According to a recent study conducted by Professor Sami Smooha, a well-known Israeli sociologist at Haifa University, "more than a quarter of Israel's Arab citizens believe the Holocaust never happened...28 percent of local Arabs did not believe the Holocaust happened, and among high school and college graduates the figure was even higher: 33 percent." (Haaretz, March 19, 2007)
Museums of tolerance can be erected around the world, books can be translated into Arabic and we can teach the Holocaust until the cows come home - in the eyes of many Arabs it's all propaganda, an international conspiracy to validate the the existance of Israel and justify the Palestinian Nakba (disaster of 1948). As long as our Arab neighbors are unwilling to learn and understand the implications of the Holocaust for the Jewish people they will remain incapable of comprehending the modern reality of the state of Israel. For those who wish to perpetuate the state of war in which we live it is preferable to treat the Holocaust as a cynical political tool brandished by the Jews at every opportunity. In this case Arab ignorance is bliss, because understanding the Jewish experience of the Holocaust makes the conflict much grayer. It's far easier to stick one's head into the sand and pretend it never happened.
Interestingly, teaching awareness of the Holocaust to Israel's Arabs has become the one-man crusade of Khaled Mahameed, a lawyer who lives in Nazareth. Educated at Hebrew University, he studied the Holocaust and later invested his own money to purchase a photographic exhibit from Yad Vashem and set up a museum on the first floor of his home. He has printed publications about the Holocaust in Arabic, offers stipends to Arab students who wish to study the subject and maintains a website in Arabic (www.alkaritha.org). This is what he said in an interview:
"Understanding this and the fact that personal security is perhaps the major concern of Jews in Israel and elsewhere, as a direct outcome of the Holocaust and the feelings of persecution, is extremely important.
"If we, as Arabs, can dissipate these concerns and show understanding over what happened it will help create the climate for real dialogue in which Israeli Jews and especially decision-makers will be able to have a greater understanding of the suffering of Arab citizens and the Palestinians.
"This, in turn, would hopefully lead towards a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and an end to discriminatory policies towards Arab citizens and the acceptance that they deserve equal rights."
If I recognize and address your deepest fears, you will reciprocate - that's what he's saying, in a nutshell. Arab and Jewish acceptance of each other's narratives may very well be the key to resolving the conflict. I believe we are mature enough and wise enough to be truthful about the less honorable aspects of the birth of the State of Israel. But who should go first?
Each of us contributes what we can. My husband Benny works for Israel Television. When he read the article about Smooha's research he decided immediately to translate a program he has on the Nieremberg trials slated for broadcast into Arabic - not subtitles, but a voice-over.
My college roomate Lauren was here this week for a conference of the Reform Movement. As the executive director of the reform synagogue in Munich, Germany, she is helping to rebuild a strong Jewish community there.
The next meeting of our women guides' association will take place of the eve of Holocaust Memorial day and we will be sharing ideas about guiding at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum. I'm going to share a story that I heard a few years ago from a Holocaust survivor. He said something like this:
"As a young boy of twelve or thirteen I found myself forced to board a very crowded train with my parents; people were packed in so tightly that we could barely breathe. Everyone was Jewish and although we had no idea where we were going, we knew it couldn't be good. There was a opening in the box car but it was too small for any of the adults to get through. I was the only one thin enough to climb out and my parents decided that I should jump from the train, come what may. When my father said goodbye to me he hugged me and kissed me, and the last thing he said to me was, "Son, be a mensch." I never saw my parents again."
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Monday, March 12, 2007
The Jesus Tomb Brouhaha
For those of us in archaeology-related professions, the talk of the town this past week was the film 'The Lost Tomb of Jesus,' that aired with much ado on the Discovery Channel last Tuesday. The expose was underwritten by the guy who produced 'The Titanic' and presented by a Jewish journalist in a Druze kippa hot on the trail of a good story. They set out to authenticate a late second temple period burial tomb as the final resting place of Jesus and several of his family members, including his mother Mary, his brothers, Mary Magdalene and his son (gulp). In fact, the names in the tomb correspond seamlessly with the Da Vinci Code theory which purports that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and they had a child.
The tomb was discovered accidentally during construction in one of Jerusalem's satellite neighborhoods in 1980. It contained ten ossuaries (bone boxes used for secondary burial), six of which were clearly inscribed with the aforementioned names. One of the stronger arguments against the film's premise is that people from the Judaea region usually inscribed tombs with their first name and their father's name, as in this tomb, whereas Galileans used the first name and the hometown. In addition, Jesus came from a family of modest means; in all likelihood they would not have been able to afford the excavation of a family burial tomb. Even if they had one, Nazareth would seem to be the natural location for it.
