Jeffrey Rehmar

International Studies 501

Dr. Amy Horowitz

June 1^st, 2009

Class Evaluation

Dr. Horowitz’s Living Jerusalem 2009 class has been of my favorite classes that I have taken during my college career. It was something new to learn about the Middle East in this unique form. From the distinctive class structure, the readings, videoconferences, and more it has been an extraordinary ten weeks. We dipped right into the conflict by studying the history. At first I didn’t know why we were going back so far in history with Karen Armstrong’s book Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths. However, I as my fellow classmates realize the importance of the history. I can say that without a doubt in my mind Jews, Christians, and Muslims all have strong but equal claims to the disputed land. At first I didn’t know what to title my blog, but I am glad I chose The Disputed Land and stick by it today.

From the ten weeks in class we covered a lot of material. We studied Jerusalem, Israel/Palestine, and the entire Middle East in culture, food, language, music, history as well as several additional aspects. From our readings and videoconferences with scholars: Menachem Klein, Salim Tamari, Suad Amiry, and Galit Hasan-Rokem, to our face to face meeting with Mershon Center Director, Dr. Richard Herrmann. The culmination of the class was the videoconference in Hagerty Hall with Karen Armstrong. I will try to briefly cover as many components of the courts and my opinions on them, and conclude with recommendations for future Living Jerusalem classes.

The class structure of this class was different that your normal undergraduate class at Ohio State. The shuffling between the Jennings classroom to the two different videoconference rooms in Hagerty was really not that hard to get used to. Before this class I didn’t really know what blogging was. Now I have to say I am sort of an expert at it. The blogging website that we used (Blooger.com) was easy to use, convenient, and served the purpose of the class well. It was excellent to have someone with an experienced person in both blogging and the content of the course, Abdul Rahman was a great asset in my mind. From being such a fan of this Living Jerusalem class, I was often disappointed that we only met two days a week. However, I think this is best as we often went overtime in many of our class discussions and videoconferences. The small class size of fourteen made interaction with Dr. Horowitz more frequent. I have always been a big proponent on class size, and this has been one of the smallest classes I’ve ever had in any level of schooling. I feel like the class came together became very close, and a lot of friendships of the future were born. I mean co-Resident Advisors in Morrison Tower’s International House Learning Community were found with Evan and Anisa!

I knew that this class would be very reading intensive being a five-hundred level International Studies. However, I enjoyed the majority of our readings and it definitely enhanced our sole two weekly meetings per week. With the inclusion of the readings we actually went quite in depth for the ten-week quarter. However, I am certaint that the change to semesters will positively enhance the class. As one of my other International Studies professors told us, “I come from a mindset that [current college students] do not read enough.” I full heartedly agree with this statement.

In class we read works from a multitude of different workers. One of my favorites was Professor Menachem Klein. He was knowledgeable, firm, and to the point. However, I as well as I believe what was a majority of the class saw his bias towards Israel. I believe he as a scholar on the Middle East should do his best to take the middle ground. Salim Tamari brought an interesting twist to our study with his Popular Music, and Early Modernity in Jerusalem. However, I am not sure the relevance and Mr. Tamari is not a speaker that stands out to me. In Suad Amiry’s Researching East Jerusalem he included “A Talmudic proverb ancient about Jerusalem says: “When god created the world, he created ten portions of beauty. He gave nine to Jerusalem and one to the rest of the world,” (Amiry 28). This is a quote that only got more powerful as the class went on.

It was unfortunate that we were unable to successfully videoconference with Galit Hasan-Rokem. Her writings were rather short but strong and meaningful! She was very helpful in responding to my emails. One of the most memorable days from this class was the visit by Richard Hermann. He not only brought an unbiased political science point of view on the situation but gave great personal views on the conflict from his own personal experience. I would love for him to come more than once per quarter, because his knowledge is so valuable to the students. I believe the idea of one visit in week two and a follow up visit in week eight would be of great use.

In wrapping up, I cannot go on to my recommendations for the future before mentioning world renowned author, Karen Armstrong. I would like to first of all send out a big congratulations to all of those involved in getting Ms. Armstrong to meet with our class. To be honest her book was boring, but necessary. It was redundant at times but the history of Jerusalem is essential for a scholarly understanding of the Middle East today. Karen Armstrong was suprisingly personable, thoughtful, and showed genuine interest in our questions during the videoconference. I would first recommend keeping the Armstrong book for future classes to read during the first half of the quarter. Also, I would put in a lot of work to make the Armstrong videoconference annual, the Hermann class presentation twice quarterly, and other videoconferences worked into the class as often as possible. The second half of the class was the most enjoyable in my opinion due to the videoconferences. Videoconferencing, blogging, and so much more were brand new experiences for me from Living Jerusalem 2009. I found myself always calling my dad directly after videoconferences in Hagerty Hall, while walking across the South Oval on my way bragging about what overseas scholar I have conversed with that day. Jerusalem will be ongoing interest for me and for the entire class. It is a special place, and I look forward to see what its future entails.

