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max1461 · 2 years ago

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Thinking about this post. "The only way to make a cell is from another cell" is somewhat of a troubling fact to me. I mean, not for any practical reason, just because it underscores the precarity of *gestures broadly*.

It's like, some people talk about trying to de-extinct the mammoth. And people are trying to sequence the genome of the mammoth, I don't know if they've done it yet. But even if they do, one of the problems with the idea of de-extinction is... to grow a baby mammoth, you need another mammoth! Last time I heard people talking about this, I think they were talking about using an elephant as a surrogate mother. But imagine if elephants were extinct too.

The point is that information is often tied to the systems that transmit it; even if you know everything in the mammoth genome, once all the mammoths are gone there's nothing capable of reading and using that information. Like when you can't read the data on a perfectly good floppy disk because your computer doesn't have a floppy drive.

This is related to why language death troubles me so much. Even the most well-documented languages aren't actually that well understood; linguists have produced more pages of work on English syntax than maybe any other specific descriptive topic and yet still the only reliable way to get the answer to any moderately subtle syntactic question is elicit native speaker data. We know almost nothing, we can barely extrapolate at all! And every language is like this, a hugely complex system that we know basically nothing about, and if the chain of native speaker transmission is ever broken it's just gone.

"Language revival", I mean from a totally dead language, is kind of a myth. It's like the "came back different" trope. In Israel they revived Hebrew, but Modern Hebrew is really not the same thing as Biblical Hebrew at all. I mean in a stronger sense even than Modern English isn't Old English. All the subtleties of Biblical Hebrew that a native speaker would have had implicit competence with died without a trace. All they left is a grainy image, the texts. The first generation of Modern Hebrew speakers took the rough grammatical sketch preserved in these texts and imbued it with new subtleties, borrowed from Slavic and Germanic and the speakers' other native languages, or converged at by consensus among that first generation of children. There's nothing wrong with that, but it would be inaccurate to imagine Biblical Hebrew surviving in Modern Hebrew the way Old English survives in Modern English. For instance, you can discover a great deal that you didn't know about Old English by comparing Modern English dialects. There is nothing you can discover about Biblical Hebrew by comparing Modern Hebrew dialects in this way.

There's nothing wrong with this, of course. I'm not like, judging Modern Hebrew. I'm just making a point.

Mammoths died recently, so we still have (some of?) their genome. Something that died longer ago, like dinosaurs, we have traces of them in the form of fossils but we could never hope to revive them, the information is just gone. Even if we're not aiming for revival, even if we just want to know stuff about dinosaurs, there's so much that we will never know and can never know.

We imagine information as the kind of thing which sits in an archive, because this is the context most of us encounter information in, I think. Libraries, hard drives. Well obviously hard drives don't last. And most ancient texts only survive because of a scribal tradition, continuous re-writing, not because of actual archival. So I think that imagining archives as the natural habitat of information is sort of wrong; the natural habit of information is in continuous transmission. Information is constantly moving. And it's like one of those sharks, if it ever stops moving it drowns. And if the lines of transmission are broken, the information is gone and can never be retrieved.

Very precarious.

#navel gazing

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unclewaynemunson · 2 years ago

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'What's your favorite holiday?' Steve asked while they were looking at the fireworks, pressed against each other in the dark of the night. They had been dancing around each other for months, ever since Eddie woke up in the hospital with Steve already at his bedside. They had taken their time to get to know each other better, to let that something between them grow and to figure out what it all meant exactly. But around the time Eddie graduated, it had finally culminated into what it had been destined to be from the start.

Eddie could barely believe they had only been official for about a month and a half, that Steve had only been part of his life for a little over three months. But he knew, with a certainty that he couldn't really explain, that he and Steve belonged to be like this. No matter how scary it had been to fall for him, it had been the only available option.

'Sukkot,' Eddie answered his question with no hesitation.

Steve leaned away a little bit to be able to look at Eddie.

'Was that the one that was, like, three weeks ago?'

'No, that was Shavu'ot,' Eddie answered patiently. He knew that Steve was trying very hard to keep up, and that the Hebrew words didn't exactly make it easier on him. 'The boring one that Wayne's obsessed with.'

Steve chuckled. 'So what is Sukkot?'

'I thought you'd never ask, big boy,' said Eddie, a wide grin creeping over his face. 'It's the best fucking week of the year. We build those huts in our yards where we're supposed to live all week. It's really awesome, we get to be outside all the time and Wayne tells all the best stories about how our ancestors escaped from Egypt and wandered through the desert for years. Back in Virginia, on the farm, it also used to be this celebration that the harvest was done. The best moment of the year, man, like when the summer holiday starts, y'know.'

'Sounds pretty cool.'

'Pretty cool?' Eddie repeated in a mock-offended tone. 'Pretty cool?! Stevie, how dare you, it's fucking magical! It's the awesomest of holidays! You know what? You're gonna have to join us this October and get the whole experience!'

'Are you sure?' Steve looked weirdly hesitant about Eddie's proposal and Eddie felt the excitement in his chest deflate like a popped balloon.

