The first thing I noticed upon touring the Second-Temple period tombs at Bet Shearim was the cleanup at one of them. “They cave in sometimes”, my supervisor explained. “The trees were planted later, and can’t be removed because it would only cause more collapses of the limestone. The roots are destroying history.” This destruction was part of the reason for my being there—to photograph every inch of every tomb, all carved out of soft white limestone, for conservation. Past photos have been taken and many are published. However, the photos are older and lower quality. Plus, new inscriptions can still be discovered. The Israel Nature and Parks Authority wanted photos of the site for this reason, as well as reconstruction. On this Spring day, the trees were flowering and only seemed to contribute to the beauty of the site. Even the tombs with roots protruding everywhere were beautiful—beautiful destruction which was a ticking clock, much like the lives of the people from all over the world who chose to come to Bet Shearim to be buried, hoping to go to the afterlife with their beloved rabbi. Rabbi Yehuda HaNassi was a famous author of the Mishna, a Jewish book that consists of rabbis discussing the Torah. A nearby site, Zippori, is where HaNassi died; the story is recorded in the Talmud. The story is portrayed at Zippori in life-size holographic video format in the famous synagogue there, which also houses the Mona Lisa of Israel. The rabbi died from intestinal disease (“all the righteous people do”, he is quoted to have said), but it was a struggle for the righteous men. They prayed for him to remain alive constantly, and their prayers were effective. HaNassi’s maidservant, who saw his suffering, begged the men to stop praying so he could die and be at peace. The righteous rabbi was tying and untying his phylacteries to say his prayers before and after each bathroom visit, which was a constant. The maidservant took matters into her own hands and threw a vase off the roof; it smashed, the men were distracted and in that split second, the rabbi passed (Talmud, Ketubot 104a). The tomb of HaNassi is well-kept and spacious; groups from schools and tours have lessons there. The bones are no longer in the niches, as more religious Jews have taken them to rebury elsewhere, or they were taken by robbers long ago. There is also the cave of the coffins, which is a large complex of winding passages known for the coffins, both basic and carved. Then there are smaller tombs. Some are ready for visitors, while others are unavailable to the common tourist. I had no idea when I took the photography job just how much I would be comparing myself to Indiana Jones or Rick O’Connell from The Mummy; run-ins with beetles scurrying everywhere, spiders’ webs and bees taking over some of the tombs, plus crawling into tiny doorways with steps down to the tomb, dark and damp with not a soul in sight, felt like an adventurer’s dreamland. I would fit myself into the doorways with camera, spotlight, and directional “North” sign for the photos, which would then be organized according to the site’s blueprints, numbered and organized into folders. A majority of these tombs have curses in ancient Greek and Hebrew and carvings. There are small niches for infants and adult-sized niches. Families would have burials together. Bet Shearim has many more tombs as yet unexcavated, and excavations are currently taking place in another area of the site. The story of this ancient site, with Second Temple period and preceding history, has much that remains to be discovered. Future archaeologists will have better technology and methods, and hopefully will figure out how to better conserve the tombs from the trees; however, they will continue to spread their roots. It’s what nature does; expands until its end. Learning that we must expand our world while we’re here is the real lesson of the past, present and future of Bet Shearim, exploring and contributing to the larger picture. Without people, Bet Shearim would not be available as a UNESCO world heritage site for tourists and archaeologists today.