During the week covered by this review, we received 15 articles on the following subjects:
Jewish Attitudes Concerning Christians
Israel
Religious Freedom and Rights
The Pope and the Vatican
Political Issues
Archaeology
Jewish Attitudes Concerning Christians
Yediot Ahronot, December 15, 2015
This article is a survey of harassment that Christian clerics and institutions suffer, particularly in Jerusalem’s Old City. The article states that there are incidents of spitting, cursing, vandalism, graffiti, and arson, “to say nothing of the murder attempt against the Messianic Jewish Ortiz family in Ariel,” in which one of the family’s sons was badly injured. Father Korion of the Armenian Patriarchate seminary told Yediot Ahronot that although he himself has grown used to the harassment, “it is hard on the students from Armenia who come for studies.” When the writer suggested that perhaps the harassers “think they are getting revenge for the Holocaust,” Father Korion said, “This is true, and it makes it even sadder, as Armenians saved more Jews than any other Christian denomination, having experienced the same thing. We are sad that more people don’t know our story.”
Shachar Ilan, vice-executive officer of the Organization for Equality and Freedom of Religion, states that while “most of the public is aware that great diplomatic harm could arise from these incidents,” still “one quarter of the survey responders in the Jewish orthodox sector thought there was no need to take care of the phenomenon.”
Israel
Scoop Darom-Ashkelon, December 10, 2015
A fierce controversy has been ongoing in Ashkelon, in which a city rabbi objected to the selling of fir trees in the city’s community of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, saying that the trees were meant “for idol worship.” However, the conflict was resolved when it was explained to the rabbi that the trees are used as a decoration to symbolize renewal only, since they were the only trees that grew where the community used to live.
Religious Freedom and Rights
Haaretz, December 16, 2015
This opinion piece by Dr. Munjed Farid Al Qutob supports Anshel Pfeffer’s opinion piece in Haaretz (“US Jews Responding to Donald Trump Should Learn from French Jews and Le Pen,” December 9). Citing such examples as the Holocaust, Al Qutob’s supervisor calling Islam “a savage, backward religion” in a lecture, and former Pope Benedict quoting a 14th-century emperor who said that “the only new things Muhammad brought to the world were things that were evil and inhuman,” Al Qutob states that “regrettably, racism is still alive and kicking in the West.” He calls upon his readers to “remember the Holocaust, and champion the cause of those enduring religious persecution, social exclusion, xenophobia, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism irrespective of their faith, creed, ethnicity and color.”
The Pope and the Vatican
Israel Hayom, December 14; BaKehila; BeSheva-Mitchalef Yerushalayim, December 17; Makor Rishon; Yated Ne’eman, December 18, 2015
These articles consist of various responses to the recent Vatican declaration that Catholics should no longer attempt to convert Jews.
The Israel Hayom article states that on the one hand Jews “should not forget the bloody history between Judaism and Christianity,” but that on the other, they should not ignore the fact that “a new era in history is beginning.” Judaism, Christianity and moderate Islam should work together to fight radical Islam, “which is the greatest danger to humanity.” The Makor Rishon article sees the declaration’s main importance in the fact that by saying that “God never canceled his covenant with the Jewish people,” it is canceling replacement theology. By so doing it is bringing Catholics closer to the Protestant evangelical standpoint, which “recognizes the State of Israel and Jewish rights over the land.”
The other articles express varying degrees of skepticism as to the intent behind the Vatican declaration and the degree to which it is likely to be effective. The BaKehila article notes that the anti-missionary activist organization Yad L’Achim had sent a letter to Pope Francis ahead of his 2014 visit to Israel asking him to halt missionary work, and quotes Rabbi Shmuel Lifshitz of the organization, who expressed satisfaction at the declaration, but wished to state that it would have no impact on Protestant missionary work among Jews. The BeSheva article quotes various rabbis in Israel who also expressed satisfaction regarding the declaration, as well as a Bar-Ilan University expert on Judeo-Christian dialogue who is of the opinion that the declaration was historically important, but that much of its effectiveness would be negated by the cumbersomeness of Vatican bureaucracy. The BeSheva article also notes that the declaration has no bearing on “personal missionary work,” but only on “organizational missionary work.” The Yated Ne’eman article is of the opinion that the Vatican declaration is meaningless, and constitutes a mere change of missionary tactics. It details the methods by which Yad L’Achim activists “penetrate missionary circles in disguise in order to learn their plans,” or meet with missionary individuals or groups and “embarrass them with questions to which they have no answer.” It stresses that although “much work remains to be done,” Yad L’Achim has had a number of successes and “each Jew we save is a complete world himself.”