'Yeah, I mean... If you want to,' he said, reigning himself in a little bit. Maybe Steve thought it was weird, maybe he would never quite understand it, maybe –

'Of course I want to,' Steve cut off his spiraling thoughts, like the mere suggestion was completely ridiculous. 'But would it be okay? You wouldn't mind? And your uncle?'

'Why the hell would we mind, Stevie?'

'Well, I'm not Jewish...'

Eddie chortled. 'Yeah, we know that, dude. But you're always welcome in our humble little home.'

And Steve's face lit up in a way that the fireworks in the sky above them could never compete with. 'Alright,' he said. 'Then I'd love to celebrate this awesomest of holidays with you.'

******

And so it happens that a little over three months later, Eddie runs out of the trailer with even more excitement than usual when Steve's way too fancy car shows up. He basically jumps into his boyfriend's arms as soon as Steve gets out of his car – and of course Steve catches him, stumbling only a little bit while huffing out an “oomph” as Eddie wraps all four of his limbs around his body.

'Hello to you, too,' he murmurs with a soft smile on his face. He can't exactly kiss Eddie here, in broad daylight with all of Eddie's neighbors to see, but he lets his hands linger around Eddie's shoulders when he gently puts him down on the ground.

'You're excited.'

'We're building the hut today!'

'The sukkot, right?'

And the proud smile around Steve's lips makes it almost impossible for Eddie to correct him.

'The sukkah, babe. It's one sukkah, multiple sukkot.'

'Sukkah,' Steve repeats, his voice still as unsure as ever when he tries the Hebrew words that are so familiar to Eddie and Wayne and still so foreign to him.

'C'mon, Wayne's already waiting for us.'

Eddie starts tugging Steve along with him towards the trailer. He wishes he could do that by taking his hand instead of the sleeve of his jacket, but he's too aware of how careful they have to be here, out in the open in the trailer park.

They go around the trailer, where Wayne is already surrounded by a bunch of corrugated sheets and some big pine branches.

'We're building it here?' Steve sounds surprised. 'Why not on the porch?'

Eddie sees his uncle's face fall, and his own excited smile fades away as well.

'It's too eye-catching, on the other side,' Wayne explains to Steve. 'Too many folks lookin' to trash stuff 'round here, ya know.'

Almost every year, they find some graffiti on the walls of their sukkah at some point of the week. It has become better since they moved the hut to the backside of their trailer, hidden away from Forest Hills' main roads. Before, when they still built it in front of their home, they'd regularly find the roof or the walls demolished. Nothing ever happened when one of them was home: both Wayne and Eddie were protected from any serious danger by their own scary looks. But unfortunately, the sukkah did not enjoy the same protection when the Munson men weren't present to keep an eye on it.

Wayne doesn't outright say it with that many words – that's not his style – but Eddie can see in the arch of Steve's eyebrows that he gets it. That he understands that Forest Hills is not the kind of place where Hebrew should be spoken loudly and that anything more than a menorah in front of a window can be considered offensive real quick. He sees that Steve understands it, because Steve knows what it feels like to not be able to take his boyfriend's hand when they're outside. It's not the same, but it's similar, in a way.

When Eddie came out to Wayne, his uncle told him that he was sorry Eddie got dealt the wrong cards twice. But that's not how Eddie sees it. Standing here, in the quiet world behind the trailer, with his uncle, his boyfriend and a pile of junk that will soon turn into a refuge, he gets the confirmation of what he already knew back then: that he wouldn't have it any other way. Even if it means having to hide away from prejudiced eyes, he'd choose this right here over anything easier in a heartbeat.

Wayne takes off his trucker hat to reveal the kippah he often wears hidden underneath it, then turns Eddie around by his shoulders so he can attach a kippah to his curls with some hairpins. Eddie usually never wears one: he doesn't like being told what to do in any way, and he proudly wears the pentagram of the Church of Satan on his denim vest. But for events like this, Wayne insists the kippah is important, and Eddie has long since he moved in with his uncle learned that there's no use digging his heels in the sand about it. If it's that important for Uncle Wayne, he'll doesn't mind complying.

'And one for you,' Wayne states after Eddie's kippah is properly secured to his head, turning towards Steve with a third one in his outstretched hand.

Steve's eyes widen in an almost cartoon-like way.

'For me?' he repeats, as if he's unsure if he understands Wayne correctly.

'U-huh,' Wayne confirms with a nod of his head.

Steve's eyes flash back and forth between Eddie and Wayne, still clearly confused, like he's trying to catch some lie or a prank between the two of them.

'That's – would that be okay?' he stammers.

'Neshama sheli,' Eddie says, his voice soft. 'Of course that'd be okay. It's the polite thing to do, actually, when you're in shul – or in other Jewish places – whether you're a Jew or not.'