Works Cited

Amiry, Suad. "Researching East Jerusalem." (n.d.): 28.

Question to Class

What part of our grade should be on your presenting your paper/project to the class versus the actual content?

-Please share your thoughts-

So I definitely enjoyed the Klein reading.  It was very interesting to see such a in-depth study of the walls of Jerusalem and their effects on the politics, the everyday life of the civilians. In the abstract Klein mentioned the multiplicity of walls, this really caught my attention.  I talked with Anisa, after class this week how people that visited Jerusalem have such an advantage over those who had not (myself). I always have trouble visualizing what Jerusalem looks like on the ground.  However, I do think the Klein’s Old and new walls in Jerusalem helped visualize the “on-ground feel” shall i say.

Here are some excerpts from the paper that I would like to point out:

“July 1949 cease-fire agreement”

what’s this?

“Basic Law”

Have we learned about this in class before? I may have to look this one up.

“Marcuse defines five types of walls….”

Is Marcuse’s models commonly accepted, have other papers cited his work?

“According to Kotek, “three elements" characterize any frontier-city: sovereignty quarrel, double legitimacy and conflict”.

It was great to learn about Teddy Kotek.

“The religious Islamic (Sharia’) courts of East Jerusalem are not under the jurisdiction of Israel’s Ministry of Religious Affairs under which the Sharia’ court in Israel operate.”

I have a friend, whose uncle is retired from the Department of State.  I may email him and ask him to explain this further.

“Israel is now attempting to achieve by means of destructive walls which will envelop the Palestinian  neighborhoods…”

I was talking with somebody from class yesterday after the Klein videoconference.  It really seems like Klein is writing from the Palestinian perspective in much of writing.  As opposed to his very pro-Israel stance in the videoconference, a very interesting viewpoint for a professor at Hebrew University.

Dr. Klein

1) On the second page of your piece, “Old and new walls in Jerusalem” you mentioned Basic Law. Can you  please expand on what this is?

2) On page 3 you mentioned, “There the Israeli representatives proposed a “soft” border system that would physically divide the city.”  Can you please elaborate on this soft border system?

3) For our final paper for Dr. Horowitz’s class I am researching the following questions:

Would the state of Israel be created in 1948 if the Holocaust had not occurred? If the answer is no, then when would have been created if ever? I will specifically focus on the time period between the end of the Holocaust and the creation of the state of Israel (1945-1948).

What is your take on this?

I saw a great interview on BBC World News America this evening with Tony Blair. It is regarding his work as an envoy to the Middle East.  You can find the transcript at the link below:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/2732979.stm

Wow, that was one of the most interesting two-hours that I have spent in class all year.  I have seen Dr. Hermann introduce speakers at Mershon Center events that I have attended.  However, this was my first time hearing him give a talk.  I would love for him to come in class again.  Is he available by email?  I believe that I could not only learn from about the political part of the conflict for class, but also my Final Project, and my special interest in gaining interest on the OSU campus for the Darfur genocide.  I took about five pages notes so I can only touch on a few of his comments.  I enjoyed his description of the differentiating between the West Bank and the East Bank.  Also, the two different maps (Israeli/Arab perspectives) explained a lot.  His map of the Muslim world (Sunni/Shia) was informative.  “Hezbollah is not very sympathetic towards Palestinians,” said Dr. Hermann.  This is was something that I did not know.  I would like to ask him to elaborate on his work under Secretary of State James Baker.  The Muamar Quaddafi (Libyan Leader) op-ed that he mentioned is below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/opinion/l23qaddafi.html?_r=1&sq=qaddafi&st=cse&scp=3&pagewanted=print

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/opinion/22qaddafi.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

1) Can you please further explain the special character of the city that you wrote about?

2) Can you please expand on what you think Jerusalem’s “real, concrete, needs” are?

3) Do you see peace in your hometown during your lifetime?

Chapter 7

“Have they lifted the curfew.”

I couldn’t imagine this.

“We must go and get our gas masks.”

It so hard for me to conceive this living in peaceful Columbus, Ohio.

“If you can’t beat them join them.” (87)

This quote stuck out to me as extremely powerful.  I like that we are talking about everyday people living in this land, not just the history.

“his misfortune is that he looks exactly like the Israeli West Bank general commander Amram Mitzna.”

