Pilgrimage Studies and Research Focus
This discussion will raise a topic of Pilgrimage Studies that I am most interested in. My questions are all about what people of the past said they wanted about their own preferred future. They are also about where and why they decided to travel in their present day, and, finally, how they memorialized, and sometimes ignored or conveniently forgot, their own history. Micro-history will be a good approach, so I have picked what I think is an important, but underrated, pilgrimage event from the twentieth century.
The 1933 Jerusalem YMCA Dedication as a Micro-Historical Event
On April 18, 1933, at the Jerusalem YMCA building dedication ceremony, duties to peace, faith, and civilization were proclaimed at a unique, purpose-built pilgrimage destination.[1]
At left. American Colony, Crowd Gathering in the Courtyard of the Jerusalem YMCA for the Dedication Service, April 18, 1933.
I recognize this micro-historical event as more than a passing anecdote. My question will be to find out if it was a rare geotemporal hub in sacred history which exposed tensions not captured by standard diplomatic accounts nor by a linear look at the history of religion.
If it is a hub event, then this ceremony radiated spokes of divergent expectations for the future held by the many different groups that participated, expectations that we historians realize have become more and more incompatible over time. Yet, the past, long past, and ancient days certainly also affected who and why the people came together as they did on that seemingly innocuous day of projected interfaith and international harmony.
The history of pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Israel, is tied to the first-century Roman destruction of the Second Temple, the forced removal of most Jews and the nascent Christian church, as the Judaea Capta coin idealized, and the renaming of the province to Syria Palaestina.
At right. Sestertius of Vespasian, “Judaea Capta,” copper alloy coin, primary source, Roman Imperial, Rome, 72 CE.
Later rulers, such as Arab Islamic caliphates, Christian Crusaders, and the Turkish Ottoman Empire, did not attempt to repair the Roman-era rupture but instead redefined Jerusalem within their own religious and political systems.[2] Consequently, Jewish return is unique in Pilgrimage Studies, as Jews “make aliyah,” a one-way, permanent restoration to a homeland, whereas Christian and Islamic pilgrimages emphasize round-trip visits to sacred sites.
Symbolic events can expose implicit forces that continue to shape
the human geography of the Middle East today.
Historiographical Challenges and Ethical Interpretation
My research should try to overcome a potential major hurdle by interpreting with proper motivations on how the future-talk on display in 1933 was not all morally equal. This is especially pressing in light of globally rising antisemitism in the 1930s. While this seems almost sensational, that same April of 1933, a Nazi German reconnaissance delegation led by Leopold von Mildenstein was touring British Mandate Palestine. The Nazi delegation was in the area, yet they did not attend (were not invited to?) the actual YMCA building dedication ceremony.
Leopold von Mildenstein’s tour was also idealized through the minting of a commemorative coin, the Ein Nazi Fährt Nach Palästine.[3]
At left. Commemorative medal, “Ein Nazi Fährt Nach Palästina,” 1934, distributed by Der Angriff.
In conclusion, when finding and using sources, historians should apply humane and faith-based limits to neutrality. Best practices in must explore and address challenging subjects while maintaining high moral and ethical standards.[4] The twenty-first-century historiographical turn toward the sacred disambiguates culture from religion, introducing the human spirit and faith-based factors into historical decisions.
Revisiting earlier generations’ prospective priorities, their hopes and prayers, adds context. These research questions about the past advances the history discipline by demonstrating how pilgrimage destinations function as arenas of soft power in the Middle East, revealing that people’s foresight, the things people want to happen and the places people care to go, shape our world as much as past traditions or present conflicts.
At right. Yehudit Institute Scholar Judy Wallace at the Montefiore Windmill Heritage Site, Jerusalem, Israel. 2025.
Click for my video short on Montefiore Windmill Heritage Site.
[1] 1. American Colony, Crowd Gathering in the Courtyard of the Jerusalem YMCA for the Dedication Service, April 18, 1933, primary source, American Colony Photograph Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C., https://loc.gov/pictures/resource/matpc.02594/ ; Ayelet Tours, “Historic YMCA Jerusalem – Sixty Second Sights – Ayelet Tours – Nir Ofer,” October 30, 2020, https://youtu.be/cCsXSoB1onA?feature=shared&t=20.