Amos Kloner, the head archaeologist of the Jerusalem district when the tomb was revealed, pooh-poohed the suggestion that this was the tomb of Jesus' family, claiming that the names inscribed on the ossuaries were extremely common during Jesus' time and could have been found in that combination in many families, especially in a burial cave where generations of relatives found their final resting place. He subsequently consigned the ossuaries to a shelf in an antiquities storeroom in the Jerusalem hinterlands, where they have been collecting dust until today. (Interestingly, one of the ossuaries was evidently 'lifted' and sold on the antiquites market, where it was purchased by a well-known Israeli collector named Oded Golan. A few years ago he publicized his ossuary as belonging to the brother of Jesus and was subsequently indicted for forgery. Hmmm...)
If you walked down the street in Jerusalem two thousand years ago and called out, "Hey, Jesus!" how many people would have answered? Statistical analysis of the chances of all those names appearing together was done by a Canadian professor, who based his calculations on a book called "The Lexicon of Jewish Names" by a scholar named Tal Ilan, who appeared in the movie. A world-renown expert on second temple period Jewish history who has taught at Harvard and who is a member of the faculty of a German university, I once knew her as Tali, back when she did the tour guides' course in the class parallel to mine in 1985. She was extremely self-confindent, both intellectually and physically; I have a clear memory of her taking her newborn infant along on hikes and nursing him while she walked precariously along the edge of a cliff. Oddly, they didn't mention that in the movie.
Another local celebrity who was interviewed for the film was the eleven year-old boy who actually discovered the tomb, now a 38 year-old Israeli living in Paris, who was flown back to Israel for twenty-four hours just to tell his story to the cameras. A few tidbits that probaby would up on the floor of the editing room made their way to an article on the NRG Maariv internet news site. The kid, Uriel Maoz, claims to have recognized the triangle and the circle over the entrance to the tomb immediately. "The moment I saw the sign I ran home to my mother and cried, "Mom, I found a burial cave from the second temple period!" Was this a sign of yet another great Jewish genius, or just a regular kid who picked up a little archaeology from helping his mother study for her exams to pass the tour guides' course?
Junior and his mother tried to contact an archaeologist, but being Friday afternoon no one answered the phone at the Antiquities Authority. Maoz says, "A few hours later, I saw kids on the lot opposite our house playing with some skulls and bones. I told my father that they had taken them from the cave. My father took a giant garbage bag and we went from house to house, door to door, and we collected everything they found. My Dad explained to them that this was a desecration of the sanctity of the dead and of graves. After we
collected the bones we put the bag in a storage shed under the steps in our garden....If the premise of the movie is correct - and this is really the tomb of Jesus - then Jesus' bones were in my backyard."
His mother is still evidently a bit possesive about the tomb, because Maoz related that one day recently, on her way to the supermarket, Mrs. Maoz walked by the concrete slab the contractors poured over the tomb way back when and noticed all manner of photographers and curious people peering into a hole dug into it. "That's my son's tomb!" she called out to them. "What are you talking about, lady?" they yelled back. "He found it over twenty years ago. What are you all doing here?" Uriel admitted that it would always be his cave, or as they call it in his family, "his grave."
What is the real reason this discovery never made the headlines until now? If you think it's because Christians are afraid of evidence that contradicts the New Testament, think again. In a discussion on the question held at the most recent meeting of my women guides' professional group our conclusion was unanimous: it was the contractors. When the ossuaries were dusted off and those famous names were revealed the builders no doubt began to sweat profusely. If Jesus' tomb was discovered here they could kiss their buildings and their profits goodbye. Jesus, shmesus - call in the concrete pumps and send this tomb back to kingdom come where it belongs, no matter who's buried there. Hey, what a great sales pitch: Hurry! One apartment left with garden over tomb of ancient rabbi - at a bargain price!
The tomb was discovered accidentally during construction in one of Jerusalem's satellite neighborhoods in 1980. It contained ten ossuaries (bone boxes used for secondary burial), six of which were clearly inscribed with the aforementioned names. One of the stronger arguments against the film's premise is that people from the Judaea region usually inscribed tombs with their first name and their father's name, as in this tomb, whereas Galileans used the first name and the hometown. In addition, Jesus came from a family of modest means; in all likelihood they would not have been able to afford the excavation of a family burial tomb. Even if they had one, Nazareth would seem to be the natural location for it.
Amos Kloner, the head archaeologist of the Jerusalem district when the tomb was revealed, pooh-poohed the suggestion that this was the tomb of Jesus' family, claiming that the names inscribed on the ossuaries were extremely common during Jesus' time and could have been found in that combination in many families, especially in a burial cave where generations of relatives found their final resting place. He subsequently consigned the ossuaries to a shelf in an antiquities storeroom in the Jerusalem hinterlands, where they have been collecting dust until today. (Interestingly, one of the ossuaries was evidently 'lifted' and sold on the antiquites market, where it was purchased by a well-known Israeli collector named Oded Golan. A few years ago he publicized his ossuary as belonging to the brother of Jesus and was subsequently indicted for forgery. Hmmm...)