'Okay, cool,' Steve says with a little shrug of his shoulders. He's slightly too obviously trying to play it cool, and that makes Eddie realize something he hadn't really considered before: that Steve is nervous about this. For Eddie, sukkot is nothing but a holiday of fun. But Steve doesn't know any of those traditions, he doesn't know any of the unwritten rules. For all he knows, what they're doing today is something sacred and solemn – it makes sense that he's afraid to do the wrong thing or mess it up somehow. It's written all over his face: he's afraid to be disrespectful, to be an intruder, to somehow offend Wayne and Eddie without meaning to...

Steve takes the kippah from Wayne and places it on his hair, where it lies dangerously close to sliding off.

'Here, lemme help you.' Eddie digs around in his own pockets to find some long forgotten hairpins and slides up behind Steve, attaching the kippah to some strands of his soft, shiny hair. When he's done, he slides his arms around Steve's waist and tugs him close to his chest.

'Hey,' he whispers in his ear, nuzzling his nose against the soft hair right above it because he simply can't resist the temptation of touching Steve's locks in any way, ever. 'You don't need to worry 'bout anything. We're just gonna build a hut, that's all. And we're trailer park Jews anyway, we don't care about etiquette and shit. Or, well, maybe Wayne does, a little bit, but he's used to me, so... You're good.'

Steve chuckles, then turns himself around in Eddie's arms until they're face-to-face.

'Thank you,' he whispers in the space between them.

Wayne emphatically clears his throat, no doubt worried that the boys are about to forget he's still with them.

'You lovebirds ready to get to work?'

Slightly unwilling, Eddie lets go of Steve and flashes Wayne an excited grin. 'Alright, my dearest uncle, tell us what to do.'

The next hour or so is spent hauling corrugated sheets around and assembling them into a decent-sized hut. While Eddie is drilling their metal walls together, Wayne tells Steve all about the meaning behind what they're doing. He gets like that with every holiday: he loves the big stories, and Eddie has always loved listening to Wayne telling them.

'All of this,' Wayne explains with a gesture towards the half-finished sukkah, 'Is to remind us of what happened to our people a long time ago. They were enslaved in Egypt, far away from their homes. When they got out, they wandered through the desert for forty years, tryin' to find their way back. They suffered drought, storms, heat, famine... But G-d's protection was with them every step of their way, until He safely delivered them back to their homeland. For forty years, they didn't have no place to call home. They slept in huts beneath the stars. That's why, for one week a year, we still live in huts. We don't sleep here, 's too cold for that in Indiana –'

'I do sometimes,' Eddie cuts in.

'Your boy is crazy,' Wayne dryly states. 'But we live here as much as possible. The most important thing is to have all our meals in here, as long as it ain't raining too hard. We're not supposed to make a solid roof, y'know, 'cause it's supposed to be a reminder of how our people used to sleep under the open sky. It's a symbol for how we should submit ourselves to G-d's protection.'

Steve listens attentively and keeps asking Wayne all kinds of questions while they continue working on the roof, which they assemble out of pine branches that Eddie and Wayne took from the woods around the trailer park earlier that day.

'This day's extra special,' Wayne tells Steve when they're almost done, 'Cause it's a Friday evening. Means our first meal in the sukkah is a Shabbat meal.'

Usually, Wayne isn't exactly world's most diligent cook, but for days like this, he always tries to go a little bit bigger than usual. Not that their kitchen is suited for fabricating any kind of fancy meals – let alone that they can afford anything like that – but that doesn't really matter. Not to Eddie, at least, and he's pretty sure the same thing applies to Steve. The most important thing is that Wayne tries his very best to make days like those feel special. So while Steve and Eddie get tasked with setting up the interior of the sukkah, Wayne heads back to the trailer to make sure the food will be all done before sunset.

Steve and Eddie haul a bunch of plastic lawn chairs and a trestle table inside. After the furniture, they add some pillows, a truly hideous tablecloth, and a bunch of random clutter from the trailer to make it feel more homely. Eddie always likes to put this one Jesus sculpture they once got from the old Mrs. Brooks from number 70 in one of the corners, for no other purpose than to get on Wayne's nerves. Steve, on the other hand, actually cares about making the sukkah look good, and he comes up with the idea to walk around the trailer park and go into the woods to find some flowers as a finishing touch. Most of the vegetation around Forest Hills is withered all year round, but Steve manages to find some branches with beautiful autumn colors and a bunch of shiny chestnuts among the decaying junk.

'You manage to make anything pretty, huh,' Eddie notes when they're all done, with leaves of dark orange and golden yellow miraculously brightening up every single corner of the hut.

Steve smiles and pulls Eddie in his arms. Now, shielded by the walls of their dwelling, they can do that without worrying about the watchful eyes of nosy neighbors.

'Nah,' he murmurs, his lips ghosting over Eddie's cheek. 'I don't make things pretty, I attract pretty things.' And the way in which Steve's lips find his, soft and full of promise, tells Eddie that he wasn't merely talking about pretty things. It makes his heartbeat stutter and his cheeks heat up.

Steve pulls back before the kiss can become anything more than a promise, with a sparkle in his eyes and a soft smile still tugging at his lips.

'C'mon, let's go help your uncle with the food.'