[2] 2. Sestertius of Vespasian, “Judaea Capta,” copper alloy coin, primary source, Roman Imperial, Rome, 72 CE, R.10570, Department of Coins & Medals, British Museum, London, https://www.bmimages.com/preview.asp?image=00224120001; Héron de Villefosse, “Diplôme militaire de l’année 139, découvert en Syrie,” Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 41, no. 3 (1897): 333-343; primary source describing a Roman military diploma from A.D. 139, a rectangular bronze tablet discharge certificate referring to the province as “Syria Palaestina,” discovered in Palestine near Nazareth in the late 19th century and exhibited at the Louvre Museum; Armin Lange, “Jew-Hatred in Antiquity: Cultural, Legal, and Physical Forms of Antisemitic Persecution,” in De Gruyter eBooks, 2021, 41–78, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110671995-004 ; Hannah M. Cotton, “Some Aspects of the Roman Administration of Judaea/Syria-Palaestina,” in De Gruyter eBooks, 2022, 317–36, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110770438-020 ; Eli Osheroff, “Expecting the Best: Palestinian Utopianism and Trans-sectarianism in the Mandate Period,” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, February 12, 2024, 1–18, https://doi.org/10.1080/13530194.2024.2313758 .
[3] 3. Commemorative medal, “Ein Nazi Fährt Nach Palästina,” bronze, Nuremberg: L. Christian Lauer company (owned by Gustav Rockstroh), 1934, distributed by Der Angriff to promote Leopold von Mildenstein’s article series, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC. https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn560259; Judith Kessler, “Ein Nazi Fährt Nach Palästina,” Osnabrücker Rundschau, January 8, 2025, https://os-rundschau.de/rundschau-magazin/judith-kessler/ein-nazi-faehrt-nach-palaestina/; Reinbert Krol, “Objectivity and Relativism,” in The Routledge Companion to Historical Theory, ed. Chiel Van Den Akker (New York: Routledge, 2021), 233–53, https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367821814-15.
[4] 4. Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Research, “Research and Activities Policy,” Liberty University, October 1, 2024.
Primary Sources Bibliography
Commemorative medal. “Ein Nazi Fährt Nach Palästina.” Bronze. Nuremberg: L. Christian Lauer company (owned by Gustav Rockstroh), 1934. Distributed by Der Angriff to promote Leopold von Mildenstein’s article series. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC. https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn560259.
Crowd Gathering in the Courtyard of the Jerusalem YMCA for the Dedication Service, April 18, 1933. 1933. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, primary source, Washington, D.C. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/matpc.02594.
Héron de Villefosse, “Diplôme militaire de l’année 139, découvert en Syrie,” Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 41, no. 3 (1897): 333-343; primary source, Persée, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon. https://www.persee.fr/doc/crai_0065-0536_1897_num_41_3_90109.
Sestertius of Vespasian, “Judaea Capta,” copper alloy coin, primary source, Roman Imperial, Rome, 72 CE, R.10570, Department of Coins & Medals, British Museum, London, https://www.bmimages.com/preview.asp?image=00224120001.
YMCA of the USA, International Division. “Records of YMCA International Work in Palestine and Israel: YMCA Historical Library and Kautz Family YMCA Records,” 2003. Accessed September 9, 2025. https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/7/resources/929.
Secondary Sources Bibliography
Ayelet Tours. “Historic YMCA Jerusalem – Sixty Second Sights – Ayelet Tours – Nir Ofer,” October 30, 2020. https://youtu.be/cCsXSoB1onA?feature=shared&t=20.
Cotton, Hannah M. “Some Aspects of the Roman Administration of Judaea/Syria-Palaestina.” In De Gruyter eBooks, 317–36, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110770438-020.
Kessler, Judith. “Ein Nazi Fährt Nach Palästina.” Osnabrücker Rundschau, January 8, 2025. https://os-rundschau.de/rundschau-magazin/judith-kessler/ein-nazi-faehrt-nach-palaestina/.
Krol, Reinbert. “Objectivity and Relativism.” In The Routledge Companion to Historical Theory, edited by Chiel Van Den Akker, 233–53. New York: Routledge, 2021. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367821814-15.
Lange, Armin. “Jew-Hatred in Antiquity: Cultural, Legal, and Physical Forms of Antisemitic Persecution.” In De Gruyter eBooks, 41–78, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110671995-004.
Osheroff, Eli. “Expecting the Best: Palestinian Utopianism and Trans-sectarianism in the Mandate Period.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, February 12, 2024, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/13530194.2024.2313758.