The End of Days

Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount

Gershom Gorenberg

• Publisher: Free Press
• Year: 2001
• Print ISBN: 9780684871790
• eBook ISBN: 9780743216210
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Comparative Religion

The new millennium dawned quietly, defying modern-day prophets of apocalypse. Yet for countless believers around the globe ­- Christians, Jews and Muslims -- anticipation that the world is about to end burns more intensely than ever. God's kingdom is near, they believe, and the key to salvation is Jerusalem's Temple Mount, -- the most sacred and contested real estate on earth. In The End of Days, leading Israeli journalist Gershom Gorenberg portrays how such faith has fueled the real-world struggle in the Middle East and reveals why, even in times of peacemaking, it continues to be a powerful catalyst for conflict.
Adroitly portraying former-hippies-turned-true-believers, American radio evangelists of the End, radical Palestinian sheikhs, and Israeli ex-terrorists, Gorenberg weaves a story that stretches from California churches to West Bank settlements. He explains why believers hope for the End, and why prominent American fundamentalists provide hard-line support for Israel, while looking forward to an apocalypse in which they expect Jews to die or else convert. He makes sense of the messianic fervor that has driven Israeli settlers to oppose peace, and describes the Islamic apocalyptic visions that cast Israel's actions in Jerusalem as diabolic plots. He examines, as well, what happens when secular politicians try to channel these religious passions for their own purposes.
At the center of this story is the Temple Mount, where Solomon and Herod built their Temples, where the Dome of the Rock now stands -- and where both Jewish extremists and millions of Christian fundamentalists expect the Third Temple to be built soon. Holy to both Judaism and Islam, the Mount is where nationalism and faith join in a volatile mix. Any attempt to spark the End by clearing the ground for the Temple, therefore, could ignite holy war. This book explains the Mount's dangerous fascination for fundamentalists, and shows why the risks will actually increase in the new millennium ­ as prophesied dates pass and believers look for a way to ensure that the End comes.
Cain murdered Abel, according to an ancient legend, in an argument over who would possess the Temple Mount. That parable sums up the passions aroused by the sacred hilltop. The End of Days shows, with clarity and poise, how conflict over Jerusalem is rooted not only in the past but even more in expectations of the future, and how the fiery belief in apocalypse has a very real impact on contemporary life and international politics.

NOTES

Much of the story told in this book is based on extensive interviews—with the people described here and others, some of whom asked to remain anonymous—and on my own observation of some of the events described. The notes below list selected documentary sources.

Introduction

1 The bell tolled: Material on the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments drawn from reports published March 18, 2000, and after by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Associated Press, and Reuters, and from the Kampala newspapers New Vision and The Monitor, accessed via the website of the Center for Studies on New Religions, http://www.cesnur.org/testi/uganda_updates.htm. For previous dates for the End, see Karl Vick, “Ugandan Cult Orchestrated Doomsday,” The Washington Post, April 1, 2000; report on Credonia as charlatan: “Ugandans Seek Answers to Mass Murder,” AP, April 1, 2000.

6 A Jewish text records: Breshit Rabbah 22:7.

One: CATTLEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

8 one U.S. evangelical website: Ashes of the Red Heifer,” http://www.direct.ca/trinity/ashes.html.

8 The Mishneh Torah: Mose Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Parah Adumah 3:4.

9 his son ran home: Shore attributed this account to the Israeli ultra-Orthodox press.

9 The next day, a newspaper: The story appeared in Ha’aretz, March 20, 1997; The Boston Globe, April 6, 1997; Chicago Tribune, May 29, 1997. Shore told me of Zik’s radio report.

10 On the opinion page: David Landau, “A Red Heifer—It’s Not Funny,” Ha’aretz, March 26, 1997.

11 The rite of the red heifer: Baruch Schwartz, “Beyond Comprehension?” in Seventy Facets: A Commentary on the Torah from the Pages of the Jerusalem Report, Gershom Gorenberg, ed. (Northvale, N.J.: Jason Aronson, 1996).

