4 ‘Yoram Bil ion, Canflict:Jevines and Judaism in Co Identity, Ritual, and Pilgrimage: The Meetings of the Israeli Exploration Society MICHAEL FEIGEa Michael Feige contexts. The frst is the role of biblical archaeology in gration of further the symbolic appropriat teritories, and construct the unity ofits concomitantly, the 155 meetings served the see ‘THE TES AND ITS MEETINGS ‘The res meetings shared many characte es with other Zionist rituals of spendience Day and Remembrance Day forthe Fallen Soldiers. They occurred annually in regular interval the political leadership, and centered upon cherished national values, spe- cially the sacred connection of the present to the past and of the people to such as their aca- and carried out by a she means of these nferences, the nation- and state-building project was Identity, Ritual, and Pilgrimage % being helped enthusiastically by an important section of the intellectual elite, represented by the 155.9 general manager Nahum Slutz, addressed its members in the instrution’s firse publication: “The creation of a Hebrew institute for the study of the land of Israel is needed not o from a cultural-Hlebraic perspective, but also for national- political reasons. Coming to build our nati home and to make it the ‘center for Israel culture, we can not stand idle againse the industri in sponsoring research and publ ferences where research could be presented to professional and lay audi- ences alike, During the pre-state y 1g membershi Of the major political and intelleerual figures of the e pecially Jew ‘was also impressive, The society had around 1,500 paying members during. the 1950s, From 1944 onward the leading figure of the organization was jin Mazar and Yigael Yadin) served place of the organization in Zionist and with the award of the prestigious “Israel Prizs ‘The first mes mecting was held in Jerusalem under the name “the week of the Hebrew past? in Tabemacles (Sukkot) 1943. Since then it became a ‘radition to hold the meetings at that holiday; it was convenient for schoo!- teachers because of che vacation. Ie was also symbolically meaningful be- besieged Jerusalem. After the establishment of the st ‘came a fisture on the Israeli national calendar. During the 1950s and ear 1960s they were scheduled respectively for the following places: Tel Aviv,9 Michael Feige ecting of 1956 Ramat Rabel ing four participants and injuring many more. The late 19508 meetings saw the de op archaeologists, ere the event ook place and )E) —at times even the chief igs was Yitzhak Ben-Tavi, greeted them with cheers” The fol ing: “They came from all over the land, archaeologists and historians, phy overs of antiquity” Teachers ned. given to many of them: “The Land of the Net (of the Philistines” (Ashkelon), “Al the land of Naphtali” (Tiberias). Each year the same experts were required to prepare a lecture that was centered fon, oF was relevant to, the host town or region. An important part of the (Beer Sheva) Tdentity, Ritual, and Pilgrimage span of various ‘world, Muslim periods dedicated to general—as opposed to regional — discussions, and the centrated on an overview of the archaeological research in Israel. NATIONALISM AND ARCHAEOLOGY establishment of so-called instant roots for iasm over the findings ofthe Dead Sea ‘Scrolls, Masada, and the Bar Kochva leters attests to the place of the prac- tice in Israeli civil religion. Yaakov Shavit observed: “In Israel... archaeol- “greater archaeology’: an archacology that renders new pic ‘a new concept and new narrative of hi 18s meetings serves asa further proof, possibly the most in national role of archacology ‘Constructing identity was not done by the presentation of the findings in2 Michael Feige rans, and laypeople alike. That is especially rue regarding the field of cl archacology, where very few written texts were ose have been smectings had ublic placing them in a national identity-forming historical roots.® and Culture Yigael Alon claimed that archacological excavations render undeniable proof that “all our myths are crue, and the land hid all the needed evidenceyfor the real and spiritual connections between the people andthelind”? < ‘The integra n of pi played by top army was most conspicuous in che role cers in these events. The complex interconnectos and archacology has been noted by researchers. Through active participation in the events, the military establishment has affirmed its cen tral place as an integral pat of society and a hee to the great warriors of the 0) YigaelYadin, stil chief of staf, presented a «Yad compared the three density, Ritual, and Pilgrimage as the war of Israeli independence, which he himself had directed two years ‘earlier. Five years later, Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan greeted the participants ‘coming to the cleventh meeting: “The IDF know that they are walking i hero soldiers of days gone by’ ‘The meetings were meant to encompass the entire temporal spectrum of hhuman life on the land of Israel, fom prebistory to planning the furare for example, the tenth meeting in Be rent settlement effort rel in general—was presented as culmination and logical outcome of history. By creating a continuous his- cory that incorporates the present, the structure of the meetings, and normalized