#edited to fix some of the hebrew names meanings
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Last notes and final thoughts on Creating the Quran:
A text does not become fixed at its first writing; ancient and especially sacred writing remain open and in flux for a considerable period after. Even after it was written down, the Quran was a text "in process."
The rasm (the consonantal "skeleton" of the Quran) does show extraordinary constancy from the time of Abd al-Malik; its vocalization was in dispute for centuries after. But the tremendous fluidity of the oral phase of development did come to an end.
Lol, the name of a scholar cited in this chapter is "Assmann."
Oral tradition can coexist with a written canon for a time: even once the Gospels had been written down, ancient writers rarely cited them word-for-word, often using relatively free transmissions and maintaining the vibracy of oral tradition. A similar process may have been at work around the Quran.
Sometimes searching for an "original text" when it comes to texts like these (including the Gospels, for instance, or the books of the Hebrew Bible) may even be meaningless; the early text-forms are in dialogue with the late oral-forms, and the former are not being produced with the specific end of creating a fixed, canonical text. Concepts like individual authorship, a complete and self-contained textual artifact, and formal publication don't necessarily apply. Canonized texts can start out as essentially aids to memory, or personal notes, that existed to be revised and extended as necessary.
The early regional codices could have grown out of such memoranda, only gradually being reshaped into more complete and polished texts. This would help account for why the Quran often repeats the same tradition in different forms, sometimes with minor differences and sometimes with significant contraditions.
For works like the Gospels, Matthew and Mark might have even been regarded as functionally "the same text" in the same way even very different oral performances of a story can be considered "the same."
The evident parallel traditions in the Quran may derive from the retelling and recomposition of traditions in different communities, or from ongoing revisions to an open text. Many of these parallel traditions are Christian ones, or Jewish ones that seemed to enter the text from Christian sources.
Extensive biographical tradition within Islam around Muhammad in particular; but it's unlikely (for reasons discussed earlier) to be reliable. The small grains of historicity within it are obscured by the narrative that has grown around them.
Some traditions in the Quran appear to originate from before Muhammad's prophetic mission, distinguished by their utter lack of intelligibility for early Muslim commentators. This indicates they were not passed down orally, since they were not altered in ways to make them relevant to the community, and so may have been written down when Muhammad and his earliest followers encountered them.
Bellamy argues there are more than two hundred words in the Quran that later commentators not only didn't understand, but didn't know how to vocalize. These could be the result of copyists' mistakes, but they're present in all Quran manuscripts, and so would have to go back to a single version.
Example: "Yuhanna" ("John") being read as "Yahya," because of the ambiguity between and without consonant-pointing. With just the rasm, Yahya is a perfectly good guess--whoever first read "Yahya" in the passages where it occurs cannot have had an oral tradition preserving the sound of the name, or prior knowledge of John the Baptist, or they would have recognized it on the basis of context.
Surat Quraysh was very opaque to interpreters, who had no better understanding of this sura than we do today; the meaning of the key term "ilaf" seems to be entirely opaque, leading to a wide array of interpretations. Difficult to reconcile this lack of understanding with Muhammad teaching it to his followers.
Final editing of the Quran must have been very conservative to retain these infelicities--typical of scriptural traditions, or at least of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament.
Patricia Crone proposes some parts of the Quran predate Muhammad. Michael Cook says OTOH maybe the materials that make up the Quran didn't become "generally available as scripture" until well after Muhammad's death. Neither supposition is exclusive of the other.
Gerd Puin argues that "every fifth sentence" or so "simply doesn't make sense." Gerald Hawting observes "the text taken on its own is often completely unintelligible, filled with grammatical and logical discontinuities." This puts me in mind with the weird way different sources are jammed together in the Hebrew Bible, sometimes totally muddling narratives that were clear in the original--I don't wonder if part of the problem is that different regional codices, when brought together, were harmonized in a very conservative way that left a lot of contraditions and discontinuities in the text.
Shoemaker thinks the best model is still the one where the Quran is largely rooted in Muhammad's teachings, with the inclusion possibly of some archaic and imperfectly understood textual materials, and with considerable change introduced in the process of transmission before final canonization.
Quran talks about seafaring and fishing familiarly, both things alien to Mecca and Yathrib. Ditto agriculture and vegetation, especially kinds not found even in the Yathrib oasis. Most likely elements that found their way in once the Islamic polity had reached the shores of the Mediterranean.
Similarly out of place geographical references: Sodom and Gomorrah as places passed by daily; as the audience living not far from where Lot once dwelled. Landscape of memory here is focused on Palestine, not Hijaz.
Heavy borrowing of words, including from Syriac and Hebrew, in the language of the Quran, indicating heavy linguistic contact with the Fertile Crescent.
"Vast knowledge of Christian lore" despite no Christian presence in Mecca or Yathrib, in either the Islamic tradition or elsewhere. Quran assumes good knowledge of the Torah and Gospels and many extrabiblical traditions also. The Quran's presentation of many figures from the Hebrew Bible draws specifically on Syriac Christian traditions, and not on Jewish traditions as you might suppose from the traditional account of Jews present in Medina. Its anti-Jewish rhetoric and demonology depend on earlier Christian traditions, and some passages seem to address Christian directly.
Removing Muhammad and the Quran completely from the Hijaz would make it hard to explain why Mecca and Yathrib eventually came to be so important in later tradition. It seems likely that, even though the Holy Land and Jerusalem stood at the center of the imagination of early believers, there was some historical connection to the Hijaz, and only as they began to more self-consciously differentiate themselves from Christians and Jews around them did they shift their focus to this element of their history.
It's not necessary (or tenable) to entirely detach the Quran from the figure of Muhammad. Some material in it almost certainly derives from his prophetic career in Mecca and Medina. In some cases, followers later added blocks of textual material already written down in a religious context somewhere outside the Hijaz, alongside entirely new traditions emerging from cross-cultural contact.
19:22-28 gives a compressed account of the Nativity that is found only in the liturgical practice of a particular Marian shrine just outside Jerusalem, the Kathisma church. This tradition is so obscure it's unlikely it independently made its way to the central Hijaz--it joined the corpus most likely after Muhammad's followers took control of the region, and converted this church into a mosque.
Like almost all other sacred texts of its type, the Quran is not a "book" but a corpus: texts not originally intended to be grouped together, heterogenous in origin and function, and in some cases dependent or independent of one another. Composite, but also composed, i.e., put together intentionally and carefully using techniques from a literate context, with literary polish.
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Wild that this post has 11,000 likes when it’s spreading such blatant fucking disinformation.
“Sabra” is word Israelis use to refer to an Israeli Jew. The "longer statement" attempts to refute the idea that Sabra was named after the Hebrew term by saying that the massacre happened in the 1980s, and the character didn't exist until the 1990s. Clearly, this person didn't do the world's most minimal amount of research. Let's get into it real quick--
Sabra's first full appearance was in Incredible Hulk #256, published in February 1981. She had a named cameo from the same run six issues earlier, in February 1980. So she was a planned and named character in development at least as early as 1979. The Sabra and Shatila massacre began on 16 September 1982, two years after Sabra made her debut in the comics.
Given her name and original design, Marvel's Sabra is likely influenced by the character named "Sabraman" by Uri Fink, an Israeli comic book creator. Sabraman's origins date back to 1978-- four full years before the Sabra and Shatila massacres.
This is a nitpicky point, but why are you following a Jewish discourse blog if not for nitpicky points? The Israeli Defence Forces were involved in the Sabra and Shatila massacres. There's no question about that. They authorized it, provided funds for it, and offered logistical support for it. But they did not carry it out. A Lebanese Christian Nationalist militia carried it out. Why lie about that? Israeli forces supported the murder of civilians! They lit up the sky for days so that the massacre could continue into the night! Why do you need to lie and say they were holding the guns? Is what they did not bad enough for you? This is what I mean when I say that you guys would rather resort to conspiracy theories and misinformation than actually accurately criticize Israel for once.
So where did I get all these facts? Did I have to do some deep dive into comics of the 1970s and 80s? Pull up niche and obscure military journals about the Lebanese Civil War? Nope! I got all that information by... looking at Wikipedia pages. I did double-check Incredible Hulk #250 to ensure that she was already named Sabra in 1980. She was. I also looked around for any articles that backed up the claim that fetuses were cut out of women's wombs during the Sabra and Shatila massacre and... I didn't find any. Al Jazeera doesn't even mention it. If you can find a reputable source for that, please send it to me! Until then, I'm gonna rule this as flat-out blood libel.
You may be asking yourself, why didn't Marvel change Sabra's name in 1982 when the tragedy occurred? Aren't they at least responsible for that? And personally, I think you'd be right. But Marvel didn't budge on Black Panther (named July 1966) when the Black Panther Party (named October 1966) was founded. It doesn't seem like they were interested in making character changes due to political pressures back then. Whether that's a good thing or not is a different story.
And finally, no, this post is not anything close to an endorsement of the new Captain America movie. I'd been planning on boycotting the movie named after an antisemitic conspiracy theory, from the company that butchers any Jewish representation they don't completely ignore, since before y'all found out about Sabra's existence. I just honestly thought the antisemitic nonsense about this character would be coming from the right, not the left.
Edit: Fixed formatting mistakes. Tumblr does not fucking like Hebrew text.
#I know I literally just responded to an ask by saying I don’t do media news coverage#but I’ve been a marvel comics fan for literal decades so I wasn’t about to take this one sitting down
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Headcanon boxer names part 2! Electric boogaloo! (Snes Edition)
Explanations for the meaning and some history behind their names and stage names included too!
Gabby Jay: Gabrielle Eugène Jay
Gabrielle is the french feminine form of Gabriel, meaning "God is my hero". Eugène is the french form of Eugenius (Eugene in English), meaning 'Well born". Jay is an English name coming from founding father John Jay, whose surname derived from the jaybird.
Gabby was named after his aunt, Gabrielle Eugénie Jay. Because she cared for him so much after he transitioned, as a way to continue honoring her after her death, he chose to only masculinize his middle name and change his surname to Jay.
His original surname, Durand, means stubborn.
Gabby is cool with any spelling or nickname he's given. This has led to many of the younger boxers calling him 'Gibby' (Although the shortening is incorrect).
Piston Hurricane: Raúl Palomo-Aguado
Raúl is the Spanish form of Radulf, which comes from Ráðúlfr, meaning "Wisdom wolf". Palomo means "pigeon", from Latin palumbes. Aguado is derived from Spanish agua meaning "water".
A lot of people consider his first name to be 'fancy' which he doesn't understand whatsoever.
The 'Piston' in his stage name comes from his interest in cars- particularly the unique car culture of his home country.
If you call him Ralph, he'll punch you.
Bob Charlie: Robert Stuart Charlie
Robert comes from the Germanic name Hrodebert meaning "bright fame". Stuart comes from the Scottish occupational name Steward, derived from Old English stig "house" and weard "guard". Charlie comes from Charles, the French and English from of the Latin name Carolus, meaning 'man'.
Bob doesn't like his full name very much- he thinks it's stiff and formal. He shortens it whenever and wherever he can.
He goes by "Stu" just as much as Bob.
In an Ironic twist, "Charlie" isn't short for anything, that;s just his last name lol.
Dragon Chan: Hejian (A.K.A Dagon) Cheung
Heijan comes from the characters 河 and 健, which mean "River" and "Strong, healthy" respectively. Cheung is a Cantonese version of Zhang, meaning "stretch, extend", a name given to bowmakers.
Heijan prefers to either have his name said as a single word, or to go by 'Dagon", a name he picked up from a friend's DnD campaign.
He was suprised to learn the name Dagon actually comes form HP Lovecraft. Knowing it's the name of an eldritch god makes it 600x cooler for him.
Dragon got his stage name from tourists mishearing "Dagon" ans "Dragon", he stuck with it as his name means 'strong river', which Chinese dragons are associated with. 'Chan' just comes from his admiration of Jackie Chan and Kung fu movies in general.
Masked Muscle: Antonio Carrillo-Maldonado
Antonio is the Spanish and Italian form of Antonius, which has no known meaning. Carrillo means "cheek, jaw" in Spanish. Maldonado comes from a nickname meaning "badly given, ill-favoured" in Spanish.
He doesn't mind the name Tony, but prefers to be called Antonio.
Most of the time, he only writes his last name down as Maldonado.
Every time he meets someone else with the same name, he takes them out for drinks.
Aran Ryan: Airyn O’Ryan
Airyn is a misspelling of Aaron, which comes from the Hebrew name Aharon which doesn't have a known origin, though common theories state it means "High mountain" or "Exhaled". O'Ryan is anglicized from Ó Riain, meaning "Descended from the little King".
Airyn was bullied for the spelling of his name, to the point where he used to hate his name, instead wishing he'd been named something else.
If he's grateful for one thing, it's that he never got a middle name. His mum told him that had she given him one, it would've been after his father's name Bartholomew. Bullet dodged.
His stage name "Aran Ryan" was a mistake by the WVBA. Although he pointed out that His name wasn't written down correctly, it never got fixed and Airyn decided to ignore it.
Heike Kagero: Hisoka Shiraishi
Hisoka is a name and word that literally means "Reserved, Secretive" in Japanese. Shiraishi is from Japanese shira meaning "white" and ishi meaning "stone".
Hisoka was named after Ayaka Hibiki's stage name.
Whenever he makes Narcis mad, Narcis calls him His-sock-uh. Hisoka has embraced this as a nickname.
They got their stage name from the tale of Heike, the name Heike meaning "House of Tiara" and Kagerō the Japanese word for 'heat haze' and 'mayfly'
Mad Clown: Otello Sordi
Otello is the Italian version of Othello, which has no known meaning. Sordi comes from sordo meaning "deaf" in Italian.
Otello adores his name and is quite proud to show it off.
Funnily enough, being named Otello is what got him into opera, as Otello is also the name of an opera based on the play by Shakespeare.
Mad Clown was meant to be a placeholder name, but he ended up keeping it around long enough that it stuck. He mildly regrets it.
Narcis Prince: Narcissus Aiolos Helios Prince
Narcissus is the Latinized form of Greek Narkissos, possibly derived from narke meaning "sleep, numbness". Aiolos means "quick-moving, nimble" in Greek. Helios means "sun" in Greek. Prince comes from a nickname from Middle English, Old French prince (Latin princeps).
Narcis loathes his name and finds it extremely pretentious. His entire family has a naming convention after Greek words, particularly mythology.
The Name Narcis itself is a Catlan variant of Narcissus and the Catlan name for the Narcissus flower, which makes it more tolerable for Narcis.
If he were to change his name, he'd choose Živan, which is a slovak name meaning living/alive.
Hoy Quarlow: Bai-Wei Zhu
Bai-Wei comes from the characters 百 and 伟 meaning 'One hundred" and "extraordinary" respectively. Zhu means "Vermillion red".
Bai tends to only go by the first part of his name, unless around family or akin to family, who call him Wei Wei.
All of his siblings share the second half of their name "Wei", which isn't an uncommon practice for siblings in Chinese culture.
The name 'Hoy Quarlow' means twice-cooked pork, one of his favorite foods.
Rick Bruiser: Richolas Nadford Broesder
Richolas and Nadford are misspellings of the names Nicholas and Radford respectively. Broesder has no meaning or clear origin I could find.
Rick wasn't expected, so his parents panicked and named him... that.
Rick never found his name odd. Not until high school when a teacher read his full name aloud and asked who the fuck would name their kid that.
Though Rick lieks the name Broesder, he often struggles to spell it. This is why he tends to write his name as Rick Bruiser more often.
Nick Bruiser: Nicholas Radford Broesder
Nicolas comes from the Greek name Nikolaos meaning "victory of the people". Radford comes from many English place names, whose meanings vary from Old English read "red" + ford "ford" to a derivative of Old English ridan "to ride", with the meaning "ford that can be crossed on horseback". Broesder has no meaning or clear origin that I could find.