11 Yohanan ben Zakkai asserted: Bemidbar Rabbah 19:8.

13 The statement issued: “Announcement and Warning,” Jerusalem, 1967.

14 We are stardust: Joni Mitchell, “Woodstock,” Siquomb Publishing Co., 1969.

15 One of the group’s: Yeshua Ben-Shushan’s confession; Judge Ya’akov Bazak’s verdict, p. 18.

15 In a verdict: File 84/203, Dan Be’eri, verdict of Judge Tzvi Cohen, p. 3.

15 Interior Minister Eli: quoted in “Suissa: Annex Areas East of Jerusalem and Increase Its Jewish Majority,” Ha’aretz, April 17, 1997.

16 Reverend Irvin Baxter: Irvin Baxter, Jr., “The World’s Most Famous Cow,” Endtime, July/August 1997.

16 The televangelist Jack Van Impe: “Holy Cow!” http://www.jvim.com/IntelligenceBriefing/jul1997/cover.html.

16 In his Internet newsletter: http://www.levitt.com/ Levitt Letter, July 1997: Vol. 19, No. 7 “A Note From Zola.”

17 Deflecting the Arrows: Jamal al-Din, Amin Muhammad, Radd al-siham ‘an kitab ‘Umr ummat al-Islam. Cairo: al-Maktaba al-Tawfiqiyya, n.d., pp 47-48, translation courtesy of David Cook.

20 The cows on the screen: “Cattle on Ranch in O’Neil, Nebraska” (video), Canaan Land Restoration of Israel, Inc., Waverly, Tenn. Additional sources on the Lott-Richman red heifer project include “Rev Clyde Lott: Gulf Shores AL” (video), Canaan Land Restoration of Israel, Inc., Waverly, Tenn.; Chaim Richman, The Mystery of the Red Heifer: Divine Promise of Purity (Jerusalem, 1997); and correspondence and other documents provided by Reverend Guy Garner.

21 I will pass: Genesis 30:32.

23 That’s not the only: B. Talmud, Kedushin 31a; Jerusalem Talmud, Pe’ah 3a; other rabbinic sources.

Two: THE HISTORY OF THE FUTURE

30 Nicolae: The Rise of Antichrist: Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House, 1997). Other books in the series: Left Behind, 1995; Tribulation Force, 1996; Soul Harvest, 1998; Apollyon, 1999; Assassins, 1999; The Indwelling: The Beast Takes Possession, 2000. Information on Jenkins from http://www.jerryjenkins.com/. Sources on LaHaye include David Cantor, The Religious Right: The Assault on Tolerance and Pluralism in America (New York: Anti-Defamation League, 1994); Megan Rosenfeld, “All Around, the Sound of Celebration,” The Washington Post, Jan. 22, 1985; “Catholicism Is ‘False,’ Kemp Backer Writes,” Houston Chronicle, Dec. 5, 1987, reprinted from the Baltimore Sun; Maralee Schwartz et al., “Controversial Evangelist Leaves Kemp’s Campaign,” The Washington Post, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 1987; Don Lattin, “Same Religious, Political Flock but Far from Birds of a Feather,” Houston Chronicle, April 21, 1985.

33 The “Rapture of: Sources on Darby and dispensationalism include Paul Boyer, When Time Shall Be No More (Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 1992); Timothy P. Weber, Living in the Shadow of the Second Coming (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983); Randall Balmer, Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993).

33 the Lord shall descend: I Thessalonians 4:16-17.

33 this corruptible shall: I Corinthians 15:53.

36 Those millions of readers: On the strength of evangelicalism and pre-millennialism, see Brenda E. Brasher, “When Your Friend is Your Enemy: American Christian Fundamentalists and Israel at the New Millennium,” in Martha F. Lee, ed., Millennial Visions: Essays on Twentieth-Century Millenarianism (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000); Boyer, op. cit., Balmer, op. cit., Damian Thompson, The End of Time: Faith and Fear in the Shadow of the Millennium (Hanover and London: University Press of New England, 1996).

39 Mao assured: Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung (Peking: Foreign Language Press, 1967), p. 23.

39 rulers of Sodom: Isaiah 1:10.

39 the end of days: Isaiah 2:2.

39 a day of the Lord: Isaiah 13:9.

39 Zechariah detailed: Zechariah 14.

40 catastrophic millennialism: Catherine Wessinger, “The Interacting Dynamics of Millennial Beliefs, Persecution, and Violence,” in Catherine Wessinger, ed., Millennialism, Persecution, and Violence: Historical Cases (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2000).

