The Martyrdom of a Moroccan Jewish Saint

By Sharon Vance

Leiden: Brill, 2011

240 pp.

Reviewed by Jessica Marglin, Princeton University

            It is hard to avoid Sol ha-Tzadiqah.  For members of the Moroccan Jewish diaspora, Lalla Solika (as she is also called) occupies a larger-than-life position as a saint, a heroine, and an ideal to be imitated.  As Yaëlle Azagury has put it, “In the collective imagination of Moroccan Jews, the heroic fate of Solika (Sol) Hachuel fascinates like no other historical figure from this community.”[1]  Even casual tourists are drawn to Solika’s story; some guide books to Morocco recommend Sol’s tomb as a worthy stop for the curious visitor,[2] and Jewish tourists are particularly likely to be directed to the Jewish cemetery of Fez where her grave is a star attraction.  For scholars of North African Judaism, then, Sharon Vance’s new book, The Martyrdom of a Moroccan Jewish Saint, is a welcome critical and in-depth look at this mythical figure.

            Vance offers an introduction to the basic outlines of Sol’s story as it is told in European-language, Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic, and Judeo-Spanish texts from the nineteenth to the twentieth century.  Although the historical details surrounding Sol’s story are difficult to pin down, most sources (including some archival sources) agree that Sol was killed in Fez in 1834.  Born in Tangier to Jewish parents, while still a teenager Sol was falsely accused of converting to Islam—or, according to some non-Jewish narratives, did indeed convert.  She subsequently wanted to return to her original faith, for which she was eventually executed at the order of the sultan Mawlāy ‘Abd al-Raḥmān (reigned 1822-1859).  Sol was subsequently venerated as a martyr and a saint by both Jews and Muslims who believed in her powers to cure infertility, illness, and other maladies.

            Yet this short account belies the confusion and contradictions which are rife in the textual evidence about Sol’s history.  One of Vance’s major contributions is to attempt to sort out which texts are more authoritative and which elements of the story ring true historically.  Vance relies primarily upon two accounts by European authors which were reportedly based on interviews with Sol’s family members.  The first, by Eugénio Maria Romero, was published in Spanish in 1837; the lapse of only three years between Sol’s death and Romero’s publication makes this a particularly attractive source.  The second, by M. Rey, was published in French seven years later.  Vance nicely summarizes these texts and their differences, and includes comparisons with many other European texts that have less historical clout, but are nonetheless of great interest for their widely varying interpretations of Sol’s story.

Vance lays out a convincing schema to categorize the different kinds of texts about Sol, dividing them into three major groups: European, Hebrew, and Jewish languages (Judeo-Arabic and Judeo-Spanish).  Vance explains how the different kinds of texts reflect the preoccupations of their authors, more than any archetypical truth about Sol.  European accounts “were used to make political arguments in debates that were internal to European politics,” (40).  In this book, and even more so in another article,[3] Vance shows that European authors used Sol’s plight to argue alternatively for religious tolerance, the importance of martyrdom for one’s faith (with explicitly Catholic overtones), and the inherent barbarism of Islam.  The Hebrew texts, on the other hand, subsume “the specifics of events under the general concepts of the sacred historical dynamic of exile and redemption, galut u-ge’ulah,” (81).  Vance nicely draws out the polemical background of these texts, explaining how themes of Jewish-Muslim polemics inform the Hebrew prose and poetry dedicated to retelling Sol’s story.  This traditional rabbinic interpretation of Sol’s death contrasts sharply with the European texts.  The authors writing in Hebrew almost unanimously saw Sol’s story in a tragic, but ultimately positive light—as a martyr for the Jewish faith whose deeds will be rewarded in the world to come and will bring merit to Jews remaining in this world.  The European authors, on the other hand, focus on themes of love, transgression, and the unnecessary tragedy of an innocent girl’s death brought about by the barbarity and intolerance of Islam.

Vance provides a detailed analysis of texts about Sol written in Jewish languages, specifically Judeo-Arabic and Judeo-Spanish.  She discusses two Judeo-Arabic poems, one from Morocco and the other from Algeria, as well as a serialized Judeo-Spanish novel published in a Salonican newspaper.  These chapters are in some ways the most fascinating, as they demonstrate how the Judeo-Arabic and Judeo-Spanish texts exhibit characteristics of both their Hebrew and European parallels.  For instance, a Moroccan Judeo-Arabic poem demonstrates some characteristics of Hebrew, rabbinic-oriented texts in its emphasis on Sol’s martyrdom as a precursor of redemption and in its use of Biblical verses.  Yet the colloquial language gives the poem “an added poignancy” (169) and the Judeo-Arabic allows for many more Islamic references, such as calling Abraham “Ibrāhīm al-khalīl,” or “the friend of God,” a common epithet used in Islamic literature.  Vance’s analysis of the Judeo-Spanish romanso (serialized novel) published in the Salonican newspaper La Epoka demonstrates how the story transformed in an Ottoman context.  The Salonican version contains a number of European tropes, especially in its (unique) account of Sol’s lover David Salama and his own martyrdom for love.  Perhaps most interesting is La Epoka’s complete avoidance of the mention of Islam.  Not once does the story explicitly describe Sol as having converted to Islam; rather, the text explains that she converted to the “Marokina religion,” (196).  Vance explains this very delicate approach as stemming from Ottoman Jews’ desire to maintain positive relations with the state, as well as their genuine gratitude for the acceptance of Sephardic refugees into the Ottoman Empire and the nineteenth-century reforms abolishing the dhimma.

