Posted on 11/10/2011 5:13:53 AM PST by SJackson
JPost special feature: A Library of Congress collection of photographs that document Israel before the creation of the state.
The Library of Congress has recently digitalized a collection of over 10,000 photographs, taken by the "American Colony" in Jerusalem, a group of Christian utopians who lived in Jerusalem between 1881 and the 1940s. The photographers returned to the US, and bequeathed their massive collection to the Library of Congress in 1978. The collection includes Winston Churchill's visit to Jerusalem, Jewish expulsions from the Old City during Arab riots, and the building of Tel Aviv.
Tens of thousands of Jews - mostly women - are expected to visit Rachel's Tomb tonight and tomorrow. The burial site, located between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, has been venerated by Jews for centuries.
Tuesday, the 11th of Cheshvan in the Hebrew calendar, is traditionally observed as Rachel's yahrzeit - anniversary of her death. Buried on the side of the road by her husband, Rachel, according to tradition, later wept as "her children" were exiled from the land of Israel. Rachel is considered a special figure for prayers and entreaties.
In 1622 the Ottoman governor of Jerusalem permitted Jews to build walls and a dome over the grave.
For several hundred years a local Bedouin tribe, the Ta'amra, and local Arabs demanded protection money from Jews going to Rachel's grave. In the 18th and 19th century the Arabs built a cemetery around three sides of the shrine in the belief that the proximity of the deceased to the grave of a holy person - even a Jew - would bestow blessings on the deceased in the world to come. Muslims even prepared bodies for burial at Rachel's grave.
In the 1830s, Jews received a firman [decree] from Ottoman authorities recognizing the Jewish character of the site and ordering a stop to the abuse of Jews there. In 1841, Sir Moses Montefiore secured permission from the Ottoman authority to build an anteroom for Jewish worshipers. During the 1929 Muslim attacks on the Jews of Palestine, the Muslim religious council, the Waqf, demanded the site.
For 19 years of Jordanian rule on the West Bank (1948-1967), Rachel's Tomb was off limits to Jews. After the 1967 war, Israel reclaimed control of the site. In 1996 and during the Palestinian intifada in 2000-2001 Rachel's Tomb was the target of numerous attacks. The Israeli army built walls to protect worshipers and their access to the site.
More photos can be viewed at http://www.israeldailypicture.com. Back
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
..................
Bump & ping to share with the kids
“American Colony”
Was that where Horatio Spafford lived after the death of his family?
He wrote It is Well With My Soul.
Thanks for posting this...
Thanks for sharing.
Yes, they’re the source of the photo collection at the Library of Congress.
PING
FYI
Rachel has grabbed my heart since I was a small child. She made a very distinctive imprint that only grew stronger over the years. Kind of strange, but eventually I began to understand.
BUMP
BFLR
Thanks for the ping. I visited Rachel’s Tomb in 1984.
Yes, he wrote ‘It is Well With My Soul.’ Beautiful story.
Awesome!! Thanks for sharing. I signed up at the site to receive a new picture a day via email.
Blessings !shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach
He was actually one of the founders of the colony. BTW, Spafford's wife survived the ship's sinking, but his four children died.
Thanks so much SJ.
I hope all is well with you.
One of my favorite biblical characters. Her name also struck a chord in my literary memory so I pulled my dusty old volume of Herman Melville off the shelf. Sure enough, Captain Ahab was beseeched by Captain Gardiner, who commanded the whaling ship named “Rachel,” to help search for his crew who had been lost at sea, including his own son. Ahab, obsessed with his quest for the whale, refused. Melville then wrote, “Such was Rachel, weeping for children, because they were not.” Some memory trivia from a great American novel! Regards,
It was a good find!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.