The brother's parent's also have names ending in -ick, Vick and Dick Broesder.
Nick is insistent that Radford is also the source of the word 'radical', no one has managed to change his mind yet.
Nick doesn't like his surname much, which is why him and Rick started calling themselves 'Bruiser'
Peter Punch/Birdie: Peter Andrew Jaskólsk
Peter derives from the Greek word Petros meaning stone. Andrew comes from the Greek name Andreas, meaning "Manly". Jaskólski is a Polish place name shared by many towns, coming from the name for swallows jaskółka.
In boxing, he uses the name 'peter punch', which his mom came up with.
He also goes by 'Birdie' which comes from the fact that when he whistles, he sounds like a bird.
Peter was born with Jewish ancestry but wasn't very close to Jewish culture. As he gets older and more connected, however, he ends up adopting the Hebrew name Yaron ben Avraham v'Sarah
#gabby jay#piston hurricane#bob charlie#dragon chan#masked muscle#snes aran ryan#heike kagero#mad clown#narcis prince#hoy quarlow#rick bruiser#nick bruiser#peter punch#super punch out#headcanons#my hcs
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Hey, I loved your Jewish elves hcs!!! please do more if you feel like it 🥺
Oh wow, thanks! :D
I'm in my Tiertice brainrot era (I have been in this era for literally years) so have some Tiertice headcanons: Judaism edition
This isn't necessarily a headcanon, but just something that was in my brain- Tiergan and Prentice + David and Jonathan.
Specifically, that part in Machar Chodesh where they have their "thank god you're alive" gay reunion and then they kiss. It just reminds me of Them particularly in Nightfall.
(Fun fact: Machar Chodesh is the gay Haftarah. I was assigned the gay Haftarah for my b'nai mitzvah before I even knew I was gay)
Tiergan has a fairly stereotypical Jewish nose and Prentice thinks it is actually the most beautiful thing in the world (he's right big noses are awesome)
Prentice and Tiergan disagree on whether or not matzah tastes good and it's the biggest argument they've ever had.
The Lost Cities do have synagogues, but sometimes Tiergan and Prentice totally legally visit human synagogues. They're just neat, you know?
Especially since I have a headcanon that elf synagogues don't do Mourner's Kaddish, since elves die so rarely, so after the mind break Tiergan goes to human synagogues more frequently.
Tiergan is one of those Jews that genuinely believes matzah ball soup can fix literally anything. Wylie has the flu? Matzah ball soup. Forkle got stabbed? Matzah ball soup. Prentice's mind is broken? Matzah ball soup
Prentice's mind was not, in fact, fixed by matzah ball soup.
Prentice absolutely loves Purim. It's the "get drunk off your ass and boo at this dude while eating pastries shaped like his stupid hat" holiday. Literally what is not to like?
He also bakes hamentaschen very well.
I don't feel like coming up with a whole Hebrew name for Tiergan but it absolutely starts with Eben. It means rock. The Granite disguise was always meant to be.
End here for the mostly lighthearted headcanons!
Holocaust TW for the next two.
Prentice joined the Black Swan because he was so angry at the Council for not doing anything about the Holocaust.
Seriously though, why did the Council not doing anything about the Holocaust? What the fuck, my dudes?
#kotlc is jewish now#oh man. these are actually kinda fun#tiertice#shoutout to my rabbi for giving me the gay haftarah before i was out to anybody including myself. iconic#she also knew i was trans well before anyone in my family knew i was trans. and she barely knows what trans means#spreading my big nose tiergan propaganda#today is the day to write about blorbos having big noses and their partners finding that completely gorgeous#cause big noses ARE gorgeous <2
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Do you have a link to your thoughts on the CES letter? Because I'm sure plenty of folk have asked you about it. I'm, struggling.
The CES letter has been mentioned to me a few times in asks, but I don’t recall being asked to respond directly to it.
Before getting into it, I want to make you aware of this post about Faith Transitions, I think it may be useful to you.
I read the CES letter many years ago, probably the original version, it’s changed a lot since then. I think the CES letter is sloppy, and twists quotes, uses some questionable sources, and frames things in the worst possible way. It’s basically an amalgamation of all the anti-Mormon literature. But many of the main points of the CES letter are important and correct, even if the supporting details aren’t.
In a way, the CES letter has done the Church a favor. For a long time, Elder Packer insisted that anything which isn’t faith-promoting shouldn’t be taught. As a result, most members of the Church were taught a simplified version of Church history, leaving out anything that is messy or difficult. Although those things could be found if someone was looking for them, I found many of them simply by reading Brigham Young Discourses or other works of the early church.
With the internet, Elder Packer’s approach to history turns out to be a bad one. This information is out there and now most members learn about it from sources seeking to destroy their faith. One response to this has been a series of essays where the Church talks about some difficult subjects.
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I’m not going to go through all the claims & challenges of the CES letter, but let me address some of the main ones.
1) There are errors in the Book of Mormon that are also contained in the 1769 edition of the Bible.
From the more faithful point-of-view, Joseph recognizes these passages, such as those from Isaiah, and knows they've already been translated into English and copies them from his family’s Bible. The non-faithful point-of-view is that Joseph copied these verses from his family Bible and tried to pass it off as his own translation.
2) DNA analysis has concluded that Native American Indians do not originate from the Middle East or from Israelites but from Asia.
This is correct. The Church has an essay which admits this and then spends a lot of time explaining how genetics works and one day we might find some Middle East connection. I find the Church essay convoluted as it goes through many possible (and unlikely) reasons for why no DNA of the Jaredites, Nephites or Lamanites has yet been found in the Americas.
3) There are things in the Book of Mormon that didn’t exist during Book of Mormon times, or in Central America (assuming this is where the Book of Mormon takes place), such as horses, chariots, goats, elephants, wheat, and steel.
This is also correct. Maybe the translation process was using a common word in English for a common item in the Book of Mormon. Maybe these are errors. Maybe it’s made up.
4) No archeological evidence has been found for the Nephite/Lamanite civilizations.
Correct. When it comes to archeological evidence, it's true that we haven't found any. For one thing, we don't know where the Nephite & Lamanite civilizations are supposed to have taken place. If you don't know where to look, it's easy to have no evidence. Perhaps Nephites & Lamanites didn’t actually exist and that’s why there’s no archeological evidence. The Book of Mormon does seem to do a decent job of describing geography of the Middle East before Lehi & his family boarded the boat for the Promised Land.
5) Book of Mormon names and places are strikingly similar (or identical) to many local names and places of the region Joseph Smith lived in.
This seems like a funny thing to get hung up on. First of all, it’s not very many names that are similar. Secondly, many places in the US are named for Biblical places & people. If the Book of Mormon people came from Israel, it makes sense they did something similar. For example, the word Jordan is in the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and in many places in America.
6) He points to obscure books or dime-novels that Joseph Smith might have read and the similarities between them and the Book of Mormon.
Those similarities are mostly at the surface level. To me it doesn't seem like Joseph plagiarized any particular book, and these specific books seem to not been very popular so difficult to say Joseph, who lived on the frontier, actually read them. Funny how no one from that time period thought the Book of Mormon resembled those books, probably because they hadn’t heard of them. But Joseph did hear and read a number of stories and some of that phrasing or whatever of the time influenced him. Think of songwriters, they create a new song then get accused of plagiarizing because it's similar to another popular song. Even without intending to, they were influenced by things they heard.
7) The Book of Mormon has had 100,000 changes.
Most of the "100,000" changes to the Book of Mormon were to break it into chapters & verses, to add chapter headings, or to add grammar such as commas and whatnot. There are some changes to fix errors that got printed but differed from the original manuscript. And there's been some clarifications made, but these are few in number. By claiming "100,000" he's trying to make it seem like there's a scam being done. It's easy to get a replication of the first Book of Mormon from the Community of Christ and read it side-by-side with today's version. I’ve done that and occasionally there’s a word or two here or there which differ, but overall it's mostly the same.
8) There were over 4 different First Vision accounts
True. Over the years, the way Joseph described the First Vision changed. I think different versions emphasize different aspects of the experience. I don’t find them to be contradictory. Oh, and the Church has an essay about this.
9) The papyri that Joseph translated into the Book of Abraham has been found and translated and it’s nothing like the Book of Abraham.
This is true. The Church has an essay about it. The Church now says that the papyri inspired Joseph to get the Book of Abraham via revelation, much like his translations of the Bible weren’t from studying the ancient Greek & Hebrew. It is a big change from what the Church used to teach, that this was a translation of the papyrus. The papyri has nothing to do with the Book of Abraham, and the explanations of the facsimiles in the Pearl of Great Price don’t match what the scholars say those pictures are about.
10) Joseph married 34+ women, many without Emma’s consent, some who had husbands, and even a teenager.
This all appears to be true. Emma knew about some of them, but not all. As for the married women, they were still married to their husbands but sealed to Joseph (I know this is strange to us, but this sort of thing was common until Wilford Woodruff standardized how sealings are done).
Polygamy was illegal in the United States. Most people who participated were told to keep it secret. So of course there’s carefully-worded statements by Joseph and others denying they participate in polygamy.
The salacious question everyone wants to know is if Joseph slept with all these women. We don’t know, but a DNA search for descendants of Joseph has taken place among the descendants of the women he was ‘married’ to and none have been found. But still, if he wasn’t doing anything wrong, why is he hiding this from Emma?
11) The Church used to teach that polygamy was required for exaltation, even though the Book of Mormon condemns polygamy.
This is accurate. The Church says polygamy was part of ancient Israel and so as part of the restoration of all things, polygamy had to be restored, see D&C 132:34. Now we no longer say polygamy is required to get to the highest level of the Celestial Kingdom.
12) Brigham Young taught Adam-God theory, which is now disavowed by the Church.
True. Joseph Smith didn’t teach this and John Taylor & Wilford Woodruff don’t seem to have any time for this teaching. It’s a thing Brigham Young was hot about and taught, but seems a lot of the church didn’t buy it as it was discarded after his death.
13) Black people weren’t allowed to hold the priesthood until 1978, despite Joseph having conferred it to a few Black people during his life.
Very true and very sad. This and the Mountain Meadows Massacre are the two biggest stains on the Church’s past. There is a Church essay on Race & the Priesthood. The ban appears to have begun with Brigham Young and he developed several theories to justify it, and these explanations expanded over the decades and bigotry was taught as doctrine. The Church now disavows all explanations that were taught in the past.
No reason for the priesthood ban is put forward in the Church essay other than racism. The past leaders were racists and that blinded them to what God wanted for Black people. There’s a big lesson in that for LGBTQ teachings of the Church.
14) The Church misrepresents how Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon.
The accounts of Joseph Smith putting a seer stone in a hat and reading words from it, that's part of the historic record. Quotes about it don’t make it to our Sunday School lessons, but if you go back to the Joseph Smith papers and other accounts, it’s there to read. Joseph also used the Urim & Thummim, and wrote out characters and studied them, but he seems to have most favored the stone-in-hat method. I think the main problem here is the Church in its artwork and movies does not depict this, and therefore most members are unaware until they see anti-Mormon literature. Why does the Church not show Joseph looking into a hat? Because it seems magical and weird to modern people. But how much weirder is it than he put on the Urim & Thummim like glasses and could translate that way, or he wrote out these characters from some extinct language and was able to figure out what they mean?
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A number of the main points in the CES letter are true (even if explanations/supporting details in the CES are problematic). Some of the main points have simple explanations and don’t seem like a big deal. Others challenge what the Church has taught. To its credit, the Church put out essays by historians & scholars, with sources listed in the footnotes, addressing several of these controversial topics.
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Religion is meant to help humans make sense of their world and our place in it. Most religious stories are metaphorical but end up getting taught as literal history and, in my opinion, the same is true of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And that’s why the CES letter has power, it points out things aren’t literally true but were taught by the Church as factual, and the CES letter shows us part of our messy history that the Church tried to hide.
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The story of Adam and Eve can’t literally be true. It doesn’t fit our evolutionary past, but it’s meant to make our lives important, God created us and we have to account to Him for our choices, and it’s important to find someone to go through life with. We can say the same of Job and the Book of Ruth, fiction with a purpose.
While there are some real events included in the Bible, much of what’s written is there to teach lessons, culture, and give meaning to life. Jesus taught in parables so at least he was upfront that they were stories that contained morals.
Can I believe the same about the Book of Mormon, that it’s inspired fiction with meaning I can apply to my life, or must it be literally history to have value?
————————————————————
I went through a massive faith crisis while attending BYU. I had access to materials that told a different story of this religion than I’d been taught (the sorts of things in the CES Letter) and it threw me for a loop.
It felt like the floor of faith I had stood on shattered and I fell with no way to stop myself. After I had a chance to process through the things I was feeling, I looked at my shattered faith and picked up the parts that were meaningful to me.
I had lined up my faith similar to a line of dominoes. If the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph was a prophet. If Joseph was a prophet, then this is the true church. If this is the true church, then...
This works until it doesn’t. Once a domino topples over, it starts a chain event.
Now I look at principles and concepts and decide if they’re meaningful to me.
I love the idea that we can spend eternity with the people we love most.
I believe we should be charitable and loving to others.
People on the margins need to be looked after and helped and lifted.
Poor people deserve dignity and the rich to be challenged.
We have a commitment to our community and we all serve to make it better.
All are alike to God, we’re all loved and God has a grand plan for us.
Those who passed away can still be saved through the atonement of Christ.
Those are all principles I find in the Bible and Book of Mormon or at church and I find Love flows through all of those.
This new approach works for me. I don’t have to believe or hold onto problematic teachings. I can drop them and still hold the parts that I find valuable. I can reject the teachings and statements which are bigoted, homophobic, transphobic, racist, ableist, misogynistic. Prophets can make mistakes and still have taught some useful things.
That little voice of the spirit and what it teaches and guides me to do, I trust it over what Church leaders say. Overarching principles are more important to me than specific details for how this gets applied in the 1800′s or 1950′s or Biblical times.
————————————————————
I truly hope some of what I’ve written is helpful.
There’s no use pretending that the CES letter doesn’t get some things correct. It’s also helpful to understand it’s not just trying to share truth, but has an agenda to make the Church look as bad as possible.
What about the things the CES letter is correct about?
Has this church helped you learn to connect with the Divine?
The Church has some very big flaws, but also has some big things in its favor. Some of its unique teachings are very appealing and feel hopeful and right.
Can you leave the Church and be a good person and have a relationship with God? Absolutely.
I also know this church is a community and it’s hard to walk away cold-turkey with nothing to replace it, without another network to belong to. It’s as much a religion as it is a lifestyle and circle of friends.
Are there parts you can hold onto? Parts you can let go of?
You have a lot to think about and work through.
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* * *
Sometimes I write digital archaeological posts, for example, about the origin of keyboard layouts, how r-pentomino was invented, or about April Fools' RFCs. Today I will write a little about the etymology of various computer terms.
Everyone knows that the word modem comes from a combination of `modulator` and `demodulator` - two devices used to convert digital information into a form convenient for transmission over analog networks and back. The word codec (`[en]coder` + `decoder`) and the less widely known slang terms like balun (`balanced` + `unbalanced`) and serdes (`serializer` + `deserializer`) have a similar origin.
Similar to a `codec` in spelling and sound, the name of the Kodak company, registered in 1888, has a different nature. The company's founder, George Eastman, wanted to invite a new word — short, easily recognizable, and pronounced in different languages. According to legend, he used a set of letters from the Anagrams game (the grandmother of the Scrabble game). One of the criteria for George was the use of his favorite letter K, which accounts for 40% of the result. The idea to make a new word was not entirely successful: in 1896, on the pages of the Amateur Photographer magazine, readers made a dispute, trying to find out the word's origin. It was found, for example, that in Hindustani (it came there from Persian), this word means "boy," and one of the readers pointed out the similarity with the Hebrew `Kahdak`.