the Jewish setlement project. Furthermore, the met for it complemented the message of spatial and social integration the backdrop of the mass immigration of the 1950s and the emergi lems of creating solidarity amid apparent cultural, econ cal inequalities. Admittedly, thePa 1 Feige density, Ritual, and Pilgrimage cultural order. Moshe Dayan, 1DF chief of staff, exp -pexpetuating segregated etl ‘were alienated from their newly allotted places. Having. Other speakers specified he nature of the boost. In his opening address, Yadin stressed the importance of Eilat to national security. He presented the 1 experience of the i hardship and obscure the ethnic divide. The new wmigeants were hailed as the new pioneers, joining, or even substituting, y the ttle. As Moshe Dayan sa contemporary role in the Zionist saga, Ei are no longer symbols for essential settlement centers, 1g them of the history of t r problems of national existence, Nowad: ified by the (development ton, where they had been settled by the government through sheir own? honor of the meesings, Eilat was decorated and full of li the annual events in development town: bolically incorporating the Jewish periph96 Michael Feige celebration of «national holiday: In fat, the vis a mare celebration in the development town’ newspaper, Davar, reported condescendingly the national and social goals of the conference were more important than the academic and profess (One of the functions of the 188 meetings was, therefore, £0 ass ye structure that would len¢ gto the among regions and ethnic groups. The meetings placed the gap into a socially accepted and even prestigious contest, The ‘new immigrants were portrayed as pioneers or as civilian-so constructing a tangible co admired step taken before by other immigran heroic struggle for nati ups —oF as part of the I security, ¢ igs served to east the devel meaningful “plages” In Zionist settlement laces achieved iden- tity through their connection to the general national narrative using Archaeology was used at times in order to create local mean- ver Sukenik, Yadin’s father, convey this identity ted: “There was a feeling that this piece of ground, for which a such, wasn’t just any plot ofland but piece of earth where their forefathers have lived fifteen hundred to two thousand years 1. Their history was fered ago. Their work inthe present was castin a different revealed to them and they sa je with their own eyes density, Riewal, and Pilgrimage 7 Inthe case of the development towns, however, the residents ofthe places did not tie their forced settlement to Zionist key scenarios. For the new smigrants, leaving their homes and coming to a new and impose instant comers, nd to connect their identity to a valued place.” ‘THE IES MEETINGS AS PILGRIMAGE ‘The meetin sicsof eligi secular by vctue of their subject, share many characteris- decided by the 188 pol national consideration lore similarities can be found in anthropologist Cifford Geertzs Jcal analysis. In his essay “Centers, Kings and Charisma,” he wrote: “Wh ‘conferring honors, exchanging gifts, or defy some wolf or tiger spreading his scent through his ically par of them? One of Geertz’s examples is the travels of Queen Elis abeth through the English countryside. Hier journeys were meant to sym- bolically estab! able rule of the Crown over the entire land, and toher subjects to show subs y and respect. A similar mecha sm was at work in the they were nos forsaken, and that an attempt at homogenizing the national space its entirety, Each region of body at the same level of impor the country was sym: in the development towns, and thus re-created the center-periphery con- By the very fact that the elite stratum held conferences among the people of the periphery accentuated its advan Identity, Ritual, and Pilgrimage 90 ‘even regarding knowledge of the very place where the new immigrants red. The pilgrimage to elective sites meant that the elite was composed of translocal, cosmopolitan Israelis, while the periphery population was con- structed as metaphorically bounded to its place, as local or even native berween the center and the periphery of development nt regarding the defini- igh nor the grand ope not only in the very existence: ‘their members were auto were built. Unlike the new immigrants, th rerse and participated activ meetings were connected t 1 histories of the populations currently residing on it, the pre~ Israeli Diaspora history of the new immigrants was defined by the con- ferences. The meetings of even Canaanite one, warded a local Jewish-sracl identity, a Hebraic th root in the ancient past of the region. The S meetings had, therefore, much to do with the logy and releted the new st ines of ing imposed upon them, they could not have participated even if they wanted 10, burthe meetings excluded them in more profound ways. Their story was {indeed told—the Arab and Muslim history ofthe and had a prominent part inthe conferences from their beginnings history. Their exclusion was in the fact 3s did the Byzantine and Crusader the pilgrimage never elected100 Michadl Feige trend fo ywed the Six-Day War. In 1967 the event was scheduled in Jera- nd was dedicated to the reunited city. In the following years the meetings concentrated on different parts of the