By the time they're ready to welcome Shabbat, the autumn sun has long disappeared behind the trees and it's rapidly cooling off outside. Wayne puts on his thick plaid jacket and Steve borrows one of Eddie's favorite black hoodies. During this time of the year – when it's not yet cold enough to waste money on heating – the trailer doesn't really stay much warmer than the sukkah, so they're used to the cold anyway. Steve, however, is shamelessly exploiting the chill of the evening as an excuse to cuddle up close to Eddie at the table – not that Eddie minds that at all.

But when Wayne lights the candle and recites the blessing at sundown, it feels like the sukkah is actually much warmer than any other place in the world. It's because what's happening in this place is special, Eddie thinks. For a week, this hut is their home. It's designed to house two people – just Wayne and him – but Steve fits in this cramped space with them like he was always supposed to be here. And when Steve turns to Eddie to wish him a good shabbos with a smile on his face, Eddie knows that he will never want to celebrate another holiday – Jewish or not – without him.

Some fun facts for those who are interested: Sukkot 1986 indeed started on a Friday (October 17th) The use of corrugated sheets for a sukkah is actually quite common, and I took the liberty to interpret the skillful way in which we see Eddie drilling them down in the Upside Down, as him having plenty experience with creating a refuge with those things. For those who don't speak Hebrew: when Eddie calls Steve neshama sheli, he uses a common Hebrew pet name which literally translates to "my soul." I imagine Eddie loves calling Steve all kinds of Hebrew pet names and this is a truly beautiful one imo. I hope I did right to this really cool holiday with my lil story!

#don't mind me rambling about stranger things #this was simultaneously very difficult and SO MUCH FUN to write tbh #i hope everyone who celebrates sukkot this week is having a blast <3 #jewish eddie munson #eddie munson #wayne munson #steve harrington #steddie #stranger things #sukkot #judaism #fanfic #fruity ficlet

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ceaseless-exhauster · 6 days ago

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I was scrolling way back on my own blog to look for an old specific post, and I could see the progression of my unending joy and fervor for Judaism morph into fear and anger and defensiveness as things have gotten worse and harder, and, crucially, as I have become a more solidified and educated member of the community. This makes me deeply sad, so I’m going to fight it actively.

All that to say: Torah study last night was delightful. It was a small group this week, just four of us, but not only did we laugh much and do a lot of Hebrew decoding exploration (which is my 🎶faaaaaavoriiiiite🎵), but we ended up talking at great length about the relationship between HaShem and Moses.

We did this in the context of HaShem getting super into wrath and retribution, as they are wont to do, and Moses’s reaction is to basically say “okay, but like, if you kill your own people, everyone else is gonna think you’re a loser who couldn’t defend this people you promised to protect.” And it WORKS!!

So we were talking about how interesting it is that not only is Moses of course the only prophet in the Torah to whom G-d appears in person, but how much more of an equal footing they appear to be on, more of a partnership than anything else. Look at Avraham when he bargained for Sodom and Gomorrah: “yes HaShem you are great and powerful but I also believe you are merciful please let me search for one righteous person there.” Yaakov literally wrestled an angel. Joseph received dreams and had very earthly concerns about them.

Meanwhile, we have Moses - this man who, despite being raised as a prince of Egypt, is by all accounts a pretty terrible social leader whose little brother has to do most of the logistical stuff. And yet, he perhaps has the deepest relationship with HaShem. He has the kind of relationship where G-d can appear right in the Tent for the sole purpose of looking Moses in the eye to proclaim “I am deeply hurt and angry!!” and Moses has the standing to say “I understand that, but you have a bad plan about it.” Isn’t that wild??

I’m glad this week was Sh’lach L’cha, there was so much in there to talk about and explore and it did so much to remind me of the simple fact that I LOVE Judaism!!! I’m gonna do my best to continue to embrace that more often even in the face of everything. I hope everyone is having a restful Shabbos 💙

#jumblr #jewblr #jewish #jewish positivity #jewish joy #torah study #torah portion #sh’lach l’cha #parsha #Torah

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talonabraxas · 5 months ago

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“All things ephemeral are seen as symbols; insufficiency becomes meaningful event; The indescribable is accomplished; The Eternal Feminine draws us upward.” - Goethe, Faust Jacob’s Ladder—Tree of Life Talon Abraxas

The Tree of Life (Kabbalah ) is derived from the Flower of Life. In Hebrew, it is a mystical symbol within the Kabbalah of esoteric Judaism used to describe the path to God. It is an arrangement of ten interconnected spheres (called sephiroth, meaning ‘spheres’), which represent the central organizational system of the Jewish Kabbalistic tradition or ‘cosmology’ of the Kabbalah.

The Tree of life is considered to be a map of the universe and the psyche, the order of the creation of the cosmos, and a path to spiritual illumination.

The ten spheres represent the ten archetypal numbers of the Pythagorian system. There are said to be 32 paths on the Tree of Life. The first 10 are the Sefiroth (not including Daat). The remaining 22 correspond to the lines or channels of energy that join the Sefiroth together. Each of these, in turn, corresponds to one of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

The Crown (‘Kether’ in Hebrew): the Creator Himself.