The word bit in the sense of a minimum amount of information was first publicly used in Claude Shannon's 1948 article" Mathematical Communication Theory." Claude himself referred to the authorship of the mathematician John Tukey, who used `bit` as an abbreviation for `binary [information] digit` in internal documents of Bell Labs. The word byte (distorted English `bite` as `piece`) stands for the minimum amount of information processed at one time or directly addressed. Werner Buchholz first used it in 1956 in the design documentation for the IBM Stretch system. On different systems, bytes come in various sizes, for example, 4, 6, or 9 bits (the size of a byte can even be variable). To accurately indicate the size of a byte of 8 bits, it is common to use the term `octet`.
For engineering reasons, it is more efficient for computers to work with numbers that are powers of two. Therefore, engineers often understand the word `kilobit` as 1024 bits (2^10), but in some cases, it means 1000 bits (10^3, as with other measures, such as meters). For example, the 1968 year's edition of the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science, on the same page, states that 1 kilobit is 1000 bits, and 1 kilobyte is 1024 bytes. A similar story with the prefixes mega, giga, and so on. All this confusion continued until the end of 1998 when the International Electrotechnical Commission finally came in and fixed it (no). Since then, according to international standards, kilobits should mean 1000 bits, and for 1024 bits, the term `kibibit` should be used. However, not everyone agrees with this: according to the Russian "Regulations on the units of quantities" from 2009, the term kilobyte is fixed anyway in the value of 1024 bytes.
To measure the data transfer rate, in addition to any `kilobytes per second` and `kilobits per second`, engineers sometimes use terms based on the word baud (for example, `kilobaud`). Baud in modern communication usually means the number of changes in the carrier frequency per second, so if, for example, the carrier uses two signal levels, then 1 baud is 1 bit per second. But this is not accurate because the bits are considered gross here, i.e., include any overhead information, such as error correction. These `bauds` are named after Jean Maurice Émile Baudot, a French engineer who, in 1870, invented the basic encoding for the telegraph (aka International Telegraph Code # 1).
Also, it turns out that the word android is almost three times older than the word robot (which turned 100 years old last year).
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Hey I had to stop by as a jewish person and just let you know that none of the meanings for names in hebrew you gave in your edit are actually true. Just letting you know
i’m sorry i used baby name websites and wikipedia for name meanings/origins and in hindsight they probably weren’t the most accurate sources. other people have mentioned inaccuracies to me so i’ve edited it in the past to change some names (like este originally said persian but i realize now it’s a nickname for ester which i saw meant star but that’s wrong) and i’ll edit it again to fix inaccuracies. if you’re comfortable with it i’d love your help with fixing the inaccuracies if you’re willing to dm me (or we could keep talking through anon if you’re more comfortable with that). if not that’s fine too. thank you for letting me know!!
#again i’m genuinely sorry about it i don’t wanna spread inaccurate stuff#also if anyone else finds any inaccuracies please let me know so i could fix it#anon
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Eli’s Coming
I was tagged in a Songfic challenge by @gemini0410 and @vicmackeybullshxt and given Eli’s Coming by Three Dog Night:
https://open.spotify.com/track/29k9SMi3bZi1lhbGBLcpwI?si=RPbxRxUwTpCuQeVBSeZfvw
This song gave me some hella Supernatural vibes and I had a little blurb lying around in my drafts from years ago, so I decided to edit it and extend it inspired by the song. Please don’t ask me how this fits into canon or anything, because I genuinely have no idea. I think I just felt like Dean really needs a hug, ya know?
Warnings: Explicit language, references to violence, taking the lord’s name in vain and twisting around the Old Testament to suit my fictional needs.
The fire blazed higher and suddenly went out. There was a pitch-dark blackness.
“Is that supposed to happen—?” Sam cut off as the flame rose again, burning quietly now, illuminating two girls. Their vessels were a pair of twins—one in a night dress, the other dressed for a night out on the town. They peered at the brothers and the angel expressionless, the infinity in their eyes in stark contrast to the youth of the bodies they inhabited.
“Aladril? Adriel?” Castiel asked, stepping forward.
“You summoned us, Castiel?” They asked in unison, haloed by soft blue flames.
“Well, that’s creepy...” Dean muttered under his breath.
“We need your help,” Castiel ignored him, addressing the twin angels.
“You know that we cannot help you.” The angel in the clubbing outfit replied.
“You should not have woken us.” Said the other, adjusting her white nightgown grumpily before looking at her sister’s get up. “This is the fashion of the time? Either a sack or a prostitute's corset—?”
“What do you mean you can’t help us?” Dean cut in, uninterested in allowing the angels any time to adjust to their vessels. Castiel tried to hold him back but he shook him off and stepped forward. “No, Cas, what was the point in summoning the Bopsy twins if they’re not even going to—?”
“We went to sleep for a reason.” They said loudly, speaking together again. Now, they both looked irritated as they turned to Castiel.
“We know you don’t believe us,” Said the one in the night gown. “But there’s a war brewing and if we stay it will only strengthen their resolve in continuing.”
Cas shook his head. “That’s what I’m trying to say. Adriel, the war has already started, even with the both of you asleep. We’re… We’re losing. We’re desperate. If you don’t help us, it won’t be only the humans that are wiped out but angels as well. That includes you.”
The twins frowned slightly.
“What?” Aladril’s eyebrows knitted together worriedly even as she tugged at her corset top. “... Seriously, what century are we in? Have corsets come back into fashion—?”
“The demons are working on finding a way into heaven. When they do, they’ll find you there and slaughter you along with the rest of the host.” Castiel squared his shoulders and fixed them both with his gaze. “We need your help.”
“Do you expect us to fight alongside you?” Aladril asked slowly.
“As we did when you were but a fledgling, Castiel?” Adriel raised one eyebrow— it was starting to become easier for Sam and Dean to tell the two apart and it wasn’t just the hilarious outfits. Aladril spoke slowly, her expression calm and patient while her words poured like honey into their ears. Adriel, for as soft as her nightgown looked, had a voice that sang like a knife’s edge, her mouth twisting into a smirk as she watched Castiel blush thinking of their first battles. “You were so cute back then, full of such innocent purity…”
“Listen, as much as we’d love to join you all for a trip down memory lane,” Sam finally lost his patience. “But we have… need of your assistance. We’re planning an offensive on the demons in a week--.”
“Absolutely not,” Aladril shook her head. “We don’t harm humans.”
“But they aren’t humans! They’re demons--!” Dean exclaimed.
“In human vessels, much like these,” Adriel looked down at her current form. “Or have you forgotten that-- Castiel what are these two called?”
“That one’s Dean, and the other is Sam,” He quickly clarified.
“Dean,” Adriel turned the blond man’s name over in her mouth like it was venom on her tongue. “Humans have such stupid names…”
“Right, because Adriel and Aladril for a pair of twins isn’t just as stupid or confusing,” He retorted. The flames around the angel burned brighter suddenly.
“How dare you--”
“Are these the archangels you promised us, Cas? Really? Two girls in high school?” Dean shook his head, enjoying the expression of fury on the celestial being’s face.
“Excuse me?” Adriel’s voice grew dangerously low.
“Adriel-“ Aladril tried to hold her back but her sister was incensed. She stepped out of the circle of flames easily, undeterred by the celestial fire. Dean crossed his arms.
“These two girls have been waging holy war since before you were a twinkle in the Creator’s eye, human,” She spit out. “I could kill you with my bare hands, even in this stupid vessel--”
“Adriel!” Aladril cut her off, “We just told them we don’t harm humans!”
“We could always make an exception for this one,” Adriel muttered, but backed off.
“I- We apologize.” Aladril said, shooting a look at Adriel who crossed her arms. “But, like my sister said, we are very old and with age comes experience. We will not be joining you in battle, Castiel. Isn’t there any other way we can help you?”
“I-- Well… Sam, had a question,” Castiel supplied, his face fallen.
“Go ahead,” Aladril motioned for Sam to step forward.
“Well,” He cleared his throat. “We captured one of the demons recently, interrogated him--.”
“Tortured,” Adriel coughed into her fist, getting looks from everyone around the room. She raised an eyebrow at them all. “Let’s call a spade a spade, gentlemen. Continue.”
“We left him securely tied up, all the right incantations in place but he got loose when we were switching shifts guarding him and… well, he decapitated his own vessel so he’d get sent back down to hell,” Sam finished uncomfortably, feeling the angel’s expressions of judgement settling on him.
“... Alright?” Adriel frowned. “I don’t see what--.”
“He drew runes on the wall in Hebrew before he did that in his own blood,” Sam continued. “It translates to… Eli is coming.”
That got their attention. The twins snapped their focus to the tall man with long dark hair.
“What did you say?” Aladril hissed.
“I said Eli’s coming,” Sam repeated. “The demon wrote that on the wall in his own blood—.”
“Yes, yes that Eli is coming…” Adriel stepped forward out of the flames again, peering up into his eyes. “I’m assuming you killed this demon?”
“Uh...Yes?” Dean answered, quizzically looking between the angel and his brother who were locked in a staring match. Her infinite eyes moved to his, an expression of rage and annoyance marring her features.
“Well, fucking wonderful!” She exclaimed.
“Adriel, language!” Her sister admonished.
“Oh, don’t chastise me, Aladril, I think you know the expletive is warranted!” Adriel turned to her sister. “They’ve been cursed and they don’t even know it!”
“Cursed?” Sam frowned.
“Listen lady, we’re pretty familiar with curses, alright?” Dean waved his hand dismissively. “So why don’t you just tell us what we’re dealing with so we can grab the eye of newt and a root of cabbage or whatever the fuck we need to break it—.”
Adriel spun around on him, the flames bursting up and making him stumble back away from her.
“What you need is the blood of the demon that cursed you!”
“Well, fuck…” Sam cursed quietly. Dean’ nostrils flared as he crossed his arms.
“You mean… but the Book of Samuels was always considered to be an exaggeration—,” Castiel stuttered, an uncharacteristic sight. Aladril looked to him with sympathy.
“Unfortunately, it’s quite the contrary… The actual curse of Eli was much more powerful than the story Metatron fed the prophet.”
“But why would he lie? It’s— it’s in the old testament! The humans have been telling themselves this story for thousands of years—!”
“It cast a bad light on God’s everlasting wisdom and judgment?” Adriel shrugged. “We tried telling you even some in the host could not be trusted—.”
“Do you all want to sign each other’s yearbooks or something?” Dean exclaimed. “Or can we do that after you help us lift the curse?”
Adriel crossed her arms and looked to her sister.
“I say we let them die. This one’s annoying.”
“Adriel!” Her sister exclaimed.
“Die?” Sam choked out. “What the hell is the curse of Eli, exactly?”
“Well, the family-friendly version was written in the book of Samuels,” Aladril began. “Eli was the high-priest of the Hebrews, he and his family were cursed to never live to an old age due to the misdeeds of his sons...”
“Misdeeds like… cheating at poker?” Dean prompted, earning an elbow from Sam..
“Misdeeds like taking prime cuts of meat from temple offerings and committing adultery with the women who served at the sanctuary entrance,” Adriel replied dryly.
“Right, those kinds of misdeeds…” Dean rolled his eyes. “So we’re supposed to freak out because we won’t live to an old age? I wasn’t expecting to do that either way…
“But you said that was the family friendly version…” Sam brought up, looking to the angels.
“Yes, well… one of Eli’s sons tried to break the curse by bargaining with a demon,” Aladril revealed. “Who, in, the guise of helping him, actually amplified the curse. Now it wouldn’t just kill Eli and his sons— it would damn them for eternity. In hell with Lucifer.”
“Oh… Oh, shit,” Sam rubbed at his face. “I know where this is going—.”
“But… how long do we have before it takes… effect?” Castiel asked slowly.
“Depends on what else the demon did— curses can be personalized. If you change the wording,” Adriel explained
“Yeah, we know,” Dean addressed her snappily. “So. What do we do?”
The angel fixed her eyes on him..
“Now? Well, now we hold hands, Dean.” She grinned, her teeth sharp and glistening in the blue fire light.
—————-
A half hour later, Dean was seated, criss-cross apple-sauce style next to Sam in a circle with Adriel and Aladril. Adriel sat to his right and reached a hand towards his, smirking.
“Is this really necessary?” He grumbled as she twined her vessel’s slender fingers with his, smooth and cool to the touch.
“Not really, but it makes it easier,” Aladril replied, reaching one hand to Sam and the other to her sister. “We need to read your souls.”
“You can do that?” Sam asked, staring at the two archangels in wonder. Dean wished he’d wipe that expression off his face. Sure, these two weren’t exactly like all the other angels they’d met-- even other archangels. They’d stepped in and out of the ring of celestial fire earlier like the flames were nothing more than chalk on a sidewalk... He had to admit it had impressed and terrified him in equal measure. They seemed to radiate power, even in their young vessels, but not just power… Goodness. Truth. Mercy. All of the cheesy shit he used to believe angel’s stood for. It made Dean suspicious of them, despite how highly Castiel had spoken of them before.
“You don’t trust angels,” Adriel said suddenly, looking him in the eye.
“So, when you say that you can read our souls, what you really mean is read our minds?” Dean asked sourly, yanking his hand from hers.
“I was just guessing, based on your behavior,” She extended her hand back to him innocently. He took it with a heavy sigh. He didn’t have much of a choice, did he?
~Liar~ he thought, in hopes she would hear it. She frowned slightly, making him smirk. ~Can’t read my thoughts, my ass...~
“Curses leave a mark on your soul. If we look hard enough we should be able to see what exactly they did to you and your brother,” Aladril continued explaining to Sam.
“Neat trick,” He smiled a little. The angel smiled rather proudly back.
“It’s a talent we perfected a long time ago, when we were still fighting on behalf of the heavenly host.”
“It’s probably why Castiel woke us and not, I don’t know… anyone else,” Adriel muttered.
Castiel, leaning against the far wall, shrugged.
“A lot has changed since you first went to sleep, we were out of options.”
Adriel locked eyes with him from across the room, reading the deep sadness in his eyes. He really had changed so much.
“You’ll have to catch us up as soon as we’re done with this,” She murmured. He nodded quietly, looking down at the ground. Adriel cleared her throat. “Alright. Sister, when you’re ready.”
Aladril squeezed her hand and closed her eyes. The boys watched them sway gently back and forth like grass in a light summer breeze, a quiet hum like electric static rising, emanating from them. That same static seemed to seep from their palms, tingling down the men’s fingertips, up their arms, into their chests, up into their minds…
Dean felt exposed. This was not the first time someone had allegedly “read his soul.” Famine, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, had done so once and reported that his soul was a withered, starving mess. He wondered what Adriel was seeing. Deep down, he didn’t dislike these angels, even if he was frustrated they wouldn’t help fighting the demons. But it was almost refreshing to see they actually cared for human life, even the lives of the demons' vessels. Not even he and Sam cared all that much about it anymore. It was impractical, he always argued with himself, you couldn’t fight demons effectively if you were worried about their vessels. But he could remember a time when they’d cared. When hunting was just about protecting people and not saving the whole world and heaven to boot.
“You’ve been cursed to die in your next battle,” Adriel suddenly spoke, her voice strange. Dean’s eyes snapped open and he was shocked to see tears in her eyes when she looked back at him.
“Our hit on the shipment is in a week…,” Sam said.
Aladril nodded, eyes opening slowly. “We need to find the demon that cursed you and perform a cleansing ritual with his blood before you go anywhere near the shipment. There’s sure to be fighting and the curse will kill you immediately.”
Adriel stood suddenly.
“I-- uh, my vessel… She’s thirsty.”
She looked down to Dean with a stare that reached into his soul.
“Take me to some water?” She asked, her voice a whisper.
For reasons unknown, he just nodded, standing slowly and leading her out into the bunker hallway. He’d just found out he had a week to live and the only way to remedy it was the blood of a demon currently partying it up in the depths of hell. His prospects, as per usual, were not looking good… but when the angel stepped out into the hallway with him, his imminent death was the last thing on his mind.
