Yale lecture on text analysis

 

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This quiet Friday afternoon, I watched lectures by a Yale University teacher (Prof. Martin) about the New Testament. By cutting up and comparing the historical text, he arrives at an understanding of what may have happened. Paul (Shaul) from Tarsus had great success among the Greeks. The main community of Jerusalem was strictly national Jewish, and Paul - in his letters - tries to demonstrate that he was equal to the apostles and leader of the nascent Church. Interestingly, the Greeks easily discarded their gods and philosophy and adopted a narrative (i.e. religion) based on revelation. They liked the story of Moses coming down from the mountain with two tablets with commandments more than Plato's reasoned dialectics.  

My opinion:  Paul's movement ultimately seized power in the Roman Empire, which proves that from the beginning it had been a subversive POLITICAL movement. In retrospect, this outcome justifies the Roman occupation's execution of Jesus for being a political rebel, intent on becoming King of Judea.

Family Prayerbook

It was printed by Schlesinger Jos. Budapest-Wien a hundred years ago. Now that I speak Hebrew, the translation seems rather poor to me. Hungarian words and expressions have evolved to the point that it sounds artificial and wrong to me. 

The Morag

The Economist published a map of the Morag Route, which is intended to isolate and later to depopulate the Rafa sector.  Morag was an Israeli settlement established in 1972. It was located in the southern part of Gaza. In August 2005, Morag was evacuated along with all other Israeli settlements in Gaza as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan implemented by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. This disengagement involved the removal of approximately 8,000 Israeli settlers from all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip. The reconquest of Morag proves that the evacuation of the Gaza Strip in 2005 was a mistake and a tragedy based on the delusional evaluation of the Palestinians.

 Morag (מורג) means "threshing sledge" - a farming tool traditionally used to separate grain from chaff. The Romans called it tribulum, but it was known already in Pharaonic times.

Houthi Order of the Day

The Houthi High Command gives the order to answer "I don't know". If nobody knows, it did not happen. 

Five minutes ago, the Houthis fired a ballistic missile at Israel. The alarm sounded all over Israel. What happened? I don't know. In Kfar Saba, everybody is sleeping the Sunday siesta. 

Zahal reports that they are checking if it fell in Israel. Lately, Houthi missiles have been falling in Jordan and Saudi Arabia or the Red Sea. 

Humans

 British judges wear white " wigs " (masks)  to give the impression of advanced age and wisdom. German judges dress up in violently scarlet garb to induce fear. It is the same as ancient warriors, such as Hercules, who wore lion skins and faces. The suggestion works on the wearer and the observer; it definitely works as the habit has survived for so long. No other animal is known to follow this habit. People can believe that they are animals or different persons. Isn't that bizarre?

Water Accounting

 

Canada will not sell water to the USA. It prefers to let it flow into the Pacific. Mexico is receiving its quota in Baja California and is misusing it to flood and wash salty soils. 

A commenter explains: The 1944 treaty requires the US to allow 1.5 million acre-ft of water to flow into Mexico from the Colorado river and requires Mexico to allow 350,000 acre-ft from the Rio Grande into Texas.

Mexico hasn't lived up to their responsibility while the US has been. Mexico often requests more water and it had been granted every time despite them not living up to their mandated amount.

I think that President Trump is touching on a very sensitive issue and creating border conflicts. Water may not be worth it. 

Egyptian traditions

"A moment that changed me: I brought a baby gorilla home – and learned so much about being a parent" (from The Guardian). "The seven months I spent hand-rearing Afia fast-tracked me through every stage of parenting: love, laughs, and pride, followed by inevitable separation and loss."

Aelian (Claudius Aelianus) was a Roman author who wrote in Greek. In his work "Historical Miscellany" (Varia Historia), he recounts an anecdote about foreigners arriving at a port in Egypt.

"When certain foreigners disembarked at a port in Egypt and saw Egyptian women cradling monkeys and baboons in their arms instead of children, they remarked: 'Are there no children born in this country, that the women nurse and cherish monkeys?'"