This made me laugh, in the middle of a sad story.  Amazing, to say that both chapters have a lot of irony or a warm hearted moral feeling at the end of each chapter.

Chapter 9

“I had explained to him ‘Antar’s need for anti-rabies vaccine.” (109)

This little line is the problem that sets the scene for the entire chapter.

“I did not know which more difficult to end my of the sexist Dr. Hisham, or to start dealing with an Israeli vet.” (112)

Another little problem, so you think.

“Suan, we seem to have a little problem here,” “ Did you say Nura lives in Ramallah.”

I like to discuss these kinds of rules in class.

“Haifa, had spent sixteen years waiting for her Jerusalem ID.”

Wow, and I had thought that obtaining US citizenship was too long of process for an immigrant.

“I pressed m foot on the accelerator…..” (117)

So I guess the moral of the story is never give up, always think of ways to better the situation.  What a direct, concise, and clever chapter!

Wow a great short essay by Gailit Hasan-Rokem! I found the tone ironic being it Mother’s Day today.  There are a few points I’d like to share my opinion on:

“the blood relationship between mothers and daughters…”

very interesting, what does everyone else thinking she is trying to say here?

“However Jerusalem is not a woman.  It is a city with a long, lost history.”

I agree with this statement

“The special character of the city.”

Jerusalem is unique, there is nothing comparable in the rest of the world!

“Jerusalem is my home. I love it…”

Cleveland is my home, I love it.  Everyone has that attachment to their hometown.  It is where you grew up, its where your friends and family are.

“Jerusalem has real, concrete needs.”

Yes it does, but the conflict hinders this.

“Myself, I pray….”

What a strong ending!!

Jeffrey Rehmar

International Studies 501

Dr. A. Horowitz

May 8, 2009

Final Project Outline

Primary Question: Would the state of Israel be created today if the Holocaust had not occurred?

Secondary Questions: What is the role of Catastrophes play?

What is the real ramification/consequence that we sense when something huge happens?

Readings: The Post American World, Fareed Zakaria; Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler;

Scholars: Richard Engel, Rabbis, Priests and Islamic Leaders (As Needed)

Professors: Brikena Ribaj, Professor Kevin Herzner, Dr. Amy Horowitz, Dr. Young-Bae Hwang, Michael Reese, Karen Armstrong, Richard Herrmann (As Needed)

Time Period of Focus: 1945-1948 (End of Holocaust to Creation of the State of Israel)

Format: Research Paper, Approximately 10 Pages

I. Introduction

II. Catastrophes

a. Before and After

b. Behaviors Change

c. Pre and Post Holocaust

d. Pre and Post 9/11

III. Pre-Holocaust Anti-Semitism

IV. Why was the U.S. involved with WW2?

a. Pearl Harbor

b. Other Reasons

V. Ramifications/Consequences

VI. Intense Study of the Middle east and its International Relations with the world 1945-1948

a. Brief Timeline

b. De-nazificiation 1945-1950

i. Still happening today

c. Newspapers Articles

d. Fareed Zakaria

e. Richard Engel

f. Mein Kampf

VII. Personal Narratives

a. Consistency of Account=Credible

b. 1940c

c. 2009c

VIII. Review of Research

IX. Opinion

X. Conclusion

Topic: An Investigation of the question: Is the Holocaust a cause of the creation of the State of Israel?

How: Through readings on the topics and interviews with scholars on the region here at Ohio State

Format: Mostly like in the form of a 10-Minute Documentary on film.  However I am not ruling out writing a paper.

Potential Interviewees: Professor Brikena Ribaj, Professor Kevin Herzner, Dr. Amy Horowitz, Dr. Young-Bae Hwang, Professor Michael Reese, Karen Armstrong, Richard Herrmann, Rabbis, Priests, and Islamic Leaders

Initial Meeting: I am meeting with Professor Brikena Ribaj on Thursday 5/7/09

1) How do you feel the recent election of Benjamin Netanyahu changes the hopes of a 2-state solution?

2) On Tuesday, May 5th 2009 The New York Times published an article “Addressing U.S., Hamas says It Has Grounded Its Rockets to Israel” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/world/middleeast/05meshal.html?ref=world. 

The article was based on an interview of Khaled Meshal, Hamas’s leader.  How do you feel Meshal-Obama relations will unravel?

Wasif Jawahriyyeh, Popular Music, and Early Modernity in Jerusalem

I enjoyed learning about more in depth Jerusalem.  Mr.. Tamari’s article talked on popular music in Jerusalem.  I liked how Wasif Jawhariyyeh, a very famous musician whom I had no previous knowledge of.  From the time Wasif is born to the peak of his career, all bases are covered.  I would have enjoyed more explanation of the frequent Arabic words included in the essay.  I feel like I could have gotten more out of the paper if I had more knowledge of Arabic language and culture.  I don’t think Professor Tamari catered to all audiences.

