Ruth Kark Books

This scholarly, incisive, and thought provoking book provides an in depth account of Israel’s rebuilding of the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem after the 1967 Six Day War, in the context of approaches to post-war restoration and heritage preservation and development, both local and worldwide. Inward-directed heritage development and its importance to collective identity, and outward directed heritage development (primarily tourist but also strategic and political) were decisive concerns. The rebuilding of the Jewish Quarter is compared to contemporary preservation old cities of Jaffa, Acre and Safed, activity in the historic to heritage conservation in Old Cairo, and to postwar conservation of Beirut, Warsaw and York.

Ethnographic Museums in Israel focuses on a new dimension of the Israeli museological landscape. Since the 1970s, Jewish ethnic groups that were dissatisfied with the way large-scale museums had displayed (or ignored) their heritage, began to erect museums dedicated to their own cultures. These include museums dedicated exclusively to the cultural heritages of the Jews of Germany, Hungary, India, Iraq, Italy, Libya, Morocco, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Yemen, depicting the “glorious past” of these ethnic groups. In parallel, Arab (including Bedouin), Druze, and Circassian minorities of Israel and Palestinians began creating museums that challenge the narrative portrayed in the museums of Jewish settlement and highlight their own cultural heritage. Taken as a whole, these museums and heritage centers portray the ethnic diversity of Israeli society and preserve this diverse cultural heritage for future generations.

Yehoshua Hankin had two loves: love for his wife Olga, many years his senior, and a love for the land. The two competed with each other, but he never preferred one over the other. Displayed for the reader, against the backdrop of the atmosphere in the Land of Israel toward the close of the Ottoman period and into that of the British Mandate, is a broad slice of life spread over fifty years of the man dubbed by constituents as the “Redeemer of the Land,” and of the figures who accompanied him.The characters, events, times, and places described in this historical novel are to a great extent a faithful representation of reality, and they are interwoven into a multi-faceted biography illuminating the period and forgotten actors in a new light. Joining forces in writing this book were Irit Amit Cohen and Ruth Kark, who combined Irit Amit Cohen’s literary work in the genre of the historical novel with Ruth Kark’s long-term research endeavor on Yehoshua Hankin, which even encompassed oral documentation from his close associates.

This dramatic saga spotlights a fascinating slice of life in the Holy City, in which a controversial commune evolves into a luxury hotel and meeting place for famous personalities. Encompassing life's eternal themes--brotherhood and strife, romance, jealousy, altruism and the quest for personal salvation--the complete story is now told for the first time.