Wisdom (‘Chokhmah’): Divine reality/revelation; the power of Wisdom.

Understanding (‘Binah’): repentance/reason; the power of Love.

Mercy (‘Chesed’): grace/intention to emulate God; the power of vision.

Strength (‘Gevurah’): judgment/determination; the power of Intention.

Beauty (‘Tiferet’): symmetry/compassion; the power of Creativity.

Victory (‘Netzach’): contemplation/initiative/persistence; the power of the Eternal Now.

Splendour (‘Hod’): surrender/sincerity/steadfastness; the power of Observation.

Yesod (‘Foundation’): remembering/knowing; the power of Manifesting.

Kingdom (‘Malkuth’): physical presence/vision and illusion; the power of Healing.

Kabbalistic tree of life

The Kabbalistic tree of life has evolved over time. Its basic design is based on descriptions given in the Sefer Yetsirah, or Book of Creation, and expanded upon in the enourmous Kabbalistic text Zohar, the book of Splendour. The ten sephira, similar to the Norse tree of life, are divided into four realms:

Atziluth: the realm of the supernal, beyond which is the ain, or no-thing.

Beriah: the creative world, of archetypes and ideals.

Yetsirah: the world of formation.

Assiah: manifest creation, the material world.

Tree of Life does not only speak of the origins of the physical universe out of the unimaginable, but also of man’s place in the universe. Since man is invested with Mind, consciousness in the Kabbalah is thought of as the fruit of the physical world, through whom the original infinite energy can experience and express itself as a finite entity. After the energy of creation has condensed into matter it is thought to reverse its course back up the Tree until it is once again united with its true nature.

Thus the Kabbalist seeks to know himself and the universe as an expression of God, and to make the journey of Return by stages charted by the Sephiroth, until he has come to the realization he sought.

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creature-wizard · 3 months ago

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Check Your Conspiracy Theory Part Three: Babylonian Mysteries?? In My Religion???

Does your conspiracy theory sound something like this?

There is an ancient Babylonian mystery religion that secretly survives to this day.

This religion is responsible for all manner of false and corrupt teachings.

They are behind the Catholic Church and numerous other false religions.

Human sacrifice and cannibalism are included among its practices.

The Virgin Mary and Jesus are based on Ishtar and Tammuz, Isis and Osiris, Devaki and Krishna, or some other divine mother/son duo.

The word "Easter" comes from "Ishtar."

The pope's mitre is based on the mitre of Dagon.

This conspiracy theory was created by Alexander Hislop, a 19th century Presbyterian minister who decided to take Revelation extremely literally (always a bad idea) when it described a woman clothed in scarlet with the words "MYSTERY BABYLON" on her forehead. He proceeded to cook up a conspiracy theory about the alleged origins of not only the Catholic Church, but also of just about every religion that isn't Christianity or Judaism.

He claimed that after Noah's Flood, the legendary hunter Nimrod and the semi-legendary queen Semiramis were the married rulers of Babylon, and they created a mystery religion in which they were venerated as divine beings, and of course this religion demanded human sacrifice. He claimed that the pair of them had a son together (Tammuz), that Nimrod was killed while Semiramis was pregnant, and that when Tammuz was born Semiramis declared him to be Nimrod reborn. And the arguments he uses to "prove" this are... shall we say, less than sound.

Imagine if someone told you that Hatsune Miku and Michelle Obama are the same person because Miku obviously comes from Michelle and the -ama in Obama is clearly related to the -une in Hatsune, then claimed Michelle Obama was the creator of every video game ever made because Hatsune Miku created Minecraft. Then they claimed Michelle Obama also owned Microsoft because Microsoft = Mikusoft. And then, to top it all off, they also claimed she was a famous singer who performed under the name of "Luce" because the Catholic Church's mascot is obviously based on Hatsune Miku.

That's what this entire book is like.

If two things looked kinda similar, or if two words sounded kinda the same, or if he could make any connection whatsoever, Hislop would claim they were actually connected regardless what any form of common sense might suggest. For example:

He claimed that because certain Near Eastern kings wore horned crowns, then the horned headdresses of certain Native Americans must have been related.

He claimed the Tahitian god 'Oro was based on the Egyptian god Horus, because their names sound similar.

He claimed that Athena was based on Semiramis because her name was supposedly based on the Hebrew adon (meaning "lord"), which could also be pronounced athon, because Astarte was referred to as "Beltis" (Greek form of Belit) which means lady.

He claimed that Odin was based on Nimrod because his name sounds like adon, and Baal means lord.

He claimed that Osiris being depicted in leopard skins is evidence that Osiris is based on Nimrod, because Nimrod hunted leopards.

He claimed that Eros is based on Tammuz because his mother is Aphrodite who was based on Astarte who was based on Semiramis.

He claimed that Nimrod was torn apart because some other figures he decided were based on Nimrod (including Orpheus!) were said to have been torn apart.