I would like to have had a better explanation of the instrument ‘ud.  I am still confused what this instrument is.  Is there a name in English for it?  What I will take from this piece is that there is more in Jerusalem then just war and peace.  There is music, there is culture, Jerusalem is a city of great diversity of people!  Just like the movie we saw in class yesterday, I think music has great potential to bond all people of Jerusalem despite their background!

Lepers, Lunatics and Saints

I was just simply bored with this piece from Professor Tamari.  I just couldn’t find what the main idea was, and what point Tamari was trying to get across.  In the piece Tamari chronicles the lives and times of Tawfiq Canaan.  However, the reading didn’t interest me.  In my opinion the author did not enough to make me interested, and regard Canaan's life with great importance.  I liked that Tamari talked about a time in the region that was after the time in his first article.

It is increasingly interesting for me to see the conflicting opinions.  The thoughts of Palestinian Nationalism and Jewish Zionism.  Both have a very legitimate claim.  I think Canaan really saw the Jews as a negative effect on his region.  He as well as other Arabs have a legitimate claim for viewing the Jews as “occupiers”.  I think it would be very interesting if Professor Tamari brought in Canaan’s diaries to class tomorrow!

The film starts off with a kind of mad at the world feeling.  At first though, I was like Jewish rappers? I thought there was only 1, that Matisyahu guy.  I thought the mocking of the other group (Palestinian or Israel) was interesting.  Hatred is definitely present, this is definitely not a coming together as one film.  Everyone in the film seems close to my age (20), so it is easy to relate.  After reading Armstrong’s book this is good to see other young adults in Jerusalem v. Columbus.  Later on at a concert, the line, “People only hip-hop will bring peace.” So now i am a bit confused on their true feelings.  I like how the one rapper has done music in Hebrew, English, and now Arabic.  I think it’s great that he wants to reach a broader audience.  Subliminal’s performance in Tel Aviv was great to see!  He went from a crowd of about 20 (at the cafe) to 2000 now!

Jewish Music In Columbus

I have a friend who is in the a capella group, the MeshugaNotes.  I’ve gone to see them at HIllel and they are great!  I encourage to check out the links below:

http://osuhillel.blogspot.com/2009/01/meet-meshuganotes.html

 

http://www.osuhillel.org/students.php

 

http://www.myspace.com/meshuganotes

 

I found this website. It is about the local music scene in Jerusalem:

http://www.fonerbooks.com/music.htm

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117925365.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2005-03-10/screen.shtml

Revival-CH16

In this chapter I enjoyed seeing some of the monuments of Jerusalem reappear.  Landmarks such as the Holy Sepulcher and the Western Wall.  It makes see how important the historical aspects were some 1500 years ago prior.  I enjoyed reading about people like Moses Hess and Theodore Herzl, their teaching and their writings.  I did not previously now about early 1900s strive a socialist state in the region.

Israel-CH17

It was great to learn about the creation of the state of Israel.  It was huge leap forward for the Jewish people, but in contrast a huge leap backward for the Palestinians.  It was amazing to read about Jerusalem being 90% Arab in 1917 (Armstrong 371) to a predominantly Jewish state.  My final thinking from the reading is that the British messed up.  Armstrong is English and is going to do her best to make her homeland look its best.  In my opinion the British  were negligent in the handling of the region between 1917-1948.

Zion?-CH18

This chapter gave a good conclusion to the book.  I did not know a whole lot about the 1967 War.  Armstrong gave a sufficient brief summary of the time period and what occurred.  The maps helped understand the change pre and post 1967.  She makes it seemed that the Israelis gave up the Sinai, Gaza and more areas without much fight.  I don’t think this could be, it was doubling the land of Israel with these areas.  Armstrong takes of just one major Jewish settlement in the Sinai, but still it was a great land area.

Book Reflection

My question still persists after finishing the book.  Would the state of Israel still exist if the Holocaust had not occurred?  I am not so sure that it would.  Yes, there was talk of a sovreign Jewish state pre-Holocaust, but would international superpowers encouraged this taking of Arab land for the Jews? I don’t think so.  I would have liked Armstrong to elaborate on the other possible locations for a Jewish soveigrn state.  Overall, I would give Armstrong’s book a B.  Despite several flaws I still recommend the book for the use of future IS501 classes.  Although, it is not going down as one my all time favorites, Jerusalem, One City Three Faiths is a book that I learned a great deal from!

