Three Crowded Days in the Holy Land
n.p. Published by the author, [1956?]. A typed manuscript account of Dobzhansky and his wife's trip to the Jordanian section of the Holy Land (here referred to as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan). His account begins with his challenging application for a tourist visa, which required proof that he wasn't Jewish. He then describes the many divisions within the area and his impressions of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Chapel of the Tomb, the Church of Nativity, the River Jordan, Mount Temptation, El Aksa mosque, the Dome of the Rock and other sacred sites (including speculation over where the actual historical locations were). He concludes by describing their circuitous flight out of Jerusalem toward Beirut in order to avoid flying over Israel, and ruminates:
"The Holy Land never occupied a particularly high place on the priority list of countries that I wanted to visit. The great emotional impact which the visit actually produced came as something of a surprizer [sic]. But it is explicable. No matter how completely secularized we become, we remain children of a Christian civilization. The events that took place in this land some 19 centuries ago evoke associations dear to our hearts. A visit to the Holy Land is like a visit to one's childhood home."
Theoodius Dobzhansky (1900-1975) was a Ukrainian-born geneticist and evolutionary biologist who immigrated to the U.S. in 1927 with his geneticist wife, Natalia "Natasha" Sivertzeva. In 1937, he published an important work in modern evolutionary synthesis, Genetics and the Origin of Species. He taught at Columbia Univ. from 1940-1962 and argued against scientific racialism, especially in his book Heredity and the Future of Man. Dobzhansky remained an Orthodox Christian throughout his life and worked to reconcile his belief in God and evolutionary science.
Corner-stapled 11” x 8 ½” sheets mimeographed from typescript on rectos only. Inscribed in the top margin: "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year N + Th [Natasha and Theodosius] Dobzhansky." Stamp of Hampton L. Carson, notations in red colored pencil, star sticker. Not found in WorldCat, but we note a copy in the Theodosius Dobzhansky Papers at the American Philosophical Society. Item #11745
Price: $450.00