newly occupied “The 18S mectings continue to exist today, but only as a professional ‘gathering, holding the interest of experts and some knowledgeable laypeo- ple. Inside the academic community and the public interes in archaeology dwindled accord searching for roots tend to turn to religion. Deep socio-cultural changes, especi sions, changed the place of archaeolo; ‘Modem science, not to mention bit ization of social divi- vis-bovis different social groups. al achacology, is no longer an ince- in Israeli society. Recurrent bitter conflicts berween archacolo- grative fo Identi cual, and Pilgrimage gists and the ultrs-Orthodox over grave excavations attest to this fact. How. in the conflicts again apparently losing the battle for the right t (One of the reasons for the archacologists’ “fal from grace” is theic profes- sionalism, While some critics claim that the nationalization of archaeology and the cultural hegemony of Zionism have been reflected in the acad ‘Yaakov Shavit notes that while “greater archacol nationalism, “lesser archaeology” namely the academic product of profes- sional archaeologists, held potentially subversive messages and eventually pioneers became dear. Moreover, new cultral formations appeared in de velopment towns, partly as a protest against the attempt to impose westernIdentity, Ritual, and Pilgrimage 103 102 Michael Feige ‘concepts from above. Saint worship became a local way of aequizing high In today’s deeply divided postideological I secular pi grimage to development towns is unthinkable. The science of archaeology and the task of building national or local identities have thus parted way of North Aftican origin have been tr bbe understood as pilgrimage to an electivesym Noes sow would be: “The Sociexy forthe Seudy ofthe a? New York Times Review of Books 41 cli identity, using the resources of their and that they have a co not been researched. of the Daternational Congresson usalem, r985), Bp. 37 i “Lecture on the Acts of the Hebrew Society for the Research ofthe Land of ls published by the nature ofthe Hebraic occupation ofthe Land of Canaan.18 Michael Feige Yadin favored a theory of military process of gradual inflration 6.Davar Sept. 27,1953 (in Hebrew); Davar Oct 7- Anthony D. Smit, The Ethnic Org 188; Benedict sher Silberman, Berwve Modern Middle E pation, while Aharony tied to show 3 1962 (in Hebrew) Pp. 261-84 (in Hebrew); Oren ¥ id Peripheriee: Landscape and Tnequ a large extent, reflects the expectations that the wos ‘common biblical past. Furthermore, mm are photographed with ford Geert, Local Knowledge (New Vork, 1083), 126 23, An exception is Jerusalem. Approximately every ith meeting took, ‘The mectings, therefore had also a role in establishing the cent Place: Cultural Production ia I NY, 1997), pp. 147-76 25. For one of these struggles, see Myron J. Aronoff, “Establishing ‘The Memorializtion of Jabotinskl and the Burial of the Bar Kochva Bones The Invention of Ancient Ioacl (London, 1996); Elon, be interested in digging at sites of the 21. Vitor Turner, “The Center Out There: Pigrin’s Goal History of Religions 1230, Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane (New York, place in Jerusalem, and the koynote speakers stressed its sacredness and unique importance. y of Jerusalem. 24, This is elected in the kibbutz museums. See Tamar Katrcl, “Remaking Pioneer Serdement Museums” in Graiping Land: Space and Place i Contemporary srals Discourse and Espertence (Albany, hori srl 1? in M. J. Aronoll, e., The Fraley of Authority (New Brunswick,x6 Michael Feige 1990). 43 Finkelstein, eds, Prom Nomadion to Monard 28. Some of the extensive research on development town local do: Eyl Ben-Ae and Yoram Blu, “Saints Sancures and in Laci Development ‘Towns: On the Mechanism of Urban Transformation? Uirhan Anchrpolagy x Weingrod The Saint of Berber (New York, 1950). eli Landscapes: Buildings and che Uses ofthe Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Clothing, Identity, and the Modern Jewish Experience JENNA WEISSMAN JOSELIT “A great deal of happiness may be had from a study of dress and its of Distinctive Dress. “As we st raken to the artisticside of dress, extent as to give us unders follows, I take my cue from Picken, hoping to appreciation”* awaken and stimulate interest in sartorial matters on the part of Jewish historians who have been impervious to its charms and inattent relevance, For a host of reasons, dress has not figu mental maps. In some quarters, the an instance of etbishe zakhn (the frivolous preoccupations of women) ‘worst. In others, itis seen asa distraction from and as a sides central and representative Jewish concerns: politics, economics, Torah. ‘And yet, over the past century, and on both sides of the Atlantic, fewCONTRIBUTORS FTEMAW ARAD B NOLD J. BAND University fC. L DANIEL | ELAzA rosettes? ane HABL FEIGE Ben ion University in the ITH GERTZ OpenU; JATHOR anysut conan Cal SA GRAVER Ben iewakce ce Miia eg {m4 KAT2¢2150% Conta Uareny RBARA KIRSHENR: 2 New York Univers LATT-GIMBierr EBORAH DASH MOORE Vass College MORAWS KAU JEFFREY EY sHAND, Nee h TROEN Ben Garin BETH Ss, WENGERU: 2 University of Pennsylvania TED BY DEBORAH DASH MOORE AND 8, ILAN TROEN Divergent Jewish Cultures Israel and America “Ye Universiry Prsi/New Haven > London