Lecture Given in the SGRAC Jubilee meeting
The Development of R.A. Freemasonry in Israel
We are here tonight in this very special place to celebrate the consecration of our Grand Chapter fifty years ago, and it is my privilege to give you a short talk about the history of Royal Arch Freemasonry in Israel, and about the Cave of Zedekiah and its significance in Freemasonry.
I shall start with the story of the cave, and that will take us to the development of Royal Arch Freemasonry in the Holy Land.
King Solomon’s Quarries or the Cave of Zedekiah
as it is more generally known was discovered in 1854 by Dr. James Turner Barclay, a distinguished Biblical Scholar, when he took his dog for a walk along the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. Somewhere near the Damascus Gate the dog disappeared, and while looking for the dog, Turner heard it bark. That brought him into a large hidden cavern. When exploring the cave, it was found to be an ancient quarry.

Today it is accepted that it was used to carve the stones used in building ancient Jerusalem’s major buildings.
According to Masonic tradition, King Solomon built
the Temple from stone of this cave.
Therefore, we call it “King Solomon’s Quarries”.
Others hold that the cave has, or had, an exit to the East overlooking Jericho, and that Zedekiah, the last King of Judea, attempted to flee through the cave, when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem in 587 BCE. They therefore call it the Cave of Zedekiah.
The first recorded Masonic meeting in the Holy Land was held here, on Wednesday the 13th of May 1868, 14 years after Dr Barclay’s discovery. It was a Secret Monitor ceremony performed by Robert Morris, Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky. Morris was on a Masonic pilgrimage, searching for traces of ancient Freemasonry. He called the meeting a “Moot Lodge”, that is an occasional meeting of Masons. He named it the “Reclamation Lodge”. The meeting was attended by diplomats serving in the area, sailors, clergymen and others. Amongst them was Captain Charles Warren, later to be the first Master of Quatuor Coronati Lodge of research. He was conducting a survey of the Holy Land for the Palestine Exploration Society.
In 1873 a group of archeologists from Canada, working in Jerusalem, received a warrant from the Grand Lodge of Canada in Ontario to open the first regular Masonic Lodge in the Holy Land. This Lodge: The “Royal Solomon Mother Lodge” or “Suleiman al-Muluki” was consecrated in Jerusalem. The Lodge met regularly until it went dark in 1903, but it was followed by controversy. The Lodge initiated brethren from different backgrounds, some of whom later founded Lodges working under the National Grand Lodge of Egypt.
In 1891 a group of French Masons erected a Lodge in Jaffa called “Le Port du Temple de Salomon” under a Charter from the Grand Orient of France. They were part of a group of Engineers who built the railway from Jaffa to Jerusalem. Over the years it changed its name and affiliation. It exists today as Lodge Barkai No.17, the oldest Lodge in Israel.
At the end of the First World War, General Allenby led the British Army into Palestine. Many of his troops were Freemasons working under the English and Scottish Constitutions. As a result,
Freemasonry flourished, Residents joined the Craft and new Lodges were established. The increase in numbers brought activity in the Mark and the Royal Arch.
The Masonic jurisdictions consecrating Lodges in Palestine mostly restricted themselves to the Craft degrees, except for the Grand Lodge of Scotland. In Scotland, Craft Lodges can advance brethren to the Mark degree. Likewise, Lodges in Palestine working under the Scottish Constitution advanced Master Masons to the Mark degree. And that is why Israeli Chapters today use the Scottish Craft ritual for advancement to the Mark Degree.
The first Royal Arch Chapter to be established under the Scottish Constitution was Phoenicia Chapter in Haifa in 1937. In its early days Phoenicia RAC worked in English. In 1942 Sharon Chapter was established in Tel-Aviv, to be followed shortly afterwards by Holy City Chapter in
Jerusalem. Sharon Chapter was the first Chapter to work in Hebrew. These three Chapters formed a District of the SGRAC of Scotland, with MEC Colenso-Jones as District
Superintendent.
In 1948, with the establishment of the State of Israel and the end of the British Mandate, all Masonic bodies working under the English Constitution, withdrew from Israel, leaving the Lodges working under the Grand Lodge of Scotland, the National Grand Lodge of Palestine, and the three Chapters working under the Grand Chapter of Scotland.
The Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the State of Israel
in 1958 the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland established a District Grand Chapter for the State of Israel. At the time there were three Chapters and to establish a District Grand Chapter a fourth was required. Then a group of English-speaking Companions in the Tel-Aviv area petitioned for the establishment of an English-speaking Chapter. So, in October 1958 a delegation from the S.G.R.A.C. of Scotland, led by its First Grand Principal, the Earl of Galloway, arrived in Israel to first consecrate the fourth Chapter, Judea No.772, and
then the District Grand Chapter.
The Earl of Galloway described this as follows in the Yearbook of the Grand Chapter of Scotland:
Supreme Grand Chapter, at its meeting in June 1958, approved the Petition of the three Chapters then working and of the new Chapter chartered but not yet consecrated, that they be constituted into a District Grand Chapter of the State of Israel. You further approved that Grand Scribe E. and I should go to Israel to perform this duty. It was finally decided that the latter part of October would be a mutually acceptable time for our purpose and the Companions in Israel requested that I should then consecrate and dedicate Judea Chapter, No. 772, and install its primal Office-Bearers before the Constitution of the District Grand Chapter.
Before leaving Scotland, Grand Scribe E. had heard that M.E. Companion J. E. A. Salem, Depute Grand Superintendent of The Rhodesia’s, had accepted an invitation from the Superintendent-nominate of Israel to attend his Installation and, remembering his great help and kindness when we were in Rhodesia last year, I invited Companion Salem to act as M.E. Second Grand Principal. It was a great joy to all of us to meet Companion and Mrs. Salem again in Tel Aviv.
In 1969 the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the State of Israel was consecrated, again by a delegation from the Supreme Grand R.A. Chapter of Scotland led by the Earl of Galloway, then Past First Grand Principal; assisted by the Grand Superintendent for Rhodesia, Joseph E.A. Salem as Second and the Grand King of the Grand Chapter of Ireland as Third Inst. G.P. The ceremony was held in the Young Men’s Hebrew Association in Jerusalem.
MEC Max Silverstone served as the First Grand Principal of the SGRAC of the State of Israel.
The day before the ceremony, a Mark degree working was held in Jerusalem in King Solomon’s Quarries.
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