“You’re not actually thirsty, are you.” He stated rather than asked. Adriel shook her head, locking eyes with him. His mouth went dry and he looked at his feet. “What did you see?”
“Dean…” The way she said his name then made him look back up. She handled the word with care now rather than venom, her expression soft as she reached a hand up to his face. She shook her head slowly, examining his eyes. “You really have no idea, do you?”
“What? That my soul is a shriveled husk?” He tried to laugh it off, but it didn’t reach his eyes and he didn’t step away from her touch. There was something so comforting about the numbing static sinking into his cheek from her fingertips.
“You believed Famine when he told you that, huh?” She shook her head sadly. Dean frowned.
“How did you know that--?”
“I just read your soul, Dean. I know a lot of things about you now,” She smirked softly, caressing his face before pulling him into a hug. It should have been awkward, he should have stepped away and made an inappropriate joke to break the tension but, for once, Dean trusted that the gesture was sincere. That the truth and goodness and compassion he felt emanating from Adriel was real. It felt like she was pouring it into him, filling him with mending light. He felt empty, but better somehow, when she finally stepped back. She locked eyes with him again. “Famine lied to you. Do you understand? Just like Michael lied to you. And Lucifer. They read your soul blinded by their own weaknesses, their vision warped by their own greed… What they saw was themselves mirrored in you. Don’t believe them.”
Dean nodded, his mouth falling open slightly. She really had read his soul. Or his mind. Or whatever she’d done.
“Why won’t you fight with us?” He finally asked after a long moment staring into her eyes. Her brows knit themselves, some of the ethereal warmth and love disappearing to be replaced with familiar annoyance.
“We’ve already done our share of fighting, Dean. We’ve seen too much--.”
“Or you’re just scared,” He cut her off. She may have the power to read his soul, but he wasn’t blind himself. There had to be a reason two such powerful beings refused to get involved in a fight and, seeing the fire in Adriel’s eyes, he had a hard time believing it was just their compassion for human life. “What happened before you went to sleep for eternity? Cas never told us.”
She raised an eyebrow at him.
“That’s because Castiel is pure of heart and knows better,” She appraised the man standing in front of her. In truth, she’d only agreed to the long sleep for Aladril. But… now was not the time to get into her and her sister’s past. She turned to go back into the room where Aladril, Castiel and Sam were waiting. “Come on. We don’t have very long and… Eli’s coming.”
#supernatural fandom#SPN#dean winchester#sam winchester#castiel#original characters#songfic challenge
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misc. massive headcanon write-up : tvtropes edition. aka some things from fallout: new vegas’ tvtropes page that felt kaj relevant. from here !
1) “ The unique Fatman in Gun Runners Arsenal is called Esther. [...] Esther, much like Gehenna, are named after Hebrew Bible concepts. Esther, both the name of a book in said bible, and the name of the Persian queen of Jewish descent, who helped prevent a Jewish genocide, by convincing the Persian king to allow the Jews to arm and defend themselves. This ended with the death of 75,000 Persians. ��
a/n: kaj parallels a modern esther, having prevented slaughter of her own—or at least, having misdirected it. also ironic, as her nickname in canter was esther due to her bratty, “queenly” demeanor. that said, despite her big personality, kaj is definitely not a fatman user. so it’s even more ironic that they share a name.
2) “ In Vault 11, the vault mainframe tells you that while being a martyr isn't as fun as driving a race car, it's every bit as important. The thing is, driving a race car isn't important at all, and neither is being a martyr. ”
3) “ In Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, blood packs heal 1 hit point per pack. In 3, you can get a perk from the leader of blood-consuming people which increases the hp gain to 20. Why do blood packs heal so little hp, when blood transfusions can save people from the brink of death sometimes? Because the player actually drinks the blood instead of replenishing his/her lost blood from an injury. [...] Which drifts into Fridge Logic again when you consider the fact that, after 200 years at least, the blood in those packs has certainly expired no matter what kinds of advances the US had made in preservation technologies. With this taken into account, the Sole Survivor injecting the blood into his veins would do more harm than good. Drinking it would actually be more helpful, which makes sense considering that a high medicine Courier would certainly be aware of the expiration date of blood and the concept of a blood transfusion. ”
4) “ If you take a look at Caesar's SPECIAL stats you will find out that he only ranks 4 in both charisma and intelligence. It first seem like Fridge Logic since he is supposed to be extremely charismatic and possess super intellect. But after you find out that he is suffering from a brain tumor, it makes sense that his skills were being affected as a result of it. Additionally, he acts extremely rude to the Courier, and trusts them, and only them, to deal with a problem, without any way of preventing the Courier from undermining and/or sabotaging his plans. ”
a/n: though kaj prides herself on her manipulation of caesar, it wasn’t really a manipulation at all—just an appeal to his baser instincts that only paid off because of his illness. if he was completely well, it’s waaaaaay more likely he’d see her manipulation for what it is. kaj herself even seems somewhat aware of the precariousness of her position, given her cautious actions around him and unwillingness to vie for more power. it makes sense that she starts trying to take him down from day one, knowing his history with anyone he sees as his equal—aka, a threat. she speeds up the process when she meets joshua graham and realizes exactly what’ll happen if she fails. further elaborated on by the legion ending: “ In the Legion Ending, when the Courier receives his/her reward, she's kneeling before Caesar, but standing before Lanius (if he ends up in charge). This seems odd before you realise it sums up your relationship with character: no matter your competences, Caesar will always see the Courier as a servant/inferior, whereas Lanius sees you as an equal and acknowledges the Courier's worth even if she's a woman. ”
5) “ The two Jokers in the deck, Benny and the Courier, have those cards for more reasons than just being the Wild Cards. First, in Euchre, the Joker is called the "Benny" card. Second, the Joker cards in Tarot have significant meaning, one Joker meaning the Fool, the other the Magician. The Fool, being the Courier, is the spirit in search of experience (although XP might be a better word for it), and represents mystical cleverness, not bound by normal reason, and possessing an ability to tune into the inner workings of the world, and is often represented by a wanderer walking aimless, often one foot hanging over a void, a step away from falling to his death. Meanwhile, the Magician, being Benny, is a man who practices sleight of hand, trickery, and deception, a stage magician with the initial appearance of great power, but later revealed to have no ability of his own, and can also indicate a manipulator, a trickster, and the ego, as well as the pursuit of personal power, and is often associated with the first step in the Fool's Journey, as well as the potential for new adventure. ”
6) “ Why is the courier consistently insulted by legionnaires regardless of what they do for them? To serve as a reminder that they don't necessarily need you. The legion offers you few side quests, most of which are just minor preparations before the battle, because they don't need you to do those for you. In comparison the NCR has a significant amount of side quests including training troops, fixing equipment, rooting out spies, exterminating extra problems like the fiends, and reclaiming territory from the legion. Result: by the end the NCR sees you as a true hero which would lead to them being incredibly polite, to the legion you're just a guy who's quite good at fighting, so they have little reason to treat you as anything more than a very good mercenary. ”
7) “ The Wizard of Oz analogy (in Old World Blues) goes further. In the movie, Dorothy's companions each wanted certain qualities, namely a brain, a heart, and courage. In the game, the surgery done to the courier removes their brain, their heart, and their spine. Stupid people are called brainless, unemotional/uncaring people are often said to be heartless, and cowardly people are often referred to as being spineless. Not to mention the similarity in the methods of arrival to the Big MT and Oz the characters went through. Just like in the movie, the Courier realizes that in spite of their missing organs, they have the qualities they needed all along: it takes a heart to befriend the Stealth Suit, a spine to repeatedly brave the dangerous X-8 facility, and a brain to outwit the Think Tank once and for all. ”
8) “ Why are there no long haired options for the Courier? You're in a desert. Long hair would be rather impractical, especially being a courier. You were also very recently shot in the head. It stands to reason that Doc Mitchell might have trimmed your hair, if it was long before the game started, to make operating easier. Also, long hair is a bad idea if you plan on fighting. If you have long hair, it becomes easier to grab it. The world being what it is, quite a few pragmatists are likely to be around. ”
a/n: inverted trope. though native american culture has been forcibly distorted over the years by white imperialism, kaj’s family has still managed to hang onto some old world traditions, such as the styling and care of hair. as a result, kaj’s hair is extremely culturally significant to her even as an adult. she wears it long as a choice, and it is only cut against her will by the think tank (when normally it would only be cut while she was in mourning; and though she does mourn afterwards, it doesn’t erase the fact that it’s forced on her, not chosen). meanwhile, doc mitchell is considerate enough of these traditions and culturally aware enough to leave her hair alone and, given the placement of her bullet wound, cutting it is not entirely necessary regardless. the cutting of kaj’s hair in old world blues (as well as the violation of her bodily autonomy) is traumatic and painful for her, paralleling real life cultural assimilation—when it grows back out, she is extremely protective of it.
9) “ If you ask No-Bark Noonan if anyone has been acing strangely, he states that he doesn't trust anyone who acts too normal, and his description fits Clanden to a tee. No-Bark: If a man's wearing his pants on his head or if he says his words backwards from time to time, you know it's all laid out there for you. But if he's friendly to strangers and keeps his home spick-and-span, more often than not he's done something even his own ma couldn't forgive. ”
#headcanon.#ref.#yes i modified the esther thing in because i think its fun. sue me#aka randi uses tvtropes to explain every piece of subtext he flat out missed the first go around
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Poems from Murderess
Back in 2013 I translated a young adult fantasy novel by the name Murderess from Hebrew to English. I also wrote a TV Tropes page about it. Nowadays, however, the book is no longer for sale, because the author wrote it when she was a teenager and it’s kinda cringy now.
However, that doesn’t mean I can’t show you my pride and joy from this work: the poetry. The original poetry (four poems in total) had inconsistent rhyming and metre, and I practically had to rewrite them for the English edition. I am particularly proud of the work I did on them.
Bask in its glory below.
The novel describes a mysterious magical race, living in an elaborate system of caves dug into a mountain, with strange customs championing darkness and cruelty, appropriately named ‘the Dark Ones’. This poem appears on the entrance to their cave, and is read by the protagonist.
To come inside, thou must on this slate bleed;
For thy departure, fire shalt thou need.
A hand with skin intact showeth no true will:
It must be cut. Blood must thou yield to spill.
Upon this act the gates concede, alas,
And thou into our realm canst freely pass.
(The print edition had my editorial mistake, slightly mixing up thou and you.)
Slightly later on, the protagonist finds herself as a guest of honour at a banquet held by the Dark Ones. At one point an old cantor comes onstage as part of the entertainment, and chants the following verse, narrating the story of an ancient king, who happened to be red-headed (which, in that world, was considered auspicious), and ruled over the land from his capital Orce-Blatt.
Hark, ye honour’d! This pass’d in an era of yore,
In a kingdom acquir’d by long, bloody war:
Then rose a great king by the name of Roythebrune;
With a mane tinted copper—a heavenly boon.
He conquered the throne during summer’s cruel heat:
By his keen mind and sword was his triumph complete.
To Promius his faith he’d aye piously croon
As a true man of copper—a heavenly boon.
The grounds for his capital seized he by war;
He mended the castle—so telleth our lore—
There he laid his great throne for all woes to oppugn
As (again) one of copper—a heavenly boon.
Many wives did he husband, as proof of his might,
And his folksmen he sent by the myriad to fight.
He appointed a Minister of All Platoons:
Verily, he was copper—a heavenly boon.
In Orce-Blatt, in his palace, he happen’d to see
Gracious Eleanora, the wife of Eurey.
To his servants he said, ‘Bring her, ye, hither soon!’
And let us aye remember: his hair was a boon.
One night later, they learn’d she was pregnant, egad!
Thus the desperate king made a plan in his dread,
But his plan, it appear’d, did he poorly attune—
Thus he needed another for him and his boon:
He summon’d the Minister: ‘This must thou yield:
That Eurey in the battle be slain on the field.’
Eleanora was his, so is told in our runes:
She was only his and his copper-hued boon’s.
I need not tell the ending: ’tis known to us all,
In our minds we all bear it well into our pall:
Yes, his acts were horrendous, but ’tis picayune:
What a mane tinted copper—a heavenly boon!
…
Let this lesson so grave be to everyone told:
Every man, bold and humble alike, must go bald!
(The original name for the king was ‘Bagíd’, roughly ‘betrayable’ in Hebrew; the name I chose derives from Icelandic rauðbrúnn /røyðprutn/, ‘red-brown’. My original submission had a certain error, misusing a certain English word I’d heard before and misinterpreted. The published edition used a replacement that broke the original metre and was clearly at odds with the rest of the poem; I fixed it here. Also, you can find my alternative Hebrew version of the poem here.)
Further along the book, the protagonist is wandering through a forest, and is suddenly struck by a strange vision, which may or may not be a flashback to repressed memories or something else altogether—this was apparently supposed to be elaborated on in a sequel, which was never published. She sees a child living in a secluded cabin, and somehow she knows certain details about her, such as the fact that her mother was there on a rare visit. The child and her mother sing the following song.
Have an apple, sit on a tree,
Climb to the top, feel the wind blowing free,
Laugh and sing every day, scream in joy, run and play,
Eat your fill
And the day might safe and sound still.
There are bandits who roam on the road
Full of worry and grame;
Your path is laid out—have no fear and no doubt!—
And the plains call your name.
Brutal wizard of might, you must heed:
Never you fear, never you run,
Lest your fortune turn bitter indeed.
And perhaps when the journey is done
And you still breathe and feed,
You’ll return to your home once again, eat your fill,
And you’ll know that your day has been safe and sound still.
Near the end of the book, the protagonist is temporarily staying with friend she’s made in said forest. At one point, said friend sings one of her favourite songs, which goes as follows.
She opens her eye in a nocturnal hour,
Black and enraged, full of murderous power;
Roaming the forest, from company cleft;
A leaf is exfoliated on her left.
She arrives at the village, her victim to seek:
The boy who deserted her, heartbroken, meek,
Long ago; he is found in his room, on his bed,
His thoughts well-concealed inside of his head;
She enters the room—he exclaimes in surprise,
‘Murderess, wherefore came you?!’ She slowly replies:
‘For your death.’ She adds briskly, ‘’Tis all I demand.’
She charges at him, knife held tightly in hand;
The blood from his throat spraying over her blade,
She whispers in glee at the wound she has made,
‘I shall dance on your ashes and kick them about,
I shall gleefully sing, I shall joyously shout,
I shall thank every day, tears of joy in my eyes,
For the blessed arrival of your sweet demise.’
(The song is not clearly related to the plot hitherto—perhaps foreshadowing for an unpublished sequel. The line ‘a leaf is exfoliated on her left’ was one I translated rather faithfully, assuming it was foreshadowing or symbolic in some way, but it turned out that it was included simply because it rhymed in the original.)
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11 au 17 janvier 2021
This week was another cold one; every morning the grass had a good layer of frost. I took some time to clean up all the plants in my little nursery waiting to be planted in the new garden.
Wednesday the neighbour’s Deutscher Schäferhund (Canis familiaris when considered a distinct species or Canis lupus familiaris when considered a subspecies of the wolf) appeared and spent most of the day with me. Finally, late in the afternoon, I received a text from the neighbour, so I rang back and we met at the front gate, and the dog was reunited with owner.
Thursday was a great day out first to a stone supplier then to another one of the Basson’s gardens similar to the one at l’Orangerie. It was very interesting and helpful to see how the same plants act in a sunnier location.
I also spotted one plant they have that we don’t and though it is an aggressive self-seeder, I think it would provide some interesting foliage contrast and flowers earlier in the season.
Friday, Karim asked me to help him placate Laurance and check the crawl spaces for rats in the main house. I was chosen because: 1. I’m the newbie and 2. I’m the skinniest. Thankfully there weren’t any rats or nests! It also earned me some kudos, I hope. Sarah-Jane made us lunch; it was the last lunch with both Kevin and Sébastien before they leave.
I found a Brugmansia sanguinea near the atelier, so far the only one on the property as far as I have seen.
Friday evening I mopped the floor in my house and re-arranged my bedroom yet again.
Saturday morning I headed into Antibes and had a nice coffee and catch-up with Denis and André. Then I took a walk along the water then across the peninsula to Juan-les-Pins to look west toward Cannes.
Then I walked home; it was a cold an sunny afternoon.
Sunday it was beautifully sunny and cold. I stayed in the entire day doing chores, reading, and working on a proposal to M. et Mme.
Cours de français hebdomadaire
le bourgeon - bud
la calade - a French term for an harmonious, decorative and useful arrangement of medium-sized pebbles, fixed to the ground
le fumier - manure
la plante succulente - succulent
la pouzzolane - pozzolan
la racine - root
la restanque - a small retaining wall made of dry stones whose role is to support the earth on the sides of the hills in order to allow agricultural activity on steep terrain, found mostly in Provence
la terre sableuse - sandy soil
le terreau - potting soil
le verger - orchard
Plant of the week
Xanthorrhoeaceae Aloe arborescens Mill.
common name(s) - deer-horn cactus, stag-horn cactus, candelabra aloe, octopus plant, torch plant, krantz aloe; kransaalwyn (Afrikaans), ikalene (Xhosa), inkalane, umhlabana (Zulu)
synonym(s) - Aloe arborea Medik.; A. arborescens var. frutescens (Salm-Dyck) Link; A. arborescens var. milleri A.Berger; A. arborescens var. natalensis (J.M.Wood & M.S.Evans) A.Berger; A. arborescens var. pachystyrsa A.Berger; A. arborescens var. viridifolia A.Berger; A. frutescens Salm-Dyck; A. fruticosa Lam.; A. fulgens Tod.; A. natalensis J.M.Wood & M.S.Evans; A. perfoliata var. arborescens (Mill.) Aiton; A. perfoliatum Meyen; A. principis (Haw.) Stearn; A. salm-dyckiana Schult. & Schult.f.; A. salm-dyckiana var. fulgens (Tod.) A.Berger; A. sigmoidea Baker; Catevala arborescens (Mill.) Medik.; Pachidendron principis Haw.
infraspecifics - A. arborescens subsp. arborescens; A. arborescens subsp. mzimnyati van Jaarsv. & A.E.van Wyk
conservation rating - Least Concern
native to - S.E. Africa
location - Antibes
leaves - succulent, evergreen with a slight blue tint, small spikes along margin and are arranged in rosettes situated at the end of branches
flowers - cylindrical in shape and are a vibrant red-orange colour arranged in a raceme, which are not branched but two to several can sprout from each rosette
habit - large, multi-headed, sprawling bushy succulent to 3m
habitat - can vary, and it is one of only a few species of aloe that is found growing from sea level up to the tops of mountains; consists of mountainous areas, including rocky outcrops and exposed ridges
pests - scale, mealybugs under glass, otherwise generally pest-free
disease - generally disease-free
hardiness - to 5ºC (H1c) for short periods (prefers 10ºC)
soil - well-drained sand or loam
sun - full sun
propagation - seed sown with heat as soon as ripe or from offsets in late spring or early summer
pruning - none
nomenclature - Xanthorrhoeaceae - xanthorrhoea - yellow-flow, the yellow sap of the grass tree; Aloe - from the Greek alsos, refers to the bitter juice from the leaves of these plants, probably derived from the earlier Arabic word alloeh or the Hebrew word allal, both meaning bitter; arborescens - tree-forming, tree-like (and the common name krantz means a rocky ridge or cliff)
NB - only after it was used to treat irradiation burn victims of Hiroshima that its healing properties received attention from the West; extracts from the leaves have been widely investigated since then and shown significant wound healing, anti-bacterial, anti-ulcer, anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, hypoglycaemic and also alopoeic activity; leaves have also been found to have purgative properties and the leaf sap is reported to relieve x-ray burns.
References, bibliography:
Gledhill, David, (2008) “The Names of Plants”, fourth edition; Cambridge University Press; ISBN: 978-0-52168-553-5
IUCN [online] https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/110688013/110688030 [17 Jan 21]
Plant List, The [online] http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-297073 [17 Jan 21]
Plants of the World [online] http://plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:529214-1 [17 Jan 21]
Royal Horticultural Society [online] https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/923/i-Aloe-arborescens-i/Details [17 Jan 21]
SANBI [online] http://pza.sanbi.org/aloe-arborescens [17 Jan 21]
Wikipedia - [online] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloe_arborescens [17 Jan 21]
SARS-CoVid-2 update (active cases only)
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kerchoo | bts & lq
pairing: ot7 x reader x lightning mcqueen
genre: s i n, car sex (literally)
word count: 13k
description: some people frowned upon your lifestyle, but many don’t know how a bottle of oil and willpower will get you what you need.
The Bible (from Koine Greek τὰ βιβλία, tà biblía, "the books")[1] is a collection of sacred texts or scriptures that Jews and Christians consider to be a product of divine inspiration and a record of the relationship between God and humans.
Many different authors contributed to the Bible. What is regarded as canonical text differs depending on traditions and groups; a number of Bible canons have evolved, with overlapping and diverging contents.[2] The Christian Old Testament overlaps with the Hebrew Bible and the Greek Septuagint; the Hebrew Bible is known in Judaism as the Tanakh. The New Testament is a collection of writings by early Christians, believed to be mostly Jewish disciples of Christ, written in first-century Koine Greek. These early Christian Greek writings consist of narratives, letters, and apocalyptic writings. Among Christian denominations there is some disagreement about the contents of the canon, primarily the Apocrypha, a list of works that are regarded with varying levels of respect.
Attitudes towards the Bible also differ amongst Christian groups. Roman Catholics, Anglicans and Eastern Orthodox Christians stress the harmony and importance of the Bible and sacred tradition, while Protestant churches focus on the idea of sola scriptura, or scripture alone. This concept arose during the Protestant Reformation, and many denominations today support the use of the Bible as the only source of Christian teaching.
With estimated total sales of over 5 billion copies, the Bible is widely considered to be the best-selling book of all time.[3][4] It has estimated annual sales of 100 million copies,[5][6] and has been a major influence on literature and history, especially in the West, where the Gutenberg Bible was the first book printed using movable type.
Contents
1Etymology
2Development
3Hebrew Bible
4Septuagint
5Christian Bibles
6Divine inspiration
7Versions and translations
8Views
9Archaeological and historical research
10Image gallery
11Illustrations
12See also
13Notes
14References
15Further reading
1.1Textual history
3.1Torah
3.2Nevi'im
3.3Ketuvim
3.4Original languages
4.1Incorporations from Theodotion
4.2Final form
5.1Old Testament
5.2New Testament
5.3Development of the Christian canons
8.1Other religions
8.2Biblical studies
8.3Higher criticism
14.1Works cited
Etymology
The English word Bible is from the Latin biblia, from the same word in Medieval Latin and Late Latin and ultimately from Koine Greek τὰ βιβλία ta biblia "the books" (singular βιβλίον biblion).[7]
Medieval Latin biblia is short for biblia sacra "holy book", while biblia in Greek and Late Latin is neuter plural (gen. bibliorum). It gradually came to be regarded as a feminine singular noun (biblia, gen. bibliae) in medieval Latin, and so the word was loaned as a singular into the vernaculars of Western Europe.[8] Latin biblia sacra "holy books" translates Greek τὰ βιβλία τὰ ἅγια ta biblia ta hagia, "the holy books".[9]
The word βιβλίον itself had the literal meaning of "paper" or "scroll" and came to be used as the ordinary word for "book". It is the diminutive of βύβλος byblos, "Egyptian papyrus", possibly so called from the name of the Phoenician sea port Byblos (also known as Gebal) from whence Egyptian papyrus was exported to Greece. The Greek ta biblia (lit. "little papyrus books")[10] was "an expression Hellenistic Jews used to describe their sacred books (the Septuagint).[11][12] Christian use of the term can be traced to c. 223 CE.[7]The biblical scholar F.F. Bruce notes that Chrysostom appears to be the first writer (in his Homilies on Matthew, delivered between 386 and 388) to use the Greek phrase ta biblia ("the books") to describe both the Old and New Testaments together.[13]
Textual history
By the 2nd century BCE, Jewish groups began calling the books of the Bible the "scriptures" and they referred to them as "holy", or in Hebrew כִּתְבֵי הַקֹּדֶשׁ (Kitvei hakkodesh), and Christians now commonly call the Old and New Testaments of the Christian Bible "The Holy Bible" (in Greek τὰ βιβλία τὰ ἅγια, tà biblía tà ágia) or "the Holy Scriptures" (η Αγία Γραφή, e Agía Graphḗ).[14] The Bible was divided into chapters in the 13th century by Stephen Langton and it was divided into verses in the 16th century by French printer Robert Estienne[15] and is now usually cited by book, chapter, and verse. The division of the Hebrew Bible into verses is based on the sof passuk cantillation mark used by the 10th-century Masoretes to record the verse divisions used in earlier oral traditions.
The oldest extant copy of a complete Bible is an early 4th-century parchment book preserved in the Vatican Library, and it is known as the Codex Vaticanus. The oldest copy of the Tanakh in Hebrew and Aramaic dates from the 10th century CE. The oldest copy of a complete Latin (Vulgate) Bible is the Codex Amiatinus, dating from the 8th century.[16]
Development
See also:
Authorship of the Bible
The
Isaiah scroll
, which is a part of the
Dead Sea Scrolls
, contains almost the whole
Book of Isaiah
. It dates from the 2nd century BCE.
Saint Paul Writing His Epistles
, 16th-century painting.
Professor John K. Riches, Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at the University of Glasgow, says that "the biblical texts themselves are the result of a creative dialogue between ancient traditions and different communities through the ages",[17] and "the biblical texts were produced over a period in which the living conditions of the writers – political, cultural, economic, and ecological – varied enormously".[18] Timothy H. Lim, a professor of Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Judaism at the University of Edinburgh, says that the Old Testament is "a collection of authoritative texts of apparently divine origin that went through a human process of writing and editing."[19] He states that it is not a magical book, nor was it literally written by God and passed to mankind. Parallel to the solidification of the Hebrew canon (c. 3rd century BCE), only the Torah first and then the Tanakh began to be translated into Greek and expanded, now referred to as the Septuagint or the Greek Old Testament.[20]
In Christian Bibles, the New Testament Gospels were derived from oral traditions in the second half of the first century CE. Riches says that:
Scholars have attempted to reconstruct something of the history of the oral traditions behind the Gospels, but the results have not been too encouraging. The period of transmission is short: less than 40 years passed between the death of Jesus and the writing of Mark's Gospel. This means that there was little time for oral traditions to assume fixed form.[21]
The Bible was later translated into Latin and other languages. John Riches states that:
The translation of the Bible into Latin marks the beginning of a parting of the ways between Western Latin-speaking Christianity and Eastern Christianity, which spoke Greek, Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic, and other languages. The Bibles of the Eastern Churches vary considerably: the Ethiopic Orthodox canon includes 81 books and contains many apocalyptic texts, such as were found at Qumran and subsequently excluded from the Jewish canon. As a general rule, one can say that the Orthodox Churches generally follow the Septuagint in including more books in their Old Testaments than are in the Jewish canon.[21]
Former Prophets
The Former Prophets are the books Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings. They contain narratives that begin immediately after the death of Moses with the divine appointmen
KetuvimMain article:
Ketuvim
Books of the
Ketuvim
Three poetic books
Psalms
Proverbs
Job
Five Megillot (Scrolls)
Song of Songs
Ruth
Lamentations
Ecclesiastes
Esther
Other books
Daniel
Chronicles
Ezra–Nehemiah (Ezra
Nehemiah)
Hebrew Bible
v
t
e
Ketuvim or Kəṯûḇîm (in Biblical Hebrew: כְּתוּבִים "writings") is the third and final section of the Tanakh. The Ketuvim are believed to have been written under the Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit) but with one level less authority than that of prophecy.[35]
The poetic books
Hebrew
text of
Psalm 1:1-2
In Masoretic manuscripts (and some printed editions), Psalms, Proverbs and Job are presented in a special two-column form emphasizing the parallel stichs in the verses, which are a function of their poetry. Collectively, these three books are known as Sifrei Emet (an acronym of the titles in Hebrew, איוב, משלי, תהלים yields Emet אמ"ת, which is also the Hebrew for "truth").
These three books are also the only ones in Tanakh with a special system of cantillation notes that are designed to emphasize parallel stichs within verses. However, the beginning and end of the book of Job are in the normal prose system.
The five scrolls (
Hamesh Megillot
)
The five relatively short books of Song of Songs, Book of Ruth, the Book of Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Book of Esther are collectively known as the Hamesh Megillot (Five Megillot). These are the latest books collected and designated as "authoritative" in the Jewish canon even though they were not complete until the 2nd century CE.[36]
Other books
Besides the three poetic books and the five scrolls, the remaining books in Ketuvim are Daniel, Ezra–Nehemiah and Chronicles. Although there is no formal grouping for these books in the Jewish tradition, they nevertheless share a number of distinguishing characteristics:
Their narratives all openly describe relatively late events (i.e., the Babylonian captivity and the subsequent restoration of Zion).
The Talmudic tradition ascribes late authorship to all of them.
Two of them (Daniel and Ezra) are the only books in the Tanakh with significant portions in Aramaic.
Order of the books
The following list presents the books of Ketuvim in the order they appear in most printed editions. It also divides them into three subgroups based on the distinctiveness of Sifrei Emet and Hamesh Megillot.
The Three Poetic Books (Sifrei Emet)
Tehillim (Psalms) תְהִלִּים
Mishlei (Book of Proverbs) מִשְלֵי
Iyyôbh (Book of Job) אִיּוֹב
The Five Megillot (Hamesh Megillot)
Shīr Hashshīrīm (Song of Songs) or (Song of Solomon) שִׁיר הַשׁשִׁירִים (Passover)
Rūth (Book of Ruth) רוּת (Shābhû‘ôth)
Eikhah (Lamentations) איכה (Ninth of Av) [Also called Kinnot in Hebrew.]
Qōheleth (Ecclesiastes) קהלת (Sukkôth)
Estēr (Book of Esther) אֶסְתֵר (Pûrîm)
Other books
Dānî’ēl (Book of Daniel) דָּנִיֵּאל
‘Ezrā (Book of Ezra–Book of Nehemiah) עזרא
Divrei ha-Yamim (Chronicles) דברי הימים
The Jewish textual tradition never finalized the order of the books in Ketuvim. The Babylonian Talmud (Bava Batra 14b-15a) gives their order as Ruth, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Daniel, Scroll of Esther, Ezra, Chronicles.[37]
In Tiberian Masoretic codices, including the Aleppo Codex and the Leningrad Codex, and often in old Spanish manuscripts as well, the order is Chronicles, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Esther, Daniel, Ezra.[38]
Canonization
The Ketuvim is the last of the three portions of the Tanakh to have been accepted as biblical canon. While the Torah may have been considered canon by Israel as early as the 5th century BCE and the Former and Latter Prophets were canonized by the 2nd century BCE, the Ketuvim was not a fixed canon until the 2nd century of the Common Era.[36]
Evidence suggests, however, that the people of Israel were adding what would become the Ketuvim to their holy literature shortly after the canonization of the prophets. As early as 132 BCE references suggest that the Ketuvim was starting to take shape, although it lacked a formal title.[39] References in the four Gospels as well as other books of the New Testament indicate that many of these texts were both commonly known and counted as having some degree of religious authority early in the 1st century CE.
