#i think arabic and hebrew are also exceptions

[zionistgirlie]

Let me add my Shnekel (two shekels) regarding the "no other land" bullcrap.

I think anyone who is not Israeli will not understand how much choosing this name for the film is a knife in the stomach. A blow below the belt. Israelis in the comments, feel free to add your remarks.

In 1986, Ehud Manor wrote the song as a belated response to the death of his brother, who fell in the War of Attrition (1967-1970), as a protest. According to him, "There was a disregard for human life here out of indifference. They put our soldiers on the canal line facing the incessant shelling of the Egyptians, and they helplessly absorbed the blows. I have a feeling that there was helplessness there. As if someone said, 'These young men, this is a price that might have to be paid.' Someone thought it wasn't terrible if there were only thirty dead, this price shouldn't have been paid. Someone said, 'Okay, then the number of victims will be minimal.' It's a chilling sentence."

The first stanza of the poem goes like this: I have no other land Even if my soil is burning Only a Hebrew word penetrates Into my veins, into my soul In a pained body, in a hungry heart Here is my home.

The song expresses Jewish sentiment regarding the Land of Israel. We have no other country. 157 countries have a Christian majority, and 15 countries consider Christianity to be the state religion. 57 countries are Muslim. There is only one Jewish state.

This is why we go out of our way to protect its existence and integrity. If the State of Israel falls, the Jews have no other country. The song was written 40 years after the Holocaust and the deportations and pogroms against Jews in Muslim countries, and the sentiment is crystal clear. The Jews have nowhere to go. As we have seen over the past year, there is no other place that considers the safety of Jews a high priority. There is no country that cares about the Jews of other countries.

The claim that Arabs "have no other country" is false. They have 57 other countries. This does not mean that Arabs should emigrate en masse or that in their eyes this land is not theirs, but the situation is drastically different between the "Palestinians" (who are originally Jordanians, Syrians, Lebanese or Egyptians, and also referred to themselves as such before the 1960s) and the Jews. In every country in the world, we have experienced persecution, attacks and murder. Nowhere except Israel can it be said with full confidence that protecting the Jews is a top priority.

This is the context in which Israelis approach the song "I Have No Other Land," and the cynical use of this title, which expresses Jewish pain and fatigue and hope for protection, in order to promote a "Palestinian" narrative that encourages genocide or the transfer of all Jews living between the river and the sea, is horrifying. Is beyond disghusting.

(And a footnote: The "Palestinians" are so desperate to break free from the Jewish yoke, to be their own people. They accuse the Jews of stealing their culture. Don't the "Palestinians" have poets whose lines could be the titles of propaganda films? The "Palestinians" don't seem to mind using Israeli culture, Israeli poets, and Israeli filmmakers when it helps advance a narrative. Free Palestine! Unless the Jewish mind can be used against the Jewish people.)

(And to the Jewish capos who were involved in making this film, who raise knives with their own hands against their people, and ignore the fact that their partners want them dead or forcibly deported, there are not enough words in the world that can express my disgust and contempt. Only G-d will judge you, and I pray that He will be filled with mercy beyond what you deserve.)

Edit: Hayim Katzman hy"d apparently wasn't a part of making the film so I deleted that part.

[thedwarrowscholar]

🧾A Note From Behind the Beard

Every now and then, I receive questions that stray a bit (or a lot) from Tolkien, Dwarves, or (Neo-) Khuzdul. Nothing too intrusive—don’t worry—but more personal curiosities: “What are your hobbies?”, “What’s your background?”, and even, after the release of our semi-nude calendar (yes, that happened), “What’s your orientation?”

I’ve always made it a point to keep my personal life in the background here. Not out of secrecy, but simply because I wanted The Dwarrow Scholar to focus on the Dwarves, their language, and lore—not on the one behind the curtain. With the possible exception of my end-of-year rambles, I’ve tried to stay behind the runes, so to speak.

I never set out to make this about me. But after years of questions—and kindness from this community—I figured it was time to offer a little glimpse at the one behind the stone wall. Heads-up: if you're just here for Dwarves, Khuzdul, and the like—feel free to skip this one entirely.

📆 About that Calendar...

Let’s address the elephant in the forge.

Yes, there was a semi-nude Dwarvish calendar. No, it wasn’t entirely serious.

It started as a simple, genuine idea—I wanted to create a physical Dwarvish calendar with proper Neo-Khuzdul months, cultural motifs, the whole nine yards.

Then a friend casually joked:

“Oh, like those fireman calendars?”

And I couldn’t unsee it: Half-naked dwarves posing with hammers, anvil glistening, beard windswept. Too absurd not to bring to life. So we did. You’re welcome. Or I’m sorry. Possibly both.

🌱 Hobbies

Over the past few years, gardening has become my main thing ("obsession"?). I now live in a beautiful, hilly part of Flanders called the Flemish Ardennes—a land of rolling hills (Think The Shire—but with better beer. Truth. Deal with it, Hobbits.), known for its cycling mainly.

A look at a section of the garden I've created

Plum trees are abundant in my garden (amongst other trees), and I've even started making homemade plum liqueur from them. It’s surprisingly decent. Brewing beer has somewhat crept into the background too (when in Rome).

I don’t watch sports often, but I do have a few faithful loyalties:

As a somewhat fierce fan, I’ve resigned myself to the Toronto Maple Leafs’ yearly playoff disappointment.

Luckily, my joy levels were high thanks to Wrexham’s earlier promotion to the EFL Championship. (And no—I didn’t hop on the Hollywood bandwagon. I’ve followed Wrexham since I was a kid. Still, I’m cheering them on.)

Why these two teams, far from the Belgian coast where I grew up? Well, trips to Wales and fanatic hockey-fan uncles go a long way toward explaining that.

And I’d be remiss not to mention Lili, my white Chow Chow—a four-year-old ball of fluff and sunshine who’s easily the friendliest creature in the entire Flemish Ardennes. She supervises all garden activity with quiet dignity (and frequent naps).

These past two years I’ve also been developing a fantasy management game—a single-player project where you run a Dwarven fighting stable.

You’ll train warriors, forge gear, negotiate with sponsors, go on quests, learn the lore of the land, mine for resources, and aim to win the Emperor’s Cup. It’s a blend of tactics, unique rich lore, and stubborn Dwarven grit, naturally.

More on that when it's ready to leave the mountain.

🎭 Background

Believe it or not, my background has nothing to do with linguistics, fantasy, or Tolkien studies. I actually studied the arts, and ended up in a completely unrelated career. But languages? That’s been a passion since childhood.

Long before I knew the word “conlang,” I was creating imaginary languages in my notebooks for fun. I grew up in a multilingual family and country, which helped—but really, I just enjoyed puzzling through grammar systems like some people enjoy crossword puzzles.

I speak Dutch, English, French, some German, and have dabbled in Japanese, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, and Hebrew.

🪓 Why Khuzdul?

Khuzdul pulled me in not just because it’s the language of the Dwarves, but because it’s very unlike anything else in Middle-earth.

It’s Semitic in structure—structured, yet mysterious and methodical. There’s beauty and hidden meaning in every root. Yes, it can be daunting at first—especially without a Semitic background. But you don’t need to be a trained linguist to enjoy or explore it. Curiosity and patience go further than any degree.

🌈 The Other Question...

Some asked about orientation—fair question, given the tone of my calendar. I’m a straight fellow, with an open and accepting mind. Been happily married to my wife for nearly ten years (together for twenty), and I deeply respect the spectrum of identities others bring to this community. You're all welcome here.

✨ Fun Fact Speed-Round!

First Dwarvish word I ever coined? Honestly, I can’t recall—it’s been thirty years...

Favourite Khuzdul root? Probably [KhGR], which is one of the rare winks to my local childhood dialect. A “kegge” is West-Flemish for “big nose,” and that’s exactly where KhGR came from—it’s now the Neo-Khuzdul root for “nose.” Most personal Khuzdul word I’ve coined? That would be ugloriskhûna—meaning “wise woman known for kindness, humour, and the ability to enjoy life.” The word (and its meaning) was inspired by the nickname of a dear friend of mine.

Most surprising moment? When I visited HobbitCon in Bonn, Germany. I dropped by the booth of the German Tolkien Society to say hello to a kind acquaintance—only she wasn’t there. Instead, someone had a full-on fan moment and asked for a picture with me.

Most moving request I’ve ever received? Someone once asked me to translate a poem for the funeral of their brother.

Best compliment I’ve received? I get more praise than I feel I deserve—but one that truly warmed my heart was:

“You would have made Tolkien proud.”

Most ridiculous runic request? Well, aside from someone asking me to translate The Hobbit in its entirety (which would take me years), nothing truly “ridiculous.” Folks ask because they’re curious—and that’s never a bad thing. That said... the biggest chuckle? A tattoo request for “Meat is back on the menu”—to be inked on a very private part of the body.

And just so you know who’s been rambling behind the beard all this time—here’s a noble mashup a friend made of me, in full Gimli regalia. (Yes, that’s me. No, I don’t imagine I swing an axe nearly as well.)

If you’ve read this far—thank you. Thank you all for being part of this strange and wonderful journey. Your curiosity, kindness, and shared love for Dwarves have kept the forge warm. I hope this answers some of the more personal questions that found their way into the queue. Now, let’s get back to the runes, shall we?

Ever at your service, The Dwarrow Scholar

[tempestvista]

ok I promise I'll stop screaming for two minutes after this but heyyyy. some dream game/frozen soul + forge and the crucible headcanonnnsss... mostly random

I'll eventually do more for other characters later maybe (ilovy, blue john, GVR, WeGottman, Anton (forge), etc..)

Clarence Iron

Fan of margaritas and pineapple flavored stuff. Does not rock with the artificial things, though.

Also has a mild allergy to pineapples (mouth goes slightly numb) but he doesn't care.

Insane spice tolerance too.. would def outlast anyone in a korean noodle competition, even Clovis (hc Clovis has decent spice tolerance).

Doesn't like closing his eyes in the shower. that one Horse image iykyk

Would prefer flip-phones over modern ones

Would get canceled on social media (if he used it) for being right

Loves dogs. specifically Dachshunds and Beagles

Sun-bathes 100%

Floppy disk enthusiast

Has an absolutely WRETCHED computer that is on fucking life support and everyone begs him to get a new one. It sounds like a wind turbine

Great with long-term memory stuff, absolutely shit in the moment however

Openly a fan of stuffed animals

Clovis Bealdhild

CHUFFING A FAT FLAG

On a real note he doesn't smoke often however when he does he really likes to indulge .. will go the extra mile to get nicer ones

^ Passed on this mannerism to Nash (even if she doesn't know it)

Knows how to use chopsticks rlly well

Big fan of Thai and Vietnamese food. On the flip-side he does not fw Greek food

Initially not very great with social cues, had to build up an understanding of them. Partially contributes to strangers viewing him as "stoic" when instead he's just really .#autistic .. Though I will say he's . ok I don't know how to explain this but he's outgoing except in the quiet sense. It's akin to those meme images where it's like "really excited (silent and/or neutral face)

Well-versed in languages, even if he can't speak in some, he's picked up on a variety of things from fixating on historical and linguistic books (also interested in anthropology). I would say if there were things similar in universe or if they existed in FS/DG that he would know Spanish, Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic (English + Meladze is a given).

And as for languages he can understand but can only speak broken parts of / typically won't attempt to speak: French and Portugese.

Likes specific puzzles. Very proficient at sudoku and word searches.

Can solve Rubik's cubes but he doesn't rlly like them all that much

Enjoys those maze balls where you have to maneuver them constantly to get the ball to its destination.

Otherwise he hates mazes and especially loathes being in them. Not because he's bad at navigation per se but I imagine there's just something that makes them displeasing 2 him.. maybe I'm projecting 2 hard

Noden

Would harbor a fugitive for an unspecified time in some circumstances unless it was something egregious. Mostly out of curiosity I think.

Generally desires interaction and holds profound interest/curiosity in spite of his hesitancy, especially since he isn't easy to reach.

Cracks knuckles really loudly. Not even to be obnoxious he just has weird hands

Big jacks and marbles fan.

Jock Stuart

Likes the word "pinnacle."

If there was something that was slightly more religious than agnostic I think he'd be that. Probably fond of absurdism.

Likes the look of ouija boards and pagan religion(s) artifacts, though he won't really dabble in it beyond just.. looking and admiring, I think.

Enjoys seeing people's shrines in their homes, respectful of all religions and similarly to last point likes seeing people's practices and their methods of devotion.

Lets out a very shrill / "girly" scream if u scare him hard enough

Does not fuck with grocery stores. Too bright

On a similar note probably has light sensitivity of some sort and might wear glasses on worser days

Play-fights / The kind of person who would rustle your hair or shove you lightly as a sign of affection/enjoyment

Black coffee enjoyer

Blue raspberry flavor enjoyer

Keeps his phone in the blue-light protection mode + dark mode + 9/10 will have the light percentage at 0

Has GAD

Previously addicted to energy drinks now he's (somewhat) normal and his fix is black coffee

Dry humor

Toa Zuku

This isn't to say his house/residency (if any/assuming) would be dirty but he would probably instinctually clean another person's house just . because. you know like that one friend at a sleepover who just decides to do your dishes at 3 am.

Bibliomaniac

Minstrel Bloxxer

Not a big fan of EDM music or anything hyper-techno. Willing to give it a go but it's not his preferred genre(s).

Of course ghosts exist in FS/DG lore but in the more "our world" sense he'd probably believe in them and would indulge in stereotypical "spooky stories."

Able to admire/understand fashion but he doesn't care to go all out for the most part

Has quite literally no romantic preference/limitation, I think he's comfortable with just about anyone gender wise regarding that. Slightly aromantic though

Has full on conversations in his sleep

Also a hard sleeper and snores loudly LMFAO.. Sleep apnea sufferer

Likes silent films + black and white ones

Amazing posture / Probably has the best spinal alignment and no neck pain compared to everyone else (looking at you Xigeris)

Finds soda to be downright disgusting. Mtn dew (equivalent) especially

^ Not a big fan of overly sweet stuff.. Savory >>

Would call memes "meh mays" (not maymays) probably

Nashatra Bealdhild

Secretly big fan of glittery gel pens. Not a unique thought but I just find it to be fun for her specifically

Probably not a new headcanon here either but has very pronounced eye-bags. Like. Intensely noticeable

Does not like waffles 🙏🙏

Chronic nail biter

Despises Christmas music since it seems to haunt her in particular in excess

Insanely bad at romance/negative charisma that somehow works. Her way of flirting is giving someone (cough: Eunoia) a really cool rock and then trying to awkwardly explain why / just move on as if she didn't. Just bring a rock in.

Has thalassophobia

Piggybacking off the Thalassophobia thing- If it were to be specifically tied to an event and not an oddly specific phobia, I'd say she'd possibly have fallen into a river or gone too far into the ocean and now she's like Urggh… Did not enjoy that lengthy ass boat-ride to get to Lesmosyne ill tell you that much

-Relatively okay with hugs but very bad at reciprocating them / just goes stiff usually

Physical appearance . I'd say she has broad shoulders, sleeper build.

Knows MMA but never finished learning it

Two defaults of hers are an insanely strong hook and violent round-house

^ By hook (unspecified left or right) I am in fact also saying she is ambidextrous- which also contributes to her being able to pull out items quickly + use them fast

EMDR therapy would scare the shit out of her

Leans more into abstract art compared to traditional styles. Eunoia likes her art 4 this

Xigeris

Kenophobia . Specifically just fear of large voids, not spaces (unless it's an abandoned mall or something)

Afa other fears I would say he isn't fond of severe thunderstorms, hurricanes or tornadoes. Not in the regular sense like . intense distress over the mere possibility

Severe acne + slight eczema. someone save this guys skin

Enjoys biology as far as subjects go.

^ Would actually excel in an academic setting if given the proper accommodations

Regularly has nightmares. Wakes up in a cold sweat on occasion

Would enjoy walking in parks and/or hiking . Rocks w/ the idea of picnics

Suffers from IED (disorder)

Enjoys folklore and holiday stuff. Especially the sillier/dumb kind . Whatever the in-universe equivalent of Santa, Leprechauns, Cupid would be.. so on

Fan of peppermint (candy+scent) and eucalyptus

Hesitant on this headcanon but if he had an accent it'd be . Vaguely like a Hungarian one

Restless leg syndrome

Dude would chow down on a black forest cake

[youmisguidedmartyr]

Here's the rant about Dwarves with Scottish accents that was promised in this post, my thoughts still aren't as organised as I would like them to be but if I don't get my opinions out there i will keel over and die. So here we go

Up until Peter Jackson’s adaptation of the Lord of the Rings franchise, and then eventually The Hobbit, dwarves didn’t have Scottish accents. I can’t find anywhere that Tolkien said dwarves should have Scottish accents, so why do they have them in the films? The idea is that dwarves are supposed to have a feeling of “Celtic-ness” about them, but then why does it have to be Scottish instead of Irish or Welsh (with the exception of Gimli given his actual Welsh actor), over any of the other Celtic nations? Especially when dwarven languages and writing styles were supposed to be more like Hebrew and Arabic.

The choice to give your high born dwarf character an English RP accent over the Scottish one that you’ve given every other dwarf, and that people now associate with Tolkien dwarves, is doing nothing but painting the picture that the English RP accent is a sign of superiority over the other dwarves (the ones with the Scottish accent). Why does the “better born” dwarf have a different national accent to his subjects??

However, looking at Thorin, THE HIGH BORN DWARF, he has an English RP accent… hmmmmmmm

So does Fili and Kili (the OTHER dwarven Princes), and them along with Thorin are meant to be the "attractive" ones... hmmmmm

This RP accent is also making people think back to the elves, ALL of which sport this RP accent MIGHT I ADD (also who are the fan favourites…)

Obviously, it isn’t the accent that’s at fault, and I don’t really see a problem with giving the elves RP accents (beyond it blurring the complicated lines between the elven races left over from the first age)

But why do the stereotypical rough and tough characters, the heavy drinkers, the angry and abrasive characters have to have Scottish accents? OH! Is it because this is how the world sees Scottish people? Sick man of Europe (second only to Ukraine who’s in the middle of a FUCKING WAR), rude and angry, wrongfully prideful and stubborn headed?? Fuck off

I don’t care that the dwarves are this way, because that would be stupid, but why do you have to use this particular accent to "reinforce" it

And also, the way that they only seem to use one fucking type of accent? I DO NOT sound like that and yet, I’m still Scottish and I’m still offended that you’re using my nationality and my people in this way.

And don’t come at me with all this “but you have to differentiate between the races” bullshit because they obviously don’t care about that given all the ELVES and all the MEN and most of the HOBBITS are fucking about with some form of an English accent, and they don't even limit the different English accents to a specific race or regional area

Only the stubborn, prideful, and rude dwarves get Scottish accents. Them and the “stupid, comic relief” Hobbit.

[eretzyisrael]

Seth J. Frantzman

Some of the most impactful images of the 15-month war in Gaza have been the scenes of strength and resilience shown by the five IDF women soldiers freed this week; four of them on January 25 and one today. Despite what they have been through they have shown sought to put on a brave face and also shown in their gestures inspiration. Nineteen-year-old Liri Albag put her hands in the shape of a heart on a helicopter after arriving home. She was released alongside Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy, all of whom are 20 years old now. They were teens when Hamas kidnapped them from Nahal Oz base where they were unarmed IDF soldiers in an Observation unit. Along with Agam Berger, who was released on January 30, they had to go through a Hamas mob that jeered and photographed them, and be taken on stage in Gaza where they were asked to smile and wave. Hamas also did a video of them thinking Hamas in Arabic for good treatment.

An image that resonates is a written piece of paper pressed up against the window of a helicopter that was taking freed hostages to hospital. It says in Hebrew "I love you all, the nation of Israel lives."

The hostages have shouldered a tremendous impossible burden. The women soldiers especially, because it is clear Hamas wanted to exploit them to try to humiliate Israel via the hostage release ceremonies, the choreographed stages and cameras, a way of Hamas to declare victory.

The hostages have shown incredible bravery and they are being praised across Israeli media. A few politicians had voted against the hostage deal. However the urgency that Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff placed on the deal, got it done. Witkoff was back in Israel on January 30 to meet some of the freed hostages and go to Hostages Square in Tel Aviv to discuss the importance of bringing the hostages home.

In many ways the few statements and images and symbolism from the freed hostages, who are all women, except for 80-year Gadi Mozes and five Thai hostages free on January 30; seem to resonate more than anything in the last 15 months, the 482 days since October 7. At times it felt like there was very little hope, that these hostages were not receiving enough support, that they had been left there, debates in the Knesset seemed to go back to things before October 6, discussing ways to help Haredi men get exemptions from IDF service, old disputes that seemed odd during a tough war in which IDF women who serve were held in Gaza. Over time some people began to say "let them go" rather than "bring them home" as if the responsibility for bringing home IDF women soldiers had shifted to some other amorphous entity. This was concerning, after all no one said at Dunkirk "please let them go"...instead the British organized to bring the army home, because you don't leave soldiers on the beach. Things shifted just before Trump came into office and the miracle of the deal took place.

There are many more hostages that must be freed. They should never have been taken hostage in the first place. The hostages who have been freed have shown incredible strength in an impossible situation. Soldiers who are 18 may be trained for their position, but no one trains them what to do when being released from 470 days of captivity, how to stand in front of a crowd of hundreds or thousands of Hamas supporters pawing at them, jeering, screaming, celebrating, mocking, humiliating. No one trains teenagers for that. However, they survived it.

Hostages should never be taken again. This hardship where so much of a burden is placed on the most vulnerable, should be learned from and it should end with this difficult and tragic war. Until that happens, the strength and symbols the released hostages have shown should drown out all the voices from the past year and inspire us. Regular people thrust into impossible circumstances are the most inspiring.

[mithliya]

i think a lot of radfems are honestly just neo-conservatives with better opinions on porn and prostitution - radical feminism isn't inherently anti-imperialist, i think. like andrea dworkin herself was a zionist and even saw the zionist entity as a good model for female separatism (of course that doesn't mean we have to discard everything she ever wrote but it's still important to keep in mind imo)

i thought that was the case for andrea dworkin but then i actually read what she had to say about israel and what u said is actually not an accurate representation of her views! she did think it was a good model at first but then after going to israel & working with feminist groups, she became quite disillusioned with zionism & ended up opposing it quite a lot ideologically. but bc of her original premise & ppl often not reading her stance on it, they didn’t see that part of her belief changing in her writing.

"People always say to me, the Israelis are there, they're the ones whose lives are at stake. It's not me that's going to die if somebody thinks I'm right and they end up with a bullet in their brain. But I must say that looking at the situation of women suggests to me that the Israelis need enemies. I see the consistency of women being an internal enemy in virtually every country I look at, and certainly throughout the Middle East. Israel is not an exception. If there weren't the Palestinians, who are they going to shoot? Who are they going to define themselves against? They had to prove that they were virile. After the Holocaust, every Jewish man had to prove that he had not been castrated and nobody could come and take him away, and the Israeli army became the form for doing that."

" Along with most of the demonstrators, I had come from the postconference organized by the grass-roots, secular feminists. The postconference was chaired by Nabila Espanioli, a Palestinian woman who spoke Hebrew, English, and Arabic. Palestinian women came out of the audience to give first-person testimony about what the Occupation was doing to them. They especially spoke about the brutality of the Israeli soldiers. They talked about being humiliated, being forcibly detained, being trespassed on, being threatened. They spoke about themselves and about women. For Palestinian women, the Occupation is a police state and the Israeli secret police are a constant danger; there is no "safe space." I already knew that I had Palestinian blood on my hands. What I found out in Israel is that it isn't any easier to wash off than Jewish blood—and that it is also female."

[leroibobo]

a short explainer on the samaritan script because i really like scripts

the samaritan script is a right-to-left abjad used for samaritan hebrew (samaritan hebew reading tradition), samaritan aramaic, and sometimes even arabic by palestine's ~900-strong samaritan community. per their tradition, samaritans descend from israelites of the tribe of joseph who weren't subject to assyrian captivity in the 8th-7th centuries bce. they view jews as their close relatives who strayed too far from the original israelite religion. because of this schism, the samaritan script developed directly from paleo-hebrew and separately from hebrew (which developed via the aramaic script first), becoming distinct by 600 bce, which would have been during the time of the captivity.

the letters themselves are fairly similar both to paleo-hebrew and hebrew with some exceptions. (ࠉ is י, for example.) though it's not often used in liturgy, the script also has a diacritic system that's similar to but distinct from the hebrew one. (the > on ࠁ࠙ is a dagesh qal, same as בּ; on a non-dagesh qal using letter it makes an "i" sound; ࠋ࠙ is "li", same as לִ), including one that isn't in the hebrew script. (the additional one takes the forms of a straight line, the arabic letters عا ('ayin + aleph, עא), and the arabic letter ع ('ayin) attached to the letters aleph, 'ayn, or het, as those letters by themselves usually behave like "aleph" does in hebew (ࠏࠖ = 'aa, ࠏ = a). the 'ayn in hebrew makes an 'ayn sound in most me/na forms of hebrew (so the equivalent would be ע) and bares some form of distinction in other ones, but it changed to just an "a" in modern hebrew.) samaritan script also uses a number notation system with its letters similar to the hebrew one, and has its own punctuation system. (for example, ࠰‎ separates words, ࠽‎ is a period, ࠹ ends a section/paragraph, ࠲ is a comma, ࠶ is a question mark, and ࠱‎ is like a semicolon.)

i'd put sample text, but some guy on reddit did a transliteration of the first section of a samaritan book of genesis, which i think is cooler than anything i could provide. also, here's a reading of the shema israel prayer by a samaritan rabbi. (the video calls it "ancient hebrew" but it's not any more ancient than the hebrew used in halachic judaism, he's just using the samaritan pronunciation.)

[al-mayriti]

AKKADIAN WITH VIVI - PART 1. CUNEIFORM, FONETICS, AND MORE

so. for christmas i got a grammar of akkadian, and i thought i would study it on my own as sort of a hobby, to detox from all of the other stuff i have to do, just for the love of it. i started this week and i thought it would be fun to share it over here because a few years ago i remember sharing some facts about akkadian and y'all seemed to enjoy it so i hope you like this :)

first of all, for those of y'all who don't know, i studied the ancient world in uni and have in total studied akkadian for a year (as in. in two different years for one semester each). but last time i studied it was in 2021 and as you can imagine. i cannot really practice it. so it's a bit fuzzy in my mind.

also, i studied arabic for a year but that knowledge is also slowly going away (i think I studied it in 2022 ? something like that) and i remember akkadian and arabic having tons of similarities (they're both semitic languages!) so i will be making references to arabic with vocab to refresh myself. also i thought it would be fun to add the other big semitic language, hebrew, to the mix as i have zero knowledge of it and could be a cool way to learn some! i will make some parallels throughout this project, but as stated i am not fluent in any of them so feel free to point out more similarities or correct me when needed !!!!

anyways, enough yapping, under the cut i'll discuss what i studied this week <3

first of all, as an introduction, i've said it before but akkadian is a semitic language - one of the oldest in fact, spoken circa 2500 BC to 75 AD. here's a table with the chronology.

this might look confusing, but it's quite easy to understand don't worry. basically, around 1950 BC akkadian or what it's typically known as 'ancient akkadian' (AAc in the table) split into two distinct dialects, babilonian (AB, mB, nB, tB) to the south, and assyrian (AAs, mAs, nAs) to the north. the grammar book, and almost all akkadian guides you'll find, teach specifically the ancient babilonian dialect (AB in the table), because that's the dialect in which the hammurabi code was written in, and most of classical texts. it was also the basis of what's called classical babilonian (BS in the table), a fossilized literary language that no one actually spoke (think of modern standard arabic). assyrian and babilonian for the most part are pretty similar except with some vocab, and that the babilonian has an extra vowel, the /e/. i think there's a part about dialect differences in this guide so i'll leave the full explanation for that :)

anyways, now that that's out of the way, let's continue onto the writing system, cuneiform. cuneiform was created by sumerians, inhabitants of sumer, basically the south of babilonia, that coexisted with akkadians from the beginning of written history (around 3000 BC). the thing is, cuneiform was made for sumerian and akkadians had to adapt it to their language. sumerian is not a semitic language (it is actually a language isolate) so there's a lot of complications akkadians had to overcome. for instance, they are one of the few semitic languages (possibly the only one?) that notes vowels.

CUNEIFORM

cuneiform script is form by two different strokes:

[clavo means nail in spanish]

as you can see, there's only a limited number of ways a cuneiform ideogram / symbol can be written, 5 in total!

the cuneiform ideograms can be syllabic or logographic. syllabic means they're only phonetic, with no meaning by themselves (think of the katakana system in japanese) versus logographic ones, which have meaning on their own (like kanji)

[V= vowel, C= consonant]

syllables can be V (𒀀 a), CV (𒈠 ma), VC (𒄠 am), or CVC (𒄨 kal). there's also polysyllabic symbols (𒁄 bala).

an example of logogram is 𒈗, which translates to 'king'. this is where the fun starts. so. again. the cuneiform language was made for the sumerian language. so all logographic symbols have the name of the sumerian word it corresponds to. in sumerian, 𒈗 is read lugal, so that's its name. in akkadian, the word is read šarrum, however. in akkadian dictionaries and in scholarly texts, these logograms always appear as akkadian name (SUMERIAN NAME). therefore, 𒈗 appears as šarrum (LUGAL). this is the standard for all logograms discussed here.

before continuing, we are about to talk about transcription and transliteration a lot, so just to have the difference clear:

transliteration is writing in the latin script what each ideogram represents, separating syllables with dashes and noting any technical information pertinent. for example, 𒈗 is transliterated LUGAL.

transcription is writing in the latin script what each word was pronounced like, following grammar and phonetic rules. 𒈗 is transcribed as šarrum .

here is a full example of the original text in cuneiform, its transliteration, transcription, and translation to spanish:

words can be written in cuneiform either syllabic or logographically, there's no rule about this, it usually depended on the scribe's preference or the space they had in the tablet.

there's various ideograms that are homophones, that is, they represent the same sound despite being written differently [this was probably not as drastic when spoken, but we do not know how akkadian was fully pronounced]. for example, there's various symbols that are read as e. in transliteration, they are noted with subscripts. therefore, they would be noted as e, e2, e3, e4... however, x2 and x3 are usually transliterated with ´ and ` respectively, so e2 = é and e3 = è. from x4 onwards they're always transliterated with the subscript.

there's also a thing that also exist in egyptian and that i absolutely adore, and that's lexical determinatives <333 they're non-phonetic symbols - that is, they were not pronounced and thus are not transcribed - that preceded or followed a word to make its meaning clearer. when transliterating these, they appear as superscripts, abbreviated normally in sumerian. for example:

𒀭𒀫𒌓 is transliterated as dMARDUK or ilMARDUK. d stands for 'dingir' (sumerian) and il for 'ilum' (akkadian) and both mean 'god'.

𒄑𒆕 𒄣 is transliterated as giškak-kum. 'kakkum' means 'weapon' in akkadian, whereas 'giš' is 'wood' in sumerian. in this case, it is used to specify the weapon is made of that material.

similarly, there's also grammar complements, written following logograms in order to help with the morphosyntactic value of that particular logogram in the sentence. again, these are not usually transcribed, and are transliterated usually followed by a . for example:

𒈗𒈨𒌍 reads as LUGAL.MEŠ. MEŠ is the plural complement, which means the word should be transcribed as 'šarru'; 'the kings', not 'šarrum', 'the king'. it sometimes is transcribed, and when it happens it appears as a superscript (šarrumeš).

𒉿𒈫 reads as GÉŠTU.MIN. 'géštu' means 'ear' in sumerian ('uznum' in akkadian), and MIN is the dual complement, which means it should be transcribed as 'uznān'; 'the two ears'

𒀭𒂊 reads as AN-e. 'an' means sky or heaven in sumerian ('šamum' in akkadian). e here is just e. in the context of this text, this word is meant to be plural, but depending on the case, the word could be šamu (nominative) or šame (acusative / genitive). the -e is there to make sure the reader understands this word should be read as 'šame'.

before continuing with phonetics, here are some of the most common determinatives:

DUG = karpatu: 'recipient' (קְעָרָה k'ara)

IKU: 'field', for measures

SAL = sinnišat: 'woman'

LÚ = awil: 'man', in professions and masculine ethnonyms

SÍG = šipātu: wool (صوف suf)

KI = ašar: place.

DINGIR = il: god (إله allah)

and here are the most common grammar complements:

MEŠ: plural in people and things

HI.A (HÁ): plural in animals and things

DIDLI / MIN: dual

KAM: numerals

PHONETIC SYSTEM

vowels: there's three main vowel sounds - /a/, /i/, /u/. there's a sneaky fourth vowel tho (again. i'm pretty sure this is just in babilonian). the /e/. it appears in two cases:

when /a/ follows certain sounds (the grammar doesn't go more in detail?). for example; *ḥaqlum > eqlum.

when /i/ follows /ḫ/ or /r/. for example; *palih > paleh

other notes about the vowels:

when long vowels are the result of a contraction, they are marked with ^ (*rabium > rabûm)

long vowels could be expressed in cuneiform by reduplicating the vowel. like rabûm could be written ra-bu-u-um for example.

dipthongs are almost nonexistant. only /ai/ and /au/ exist (for example nawrum). most of the time they become /ī/ and /ū/, like in *baitum > bītum or *šaurum > šūrum.

consonants:

here's the whole table <3

some notes about them:

in terms of pronunciation, emphatic consonants /ṭ/, /ṣ/ and /q/ are pronounced like their arabic counterparts, so ط, ص and i guess a more emphatic version of ق respectively.

the /'/ alif is a funny guy. so. it is very residual in akkadian, it barely is there. it is the result of protosemitic fonemes that dissappeared in akkadian but can be found in other semitic languages, that aren't even written most of the cases. there's five fonemes in total, divided into two groups:

-/e/ alef / soft alef:

/'/ voiceless glottal occlusive: *'akālum > akālum 'to eat' (يأكل yakul, לֶאֱכוֹל le'echol)

/h/ voiceless laringeal fricative: *nahrum > nārum 'river' (نهر nahr, נָהָר nahar)

-/a/ alef / hard alef:

/ḥ/ voiceless faringeal fricative: *ḥaqlum > eqlum 'field'

/'/ voiced faringeal fricative: *ba'lum > bēlum 'lord' (بعل, בָּעַל ba'al)

/ģ/ voiced velar fricative: *ģarābum > erēbum 'to enter'

/ḫ/ is pronounced like the spanish j (or kh if you don't know the sound)

syllables can be open (they end in V), or closed (they end in C). a closed syllable + C makes a long syllable. this is important for accents!

the last syllable is always accentuated when it's long as a result of a contraction. also, in words that have three or more syllable, you gotta pay attention to the second to last syllable. if that syllable is long, then that's the accentuated one. if it's short, then the accent is on the second to last. for example, its (accent is boldened) akālum, iparras, but ibtani.

finally, when the word is followed by an enclitic particle, desinence or suffix, the syllable immediately before the suffix is elongated, which may change the accent of the word. for example, its bītu 'from the house' but bitīšu 'from his / her house'; ibni 'he created', but ibnīma 'he created and...'.

that's all for this week folks <3

[beardedmrbean]

[Huey Zoomer Anon]

I’m not exactly shocked by the rise of antisemitism because they like marginalized people to have a certain VICTIM image and the Israeli Jews break

Though you do NOT want to hear the rather nasty comments I hear progressives say about Gal Gadot

But alright everyone, can anyone explain why the about 70% of the artists community on tumblr and twitter and about 60% of the most popular fandoms online are pro Palestine?

I remember how they preach on and on about their knew everything about antisemitism and made a living hell for anyone with how you consume your media

But after the whole oct 7 mess, they showcase their lack of knowledge about Jewish disporia and Islam imperialism

And a lot of these people are in their 20’s-40’s

I thought they would connect the dots why their so many “white Jews” via history and why modern Israeli militarize themselves? I been doing it over a year and going “ooooh!” on stuff that confuse me

Now tbf I saw a popular belief online that Mary had Jesus at 14…even though historically wise Mary and Joseph would have the standard age gap for the Judaea Jews couples had at the time.

Also anyone figure out why the Hebrews started to use the term Jews? Kinda confusing me, a language mistranslation that just stayed?

Though you do NOT want to hear the rather nasty comments I hear progressives say about Gal Gadot

When she was announced as Wonder Woman certain corners of the internet collectively shit themselves, some were happy and some were calling her a murderer who had notches in the butt of her rifle as a count of all the innocent palestenians she'd brutally murdered, during her time as a fitness instructor for the IDF who was never in combat while serving her mandatory tour of duty.

Can't locate it, blog it would be on isn't letting me search anything, but there was a whole poem a Jewish blogger I used to follow did about the Zionist demon Gal Gadot, it was funny as Sheol.

But alright everyone, can anyone explain why the about 70% of the artists community on tumblr and twitter and about 60% of the most popular fandoms online are pro Palestine? I remember how they preach on and on about their knew everything about antisemitism and made a living hell for anyone with how you consume your media

I think it a thing like survivorship bias, except in this case it's the posts you see vs the ones you don't.

A picture of a bunch of dead Syrian children that Assad murdered with poisoned gas labeled as dead palestenian arab children brutally killed by the IDF in a totally unprovoked attack will get 50,000 notes in 2 days 49,500 of them will be ignoring the correction in the notes pointing out that they're Kurdish children killed by Syria.

Good news and corrections never make it as far as the bad news and lies do.

But after the whole oct 7 mess, they showcase their lack of knowledge about Jewish disporia and Islam imperialism

Startlingly susceptible to propaganda there, especially when it's wrapped up in the current year convoluted wording of things.

Doesn't help that it's been startlingly easy to do this when it comes to the Jewish people at least since the Romans renamed the area and actually even before if we look at the books of Esther and Daniel.

Very easy to scapegoat the people that worship just the one God and have all these different foreign rules about how that goes and also refuse to acknowledge the divinity of whomever is the king at the time.

I thought they would connect the dots why their so many “white Jews” via history and why modern Israeli militarize themselves? I been doing it over a year and going “ooooh!” on stuff that confuse me

They did the whole military thing since on day one 5 whole ass countries tried to genocide every Jew in the area, I don't believe any of the conflicts they've been in have been started by them someone else starts shooting first.

Pushing Egypt out of the Sinai peninsula and occupying it had to be a massive embarrassment for the arab league, managed to get recognition and a treaty with Egypt in exchange for returning the territory.

Lot of money goes through the Suez Canal.

Now tbf I saw a popular belief online that Mary had Jesus at 14…even though historically wise Mary and Joseph would have the standard age gap for the Judaea Jews couples had at the time.

I don't think anyone actually knows, but you look at what the average age for marriage was in the region at that time and you can guess it's going to be something like that.

A lot of that was common globally, same age range that is.

Also anyone figure out why the Hebrews started to use the term Jews? Kinda confusing me, a language mistranslation that just stayed?

Kurds are from Kurdistan, Turkmen are from Turkmenistan, Russians are from Russia, Arabs are from Arabia, Samaritans are from Samaria (and nearly extinct), and Jews are from Judea.

It's an ethnic identity and a religion.

Coptic and Maronite Christians are also ethnoreligous groups in the MENA region and that particular identity would follow them regardless of where they go

[melodiimelon]

The Outsiders Personalities Based on my opinion <3

Ponyboy:

He would probably be that one kid who would tell the teacher that there was homework and have a room full of opps.

Hates Steve with all his heart because hes jealous asf.

Would be like the made in romania kid (he prolly is)

Canonically smokes the most out of the gang, but he uses a penjamin because he thinks its “safer”

Is in orchestra and plays cello

Smoke seshes with Johnny😩

Speaks Romanian fluently, refuses to speak hebrew.

Adding on to the last one, the curtis’ just say all the prayers in english during holidays so the rest of the gang can understand, and because they don’t like hebrew in general.

Wore Adidas when he was younger. No questions.

Has atleast went to Romania ONCE.

Johnny

The quiet, but defensive hufflepuff.

If people ask him to say something in either spanish or thai, he’ll just say a bad word to embarrass them.

Has a better relationship with his dad than his mom (not canon)

Him and dally are like this🤞🏽no crosses count.

ALWAYS SINGS RANDOM THAI SONGS OUTTA NO WHERE

Theres this weird thing that he has (i have it too) where he could show his talents to a audience of people, but not in front of a small group.

So i can see him kind of spacing out while trying to sing for the gang.

Knows Muay Thai, so thats very useful to him for fighting socs.

Smokes pot just because.

Sodapop

Is constantly called “Soda-bop” from socs, and even Steve.

Takes band or orchestra

Takes Jewish cantor classes every Thursday bc he cant do it on Shabbat.

He always won first place in a cantor competition, and people even started hiring him for weddings.

Can also speak romanian, but speaks Hebrew for his classes.

People unfortunately are prejudice against him for being jewish, so he lies and says he’s atheist. He regrets it a lot.

His Bar Mitzvah was very festive, and he was lifted up on a chair😀

Girls and guys come up to him constantly for either beauty tips or falling in love with him.

He’s a gryffindor. Constantly boasts about it.

Says “what the sheol” on a daily basis.

Steve

Contrary to popular belief, he can actually cook.

He’s very bitchy when it comes to cars

He loves them more than Soda

Was the type to have car posters in his room as a kid

He wasn’t available on Fridays because of Jummah (iykyk)

Hides his relationship with Soda from his parents and sister

Not really family oriented (toxic parents)

Would be in band or orchestra in school

Hes a big back when it comes to Bastani and Ghormasabzi (IM MAKING GHORMASABZI)

His gay awakening was Soda. NO EXCEPTIONS.

Has the best comebacks for haters

Calls sunglasses Hater-Blockers😭

Almost fought Pony at school one time and Soda had to stop them

Two Bit

He’s the type to eat paint chippings and get Lead Poisoning as a kid.

People dont believe hes 🇧🇷🇨🇺

Only makes food from a air fryer because he’s not trusted with a stove

Almost burned his house down when trying to re-fry french fries from mcdonald’s(you probably know the consequences).

Plays accordion and lets his sister sing with him for funsies

But plays trombone in band so he can be with Steve

The gang was calling him Two-Bitch, but pony was on his horse period and called him No-Bitch for fun. Two Bit swore it was on sight while the rest of the gang was laughing.

Has SOME rizz, but doesnt like to use it to his potential.

Pranks all of Tulsa by becoming a elf and running around scaring kids.

Drinks and smuggles Cuban cigars and Brazilian beers in the curtis house. Darry banned him from the house for a week.

Dallas

The original super senior

WHERE MY HUG AT???

Lemme take you to ur class😭

He has a cat name Mau Mau Winston the First and he wont let the gang touch her.

Thats his daughter dont fw her😡

He would let that cat do anything😭

FRAGILE MASCULINITY.

He’s actually a good dancer, HE GOT LIQUID HIPS.

Actually hates his dad with a burning passion (besides P-philes) and loves his mom. Hes a mamas boy.

Since hes also arab, I can see him cussing out the gang in arabic.

Watches Kai Cenat on the daily

🟧⬛️⭐️ obsessed

Was called Buster Cherry in New York

Tries to get people into fights for fun.

Darry

Literal husband material

Would literally be the best dad in the world.

Also speaks both Romanian and Hebrew fluently.

He planned Soda’s Bar Mitzvah and they have pictures of EVERYTHING.

Is first generation American when he moved from Romania in the 40’s due to the holocaust

Touches up his language skills when he has the time.

LOVES FRANK SINATRA

Him and his siblings have Hebrew names from their Bat Mitzvahs

Visits Romania with Soda and Pony in summer when they have the money.

when their parents were alive, they would speak Romanian when they were together.

Hanukkah is a very INTERESTING TIME for him- (ill make a headcanon on that)

Wanted to be a lawyer when he was younger

Dealt with racism in elementary/junior high because he was an emigrant.

A/N: This took A WEEK TO MAKE. DONT LET ME DOWN; I NEED COMMENTS, LIKES, REPOSTS,

A N Y T H I N G.

[nerves-nebula]

The contrast between faith and ultrakill, two games published by new blood is so funny to me

Faith: the satanic panic was real

Ultrakill: god is a cowardly little bitch and heaven is corrupt, anyway watch me do this cool backflip

Like I get that they only have the same publisher with completely different teams but once I heard them get lumped together as cool games that new blood published and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it

Like I remember when the first chapter of faith came out

Two parents are suspicious of their daughter's behaviour (for being too independent after getting a job as a nurse, idk it's been years since I have seen the first chapter) call a pair of priests to exorcise their daughter believing her to be possessed

The two priests fuck up the exorcism horrifically, resulting in the death of the parents and the daughter escaping

Later you, one of the priests who was there that day, come back, AGAINST THE CHURCH'S WISHES, to finish the job.

The daughter shows up, truly possessed like her parents had feared, the demon tells an evil speech about how it had stolen the girls body, and the priest succeeds at exorcising her and shoots her dead for good measure

Now, my memory may just be faulty, but I sincerely don't recall a moment in which you, the player character, is proven wrong

Also did you know that the daughter had a younger brother who is also apparently possessed, and in the opening second chapter you meet strapped to a bed, his body pale and gangly (which is apparently sign of demonic possession, like have y'all considered he's just sick??), held captive by the other priest, as the priest says that this is for the boy's own good??

And another also, did you know in the final chapter, in the final boss's evil lair has a portrait which has the word for demon written Latin Arabic and Hebrew?

EXEPT THE WORD IN ARABIC ISNT THE WORD FOR DEMON, IT'S JINN, A TYPE OF SPIRIT MADE OUT OF FIRE, Lucifer used to be one (not an angel like in Christianity, since angels in Islam don't have free will, only humans and jinn do), but after his fall he became a shaitan (the actual word for demon).

(fun fact, Satan's reason for falling in Islam is because he believed himself superior because he was made of fire while humans were made of mud)

(tho Islam has multiple sects so this may be different depending on the sect, idk)

And what makes me sad is remembering the early fandom that was the fact that a lot of us were convinced the priests were gonna be proven wrong, but nope, the final boss of the game is preventing the birth of the anti-christ

Who knows, maybe I'm being harsh, I don't quite remember the plot, and I didn't even finish it, the priests being constantly proven right put me off.

If there is like a secret plot twist ending where it proves my entire rant wrong I'm happy to hear it, cause I genuinely wanted to like this game

Honestly what sucks more is that the artstyle and the cutscenes are cool as hell, and we had a really cool setup for an unreliable narrator in chapter 1

We could have had another water womb world, except longer and with less fish body horror and more child abuse

idk what water womb world is but this sounds like a frustrating experience. RIP.

[ceristhefallen]

WAIT, JUST A SECOND–

Remember how Trigon claimed to have created the Lazarus Pits, in the DCAMU timeline?

Though, the comics state that it was composed with a weird chemical within the Earth's crust that had eventually been realized to resurrect people, mostly those of the League of Assassins.

Point is, I found an interesting detail, out of the internet: Do you know what Lazarus means??

In Hebrew, Lazarus means, "God has helped".

GREEK language even translates,

"God is my help"!

I'm bamboozled.

Did GOD in DC had anything to do with the Lazarus Pits existence?? Maybe Jesus?? I'd love to know!

I'm not Christian, but I'm learning, so bare with me! In Biblical history, the Gospel of John, Jesus raises Lazarus of Bethany from the dead after he dies in his tomb, or forcefully placed in there to die (I think). That took place in Bethany. Where is Bethany?

Nearest to Jerusalem!

But. Where did the League of Assassins reside?

'Eth Alth'eban. A sacred city in Asia, which is where the Arabian peninsulas are.

From what I know, Jesus DID stay in Asia, about 40 days, he resided after his resurrection. But. He stayed there to study with the Essenes, by under some degree. Why he did this, I can't really be too certain other than I'm a total bunk in history. ☠

But the Al Ghul family are Arabic, right? The Arabians are connected with the Jerusalems, meaning they've had to had some kind of history with Christianity, right?

I think... God (the Presence) or Jesus, created the Lazarus Pits, in the DC universe. Or at least, left them behind. But why would they do this? I could say they never intended to leave them behind, but everything that's created has a purpose, you know? Maybe it was left there as a serving presence of Jesus's resurrection, like a fragment of himself left on the planet for humans to gain access to.

Except. The Lazarus Pits are known to make the user go insane in the process. We saw it happen with Dick in the DCAMU; Justice League: Dark Apokolips War and perhaps Talia, as well. Heck! Jason Todd was under the effects of the pit! If it's truly from Jesus, it should've been fine to use. What happened?

The Devil. He hated humanity. He hated US. He saw us as disgusting beings unworthy to cherish by God's creation and was banished to Hell for his betrayal. He also had a history with Jesus. In the Bible, he attempted to manipulate Jesus into temptation, but he fails. I think the Devil tampered with the Lazarus Pits, as in corrupting the humans souls to madness under the use. It goes both ways, you're resurrected by the pit but you grow insane in the process.

"God has helped", but even the Devil, the personification of evil, does what he can to tamper with humanity.

But then. Where does Trigon come in? I don't think he does. In the DCAMU, it's probably an alternate universe as it's own or maybe a fluke. But. That's just a theory, right?

______________________________

Don't take this too seriously, I did this for fun and utter curiosity. If I made any mistakes, PLEASE let me know, I'd appreciate it. I'm a beginner at Bibicalic history as of now, lol!

[almaqead]

"The Zum." Introduction to Surah 39, Az Zumar, "The Summer."

Az-Zumar (Arabic: الزمر, ’az-zumar; meaning: "The Troops, The Throngs") is the 39th chapter (surah) of the Qur'an, the central religious text of Islam. It contains 75 verses (ayat). This surah derives its name from the Arabic word zumar (troops) that occurs in verses 71 and 73. Regarding the timing and contextual background of the believed revelation (asbāb al-nuzūl), it is believed to have been revealed in the mid-Meccan period[1] when persecutions of the Muslim believers by the polytheists had escalated.[1]

I have changed the banner to mean "Summertime" vs. "the Troops" to change our strategic objectives with this particular Dua. In general Troops in Hebrew are laws which are obeyed without question. The President tells the General, the General tells the Seargeant and then the troops march.

Even though we just finished Saaffat and Sad which list processes and procedures and personalities a persona a la Allah would follow, I think it is best to embellish this Surah with some good news.

Thus begins the Surah.

39: 1-4:

"The revelation of this Book is from Allah—the Almighty, All-Wise.

Indeed, We have sent down the Book to you ˹O Prophet˺ in truth, so worship Allah ˹alone˺, being sincerely devoted to Him.

Indeed, We have sent down the Book to you ˹O Prophet˺ in truth, so worship Allah ˹alone˺, being sincerely devoted to Him.

Had it been Allah’s Will to have offspring, He could have chosen whatever He willed of His creation. Glory be to Him! He is Allah—the One, the Supreme.

He created the heavens and the earth for a purpose. He wraps the night around the day, and wraps the day around the night. And He has subjected the sun and the moon, each orbiting for an appointed term. He is truly the Almighty, Most Forgiving.

He created you ˹all˺ from a single soul,1 then from it He made its mate.2 And He produced for you four pairs of cattle.3 He creates you in the wombs of your mothers ˹in stages˺, one development after another, in three layers of darkness.4 That is Allah—your Lord! All authority belongs to Him. There is no god ˹worthy of worship˺ except Him. How can you then be turned away?"

Commentary:

I was correct, we are not discussing an army but the effect of the sun overhead at midday during midsummer. Allah is absolute with regards to His Disposition with human perceptions the same way the term mid-July is unmistakeable to the human race. Midsummer has this emotive context of "we finally made it, and there is plenty of time left."

Muhammad was clear throughout the Quran, there is no other experience of God than one that is this solar centric. All the rest is of the imagination. This conflicts with Jewish which uses Kabbalah and mystical equations to teach the mind how to be independent from imaginary things, but Muhammad did not want to bother too much with all of that. His Quran is "clear" meaning, one can do what the Quran states if one is intelligent without too much trouble or worry of making a mistake.

Even still, Mo was in contact with the angels, a ruthless one in particular and He spoke in His own way. We must therefore use the Angelic Code to understand why Allah sent Jibril with thus Surah based on the figures included in its Fatim.

The presence of the Angelic Code in the rubrics of the Surat of the Quran is a sign Allah wanted to target Muslims with their own unique instructions and set them apart.

For this section of Zumar the Values in Gematria are:

This revelation is for a prophet in truth: The Number is 12686, יבם‎ףו‎, Yevam Ephu, "He wrinkled his nose."

To tell the truth is the smallest and also the greatest thing one can do. If one cannot tell the truth one's face falls into the dust. The Quran says Allah is sky blue. To attain to Allah one must hold one's nose up. Ground level is not enough.

Glory be to Him, He is the One. The Number is 8610, ףו‎י‎, foy, "to be baked."

Allah told Muhammad the world was to tell the truth all at once. There is an unseen ethical Spirit that controls the universe and we are at His Behest. In the Quran He says "bake it up."

"The verb φυω (phuo) describes a sprouting and growing up of plants primarily and secondarily of people.

Together with the common preposition εκ (ek), meaning out: the verb εκφυω (ekphuo), meaning to produce out or bring forth (Matthew 24:32 and Mark 13:28 only).

Together with the preposition εν (en), meaning in, at, on: the adjective εμφυτος (emphutos), meaning inborn or implanted: descriptive of something that sprouts within but which not necessarily originates from within. This word occurs in James 1:21 only, in a reference that clearly deploys the metaphor of the Word sown as seeds on the field of one's heart (see Matthew 13:1-23).

Together with the familiar adjective νεος (neos), meaning new or young: the adjective νεοφυτος (neophutos), meaning newly sprung up (1 Timothy 3:6 only).

Together with the preposition συν (sun), meaning together or with: the verb συμφυω (sumphuo), meaning to spring up together (Luke 8:7 only). From this verb comes:

The adjective συμφυτος (sumphutos), meaning sprang up together, united with, innate (Romans 6:5 only)."

He created the earth for a purpose. If you think the purpose was to make a soundstage for the swine, you are mistaken. What is happening in Riyadh is unholy and it does not meet the standards set forth by Allah to the House of Saud "of human welfare" for how the world should work. The King of Saudi Arabia is supposed to be the world's light, its greatest prophet, whoever he shall be. He is the Zum, the mouth of the sweetest water in paradise."

The Number is 9809, טףט‎‎, tefet, "theft."

The Words of Allah cannot be stolen out of the mouth of His Prophet. The penalty for this is death. The King of Saudi Arabia and his court must adjudicate the hearing between the US and Russia absent the plaintiff, Ukraine and its people according to the Will of God.

The Imji says if the people of America and Russia are repentant for th war and carnage they waged against Ukraine they can leave. If they are unrepentant they cannot leave in one piece.

He creates you in stages. The Number is 9505, טןה‎ ‎, tena, "the claim, the argument" .

"In three layers of darkness. That is Allah." The Number is 11163, קיאסג‎, kiasg, because of the sag, the saj, "and its rhyme, meter, and ending."

At the end of the Quran, Muhammad asks Allah to protect mankind from itself.

The argument at the beginning is God is good, at the end of it, Muhammad says, however, man is not good enough.

If those evil disgusting greedy men from DC and Moscow are hamstrung like horses, then the people of Ukraine and Russia and every place in this world suffering from their wickedness will benefit. I do not want to them leave Riyadh in peace or in one piece. The only way to prove to God we are good enough.

We must free the people of Eastern Europe from this scourge before talks continue. We may not get another chance. The Trump Presidency is illegal, it has no negotitating power. He disrupted life on earth during his insurrection on January 6 because of my Book. He cannot be the President, he cannot be anything because of this.

The Russian Presidency is wanted for war crimes. God is on the side of the righteous who want to parley with legitimate envoys of peace. The rest, He has asked us to destroy utterly.

Also for the record, in February of 2022, as Russian troops were queing before their invasion of Ukraine, three Ukrainian soldiers asked me to intervene and save their lives and those of their countrymen. Donald Trump is a filthy, bombastic liar. The Ukrainians did not start a war with Russia, Vladimir Putin did because he was opposed to my offer to help finance the Third Temple. Donald Trump must be excised from the human race for his role in the mass murder taking place all around this world.

That is my Claim, and I stand behind it. I have been trying ever since this happened to get the Russian army and its Chain of Command to return home and publish the peace. I will not stop promoting their causes until this is done, and the Russian government and people agree to my request.

He says we have allowed a few fearful men to endanger the unborn, and cut the Summers short for the rest. He says delaying the fears will not save us, only the Zum.

The Surah will continue.

[narcissa-black-supermacy]

Ohh elaborate on the Mena house of Black :D

ok so. I think after all the time i spent ranting about this, it's time for the official dissertation. If someone reads this and is still not convinced that the Blacks are mena-coded, talk to me (that's a threat). @soloorganaas feel free to add on if i missed something

Note: MENA is short for the geographical region of Middle East-North Africa which includes a variety of ethnicities and cultures that share certain traits and stereotypes I'll be addressing here.

Disclaimer: I have lived my entire life in the Levant. I am speaking from my own experience with these cultures not within British diaspora. If anybody can provide input on that, it will be great.

my main points (going from the more superficial things to the more niche topics)

Very obvious non-white features and appearance among the majority of the members

French being used as a second native language in many mena regions ("toujours pur")

Big, multi-sibling families in comparison to most pure-bloods in canon

Cousin intermarriage (is second cousin marriage incest?)

Frequent reuse of names

The tapestry

Pure-blood mania as a parallel to mena religious Sectarianism

12GP being located at the heart of muggle London

Family values, betrayal and "all or nothing" approach (= mena blood feud culture)

JKR's tendency to let her internal biases seep through her writing unintentionally

Let's tackle these one by one, I will try to be short (HA that's funny. under the cut):

(I will highlight the main points in bold for those of you who don't want to read through all of my ramblings)

Very obvious non-white features and appearance. I think this one is self-explanatory. Sirius, Bellatrix, Regulus, Walburga - except for Narcissa, who is intentionally altered to resemble the Malfoys since page one, all of the Black are described to have very non-white features and appearance. Black curly hair and grey eyes are extremely common in the NA + Levant region, regardless of skin colour.

The most wide-spread fanon ethnicity for the Blacks appears to be French. Genuinely no idea where that came from. I am guessing that some of it stems from the "toujours pur" line, to which, I must point out: tons of regions in MENA have been French colonies. French is taught at schools (I learned French at school before English), spoken alongside Arabic/Hebrew/etc within the family, used for things like slogans and mottos. Kill the idea that French is only spoke in France and if a character speaks French it gives us a clear idea of where they come from.

This is something I don't see talked about, but the Blacks have very abnormally large families in comparison to the rest of the pure-bloods we are presented with in canon. Most are only children (James, Remus, Peter, Draco, Lucius, so on) and the only exception to the rule is the Weasleys, who are constantly ridiculed for it by others. Cygnus and Druella have 3 daughters. Walburga has 2 sons and she comes from a family of 3 siblings. Orion's parents are 3 siblings, Walburga's parents are 3. The generation before their parents are 4 siblings. The one before it is 4 as well. Anyway. There's a pattern. See? The average number of children for the Blacks appears to be 3, while for most pure-blood families, even 2 is way above the average.

Cousin intermarriage - also pretty self explanatory? Might be a bit of a harmful stereotype here, but it's true - second cousin intermarriage is not seen as a big deal in most MENA cultures, to this day, and definitely not back then. It is much more widespread than in most European cultures, I believe.

Reuse of names - another very common trait in all MENA cultures. My husband has 7 Mordechai's and 8 Moris'es just in the last 3 generations of his family. Half of my cousins are called Muhammad. Typical.

The tapestry - another example of something that's portrayed as strange in canon, but is actually typical MENA culture. I don't think I know a single Arab or Jewish family that does not have some kind of equivalent of the Black family tapestry showing off their lineage generations back. And the disowned family members get taken off, yes, that's a thing.

Pure-blood mania as a parallel to MENA religious sectarianism Now, THIS is something I want to focus on. Most MENA cultures are very sectarian. Not in a "well, duh, it's the middle east" kind of way - I am talking about the most progressive regions and cities. People will consider themselves progressive, support women's and LGBT rights, but still view intermarriage as a dirty thing. Religious intermarriage between the different sects of Christians, Jews, Shias, Sunnis etc is strictly forbidden and frowned upon almost everywhere. Now, you might say - well, isn't this just a general pure-blood thing? No. The Blacks are NOT modal pure-bloods. They are a very radical, extreme version of it. I would argue that the average pure-bloods look like the Malfoys - who are stated to be rather moderate, not accepting muggle-borns, but having no problem with half-bloods. The Blacks' pure-blood mania dates back to before Voldemort's rise, it's a family trait passed through generations, and it goes beyond the regular pure-blood snobbism. This is typical, by-the-book sectarianism.

12GP being located at the heart of muggle London This is an interesting one, I think, because it might not be as obvious as the others. The Blacks are very known bigots and muggle-haters, but surprisingly, unlike most pure-bloods we know (even the muggle friendly ones!), their house is located at the HEART of muggle London. Why the hell is that? This actually makes PERFECT SENSE if you understand how Sectarianism works, which ties back to point N 7. Typical religious sectarianism does NOT look like western racism or bigotry. Sectarianism is NOT hatred or fear. Different sects across MENA work together, study together, even make friends on occasion, but they make this very strict separation between accepting the presence of someone different in their immediate surroundings, and actually letting them into their circle. In other words: we can work with muggle-borns and blood-traitors. We can study with them. They are allowed to exist. Actually, we will go out of our way to live among them, state our existence, remind them who is the boss, but we will not engage. We will not marry them, we will not let them into our house. This is sectarianism. It's a behaviour VERY specific to the Blacks in the HP universe, not pure-bloods in general.

Family values, betrayal and "all or nothing" approach (= mena blood feud culture) Blood feud culture is a strong thing in all MENA cultures, even to this day. Blood feud can be used to mean revenge on someone who hurt a member of your family, OR it can also mean "honour killing" within the family itself. If a member of the family is considered to be a disgrace and brings shame with a certain type of their behaviour (that is typically a young unmarried woman who slept with a man outside of a permitted relationship, an openly LGBT individual, someone who speaks against the political stance of the family). Reminds you of something? Yep. Disownment, disinheritance, the only thing we do not see here is the Blacks actively seeking to kill the members who have left. Again, this is NOT typical pure-bloods behaviour, this is something we see specifically within their family. Just like with Sectarianism, this is classic, by-the-book Blood Feud culture and honour killing.

JKR's tendency to let her internal biases seep through her writing unintentionally Do I think JKR consciously sat down and said "let's write the Blacks as mena-coded characters"? Of course not. Just like she did not intend for many things to come off the way they did (like wolfstar, desi potters, etc), but that happened. I think it's natural that when you are raised with certain biases and stereotypes towards a certain group, it will seep through when you're writing characters that are meant to be "evil" and "bad". Again, maybe it's just me. But there are simply way too many similarities and coincidences. I remember reading and watching HP with my siblings when the books/movies were just coming out, and we were all 100% convinced that the Blacks being Arab is just... common knowledge. It wasn't until I started engaging with the Western fandom that I realised it wasn't.

