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.
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.