If you walked down the street in Jerusalem two thousand years ago and called out, "Hey, Jesus!" how many people would have answered? Statistical analysis of the chances of all those names appearing together was done by a Canadian professor, who based his calculations on a book called "The Lexicon of Jewish Names" by a scholar named Tal Ilan, who appeared in the movie. A world-renown expert on second temple period Jewish history who has taught at Harvard and who is a member of the faculty of a German university, I once knew her as Tali, back when she did the tour guides' course in the class parallel to mine in 1985. She was extremely self-confindent, both intellectually and physically; I have a clear memory of her taking her newborn infant along on hikes and nursing him while she walked precariously along the edge of a cliff. Oddly, they didn't mention that in the movie.
Another local celebrity who was interviewed for the film was the eleven year-old boy who actually discovered the tomb, now a 38 year-old Israeli living in Paris, who was flown back to Israel for twenty-four hours just to tell his story to the cameras. A few tidbits that probaby would up on the floor of the editing room made their way to an article on the NRG Maariv internet news site. The kid, Uriel Maoz, claims to have recognized the triangle and the circle over the entrance to the tomb immediately. "The moment I saw the sign I ran home to my mother and cried, "Mom, I found a burial cave from the second temple period!" Was this a sign of yet another great Jewish genius, or just a regular kid who picked up a little archaeology from helping his mother study for her exams to pass the tour guides' course?
Junior and his mother tried to contact an archaeologist, but being Friday afternoon no one answered the phone at the Antiquities Authority. Maoz says, "A few hours later, I saw kids on the lot opposite our house playing with some skulls and bones. I told my father that they had taken them from the cave. My father took a giant garbage bag and we went from house to house, door to door, and we collected everything they found. My Dad explained to them that this was a desecration of the sanctity of the dead and of graves. After we
collected the bones we put the bag in a storage shed under the steps in our garden....If the premise of the movie is correct - and this is really the tomb of Jesus - then Jesus' bones were in my backyard."
His mother is still evidently a bit possesive about the tomb, because Maoz related that one day recently, on her way to the supermarket, Mrs. Maoz walked by the concrete slab the contractors poured over the tomb way back when and noticed all manner of photographers and curious people peering into a hole dug into it. "That's my son's tomb!" she called out to them. "What are you talking about, lady?" they yelled back. "He found it over twenty years ago. What are you all doing here?" Uriel admitted that it would always be his cave, or as they call it in his family, "his grave."
What is the real reason this discovery never made the headlines until now? If you think it's because Christians are afraid of evidence that contradicts the New Testament, think again. In a discussion on the question held at the most recent meeting of my women guides' professional group our conclusion was unanimous: it was the contractors. When the ossuaries were dusted off and those famous names were revealed the builders no doubt began to sweat profusely. If Jesus' tomb was discovered here they could kiss their buildings and their profits goodbye. Jesus, shmesus - call in the concrete pumps and send this tomb back to kingdom come where it belongs, no matter who's buried there. Hey, what a great sales pitch: Hurry! One apartment left with garden over tomb of ancient rabbi - at a bargain price!
Monday, March 5, 2007
Buffoonery and Courage
This past week was dotted with news about women, covering the spectrum from inspiring to nauseating. The prize for providing the easiest material for purimspiel goes to Ms. Esterina Tartman, a fairly unknown Knesset member from the right-wing, often racist Yisrael Beiteinu party - until last week. In addition to sporting a name that begs spoofing, the now infamous Tartina (as she is affectionately known by her fellow members of Knesset) stood to be appointed Minister of Tourism after Yizhak Herzog, who previously held the post, was transferred (under duress) to the Ministry of Welfare. As a professional whose livelihood is often directly affected by the policy set by the Tourism Minister, I and many of my colleagues were extremely disappointed to see Herzog's tenure in the position cut short, as he is an energetic, creative and earnest politician who had already managed to initiate significant changes in the ministry. However, I am certain that the poor and downtrodden of Israel represented by the Welfare Ministry are in far more dire need of a good bulldozer, so must of us wish him well there.
Up next for the job, according to the coalition agreement, was a member of Yisrael Beitenu and Tartman was chosen by the head of the party. Esterina fits the mold of a certain kind of Israeli politician that rubs many of us the wrong way: she has a big mouth, generous amounts of self-confidence and she frequently makes provocative (in this case racist) statements in the media to call attention to herself. Often this prototype of public figure is endowed with sophisticated street smarts but is frequently uneducated. In this case Tartman claimed to have a BA from Bar Ilan University in finance and accounting and an MBA, but a check by an Israeli journalist revealed that she had neither. In addition, due to a car accident she suffered ten years ago she was granted disability on the basis of not being able to work more than four hours a day due to her inability to concentrate. Amidst the current witchhunt for corrupt politicians Esterina didn't stand a chance, but instead of disappearing from the scene as quietly as possible she launched a biting attack on the media, accusing them of persecuting her for her political opinions. The position was finally assigned to someone else but she went down kicking and screaming. How distasteful...
