During the week covered by this review, we received 23 articles on the following subjects:
Christians in Israel
Christian Holidays (Christmas)
Jewish-Christian Relations
Judaism
Pope and the Vatican
Biblical Scholarship
Archeology
Christians in Israel
Maariv, December 23, 2012
Andreas Alamya, a priest from Nazareth who supports the initiative for young Christian Arabs to be drafted in the IDF, had his tires slashed this week. In addition, the priest found a blood-stained rag on his doorstep. Several priests have riled up the Christian community in Nazareth in recent months as a result of their support of Christian Arabs serving in the Israeli army. The latest attack follows on the excommunication of Father Jobrail Nadaf in November after he participated in an event that was meant to encourage young Christian Arabs to join the army (see first and second Media Reviews for November).
Christian Holidays (Christmas)
The Jerusalem Post, December 25, 2012
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu gave a taped Christmas greeting in which he said that the Christian community in Israel is “strong and growing,” as opposed to other Christian communities in the Middle East. “Israel is proud of its record of religious tolerance and pluralism, and Israel will continue to protect freedom of religion for all . . . We will continue to safeguard places of Christian worship throughout the country.” He added that Israel “would not tolerate any acts of violence or discrimination against any place of worship. This is not our way, and this is something we cannot accept.”
Haaretz, December 28, 2012
In the letters section of the paper, Elisehva Kaufman expressed her disgust with Israel’s embassy in Ireland for posting a controversial “Christmas thought” on their Facebook page (see third Media Review for December). “I don’t understand the behavior of our Foreign Ministry,” she wrote. “It is a mixture of chuzpa, arrogance, and ignorance.”
Haaretz, December 24, 2012
The Chief Rabbinate Council is formulating an official policy regarding the revoking of kosher certificates for businesses that display Christian symbols – such as Christmas trees – during the Christmas season. The Rabbinate justified the move by saying that, according to the Halacha, Jews are forbidden from being in a place of idol worship.
Mazav HaRuach, December 21, 2012
Columnist Amiad Taoub expresses his ire at the distribution of free Christmas trees to Jerusalem’s Christian community in what is meant to be “the eternal capital of the Jewish State.” Taoub mockingly writes that the municipality might as well distribute free Hanukah candles in Zion Square, or free oznei haman [cookies] during Purim.
Haaretz, December 25, 2012
This article focused on how the foreign workers living in Tel Aviv are celebrating Christmas. Tel Aviv “is full of churches,” says the article, referring to the many apartments housing foreign workers from across the globe. The article goes on to describe how each apartment (or “church”) celebrates Christmas according to its own culture and tradition, making for a very diverse Christmas experience.
Kol HaIr, December 21, 2012, Yisrael HaYom, December 23, 2012
Two articles provided information on where to go and what to do during the Christmas holiday in Jerusalem. Yisrael HaYom reported that, as a gesture towards the Christians in the city, Jerusalem’s mayor would be visiting several churches during the holiday. In addition, the immigration police would cease their activity on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Kol HaIr gave information on a variety of Christmas tours on offer throughout the city.
Haaretz, December 28, 2012
Inspired by the Christmas season, Moshe Gilad travels to Zipori in the Galilee, the village traditionally associated with Mary’s parents. As he walks around the church and monastery located there, he muses on how little Israelis know about Christian sites in Israel and wonders why certain sites have not been developed further, since their tourist potential is immense. These sites include Zipori, Nain, Cana, and Mount Tavor, which Gilad travels through, explaining what happened in each place according to the New Testament and Christian tradition. According to several tour guides, the reason these sites are rather neglected is because the government has not made an effort to develop them – a task that is too big for the small Christian community living in Israel – and also because the local communities have not been taught how to respect and preserve the sites.
Haaretz, December 28, 2012
A short article describing the Christmas mass celebration that took place at St. Anthony’s Church in Jaffa. The mass, which was conducted in Arabic, was attended by “Arabs, Russians, Indians, Sri Lankans, Filipinos and European tourists, not to mention a few curious Israeli Jews.” Father Sidawi told the paper that “the most special thing about the church is its international character . . . It is a church that serves all Christians. We are all created for peace and love, even though sometimes life is hard.”
The Jerusalem Post, December 23, 2012
This article reported on the controversial placing of a Christmas tree at Jaffa Gate, one of the main entrances to the Old City in Jerusalem (see third Media Review for December).
Globes, December 28, 2012
Writing from New Delhi, Yoav Karni describes how Christmas mania has taken over India, in spite of the fact that Christians make up less than 3% of the population. “And yet,” writes Karni, “Christianity is not spreading in India, even though Indians make an effort to send their children to Catholic schools.” This is true also of Europe, where Christianity is in decline. “Most Europeans are Christians,” says Karni, “at least nominally, but only in the sense that they were born to Christian parents, or that their parents were born to these kinds of parents. Europe is totally secular. Almost painfully so.” The situation in the United States is slightly better, according to some statistics, where 65 percent of the population would classify themselves as “religious.” The hope for Christianity, writes Karni, lies in China, where more than fifty million people call themselves Christian. Christianity is also spreading rapidly in Africa, “balancing its decline in Europe.”