The Babylonian mystery religion is of course a complete fabrication, created in his imagination by presupposing that the Catholic Church is literally a Babylonian mystery religion, and by assuming that whatever the Catholics of his own time practiced and believed was also what the ancient Babylonians practiced and believed. (Plus all the human sacrifice stuff!) Basically, it's a whole lot of circular reasoning.

The book has been a huge influence on people like David Icke (the space lizards guy) and Fritz Springmeier (the 13 Illuminati Bloodlines guy), and through them it's diffused into a lot of western conspiracy mythology. Thanks to its ongoing popularity among certain hyperconservative Protestants, it's also leaked out into general culture, usually in the form of memes or factoids proclaiming the alleged pagan origins of Catholicism and various Christian holidays. Ultimately, few people have ever encountered it in its original and undistilled state, and so few people realize just how ridiculous and utterly hateful it all is. However, if you ever want to see the bullshit in its pure form for yourself, the book is in the public domain and can easily be found by searching for it.

#conspiracy theories #conspiracism #conspiracy mythology #alexander hislop #the two babylons #mystery babylon #pseudohistory #history #witchblr #occultblr #paganblr

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zionistgirlie · 18 days ago

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I’m an American ashki Jew. Would you be so kind to explain the difference between Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews? I’m trying to educate myself but Google has conflicting answers. If you are not in the mood to educate that’s fine too-I understand it’s exhausting. Have a wonderful day

Sure!

So before we start, it's important to note that those terms are used interchangeably in some contexts (Like when discussing Halacha and minhagim, or when you live in Israel). But still, what do they mean??

We're discussing two distinct groups of diasporas in Jewish history. The first one would be Mizrahim. Mizrakh in Hebrew means "east". We're talking about Jews who were exiled from Israel towards the east, as early as the first (Babylonian) exile in 597 BC. If you look in a map, Eastern of Israel, we can find Iraq (Babylon), Iran (Persia), Syria, Afghanistan, Kurdistan, and likewise. Before Harav Ovadia Yosef zt"l made his revolution, basically every such community had their own distinct traditions. These are some of the most ancient diasporas there are.

When we say Sepharadim, as the name might suggest, we refer to people who came from Spain— Sepharad in Hebrew. In 1492, the Spanish Kingdom expelled its Jews or forced them to convert to Christianity, in what is considered, to this day, one of the most traumatic days in Jewish history. Those who had the means to leave left, many of them to the then-friendlier Muslim northern African countries, like Morocco, Libya, Algeria, and so forth. But Balcan Jews, Greek Jews, and similar such communities are also considered Sepharadic.

In fact, Harav Ovadia Yosef zt"l made a revolution in the way he united both these big sub-groups into one group for the matter of Halacha, Nusach Tefilah and some traditions (although of course, each community keeps their own distinct traditions as well, with food, with marriage minhagim and with some holidays' parts of service).

The vast majority of both Mizrahi Jews and Sepharadi Jews live in Israel, following their mass exodus from Muslim and Arab countries in 1948 (ethnic cleansing, anyone? no...?), where, after Harav Yosef's union, they're called Mizrahi Jews/edot HaMizrakh (the communities of the East) or Sepharadim, depending on the context.

We use the Edot HaMizrakh siddurs, as the Sepharadic ones are used by Hasidic Jews.

I hope I managed to clarify something :) and feel free to ask away if not!

#jewish #jewblr #israel #jumblr #jewish diaspora #jewish history #mizrahi jews #sephardim #sephardic

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eesirachs · 2 years ago

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masterlist of introductory materials for the hebrew bible and new testament

below are resources intended for beginners. these would be assigned to upper level undergraduate theology courses or first year theological master degree courses. they represent academic/ "the Academy's" mode of introducing material. bold are titles most frequently used in syllabi.

these are just general introductions, done well but limited by scope. they attend to the testaments as a whole, not their individual books. i recommend, after getting introduced, that your self-study explore particular books, and then, particular hermeneutics: womanist theology, feminist, mujerista, postcolonial, queer, liberation, etc.

as always i recommend reading the texts themselves: an nrsvu(e) translation is expected in academic theology, and this one is a great annotated version.

sefaria is also useful—a jps translation that allows you to see alternative translations for each word

hebrew bible

Collins, John J. Introduction to the Hebrew Bible : And Deutero-canonical Books. Third ed. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2018.

Coogan, Michael David, and Chapman, Cynthia R. The Old Testament : A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures. Fourth ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.

Brueggemann, Walter., and Linafelt, Tod. An Introduction to the Old Testament : The Canon and Christian Imagination. Second ed. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012.

Gottwald, Norman K. The Hebrew Bible : A Socio-literary Introduction. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985.

Hasel, Gerhard F. Old Testament Theology: Basic Issues in the Current Debate. 4th ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1991.

Butterfield, Robert A., and Westhelle, Vítor. Making Sense of the Hebrew Bible. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 2016.

new testament

Allison GT. Fortress Commentary on the Bible. The New Testament. (Aymer MP (editor), Fortress Press; 2014.

