The 1981 Western Wall Tunnel Mystery – Was the Ark of the Covenant Found Beneath the Temple Mount?

The Ark of the Covenant, which contained the Tablets of the Law, was crafted by Bezalel ben Uri and placed in the Holy of Holies within the Tabernacle in the wilderness. The Ark accompanied the Israelites through their desert journeys, resided in Shiloh, was captured by the Philistines and later returned after a divine plague struck them.

Eventually, it was brought to Kiryat Ye’arim, then transferred by David Hamelech to Jerusalem, and finally placed by Shlomo Hamelech in the Temple he built on Mount Moriah.

The Ark was the holiest object in existence, yet toward the end of the First Temple period, it mysteriously disappeared. Throughout the Second Temple era, the Holy of Holies stood empty — the Ark was gone.

The Ancient Traditions of Its Disappearance

According to the Tanna Rabbi Eliezer, the Ark was taken to Babylon at the time of the destruction of the First Temple. Other sages, however, taught that King Yoshiyahu hid it beneath the Temple Mount, in secret tunnels, to prevent it from being captured.

In fact, tradition says that Shlomo Hamelech himself, foreseeing the Temple’s eventual destruction, constructed deep winding vaults under the Temple to conceal the Ark when the time came.
Centuries later, King Yoshiyahu ordered that it be hidden in that very place.

The Talmud records an episode from the Second Temple era, when a priest working in the Chamber of Wood noticed that one section of the floor looked different from the rest. Before he could finish telling his companion, he suddenly collapsed and died — and the sages understood that the Ark of the Covenant lay buried beneath that spot.

Rabbi Meir Yehuda Getz and the Western Wall Discovery

Many continue to believe that the Ark remains hidden beneath the Foundation Stone — the place where it once rested in the Holy of Holies.

One such believer was Rabbi Meir Yehuda Getz, the Rabbi of the Western Wall.

In 1981, during excavations of the Western Wall tunnels, Rabbi Getz performed detailed calculations and ordered a breakthrough beneath the Temple Mount at a specific location. There, workers discovered a massive rock-hewn passage, stretching 28 meters long and 6 meters wide, leading eastward — directly beneath the Temple Mount. The floor was flooded with water and mud, but the excitement was indescribable.

In his personal diary, Rabbi Getz wrote: “I approached the site immediately and was seized with immense emotion. For a long time I sat paralyzed, tears of fire streaming from my eyes.”

According to his measurements, the passage led precisely toward the chamber where the Ark of the Covenant had once stood.

However, the discovery was soon detected by Muslim workers on the Mount. Members of the Waqf broke into the passage, and Rabbi Getz, joined by yeshiva students, physically tried to block them from entering.

The incident created international uproar. That very day, Prime Minister Menachem Begin ordered the passage to be sealed immediately.

Did Rabbi Getz Actually See the Ark?

Close associates later claimed that Rabbi Getz privately told them he had indeed seen the Ark before sealing the chamber — but chose to remain silent for fear of violent repercussions from the Waqf or political chaos.

Whether true or not, the mystery of the Ark’s resting place remains unsolved. Perhaps the words of the sages were meant quite literally: “The Ark was hidden — and remains hidden from us.”

According to Jewish belief, its location will be revealed only with the coming of Mashiach and the rebuilding of the Third Temple, when divine light will once again shine from Jerusalem to the entire world.