Chapter 14: Jihad

So Armstrong is finally starting to use hitherto less, it’s a pet peeve of mine. In present-day America most Americans most likely view the word jihad as negative.  However, this is untrue from what we learned in Armstrong’s chapter.  It actually means struggle.  I believe all people have a struggle, but just do not have a name for it.  Islam was now the major religion of Al-Quds, however they struggled to keep it their own.  From the Ottomans, to the Christians, to the Jews.  With every chapter I learn how complicated this situation is.  There is no doubt in my mind that all three groups of people have a legitimate claim to the land.  It is in fact The Disputed Land, because there is no clear cut front runner.  I believe each group has equal reasons for why they should “rule” Jerusalem.

Chapter 15: Ottoman City

I would like to learn more about The Franciscans, their history and their story.  I enjoyed Armstrong’s explanation of the creation of the Sabbath meal for Jews on pages 337-338.  I did not previously now the history of this tradition.  Also, Armstrong continues to reveal details about Islam, it is fascinating to me.  Small differences in beliefs two thousand years ago created three clearly separate religions.  It is amazing how these small differences can create such hatred between human beings.  There has been way too much bloodshed for these differences.  It seems to me that Armstrong really starts speed up her account of history for the years of 1500-1750.  While all history is important, and in the case of Jerusalem 2000 years ago may be more important than other times.  However, I wish Armstrong would keep a similar pace through time for all centuries.  I look forward to learn the recent history in the conclusion of the book.

So these chapters were definitely different from what we have seen thus far.  One pet peeve that I had was Armstrong’s overuse of the word hitherto it was unnecessary and too much.  I felt that it was quite ironic that the last word of Chapter 13 was in fact hitherto. Another question that I brought up was her use of the Iraq instead of just saying Iraq.  Can someone please explain this to me?

Chapter 10: Christian Holy City

I thought at first this was quite an interesting chapter title.  The whole book Ch 1-9 had been about the Jewish inhabitance of Jerusalem.  I liked that with every new ruling power of Jerusalem a new name for the city was likely to follow.  The Christian name for Jerusalem was Aelia.  I look forward to future chapters to see why the name Jerusalem is used today. With the frequent mentions especially near page 197 of Constantinople, it makes me want to visit present-day Istanbul.

Chapter 11: Bayt Al-Maqdis

As I believe J.M. said in class “The Muslims have finally arrived”! (I hope I don’t offend anyone by saying this)  I was eager for a little change and Chapter 11 brought it.  Islam is a religion that I know little about and am excited to learn as much as possible about its background and the beliefs of the Muslim people.  I found it interesting that the Arabic word Al-Quds translates to peace.  It was nice to make the connection with the Al-Quds University that we are collaborating with. I enjoyed the italicized arabic words that Armstrong included.  On page 219, the photo of men doing the customary greeting was fascinating to learn about!

Chapter 12: Al-Quds

To my understanding Islam teaches that Jesus did exist but was not the messiah (very similar to the Jewish belief).  Also, they believe that God existed but do not deem him extremely important for the lack of better words.  I was intrigued by what the Qur’an teaches of Muhammad the Prophet.  It is interesting to see how intertwined these major monotheistic religions of the world are.  I now also am seeing the importance of also this ancient history.  Every chapter is contributing to the conflict in 2009.

Chapter 13: Crusade

In Chapter 13 it was great to learn about The Crusaders.  I had heard of them and this time period but never known much about them.  Back in high school I wasn’t too much of a history buff, but now I see that should have been.  Knowing history can greatly contribute to my International Studies major.  It was fascinating to learn of yet another great conqueror of Jerusalem.  The Latin-speaking crusaders took The Disputed Land with great force.  However, I was a bit confused on their motives.  Yes, they were a conqueror possibly the greatest yet….but why? Were they trying to spread a new religion, a new way of thinking, of living life or just to rid of Arab-Jerusalem? Hopefully, I will learn more in this week’s class discussion and further reading!

Would anyone be interested in continuing the discussion on Monday?  We now have the exact words, and I think it could be beneficial to interpret the inscription.

Karen Armstrong : 2008 TED Prize wish: Charter for Compassion

So I thought that these two chapters were great at some points and boring at other points.  Sometimes I was at the edge of my seat and at points I was near to falling asleep.  Chapters 8 & 9 could definitely be seen as a major turning point in the history of Jerusalem.  If I am not mistaken Chapter 7 gave us a state where the Greeks ruled but Judaism was prevalent.  We are now going into Chapter 10 with a land that is a “Christian Holy City”, where Judaism is frowned upon, and the name Jerusalem is a thing of the past.  The center of this new kingdom if I may call it is Aelia.

