Jerusalem 3/10/11

Today’s lecture had a lot of discussion of Jerusalem in the 1900′s. It started with talk of the Six-Day war in 1967. Like professor said, this was very much a war started by governments making up information to provoke each nation to strike. In 1967, the Soviets apparently informed that Isreal was going to attack the Syrians, which was apparently completely false. Because of it though, Egypt mobilizes troops in Sinai, while they sign a military agreement with Egypt. The Israelis felt threatened by this and launched a pre-emptive strike on the Egyptian air force. This attack decimated the Egyptian air force to give the Israelis an upper hand as they entered Jerusalem.

While the Israelis occupied Jerusalem, one of the leaders of the Israel, Rabbi Zvi Yehuda, announced “We shall never again move out of here.” This was a claim that the Israelis were taking over Jerusalem as a city of their own. What was odd about this though was what Moshe Dayan said. As an Israeli general, he gave control of Haram to the Muslims still and forbid the Jews to pray on the temple mount. Regardless, the Israelis officially claimed to annex Jerusalem even though the United Nations did not recognize this claim.

Between now and then, there have been many battles for Jerusalem along with many steps towards making peace. The biggest and most crucial step, in my opinion, has bee nthe Oslo Accords. I have done research on this topic and the Olso Accords were so important because it really opened the doors for peaceful negotiations. Even though it didn’t work as well as people would have preferred, it was still very important that this happened to have the Palestinian’s an official group to represent them. In addition, to have the opposing organization finally recognize that Israel was an official state really seemed to work in favor of what the international community wanted.

Jerusalem 3/8/11

Today’s lecture went over the relatively modern Jerusalem that has happened within the last 1000 years. It picked up on the Saladin rule of Jerusalem. As mentioned previously, Saladin was the first ruler in a while that jews to move back into Jerusalem. This was essentially when the Jewish quarter was established. While Jeruslem was under the rule of Saladin, Judah Halevi thought that it was time for aliyah in 1141 CE. He believed that Jerusalem was the one axis mundi that really mattered and that one of the most important things for the Jewish people was that they return to Jerusalem to allow redemption to begin. The Jewish Philosopher also agreed with this. He thought the Temple could not ever lose the presence of God and that it was essential for the Jews to go back to Jerusalem.

Because of these philosophies, the Jewish people started to flood back into Jerusalem. Many of the Jews who fled Jerusalem earlier to Europe came back to fill in the Jewish quarter. Today, there are still residential units that prove the existence of these settlements. During this time though, not only was there an increase in Jewish population. Many groups who believed Jerusalem as a holy city started to flood back in as well. Upon Ottoman rule, the Jew and Christian populations increased, even though the Muslim population decreased. Fortunately, when the British Empire took over Jerusalem, there was a drastic increase of population in all sects.

After touching upon these subjects, lecture was lead to 20th Century Jerusalem. What lead to such a large increase in population for the Jews was the Secular Zionism that arose form the different philosophies. This meant that there were many people migrating that were Jewish by ethnicity and not by religion. During this time, the Jewish people started to take over Jerusalem and essentially flourish in many aspects of living. It was said that this started the anti-semitism, which continued to be felt until Hitler’s time in Germany.

Lecture then went into the British rule over Jerusalem. It started in 1918 and was a very accepting form of rule. The British promised to allow all faiths a protected holy place to worship. This was backed up by Churchill’s White Paper in 1922. He said that they wanted to have a Jewish community within Palestine and not a separate nation. In 1937, the international community came up with the Peel Commission, to divide the area into two areas, with borders, that are seemingly fair to both parties. The Jewish people agreed to the UN solution but the Arab party would not agree to the solution, which furthered the conflict within the area. And because of this further conflict, the British eventually pulled out of Jerusalem. The old British mandated areas were then occupied by Jews and declared a Jewish nation.

Jerusalem 3/3/11

The lecture today started with a recap of Muslim Jerusalem. It talks about the Fatamids being the last period of Islam rule from 969-1099. During this time, the Caliph al Hakim ordered the destruction of many Jewish and Christian houses  of prayer, including the Holy Sepulcher. Eventually, there was a lot of internal conflict amongst the muslim people which opened up the way for the Byzantine Empire to take over which was around the same time as the crusades. The crusades were discussed in the last lecture though.

So after the crusade, Saladin took over Jerusalem. But he came and allowed the Christians to leave Jerusalem if they did not want to abide by his rules. Because of the mercy he showed on all sorts of people, it was generally known that he was a great ruler, which lead to a problem when he eventually passed away. There was a struggle for power as soon as he died which opened up the the chance for the rest of the crusades to turn the power of Jerusalem to many different rulers. During the 5th crusade, the city walls of Jerusalem were taken down, which led to the city offering a small amount of protection. Because this small amount of protection, people fled Jerusalem and it didn’t hold as much political power as it previously did.

Without the walls up, there wasn’t too much of an argument of power in the city. This started up the Mamluk movement. The Mamluk movement was a movement of the lower class. It was during this era that Jerusalem was made more into a religious city instead of a political city. They were also able to make Jerusalem a stronger city by developing buildings, hospices, and schools for the residents of the city. At the same time they were able to develop Haram. After the Mamluk movement, the Ottoman empire took over and was able to recreate Jerusalem as a stronghold by building up the walls again. This was all done by Sultan Suleiman who also renovated markets and wanted to create Jerusalem as the 3rd holiest city once again.