Political Issues
Kol Israel, December 11, 2015
This article recounts some of the details of President Reuven Rivlin’s recent visit to the US, during which he and President Obama held a candle-lighting ceremony for Hanukkah and met privately on Israeli and Middle East security issues. After the meeting Rivlin told the press that “the President expressed much worry over the Palestinian issue”; the official White House statement at the end of the visit said that Obama “expressed to his guest the US’s continuing commitment to its relations with Israel and Israel’s security.” Obama “praised Rivlin for his continuing attempts to fight extremism” as well. As is customary, Rivlin gave Obama a gift, which on this occasion consisted of a gold medallion from the Ophel treasury.
Archaeology
HaZman HaYarok, December 3; Index HaEmek VeHaGalil-Shavuon Afula, December 4, 2015
More than 3,000 ancient coins and other artifacts have been found in the house of a resident in the Beit HaShita kibbutz, who is suspected of selling the coins to collectors abroad illegally.
The earliest of these coins dates to the Persian period (some 2,500 years ago). “The suspect is a known, legal collector, who has betrayed the trust given to him,” said Dr. Eitan Klein, vice-head of the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Unit for the Prevention of Theft. Kibbutz Beit HaShita wishes to emphasize, as well, that the suspect is a resident of Beit She’an, and not a member of the kibbutz. He is to be indicted soon, and his collector’s license has been revoked.
Meida 8, December 4, 2015
A portion of a 2,000-year-old Roman aqueduct has been discovered in Caesarea Philippi (Banias). It is surmised that the portion is a branch off the main channel, the purpose of which was to bring drinking water to a residential neighborhood of the city. Many ancient coins and a small gold leaf, apparently from an item of jewelry, were found on the site as well.
Kol Israel, December 11, 2015
This article is a reiteration of the story of a clay bulla, impressed “Of Hezekiah son of Ahaz, king of Judah,” being found in the Hebrew University dig at the Ophel, south of the Temple Mount (see previous reviews). The bulla, which is 9.7×8.6 millimeters and depicts a winged sun and an ankh, was found in a state building that appears to have served as a food storehouse. Dr. Eilat Mazar, who has been leading the dig, stated that although bullae with Hezekiah’s name have been found before, “this is the first time one has been found in a scientific dig.” Researchers are intrigued by the bulla’s depiction of the winged sun, a symbol of divine patronage, rather than depicting the Egyptian winged scarab, a symbol of power. They conclude that the bulla is from the latter period of Hezekiah’s reign, and take it as evidence that “strengthens the supposition that Hezekiah recovered from the boils which endangered his life.”
President Rivlin, who wished to see the bulla personally, stated that “this is an exciting and stirring find, which strengthens our sense of belonging to our people who lived here many years ago.”
Haaretz (Hebrew and English), December 17, 2015
A marble slab has been found this week in an excavation on the Kursi shore of the Sea of Galilee, bearing an eight-line inscription beginning “remembered for good” in Aramaic (in Hebrew letters). The slab, which is of Greek marble and unusually large, is thought to be a commemoration tablet for an influential person, and is dated to 500CE. Archaeologists believe this to be evidence of a Jewish or Judeo-Christian community that would have been completely Jewish 500 years earlier. It is also intriguing to note that in the 1960s an underwater breakwater was found on the Kursi shore, as well as the remains of a Christian town nearby.
The current excavation is being run by the University of Haifa, the Israel Antiquities Authority, and the Nature and Parks Authority. It is jointly headed by Professor Michal Artzi and Dr. Haim Cohen.