"The Idea of Jerusalem" to be topic of symposium April 15-17

MIDDLEBURY, Vt.-Many aspects of Jerusalem’s character and rich history, from religious symbolism and the city’s future, to the Jewish-Palestinian struggle for control over the city will be the topic of a symposium, “The Idea of Jerusalem,” at Middlebury College Friday, April 15-Sunday, April 17. Academic experts from Israel and from across the United States will gather to discuss a variety of subjects, including the viability of peace without negotiation over Jerusalem, Palestinian leadership in Jerusalem since 1948, and the city’s place in Jewish history and tradition. All the symposium events - a lecture and four panel discussions - are free and open to the public.

“Jerusalem has been of interest to scholars, writers, artists, clergy and lay people for millennia. We thought that it was important to create a forum for scholars from different disciplines who study Jerusalem to talk to one another and to do it on campus so our community can benefit from it,” said Tamar Mayer, professor of geography at Middlebury, who organized the symposium with Suleiman A. Mourad, assistant professor of religion at the college. “This is truly a unique opportunity.”

“The Idea of Jerusalem” will kick off when Francis E. Peters, professor of Middle Eastern studies and history at New York University, gives the keynote lecture, “One City, One God, Three Faiths” on Friday, April 15, at 4:15 p.m. in Mead Chapel. A reception will follow Peters’ talk in the Redfield Room of Proctor Hall. Both locations are on Hepburn Road off College Street (Route 125).

On Saturday, April 16, from 9 a.m.-12 p.m., a panel of experts will gather to discuss “The Religious Symbolism of Jerusalem.” The panelists, who will each address a topic and then engage in a discussion, will be Yaron Eliav, the Jean and Samuel Frankel Assistant Professor for Rabbinic Literature at the University of Michigan, who will discuss “The Temple Mount in Jewish Tradition;” Lee I. Levine, professor of archeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who will give remarks on “Jerusalem in Jewish History, Tradition and Memory;” O. Larry Yarbrough, Pardon Tillinghast Professor of Religion at Middlebury College, who will give a talk on “Jerusalem in Early Christianity;” and Mourad, who will lecture on “The Transformation of the Holiness of Jerusalem in Islamic Scholarship.” The panel will take place in the conference room of the Robert A. Jones House on Hillcrest Road off College Street (Route 125).

From 1-5 p.m., a second panel will address the topic of “The Struggle over Jerusalem.” Serving on the panel will be Christiane J. Gruber, a doctoral candidate in art history at the University of Pennsylvania, who will discuss “Jerusalem in the Visual Propaganda of Contemporary Iran,” and Alexander Van Der Haven, a doctoral candidate at the University of Chicago Divinity School, who will give a talk on “The Jerusalem Syndrome.”

Following a brief break, the second panel will resume when Mayer offers remarks on “Nationalizing Jerusalem: The Making of the Capital.” Issam Nassar, professor of history at Bradley University, will then lecture on “Palestinian Jerusalem in the early 20th century;” Elie Rekhess, a senior research fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University, will discuss “The Palestinian Leadership of Jerusalem, 1948-2004;” and Bernard Wasserstein, the Harriet and Ulrich E. Meyer Professor of Modern European Jewish History at the University of Chicago, will give a lecture on “The Walls of Jerusalem: Past, Present, Future.” The panel will take place in the Robert A. Jones House Conference Room.

The symposium will continue in the evening from 7:30-9 p.m. when the third panel, titled “Thoughts on the Future,” takes place in Redfield Proctor. The panelists include Professor Sari Nusseibeh, president of Al-Quds University and Palestinian minister for Jerusalem affairs, and Ian Lustick,the Bess W. Heyman Chair of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania, who will give a talk on “Yerushalayim, al-Quds, and the Wizard of Oz: Facing the Problem of Jerusalem after Camp David II and the al-Aqsa Intifada.”

The symposium will conclude with a final panel, “Jerusalem in the Arts,” on Sunday, April 17, from 9-11 a.m. in the Robert A. Jones House Conference Room. The panelists will include Emmie Donadio, associate director and chief curator of the Middlebury College Museum of Art, who will discuss “Nineteenth Century Photography of Jerusalem;” Rehav Rubin, professor of geography at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who will give a talk titled “The Map Has a Message: Reality, Ideology and Symbolism in the Early Printed Maps of Jerusalem;” and Christopher Stone, assistant professor of Arabic and international studies at Middlebury College, who will lecture on “Fayruz, Jerusalem and the Leba-stinian Song.”

For more information about the symposium, contact Tamar Mayer, professor of geography at Middlebury College, at mayer@middlebury.edu or 802-443-5568, or Suleiman A. Mourad, assistant professor of religion at Middlebury College, at smourad@middlebury.edu or 802-443-3485.

To follow are events calendar listings:

Middlebury College Symposium

“The Idea of Jerusalem”

April 15-17

Friday, April 15

4:15 p.m.

Keynote Lecture: “One City, One God, Three Faiths” by Francis E. Peters, professor of Middle Eastern studies and history at New York University

Free

The lecture is in Mead Chapel on Hepburn Road off College Street (Route 125). A reception will follow in the Redfield Room of Proctor Hall across the street on Hepburn Road.

Saturday, April 16

9 a.m.-12 p.m.

Panel Discussion: “The Religious Symbolism of Jerusalem” with Yaron Eliav, the Jean and Samuel Frankel Assistant Professor for Rabbinic Literature at the University of Michigan; Lee I. Levine, professor of archeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; O. Larry Yarbrough, Pardon Tillinghast Professor of Religion at Middlebury College; and Suleiman A. Mourad, assistant professor of religion at Middlebury College

Free

Conference Room, Robert A. Jones House on Hillcrest Road off College Street (Route 125)

1-5 p.m.

Panel Discussion: “The Struggle over Jerusalem” with Christiane J. Gruber, a doctoral candidate in art history at the University of Pennsylvania; Alexander Van Der Haven, a doctoral candidate at the University of Chicago Divinity School; Tamar Mayer, professor of geography at Middlebury College; Issam Nassar, professor of history at Bradley University; Elie Rekhess, a senior research fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University; and Bernard Wasserstein, the Harriet and Ulrich E. Meyer Professor of Modern European Jewish History at the University of Chicago

Free

Conference Room, Robert A. Jones House on Hillcrest Road off College Street (Route 125)

7:30-9 p.m.

Panel Discussion: “Thoughts on the Future,” with Professor Sari Nusseibeh, president of Al-Quds University and Palestinian minister for Jerusalem affairs, and Ian Lustick, the Bess W. Heyman Chair of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania

Free

Redfield Room, Proctor Hall, Hepburn Road off College Street (Route 125)

Sunday, April 17

9-11 a.m.

Panel Discussion: “Jerusalem in the Arts,” with Emmie Donadio, associate director and chief curator of the Middlebury College Museum of Art; Rehav Rubin, professor of geography at Hebrew University of Jerusalem; and Christopher Stone, assistant professor of Arabic and international studies at Middlebury College

Free

Conference Room, Robert A. Jones House on Hillcrest Road off College Street (Route 125)

For more information about the symposium, contact Tamar Mayer, professor of geography at Middlebury College, at mayer@middlebury.edu or 802-443-5568, or Suleiman A. Mourad, assistant professor of religion at Middlebury College, at smourad@middlebury.edu or 802-443-3485.

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