CFHU stretches minds

JANNETTE EDMONDS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

Despite intense challenges and changes within the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), it is still one of the most respected institutions in Israel, visiting professor Eyal Ben-Ari told an audience at the Stretch Your Mind – The Best of Hebrew U last weekend.

A professor of sociology and anthropology at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Ben-Ari was one of six lecturers brought to speak in Vancouver as part of the biennial conference. His topic, The Israel Defence Forces in the 21st Century, focused on two issues of concern for the IDF – the changing nature of war and the implementation of budgetary cuts.

Ben-Ari began his fascination and study of the social and cultural aspects of the military early in his career as a reservist. An infantry officer in Hebron during the first intifada in 1987, he became interested in the anthropology of how men with "civilized self images become soldiers and handle the violence perpetrated by the Palestinians." He turned his stints as a reservist into study sessions of observing other soldiers.

The military today is not the same as that of 1967 and 1973, Ben-Ari said. Today's IDF is under a broader range of warfare threats, as well as intense budget cuts and an openness to criticism by Israelis and the media. There is also the tension between two ideologies, he stated. One perception of the IDF is that of a people's army, the other as a growing professional army similar to those in the west. It is a tension that continues to exist even as it moves from readiness for conventional warfare to non-conventional threats. On top of being ready for long-range missiles, it must also battle the "low intensity warfare" of the suicide bombers. On top of being ready for the nuclear threat being developed by Iran, which sources say may be ready in five to 10 years, it must also handle the "very blurry and basically impossible" warfare of entering territories to seek out an enemy that hides within civilian populations. The challenges to the IDF are wide-ranging and complicated by the political ramifications of every incursion, said Ben-Ari.

In addition to these hurdles, there is also the challenge of the "basically unclear" issue of how to deal with the settlers, who often exhibit violence towards Israeli soldiers, as well as what to do about massive budget cuts.

Three thousand full-time professionals were cut in the last year, with an estimated 6,000 to be cut in the next several years. He said this "considerable downsizing" doesn't necessarily make the IDF more vulnerable but is part of a change that cuts down expenses and moves towards making the army more high-tech and less personnel dependent.

"There is a rethinking of the emphasis on tanks because conventional wars in the future will not be tank-dependent," Ben-Ari said. "Also the security fence being built, with cameras, will mean less people needed to patrol the borders."

In the midst of all the changes and challenges, the IDF still is expected to carry out its nation-building tasks and is the route towards integration for the newly arrived. It is still one of the best ways to help integrate immigrants into Israeli society, offering Hebrew courses, for example, and is a vital symbol of unity. Still, it is also becoming more open to scrutiny, criticism and accountability. Parents are using the judicial system more than they used to when their children die in army accidents. And often, the ownership of the deceased is debated – who should decide, family or army, where the body should be buried.
"These things were unheard of 20 years ago," said Ben-Ari.

The Bible's historicity

Does archeology confirm or negate the Bible? Well, that depends on whether you are a minimalist or a maximalist, whether you're talking about the 10th century BCE or the eighth, whether you're talking about Solomon's royal cities or Joshua's walk around the walls of Jericho. The problem, Prof. Lee Levine told an audience of about 100, is that there is no clear answer, yes or no.

Levine, professor of Jewish history and archeology at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, used his lecture, Does Archeology Confirm or Negate the Bible?, to explore the many challenges of biblical archeology, calling it a "hot topic."

Attitudes towards the field have changed from early days when mostly clergy were interested in using archeology to prove the Bible. In the first- to middle-half of the 20th century, archeology was "the handmaiden in service of proving the truth of the Bible through archeological finds," said Levine. That agenda became a Jewish one in the mid-20th century when Zionists used the field to prove the Jewish roots of Israel.

Today is an age of skepticism, said Levine, where the "hermeneutics of suspicion" has dominated the study of archeology. Other voices, challenging voices, have been raised with sometimes dubious agendas. It has been suggested that the Bible and archeology should stand as separate fields, Levine said, and the present discipline should be renamed Syrio-Palestine archeology, inferring an indigenous Palestinian population and focusing on the sociology of the area rather than the Bible. Because most of the biblical archeologists are from a Judeo-Christian background, he said, this move has not been accepted.

Still there are many challenges to traditional beliefs both within the archeological community and the Bible itself. Finds that have in the past supported the historicity of the United Kingdom Age of Solomon and David in the 10th century BCE have been refuted by a group of archeologists from Tel-Aviv. They say the artifacts are consistent with finds from the ninth century and thus are open to challenge. It is a case where the biblical record of 1 Kings 5 concerning Solomon's royal cities is challenged by archeology.

Another example of such incongruities is the finding of various artifacts, such as vases, showing depictions of gods, a contradiction to the biblical record of Jewish monotheism. Biblical scholars often integrate such findings into their interpretation of history, Levine said, by suggesting, for example, the exisitence of different levels of monotheism or different classes of society that followed monotheism in different ways.

There are also contradictions within the Bible itself, Levine pointed out. The conquest of Canaan was "one fell swoop" in Joshua, but "much more complicated" in the book of Judges. Then there is the problem of the historicity of Genesis and Exodus. Within the world of archeology, there must be corroborating evidence, other documents to compare, but there are none.

"We have no document other than the Bible to support that Israelites were slaves in Egypt," Levine pointed out.

With problems using archeology to prove the patriarchal beginnings, the Exodus, the conquest and the united monarchy, it is only in the eighth or seventh century BCE that the Bible can be said to be on solid ground historically, Levine continued. And yet even these findings have come under attack by a "deconstructionist view" emanating from Denmark, England and the United States. Dismissing archeological finds, they propose that the Bible was written at the time of the Second Temple and is useless historically, said Levine.

Although the field is fraught with challenges, he believes that archeology must be used to understand biblical society. "Excavations contribute to our knowledge of biblical society and sheds new light on biblical data. It also raises questions that challenge the Bible," he said.

Besides Ben-Ari and Levine, the Stretch Your Mind – The Best of Hebrew U included Prof. Meron Medzini, a senior lecturer in political science at the Rothberg International School, who opened the conference with a keynote speech on Israel After the War in Iraq; Rachel Elior, head of the department of Jewish studies; Prof. Daphne Atlas, professor of neurochemistry in the department of biological chemistry; and Prof. Edwin Seroussi, the Emmanuel Alexandre professor of musicology and director of the Jewish Music Research Centre.

The event was presented by Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver and the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver. A lively Havdalah service with Mordehai Wosk, Hillel Goelman and Myrna Rabinowitz opened up the conference on Saturday night.

Jannette Edmonds is a Vancouver freelance writer.

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