Jerusalem Seminar
Fall 2013
Resources for Holy Space Presentations
Western Wall
· History:
o The first place to look is in the Course Packet, pp. 143-148, from Peters’ book, Jerusalem. He covers the early history up to the 19th century.
o An article called “The Political Transformation of Gender Traditions at the Western Wall in Jerusalem” gives a very helpful history of the Wall as well as discussing gendered traditions there. You can find it on Sakai in the “Western Wall articles” folder. This should be useful for all three topics.
o A Haaretz article, “How the Wall became the Western Wall,” on the Wiki site (https://sites.google.com/site/ithacaseminarjerusalem/Home/contemporary-jerusalem-1/05-14-2013-how-a-wall-became-the-western-wall) recounts the 20th-21st century history of the Wall and the conflicts over it between Jews and Muslims
· Holiness of the Western Wall:
o See the “The Political Transformation of Gender Traditions at the Western Wall in Jerusalem” article on Sakai in the “Western Wall articles” folder.
o For religious practices at the Wall, see the Wikipedia article, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Wall, the sections on “Prayer at the Wall” and “Prayer Notes.”
o On conflicts over the Western Wall and the Temple Mount: http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/16/holy-ambivalence/
o From the Western Wall Heritage Foundation: http://english.thekotel.org/. This is the Israeli group that officially controls the Western Wall.
o One of the practices at the Western Wall is to place slips of paper in the wall with prayers written on them. These slips of paper are cleared out twice a year: http://www.haaretz.com/news/spring-cleaning-rabbi-removes-prayer-notes-from-western-wall-to-make-room-for-more-1.244010
· Women of the Wall:
o See the “The Political Transformation of Gender Traditions at the Western Wall in Jerusalem” article on Sakai in the “Western Wall articles” folder.
o website of Women of the Wall: http://womenofthewall.org.il
o article from the Jerusalem Post on Haredim (ultra-Orthodox Jews) preventing Women of the Wall from praying there: http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/Masses-of-haredim-prevent-WoW-from-praying-at-Western-Wall-322312
o New York Times article: “Challenging Traditions at the Heart of Judaism” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/world/middleeast/22jerusalem.html
o See another NYTimes article, from 3-21-89, “Women attacked at Western Wall,” available in the “Western Wall articles” folder on Sakai, about attacks on Women of the Wall right at the beginning of the group.
Church of the Holy Sepulcher
· History:
o Some of the history is in the Course Packet, pp. 149-154. You can also look in the course wiki (which I created in 2009), for this quotation from the Greek historian Sozomen on Helena’s finding the True Cross - https://sites.google.com/site/ithacaseminarjerusalem/Home/early-christian-jerusalem/helena-s-finding-of-the-true-cross
o Wikipedia has a decent article about the history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Holy_Sepulchre
o For a 3-D history of the Holy Sepulcher, there’s a fifteen-minute video that begins at the present and goes back to the crucifixion - http://www.patheos.com/blogs/exploringourmatrix/2012/02/a-3d-history-of-the-holy-sepulcher.html
· Christian religious groups in the Church and their conflicts
o Wikipedia article on the “immovable ladder” outside the second storey of the Church - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immovable_Ladder
o BBC article on quarrels over the Church: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7719843.stm
o Article on the two Muslim families who possess the keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher - http://www.ibtimes.com/who-guards-most-sacred-site-christendom-two-muslims-1161517
o Article on tensions between Orthodox Churches over Holy Saturday, from the New York Times: http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/14/ripples-on-the-surface-of-the-other-easter/?_r=0
o Look also in the Sakai site for the course in the folder named “Church of the Holy Sepulcher articles”
o Nighttime rituals at the Church: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/31/church-of-holy-sepulchre-jerusalem-church-comes-alive_n_1560326.html
· Why is there no Protestant chapel in the Church? When Protestants began coming to Jerusalem in the 19th century, they were not pleased with the Holy Sepulcher and some argued that it was not really the site of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. Instead, they found another location to the north of the Old City which they called the Garden Tomb.
o See the article in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher folder on Sakai called, “The search for a Protestant Holy Sepulchre: the Garden Tomb in nineteenth-century Jerusalem.”
o The Garden Tomb has a website: http://www.gardentomb.com/
o The Wikipedia article is also useful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_Tomb
· What is the Holy Fire?
