Lecture 19 3/10/2011

I can't believe its already the final lecture in this class, and that I've actually been blogging for ten weeks! For a new blogger like me, that seems like quite an accomplishment! But in today's lecture, we learned about Jerusalem in the last ten years, the 21st century. This was definitely my favorite lecture of the class, as Professor Cargill taught us all about Jerusalem as it is today and how it has been during out lifetimes. We learned that the second Intifada came about in September of 200, about 6 months after Israel withdrew troops from southern Lebanon. We also learned that 9/11 had a huge effect on the Israeli conflict, as the Israeli's look to the US to get there model for how to go about international war and how to handle terrorism. After seeing how we reacted to 9/11 by going into Iraq and Afghanistan and completely wiping out both countries, Israel realized that perhaps they too should simply attack any country who attacked them first, so long as they knew they could win a war against them. This had very negative effects, as Israel began to be blamed for much of the middle east's conflict, although the majority is not necessarily their fault. In 2006, the Palestinians began to lose control of themselves, and had much debate as to whether or not they should be trying to make peace with the Israelis or simply continuing to fight them. This led to a Palestinian civil War in 2007. In May of last year, Israel announced that it would be settling more houses in East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Flotilla (which was an effort to bring supplies) was boarded by Israeli troops and 9 deaths resulted.

This was also my favorite class because we got to learn a lot more about Professor Cargill as a person. It was very exciting for me to hear that he is indeed a Christian, and that the majority of research he is doing is being done with (from my perspective) a pure heart. He was an awesome professor, and I especially appreciated his use of technology to make the class more accessible to all us students. And finally, the story about him getting hit by a rocket was absolutely hilarious. I completely understand why he doesn't like Abdullah. Haha!

Lecture 18 3/8/2011

In this lecture, the scope of what we learned shifted more towards the current era, and we began to talk about such topics as World War I and other more recent events. This period in Jerusalem's history was dominated by British Mandate, which went from the end of WWI until the end of WWII. We also learned about the idea of secular zionism, which surprised me. Although it was developed in the 19th century, it did not become prominent in Jerusalem until the 20th century and took off as a way of life. With the increased interest in secular zionism also came an increased sense of antisemitism and other hateful behavior from those who wanted the Jews to be out of Jerusalem. This also marks a significant period in the conflict between the Jews and the Palestinians, as antisemitism led to tons of hateful feelings for both sides, from both sides.
The Peel plan was also suggested during this era, just prior to world war 2. This agreement was accepted by the zionists, but the Arabs immediately denied it, and believed that they were getting an unfair deal. War broke out in 1947 and a civil war began between the two sides. This period was a time of unrest and chaos in Jerusalem and all of Israel, as there was constant fighting coming from both sides of the war in various ways. King Abdullah I was then assassinated in front of the Al Aqsa mosque in 1951. The Israelis would eventually win the first war, which led to the first Intifada—a Palestinian uprising.

Lecture 17 3/3/11

In this lecture, several important topics were covered. Primarily, Saladin took Jerusalem back from the crusaders in the year 1187, and he allowed people to freely go in and out of the country, contrary to what the crusaders had done. Although a strong Muslim, Saladin was a very accepting leader, and even gave the church of the holy Sepulcher to the Greek Orthodox church. Jews were permitted to re-settle in Jerusalem, and went about their lives similarly to how they previously had. Although the Christians were accepted and allowed to live in Jerusalem, many of their shrines were torn down and replaced with Islamic shrines, like the dome of the rock.
Rabbi Moses ben Nachman founded the Ramban synagogue in 1267 which would later become the Jewish center. This made many Jews come to visit Jerusalem, and they would study to try to learn more about their faith. He developed the idea of Kabalah, which is Jewish mysticis. He argued that Jerusalem was a very holy place, and that the temple was the only path for Jews to get to God. He was also strongly against the Christians and was even exiled from Spain before he came to Jerusalem to share his ideals.

