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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. When does intense fighting between Arabs and Jews begin in Safed?

2. Why does Rabbi Eliezer, a German Jew in Gretz, decide to leave Germany with his wife Leah and their family?

3. When the ten Jews in Rabbi Itzik's congregation decide to stay in Safed and tell the other Jews to leave, what is their response?

4. When Shmuel Hacohen is nearly stoned to death, who saves his life?

5. While the Gottesmanns and other Jews sing sustaining songs at Safed, what does Rabbi Itzik do?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Abd Umar and his background.

2. What happens when the Jews defend Safed in 1948?

3. Why does Volkmar the Eighth refuse the terms of the invaders, even if his life would be spared?

4. Where are Vered Bar-El and John Cullinane as the chapter "The Tell" opens?

5. Why does Hacohen purchase Jewish books from Tabari?

6. How does Volkmar, the Count of Gretz, end up as governor of Makor?

7. How does the author show both the desire for peace and the volatility of Makor and its surroundings in the chapter "The Fires of Ma Coeur"?

8. Who is the leader of Tiberias, known as Tubariyeh, found along the Sea of Galilee in 1880 C.E.?

9. Why does Dr. Abulafia flee Spain during the Inquisition?

10. Describe the trip Volkmar the Eighth takes with his young son.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

At the end of the book, are the archaeologists successful at the dig at Makor? Do they find what they are looking for? Do they make any new and unexpected discoveries?

Essay Topic 2

In each chapter, the author tells stories about different people living in different eras, but he always returns to the present and reveals what is happening at the dig in Makor. How does the present-day archaeological dig serve as a tool that ties the book's diverse stories together?

Essay Topic 3

Describe the progress Makor experiences and the advances reached from the time of Ur to the time of his descendant, Urbaal. How much time elapses between these two eras? In what ways does the region improve? In what ways is the original society of Ur better off than the more recent one of Urbaal?

(see the answer keys)

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