Jerusalem Archives - Page 155 of 195

Interviews with Monson and Barkay

The LandMinds show at Israel National Radio (Arutz-7) has two interviews this week that may interest readers. Each interview is 48 minutes and may be downloaded in mp3 format.

James Monson describes his years living in Israel and the creation of maps for students of Bible.

Monson was one of the creators of the long-lived Student Map Manual, and for the past decade he has been creating resources for Biblical Backgrounds, Inc. His influence on students of historical geography can hardly be overstated.

Gabriel Barkay discusses his work over the past decade sifting the material illegally removed from the Temple Mount. He also answers questions on a variety of archaeological subjects.

I don’t have time to listen to these interviews in full before posting this notice, but I expect that both interviews are fascinating and worth the time.

Readers may be interested in following the LandMinds show regularly:

LandMinds broadcasts live on www.israelnationalradio.com every Wednesday evening from 5-7pm Israel time, 10-12 EST, 3-5pm in the UK, and rebroadcast during the week. You can also listen live with your iPhone!

HT: Yehuda Group

Tagged Jerusalem, Resources, Temple Mount

Mount Zion Vandalism, Filmmakers in Galilee

The Caspari Center Media Review has two unrelated stories that may be of interest to readers here:

Signposts and directions to the Cenacle [Upper Room on Mount Zion] were defaced by anonymous vandals this past week, adding insult to the injury felt by Christian tourists faced with the piles of refuse and rubbish it contains and making it difficult for them to find their way to the site (Yediot Yerushalayim, March 19).
Other Christian sites are no more attractive to pilgrims, according to a report in Ma’ariv (March 21). According to Yuval Peled, who accompanied a group of Italians who had come to film the Galilee in which Jesus grew up, lived, and taught, “After two or three days of shooting, they abruptly announced that they were leaving. ‘They told us, “You’ve destroyed the story for us, with all the pollution, electricity wires, and infrastructure. This isn’t what we were taught about the place where Jesus grew up,”‘ he recalls. The crew, which had planned to broadcast the film on Italian television – the country considered to be the capital of Christianity – told us that here, in the most authentic place in which the founder of their religion lived, we had destroyed their associations [to it] with pollution and infrastructure. Out of disappointment and despair, they left, and went to shoot the film in Tuscany.”

This sounds like a bit of an overreaction to me. I don’t like the pollution and wires either, but Galilee is remarkably primitive. Imagine what the lakeshore would be like if it was in the U.S.

I can’t say I have ever thought of Italy as the “capital of Christianity.”

Tagged Galilee, Italy, Jerusalem, Tourism

Hurva Synagogue Photos

The reconstruction of the Hurva Synagogue is not related to the Bible, but it has our interest because it is such a prominent feature in the Old City of Jerusalem. Until 1948, there were two major synagogues in the Jewish Quarter, but my guess is that most visitors today are unaware of Tiferet Israel. The remains of this synagogue lie just north of the main staircase leading down to the Western Wall plaza. Hurva, on the other hand, is well known because of its central and visible location in the Jewish Quarter plaza. Many tour guides would stop and explain the significance of the lone arch before allowing their listeners to buy a falafel or to shop in the Cardo.

This photo below, part of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection, is a view of the Jewish Quarter from the Temple Mount taken in the early 1900s. The large building on the left skyline is the Tiferet Israel Synagogue. The building with the large dome on the right is the Hurva Synagogue.

The houses in the foreground stand where today the Western Wall prayer plaza is located.

Jewish Quarter from Temple Mount, mat04722

Jewish Quarter, early 1900s

We’ve posted a number of times over the course of the synagogue’s reconstruction, and with its dedication last week we anticipate this will be the final post about it. We conclude with recent photographs taken by Mindy McKinny. We thank her for permission to share them here.