Holladay CR. Introduction to the New Testament : Reference Edition. Baylor University Press; 2017.

Green, Joel B. 2010. Hearing the New Testament : Strategies for Interpretation. 2nd ed.. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co.

Powell, Mark Allan. 2018. Introducing the New Testament : a Historical, Literary, and Theological Survey. Second edition.. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic.

Carter, Warren. 2006. The Roman Empire and the New Testament : an Essential Guide. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.

Smith, Mitzi J. 2018. Toward Decentering the New Testament : a Reintroduction. Edited by Yung Suk Kim. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books.

Ehrman, Bart D. A Brief Introduction to the New Testament. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Barton, Stephen C., ed. The Cambridge Companion to the Gospels. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Bockmuehl, Markus, and Donald A. Hagner, eds. The Written Gospel. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Perkins, Pheme. Introduction to the Synoptic Gospels. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2007.

Stanton, Graham. The Gospels and Jesus. 2d ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

#faq #anon here you go #study

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judaismandsuch · 2 years ago

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Where do Jews pray?

Aside from the "technically true" answer of 'wherever they happen to be' this is going into the words used English for the specifically chosen buildings.

You run into a few different common ones: Synagogue, Temple, and Shul.

Each have different histories, and implications that many people may not know.

So I want to break down the etymologies, implications, etc. as well as mention some less well known ones.

1)Synagogue: Linguistically arguably the most correct. It comes from from french, latin, and ultimately greek, and ultimately is from the translation of the Bible into Greek. The word be created as a translation for the word Knesset. It literally would translate (in the original greek) to 'meeting place'. overall: 10/10, cannot go wrong with using this word.

2)Temple: A fairly Common word, but one that is rife with theological implications that many are unaware of. Basically it goes like this: There was the first temple and the second, and we are waiting for the third (in theory). When the Reform movement started, one aspect was that the Temple was no longer felt to be a necessary and lamented missing aspect of Judaism, and that the places of prayer were equivalent.* So they began to call their Houses of Prayer 'Temple's. No one in the Orthodox movement would use that term, nor would people in the Conservative movement call their houses of prayer 'Temple'. (at least none that I have seen, and very much none at the begining, I am sure that there are some conservative shuls nowadays that do use the term 'temple'). Now, this means that the use of the word 'temple' to describe a Jewish house of worship is also a theological position. So hearing people use the term 'Temple' as a catch all term instead of Synagogue will annoy a lot of more religious Jews. Now there are a few disclaimers about this: 99% of people aren't aware of this. I have met many a reform and conservative individual that was unaware of the history. So like all pieces of information on a small aspect of theology, don't assume a use of a term implies full knowledge of ramifications. Of course, there is the other issue "Temple" refering to loads of other religions' houses of worship, so it isn't really a good identifier. 2/10, find another word people.

3)Shul A loan word from Yiddish, it actually is the same linguistic root as 'School'. A place of learning. I like it, but a lot of people won't know it, so you'll need to then translate the word. 8/10, but I am biased.

Other words that you may see:

Jewish Church: The issues are obvious, but for some reason I like it.

Beit Knesset: The Hebrew word, 'House of Meeting' it's good, but y'know obv. issues of using hebrew in english.

*I am summarizing and simplifying a large religious movement, obviously this misses some nuance.

NOTE: There are a lot of terms! This is "Common ones you run into in North America" But there are def. terms for it from other Jewish communities that I never heard!

If you have one you didn't see on the list, put it in the notes! (or a direct comment, I'm no cop)

#jumblr #judaism #shul #synagogue #temple #jewish temple #jewish church #beit knesset #jewish

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yandereorg · 5 months ago

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Hey petal,

I was reading, and of course my mind is never free of you, but this reminded me of us

“The earliest gardens were walled not to keep out animals, but to keep them in, so they could not be hunted by strangers. The Persian word for these walled sanctuaries was pairidaeza, the Hebrew, pardes, in Greek, paradeiosos. […] The origin of the word ‘paradise’ is simply ‘enclosure.’”

Anne Michaels, The Winter Vault

You told me to read this book remember? Now I see why.

You want this too. You understand why I have the thoughts I do. You understand I just wish to protect you, Gotham is a city full of strangers and we both the drywall of your apartment won’t do.

I’m sorry I’ve already kept you waiting so long, I’ll be correcting this immediately and we’ll be safe in our very own paradise, far from the scum of Gotham. I’ve started, I never imagined id have a green thumb but I’ve planted some flowers, red tulips, white roses, carnations. Basic I know but you know how I adore the language of flowers, a living reminder of us and how would they thrive if it wasn’t real? What we have? I can’t wait to show you petal. I’ll see you so soon.

