The two articles I chose to read were "Lepers, Lunatics and Saints" and "Ishaq Shami and the Predicament of the Arab Jew in Palestine".
The first article I read, "Lepers, Lunatics, and Saints", raised a few questions for me. The first question was about Talbieh Leprosarium. I have never heard of this, and when I tried to Google it the first link that came up was to this particular article. This question was answered a little bit more as I read the article, but I wonder why I wasn't able to find out more about it. I have heard of leprosy, and the particular Torah portion that it is always falls sometime in April, which was always comical to me because that particular portion would always fall over the weekend of my youth group region's biggest kallah (study, or convention) of the year. While socializing and learning about the particular theme of the weekend we would also coincidentally be learning about the biblical disease of leprosy in an amusing fashion.
While I was reading this article, sometimes I found myself getting confused and forgetting that the doctor, Tawfiq Canaan, was a person and not the land of Canaan. The fact that I had never heard of him probably makes sense, because much of the work that he did was swept under the carpet. I also find it ironic that in a time when two biblically historical groups of people were fighting for the same plot of land, a supposedly biblical disease sprung up again.
I also noted the mention of Edward Said in this article. We had talked about in class that he acts as a sort of beacon for Palestinians, and I thought it was interesting seeing his name pop up as a reference.
I also thought the exploration of "awlia" was interesting. The idea of saints is an interesting concept that religion has encompassed throughout history. "[They] experienced in their own flesh all miseries, difficulties, diseases, and woes of our life. They also know human falsehoods and intrigues. Thus they feel with us in our afflictions and understand us better than God does" (15). I thought the idea that these people that are essentially worshipped were once people. What makes a person worthy of sainthood? I also found the distinction between tolerant and irritable saints (good and evil) interesting.
Onto the second article. There were a lot of points that I found interesting in this. The first was the concept of language as a barrier, but also as a uniter of people. Before the creation of modern Hebrew, Jews didn't have a common language. I often wondered what language was spoken before Hebrew was revived, and I thought that the fact that Jews spoke Arabic at one point a pertinent point. Although the creation and revival of Hebrew as a spoken language was something that bonded Jews at the beginning of the history of Israel as a state, is it also something that but an even bigger barrier between Jews and non Jews?
The existence of Arab Jews is something that isn't always paid attention to. However, the exile and diaspora of the Jewish people set everyone in a different direction. When people aren't around each other, it is inevitable that ideas will develop in different ways due solely to the influence of geography and culture of surrounding people. Jews in Spain obvious evolved in a different way from Jews in Eastern Europe. The same is true for the Jews that were still in Palestine. They evolved to blend in with their Arab neighbors through language, food, and just general proximity. The overall socialization of Jews in the world is not just based on the premise of religion alone. Are these Arab Jews any different from Jews from other parts of the world? Another question is, are Jews really that different from their Arab neighbors?
On the whole, I found Shami's story really interesting. In a way, the creation of Zionism was meant to unite Jewish people with the idea of a homeland. However, with the creation of this idea, it united people but at the same time alienated people as well. The counteract to Zionism had the same effect. It united people under the idea that they didn't believe in a Jewish state, and their claims to the land were just as valid, even though their beliefs depended heavily on their geographical location. There is something to be said about duality. There is distinction between good and evil. However, what happens when there is duality between ideas, but one is not better than the other? So the real question is- are we as different as we think? Or has the polarization of two ideals done more harm than good?
A few questions that I have for Salim Tamari are:
1. What is your background?
2. What role do you play in politics currently?
3. The existence of Arab Jews is something that would have been an issue at the partition. Do you think this is an issue has gradually lessoned over time with the distinct divide between Palestinians and Israelis?
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