Hurva Synagogue from south

Hurva Synagogue, sound and light show

Hurva Synagogue interior

Hurva Synagogue painting of Tomb of Patriarchs, Hebron

Tagged American Colony Photos, Jerusalem

Hurva Synagogue Dedicated

The Hurva Synagogue was dedicated this evening. Located in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, prayers have not been held in the synagogue since it was destroyed in the 1948 war. From the Jerusalem Post:

After a nearly 62-year hiatus, the renowned Hurva synagogue inside the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City has been rebuilt and is again an operational house of prayer. Hundreds of people, braving the wind and an unexpected Jerusalem chill, crowded into a courtyard opposite the outer walls of the synagogue on Monday night to take part in an official rededication ceremony for the newly-rebuilt shul – which stands in the exact spot it did before its destruction at the hands of the Jordanian Arab Legion during the War of Independence in 1948. […] Rivlin went on to speak of the Hurva’s history, beginning with its first incarnation in 1701, when it was constructed by disciples of Judah Hahasid. Its first destruction came some 20 years later, when those same disciples lacked the funds to repay local creditors, who in return burned the Hurva to the ground. It was nearly 150 years before the Hurva stood again, but in 1864, after a massive construction project was approved by the Ottoman Turks and funds were procured from Jewish communities the world over, a neo-Byzantine Hurva was soon towering over the rest of the Jewish Quarter. However, that Hurva, which hosted the likes of Theodor Herzl and Ze’ev Jabotinsky before the creation of the state, also met with ruin. The Jordanian army took Jerusalem’s Old City in May of 1948, loaded the building with explosives and set off a blast whose smoke cloud could be seen miles away.

Arutz-7 has posted a 10-minute video of the service (unedited, almost exclusively singing and music). For previous posts on the reconstruction, see here and here and here.

Tagged Jerusalem

Jerusalem Dishes

Old City rooftops with satellite dishes, tb011610639

Rooftops in the Old City, Jerusalem

In the New Jerusalem, everyone will have cable.

Tagged Jerusalem

Hurva Synagogue Video Tour

Reconstruction of the Hurva Synagogue is nearly complete and the dedication ceremony is scheduled for next week. Arutz-7 reports on the final stages of the work. Their story includes a 5-minute video tour of the synagogue and an interview with a construction company spokeswoman.

The restoration and construction of the Hurva Synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem nears completion, with the dedication of the synagogue scheduled for next Monday, March 15. The Company for the Reconstruction and Development of the Jewish Quarter has completed one of the artistic aspects of the project – restoration of the synagogue’s wall paintings. Arutz Sheva TV brings you in to the synagogue for a first visit to the restored Hurva.
A significant difficulty in the preservation and internal renewal of the Hurva Synagogue, which had been the center of life in ancient Jerusalem until Arabs destroyed it in 1948, was dealing with the many alterations that took place over the years the synagogue stood. The Holy Ark curtains, wall paintings, lamps, pulpits and other parts of the synagogue had all undergone various changes. leaving the restorers with the need to decide on which period of time the restoration should be based.
[…]
Restoration of the wall paintings entailed conducting a search for the names of the artisans who had decorated the synagogue in each period of time separately, an in-depth analysis of the painting methods and technologies of every period, examination of historical photographs in order to compare colors between black and white photos and those in color, analysis of the paintings’ compositions and thorough comparison between the periods, and analysis of issues regarding wall paintings in synagogues in general and in the Hurva in particular.
[…]
The Hurva Synagogue will be dedicated on the eve of Rosh Chodesh (first day of the Hebrew month) Nissan, 5770 (the day construction of the Biblical Tabernacle was completed), in the presence of ministers, Members of Knesset, rabbis and other dignitaries.
The synagogue will host regular prayer services, visitors and tours. During the opening week, the Company for the Reconstruction and Development of the Jewish Quarter will conduct free tours during the day and will show a sound and light presentation during evening hours.

After more than four years, the crane over the Hurva Synagogue was removed this week.

For previous stories and photos, see here and here.

Tagged Jerusalem