Next, I’d like to move onto to some needed clarification that you all may be able to help me out with:

1) What is view of the Pagans as opposed to Christians? (Page 193)

2) Armstrong repeatedly mentions Jewish Christians.  How is this possible?  Was it at such an early time period that the monotheistic religions were not distinctly separated? (Page 155)

3) Is Golgotha extremely significant in other religions besides Christianity? Can someone fill me in on it?

4)  Is the Aramaic language a living language today? (Page 162)

5) What are everyone’s thoughts on the the ten degrees of holiness? How important is this? (Page 168)

Lastly, I liked to give a critique of the two chapters that we read for Wednesday’s class.  I definitely enjoyed Chapter 8 much more than Chapter 9.  We have read some 190 pages, and we are still some 1800 years in the past.  I’m ready to speed up in time Ms. Armstrong!  Armstrong’s style of writing reminds me of a history book.  Does anyone feel like this book is just a timeline of history with footnotes at certain dates?  All of sudden Armstrong is very pro-Christian in my opinion.  I don’t think she thoroughly covered enough of the Jewish reaction to this new change.  They were now in the minority, what was their reaction?

Hey Everyone

I just wanted to add something that I did not have a chance to mention in yesterday’s discussion.  We were speaking of Pope Benedict’s trip to Jerusalem and the decision not to visit the Holocaust Memorial.  Bill Clinton was interviewed upon leaving his presidency, the reporter asked him what his biggest regret was about his time in office.  He responded with Rwanda, and that he could have and should have done more to end the genocide sooner.  I believe that this is fuel for President Obama to intervene in the current genocide in Western Sudan.  Raphael Lemkin coined the term “genocide” some sixty years ago and now in 2009 we are still faced with genocide.  The Holocaust Memorial is frequented by foreign dignitaries when visiting Jerusalem.  The majority of the world has recognized that the Holocaust was wrong, but we still let genocide happen.  Does the brutality of the Holocaust towards Jews, justify the brutal treatment of the Palestinian people by the Israeli government?

 

Here is a link to the CNN article about Pope Benedict’s trip to Israel last month: 

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/03/10/pope.visit/index.html

So I finally think Karen Armstrong’s book is heating up a bit.  I know she is covering a lot of time.  But now we have finally to my great approval started counting up in the years towards modern times.  I hope my thoughts are not too random in this post, but there are various things that I would like to point out.  The first is transistion that Armstrong does from using “Yahweh” to know the abbreviation “YHWH”. Does anyone know why this is so?  Next, I’d like to point out the connection to this weekend.  I thought Armstrong did a superb job on briefly summarizing the creation of the Christian religion as well as the story of Jesus and why he is so important to the Christian faith.

On page 101, Armstrong includes a picture of the Samaritan sect of Jerusalem.  I had no idea about this sect and I thought  it was interesting to learn a little bit about it.  It seemed to meet that their dress is a bit different than other Jews.  I also enjoyed Armstrong’s connections with history to Jewish and Christian holidays.  It made the meanings of the holidays clearer to me.  Armstrong refers to Passover (right now) on several occasions.

The author did a good job on taking of Herod.  A man that I did not of before reading these chapters.  She does an adequate job of chroniclogy dating the history of Palestine.  Her take on the Greek rule was interesting.  It was great to learn more about the life and times of Julius Caesar.  Not to skip around but I enjoyed the explication of the significance as well as the maps of the Western Wall.  I really enjoyed the picture on page 131, and the differentiation of the stones with time (Herod and post-Herod).  The map on page 141 simply amazed me.  In particular the 30 miles scale.  It made me think that all this happened historically, which is the great cause to the disputed land now

Wow, I can’t really say this book is my cup of tea.  History just isn’t my thing.  I’ve been at Ohio State and have yet to take a history course.  I wished I would be interested in history but I just can’t get my self excited about it.  So I guess this is saying that this is more than a “tough read” for me.  The book so far seems to be ancient history.  About 1100-400 BCE if I remember correctly. 

One thing that I wanted to point out is the style of the writing.  I am not a fan.  A pet peeve of mine throughout these first 78 pages was the “J” “D” and other one letter abbreviations.  I did enjoy the maps, and thought they were appropriately placed.  Without them I would have been 100 percent lost.  I enjoyed the italicized sayings, such as the one on page 75.  I tried to say these aloud as I reading for emphasis.  I found some of the present-day pictures such as the one on page 43 misplaced.  I was thinking that we were talking about history some 3000 years ago then the transition to present-day was too sudden and unconnected.