Jerusalem 3/1/11

Today we had a guest lecturer talk about the Crusader Jerusalem. He started by talking about Jerusalem as it was during the beginning of the crusades. In 638, it was ruled by the muslim Umayyad. In 750 CE, Abbasid took over until 969 CE when Fatamid took over. It was the lack of Christian rule in Jerusalem that lead the Pope to order the Crusades. Pope Urban II’s speech was given to encourage the Christian people to go to Jerusalem and take it over again. In his speech he also mentioned that the Christians can get forgiveness of their sins by fighting for Jerusalem. The people he spoke to responded with a large amount of enthusiasm and they all collectively decided to be part of the conquest to take over Jerusalem. Pope Urban II said that not only could the fighters get remission of the penalties for sin, but anybody that contributes funds, preaches to the soldiers. or contributes in any other way will also.

Eventually, the crusaders took over Jerusalem in 1095 by Godfrey de Bouillon. Once they took over, they immediately started adding buildings and naming buildings to help make the land more sacred. They added the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Church of the Ascension, the Church of St. Mary, and the Church of St. Lazarus. The Crusaders also developed the templars to protect the people that wanted to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem 2/24/11

This lecture discussed the end of the Byzantine rule of Jerusalem. The Sasanians (Persians) fought the Romans for rule over Jerusalem and eventually won in 614 CE. But one of the biggest and immediate changes that the Persians brought to Jerusalem was the allowing of the Jewish people back into Jerusalem. The Romans really advocated Christianity throughout the Byzantine empire but did not want Jews in Jerusalem. The Persians were the first ones who allowed Jews to be in Jerusalem since the Bar-Kohkba Revolt in 135 CE. However, when the Byzantines defeated the Sasanians and  took over again in 628 CE, they decided to massacre the Jews.

But today’s lecture also emphasized the start of Islam. There was a growing religion started by a man named Muhammad. After his death, there was no heir, so the caliphs were the ones who lead the Islamic community. The leaders were Abu Bakr, who was a very close friend to Muhammad, Umar, who was a companion, and Uthman, who was a distant relative of Muhammad. Umar was the caliph that took over the Jerusalem in 638 CE. Eventually, the rules of Islam were not clear and major schisms appeared. This lead to the split between the Shi’ites and Sunni muslims. There was also much discussion of the different Islamic traditions that are in Jerusalem now because of the Muslim rule, such as the Qibla, Mihrab, and Kaaba in the architecture.

Jerusalem 2/22/11

Today’s lecture went over Byzantine Jerusalem. Lecture started off with the dating the Roman rule from 63 BCE-614 CE, which was a very long time that indeed allowed many events to happen, including the crucifixion of Jesus. Because of the ministry of Jesus at the time, there was a large rise in Christianity. The rise of Christianity also lead to a more “metaphysical” Jerusalem. The Christians started to reject the temple as the only place they can worship, especially when Jesus predicted the destruction of it. These new rules were put into action and ultimately led to one of the biggest events of the early church; the arresting of Paul on the Temple Mount. From prison, Paul wrote many letters that he claimed were inspired by God. Eventually, those letters became most of the New Testament in the Christian Bible. During this time, the Romans made Jerusalem Aelia Capitolia which is a large city under the rule of Constantine the Great.

Constantine decided in the Edict of Milan to legalize Christianity. The people of Jerusalem, especially the Christians really enjoyed this because it allowed them religious freedom and spread Christianity very rapidly. However, there was also a feeling of forced religion in the areas under Constantine’s rule. Nevertheless, Constantine planned on using Christianity to unite his people and it definitely worked. In 324 CE, Constantine’s mother comes to Jerusalem in the first Christian pilgrimage. Upon her arrival, there were was a dedication of the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem, the Church of Ascension, and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. These were all attempts to make Jerusalem seem even more holy for the Christian people.

Jerusalem 2/17/11

Today’s lecture held a began with a discussion of two historians that were alive during the time of Herod the Great’s kingdom. One of them was Flavius Josephus, who was initially a part of the Jewish rebellion. He was saved by saying that he was a prophet to the Romans. They eventually took him under their wings and allowed him to record the history of the Jewish and Roman people, with a strong bias towards the Romans. The second historian was Tacitus. He explained the revolt as rooted in messianism. Because of these historians and others like them, Herod the Great was able to have a great record of what happened in his kingdom. But in class we continued to see that Herod the Great was not immortal. After his death, he willed the land that he owned to all of his sons. His sons were Archelaus, Herod Antipas, and Herod Philip. Archelaus was a very ineffective ruler but he was given the most land out of all of his brothers. He was called the ethnarch of Judea and was eventually recalled back to Rome for being so ineffective in 6 CE. Herod Antipas was the Herod in which the stories of the new testament have. He was directly involved with Jesus’ crucifixion. He was known as the Tetrarch of Perea and Galilee, just as his brother was called in a Tetrarch in Iturea and Trachonitis. Herod Philip was a ruler way north of where Jerusalem was so he decided to put pictures of himself on his coins. Because of the distance, the Jewish people were not angered by the creation of “idols”.

There was also mention of what the Roman rulers were like in Jerusalem. Apparently, the reason the Romans picked certain people to be in Jerusalem was to test their abilities. Before the Roman government knew they could trust someone in the homeland, they made sure they were able to rule a place that had much less relative importance. However, it was difficult for them to gauge this correctly. What the Roman leaders didn’t realize, was that the Jewish people of Jerusalem were in a state of conflict. The Pharisees and Sadducees were not seeing eye to eye on many things and these were just two sects of the Jewish community. Eventually, law and order started to decline and the Jewish people revolted. And a way that they started this was by printing their own money as a statement of independence.