Vance has also done teachers and students a great service by translating four Hebrew poems recounting Sol’s story into accurate and readable English.  Vance admits that “no translation can do justice to these qinot in their original Hebrew, where each word and phrase is part of a complex web of biblical source text as well as multiple layers of rabbinic commentary and liturgical intertexts,” (120).  Nonetheless, her extensive footnotes to the translations and her detailed commentary following the poems make the texts accessible in much of their richness to students without a sufficient command of Hebrew.  My only regret is that Vance did not provide such translations for the two Judeo-Arabic poems she analyzes in Chapter Five, which are possibly even more valuable as tools for teaching the history of Jews in North Africa.

Vance’s historical chapter is extremely useful, especially for readers unfamiliar with the basic contours of nineteenth-century Moroccan Jewish history.  However, readers would have benefited from more contextualization concerning the authors of the texts which Vance analyzed.  Even if Vance was unable to find information about all the authors, it would have helped readers better understand the texts to have Vance speculate about the authors’ backgrounds and motives in writing the versions of Sol’s story that they did.  In another article, Vance helpfully discusses Romero’s political and ideological leanings based on the little information she was able to find about him;[4] such information would have been welcome in the book as well.  Additionally, Vance’s discussion of why European consuls did not step forward to protect Sol could be misleading for readers unfamiliar with nineteenth-century Moroccan history.  Vance asks why Europeans failed to save Sol from what she deems wrongful execution, and in the course of her answer addresses the rise of consular protection (which granted some Jews extraterritoriality and exemption from taxes) and foreigners’ increasing interventions with the Moroccan government on behalf of Jews.  Nonetheless, Vance does not adequately stress the fact that foreigners did not consistently intervene on behalf of Jews until later in the century; nor does she sufficiently emphasize the extent to which protection was limited to a tiny minority of Moroccans in 1834.  Vance’s treatment of Europeans’ passivity in the face of Sol’s execution seems more informed by the late-nineteenth-century context which caused later authors—and even some European consular officials themselves—to ask why foreigners did not do more to save the Jewish martyr.

Vance has done much to bring Sol ha-Tzadiqah out of the realm of myth and into that of scholarship.  In so doing, she has demonstrated that Sol’s story is important not just as a popular folktale, but as a window onto Jewish-Muslim relations, gender dynamics in North African Jewish communities, and, more broadly, the history of Jews in North Africa.

The Jews of Iran in the Nineteenth Century: Aspects of History, Community and Culture

By David Yerushalmi

Brill

2010

Reviewed by Nahid Pirnazar, University of California at Los Angeles

The Jews of Iran in the Nineteenth Century, by Professor David Yerushalmi ofTelAvivUniversity, is an innovative development in documenting the history of Iranian Jews of that era. Although some sources and documents have been revealed and used by previous researchers, Yerushalmi has taken the pioneering step of presenting them all in one volume and one language. This effort will certainly be of great convenience and assistance to researchers and students of Iranian and Iranian Jewish studies for generations to come.

The Jews of Iran in the Nineteenth Century includes a detailed introductory chapter of fifty-six pages followed by eight chapters of documentary sources, divided according to related topics. In his introduction, Yerushalmi draws a detailed and picturesque image of Iranian Jewry, in spite of the limited number of documents available to him.

In his collection, Yerushalmi lists the work his predecessors have previously done in this area. His list, given in chronological order, is an additional resource for those scholars interested in but not already familiar with this topic.^[1] In the introductory chapter, Yerushalmi also lists three major obstacles standing in the way of any “well-informed and balanced” study of Iranian Jews in the 19^th century and previous eras:  first, “scantiness of primary sources,”^[2] second, a “ limited body of scholarly and solid research  and publications,”^[3] and, third, the “disjointed and highly scattered nature of available sources”.^[4] He then categorizes the types of accessible documents available to researchers into seven major categories:  1) writings by European diplomatic officials, 2) materials written by Christian missionaries 3) travel books and memoirs of European and some Middle Eastern travelers, 4) reports and articles on Jews of Iran in Hebrew and European languages, 5) accounts and testimonies of Jewish religious emissaries visiting Iran, 6)  Iranian historical and clerical sources, and, 7) private and local Judeo-Persian records from different Iranian Jewish communities. He then further divides them based on the time period, location, subjects and authors and, last but not least, the languages in which they were written.^[5]

In the second part of the introductory chapter, he gives a general historical background of Iranian Jews and prepares the reader to visualize the Jews’ standing in 19^th-century Iran.^[6]

Depending on the sources available to Yerushalmi, each of the eight sections contains a number of documents, some translated from their original texts, including those in Judeo-Persian, Persian, French, and Hebrew, as the case may have been. An introduction to each section, given by Yerushalmi, points out the background and the significance of the documents. He expands on the time period, location, and peculiarities of that particular document in relation to individual and communal life of Iranian Jewry in the nineteenth century. The eight sections of the book are as follows:

In section one, nine documents are listed, starting with Jami’i ‘Abbasi, “Comprehensive Collection Dedicated to (Shah) ‘Abbas,’ the Safavid Ruler” – a basic Shi‘ite document from the seventeenth century. This source, compiled by the Shi‘ite scholar Sheikh Muhammad Baha’ al-Din ‘Amili, codifies the Shi‘ite law and dogma.^[7]

Other documents presented here are from European countries, particularly Englandand France, and from the Middle East, including Baghdadand Ottoman Palestine. The documents cover a range of writings including travelogues, reports from the Jewish Chronicle of London, and reports from the presidents of Alliance Israelite Universelle, especially those fromBaghdad regarding Iranian Jews.

