The Jewish Role in the Muslim Conquest of Caesarea

In 634 CE, the Byzantine Empire in the Land of Israel fell, giving way to the Muslim Caliph Omar.

Jews had suffered under Byzantine rule, who were seen as successors to the Romans, the destroyers of the Second Temple, and they welcomed the new conquerors, even considering it a footstep of the Messiah, hoping with faith for his arrival every day.

The Byzantines had called upon the Jews to fight alongside them to prevent the Arab conquest, and some Jews paid a heavy price for this. A Syrian present in the region during the war in southern Israel wrote, "A battle erupted between the Romans and Arab Muslims in the Land of Israel, on the 4th of Shvat, on a Friday at nine o'clock, twelve miles from Gaza. The Romans fled leaving their commander, who was killed by Arabs, along with about four thousand unfortunate peasants of the Land of Israel, including Christians, Jews, and Samaritans."

Despite this, Jews sought to establish connections with the Muslim conquerors and even aided them. The Muslims struggled significantly to conquer Caesarea, which had been a fortified city since the time of Herod the Great. Seven years after entering the land, Byzantines were still fortified in Caesarea and no Muslims could penetrate it. A hundred thousand people guarded its walls every night. Commander Ibn Al-As lost hope in conquering Caesarea and considered leaving a Byzantine enclave within the land until a Jewish man named Joseph arrived at night through a crack in the ground and promised to help conquer the city if protection was provided for him and his Jewish people. The Muslim commander agreed, and Joseph led them through a secret aqueduct that opened somewhere in Sharon. The commander and his soldiers crawled all night and at dawn emerged from a pool in the middle of Caesarea. They leaped at the gates and opened them, allowing the Muslim army to enter the city. The city contained three hundred markets and two hundred thousand Jews, whose lives became spoils.

Hebron was also unconquerable by Muslims until a Jewish villager revealed a weakness in the wall, where due to environmental conditions the wall was lower and weaker. They focused on this point, breached the wall, massacred all the Christian residents of Hebron (there were no Jews there), and established the city "Al Khalil"—the beloved, referring to Abraham our forefather, who dwelled in Hebron, with the Oaks of Mamre.

When Caliph Omar entered Jerusalem, the Temple Mount was covered with refuse. Omar wished to build a mosque on the mount but didn't know the most sacred and appropriate location to build. He consulted with a Jew named Kaab Al-Ahbar, meaning "Friend," a term for a sage among Jews. This Jew apparently wanted to prevent Muslims from establishing a mosque on the Holy of Holies site and advised him to build the mosque at the edge of the mount facing Mecca. Indeed, the mosque was built in the southern part of the Temple Mount, where Al-Aqsa Mosque currently stands, preserving the site of the Holy of Holies as it was. The Dome of the Rock is a site of visit, but not a mosque.

Visits to Jerusalem were permitted for Jews after five hundred years during which they were not allowed into the city. Salmon ben Jeruhim wrote, "Before the King of Ishmael came, they could not enter Jerusalem... the place of the Temple remained for more than five hundred years as a lair of jackals, and no one from Israel could come. In his days Hashem opened for His people the gates of His mercy and brought them to His holy city, where they settled and built places within to dwell."

Thus, the Jews of the Land of Israel achieved some relief after the Muslim conquest.