Temple

Israeli and Palestinian leaders need to understand the religious, symbolic and mystical undertones of their people to resolve heated Arab-Israeli conflicts, Gershom Gorenberg, an associate at Boston University’s Center for Millennial Studies, said last night.

Gorenberg, who lives in Jerusalem, is visiting the U.S. on a speaking tour and appeared before a crowd of about 40 at the Photonics center last night in an event sponsored by the BU Hillel.

Gorenberg, author of “The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle For the Temple Mount,” discussed the political and religious symbolism of the Temple Mount, an area in Jerusalem that bears religious significance for Jews and Muslims. Who should have control of the Temple Mount, which is currently dominated by Muslims, has been heavily disputed for over a century and recently provoked a string of violent uprisings in Israel.

Gorenberg said both Jews and Muslims have to acknowledge each other’s religious beliefs and the significance of the space. He said a plan must be devised that allows the groups to share the space and both use it.

“Eventually we’ve got to get back to living with each other,” he said.

Religion is one force motivating the political conflict according to Gorenberg, who said political leaders are not accurately in touch with religious figures.

“Nobody consulted with religious figures before entering into negotiations over the Temple Mount,” Gorenberg said.

Gorenberg reviewed the history of the conflict over the Temple Mount and said people have many times attributed uprisings at or near the site to wider political issues and often overlook the Mount’s symbolism.

“One cannot separate symbols from wider issues,” he said.

Following the destruction of the Jews’ second holy temple by the Romans and after the Muslim conquest, the Dome of the Rock, an Islamic mosque, was built on the Mount in where the temple had been.

Muslims believe the Mount is the spot where Muhammed ascended into heaven.

“According to Muslim tradition, this is where the ultimate religious figure underwent the ultimate religious experience,” Gorenberg said. “[But] according to rabbinic tradition, this is the place where Abraham bound Isaac to the altar, that is, the ultimate religious test to the ultimate religious individual.”

Gorenberg said rabbinic tradition also says the Mount is the spot where creation began: where Adam was created, the place where Cain and Abel, and later Noah, offered their sacrifices.

“This is in fact the holiest spot on earth and the most contested on earth,” Gorenberg said.

Both Muslims and Jews believe Jerusalem is where the world began and will end, Gorenberg said. Muslims believe final judgment will take place in Jerusalem and Jews believe God will send the Messiah to Jerusalem to bring peace to the world.

For Palestinian and Zionist nationalist groups, control over the mount has come to symbolize control over the holy end, Gorenberg said.

“Religious myths are reshaped by nationalist groups,” Gorenberg said. “Everything that takes place on the spot resonates on a much wider level.”

Gorenberg said people tend to use symbols to frame reality and said since the Mount is considered to be a symbol of power over religious sanctity, both Jews and Muslims seek to control it.

“If somebody burned a Bible in front of me, I would know that they were insulting my beliefs but I would not think that lightning was about to strike,” he said. “However, in a more literal and extreme mindset, the symbol and the reality cannot be separated.

“When events are actually happening at the Temple Mount, the inclination to read verses literally becomes stronger,” Gorenberg said. “We live in an era where there is a strange rise in literalism.”

Gorenberg said people need to stop denying the collective roles that religion, symbolism and mysticism play in the conflict.

“All too often, pragmatic, self-described realists have described the rule of religion and symbolism in the conflict,” Gorenberg said. “There are many material reasons for the conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis, at the same time the conflict has been shaped by myths and beliefs.”

Gorenberg’s speech was received favorably by BU students, who said the speech educated them on the history of the conflict.

“I think that he accurately captured the depth of the situation in a way that has really been absent from the western press,” said Abe Friedman, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences.