With the introduction of photography in 1839, pioneer practitioners of the nascent medium flocked to the Holy Land, expecting the glorious biblical scenes imagined by Renaissance painters, but finding instead mainly dusty villages and a largely ramshackle Jerusalem.
With the introduction of photography in 1839, pioneer practitioners of the nascent medium flocked to the Holy Land, expecting the glorious biblical scenes imagined by Renaissance painters, but finding instead mainly dusty villages and a largely ramshackle Jerusalem.
Recently, a friend told me that his brother and sister-in-law flew from Newark, N.J., to Israel. The plane was filled with Christian church groups traveling on a Holy Land pilgrimage. When his sister-in-law got up to walk in the aisles, a fellow passenger stopped and inquired, \”And what church are you from?\”
When she said that she was Jewish, the lady remarked, \”I think you are the only Jew on this flight.\”
Where have all the Jews gone? Not to Israel.
Journal readers who were upset when a prominent local rabbi proposed that the biblical story of the Exodus from Egypt wasn\’t literally true, should be forewarned of possible apoplexy while watching the History Channel\’s \”Digging for the Truth: Archaeology and the Bible.\”
In a compelling collection of 19th and 20th century images and objects, the Skirball Cultural Center\’s new exhibit of photographs, lithographs and archaeological artifacts tells the story of Israel as, literally, a \”holy land\” — a place that has long held fascination for the three monotheistic faiths, academics and Western tourists hoping to discover the exotic world of the East.
For Dawn Short and Jennifer Willis, the wait tovisit a newly opened \”messianic Jewish\” theme park was worth it.
I was more than a little conflicted when Israel\’s Ministry of Tourism invited me to visit the Holy Land for one week in December to judge for myself whether the country was safe enough for tourists. I\’d never traveled to Israel before, and while I knew that life was going on as usual for most Israelis, CNN\’s daily images of conflict and the U.S. State Department\’s warning fed my apprehension.
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