Many scholars believe that the limits of the Ketuvim as canonized scripture were determined by the Council of Jamnia c. 90 CE. Against Apion, the writing of Josephus in 95 CE, treated the text of the Hebrew Bible as a closed canon to which "... no one has ventured either to add, or to remove, or to alter a syllable..."[40] For a long time following this date the divine inspiration of Esther, the Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes was often under scrutiny.[41]
Original languages
The Tanakh was mainly written in biblical Hebrew, with some small portions (Ezra 4:8–6:18 and 7:12–26, Jeremiah 10:11, Daniel 2:4–7:28) written in biblical Aramaic, a sister language which became the lingua franca for much of the Semitic world.[42]
Septuagint
Main article:
Septuagint
Fragment of a Septuagint: A column of
uncial
book from
1 Esdras
in the
Codex Vaticanus
c. 325–350 CE, the basis of Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton's Greek edition and
English translation
.
The Septuagint, or the LXX, is a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures and some related texts into Koine Greek, begun in the late 3rd century BCE and completed by 132 BCE,[43][44][45] initially in Alexandria, but in time it was completed elsewhere as well.[46] It is not altogether clear which was translated when, or where; some may even have been translated twice, into different versions, and then revised.[47]
As the work of translation progressed, the canon of the Greek Bible expanded. The Torah always maintained its pre-eminence as the basis of the canon but the collection of prophetic writings, based on the Nevi'im, had various hagiographical works incorporated into it. In addition, some newer books were included in the Septuagint, among these are the Maccabees and the Wisdom of Sirach. However, the book of Sirach, is now known to have existed in a Hebrew version, since ancient Hebrew manuscripts of it were rediscovered in modern times. The Septuagint version of some Biblical books, like Daniel and Esther, are longer than those in the Jewish canon.[48] Some of these deuterocanonical books (e.g. the Wisdom of Solomon, and the second book of Maccabees) were not translated, but composed directly in Greek.[citation needed]
Since Late Antiquity, once attributed to a hypothetical late 1st-century Council of Jamnia, mainstream Rabbinic Judaism rejected the Septuagint as valid Jewish scriptural texts. Several reasons have been given for this. First, some mistranslations were claimed. Second, the Hebrew source texts used for the Septuagint differed from the Masoretic tradition of Hebrew texts, which was chosen as canonical by the Jewish rabbis.[49] Third, the rabbis wanted to distinguish their tradition from the newly emerging tradition of Christianity.[45][50] Finally, the rabbis claimed a divine authority for the Hebrew language, in contrast to Aramaic or Greek – even though these languages were the lingua franca of Jews during this period (and Aramaic would eventually be given a holy language status comparable to Hebrew).[51]
The Septuagint is the basis for the Old Latin, Slavonic, Syriac, Old Armenian, Old Georgian and Coptic versions of the Christian Old Testament.[52] The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches use most of the books of the Septuagint, while Protestant churches usually do not. After the Protestant Reformation, many Protestant Bibles began to follow the Jewish canon and exclude the additional texts, which came to be called Biblical apocrypha. The Apocrypha are included under a separate heading in the King James Version of the Bible, the basis for the Revised Standard Version.[53]
Incorporations from Theodotion
In most ancient copies of the Bible which contain the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, the Book of Daniel is not the original Septuagint version, but instead is a copy of Theodotion's translation from the Hebrew, which more closely resembles the Masoretic Text.[citation needed] The Septuagint version was discarded in favour of Theodotion's version in the 2nd to 3rd centuries CE. In Greek-speaking areas, this happened near the end of the 2nd century, and in Latin-speaking areas (at least in North Africa), it occurred in the middle of the 3rd century. History does not record the reason for this, and St. Jerome reports, in the preface to the Vulgate version of Daniel, "This thing 'just' happened."[54] One of two Old Greek texts of the Book of Daniel has been recently rediscovered and work is ongoing in reconstructing the original form of the book.[55]
The canonical Ezra–Nehemiah is known in the Septuagint as "Esdras B", and 1 Esdras is "Esdras A". 1 Esdras is a very similar text to the books of Ezra–Nehemiah, and the two are widely thought by scholars to be derived from the same original text. It has been proposed, and is thought highly likely by scholars, that "Esdras B" – the canonical Ezra–Nehemiah – is Theodotion's version of this material, and "Esdras A" is the version which was previously in the Septuagint on its own.[54]
Final form
Some texts are found in the Septuagint but are not present in the Hebrew. These additional books are Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach, Baruch, the Letter of Jeremiah (which later became chapter 6 of Baruch in the Vulgate), additions to Daniel (The Prayer of Azarias, the Song of the Three Children, Susanna and Bel and the Dragon), additions to Esther, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, 3 Maccabees, 4 Maccabees, 1 Esdras, Odes, including the Prayer of Manasseh, the Psalms of Solomon, and Psalm 151.
Some books that are set apart in the Masoretic Text are grouped together. For example, the Books of Samuel and the Books of Kings are in the LXX one book in four parts called Βασιλειῶν ("Of Reigns"). In LXX, the Books of Chronicles supplement Reigns and it is called Paralipomenon (Παραλειπομένων—things left out). The Septuagint organizes the minor prophets as twelve parts of one Book of Twelve.[55]
Main articles:
Christian biblical canons
and
List of English Bible translations
A page from the
Gutenberg Bible
A Christian Bible is a set of books that a Christian denomination regards as divinely inspired and thus constituting scripture. Although the Early Church primarily used the Septuagint or the Targums among Aramaicspeakers, the apostles did not leave a defined set of new scriptures; instead the canon of the New Testament developed over time. Groups within Christianity include differing books as part of their sacred writings, most prominent among which are the biblical apocrypha or deuterocanonical books.
Significant versions of the English Christian Bible include the Douay-Rheims Bible, the Authorized King James Version, the English Revised Version, the American Standard Version, the Revised Standard Version, the New American Standard Version, the New King James Version, the New International Version, and the English Standard Version.
Old TestamentMain article:
Old Testament
The books which make up the Christian Old Testament differ between the Catholic (see Catholic Bible), Orthodox, and Protestant (see Protestant Bible) churches, with the Protestant movement accepting only those books contained in the Hebrew Bible, while Catholics and Orthodox have wider canons. A few groups consider particular translations to be divinely inspired, notably the Greek Septuagint and the Aramaic Peshitta.[citation needed]
Apocryphal or deuterocanonical books
In Eastern Christianity, translations based on the Septuagint still prevail. The Septuagint was generally abandoned in favour of the 10th-century Masoretic Text as the basis for translations of the Old Testament into Western languages.[citation needed] Some modern Western translations since the 14th century make use of the Septuagint to clarify passages in the Masoretic Text, where the Septuagint may preserve a variant reading of the Hebrew text.[citation needed] They also sometimes adopt variants that appear in other texts, e.g., those discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls.[58][59]
A number of books which are part of the Peshitta or the Greek Septuagint but are not found in the Hebrew (Rabbinic) Bible (i.e., among the protocanonical books) are often referred to as deuterocanonical books by Roman Catholics referring to a later secondary (i.e., deutero) canon, that canon as fixed definitively by the Council of Trent 1545–1563.[60][61] It includes 46 books for the Old Testament (45 if Jeremiah and Lamentations are counted as one) and 27 for the New.[62]
Most Protestants term these books as apocrypha. Modern Protestant traditions do not accept the deuterocanonical books as canonical, although Protestant Bibles included them in Apocrypha sections until the 1820s. However, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches include these books as part of their Old Testament.
The Roman Catholic Church recognizes:[63]
Tobit
Judith
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees
Wisdom
Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus)
Baruch
The Letter of Jeremiah (Baruch Chapter 6)
Greek Additions to Esther (Book of Esther, chapters 10:4 – 12:6)
The Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children verses 1–68 (Book of Daniel, chapter 3, verses 24–90)
Susanna (Book of Daniel, chapter 13)
Bel and the Dragon (Book of Daniel, chapter 14)
In addition to those, the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches recognize the following:[citation needed]
3 Maccabees
1 Esdras
Prayer of Manasseh
Psalm 151
Russian and Georgian Orthodox Churches include:[citation needed]
2 Esdras i.e., Latin Esdras in the Russian and Georgian Bibles
There is also 4 Maccabees which is only accepted as canonical in the Georgian Church, but was included by St. Jerome in an appendix to the Vulgate, and is an appendix to the Greek Orthodox Bible, and it is therefore sometimes included in collections of the Apocrypha.[citation needed]
The Syriac Orthodox tradition includes:[citation needed]
Psalms 151–155
The Apocalypse of Baruch
The Letter of Baruch
The Ethiopian Biblical canon includes:[citation needed]
Jubilees
Enoch
1–3 Meqabyan
and some other books.
The Anglican Church uses some of the Apocryphal books liturgically. Therefore, editions of the Bible intended for use in the Anglican Church include the Deuterocanonical books accepted by the Catholic Church, plus 1 Esdras, 2 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh, which were in the Vulgate appendix.[citation needed]
Pseudepigraphal booksMain article:
Pseudepigrapha
The term Pseudepigrapha commonly describes numerous works of Jewish religious literature written from about 300 BCE to 300 CE. Not all of these works are actually pseudepigraphical. It also refers to books of the New Testament canon whose authorship is misrepresented. The "Old Testament" Pseudepigraphal works include the following:[64]
3 Maccabees
4 Maccabees
Assumption of Moses
Ethiopic Book of Enoch (1 Enoch)
Slavonic Book of Enoch (2 Enoch)
Hebrew Book of Enoch (3 Enoch) (also known as "The Revelation of Metatron" or "The Book of Rabbi Ishmael the High Priest")
Book of Jubilees
Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch (2 Baruch)
Letter of Aristeas (Letter to Philocrates regarding the translating of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek)
Life of Adam and Eve
Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah
Psalms of Solomon
Sibylline Oracles
Greek Apocalypse of Baruch (3 Baruch)
Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
Book of Enoch
Notable pseudepigraphal works include the Books of Enoch (such as 1 Enoch, 2 Enoch, surviving only in Old Slavonic, and 3 Enoch, surviving in Hebrew, c. 5th to 6th century CE). These are ancient Jewish religious works, traditionally ascribed to the prophet Enoch, the great-grandfather of the patriarch Noah. They are not part of the biblical canon used by Jews, apart from Beta Israel. Most Christian denominations and traditions may accept the Books of Enoch as having some historical or theological interest or significance. It has been observed that part of the Book of Enoch is quoted in the Epistle of Jude (part of the New Testament) but Christian denominations generally regard the Books of Enoch as non-canonical or non-inspired.[65] However, the Enoch books are treated as canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church.
The older sections (mainly in the Book of the Watchers) are estimated to date from about 300 BC, and the latest part (Book of Parables) probably was composed at the end of the 1st century BCE.[66]
Denominational views of Pseudepigrapha
There arose in some Protestant biblical scholarship an extended use of the term pseudepigrapha for works that appeared as though they ought to be part of the biblical canon, because of the authorship ascribed to them, but which stood outside both the biblical canons recognized by Protestants and Catholics. These works were also outside the particular set of books that Roman Catholics called deuterocanonical and to which Protestants had generally applied the term Apocryphal. Accordingly, the term pseudepigraphical, as now used often among both Protestants and Roman Catholics (allegedly for the clarity it brings to the discussion), may make it difficult to discuss questions of pseudepigraphical authorship of canonical books dispassionately with a lay audience. To confuse the matter even more, Eastern Orthodox Christians accept books as canonical that Roman Catholics and most Protestant denominations consider pseudepigraphical or at best of much less authority. There exist also churches that reject some of the books that Roman Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants accept. The same is true of some Jewish sects. Many works that are "apocryphal" are otherwise considered genuine.
Divine inspiration
Main articles:
Biblical inspiration
,
Biblical literalism
,
Biblical infallibility
, and
Biblical inerrancy
A Bible is placed centrally on a
Lutheran
altar, highlighting its importance
The Second Epistle to Timothy says that "all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness". (2 Timothy 3:16)[81] Various related but distinguishable views on divine inspiration include:
the view of the Bible as the inspired word of God: the belief that God, through the Holy Spirit, intervened and influenced the words, message, and collation of the Bible[82]
the view that the Bible is also infallible, and incapable of error in matters of faith and practice, but not necessarily in historic or scientific matters
the view that the Bible represents the inerrant word of God, without error in any aspect, spoken by God and written down in its perfect form by humans
Within these broad beliefs many schools of hermeneutics operate. "Bible scholars claim that discussions about the Bible must be put into its context within church history and then into the context of contemporary culture."[68]Fundamentalist Christians are associated[by whom?] with the doctrine of biblical literalism, where the Bible is not only inerrant, but the meaning of the text is clear to the average reader.[83]
Jewish antiquity attests to belief in sacred texts,[84][85] and a similar belief emerges in the earliest of Christian writings. Various texts of the Bible mention divine agency in relation to its writings.[86] In their book A General Introduction to the Bible, Norman Geisler and William Nix write: "The process of inspiration is a mystery of the providence of God, but the result of this process is a verbal, plenary, inerrant, and authoritative record."[87] Most evangelical biblical scholars[88][89][90] associate inspiration with only the original text; for example some American Protestants adhere to the 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy which asserted that inspiration applied only to the autographic text of Scripture.[91] Among adherents of Biblical literalism, a minority, such as followers of the King-James-Only Movement, extend the claim of inerrancy only to a particular translation.[92]
See also
Bible portal
Judaism portal
Christianity portal
Bible box
Bible case
Bible paper
Biblical software
Code of Hammurabi
List of major biblical figures
Outline of the Bible
Scriptorium
Theodicy and the Bible
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When Herschel Became Harry: How to Find your Ancestors’ Original Names
By Moriah Amit, Senior Reference Services Librarian, Genealogy Coordinator
Although the notion that our immigrant ancestors’ names were changed by clerks at Ellis Island has been debunked time and again by noted scholars in Jewish genealogy (see References below), this myth remains pervasive in the stories that American Jews tell about their family history. The truth, that most of our immigrant ancestors chose to Americanize their names after they settled in the U.S., facing the same pressures to assimilate and avoid discrimination as other immigrant groups, may not be as compelling or as palatable to our modern sensibilities.
However, grappling with this reality can help us tackle one of the most common and daunting obstacles in Jewish genealogical research: finding our immigrant ancestors’ original names. Without knowledge of their original names, it is difficult to locate relevant passenger arrival manifests and nearly impossible to trace our family history further back in the “old country.” Through this post, I hope to impart a few strategies that I have utilized effectively for breaking through this “brick wall” using primary sources and name change patterns.
“Applicants for U.S. Citizenship in the HIAS Waiting Room” Alter Kaczyne Collection (RG 1270), Courtesy of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
Names on Ship Passenger Manifests
Jews living in Eastern Europe typically went by multiple given names, including a shem ha-kodesh, or Hebrew religious name (for men only), a kinnui , or secular Yiddish name, and any number of nicknames in Yiddish and/or the local vernacular language. Additionally, some went by a double name, essentially a first and middle name; the two parts could be related in sound, meaning, or Biblical symbolism, like Aryeh Leib (meaning “lion” first in Hebrew, then in Yiddish), or be completely unrelated, like Sura Rivka. The given name used on your ancestor’s passenger manifest will be either their secular Yiddish name or a diminutive version of that name. For individuals with double names, the manifest may list only the first name, only the second name, or both in either order. Although your immigrant ancestors’ given names and surnames would have been originally written in the Cyrillic or Hebrew alphabets, on the manifests, they were written down the way that they sounded in the Latin alphabet, according to the phonetic rules of the language of the agent from whom their steamship ticket was purchased (typically, English, German, Dutch, or French). Thus, certain consonants and consonant clusters were frequently used interchangeably (e.g. V and W, or CH and KH) and vowels were particularly interchangeable in various transliteration systems.
