School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 3 of 3
-
ItemUnity and opposites in Israel’s settler movement: Rabbi Tzvi Yisrael Tau & Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh( 2015)The thesis is motivated by the central question: can deep engagement with the nuances of contemporary settler religious discourse guide a more effective approach to negotiations with and about this group, especially regarding the future of “Judea and Samaria,” or “the occupied territories”? To address this, I investigate two key religious thinkers. The first is Rabbi Tzvi Yisrael Tau, a major religious Zionist intellectual and head of the leading mamlakhti yeshiva Har Ha-Mor, known for his calls for restraint in the face of anti-settlement policies. The second is Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh of Od Yosef Chai, often accused of inciting racism and encouraging aggressive protest tactics, and whose students have been at the vanguard of anti-Arab vigilante violence and the “price tag” campaign of recent years. This investigation reveals Tau’s predominantly monistic worldview, anchored in the “unity of opposites” paradigm at the heart of Avraham Kook’s teachings, and Ginsburgh’s relatively dualistic worldview, anchored in a dualistic interpretation of lurianic Kabbalah. These distinct symbolic worlds help explain the divergent political–historical interpretations, ethics, and political tactics among the rabbis’ adherents. Moreover, the analysis indicated which pro-negotiation arguments may be most persuasive among these different sectors—and which may be useless or disastrous. I show how Tau argues that settlements are a mere detail in Gush Emunim’s project, identifies Jewish unity as a supreme value, and calls for educational outreach in lieu of protests. The thesis contextualizes this stance in Tau’s monistic theosophy, his narrative of geulah (redemption) as a slow, natural process with temporary setbacks (with dialectic roles), and his kabbalistic understanding of Israel as a unified collective entity. Tau’s negative teachings on Palestinians, however, struggle to avoid dualism. I also analyze Tau’s innovative identification of consciousness as the medium through which Jews must advance redemption, which underpins his call for education campaigns. Ginsburgh is a point of contrast. I present a detailed history of public controversies around his Od Yosef Chai yeshiva, and then explore dimensions of his kabbalistic worldview, in which evil is understood as an active force of impurity, expressed on the earthly plane through the Gentile nations vs. Jewish embodiment of the divine. This leads to his profound devaluation of Gentile life. Moreover, he argues that the expulsion of Gentiles and establishment of theocratic government by a Sanhedrin are prerequisites for the arrival of the messiah. Ginsburgh also presents elaborate kabbalistic justifications of impulsive revenge attacks against Gentiles to “defend” Jewish life and honor. This most likely lowers the self-restraint of his Hilltop Youth followers. This leads to the conclusion that Jewish security and unity are the most effective frames through which to encourage reluctant toleration of Israeli–Palestinian negotiations across these sectors. The value and authority of the democratic state may also be an effective frame within the mamlakhti sector, as might human rights discourse. By contrast, arguments focused on economic benefits, Israel’s acceptance in the international community, and the Palestinian right to self-determination lack traction.
-
ItemThe identification of mosaic workshops in Palestine and Arabia, 4th-7th Centuries CE( 2011)Mosaic pavements comprise the major extant medium of art during the Byzantine period in the Near East. The primary purpose of the thesis is to attribute several mosaic pavements from Byzantine Palestine and Arabia (4th-7th centuries CE) to specific workshops/artisans. The methodology used to reach the various conclusions involves a comprehensive stylistic analysis and comparison, examining idiosyncratic technical details in the mosaics, such as the linear elements of figural anatomy, and the application of polychrome and shading. A study of this nature in the field of mosaics has hitherto not been undertaken on such a broad scale. Information from two mosaic inscriptions makes clear that their mosaicists travelled relatively short distances. For this reason, a surmise is adopted that workshops primarily engaged in intra-regional travel in order to undertake commissions. Consequently, the assemblages of pavements selected are characterized according to geographical clusters. One of these series of mosaics comes from Madaba and its environs, a second from Beth Shean, and a third occupies the region between Jerusalem and Gaza in southern Judea. The examination findings confirm the validity of applying the methodology formulated in the thesis to the field of mosaic artist/workshop attribution. Several workshops are identified and their works isolated – notably from the Madaba region. A pattern emerges of workshops operating within local confines, and one particular mosaicist appears to have been potentially active for up to nineteen years. A study of the pavements from the Nativity basilica in Bethlehem, however, demonstrates that in the case of at least one imperial commission a workshop was sourced from Antioch.
-
ItemA forgotten era in archaeology: the research conducted by early British travellers in Palestine from c.1670 to 1825( 1995)Most modem histories of Palestinian archaeology claim that the earliest work of any real archaeological significance was that conducted by the Palestine Exploration Fund in the 18608 or even that by Flinders Petrie at Tell el-Hesi in 1890. Although they generally date the advent of archaeology in Palestine to the beginning of the nineteenth century, the discussion of the research which took place prior to the 1860s is confined to published sources and, moreover, retains a superficiality which allows little or no appreciation of the archaeological merit deserved by, at least, some individuals. The mention of travellers visiting Palestine prior to the turn of the eighteenth century is rare and, when it occurs, scant. The published texts written by individual British travellers visiting Palestine between c.1670 and 1825, as well as their manuscript journals, letters and site plans, provide the primary data on which the present study is based. The abundance of this material made it necessary to be selective. Thus, the core of the thesis is composed of a detailed examination of the commentaries made by individual travellers on a few key sites. From this an evaluation of the methodology applied by these individuals in interpreting the archaeological remains and an objective analysis of their standards of research is derived. In studying the various reports and associated texts it became apparent that, for each individual traveller, one or more main motives inspiring their travels in Palestine could be discerned. The writer considered it would be both interesting and of academic value to establish whether motive and standard of research bore any correlation. Thus, each traveller is allocated to a particular group based upon the motive/s identified and the final analysis shows that the most significant archaeological research was in fact carried out by those travellers for whom the opportunity to conduct such research constituted a prime motive for their travels in Palestine. The greatest value of the present study is that it clearly demonstrates that intelligent archaeological research was conducted by early British travellers visiting Palestine between c.1670 and 1825 and that this research produced some significant original results.