Jerusalem as Messianic Battlefield: A Conversation with Rachel Feldman & Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi

Join us as Assistant Professor of Religion, Rachel Z Feldman, and Guest Lecturer Emerita of Comparative Literature at the Hebrew University, Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi, lead the discussion on 'Jerusalem as a Messianic Battlefield' to explore critical questions surrounding religion, nationalism, and the sacralization of state violence. The Leslie Center for the Humanities and the Jewish Studies Program at Dartmouth will co-sponsor the event.

"Hamas named its attack on October 7th the "Al-Aqsa Flood"-- and claimed that increasing numbers of religious Jews entering the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem were among the primary instigations for its actions. In turn, the attack further radicalized a growing Jewish fundamentalist movement in Israel, a movement that seeks Israeli annexation of the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa and the transformation of Israel into a biblical-style Jewish theocracy. Feldman will discuss these recent events in conversation with Ezrahi, through an interdisciplinary dialogue informed by their respective disciplines (anthropology and comparative Jewish literature)."

Both authors will draw on insights from their recent books on Jerusalem and Jewish messianism:

Figuring Jerusalem: Politics and Poetics in the Sacred Center by Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi

Messianic Zionism in the Digital Age: Jews, Noahides, and the Third Temple Imaginary by Rachel Z. Feldman