o There is an article from 2011 on the Holy Fire on the course wiki: https://sites.google.com/site/ithacaseminarjerusalem/Home/contemporary-jerusalem-1/holy-fire-2011
o Another article, from the point of view of the Greek Orthodox Church, on the Holy Fire ceremony: http://theorthodoxchurch.info/blog/news/2013/05/jerusalems-dwindling-christians-celebrate-the-holy-fire-on-orthodox-easter/
o There is also a Wikipedia page about it - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Fire
o Look also in the Sakai site for the course in the folder named “Church of the Holy Sepulcher articles”
Dome of the Rock
· History:
o First place to look is in the book required for the course, The Dome of the Rock, by Oleg Grabar. Pages 1-119 (which are assigned for everyone) cover the early history (during the 8th century CE). The rest of the book covers the subsequent history up until the 19th century. Oleg Grabar has written very extensively on the Dome of the Rock, and another book of his, The Shape of the Holy (call number DS109.916 .G73 1996 in the IC Library) also deals with the history of the Dome of the Rock.
o Additional articles on the history of the building can be found in the folder on Sakai, “Dome of the Rock articles”
· Religious activities:
o Currently, the Dome of the Rock is almost entirely reserved for women to pray, and for the Friday noon prayer it is restricted only to women.
o This is a blog article that mentions women praying at the Dome - http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/interview-with-hind-makki-of-side-entrance-privilege-and-prayer-spaces/0020072
· Cave of the Spirits: It is also known as the Well of Souls, but in any case refers to a cave underneath the rock of the Dome of the Rock. The Wikipedia article on it is a good place to start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well_of_Souls
· Why are non-Muslims now not permitted to go to the Dome of the Rock? This is an issue as a result of the outbreak of the second intifada (Palestinian uprising) in September, 2000.
o A section of the Wikipedia article on the Dome of the Rock is devoted to the accessibility issues: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dome_of_the_Rock#Accessibility
o Search for articles on this subject on the Jerusalem Post, Ynet, and Haaretz websites
Al Aqsa Mosque
· History:
o There are two articles on Sakai, in a folder called “Information on Al Aqsa Mosque.” One is from the Encyclopedia of the Qur’an, the other is from the Encyclopedia of Islam. For more on the early history, see the book, The Shape of the Holy by Oleg Grabar, available in our library with the call number DS109.916 .G73 1996. Chapter three deals with the Al Aqsa Mosque and other structures on the Mount/Haram.
· Religious activities:
o There is an article on the class wiki on the “Whirlers of the Green Dome” – Sufis (Muslim mystics) who worship in a small domed building next to the Dome of the Rock. This is the URL: https://sites.google.com/site/ithacaseminarjerusalem/Home/early-christian-jerusalem/the-whirlers-of-the-green-dome
o Search for articles on the Israeli and Palestinian media sites for further articles about religious activities in the Al Aqsa Mosque
· Building on the Temple Mount/Haram as-Sharif by the Waqf:
o See the Wikipedia article on Solomon’s Stables, which discusses the construction by the Waqf of a new prayer area underground. This has been named the Marwani Mosque or Marwani prayer area: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon%27s_Stables
o A second Wikipedia also discusses this construction: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excavations_at_the_Temple_Mount
o Two articles from an Israeli group named “The Public Committee Against the Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount” describes the building of the Marwani mosque -
o More on controversies about building on the Temple Mount: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/higher-than-the-al-aqsa-mosque-1.203936
· Jews ascending the Mount
o The New York Times has recently published a fairly comprehensive article on this topic, which I have put up on the wiki site: https://sites.google.com/site/ithacaseminarjerusalem/Home/contemporary-jerusalem-1/09-21-2013-jews-challenge-claims-to-temple-mount. If you go to the NYTimes article itself, you’ll find an interesting short video on the topic. This is the direct link: http://www.nytimes.com/video/2013/09/21/world/middleeast/100000002456840/conflict-grows-over-temple-mount.html.
o An older one, from October, 1981, shows that the issue is not new: https://sites.google.com/site/ithacaseminarjerusalem/Home/contemporary-jerusalem-1/10-20-1981-prayer-can-be-an-incendiary-act
o Link to a recent Reuters article on “Far right Israelis stir tensions over Jerusalem holy site”: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/24/us-palestinians-israel-jerusalem-idUSBRE95N0V520130624
For articles on the conflicts about the Temple Mount, go to the class wiki that I set up for the 2009 class, which I have subsequently revised.
The URL for the “Temple Mount: Who Owns It?” section is
https://sites.google.com/site/ithacaseminarjerusalem/Home/temple-mount---who-owns-it
· The articles by Gershom Gorenberg are particularly valuable.
· The articles dated “2000: September 29” document Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount on September 28, 2000, which sparked riots
· The article named “2003, 8-29: Visit Stirs New Tension at Jerusalem Holy Site” discusses the visits of Jews to the Temple Mount.
· The article named “2001, March: Digging in at the Temple Mount,” by Gershom Gorenberg, is about the Waqf building on the Temple Mount, in particular the beginning of the excavations to create the Marwani Mosque.
There are also interesting articles in the “Contemporary Jerusalem” section. This is the URL: https://sites.google.com/site/ithacaseminarjerusalem/Home/contemporary-jerusalem-1