Several other documents in this section include the observations of Dr. Jacob E. Polack, personal physician to the Shah of Iran from the years 1952 to 1955^[8] and “Reports on the Great Famine of 1871-2 in Iran” by the Anglo Jewish Association (1876-7), which reflect Jewish life in Iranian communities”.^[9] Street songs, chanted in Tehran by Muslim mobs, depicting the interaction between Jews and their Muslim neighbors and the fundamentally negative stereotypical perception of Jews, make up another part of this section.^[10]  The last document included, primarily dealing with the persecution and massacre of the followers of Bab in the city of Yazd during the spring of 1891, indirectly touches on the low rank and comparatively inferior position of the Jews of Yazd at the time.^[11]

In section two, Yerushalmi  discussed the demography and geographical Diffusion of  the community. The calculation to estimate the size of the Jewish population in 19^th century Iran is a difficult one, due to the lack of appropriate sources as well as insufficient research and studies in the field. Most sources referring to the first half of the 19^th century were available to Yerushalmi via Jewish travelers, religious missionaries, European visitors and mainly British officials, all of whom had visited Iranian Jewish communities. The later travelers and officials provide information regarding the number of Jewish families and houses they found in different locations. As Yerushalmi infers, the Jewish communities of Iran grew considerably and progressively during the second half of the nineteenth century, according to the available material, especially those from European Jewish sources.^[12]

The second document in this section gives the demographic size of the Jewish communities and settlements of Iran following the Great Famine of 1871-2. This information is based on the annual reports of the Anglo-Jewish Association in connection with the Alliance Israelite Universelle, in both the 1874-75 and 1876-1877 reports.^[13]

The third document of this section gives reports of the Jewish population of Iranduring the years 1889-1903. Some of the demographic figures of this era were transmitted by the heads of the Jewish communities of Iranto communal officials and organizations in Baghdadand Western Europe as well as appearing in non-Jewish press and publications of Western Europe.^[14]

Section three, reviews the economic and material existence of the community. Often the common occupations and professions held by Jews reflect their socio-economic condition as members of a religious minority.^[15] We find most occupations held by the Jews during the 19^th century to be among lower, degrading social positions. In fact, certain occupations in that era were left only to Jews, including jobs related to music, entertainment, and wine production.^[16] One of the documents in this section, translated into English from Judeo-Persian, concerns the recollections of a traveling Jewish physician from Gulpaygan in 1811. This diary, and those of the kind which the author lists, not only reflects the role of a limited number of Jews as physicians, but also depicts this man’s experiences in provincial towns and villages as a physician treating Jewish and non-Jewish patients.^[17]

Another document in this section is an example of “Responsa Literature” found in the correspondence between Jewish merchants of Yazdand Baghdadcirca 1880. Such documents not only reflect the lack of a Jewish religious and halakhic center in Iran to be approached, but also give valuable information about the socio-cultural and economic condition of the existing communities.^[18]

Section four reflects the communal organization and inner communal relations. Synagogues have always played a functional role as religious, community, and cultural centers in the preservation of the community, regardless of each individual community’s past history, geographical location, or demographic size. Eye-witness reports by outsider travelers and missionaries, such as Henry A. Stern, visiting Jewish communities and their synagogues are among such reports. In his repeated travels to Iran, Henry Stern reports on the synagogues of cities such as Kermanshah, Hamadan, and Isfahan. His reports reflect the material hardships and lack of adequate legal and physical protection that characterized the lives of many members of Iranian Jewish communities at that time.^[19]

Section five discusses the Jewish culture and education  of the era. The educational level of Persian Jews in both general knowledge and Jewish literature was very limited in the nineteenth century. Jewish education, begun at home by the father and primarily for male children, was later continued at schools by teachers according to the oldest methods and heavy discipline. Nevertheless, there were exceptions, and knowledgeable men of deep religious education and pedagogical talent carried out the job of religious and Jewish training in the communities.

