US to donate $500K to restore tomb of biblical prophet Nahum in Iraq

The United States announced Friday that it would contribute some $500,000 to help restore the tomb believed to be the resting place of the biblical prophet Nahum in the town of Alqosh in northern Iraq.

“Chargé d’affaires Joey Hood and Consul General Steve Fagin visited the Tomb of Nahum, a site rich in cultural importance to the region’s Jews, Christians and Muslims,” the US Consulate General in Erbil announced.

“The chargé announced an additional $500,000 in US government funding to help preserve the historic site. This project helps safeguard history, revitalize the local economy, and bring tourists to the area,” the statement said.

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Nahum was a minor prophet who wrote about the end of the Assyrian Empire, and its capital city, Nineveh.

Russian Orthodox icon of the Prophet Nahum, 18th century (Iconostasis of Transfiguration Church, Kizhi Monastery, Karelia, Russia)

The 1,500-year-old building was for centuries the site of a major Jewish pilgrimage each year on the holiday of Shavuot.

When the majority of Kurdish Jews moved to Israel in 1951, the tomb was left in the hands of a Chaldean family that struggled to maintain it.

In 2016, Sherzan Omer, Kurdish Jewry’s representative in the Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs at Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), said the tomb was in dire condition.

In a statement, Omer said his team “investigated the structure of the building, consulting experts, engineers and architects, and they report the building could completely fall apart within a couple of months.”

Hebrew writing at the grave of the prophet Nahum, Kurdistan Region, Iraq (photo credit: Times of Israel/Lazar Berman)

“This site does not only belong to Jews. It’s part of human history, therefore saving the site is everyone’s responsibility,” Sherzad said.

Tomb of the Jewish Prophet Nahum in Alqosh, Iraq (CC BY-SA, Chaldean/Wikipedia)

Alqosh is located 30 miles north of Mosul. The site has been protected by Peshmerga forces when the Islamic State rose to power. The jihadists, who came within 10 miles of the shrine, destroyed countless archaeological and religious sites in Syria and Iraq.

Officials tour the Tomb of Nahum in northern Iraq on April 26, 2019, where US Chargé d’Affaires in Iraq Joey Hood pledged $500,000 to restore and preserve the site (Courtesy/US Consulate General in Erbil)

JTA contributed to this report