Finding Original Names in Primary Sources
While most Eastern European Jewish immigrants did not apply for a legal change of name, there are two key places in which they (or their next-of-kin) may have recorded their pre-Americanized name. The most reliable source of an immigrant’s given name is his/her tombstone, upon which you will often find the deceased’s Hebrew name inscribed, in accordance with Jewish tradition. For men, you will need to use the Hebrew name on the tombstone to infer their likely Yiddish name, again typically related to one another in sound, meaning, or Biblical symbolism. For women, the Hebrew and Yiddish names are the same. For more information on how to locate a tombstone, see our cemetery research guide.
Another potential source of an immigrant’s pre-Americanized name (in this case, the secular Yiddish given name and European surname) is his/her naturalization petition, the second and final form required in the citizenship application process. It is important to keep in mind that many immigrants never became U.S. citizens and that, prior to 1922, a woman’s citizenship status was derived from either her husband or father and, therefore, she would not have filed a naturalization petition herself. For more information on how to locate a naturalization petition, see our naturalization research guide.
Inferring Original Names from Common Name Change Patterns
If the above sources are unavailable or unhelpful, you may try to infer an ancestor’s Yiddish name based on the English name they adopted in the U.S.; however, it is important to remember that there are no fixed English equivalents for Yiddish names. Most immigrants changed their given name to one that shared only the same initial letter or sound. Most Biblical names have versions in every European language, including English. If the English equivalent name was trendy at that time, then that name was the one most often adopted by an immigrant. For example, in Warren Blatt’s study of over 6,000 tombstones in several early 20th-century landsmanshaft cemeteries in New York and Boston, 94% of those buried with the English name Abe or Abraham were born with the Hebrew equivalent Avraham. In contrast, only 4% of those named Moshe took on the unfashionable English equivalent, Moses. For most post-Biblical Jewish names, such as Fruma, there is no English equivalent; likewise, for immigrants who adopted English names with non-Jewish roots, there is no Hebrew or Yiddish equivalent. In the aforementioned tombstone study, those who were buried with the name Bertha (of German origin) were almost equally likely to have been born as Breina (26%), Beila (26%), or Bracha (17%). In a small number of cases, the immigrant chose a new given name that had nothing to do with their Hebrew or Yiddish names (Blatt, “Jewish Given Names”).
With surnames, many immigrants made minor spelling changes to conform to American pronunciation (e.g. ��Lewinowicz became Levinowitz) or simply shortened the name to make it easier for Americans to pronounce (e.g. Lewinowicz became Lewin). However, as with given names, there were some who adopted a new surname that had no resemblance to their original surname (e.g. Lewinowicz became Miller). Jewish given name and surname dictionaries and databases may assist you in creating a list of common Yiddish versions of your ancestors’ English names. For a comprehensive list of these resources, see our Jewish names research guide.
Still Stuck? We Can Help!
At the Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute, we have extensive experience assisting researchers in locating their ancestors’ original names. Feel free to visit us in person or on our website, genealogy.cjh.org, if you have questions about this process.
References:
Beider, Alexander. A Dictionary of Ashkenazic Given Names: Their Origins, Structure, Pronunciation, and Migrations. Bergenfield, NJ: Avotaynu, 2001.
Blatt, Warren.”Given Names.” Avotaynu Guide to Jewish Genealogy. Eds. Sallyann Amdur Sack and Gary Mokotoff. Bergenfield, NJ: Avotaynu, 2004, p. 35-42.
---. “Jewish Given Names.” 18th Seminar on Jewish Genealogy, July 1998, Los Angeles. Slides accessed at http://www.jewishgen.org/InfoFiles/GivenNames. Accessed 5 July 2017.
Kurzweil, Arthur. From Generation to Generation: How to Trace Your Jewish Genealogy and Family History. Updated edition with online resources. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2011.
Mokotoff, Gary. Getting Started in Jewish Genealogy. 2016-2017 edition. New Haven, CT: Avotaynu, 2016.
Sack-Pikus, Sallyann. “Just How Were Passenger Manifests Created?” Avotaynu Online, 1 Apr. 2009, http://www.avotaynuonline.com/2009/04/just-how-were-passenger-manifests-created-by-sallyann-amdur-sack-pikus-editor. Accessed 5 July 2017.
Sutton, Phillip. “Why Your Family Name Was Not Changed at Ellis Island (and One That Was).” New York Public Library, 2 July 2013, https://www.nypl.org/blog/2013/07/02/name-changes-ellis-island. Accessed 5 July 2017.
Trauring, Philip. “Name Changes at Ellis Island.” Blood and Frogs, 10 May 2011, https://bloodandfrogs.com/2011/05/name-changes-at-ellis-island.html. Accessed 5 July 2017.
---. “Variations in Jewish Given Names.” Blood and Frogs, 16 June 2011, https://bloodandfrogs.com/2011/06/variations-in-jewish-given-names.html. Accessed 5 July 2017.
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Fruit of the spirit
By Jalu Kaba X
Efesus 5:9 : (Beza) : (Ὁ γὰρ καρπὸς τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐν πάσῃ ἀγαθωσύνῃ καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ.
(KJV) : (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;).
- γάρ gar (ğar'), (properly) assigning a reason. {(used in argument, explanation or intensification; often with other particles)} In KJV this word has some of the meanings like as, because (that), but, even, for, indeed, no doubt, seeing, then, therefore, verily, what, why, yet.
- καρπός karpos (kar-pos'). The meaning is fruit (as plucked), {literally or figuratively. In KJV this word has a meaning: fruit.
- πνεῦμα pneuma, this word has some meanings like :
1. a current of air, i.e. breath or a breeze.
2. (by analogy or figuratively) a spin. in(humanly) the rational soul, as in the “spirit of a man.”
3. (by implication) vital principle, mental disposition, etc.
5. (superhumanly) an angel, demon.
5. (divinely) God, Christ's spirit, the Holy Spirit. In KJV the meaning is a ghost, life, spirit(-ual, -ually), mind.
- ἔν en (en') prep, ἐγ- eg- (eng-) [alternate prefix], ἐμ- em- (em-) [soft prefix], meaning is:
1. in. 2. at (i.e. in a given time or place).
3. on (i.e. in the surface or substance of something or someone).
4. by (i.e. in the process of, in consequence, as a result).
5. with (i.e. in the usage or occurrence of).
6. within (i.e. inside of, in the surroundings of).
7. among (i.e. in company with).
8. along (i.e. in the course of travel).
9. along with (i.e. in a progression (of increasing maturity)).
10. into (i.e. into a place or state of being).
11. unto (i.e. into a purpose).
12. to (i.e. in a direction toward).
13. (idiom, with G3588) explicitly, specifically (i.e. in the thing (that follows)).
14. (hence also with a dative pronoun) by name (i.e. by his name, affirm him by name).
15. (of occasion) when.
16. (of coinciding) as (one is doing, something else occurs).
17. (with G3739) while (literally, in that while doing, something else occurs).
18. (when combined as a prefix) (unexpressed).
19. (also) around 10 other similar contextual uses. {Often used in compounds, with substantially the same import; rarely with verbs of motion, and then not to indicate direction, except (elliptically) by a separate (and different) preposition} [a primary preposition denoting (fixed) position (in place, time or state), and (by implication) instrumentality (medially or constructively), i.e. a relation of rest.
In KJV this word containing some meaning, like: about, after, against, + almost, X altogether, among, X as, at, before, between, (here-)by (+ all means), for (... sake of), + give self wholly to, (here-)in(-to, -wardly), X mightily, (because) of, (up-)on, (open-)ly, X outwardly, one, X quickly, X shortly, (speedi-)ly, X that, X there(-in, -on), through(-out), (un-)to(-ward), under, when, where(-with), while, with(-in). -Word πᾶς pas (pas') adj. πᾶν pan (pan'),[including all forms of declension], πάμ- pam- (pam'-) [soft prefix], have meanings: all, any, every, the whole. [apparently a primary word] In KJV this word has some meaning, like all (manner of, means), alway(-s), any (one), in daily, + ever, every (one, way), as many as, + no(-thing), X thoroughly, whatsoever, whole, whosoever.
-Word ἀγαθωσύνη agathosune (a-ğa-thō-sï '-nee) n. Meaning is: goodness, i.e. virtue or beneficence. In KJV: goodness. - kai - καί ; (as a connective) and; (connecting and continuing) and then, then; (as a disjunctive) but, yet, however; (as an adv.) also, even, likewise. Some of the example the use of this word, can be found in;(1) and, Mt. 2:2, 3, 11; 4:22; (2) και και, both and; (3) as a cumulative particle, also, too, Mt. 5:39; Jn. 8:19; 1Cor. 11:6;.
- δικαιοσύνη dikaiosune (d̮iy-kai-o-sï '-nee).
Have meanings:
1. equity (of character or act).
2. righteousness.
3. (specially) the Righteousness ascribed by trust in Jesus.
In KJV righteousness.
- ἀλήθεια Aletheia (a-lee'-that-a).
In KJV: true, X truly, truth, verity.
The lesson of wisdom that I can interpret from this verse:
"For the fruit of the Spirit is in every good and justice and righteousness" This verse explains that "the fruit of the Spirit is in every goodness and justice and truth".
The meaning of the fruit of the Spirit in this verse which I will discuss is the fruit of the spirit which is interpreted as "good knowledge".
Now the origin of this good knowledge can be from various sources, the higher the sharpness of mind and spirit, the higher the light of knowledge both received, can come from holy inspiration. Inspiration or holy inspiration are either in the form of dreams (bisyarah), intuition or hunch (firasyah), Ar-ramli or more commonly known as divination, or knowledge about secret sign of the stars in the mysticism Islamic tradition which is commonly known as knowledge of zodiac or astrology, which is the science of recognizing the properties of celestial bodies, because fortune itself means "stars".
Even though the science of ramli or knowledge of the secret meaning of the stars is more stigmatized negatively, but actually the book or study exists, whether in the Sunni tradition or in the Shiite tradition if in Islam, or in the traditions of other beliefs.
The fruit of the Spirit as good knowledge is in every kindness, justice, and truth. When it is good, the fanfare of truth is ongoing, so in it, we can find the existence of the fruit of the spirit. And if the Fruit of the Spirit is always in all three, then goodness, justice, and truth can come from one source, namely the fruit of the Spirit itself. So when all three "walk" in life, their "walking" is on the basis of the "command" of the Spirit Fruit itself.
And if humans already have the fruit of the Spirit which is interpreted as good knowledge, then their lives will be enlightened, if they are enlightened then the light of their thoughts, feelings, hearing, and views, is not in the darkness of knowledge anymore.
Then ...
"Because light only produces good and justice and truth". This verse explains "that light only produces good and justice and truth", The light in this verse as I have discussed is the light that I understand as "good knowledge". If humans have gotten good knowledge, then understand the content of that knowledge well, then this human behavior in life will only manifest goodness, justice, and truth.
The goodness here that I understand is to bring benefits that are happy and calming, both for themselves, other humans and the surrounding environment. Far from damaging, not close to hurt and contrary to harm. So this man's thoughts, his feelings, his words, his writings, and his actions will always bring benefits that are happy and calming, both for himself, other humans and the surrounding environment. Far from damaging, not close to hurt and contrary to harm.
The justice that I understand here is to put something according to its capacity. Not lacking and not too excessive. So this human being when thinking, will think according to his capacity, will feel in accordance with his capacity, will say according to his capacity, will write according to his capacity and will do according to his capacity. The truth here is in accordance with the situation, conditions, tolerance, relevance and reach. So when this man thinks, feels, says, writes and acts, then his thoughts, feelings, words, writings and actions will be in accordance with the situation and conditions, will be loaded with tolerance, tolerance meant here is understandable, respectful and does not feel right , will be relevant and focus on the problems that are or will be faced, will reach a wide range of humanitarian space, reach touches the roots of each problem, ultimately the good benefits of his mind, his feelings, words, writings and actions can reach and reach by all humans. If this is the case, then this human is not impossible to spread the love for humans, nature and all life in it.
Hopefully, it is useful for those who need it, for those who don't need it, hopefully, it doesn't offend.
Peace greetings always.
Note:
- Correction and constructive criticism I appreciate very much.
Sources:
1. The 1598 version of Beza's Greek New Testament, Theodore Beza ( june/24/1519-october /13/ 1605).
2. King James Version of 1611/1769.
3. Mickelson's Enhanced Strong's Dictionaries of the Greek and Hebrew Testaments (MESD), English Dictionaries of the Textus Receptus, the 1550 Stephanus and 1525 Ben Chayyim (Second Edition - 125th Anniversary Edition), Authors: Mickelson, Jonathan K, Year: 2008, 2010, 2015, Publisher: LivingSon Press, ISBN: (MESD): 978-1-60922-009-9.
4. King James Version (1769) with Strongs Numbers and Morphology (KJV)
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Rocket Report: Surprise Israeli launch, Britain decides to bail out OneWeb
Enlarge / An Atlas V payload fairing with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover secured inside arrives at the Vertical Integration Facility this week.
Welcome to Edition 3.07 of the Rocket Report! This week, we’re getting close to the opening of the Mars launch window, which occurs about every two years when Earth and the Red Planet align. It looks like United Arab Emirates’ Mars Hope mission will the first of three probes to launch this summer, possibly as early as July 14.
As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.
Second-stage failure leads to loss of Electron rocket. On Sunday morning, local time, in New Zealand, Rocket Lab launched its 13th mission. The booster’s first stage performed normally, but just as the second stage neared an altitude of 200km, something went wrong, and the vehicle was lost, Ars reports. The mission, dubbed “Pics Or It Didn’t Happen,” carried 5 SuperDove satellites for the imaging company Planet, as well as commercial payloads both for Canon Electronics and In-Space Missions.
Learning after a loss … “I am incredibly sorry that we failed to deliver our customers satellites today. Rest assured we will find the issue, correct it and be back on the pad soon,” said Peter Beck, chief executive of Rocket Lab. Rocket Lab has plenty of experience to draw upon as it works to identify and fix the underlying problem with its second stage. There can be little doubt the issue will be resolved.
Shavit-2 rocket launches Israeli satellite. The Israeli government and Israel Aerospace Industries on Monday conducted a previously unannounced launch of a reconnaissance satellite, NASASpaceflight.com reports. A Shavit-2 rocket deployed the Ofek 16 satellite into low Earth orbit. This is the first launch of the smallsat launcher in nearly four years.
Seeking the horizon … Ofek 16 is a small electro-optical imaging satellite, which will capture high-resolution images of the Earth for Israel’s Ministry of Defense. The name Ofek, from the Hebrew word אופק, meaning Horizon, has been applied to all of Israel’s military satellites regardless of their mission, including two early demonstration missions and subsequent optical and radar reconnaissance spacecraft. (submitted by immune, Max Q, Ken the Bin, and JohnCarter17)
The easiest way to keep up with Eric Berger’s space reporting is to sign up for his newsletter, we’ll collect his stories in your inbox.
Military prepping for a rare Minotaur 4 launch. Crews working on Virginia’s Eastern Shore have raised a top-secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office atop a solid-fueled Minotaur 4 rocket for liftoff on July 15. It is the first Minotaur launch in nearly three years, Spaceflight Now reports. The Air Force awarded Northrop Grumman a $38 million contract to launch the NROL-129 mission, military officials confirmed in early 2019.
No public viewing … The Minotaur 4 rocket can carry payloads of up to 1.7 tons into low-Earth orbit. NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility plans to provide a live video webcast of the Minotaur 4’s liftoff July 15, but officials are not opening the NASA Visitor Center at Wallops for launch viewing or hosting media representatives to cover the launch in person. NASA cited the coronavirus pandemic as the reason for the closure. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
Virgin Orbit will launch again no earlier than September. The flight of the first LauncherOne booster ended shortly after it was dropped from a 747 aircraft in late May, with an “anomaly” occurring a few seconds following engine ignition. The company has not said much since then, but it recently did apply for a second launch communications permit.
That’s a big window … According to the document submitted to the US Federal Communications Commission, the second mission will again take off from Mojave, California, on a 747 aircraft. The earliest date for the launch is September 2020, and the proposed window extends all the way through February 2021. It was not immediately clear when Virgin Orbit is targeting within this window.