Professor Ezra Sion Melamed (1903-1994) has offered some background with regard to the Jewish culture and educational system of the community of his time.^[20]  In addition, according to Dr. Abraham Dee Sola, other documents reflect the variety present in the level of education among different areas of Iran, such as that of the Jewish community of Hamadan in the 1840s.^[21]  The Judeo-Persian biblical commentary by Benyamin ben Eliyahu of Kashan, circa 1824, is another document reflecting this variety in education, across different parts of the country.^[22]

The level of sophistication of the community, reflecting their cultural and educational background, is shown in a small body of original works written in Judeo-Persian during this time. This type of literature is found in the circle of rabbis, sages, and the better-educated Jewish families and individuals in larger urban communities.  Among such sources, the Song of Praise and Prayer for Sir Moses Montefiore represent some of the Jewish literature of that era.^[23] 

In section six, discussing religion and spiritual lives, Yerushalmi uses some passages from the memoirs of a learned Iranian clergyman as a sample of the religious life and Jewish affiliation of Iranian Jews.  Mullah Rahamim Melammed Ha-Cohen (1864 -1934), born in Shiraz and passed away in Jerusalem, was the son of a Rabbi and teacher, with no mother since the age of three. His life story, although successful professionally, reflects the miserable family life of his time.  While he was a misfortunate son, husband, and father, we find him performing his religious career, acting as a rabbi and preacher, from the age of eleven. His life story, having only four children survive from among the fourteen his wife had borne, as well as other tragic incidents, demonstrates the poor conditions in general and the ill-treatment extended to children and women at that time.^[24]

Section seven reviews the aspects of life and history in the larger communities of Iran. Presenting one of the most resourceful portions of the book, in this section Yerushalmi tries to include documents from different perspectives originating in different communities. In addition to those Iranian Jewish communities familiar to the Western audience, Yerushalmi tries to cover a more comprehensive selection of communities in the areas not as well known to non-Iranian researchers. The cities covered in this section include a variety of large and small communities such as Yazd, Shiraz, Isfahan, Kashan, Tehran during the Cholera Epidemic of 1892, Hamadan, Western Azerbaijan (Urumia), and Barforoush (Babul) following the pogrom of May 1866.  The diversity of Iranian and non-Iranian documents written in different languages is another significant characteristic of this section. This mixture creates a pictorial collage of Iranian Jewry in the 19^th century. ^[25]

In section eight, under major events and processes, Yerushalmi discusses the role of the European press and periodicals in the 19^th century in introducing Iranian Jewry and their hardships to the world. The role which the author finds to be instrumental and significant. It was the reports of the European press that mobilized the assistance of world Jewry towards Iranian Jews at the time of hardship. However, due to the large volume of such documents, Yerushalmi has tried to present an eclectic choice, mainly made up of those from Great Britain, France, Germany, and Austria. Such communities, with the assistance of their philanthropic organizations, served as “guardians” and “watchdogs” on behalf of distressed and persecuted Jews in other parts of the world, including Iran. In addition to urgent humanitarian causes, along with Northern American publications they later devoted a considerable effort toward identifying and analyzing the underlying roots and causes of the socio-economic disabilities of Jewish communities in various parts of the world.  As Yerushalmi points out, a large body of such material grew progressively as of the 1850s onward.^[26]

In his long list of published works cited, Yerushalmi provides the reader with a comprehensive list of published works, old and recent, with regard to Iranian Jews of 19^th century.^[27]

Overall, we find the titles of the different sections disjointed due to the limited type of sources he has had access to.  Nevertheless, the vision of David Yerushalmi – to gather an eclectic documentary collection in one volume – is certainly a valuable and unprecedented step in studying the history of Iranian Jews, especially for non-Persian-speaking researchers.

Other highlights of the nineteenth century that could be documented in the same manner may include volunteer and forced religious conversions of the Iranian Jews, the early stages of migration of Iranian Jews to other locations, and some documents regarding the establishment of Alliance Israelite schools in Iran.

It is to be hoped that Yerushalmi will pursue this project with regard to the twentieth century as well, either doing so himself or else directing younger researchers to follow in his footsteps, and complete the mission he has started to undertake.  The history of Iranian Jews during the twentieth century should be easier to cover due to the greater availability of sources both withinIranand in the Diaspora. However, due to the number of events and communal accomplishments, such a publication would be much longer.

What is a Palestinian State Worth?

Sari Nusseibeh

Harvard University Press, 2011

234 pp.

Reviewed by Mori Ram, Department of Politics and Government, Ben-Gurion University, Israel.

The two-state solution has become a consensual endgame for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, yet in recent years the feasibility of this aspired outcome has been seriously put in doubt. More than 300,000 Jewish settlers currently reside in the West Bank which has turned into a splintered patchwork of road blocks, military outposts and separation walls. Palestinian society is severely polarized with political division having reached the extreme with Hamas’s violent takeover of Gaza and the subsequent blockade by Israel. It seems that at the very time when a Palestinian state has become so tangible, the parameters for its transpiring have all but disappeared.

This situation brings noted intellectual Sari Nusseibeh to inquire “what is a Palestinian state worth?” States, explains Nusseibeh, should be measured by their ability to provide prosperity and security for their citizens.  Yet a Palestinian state will probably be militarily powerless, have scant natural resources and a compromised territorial contiguity. What then is it expected to provide, procure and prevent?   And if Israel, backed by international guarantees, will ensure the well-being of Palestinians, what need is there for a state anyway?

Nusseibeh states his task as posing necessary innovative questions that may chart creative ways for the conflict’s conclusion. Consequently Nusseibeh suggests, as a “thought experiment”, that Israel may officially annex the occupied territories allowing Palestinians in this “enlarged Israel” to acquire “civil, though not political, rights of citizenship”. They would have access to the land, be part of the country but would be separate from the state. While they would not be able to vote or be voted into government posts nor be able to serve in the military, their situation would fare considerably better as they would enjoy “civil benefits of the de facto single state without being accused of diluting or ‘defiling’ its Jewishness”(p.14).