Always your knight, Jason Todd

#yandere dc #yandere jason todd #yandere red hood x reader #yandere red hood #red hood x reader #red hood #yandere love letter #yandere x reader #love letter

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kaizokuou-ni-naru · 1 year ago

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Hello, it's me again! Your blog might be my favourite at the moment, I love reading through it after each new chapter 😭♥️

In 1119, I noticed that the Shonen Jump translation writes 'Emet', but unofficial translations write it as 'Emeth'. They have similar meanings in Hebrew, but I'm curious about what the original said. I don't know much about Hebrew, but the word appears to be pronounced as 'em-met' regardless of how it's spelled. Was translating it as 'Emeth' potentially to make the connection to the Hebrew meaning more clear, or simply a stylistic choice? Of course, Japanese doesn't have a 'th' sound so i figured it wasn't a phonetic translation (even though it's not pronounced with one to begin with!)

hello! yes! shoutout to my lovely friend @grainjew, who explained this to me as i was reading the chapter. check out their longer post on emet and its connections to jewish folklore here!

basically, this is just a question of differences in transliteration. the iron giant appears to be named after the hebrew word אמת, 'truth', which in the mythological story of the golem is the word written on the golem's forehead to animate it. emeth is the more archaic/classical transliteration of the word into english, while emet is how you would write it in modern hebrew. it's the same word and pronounced the same way (the japanese renders it as エメト/emeto).

#jonny answers #one piece #japanese #arc: egghead island #ch 1119 #emet #opspoilers #oda's name game on point

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generic-enthusiast · 6 months ago

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Been seeing a lot of Christmas themed headcanons and not nearly enough Hanukkah headcanons, so...

Headcanons for what menorah each member of the gang would have

Darry’s is football themed because of course it is (just had the most fantastic fic idea about this... let's see if I can finish it for Hanukkah). I have one myself with a bunch of different sport players with the ball of their sport in front of them and that's where you put the candle, so this is basically the same only with just football players. They're all from the same team and have their number behind them.

When Soda got his it was just a bit after losing Mickey Mouse so it was horse-themed. This one was home-made bc they couldn't find one with horses on it. It has nine horses with a nut on their head for the candle (and also some holes in their heads bc there's no way a nut can hold a candle atop a play horse's head)

Ponyboy's was a bit harder to think of because he didn't have such a clear-cut obsession with anything. He got it for his bar mitzvah when he was sort of getting more into religion because the Curitses aren't all that religious, but were fine when he wanted to be more religious, so he got one that looks sort of like this:

Only the swirly things spelled out "khai" or however it's romanised in English that means "life" in Hebrew (in the original letters ofc).

He likes it because it makes him feel grown up despite being the baby of the family

Now I don't personally hc the rest of the gang as Jewish but you better believe they're getting a menorah anyway

Steve. Steve my beloved. He made his own menorah to match Soda's when Mr and Mrs Curtis gave it to him, only instead of horses he used cars. He had enough toy cars (that he didn’t play with anymore at the grown age of thirteen, of course) so he found a piece of wood somewhere and glued them to it and then asked Mr and Mrs Curtis for some nuts to use as candle holders.

The shema was either a toy truck or like three cars piled up on each other

Johnny doesn’t have his own because he didn’t really want one, he felt kinda uncomfortable, like he was intruding on something, so he just lights Ponyboy’s with him (they grab the shema together and touch hands hehe)

So for Two-Bit I looked up weirdest menorahs and found one that is absolutely perfect

But I don't think it would be neither cheap nor easy to steal, so HEAR ME OUT Jewish Marcia who has this bc her parents let her buy her own and Two-Bit absolutely falls in love with her it when he sees it when he came over for Hanukkah this is canon trust me guys I'm friends with his sister

As for Two-Bit's own menorah, I think it'd just be a random simple menorah he swiped from the first place he saw that was selling them.

Now all that's left is Dally.

Once, Mrs Curtis mentioned that her family has like... heirloom menorahs. But since she has issues with her family, she never got them, they went to her sibling. She described it a bit and he went "huh" and then showed up a couple weeks later having stolen one that matched her description almost perfectly. She accepted the gift (begrudgingly) but it was still the menorah Dally lit every Hanukkah so in a way it was his

(The five remaining members of the gang lit his menorah together the Hanukkah right after canon. If Ponyboy closed his eyes he could imagine it was Johnny, lighting the menorah with him like he'd been doing for years.)

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ceaseless-exhauster · 5 days ago

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So I’m co-directing the choir for High Holy Days this coming year (!!!) and we’re doing some “prehearsals” until my other co-director is back from maternity leave next month.

This week’s topic (after a lovely Havdalah observance which I don’t usually get to do with anyone but my spouse) was on Hebrew pronunciation conventions and nusach (musical of course), as well as some VERY basics of trope. I got very misty-eyed talking about the function of trope and how since Torah was for so long strictly an oral tradition it was just as important to preserve *how* things were said as it was to preserve *what* was said.

I love thinking about the fact that some (not all but some) of the melodies to our blessings are the same that our ancestors used centuries ago, and that the way we chant Torah now is the way our great great grandchildren will chant it too

#jumblr #jewblr #jewish #jewish positivity #jewish joy #jewish music #hebrew #choir

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talonabraxas · 7 months ago

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Jacob’s Ladder—Tree of Life Talon Abraxas