In great contrast, last week the papers published the story of the revolt of the Abu Ghanem women of Ramle. Tragically, the phenomenon of family honor killings is alive and well in the Arab community of Israel. This tribal doctrine calls for the murder of a woman who has ostensibly disgraced the good name of her family by her father or brother. (The book 'Forbidden Love' paints a horrific picture of this barbaric custom even though it was publicized as a true story and ultimately revealed to be fiction.) Unbelievably, there are still many Arabs who live alongside us, in a state of law and order in the 21st century, who consider a family's reputation to be more important than the lives of its daughters. Several times a year the news reports of yet another honor killing but these crimes are almost never prosecuted because of the conspiracy of silence in the Arab communities. Not only are Arab women party to the silence, but often they, themselves, see no moral problem in this custom.
Last week the silence was broken by the women of the Abu Ghanem clan, who have lost nine women in family honor killings in the past six years. Talking on the phone, laughing at a man and turning down a match were among the excuses given by their murderers, who are usually their own brothers. Often a woman knows she is to be murdered but no one will help her. Without the cooperation of members of the community the Israeli police are virtually helpless to act - they have no witnesses, no testimony and no suspects.
This time, however, a group of over twenty women turned to the police and offered their cooperation. Arab women in Israel suffer numerous dimensions of discrimination as Arabs, as women and as Arab women; the Israeli police are not necessarily the first body to which they turn when they need assistance. However, their terrible desperation at being trapped in a cycle of cruel violence forced them to make a very dangerous and dramatic move. We can assume that their personal safely will only deteriorate in light of their cooperation with the police; in fact, this is only the first step in a long, uphill battle to eradicate this primitive, misogynistic custom. Our support of these women is often seen as unwelcome interference but we are obligated to do whatever is in our power to come to their assistance.
Up next for the job, according to the coalition agreement, was a member of Yisrael Beitenu and Tartman was chosen by the head of the party. Esterina fits the mold of a certain kind of Israeli politician that rubs many of us the wrong way: she has a big mouth, generous amounts of self-confidence and she frequently makes provocative (in this case racist) statements in the media to call attention to herself. Often this prototype of public figure is endowed with sophisticated street smarts but is frequently uneducated. In this case Tartman claimed to have a BA from Bar Ilan University in finance and accounting and an MBA, but a check by an Israeli journalist revealed that she had neither. In addition, due to a car accident she suffered ten years ago she was granted disability on the basis of not being able to work more than four hours a day due to her inability to concentrate. Amidst the current witchhunt for corrupt politicians Esterina didn't stand a chance, but instead of disappearing from the scene as quietly as possible she launched a biting attack on the media, accusing them of persecuting her for her political opinions. The position was finally assigned to someone else but she went down kicking and screaming. How distasteful...
In great contrast, last week the papers published the story of the revolt of the Abu Ghanem women of Ramle. Tragically, the phenomenon of family honor killings is alive and well in the Arab community of Israel. This tribal doctrine calls for the murder of a woman who has ostensibly disgraced the good name of her family by her father or brother. (The book 'Forbidden Love' paints a horrific picture of this barbaric custom even though it was publicized as a true story and ultimately revealed to be fiction.) Unbelievably, there are still many Arabs who live alongside us, in a state of law and order in the 21st century, who consider a family's reputation to be more important than the lives of its daughters. Several times a year the news reports of yet another honor killing but these crimes are almost never prosecuted because of the conspiracy of silence in the Arab communities. Not only are Arab women party to the silence, but often they, themselves, see no moral problem in this custom.
Last week the silence was broken by the women of the Abu Ghanem clan, who have lost nine women in family honor killings in the past six years. Talking on the phone, laughing at a man and turning down a match were among the excuses given by their murderers, who are usually their own brothers. Often a woman knows she is to be murdered but no one will help her. Without the cooperation of members of the community the Israeli police are virtually helpless to act - they have no witnesses, no testimony and no suspects.
This time, however, a group of over twenty women turned to the police and offered their cooperation. Arab women in Israel suffer numerous dimensions of discrimination as Arabs, as women and as Arab women; the Israeli police are not necessarily the first body to which they turn when they need assistance. However, their terrible desperation at being trapped in a cycle of cruel violence forced them to make a very dangerous and dramatic move. We can assume that their personal safely will only deteriorate in light of their cooperation with the police; in fact, this is only the first step in a long, uphill battle to eradicate this primitive, misogynistic custom. Our support of these women is often seen as unwelcome interference but we are obligated to do whatever is in our power to come to their assistance.
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