characteristic of the period on the floor in the ancient building beneath the base of the drainage channel, as well as stone collapse and evidence of a fire."

Arutz 7 adds:

The name Matanyahu appears twice in Chronicles 1:25, in a section listing names of Hebrews whom King David had appointed to sing G-d's praise and perform other functions at the Holy Tabernacle. A few lines away, the name Netanyahu also appears. Both names are etymologically very close and mean the same thing: "Gift to [or from] G-d."

The seal is about 2 cm. (less than one inch) in diameter. Private seals in First Temple times served people for signing documents and were set on rings.

The archeologists had decided in advance that all of the dirt to come out of this dig would be thoroughly sifted – through use of "wet sifting" and meticulous sorting of the remaining materials in the sieve. The sifting is carried out with the help of thousands of school children from all over Israel, at the Emek Tzurim National Park. About 4,500 pupils participated in the work in the last few months.

From Rome to JerusalemA priceless glass disc went from the hands of Roman tomb robbers to those of a Polish countess and Nazi troops before reaching the Israel Museum

The disc is one of the earliest objects found outside Israel to be illustrated with images linked to the Temple in Jerusalem. (photo credit: Israel Museum. Photographer: David Harris) 

Before reaching its current home in a display case in Jerusalem, this small disc of glass and gold was buried in the catacombs beneath Rome 1,700 years ago, looted, kept in the castle of a Polish countess, stolen by Nazis, sold on the antiquities market in Vienna, tracked down and reclaimed by its previous owners and then purchased again.

In 70 CE, Roman legions destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, taking Jewish captives and the Temple treasures back to the imperial capital. The image of the Temple’s seven-branched menorah was carved onto the Arch of Titus, built to celebrate the defeat of the Jews.

Two or three centuries later a Jew died in Rome and was buried in the catacombs, along with an image of that same menorah in gold leaf pressed between two round pieces of glass. The descendants of the exiles from Judea had come to use the image of the Temple’s candelabra to represent themselves.

The disc, 4.5 inches (11 centimeters) in diameter, was originally the base of a drinking glass, probably one used in a funeral banquet. The gold images, which also include lions and a Torah ark open to show three shelves of scrolls, make it one of the earliest objects found outside Israel to depict symbols associated with the Temple.

The Roman Jewish community that created it was a direct link to Jerusalem’s destruction, said James Snyder, the Israel Museum’s director: The city’s Jews, he said, were “the first community of the second Diaspora.”

Tomb robbers pried the disc from a stucco wall in the catacombs, and by the 1800s it had become part of a collection of antiquities and artwork amassed by Countess Isabella Dzialynska and kept at her castle in Goluchow, Poland.

After the Nazis took Poland in 1939, they seized the collection and moved it to an Austrian castle, where it was looted after the German defeat. The pieces of the collection were scattered among museums and private collections around the world. In 1966, the disc surfaced on the open market in Vienna, where it was purchased and donated to the Israel Museum.

Two similar Roman discs from the Dzialynska collection were purchased for the museum at the same time. One of those was also decorated with Jewish symbols, including two menorahs, as well as an evocative inscription that appears to have been addressed to the person buried along with it: “Drink and live, Elares.”

The countess’s heirs spent years “scouring Germany and Austria” for the missing pieces of their lost collection after the war, Count Adam Zamoyski, her great-great-nephew, said in 2008. That was the year the Israel Museum restored all three glass discs to the family. The two with Jewish symbols, which Snyder referred to as “priceless,” were purchased a second time, and they remain on display.

Between 250,000 and 600,000 pieces of art looted by the Nazis during WWII have never been claimed.