Nusseibeh’s efforts are focused on illuminating the process through which people are captivated by “Meta-Biological entities”, which he defines as ideologies or belief systems that compel an individual to behave, react and enact in a certain way.  Thus, “what begins as an innocuous-seeming ‘context’ can acquire a kind of actual existence … of a higher-order being or entity that is far more dangerous and threatening than an ordinary biological individual” (p.73).

With this in mind Nusseibeh reviews the conflict’s historical progress speculating how “out of the box” solutions, could have propagated an alternative course.  One chapter is dedicated to the discussion of whether life has intrinsic value or must acquire an external cause, like the Dome of the Rock for devout Muslims, without which life is perceived as worthless.  For Nusseibeh the dilemma is crucial yet solvable. Any order that is based on the morality of human values would be much more solid than one bound in a specific ideology. “If my values as a Muslim”, he explains, “are conflicted with my values as a human being, it would make no sense for me to reject the latter in favour of the former, as I am … a Muslim .. by virtue of my being a human being in the first place” (p. 58).

Nusseibeh explores the impact of “the state” and “the “nation” in the life of Israel’s Palestinian minority as an example of such struggles. Next he examines whether there are universal values that all can share, suggesting equality and freedom as those providing the common ground of any mutual action. He proceeds by re-discussing the proposition laid in the introduction. The two-state or bi-national state scenario, have become un-applicable, the former for its apparent obsoleteness and the latter for its prematurity. An interim solution will enable the time to build the understanding through which a permanent solution will be found that might resemble one of the two already recognized, or be completely different to them but based, never the less, on the confinement of Meta-physical entities such as “the state”.

Nusseibeh stays true to his role as an intellectual proposing new questions and spurring novel challenges to the way we construct our world view. His political essay provides important insights into the way that various ideological convictions can become coercive to the individual who possesses them. Especially noteworthy is his ability to articulate, by presenting numerous examples, a way to abstain from the friend-enemy division that gave the Israeli-Palestinian conflict such an un-solvable nature. In the remainder of this review I would like to suggest some further points for consideration that arise from his thought provoking thesis.

Nusseibeh argues that Palestinians’ mistrust of Israelis is rooted in the latter’s designs on the territory allocated for a possible Palestinian state. Israelis on the other hand, have more rudimental anxieties pertaining for their very life which “has been so incredibly exorcized from … the Palestinians, that it is almost impossible for either side to understand the workings of the other. Palestinians cannot believe that Israelis live in perpetual fear (for their lives), and Israelis cannot understand how Palestinians live without such fear “(p. 189). This interesting, yet disputable, binary division testifies to Nusseibeh’s belief, which is more clearly explained in the book’s final chapter, in an embedded potential of Palestinians, as they are the weaker side in the conflict, to free themselves from the uncertainties which Israelis seem more constrained within.

Thus, it is through empathy to the Israelis’ inability of escaping their meta-biological entity that Nusseibeh adopts Israel’s “might as a right” to govern the territories it took by force. This means that Nusseibeh’s confidence in the individual aptitude to resist uncertainties produced by the conflict, while indeed truly inspiring, is somewhat confined to one side of the equation.  It is remarkable that a book which stimulates genuine optimism in the power of the human spirit is in fact based on a pessimistic outlook. Had Nusseibeh been more convinced either by the two-state resolution which he defines as good or by the bi-national one which he defines as just, he wouldn’t have strived to persuade, quite compellingly, that an interim solution should be adopted. Yet the temporality aspect of the proposition which is vital to its success has to rely on confidence in all parties involved. This, as mentioned, is questioned.

Finally, Nusseibeh criticizes the “siren song of the state” explaining how some of its characteristics, like a standing military, national airline, or official coinage are no more than trappings if it lacks actual might and moral strength. While “The State” can become an elusive and ensnaring epistemological structure, one cannot disregard the fact that it has also become almost inseparable from the ability of the individual to realize her human rights.  Accordingly, the proposition that Israel would offer Palestinians “civil, though not the political, rights of citizenship” needs further clarification.

The meaning of these rights is not elaborated beyond two examples. The first relates to private property. Jews will be entitled to settle anywhere, but private property as well as “Arabs’ rural and agricultural development” will not be harmed (p.144-5). Secondly, Palestinian right of return will also be observed. On the collective level, Nusseibeh rejects the implementation of this right suggesting that it places an entity such as “Palestine” before the Palestinians’ wellbeing by delaying the conflict’s end. On the personal level though, and within the parameters of the proposed solution, this right will be safeguarded, allowing Diaspora Palestinians “to make the longed-for journey back … either to visit or to settle down—since civil rights surely includes the right to return to one’s homeland” (p. 146, emphasis added).

