Jewish History

What has been taken away from Judaism and the Jewish people over the past 2,000 years?  Taken away and forgotten in some distant past - and the world moves on.  But some people study history, and maybe as suggested in the article below, such study can border on obsession, but it's an obsession I can understand.  Jews are directly affected today, and Jewish right to Israel is questioned based upon lies, the origin of which gets forgotten. Theft is forgotten, wrongs are not righted and there is no accountability.

But even as I say this, I am reminded of those who would say that others have been wronged too, that other civilizations died off completely - that at least the Jewish people still live, and what am I complaining about?

However, in my view, each people has a story of their own and are responsible for it and for carrying on their civilization and culture.  My responsibility and focus is on Jewish civililization and culture.  I have a double responsibility in supporting American civilization and culture - but America is not in nearly as much need of my help and focus, having many others to help it.  Jews are few and far between and each of us has to shout louder and more frequently to make up for our lack in number. 

This doesn't mean I don't care about other cultures, but of course I think about mine and what concerns me and my family first and foremost.  Yes, that's blunt, but true. And it's true of everyone (or should be) who cares about their culture and feels it has something to offer them and their descendents and the rest of the world.

I see Judaism and the Jewish people as being endangered - and not only from hostile forces, but from our own lack of interest and assimilation into the cultures in which we live. I see something there, a lot actually, worth fighting for, and I try my best to get my children to understand and see it too.  Frankly, I don't know how well I've succeeded.

My concerns play out on this blog - I keep coming back to them, though I don't always write about it overtly, I just keep posting articles showing different aspects of the same thing - Judaism, Jews and Israel endangered, and the misinterpretation of the facts - both deliberately and in ignorance - by other cultures who would like to conquer Jewish territory and by the media.

The article below is a discussion of a book called God's Gold, written by an archeologist who specializes in the archeology of the Holy Land.  His views are disputed by some Israeli archeologists.  In my opinion he may or may not be wrong, but the one thing his book does do is help to focus interest on the area, its meaning to the Jewish people and their historical claim.  From the Jewish World Review: 

The boundary between quest and obsession is not defined until it is crossed. By then it is too late — and extremely perilous. This is inevitable when the search is for some of the most precious and potentially explosive objects in the world: religious icons that, if found, will further agitate the roiling cauldron that is the Middle East.

In "G-d's Gold: A Quest for the Lost Temple Treasures of Jerusalem," archaeologist Sean Kingsley provides a dramatic account of his personal journey in search of the golden menorah, silver trumpets, and jewel-covered Table of Divine Presence taken from the Second Temple of Jerusalem in the year 70. These iconic artifacts were spirited away by the Roman emperor Vespasian and his son, Titus, during the razing of Jerusalem that followed the First Jewish Revolt. Back in Rome, the treasures became the centerpiece of a massive victory parade, the report of which can still be read 2,000 years later as intricate carvings on the Arch of Titus.

Although missing since antiquity, there are enough written references to them, and more than enough conspiracy theorists who claim that they reside in the Vatican, to suggest that the treasures were not melted down for pagan purposes. This is all Kingsley needs to launch what seems to be an impossible mission — one that is both delicate and dangerous because of the ever-present tensions that surround the jurisdiction of the Temple Mount.

I visited the Vatican several years ago and was shocked to see not only the extent and value of the treasures it owns, but the fact that there were Jewish artifacts in its posession. I no longer remember exactly what I saw, but I do remember the flash of anger that the objects were owned by someone else and not exhibited in a Jewish museum. I wondered at the time how it was they came to be there.

In a narrative that is part history, part travelogue, and all action movie, Kingsley describes his 10 years of travels from the Holy Land to Rome to Tunis to Istanbul, digging for clues in the dusty texts of ancient scribes and the dangerous dirt of Hamas-controlled territory.

Has Kingsley crossed over, then, from quest to obsession? Perhaps. He is absolutely obsessive about knowing the objects of his search, although this is just excellent methodology. Part forensics investigator and part profiler, Kingsley is adamant that the key to any search is the understanding of both the material and psychological properties of the missing objects. It is not enough to know what the Temple treasures were made of, and their design; it is just as important to know their significance to Second-Temple Jews, and to the Romans and Vandals after them. It is Kingsley's hypothesis that the icons survived not because of their monetary value, but because they could be used to support the founding myths of all those who held them, an ultimate source of "via fide" — street cred — in a world breaking free from Roman rule.

Read the rest.

A review from the Boston Globe which discusses the archeological controversy raised by God's Gold.

The History Channel has a 2-part series based on the book which I have not seen.  Part 2 will be shown on 10/15 and part 1 will be repeated on 10/27.

Comments

[soccerdad]

I don't know if I agree that Matthew Kalman's review disputes the book. He does emphasize the doubters, but he also seems comfortable with Kingsley. (Kalman in reporting from Israel, is an excellent reporter.)

Apparently it's not only stuff from Judea that's in the Vatican but manuscripts stolen for European communities during the Crusades. Though, I've been told that the Vatican does allow access to the manuscripts.

[Gail]

Yes, you are right about Kalman's review - it was poorly worded on my part. A good part of the post needed rewrite, in fact. I must have been half asleep when I wrote it.

[alisa]

Great post. As usual. For what it's worth, between you and reading and studying on my own, and then gathering together my life long beliefs and learnings as a Christian--I'm doing my part to put the same word out there. "We" are in this together, mi amigo.

[Gail]

Thanks, Alisa. Friends like you are gifts from above.