During the week covered by this review, we received 10 articles on the following subjects:
- Israeli/Jewish Attitudes Concerning Jesus
- Anti-Missionary Activity
- Christian Zionism
- Judaism
- Book Reviews
- Miscellaneous
- Archaeology
Israeli/Jewish Attitudes Concerning Jesus
Maariv, November 14, 2014
Simcha Jacobovici and Barrie Wilson have recently published a book entitled The Lost Gospel: Jesus’ Marriage to Mary Magdalene, Bride of God. In this book, Jacobovici and Wilson present their theory that Jesus and Mary were married and had two children. This theory is based on a parchment manuscript from circa AD 570, written in Syriac about Joseph and Osnat, which Jacobovici and Wilson interpret as a coded version of the events of Jesus’ life.
The book has already garnered criticism from some authorities as well as some journalists, who hold that this interpretation of the manuscript is entirely fallacious.
Anti-Missionary Activity
Kol Ha’Ir Bnei Brak, November 12, 2014
The anti-missionary activist organization Yad L’Achim has reported unusual missionary activity: the distribution of a music player designed with military colors that contains a non-erasable narrated version of the New Testament and evangelistic material for soldiers. Yad L’Achim collected the material and the players from the recipients and clarified the purpose of the distribution to them.
Christian Zionism
The Jerusalem Post, November 11, 2014
Rebecca Brimmer and Jess Gibson of Bridges for Peace recently presented an ambulance to Magen David Adom’s Yoni Yagodovsky in Jerusalem.
Judaism
Hed Ha’Ir Darom, November 4; Maariv, November 14, 2014
These articles present a short biography of Yehuda Glick, who survived an assassination attempt on November 5 and continues to be hospitalized in Jerusalem’s Shaare Tzedek Hospital in critical but stable condition.
Glick has served in a variety of political positions, but is best known as the founder of the Temple Mount Legacy Foundation, which encourages Jews to ascend the Temple Mount and promotes the rights of Jewish worshippers on the Mount.
Glick’s assassin was apprehended and shot after a manhunt of several hours.
Book Reviews
Haaretz, November 14, 2014
In this article, Oryan Morris and Rut Kastel-Blum talk about Amos Oz’s latest book, The Gospel According to Judas, a novel replete with symbolism connected to both the Arab-Israeli conflict and the New Testament. While not coming from the same literary standpoint, the two explore Oz’s treatment of the concept that “belonging inherently implies betrayal” and his new presentation of Judas Iscariot as the disciple who believed in Jesus more than Jesus did in himself, and who therefore committed suicide in despair after Jesus’ death.
Miscellaneous
Ha’Ir Tzomet HaSharon Kfar Saba, November 7, 2014
Tzachi Dvori is the head of Effective Plan Ltd., a company that produces Zionist symbols for printing on a variety of products such as T-shirts and sweatshirts. These are sold at the Israeli-T website to Jewish and Christian communities abroad who might have no other way of obtaining these products.
Archaeology
Shishi BaGolan, October 8, 2014
Tel Bethsaida is “one of the biggest and most unique” in Israel. Excavations of the site have revealed such artifacts as a road paved with shaped basalt stones; a gate with two towers; a figurine of the Egyptian god Ptah; a house with many fishing implements; and a house with a wine cellar.
Bethsaida is mentioned in the Talmud as being on the road from Babylon to Israel and being rich with fish; it is also known in Christianity for being the site of some of Jesus’ miracles.
Haaretz, November 13, 2014
Recent excavations in Greece have revealed a spectacular Alexander-era burial complex, complete with some skeletal bones, a decayed wooden coffin, and a mosaic floor. Although the tomb was looted, the structure makes clear that it could not have belonged to an ordinary citizen; archaeologists assume that the deceased was a person of stature, and perhaps even a general close to Alexander, especially since it is known that some of Alexander’s family were killed near the site in the wars following his death.
Israel Hayom, November 14, 2014
Findings from excavations recently completed in David’s Citadel in the Old City of Jerusalem are now open to the public. These consist of Second Temple–era ritual baths and a water channel in the moat of the citadel, and the Ottoman-era jail where some fighters from the Jewish underground were incarcerated.