The cogency of these examples is surmised as indisputable. Nevertheless, one is left to ask how Palestinian individuals will make sure that their civil rights will indeed be fortified.  Differently put, without the ability to take an active part in shaping the political structure of the state, such rights become no more than voidable privileges – a situation strikingly similar to the years under Israeli occupation.  Nusseibeh does make clear that any arrangement should be supervised by international mediators. But since another part of the proposal entails a formal Israeli annexation of Palestinian territories, it will enable the former to argue, as some Israeli policy makers already do, that any sovereign act in its enlarged territory is an internal matter, only now with a greater degree of validity.  Paraphrasing Nusseibeh one might ask, what are civil rights worth without the political power to enforce them?

These questions are not made in order to rule out Nusseibeh’s intervention nor do they undermine the important insights he elucidates regarding human nature, but rather seek to offer further reflections on the nature of the “box” which Nusseibeh wishes us all to eschew.  Faith, explains Nusseibeh, is a key concept that, although abused more than used, remains a central tool in propagating a viable solution. We are all required to make a leap of faith which will, among other things, ensure that a temporary solution will indeed remain temporary, eventually allowing people living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, to see one another as equal individuals with additional properties like “Jewish”, “Muslim” or “Christian”. In a world disenchanted from the leviathanesque entities Nusseibeh convincingly challenges, the secular faith he proposes becomes a fascinating gospel.

ISBN: 0745645062

$59.95. 166 pp.

Hardback

Reviewed by ROBERT RIGGS, University of Bridgeport

In God’s Zeal: The Battle of the Three Monotheisms, Peter Sloterdijk warns “none of what will be said here can, whether theologically, politically or religion-psychologically, be thought of as harmless” (4). On the surface, this book might appear to be a study of comparative religion, but it is actually the author’s attempt to encourage greater dialogue on “the path of civilization” (160). In order to encourage this dialogue, Sloterdijk challenges the followers of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to question their beliefs when he asserts, “the civilizing process of the monotheisms will be complete once people are ashamed of certain statements made by their respective god” (121). Throughout the book Sloterdijk acts as a provocateur, while also offering insightful critiques and observations.   Sloterdijk takes a philosophical approach in his work (which was originally published in German) that draws from the writings of Nietzche and Heidegger to explain the development of what he terms the “messianic-expansionist mass” driving a “missionary impulse” at the core of Judaism, Christianity and Islam (4).  The starting point for his analysis of monotheism is Derrida’s statement that “The war over the appropriation of Jerusalem is today’s world war”; in God’s Zeal, Sloterdijk identifies monotheism’s weakness and offers his solution to the problem he believes it presents. However, despite the provocative title, Sloterdijk rarely compares the monotheisms to one another. Instead, the book reads as an extended philosophical thought experiment with political undertones.  Moving from pre-monotheism to the rise and decline (in his view) of the three monotheisms, Sloterdijk focuses on the underlying thought processes and beliefs codified by clerical elites within the monotheistic traditions.

In the first chapter (“The Premises”), Sloterdijk specifies the psychological issues that drive humans to believe in a god, such as the unknown status of human existence beyond death and the subsequent need for divine revelation from the “ruler” to clarify the mystery (15). In Chapter Two (“The Formations”), Sloterdijk identifies what he views as the three-part development of monotheistic thought.  In his schema, Abraham began with the “summotheistic affect,” a feeling that “creates the template for authentic monotheistic belief” (21). Despite his inability to clearly identify what this “feeling” entails, Sloterdijk posits that the evolving relationship between Abraham and the god Yahweh fundamentally shifted belief to a singular personal supreme God among gods, what Old Testament scholars have termed “monolatry” (24). In a re-reading of early Biblical history relying on Harold Bloom’s Jesus and Jahweh and Thomas Mann’s Joseph and his Brothers, Sloterdijk believes that this development within human thought gradually eliminated competing gods, leading to a universalistic supreme God.

Sloterdijk would have us believe that it is the belief in an exclusive God, championed by competing faith communities, which leads to conflict.  He defines the forms that these conflicts could take in Chapter Three (“The Battle Fronts”), providing a list with subheadings such as “Christian Anti-Judaism” and “Islamic Atheism” (40-47). In Chapter Four (“The Campaigns”) the author suggests that there the monotheisms have employed three main tactics to expand and protect their authority: defensive universalism, missionary activity and holy war. Sloterdijk claims that Judaism developed a separatism and defensive theocratic sovereignism.  He stresses Christianity’s missionary impulse while claiming that Islam modified the missionary impulse with military and political expansionism. However, he avoids addressing counter-examples of separatism, missionary and militant activities in each of the monotheistic traditions, which calls into question the usefulness of his divisions for understanding differences between the faiths.  Sloterdijk explores three philosophical views of God in Chapter Five (“The Matrix”), which he labels “personal, ontological or noetic supremacism” (85-90). Sloterdijk argues that the belief in a “personal” monotheistic God leads inexorably to belief in a monarch-like being who directs the lives of the believers with disastrous results. He does not view the “ontological” conception of “the highest,” which he likens to the impersonal “god of the philosophers,” with the same level of skepticism (87). Theologians, philosophers and intellectual historians will find his discussion of epistemology in this chapter particularly thought-provoking.