40 In the second centuryB. C. E.: Elias Bickerman, From Ezra to the Last of the Maccabees (New York: Schocken, 1962); Boyer, op. cit.

41 Another sage, speaking: Jerusalem Talmud, Ta’anit 4.

41 nine-tenths of Judea’s Jews: Yehoshafat Harkabi, Betokef Hametziut (Facing Reality: Lessons from Jeremiah, The Destruction of the Second Temple and Bar Kochva’s Rebellion), (Jerusalem: Van Leer Jerusalem Foundation, 1981).

42 The kingdom of God: Mark 1:15.

42 If we’re wondering: Mark Galli, “Sliver in a Forest,” Christianity Today, No. 61.

42 sign of thy coming: Matthew 24:3.

42 abomination of desolation: Matthew 24:15.

42 In a passage: B. Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a-99a.

43 a third version: On Islam and apocalypse, see David Cook, “Islam and Apocalyptic,” at http://www.mille.org; David Cook, “The Hour Will Not Arrive Until …”: Studies in Muslim Apocalyptic (Darwin Press, forthcoming); David Cook, “Muslim Fears of the Year 2000,” Middle East Quarterly, June 1998; “al-Mahdi,” “Isa,” “Sa’a,” and “al-Dadjdjal,” Encyclopaedia of Islam (new edition), H. A. R. Gibb, E. Levi-Provencal, et al., eds. (Leiden: E.J.Brill, 1960-).

44 the faithful city: Isaiah 1:21.

44 the mountain of the Lord’s: Isaiah 2:2-3.

46The most daring theodicy: Stephen D. O’Leary, Arguing the Apocalypse: A Theory of Millennial Rhetoric (Oxford University Press, 1998).

47 weighed in the balance: Daniel 5:27.

47 time of Shabtai Tzvi: Sources include the following books by Gershom Scholem: Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973); The Messianic Idea in Judaism (New York: Schocken, 1971); Kabbalah (New York: Quadrangle/New York Times, 1974).

49 England of the time: Barbara W. Tuchman, Bible and Sword: England and Palestine from the Bronze Age to Balfour (New York: New York University Press, 1956)

50 The lead article: “Return of the Jews,” The Signs of the Times, June 1, 1842. On the Millerites: Boyer, op. cit.; Thompson, op. cit.

53 When we watch: Chuck Missler, The Coming Temple Update (Audio-cassettes, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho: Koinonia House, 1995).

Three: THE GATE OF HEAVEN

56inscriptions from the Koran: On the Dome and Haram, see The Dome of the Rock, text by Oleg Grabar, photography by Said Nuseibeh (New York: Rizzoli, 1996).

56 Lindsey once thought: Hal Lindsey with C. C. Carlson, The Late Great Planet Earth (originally published by Zondervan Publishing House, 1970).

60 A Talmudic legend: Mishnah Yoma 5:2; B. Talmud Yoma 54b.

60 Another legend moves: Breshit Rabbah 14:8.

60 Not only was Adam: Mishneh Torah, Beit Habehirah 2:1-2.

60 Mount Moriah: II Chronicles 3:1.

61 priest of God: Genesis 14:18.

62 brutish and a stranger: Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XVI 5:4.

62 An alternative reading: Meir Ben-Dov, In the Shadow of the Temple:The Discovery of Ancient Jerusalem (Jerusalem: Keter, 1985).

62 a few aristocrats: Louis Finkelstein, ed., The Jews: Their History (New York: Schocken, 1970).

62 a rich man shall: Matthew 19:23.

62 Instead, he built: Ben-Dov, op. cit.

63 A fourth-century traveler: Quoted in Dan Bahat, The Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem (Jerusalem: Carta, ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• copyright page
• dedication
• contents
• Introduction: The Beginning Is Nigh
• One: Cattlemen of the Apocalypse
• Two: The History of the Future
• Three: The Gate of Heaven
• Four: For God and Country
• Five: A Taste of Paradise
• Six: Construction Workers of the Lord
• Seven: The Divine Repertory Theater Company
• Eight: Awaiting the Hour
• Nine: The Day After the Last
• Ten: Avoiding the Cain Option
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Index