A NY launch company with big plans wins contract. On Thursday, iRocket announced that it had signed a Phase II RAPID Other Transaction Agreement contract with the US Air Force. The contract has a value of $1.5 million. The funding is designed to help the company ramp its reusable-launch-vehicle technology onto the Air Force’s $986M OSP-4 Orbital Launch Services program.
Ready to compete with SpaceX? … The New York-based company aspires to develop cost-effective small launch vehicles that can support 300kg and 1500kg payloads for space research and exploration, and by 2025 it plans to offer on-orbit satellite servicing. “iRocket will be competing with SpaceX,” company CEO Asad Malik told Ars.
Russia exploring a reusable Angara A5 rocket. This week, in a short announcement on its website, Roscosmos said it is working to modernize and “further develop” the Angara family of rockets. Among the proposed modifications, Roscosmos said, was that the “Angara-A5VM variant will be reviewed with reusable stages.” The announcement comes as the Angara A5 rocket may finally make its second flight this fall.
Sounds like bluster … We have no idea what this means for a rocket that has flown just one time, in 2014, and costs more than other comparable boosters on the market. But you’ll have to forgive us if we don’t believe the Angara A5 rocket will become reusable any time soon. After all, reuse makes little sense for a booster no one seems to want to use in the first place. (submitted by Ken the Bin and JohnCarter 17)
Mars rover mated to Atlas V rocket. NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has been hoisted on top of its United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral for liftoff this month, Spaceflight Now reports. The meeting of the Atlas V with the Perseverance rover completed assembly of the 60-meter rocket, which began May 28 with the lifting of the Atlas V’s first stage on its mobile launch platform.
Forward progress is a good thing … Omar Baez, NASA’s launch director for the Perseverance mission, said Wednesday that the launch is on track for July 30. The launch window opens at 7:50am EDT (11:50 UTC), with launch opportunities available at five-minute intervals. The launch was originally scheduled for July 17, the opening of an interplanetary launch period that extends into mid-August. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
British government buys OneWeb, plans investment. The British government and Indian mobile network operator Bharti Global placed the winning bid to acquire OneWeb, which had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March after running out of funding. Additionally, OneWeb said it has secured $1 billion in new funding: $500 million comes from the British government to “deliver first UK sovereign space capability,” while the other $500 million come from Indian mobile network operator Bharti Global to recapitalize OneWeb’s constellation effort, SpaceNews reports.
Sticking with Soyuz? … OneWeb said the funding will “effectuate the full end-to-end deployment of the OneWeb system,” but it did not specify if that system is the original 650-satellite constellation the company was pursuing prior to bankruptcy. OneWeb presently has 74 satellites in low-Earth orbit. Arianespace had completed three of an expected 21 Soyuz launches for OneWeb prior to the startup’s bankruptcy proceedings, and it is unclear how many of those will now proceed or whether OneWeb will reevaluate its launch options. (submitted by platykurtic and JohnCarter17)
COVID-19 to delay astronomy mission launch. A nearly three-month stoppage of on-site work due to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus at NASA’s Marshall Space Fight Center in Alabama is expected to push back the launch of the IXPE X-ray astronomy satellite from May 2021 until some time later next year, Spaceflight Now reports.
No new date yet … The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, or IXPE, mission is assigned to launch on a previously flown SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Work on assembling the mirrors at Marshall was delayed after the space center was closed to all nonessential personnel. NASA is still assessing COVID-19’s impacts to cost and schedule. (submitted by JohnCarter17)
Next Ariane 5 mission to loft three satellites, not two. The next flight of Europe’s heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket, set for July 28 from French Guiana, will carry a record payload of three multi-ton satellites toward geostationary orbit, including a pair of US-built commercial communications payloads and Northrop Grumman’s second robotic satellite-servicing spacecraft, Spaceflight Now reports.
Nearing 25th anniversary … The Ariane 5 typically carries two large satellites at a time on missions toward geostationary orbit. But for this mission, two of the satellites will fit together inside the larger upper section of the Ariane 5 payload fairing. The third spacecraft, meanwhile, will ride below in the lower berth. The mission will mark the 109th flight of an Ariane 5 rocket since 1996. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
Europa Clipper may launch on a Falcon Heavy. One of the big questions in recent years has been how NASA will get its multibillion-dollar Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter’s moon. In the past, Congress has said the spacecraft must go on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, but this came with downsides. For one, the SLS rocket likely will cost NASA at least $1.5 billion more than a commercial rocket. Also, because building the large rocket takes so long, an SLS will probably not be available for the Clipper before 2026, Ars reports.
US House gives tentative OK for commercial booster … Because the spacecraft may be ready to launch as early as 2024, and storing it would lead to increased costs, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has studied alternative launch vehicles. Among the most promising is a Falcon Heavy booster with a kick stage. The new FY 2021 House budget bill says NASA “shall use the Space Launch System, if available, as the launch vehicles for the Jupiter Europa missions.” The bill also plans for an orbiter launch no later than 2025. We’ll have to see what the Senate does.
Restoring Apollo test stand is a real challenge. Blue Origin knew it was taking on a big job, but restoring Test Stand 4670 at Marshall Space Flight Center turned out even bigger than the company thought, AL.com reports. “As we performed mitigation and sandblasting work, we discovered significant corrosion in the primary structure including rust that penetrated through 3-inch steel plates,” lead engineer Scott Henderson said. Corrosion was expected, as the stand has been out in the weather since 1960, but holes in 3-inch steel were not.
Engine tests on hold until fall 2021 … Blue Origin is adding 300 tons of steel to refurbish the stand, and the extra work means that tests will not begin at the facility until at least September 2021. The company will use the stand to perform “acceptance tests” on each of the BE-3U and BE-4 engines it will build at a new rocket engine plant also in Huntsville. The engines will help boost Blue Origin’s own New Glenn rocket and also the giant Vulcan Centaur rocket being developed at United Launch Alliance in Decatur. (submitted by Infosec)
Next three launches
July 11: Falcon 9 | Starlink-9 | Kennedy Space Center, Fla.| 15:00 UTC
July 14: H-2A | Emirates Mars Mission “Hope” | Tanegashima, Japan | 20:51 UTC
July 14: Falcon 9 | Anasis-2 | Cape Canaveral, Fla. | 21:00 UTC
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Our Bible Lessons for November 1 to 7
What's ahead in the Bible readings
November 1 to November 7, 2018
The Twenty-third Week After Pentecost
The Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time*
Bible Review: The Modern English Version
The most important thing you need to know about the Modern English Version (MEV) is that it is a revision of the Authorized Version, usually called the King James Version (KJV). It incorporates modern English vernacular. This translation started as an effort by military chaplains to provide an update to the KJV, so that troops could better understand it. Military chaplains got others who were not chaplains involved in the work; eventually, the target audience changed to the entire English-speaking world. It follows the principle of formal equivalence, which means being as literal as possible using proper grammar and syntax.
One feature that I find helpful is naming the parallel passage just below the title of a section. A slight disadvantage of this approach is that it requires a title whenever there is a parallel passage, even if one isn't necessary for us to understand what follows. As always, remember that the title is not part of the text, and was added by editors to help us. This translation is usually the source of the parallel passages included in our daily readings. A relatively unusual feature is that pronouns referring to God or Jesus are always capitalized. This can be helpful at times when it isn't clear to whom the pronoun refers. References to books of the Bible in footnotes and when parallel passages are named use abbreviations for book names. For example, Mt for Matthew and Lk for Luke.
The books are in the usual order. It does not include the deuterocanonical/apocryphal books.
There is an interesting but incomplete history of English language Bibles included in the introduction, starting with William Tyndale's translation. It is incomplete because it does not mention the Revised Standard Version (RSV), the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), or any of the many translations by Catholic scholars. It does have a very complete description of the development of the KJV.
Here is our Sunday Gospel Lesson from the MEV:
The Great Commandment
Mt 22:34-40; Lk 10:25-28
One of the scribes came near and heard them reasoning together. Perceiving that Jesus had answered them well, he asked Him, “Which of the is the first commandment of all?”
Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, is one Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’¹ This is the first commandment. The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’² There is no commandment greater than these.”
The scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, that there is God, and there is no other but Him. To love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength and to love one's neighbor as oneself is much more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask Him any question.
¹30 Dt 6:4-5 ²31 Lev 19:18 (MEV)
Previous Bible reviews covering the NET Bible, the Message, and The Inclusive Bible, and the Amplified Bible are here.
If you decide to purchase the Modern English Version, please consider using one of these links, so your purchase will benefit The Lectionary Company:
Modern English Version Bible Thinline Reference $17.07
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The prices above are as of October 27. You can search for other editions of the MEV at this link: Modern English Version
This week's illustration
The image this week is of the Good Samaritan with the man who was beaten on the road. He is at the inn, and the inn keeper is helping him to bring the injured man inside. It is a reminder to me first, that actions are greater than words, and second that help can come from unexpected quarters.
Theme of this week's lessons
Our readings this week nearly all have a theme of love. The key reading from the complementary Hebrew Scriptures comes on Sunday when we read the beginning of the Shema prayer from Deuteronomy:
Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
You can find the rest of the Shema here.
Gospel Lessons
Our Gospel lesson for Sunday a scribe asks Jesus which commandment is the greatest, and Jesus quotes from the passage above and adds "and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." The scribe replies
“Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, that there is God, and there is no other but Him. To love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength and to love one's neighbor as oneself is much more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” (MEV)
Of course, there is always the question of who is my neighbor. Jesus answers this in the parable of the Good Samaritan, which is our Saturday Gospel reading. We are so used to the idea of the Samaritan as a good and righteous person that most of us don't understand the ways in which Jesus' hearers would have thought of the Samaritan. The Samaritans rejected a view of salvation history centered on Jerusalem, and their religious life centered on a temple on Mt. Gerizim, rather than on the Jerusalem temple. An analogy might be Christians and Muslems. We worship the same God, but in quite different ways, and there is unfortunately enmity between us. So it was between Jews and Samaritans.
In our third Gospel reading, on Wednesday, Jesus tells us to love one another. So our three Gospel readings tell us to love God, our neighbors in the broadest sense, and one another. Think this week about who is your neighbor in the sense of the Good Samaritan parable.
Psalms
I want to share some perspective on verse five of the complementary Psalm 51, which we read during the time of reflection. “Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me,” reads the verse. Here is what the New Interpreter's Bible commentary has to say:
It is not intended to suggest that sin is transmitted biologically or that sexuality is sinful by definition. Rather, it conveys the inevitability of human fallibility. In each human life, in each human situation, sin is pervasive. We are born into it, and we cannot escape it. While sin is a matter of individual decision, it also has a corporate dimension that affects us, despite our best intentions and decisions.
Here is the good news:
O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
For you have no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
God forgives us. Thanks be to God.
Our semi-continuous psalm during the time of preparation reminds us that God graciously lifts up those who are bowed down.
Epistle Lessons
In our Friday Epistle, Paul reminds us that our God is the God of both Jews and Gentiles. Gentiles, of course, means everyone who is not Jewish. Paul also reminds us that Jesus has paid for our sins by his blood. In our Sunday Epistle from Hebrews, we are reminded of this: if the blood of goats and bulls sanctifies those who have been defiled, much more Christ's blood brings us redemption. In our Monday Epistle lesson, Paul urges the Romans (and us) to live peaceably with all, and reminds us that love is the fulfilling of the law.
Complementary Hebrew Scripture
Our Wednesday Hebrew Scripture reading has the prophet Micah reminding us what God requires of us: to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God. See the discussion above for our Sunday Hebrew Scripture.
There one lesson where some context might be helpful. The Saturday Hebrew Scripture is about what happens when an Israelite is unable to celebrate Passover. The answer is that you do it later, at a time specified in the reading. This actually fits with the rest of our readings, because it is about the importance of returning the love that God has shown us by freeing the Israelites from their Egyptian bondage.
Semi-continuous Hebrew Scripture
This week we are reading about Ruth and Naomi, a pair of women bonded as mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Ruth, a Maobite, sticks with Naomi, a woman from Judah, as they return to Naomi's homeland. There Ruth takes some pretty forward actions, which are ultimately rewarded with marriage to a relative of Naomi's. I especially note how Ruth shares what she gets by gleaning in the fields with Naomi, sustaining them both until Ruth's marriage. We will finish up our lessons about Ruth next week in our Thursday through Sunday lessons.
Thank you for all that you do but to bring about justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God.
Mike Gilbertson
Spread the Word
Help someone deepen his or her commitment to being a Christian through by asking that person to sign up for these lessons. Here is a link that leads to the sign up form: Sign up link
Summary and a link for each day
Thursday to Sunday Psalms
Complementary Psalm 119:1-8 Seeking God with all our hearts
Semi-continuous Psalm 146 God lifts those who are bowed down.
Thursday: Preparation for the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Complementary Exodus 22:1-15 Laws about restitution
Semi-continuous Ruth 1:18-22 Ruth the Maobite and Naomi the Judean return to Judah after both are widowed.
Both Hebrews 9:1-12 The ritual of the sanctuary: Christ has entered into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.
Friday: Preparation for the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Complementary Leviticus 19:32-37 You shall fear God. You shall treat aliens as part of your community, for you were aliens in Egypt.
Semi-continuous Ruth 2:1-9 Ruth meets Boaz.
Both Romans 3:21-31 God is God of both Jews and Gentiles. Christ, through his blood, has atoned for our sins.
Saturday: Preparation for the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Complementary Numbers 9:9-14 All should keep the Passover. You have one law for the resident alien and the native.
Semi-continuous Ruth 2:10-14 Boaz protects Ruth.
Both Luke 10:25-37 Jesus, through the parable of the Good Samaritan, defines who a neighbor is.
The Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Complementary Deuteronomy 6:1-9 The Great Commandment; The Shema
Semi-continuous Ruth 1:1-18 Ruth remains with Naomi.
Both Hebrews 9:11-14 If the blood of goats and bulls sanctifies those who have been defiled, how much more will Christ's blood bring us redemption.
Both Mark 12:28-34 Jesus, asked which commandment is the greatest, answers, "The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these."
Monday to Wednesday Psalms
Complementary Psalm 51 I have sinned against you. Create in me a clean heart.
Semi-continuous Psalm 18:20-30 It is you who light my lamp. God lights my darkness.
Monday: Reflection on the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Complementary Deuteronomy 6:10-25 When you enter the land that God has promised you, do not put God to the test.
Semi-continuous Ruth 2:15-23 Ruth gleans in Boaz' fields during the wheat and barley harvests. Naomi says that Boaz is a close relative.
Both Romans 12:17-21; 13:8-10 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. The law is summed up in this word: love your neighbor as yourself.
Tuesday: Reflection on the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Complementary Deuteronomy 28:58-29:1 The cost of disobedience
Semi-continuous Ruth 3:1-7 Ruth and Boaz are at the threshing floor at night.
Both Acts 7:17-29 Stephen, speaking before the Sanhedrin, recounts Moses' early years.
Wednesday: Reflection on the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Complementary Micah 6:1-8 Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.
Semi-continuous Ruth 3:3-8 Boaz is startled by Ruth's presence on the threshing floor.
Both John 13:31-35 Jesus says, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another."
The links become active on the designated day at 3:05 a.m. eastern time.
*Denominations have different ways of designating the weeks during the year, so your church may refer to this week by a different name or number or both. Regardless of the name or number, the readings are the same. Here is an explanation: Calendar Explanation
Selections from Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 1995 by the Consultation on Common Texts.
Unless otherwise indicated, Bible text is from The New Revised Standard Version, (NRSV) copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All right reserved.
The Sunday Gospel is taken from The Holy Bible Modern English Version (MEV), copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Image credit: The Good Samaritan by Rembrandt, via cs.m.wikipedia. This is a public domain image.
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