Chapter Six (“The Pharmaka”) presents Sloterdijk’s attempt to solve what he views as the intransigent exclusive “either-or” elements of Aristotelian logic at the base of monotheistic thought. His solution to the “either-or” is “polyvalent” thinking about transcendence that accepts “both-and” propositions, a middle ground which he describes as “a halfway world of graded shades of grey” (112). Sloterdijk defines “polyvalence” as tolerance for ambiguity in religion, a definition that he argues persuasively.  According to him, polyvalence “embodies the reality of thirdness,” meaning the daily compromises between absolutes (112). Sloterdijk shows a number of examples of polyvalence in monotheistic traditions, particularly drawing on the dhimmi status for non-Muslims in early Islamic societies and purgatory in the medieval Roman Catholic Church. In each of these cases, religious ideologues chose to create a third option between strict inclusion and exclusion of groups within their communities. Non-Muslims could retain their religious identity and live as a secondary class within Islamic societies rather than convert or die. Roman Catholic practitioners could expect an intermediary place in the afterlife between Heaven and Hell.  Proposing a “solution” to the “problem” of monotheism, Sloterdijk argues that the polyvalent tendency should be encouraged and developed. He envisions polyvalence leading to what he terms “mature religious cultures” in which “the good manners of informal polyvalence become second nature to such a degree that many passages from their own sacred texts which voice holy fury seem like embarrassing archaisms to them” (120-121). He ends the chapter by claiming that conflict between the three monotheisms is no longer the primary danger facing the modern world. Rather, Sloterdijk predicts that conflicts will grow within each monotheistic tradition between moderate and radicalized followers of the same religion.

In Chapter Seven (“The Parables of the Ring”), Sloterdijk introduces Communism as a failed fourth monotheism, albeit one in which “human” replaces “god” as the source of authority.  By doing so, Sloterdijk shows how the “personal supremacism” that he had described in Chapter Five can lead to religio-political extremism, even separate from belief in God.  Sloterdijk concludes his book with a final chapter (“After-Zeal”) that provides his vision for a “post-zealotic” version of monotheism (158). He engages Nietzchean thought and utilizes Nietzchean anti-dualism from Thus Spoke Zarathustra to show the importance of dialogue as the antidote for extremism.

Sloterdijk’s philosophical approach leads him to skirt the edges of the political and social complexities of the relationship between religious belief and practice in historical context. Instead, he focuses his analysis on the structural and theoretical points of contention between and within the belief systems of the monotheisms. Eschewing case studies or individual historical examples, Sloterdijk presents an overly abstract analysis; this conceptual approach is the greatest weakness of Sloterdijk’s book. The author’s oversimplified historical narratives of the three monotheisms, give the false impression that religious communities are monolithic unchanging entities.  He ignores scholarship by social historians and anthropologists such as Jonathan Berkey (Formation of Islam) and Benedict Anderson (Imagined Communities), who have interrogated the complicated religious and cultural synthesis that has taken place between the monotheistic communities throughout history. His focus on epistemology leads Sloterdijk to ignore how religious practices both reflect religious beliefs and simultaneously form new ones.

Additionally, Sloterdijk does not include a close reading of how monotheistic cultures developed, therefore mistakenly implying that Jews, Christians and Muslims possess inherently different thought processes. He argues that these ideological differences manifest in communal tendencies – separatism (pacifistic Judaism), missionary universalism (partially militant, partially pacifistic Christianity), holy war (religio-politically militant Islam). Differentiation based on ideologies alone excludes many other factors (socio-economic, linguistic, geographical) that could have prevented his overgeneralizations.  Moreover, Sloterdijk insinuates that the Islamic tradition is uniquely prone to violence in a way that distinguishes it from its fellow monotheistic traditions. He uses terms such as “bitterness,” “veil of anger” and “a chronic feeling of resentment” to describe the “culture of Islamic countries” (75). Sloterdijk uncritically draws from the books of Bernard Lewis to construct this characterization of Muslims without referencing the scholarly debates of Saidian Orientalism and postcolonial theorists such as Homi Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak.  Sloterdijk fails to consult numerous scholars such as Richard Bulliet (The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization) and Mark Cohen (Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages), who show how broad generalizations hinder an accurate understanding of Islamic societies. Sloterdijk places the mystical and largely-pacifistic Sufi tradition within the context of violent jihad despite recent research by Shahzad Bashir (Sufi Bodies: Religion and Society in Medieval Islam) revealing the development and spread of Islam peacefully through Sufi orders (77). Such ahistorical and uncareful assertions obscure Sloterdijk’s useful observations on the epistemological development of monotheism and seem out of place.

In spite of these limitations, God’s Zeal does provide a useful starting point for understanding the epistemology of religious belief in monotheism. Non-specialists in philosophy or religious studies may struggle with the book’s technical terminology and occasionally- cumbersome prose. Although Sloterdijk’s tone throughout the book places monotheism in a decidedly negative light, he ends his book by calling for reconciliation between reasonable religious thinkers and avowed secularists.  Upon completion of this book, the reader realizes that the title Battle of the Three Monotheisms refers mostly to conflicts within the religious communities, not between them. Sloterdijk’s comparative analysis points to the possibility of a new alliance between moderates from the three monotheisms, providing a welcome addition to the growing scholarship on Christian-Muslim-Jewish relations.

