During the week covered by this review, we received 11 articles on the following subjects:
Messianic Jews (Individuals)
Christian Zionism
Christians in Israel
Miscellaneous
History
Culture
Archaeology
Messianic Jews (Individuals)
Modi’in News Plus, October 2, 2014
In this four-page article, Eran Kaminsky interviews Yochanan (Ian) and Amy Stanfield, who belong to the Messianic Jewish congregation in Modi’in. Yochanan grew up in Uganda and Scotland, and came to Israel in 1982, after his neighbor suggested he do it. Amy, whose father is Jewish and mother Christian, came to Israel after completing a degree in Mid-Eastern studies.
After having lived in Israel for four years, Yochanan received citizenship and decided to enlist in the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces), having come to the realization that citizenship not only confers privileges, but entails duties as well. He served as a paratrooper, including a period in Lebanon, and now feels completely connected to the Jewish people. “Only in the army did I really understand what it means to be Israeli,” says Stanfield.
Today, the Stanfields live in Modi’in, keep the Jewish feasts, their children go to public school, and they consider themselves to be Jewish. When asked as to the difference between them and “standard” Jews, their answer was, “We have found the Messiah.”
Christian Zionism
The Jerusalem Post, October 6, 8, 2014
A celebration and prayer session for the peace of Jerusalem, organized by the Eagles’ Wings organization, took place on Sunday, October 5, on the Haas Promenade in Jerusalem. The celebration included fervent music, a flag parade, and speeches by figures such as charismatic pastor Robert Stearns, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Dr. Faydra Shapiro of the Galilee Center for Studies in Jewish-Christian Relations at the Max Stern Jezreel Valley College, Sharon Sanders of Christian Friends of Israel, and Canon Andrew White, known as “the vicar of Baghdad,” who unexpectedly revealed that his studies of Jewish religious teaching took place in the Karliner Yeshiva in Mea She’arim, and that he takes care to study the weekly portion and do kiddush (Shabbat evening blessing) with the six Jews left in Baghdad.
Christians in Israel
Haaretz, October 8, 2014
The Orthodox Christian Network website has recently reported that Israel has confiscated land from the Russian Orthodox monastery of St. Mary Magdalene for “a recreational area.” The Russian news agency Interfax reported that local inhabitants have repeatedly destroyed the monastery’s “Private Property” sign to swim in the warm springs on the grounds and have barbecues. The monks appear to have complained that part of the grounds have been converted to a free beach.
The land was bought in 1908 by Archimandrite Leonid Sentsov, then-director of the Russian mission in the Holy Land, and the church was built there in the 1960s.
Miscellaneous
HaKibbutz, October 3, 2014
An arts and crafts festival will soon be taking place in the Tzippori National Park. Visitors will be able to walk the streets of the old city, meet noted figures who lived there in times past, and participate in excavation, mosaic, and clay pitcher reconstruction workshops. A concert, featuring unique instruments form all over the world, will also be part of the festival.
Yediot HaSharon-Herzliya, October 3, 2014
Dr. Liora Ravid will hold a lecture on October 23 on the influence the Bible has had on the Apocrypha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the New Testament. Among the subjects covered will be the creation of the world, paradise and hell, angels, the apocalypse, the Day of Judgment and the Last Days, the Messiah, and messianism.
History
Maariv, October 10, 2014
In this four-page article Eyal Levy explores the complex history of the German Templar community in Israel, the founders of which arrived in the mid-1800s. The Templars arrived to find no large-scale agricultural cultivation, but soon thereafter were able to provide training and help for the arriving Zionists, such as Yoel Moshe Salomon before he founded Petach Tikva.
However, Kaiser Wilhelm II’s visit in 1898, as well as World War I and its aftermath, caused the Templars, originally pacifists, to draw nearer to Germany. This led to a deterioration in relations with the Jewish community, who accused them of collaborating with the Arabs. After the founding of the Nazi Party, some 300 members of the Templar community became party members. The British saw them as enemy agents, and those who had not gone to Germany for military service were incarcerated in open detention camps.
Operation Atlas took place in October 1944, during the course of which a party of Palestinians and German Templars were parachuted into Israel. Some hold that the operation’s purpose was to poison the Rosh Ha’Ayin springs, Tel-Aviv’s water source at that time; others hold that the purpose was to stir up Arab rebellion to pin a British division in place, and that the white powder found in their possession was against tracking dogs; still others say that the purpose of the operation was to raise a network to help escaping German prisoners of war.
The Templars were returned to Germany before 1948 as part of the reparations agreement between Israel and West Germany. The government of Israel paid some 54 million marks to the Templars and their descendants for the possessions they left behind.
Culture
The Jerusalem Report, October 1, 2014
Gil Shohat, the prolific Israeli composer known for his unabashedly romantic style, has recently completed Dharma, a work for three singers, string ensemble, harp, mandolin, piano, and percussion, set to texts from ancient Mesopotamia, China, the Bible, Koran, and New Testament.
Shohat is also known for having written Alpha and Omega, “a parable of the story of Adam and Eve,” performed in 2001 for approximately 30,000 people in Israel, as well as for his work as a conductor and musician in some 340 concerts each year.
Archaeology
Haaretz, October 5, 2014
Excavations in the Great Temple at Tel Megiddo have recently uncovered a vast deposit of bones ritually discarded from animal sacrifice. Although no concrete evidence has been found as to the reason for this, archaeologists surmise that it has to do with “cultic belief in the sacred nature of the sacrificial refuse.”
The Great Temple, dated to approximately 3,000 BCE (the latest part of the early Bronze Age), is the “most monumental single structure uncovered so far in the Levant” from this period. The dimensions of the temple match a grid of a 52.5 cm standard of measurement. This may be evidence of a Levantine standard of building, but may also be evidence of an Egyptian connection. Neither of these has been proven, although Bet Yerah, a town near Megiddo, is known to have had trade relations with Egypt.
Israel Hayom, October 6, 2014
The Bible Lands Museum is currently exhibiting a rare silver coin as part of the Book of Books exhibition, which will close at the end of Sukkot. It is unique, as it is dated to 131 CE, which was the beginning of the Bar Kochba revolt. One side of the coin shows the facade of the temple with the words “Year One of the Redemption of Israel,” and the other side shows the four species and the word “Jerusalem.” “From reading Bar-Kochba’s writings one can see that apparently he invested considerable effort to provide his soldiers with the four species at Sukkot,” said Amanda Weiss, CEO of the museum.
The Jerusalem Post, October 8, 2014
An ancient mikve ritual bath and water cistern was recently revealed by the Antiquities Authority near Beit Shemesh during part of the construction for widening Route 38. The mikve has been dated to be 1,900 years old, and the cistern to be 1,700 years old. Pottery fragments from lamps, cooking pots, and a jug have also been found. However, graffiti of Australian corporals Philip Scarlett and Patrick Walsh was found on the wall of the cistern, showing that it was accessible at that time. Research of Scarlett and Walsh’s military records showed that they served in the Royal Australia Engineers as part of the Australian Sixth Division, and were undergoing training in Israel before being sent to France. Scarlett and Walsh died in 1970 and in 2005, respectively.
The Israel National Roads Company has granted the Antiquities Authority’s request that the highway’s construction plan be changed in order to preserve the findings.