Lecture 16 3/1/2011

In this lecture, Professor Cargill went in depth about the Crusades and why they were caused. We learned that the crusades, although primarily religious wars, were also very political. In addition to wanting to convert the unbelievers, people on the crusades also wanted others to simply see the world and see life as they did—a rather one sided point of view. The Christians in the world at this time were a bit frustrated as they had been heavily persecuted in Jerusalem under the recent Islamic rule. Additionally, they were still upset about the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in 1099. They had also been prevented from making pilgrimages to Jerusalem, and some who refused and went anyways were killed on their trips.
Because of the Crusades, the city of Jerusalem was divided up into four quarters: the Templar's quarter, the Syrian quarter, the Patriarch's quarter, and the Armenian quarter. This was the start of Jerusalem being divided up into four quarters, as it remains today. Some monuments were modified to represent Christian ideals, and some old or destroyed churches were reestablished. 

Lecture 15 2/24/11

In this lecture, we learned about Jerusalem as it became an early Islamic center. For me, this was very confusing as I had never really thought of Jerusalem as a very Islamic city, although there are many who live there. It was a surprise to learn about the population distributions, and that Muslims often dominated any other group of people living in Jerusalem. Additionally, we learned about the Dome of the rock, which was commissioned in 687 CE and was completed 14 years later. The crusaders converted the dome of the rock into a church, but it was later restored when Saladin took over in 1187. According to Muslims, the Dome of the Rock is the site where Abraham was going to sacrifice Ishmael.
We also learned that Islam, just like Christianity and most other major religions, has many different sects. At the beginning of Islam, the supporters of Ali formed the Shi'ites, one of the major sects today. And those who preferred the ways of Mu'awiya formed the "people of tradition" who later became the Sunnis. While the Muslims were in control of Jerusalem, the Jews were not allowed to settle, but were later permitted to move back into the city

Lecture 14 2/22/2011

In this lecture, we learned about the faith of the Jewish people. Before, they needed not to have much faith, since they had the temple and believed that the presence of God was in the temple at all times. They would go to the temple to make sacrifices, and would cleanse themselves of their sins frequently. With the temple's destruction, however, they were forced to have faith that God still heard their pleas and still accepted their sacrifices. For some, this challenge was too great and they turned from their Jewish customs. For others, they found it easy to change from the temple to the synagogue as their new form of worship, and enjoyed having a physical building where they could go and be in the presence of God.
For the Christians, they began to depart from the customs of Judaism and realized that God was omnipresent and with them everywhere that they went. For them, the Holy Sepulcher became the central and most important part of Jerusalem, but was never considered to be as prominent as the temple previously was. For them, they believed that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher had become the new axis mundi, and the temple mount was no longer of such great significance. Pilgrimages to Jerusalem continued, and for this reason many new churches sprung up around the city, as new attractions for people all over the world to visit.

Lecture 13 2/17/2011

In this lecture, professor Cargill spent a considerable amount of time discussing the topic of cognitive dissonance. During the Roman rule, the second temple was destroyed, and the Jews again were forced to decide if God was breaking his covenant. But this time, the temple would not be rebuilt, and the Jews would have little to look forward to. Previously, prophecy had declared that the Jews would be allowed to rebuild their temple. This time, however, they knew this was not the case, and so they began to move on with Judaism from a non-temple standpoint. Many of the rabbis realized this, and attempted to create Judaism as a religion that did not require a temple to function. They began to write down what they believed to be the "oral torah" and recorded this into the        Mishnah--the current Jewish bible.
But with the temple's destruction, the Jews began to realize that their entire center or worship had been replaced. Not only would they no longer have a place to experience God, they would also have no center for making sacrifices, or to go to be cleansed of their sins. Still, some worshiped at the temple mount and revered it as the holiest place on earth. But many others began to establish synagogues and worship in this way, counting them as similar to the temple. They believed that synagogues were almost as sacred as the temple, and that God's presence was surely present in their synagogues as well. We talked a lot about New Judaism, and how the 2nd Bar Kokhba revolt led to lots of ramifications for the Jews in Jerusalem