As far as some other points that I would like to make note of was the Hebrew that was included.  This was something that was relatively new to me.  The book did an excellent job to explain the Hebrew words’ meanings.   I would like to learn more about Yahweh and Yahwism.  A few times the book talked on sacrifice, in particular human sacrifice.  In my opinion the book is way too factual.  The author(s) should have come out against this practice and explained the practice further.  As far as the rest of the book, I hope that history speeds up to closer to modern times.  Also, I would like to see the Christian and Islamic stories of this land.  Islam is a religion that I know little about but yearn to learn more.

I initially thought that Mick Dumper’s “Jerusalem Then and Now” would be a brief read, but I quickly found out the contrary.  It was my least favorite of the three readings due in anticipation of Monday’s class.  I didn’t think the timelines were necessary.  In my opinion they were more harmful than helpful.  I believe the previous article referred to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as three Abrahamic religions.  However Dumper referred to them as the three monotheistic faiths.  Can someone please explain the difference to me please? I found interesting on page 5 “Jerusalem was the first qibla  in Islam”.  I would like to learn more about this and the Muslim faith.

“Jerusalem: The Holy City Through The Ages” had some distinctly interesting points.  On page 119, “ in 63 B.C.E. the kingdom was overrun by Pompeii, commander of Rome I s Eastern Army.”  I’d like to know who this Pompeii guy was, I thought that Pompeii was a city with a famous volcanic explosion.  Any relation I wonder?  I thought that page 120 went a little too fast.  We are learning about Jewish history and its relation to Israel, then all of sudden a new religion is born (Christianity).  I was thinking to myself, wait a second a little more explanation is needed.  I found it fascinating that the major expansion of Jerusalem’s Jewish community was during modernization 1800c. (Rubin 124).  I know little about the 1967 war as mentioned on page 126 and I would hope to learn more about it during the next weeks.

Rashid Khalidi’s account was strong as noted indeed!  I enjoyed the explanation of Palestinian general beliefs at the end of page 44 continuing onto to the top of page 45.  This is was something that I did not know.  Included in that was the part of the Jebusites, Amorites, Cannanites, and Philistines.  Are these just different names for the same people or are they different people with each a different title?  I would hope to read a full-length article on The Dome of the Rock as mentioned on page 47.  I thought that Khalidi was far too brief on explaining the history of Israel from 1900-1948.  I would like to learn more about this especially the Ottoman to British transition in 1917 and the British occupation itself.  I mean this is great to create a land for the landless Jewish people, but people already lived here.  What was the initial thinking of where to relocate the Palestinian people?  If someone moved into my neighborhood tomorrow and took my land as their own I would be more than mad.

This is Florence, Italy.  I traveled to Western Europe with my mom in June 2007, in recognition of my high school graduation.

 

I am a member of The Ohio State Racquetball Team

It is my philosophy  that In-N-Out Burger is a way of life!

I went to Corpus Christi, TX over this past Spring Break.  One of my best friends, Gavin goes to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.  I was spoiled by the weather of South Texas!

I read Jeffrey Sachs’ The End of Poverty last summer.  It is one of the major reasons for my major, Development Studies. 

I enjoyed all four readings for Week 1.  All four contributed my better understanding of the history behind the project in which our class is a part of. Hasan-Rokem’s “Dialogue” was a unique recalling of the festival and the Jerusalem Presentation that was supposed to be a part of it.  It was sad for me to read that after so much planning and hard work that it never came to fruition.  On the first page Hasan-Rokem notes that the Festival is July 4th weekend.  I would love to visit the festival on the Mall in Washington someday!

Dr. Horowitz paper was outstanding for me to read to better understand our Professor’s background.  I admired the short piece by Yehuda Amichai in which Dr. Horowitz included on the first page.  I would like to learn more about Yehuda’s background as a poet and the meaning behind the poem.  One part that I did not understand very well was ethnography.  Can someone better explain this in more detail in the form of a comment?  One other part that I found interesting was on Page 4.  This in the second paragraph talking about the possible problems that could occur in which would totally ruin the project.  This demonstrated how difficult the project was to create because of the tensions between the American/Israeli/Palestinian governments.

“Representing Jerusalem” was an unique interview with Suad Amiry.  I enjoyed this change of pace, of a Q&A Format as opposed to our other readings.  I feel embarrassed that ethnography was also mentioned in this piece, but I didn’t help me to further clarify its meaning. I would like to learn more about the Damascus gate featured in one of the article’  As an American-Jew I enjoyed reading this piece on Suad Amiry the Palestinian Coordinator for the Festival.  Lastly, I didn’t quite understand why Suad encouraged “eliminating women’s participation, except in limited areas like food and weaving”.

