To prevent Jews from communicating with the spirits in the cave below
is my guess.
The Cave of the Patriarchs (also known as the Cave of Machpelah) is
Abraham's burial cave according to the Abrahamic religions. It used to
be a major pilgrimage site for Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Sometime
in antiquity, not clear when, the innermost cave chamber (where the
bones are) was sealed off and Herod the Great built a rectangular
enclosure serving as a shrine for Jewish pilgrims on top of the
cave. During the Byzantine era, a basilica was built on the enclosure
which the Muslims then converted into a mosque called the Ibrahimi Mosque
(Ibrahim is the name for Abraham in Islam).
Inside the mosque there are two sealed grated entrances to the
cave. Around these, several local legends grew and people believed that
the spirits of the patriarchs and matriarchs still roamed in the cave
and perhaps also could offer them their protection.
One legend recounts how the Ottoman sultan's sword fell into the cave
and a local Jew had to retrieve it for him (Auerbach 2009, p. 41):
A story was told of the sultan who was peering through a small
opening in the floor of the Isaac hall in Machpelah when he
accidentally dropped his sword into the most sacred spot in the
shrine, the passage leading directly to the burial caves. Several of
the sultan’s soldiers were lowered through the opening to retrieve
it, but each, in turn, emitted a piercing scream and was pulled up
dead. Local Arabs suggested that a Jew, whose life was expendable,
be commanded to retrieve the sultan’s sword. In terror, the Jewish
community fasted and prayed for guidance. The elderly Rabbi Avraham
Azulai finally volunteered. Dressed in traditional white burial
garments in anticipation of his likely fate, he was lowered into the
cave. There he encountered three bearded men who identified
themselves as the patriarchs. Fearful of the sultan’s wrath, Rabbi
Azulai asked permission to remain with them, but they insisted that
he return the sultan’s sword lest the entire Jewish community be
eradicated. He was assured, however, that within a week he would
return to join his ancestors. Rabbi Azulai spent his final week of
life teaching Torah to his students. When he died, he was buried in
the Jewish cemetery near the Cave of Machpelah.
Another legend describes how Hebron's Jewish community received an
"unexpected guest" for their prayer service (Auerbach 2009, p. 39):
The Jewish community remained so small that often it could barely
summon a minyan (quorum) for prayer, even for the Kol Nidre service
that marked the beginning of Yom Kippur, when “Jews in their talitot
walked barefoot to synagogue, and the sun turned to the moon.” One
year, a futile search for the necessary tenth worshipper left the
elders in despair, unable to hold a service on the evening of their
holiest day. Just as the sun was setting, according to a popular
story, an old man appeared, white bearded, with torn and faded
garments and swollen feet, burdened with a heavy sack on his
shoulders. Because Hebron Jews were known to be “God-fearing and
wholehearted scholars and sages, holy and pious, dispensing charity
and showing hospitality with full devotion,” they welcomed him, and
he prayed with them.
After the Ne’ilah service that concluded the holy day, while on
their way to share the communal break fast, the visitor suddenly
vanished. The grateful Jews of Hebron searched for him in vain
throughout the night. When the exhausted beadle (synagogue
attendant) finally closed his eyes in sleep, he suddenly saw the
wayfarer standing before him, garbed in dazzling jewels, his face
radiant. He identified himself as “Abraham the Hebrew, your father,
whose body rests in the cave of Machpelah. I saw how grieved you
were because you did not have the quorum of ten to pray, and that
was why I came to you.” He assured Hebron Jews “a year of blessing
and prosperity beyond all bounds.” To honor their righteous visitor,
they named their new synagogue Avraham Avinu (“Our father Abraham”).
According to a local tradition, visitors could slip petitions through
the grated opening in the mosque leading to the cave. Childless women
would petition Sarah for fertility (Sarah got pregnant when she was
90), pilgrims would feed Abraham bark from his famous oak in
Mamre, and so on (Dumper 2020, p. 165). Even non-Muslims could
petition the spirits by bribing the guards.
Auerbach recounts many more fascinating legends about the cave.
Perhaps a Jew and a Muslim had a conflict and the Muslim suddenly
died? Someone had seen the Jew near the mosque and the locals "put two
and two together" as superstitious people often do. So they asked the
sultan not to let Jews (or Christians) closer than five steps on the
mosque's stairway entrance. But for some reason that wasn't enough so
they had to extend it to seven steps. Maybe the Muslims observed Jews
prostrating themselves against the stones of the walls when praying
and reasoned that if the Jews wanted to get as close as possible,
keeping them at a distance would be safer?
This is of course just a theory, but since it is not known why the ban
was imposed we can't know for certain why Jews weren't allowed closer
than five or seven steps.
- Michael Dumper (2007). Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: A Historical Encyclopedia
- Jerold S. Auerbach (2009). Hebron Jews: Memory and Conflict in the Land of Israel