Yisrael HaYom, December 28, 2012
Writing about the political situation in the West Bank and in Syria, Gonen Gilat mentions a comment made by Jibril Rajoub (relating to the Christmas season) in which he claimed that “Jesus was the greatest Palestinian, and after him, Yasser Arafat.”
Gal Gefen, December 27, 2012
This snippet explains the origins of the Sylvester, or New Year’s celebration, correcting the assumption made by Israelis that it marks the day that Jesus was circumcised (eight days after his birth, at Christmas). “Don’t worry,” says the article. “You aren’t really celebrating the circumcision of the crucified lord” because “Christian sources don’t even have a date for his birth.” Instead, the New Year commemorates one of the Popes whose name was Sylvester and who died on the 31st of December.
Makor Rishon, December 26, 2012
The paper featured a photograph of one of its reporters in Bethlehem during the Christmas celebrations.
Jewish-Christian Relations
Haaretz, December 24, 2012
Writing in response to the latest “price tag” attack on the monastery in Jerusalem’s Valley of the Cross, David Rap says that “the violence and abuse do not end with these hate slogans” spray-painted on church walls. “They often penetrate the walls and reach far into the Christian world. They are present on the streets of the Old City, in spitting on, shoving, and cursing” Christian religious figures. According to Rap, the Christian minority in Israel numbers about 300,000 people, “but Jewish society is blind to them.”
The Jerusalem Post, December 25, 2012
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach writes an article in response to the debate going on in America among Christian and Jewish leaders in response to the shooting of 20 children in Newtown, Connecticut. Boteach quotes a newspaper article which claimed that “numerous figures on the Christian right, including James Dobson and Mike Huckabee, have linked the horrific mass killing . . . to issues such as prayer in school, abortion, and same sex marriage. They claim these issues prove the United States no longer respects God.” Boteach, on the other hand, makes the claim that the United States is “the most religious country in the Western world.” He urges people to wrestle with God, rather than try to spell out the reason why God allows good people to suffer. “Our role as humans,” writes the rabbi, “is not to understand God’s plan in the face of horror and tragedy, but to challenge God and demand that human life always be protected and preserved.” Interestingly, Boteach links his argument to Christianity, writing that in the New Testament, “Jesus does the same thing. Dying on the cross, he cries out in agony, ‘My God, my God. Why have you forsaken me?’ He is defiant against the death sentence imposed on him by the brutal and wicked Romans.” The purpose of wrestling with God, says Boteach, is to demand “that the suffering stop completely so that God and humanity can finally be reconciled, after a long history of human travail and agony.”
Judaism
This four-page article details the way religious Judaism has succeeded in penetrating one of the strongholds of secular Israeli society, namely Kibbutz Givat Brener. Of interest is a passing reference to the large Messianic Jewish community living there who were unable to stop the spread of religious Judaism, and this in spite of a letter written to a local paper by a Messianic Jewish woman several years ago expressing outrage that the religious Jews were allowed into the kibbutz. “I chose the live in a secular place,” wrote Y.M., adding that there are enough places in the country filled with religious Jews, and that they need not be given more space in Givat Brener.
Pope and the Vatican
Makor Rishon, December 28, 2012
This short article reflects on the strained relationship between Israel and the Vatican, explaining the main points of contention between the two entities, which are currently in negotiation. First, on the economic front, is the Vatican’s request that all its real estate in Israel be exempt from the normal taxation procedures. On the religious front is Israel’s request that the Vatican open up its archives (specifically those sections pertaining to World War II and the Holocaust). On the political front, Israel is interested in maintaining a good relationship with the Vatican only because of the Vatican’s massive influence on the world at large – “just another example of cold interest clashing with boiling blood.”
Biblical Scholarship
The Jerusalem Post, December 23, 2012
Fragments from hundreds of manuscripts have been posted online by the University of Cambridge, including the Nash Papyrus, “a 2,000 year-old fragment containing the Ten Commandments and part of the shema prayer discovered in Egypt in the late 19th century.” According to a Cambridge University librarian, “because of their age and delicacy these manuscripts are seldom able to be viewed,” but now “anyone with a connection to the Internet can select a work of interest, turn to any page of the manuscript, and explore it in extraordinary detail.”
Archeology
Yediot Aharonot, Yisrael HaYom, Haaretz, December 27, 2012
Three articles reported on the discovery of a ritual building (or a temple) at the archeological site of Tel Motza on the outskirts of Jerusalem. The find provides rare evidence of the religious rituals and practices of the early kingdom of Judah, probably dating back some 2700 years. According to the directors of the excavation, the ritual building “is an unusual and striking find, in light of the fact that there are hardly any remains of ritual buildings of the period in Judaea at the time of the first Temple. The uniqueness of the structure is even more remarkable because of the vicinity of the site’s proximity to the capital city of Jerusalem, which acted as the Kingdom’s main sacred center at the time.” The find includes several figurines, pottery, fragments of chalices, and ritual pedestals. Extensive research is still required, according to archeologists. But the find already provides “rare archeological evidence for the existence of temples and ritual enclosures in the Kingdom of Judah in general, and in the Jerusalem region in particular, prior to the religious reforms throughout the kingdom at the end of the monarchic period (at the time of Hezekiah and Isaiah).”