Saud Amiry’s piece titled “Researching East Jerusalem” was a quick but informative paper on her thoughts.  What struck me the most was that Amiry started with a Talmudic proverb.  Call me naive but the last week my knowledge of the geography of the situation increased.  I knew well of Israel and the Gaza Strip, because of the recent war.  Jerusalem I do not much about.  I found interesting and would like to learn more about why the stress on the design and the separation of the presentation.  One thing that was brought up was Jerusalem also being so important to Christians.  Why are they not in the fight?  It seems to me like Christians have all but given up their fight.

I enjoyed the short film that we viewed in class on Wednesday.  It was very interesting to view the city first from the Israeli and then the later the Palestinian side.  I wonder why the film crew decided do it in this way.  I see the Israelis as “the occupier” and the Palestinians as “the victims”.  I as a Jewish-American seriously question why America and the West so strongly supports Israel.  It seems unfair to the Palestinians.  Could someone explain this to me?  Lastly, I would like to make a note of the cinematography of the film, it truly seemed like a study of the common people of Jerusalem which I admired.  As a side note, and an update on the situation did anyone see Mahmoud Abbas’ comments (through a spokesperson) warning that the PLA could dismantle in the future with Israeli (Netanyahu) policy change?

I am Jeffrey Rehmar, a sophomore at The Ohio State University. While it looks more and more to be shaping up like a marathon to finish in four years with my recent change in course of study to International Studies. With my International Studies major I am specializing in Development Studies. This is the study of developing nations of the world and how we can make both short and long term improvements to get their citizens out of extreme poverty. As an International Studies major it is becoming a necessity to be proficient in a foreign language. To meet this standard, I am doing a minor study in Spanish. I believe that I will come out a stronger person because of my strong involvement in the Ohio State community. I am a member of numerous student-based fan support groups for our athletic teams such as Block O and Nuthouse. I was also chosen to be the representative for Geauga County for the I-Beam Society; a new organization to represent the Ohio State students in the building of our new Student Union. One of the most fun and different groups that I am a part of is the Hall Council for my dorm. I was first a representative and then appointed as Vice President of the council that improves the residence life of the almost five-hundred students that live in Morrison Tower.

However, by and large my biggest commitment outside of my academics is The Ohio State Racquetball Club. I have been playing racquetball on a consistent basis for the last decade. On June 1, 2007 as I received my high school diploma I was unaware if I would be able to continue on with the sport that I love. I had heard that Ohio State may have a team and maybe I could be on it, but nothing was certain. As Autumn Quarter came I found the Ohio State Racquetball Club with delight, at the Fall Involvement Fair at The Oval if you are familiar with the campus. We are first a club and secondly a team, competing at various tournaments against other schools. We were ranked second in Ohio and twenty-first in America in the 2007-2008 season. This was good, but not good enough.

I thought to myself that we can do better than this, I mean come on we are Ohio State. I knew that despite being a fresh face in the club I could do the club and its members a lot of good. In March 2008 just nine months after my high school graduation I was elected by my peers as the President of the club. I have five officers under me as well as two coaches who volunteer their valuable time. The Ohio State Racquetball Club is one of eighty-two sport clubs at Ohio State. This comes with both benefits and disadvantages. I believe that I will gain so much more than a varsity athlete would after graduation. I work with people from all different levels in order to improve the club; from our forty members, to coaches and presidents at universities throughout the Midwest, as well as high level individuals in the sport of racquetball.

From not only my academics but my involvement at The Ohio State University I am truly confident that I am shaping up for a life of success. Throughout my high level of campus involvement I have maintained a high standard of academic achievement. I graduated high school in the top twenty percent of my class. I have also maintained a job, working as an Office Assistant at the front desk of my residence hall. I am experienced with dealing with diversity from being a two-year resident in The International House Learning Community. From academics to racquetball and more I want to live my life now and fully enjoy it, but I just cannot simply wait to see what my future will entail.

31 March 2009

I am truly excited for the great opportunity that our course presents us all. It is an honor to work in three university collaboration for one course. The readings have been interesting, and I look forward to the connections of the past and present. In particular the 1993 Washington DC Folklore Festival to the present-day situation and how we can apply these texts to 2009.

An experimental class is great to be a part of. There are so many classes that we have all had in our past where we don’t agree with the course material or how the professor teaches. I urge all of you to take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity. We should be grateful that Dr. Horowitz is so open to feedback throughout the quarter. I mean, heck I changed my major because I didn’t like the curriculum. We can now enjoy this class, as well as improve it for our future colleagues. As I step into the classroom, I am faced with a problem, a question that cannot be totally solved. This is bias that I am speaking of. I am worried that I will come in with a bias to one side of the conflict, as will many of us. I ask you my fellow student how should we as a class collectively work to be unbiased as possible?