Navy videographer at Ground Zero

In the 10 years since the events of September 2001 a vast amount of scholarly research has been written on the impact of 9/11. Wiley-Blackwell is pleased to share with you this collection of free book and journal content, featuring over 20 book chapters and 185 journal articles from over 200 publications, spanning subjects across the social sciences and humanities.

Simply click on your area of interest below to access this reading and learning resource today:

11-12 SEPTEMBER 2011

The symposium aims to examine the state of play in the academic study of Muslim-Jewish relations.  It is envisaged that the symposium will consist of two parts: 1) presentations by the invited participants that will explore the diverse ways in which the traditions, cultures and heritage of the Jews and Muslims of the Islamic world were interconnected in history; and 2) a round table discussion involving all participants and invited guests.

Invited international speakers who will serve as round table discussants will be asked to address three central questions which will guide the discussion: Is there/could there be a Judaeo-Islamic tradition? How do we define it? How do we study this tradition?

Read the draft programme for this exciting and relevant event here.

7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Rogers Center for the Arts at Merrimack College

A documentary film from Unity Productions Foundation, exploring the expertly gathered opinions of Muslims around the globe as revealed in the world’s first major opinion poll, conducted by Gallup, the preeminent polling organization. Focused on the issues of Gender Justice, Terrorism, and Democracy, the film presents this remarkable data deftly, showing how it challenges the popular notion that Muslims and the West are on a collision course. Like the research, the film highlights a shared relationship that is based on facts – not fear.

Trailer:

Film will be followed by a directed discussion led by Executive Director Alex Kronemer of Unity Productions Foundation and 20,000 Dialogues.

Free and open to the public.  Light refreshments will be served in the lobby of the Rogers Center.

Please visit www.merrimack.edu/JCM for more information soon.

The United Nations has proclaimed the first week of February to be World Interfaith Harmony Week.  Celebrate with us!

Please come together with us to pray for Shalom, Peace, Salaam. As children of Abraham, we will celebrate the richness of our life and faith,  the washing of hands and the blessing and sharing of bread.

Welcome:  Sr. Mary Ellen Dow, Director Campus Ministry

Presiders:

Rabbi Shoshana Perry, Congregation Shalom, North Chelmsford;

Rev. Raymond Dlugos OSA, VP for Mission and Student Affairs;

Rev. Martha Hubbard, Rector of St. Paul’s Church, Newburyport; and

Imam Abdullah Faaruuq, Mosque for the Praising of Allah, Roxbury; and Muslim Chaplain Northeastern University

Music:
Musical Coordinator and Pianist – Mr. Christopher B. Desjardins
Vocalist – Ms. Zoe Vasconcellos Hastings
Percussionist – Mr. David Hastings

Free and open to the public ~ Light refreshments will be served

Co-sponsored by the Office of the President, the Office of the Vice President for Mission and Student Affairs, the Center for Augustinian Study and Legacy, and the Grace M. Palmisano Center for Campus Ministry

Made Possible in part by a grant from the Merrimack Valley Jewish Federation

For more information on our upcoming programs, please visit our website at www.merrimack.edu/JCM.

Tuesday, November 9 and Wednesday, November 10

7-8:00 p.m. on MCTV channel 10

Produced by the Holocaust Center, Boston North Inc., this documentary film invites you to journey back in time with Six Survivors of the Holocaust as they revisit this painful history. The survivors focus on one specific period of their years under the Nazis. When linked together, the viewer journeys through the Holocaust from the prewar years to the end of WWII to freedom.

Many thanks to Kevin Salemme, Director Media Instructional Services, McQuade Library, for his support of this annual program.

If you are unable to see the broadcast on campus television, the DVD will be available through the McQuade Library, thanks to the generosity of the Braverman-Casey Memorial Fund for Library Resources in Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations.

For more information on our upcoming programs, please visit our website at www.merrimack.edu/JCM.

7:30 – 9 p.m. in Cascia Hall

Dr. Ingrid Mattson, Professor and Director of the Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary

“Balanced Islam: Applying the Principles and Priorities of Islamic Ethics to Today’s Challenges”

It is a common misperception that Islam favors scriptural fundamentalism – that because Muslims believe the Qur’an to be the Word of God, a simple resort to the text is all that is needed to find answers to ethical problems. In fact, Islam has a long and distinguished tradition of ethical reasoning that provides a framework for addressing complex moral issues. In this lecture, Dr. Mattson will discuss the major principles and priorities of Islamic ethics and how they can be brought to bear on some of today’s social challenges.

Dr. Ingrid Mattson studied Philosophy at the University of Waterloo, Ontario (B.A. 1987) and Islamic Studies at the University of Chicago (Ph.D. 1999). She has lived in Pakistan and worked with Afghan refugee women, and served as an advisor to the Afghan delegation to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

Dr. Mattson is the author of “The Story of the Qur’an: Its History and Place in Muslim Life” and served from 2006 to 2010 as president of the Islamic Society of North America, the largest Muslim organization in the United States. She is featured in “Breaking Through the Stained Glass Ceiling: Women Religious Leaders in Their Own Words.”

Co-sponsored b:y
Facing History and Ourselves

• Free and open to the public
• Prayer space will be available in the Sakowich Campus Center
• Cascia Hall is wheelchair accessible

For more information on our upcoming programs, please visit our website at www.merrimack.edu/JCM.