Is There A Map of Biblical Israel? No, writes Rachel Havrelock

The always-assured Israeli prime minister Netanyahu, along with the strident voices of Republican candidates for the 2012 presidential election ,make it sound as if the Old Testament or the Torah leaves no doubt as to the location of Biblical Israel.

The Hebrew Bible (known to Christians as the Old Testament and to Jews as the Torah or Tanakh) actually contains five different 'maps',  lists of boundaries that define the Promised Land. None of them resemble the modern-day Biblical Israel, says Rachel Havrelock, author of 'River Jordan: The Mythology of a Dividing Line'.

Citing Joshua chapter 15, verse 63, Havrelock writes that it’s very possible that a regional federation of the tribes of Israel overlapped and coexisted with locals — the very vision of disputed Israeli lands held by more secular Israelis.

Right-wing religious groups, whether Israeli or Palestinian, aspire to rule all of “Biblical Israel” or “Historic Palestine.” In truth, these maps result from British colonialism and not from religious tradition. Religious ideas about this land are, in fact, more fluid, more flexible, and more accepting of the different peoples who live within its uncertain borders.

Israel Debates Role of Women In Israeli Society As Prof Channa Maayan Cannot Accept Prize

If you think it’s only in Saudi Arabia where men and women can’t mix, you’re wrong. Many Israelis also seek to segregate women from men in an Israel that increasingly turns against secularism and women’s rights.

The New York Times writes in Israelis Facing a Seismic Rift Over Role of Women that professor Channa Maayan confronted the reality of a new Israel when she was recently awarded a prize for her book on hereditary diseases common to Jews.

Respecting the fact that the crowd would be mixed from ultra-orthodox to secular Jews, Channa Maayan wore a long-sleeve top and a long skirt. But it was not enough. No one was prepared for the next event — not even us reading this article.

Simply stated, Channa Maayan was not allowed to accept her own prize for scholarship, because in Israel — a country that receives how much foreign aid from America? — she was no longer permitted on stage. Maayan was instructed to have a male colleague accept her prize.

At a time when there is no progress on the Palestinian dispute, Israelis are turning inward and discovering that an issue they had neglected — the place of the ultra-Orthodox Jews — has erupted into a crisis.

And it is centered on women.