This is all, I think. Well, not nearly all, but these are my main points. It's been long overdue. Feel free to shoot me an ask if you want me to elaborate on something.

[uroboros-if]

Hi, I really enjoyed the character spotlight post! The Tesata diceraga bit got me curious.

May I ask what was your inspiration for the language of Uroboros?

Thanks for sharing you work with us!

Hello, thank you for asking!!

EDIT: Forgot to add that I'm super excited and thrilled that you liked the character spotlight post!!!!

The language of Uroboros came from a different work of mine that I never got to release to the public.

Since it's the first language I've ever crafted, I decided to stick to what I know and took influence from the phonology and grammar structure of Spanish and Italian. However, I also decided to take elements of my native tongue, Tagalog by making it a mostly phonetic language.

Specifically touching on "tesata diceraga," however, "tesata" means "knowledge," which is a noun form of the verb, "teman" that means "to think." "Diceraga" means "sacred," and is a shortened form of "madiceraga," the past participle of the verb, "madiceran," which means "to make holy." Since the noun comes first before the adjective in this language, together this makes "sacred knowledge."

Here is the phonology chart I made:

Some other notable implementations:

"The" in this language is also gender-neutral and unchangeable no matter singular, dual or plural

Aside from singular and plural, there is also a way to describe two items--a dual, borrowed from Hebrew and Arabic

The language was originally completely gender-neutral, such as in the Tagalog language. However, I thought it'd be more interesting if in addition to a gender-neutral option, pronouns could be gendered so people had more freedom to call themselves as they please

In contrast to the language, the fashion for the original Twelve gods was inspired by Edo period Japan, and the newer generation of gods and humans have fashion inspired by 18th century Russia (or more France... at that time, the people were being pressured into adopting more western fashion, particularly French)

I mostly chose stronger consonants since it seems easier to develop language through sounds that are easier to make with your mouth, like "pa" and "ba" and "ka". Then I just threw in some cute outliers in

I am SO sorry for this long post... I've been waiting for this my entire life. Hopefully no linguistics nerds tear me an absolute new one since I have no knowledge on language-making except some intense Internet and video research.

Thank you again!!! ♥️♥️

[traumacatholic]

Cambridge University’s Introductory Reading list for Theology degrees students

So for those that don’t know, Cambridge University do have some suggestions for what students can read in order to prepare themselves for the application and interviewing stage. But I figured that this list might also be enjoyed by those who are interested in studying theology / are studying theology / want to know where to begin. 

Paper 1: Languages

Hebrew 

Lambdin, Thomas. Introduction to Biblical Hebrew. (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1973)

Greek 

Duff, J. Elements of New Testament Greek (3rd edn; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005)

Sanskrit 

Coulson, M., Sanskrit: an introduction to the Classical Language (2nd edn; London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1992)

Arabic 

Haywood, J. A. & Nahmad, H. M. A., A New Arabic Grammar of the Written Language (London: Lund Humphries, 1990)

General Books on the Bible and its Interpretation

Grant, R. M. & Tracy, D. A., Short History of the Interpretation of the Bible (London: SCM, 1984)

Hayes, J. H. & Holladay, C. R., Biblical Exegesis: A Beginner's Handbook (3rd edn; Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2010)

Alter, R. & Kermode, F., The Literary Guide to the Bible (London: Collins, 1987)

Soskice, J.M., The Sisters of Sinai: How Two Lady Adventurers Found the Hidden Gospels (London: Chatto & Windus, 2009).

Old Testament: David 

McKenzie, S.L., King David: A Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000)*

Alter, R., The Art of Biblical Narrative (London: Basic Books, 2011)

Dietrich, W., The Early Monarchy in Israel: The Tenth Century B.C.E. (Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 2007)

Rogerson, J. W. & Davies, P., The Old Testament World (2nd edn; Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2006)

Rogerson, J. W. (ed.), Beginning Old Testament Study (London: SPCK, 1983)

New Testament: Jesus and the Origins of the Gospels

Johnson, L. T., The Writings of the New Testament (London: SCM, 1999)

Court, J. & K., The New Testament World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990)

Tuckett, C., Reading the New Testament (London: SPCK, 1987)

Barrett, C. K., The New Testament Background: Selected Documents (London: SPCK, 1956)

Moule, C. F. D., The Birth of the New Testament (London: A & C Black, 3rd ed., 1981)

E. P. Sanders,  The Historical Figure of Jesus (London: Allen Lane, 1993)

M Bockmuehl (ed.),  The Cambridge Companion to Jesus (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001)

History: Christianity and the Transformation of Culture 

Brown, P., Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity: Towards a Christian Empire (Madison,WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992)

Markus, R., The End of Ancient Christianity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990)

Clark, G., Christianity and Roman Society (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2004)

The Question of God 

Davis, Stephen T. (ed.), Encountering Evil: Live Options in Theodicy (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2004)

Fergusson, David. Creation (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2014)

Ford, David F., Theology: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000)

Migliore, Daniel L. Faith Seeking Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Theology, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2004).

Solle, Dorothee. Thinking about God: An Introduction to Theology (London: SCM, 1990)

Understanding Contemporary Religion

Aldridge, A., Religion in the Contemporary World (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2000)

Barker, E., The Making of a Moonie: Brainwashing or Choice (Oxford: Blackwell, 1984)

Bruce, S., Religion in the Modern World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996)

Davie, G., Religion in Britain since 1945 (Oxford: Blackwell, 1994)

Davie, G., Europe: The Exceptional Case (London: DLT, 2002)

Hamilton, M. B., The Sociology of Religion (2nd edn; London: Routledge, 2001)

World Religions 

Neusner, J. & Sonn, T., Comparing Religions Through Law: Judaism and Islam (London: Routledge, 1999)

McCutcheon, R. T., The Insider/Outsider Problem in the Study of Religion: A Reader (London: Cassell, 1999)

de Lange, N.R.M., An Introduction to Judaism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000)

Waines, D., An Introduction to Islam (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997)

Lipner, J. J., Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices (London: Routledge, 1994)

Philosophy of Religion 

Brian Davies, Introduction to Philosophy of Religion (Oxford, 3rd edition, 2004)

Edward Feser, Five Proofs of the Existence of God (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2017)

John Haldane and J.J.C. Smart, Atheism and Theism (London: Blackwell, 1996)

David Bentley Hart, The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss (New Haven: Yale, 2014)

Richard Swinburne, Is There a God? (Oxford, revised edition, 2010)

Charles Taliaferro, Evidence and Faith: Philosophy and Religion Since the Seventeenth Century (Cambridge, 2005)

Burrell, D., Knowing the Unknowable God: Ibn-Sina, Maimonides and Aquinas (South Bend, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1986)

Ethics 

John Hare, God’s Call: Moral Realism, God’s Commands, and Human Autonomy (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2001)

Fergus Kerr, After Aquinas: Versions of Thomism (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002), ch. 7

Alasdair MacIntyre, A Short History of Ethics: A History of Moral Philosophy from the Homeric Age to the Twentieth Century (London: Routledge, 2nd ed., 1998)

Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory (London: Duckworth, 1981), ch. 1, ch. 2, ch. 9, ch. 18

Iris Murdoch, The Sovereignty of Good (London: Routledge, 1970), ch. 2

Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self: The Making of Modern Identity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), esp. Part I, Part II, and Part IV

William Wainwright, Religion and Morality (London and New York: Routledge, 2005), esp. Part I and Part II

Bernard Williams, Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy (London and New York: Routledge, 2006), ch. 1 and ch. 10

General

Dixon, T.M., How to Get a First (London: Routledge, 2004). This book gives advice on teaching and learning styles and how to manage time and lectures in the Arts & Humanities. It has a helpful section on making the transition from school to university

Miscellaneous (this is compiled from another list they give to those who aren’t at the application stage and want to see what theology is all about)

Confessions by St Augustine,

Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

The Conference of the Birds by Farid ud-Din Attar

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick

Daniel Deronda by George Eliot

Silence by Shusaku Endo

On Being a Muslim by Farid Esack

Ambiguous Adventure by Cheikh Hamidou Kane

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter Millar

Beloved by Toni Morrison

The Bell by Iris Murdoch

Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich

The Chosen by Chaim Potok

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley  

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Phaedrus, The Symposium and Phaedo by Plato provide good background and enrichment reading

Religion: If There Is No God...On God, the Devil, Sin and Other Worries of the So-called Philosophy of Religion by Leszek Kolakowski

Protestants : The Radicals Who Made the Modern World by Alex Ryrie

Authority and the Sacred: aspects of the Christianisation of the ancient world by Peter Brown

In Search of Churchill: A Historian's Journey by Martin Gilbert

Disenchanting the English Reformation by Faculty of Divinity member Richard Rex. The site where it is found, Marginalia, is itself a great forum for thoughtful essays on a whole range of subjects, religious, cultural, and other

Faculty member, Dr Katharine Dell's theological response to coronavirus

Study Theology even if you don't believe in God by Tara Isabella Burton