What Bob Dylan Era Are You?

Ok, I admit it, I'm addicted to on-line quizzes...

Take the Which Bob Dylan Era Are You? Quiz ~ This quiz created by idiotwind
Topic: Bob Dylan

Obi-Wan HaNavi?

As Ed Cook's recent post points out, Star Wars fans all over the world are gearing up for the release of George Lucas' final installment of the prequel trilogy. This brought to mind something interesting I ran across on accident on-line a few weeks ago. Many Star Wars fans are probably aware that Hebrew crops up in several places in the Star Wars series. There is, of course, the infamous Hebrew writing on Darth Vader's chest-plate. And I'm sure most Hebrew speaking/reading Star Wars fans have noticed that the name Yoda is very similar to the Hebrew verb יוֹדֶעַ (yode'a, know)--which is a fairly appropriate appelation for a Jedi Master one would think--and that the name of Anakin Skywalker's mother, Shmi, looks very much like שְמִי (shmi, my name), which would mean her name would translate as "My Name is Skywalker."

The tidbit I ran across recently was in regards to Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi. Dave Gordon, in an article on Jewish references in Star Wars, speculates that the surname Kenobi could actually be related to כְּנַביא (kenavi', like a prophet). The similarity is actually closer than it might appear at first glance when you remember that the letter ב can be pronounced as either a B or a V depending on the context (for example: Abraham in Hebrew is אברהם, pronounced Avraham). I'm not sure how likely it is, but it certainly sounds plausible to me.

Topic: Star Wars, Hebrew.

Readability Test

I learned of this test via Jim West. It tests the readability of a given website. My results were:

Summary	Value
Total sentences	444
Total words	2,240
Average words per Sentence	5.05
Words with 1 Syllable	1,439
Words with 2 Syllables	445
Words with 3 Syllables	266
Words with 4 or more Syllables	90
Percentage of word with three or more syllables	15.89%
Average Syllables per Word	1.56
Gunning Fog Index	8.38
Flesch Reading Ease	70.02
Flesch-Kincaid Grade	4.75

According to the Fog Index comparison table on the website, I rate between Readers Digest and a popular novel. Not bad I suppose.

Wisdom from the Elder of Ziyon

The Elder of Ziyon has posted two great pieces recently. One on the supposed objectivity of the New York Times and one on the state of the J-blogosphere.

Pesach Pictures

A few pictures of our little two-person Seder Table on the first night of Pesach:

Topic: Pesach, Passover

!פסח שמח

Before I head home for the holiday I wanted to make sure I wished everyone a פסח שמח.

May we all be delievered from whatever bondage we find ourselves in.

Topic: Passover

Teach Kids Peace

Via Honest Reporting:

TeachKidsPeace.org

Topic: Israel

ADL on the New Pope

Just recieved this in the mail from the ADL:

Pope Benedict XVI: The Successor to John Paul II

Jews can never ignore the announcement of a new Pope. Too much of Jewish history for two millennia was affected, often negatively, by the policies and attitudes of the individual who sat on the throne of St. Peter. And now, following the papacy that represented the high point of Catholic-Jewish relations, the appearance of Pope Benedict XVI stirs interest in how John Paul's legacy of reconciliation with the Jews will be carried on.

To start with, the new Pope will not have to be educated anew about all that changed over the last two decades. He has been intimately aware of all that has transpired.

As a European and as a German, his sensitivities to the horrors committed against the Jews of Europe in the 20th century are pronounced. He has written that because of the Shoah "a new vision of the relationship between the Church and Israel has been born: a sincere willingness to overcome every kind of anti-Judaism and to initiate a constructive dialogue based on knowledge of each other and on reconciliation."

He has spoken about the history of Christianity which gave birth to many cases of anti-Jewish attitudes which "throughout history have led to deplorable acts of violence." And he acknowledged that many Christians did not resist the Shoah because of "an inherited anti-Judaism present in the hearts of not a few Christians."

Pope John Paul II's reconciliation with Jews was profound and multilayered. He expressed it through symbolism and dramatic gestures. He spoke to Jewish insecurity. He understood that the debasement of Jews by the Church through the centuries required statements and decisions showing respect for Jews and Judaism. And he knew that doctrinal positions were vital to institutionalize change.

There is every reason to believe that the new Pope will sustain the reconciliation that his predecessor introduced. What forms this will take is unknown and uncertain. He is a different personality but his task will be to both maintain the kinds of remarkable breakthroughs of the past few years as well as to broaden and deepen what has taken place.

Finally, much has been made of the fact that as a teenager, Cardinal Ratzinger was a member of the Hitler Youth in Germany. What is far more significant is that all his life he has atoned for this fact. ADL has had opportunities to work with Cardinal Ratzinger and we look forward to continuing that relationship.

I would have to agree for the most part, but not knowing much about the former Cardinal Ratzinger I hestitate to comment out of ignorance. As to the last paragraph concerning the Pope's membership in the Hitler Youth, I think it has been established pretty well that this was at a time when membership in that organization was compulsary for youths of a certain age and should not be taken as an endorsement of Hitler's activities.


Topic: Jewish-Christian Relations.

My Linguistic Profile

Via Plum Crazy:

Your Linguistic Profile:

65% General American English

20% Yankee

10% Upper Midwestern

5% Dixie

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Topic: on-line quizzes,linguistics

82 Years Ago Today

On 18 April 1923 the first game was played at the newly built Yankee Stadium. The Yankees beat the Red Sox 4-1. In the third inning Babe Ruth hits a ball into the right field bleachers, baptizing the stadium with its first homerun.

UPDATED:
And here is a more recent picture of the stadium, which was rennovated in the mid-1970s, from Yankee Tradition.com:

and a shot of the site prior to the contruction of the stadium in 1922

Topic: Baseball, New York Yankees

השתדל להיות איש

ובמקום שאין אנשים השתדל להיות איש
–הלל, פרקי אבות ב.ו

"And in a place where there are no men. strive to be a man"
- Hillel, Pirkei Avoth 2.6

Topic: quotations

The Boss Has a Fit

I have to say, speaking as a lifelong Yankees fan, that Steinbrenner shares much of the blame for the current state of the team. He's the one who seems to believe that buying a bunch of all-stars and throwing them together will automatically result in a good team. While good trades have always been part of team building, you can't build a team like a patchwork quilt.


Topic: New York Yankees

Sell Chametz On-Line

And once again this year you can sell you chametz on-line via Chabad.org:

* Sell Chametz On-Line
*Jewish Laws Regarding Chametz During Pesach

Topic: Passover, Pesach

Pinstripes for ALS

I've added a special ribbon to the sidebar of this blog. It is a pinstripes ribbon for ALS awareness. The pinstripes represent the pinstripe Yankees uniform worn by Lou Gehrig, who died from ALS. Regular readers will remember that my cousin recently died from ALS as well. The Ribbon is linked to the very well done http://www.whatisals.com/

Topic: ALS, aka Lou Gehrig's Disease.

Jewish Blues

In honor of the upcoming festival of Pesach I thought I'd post this lyric that I wrote some time ago. Its a Jewish blues song, which I wrote under the influence of Robert Johnson. The structure is the traditional blues form, influenced quite a bit by Johnson's Traveling Riverside Blues. In my head I hear it being sung to much the same basic melody as Traveling Riverside Blues, with a few changes. If I have some time I may attempt to jot down some musical notation to go along with it, but I make no promises.

Traveling Pesach Blues
by John W. Leys

There's Blood on my hands and nowhere left to run
There's Blood on my hands and nowhere left to run
Except into the wilderness, baked and cracked in the sun

I climb up the mountain, my flock running ahead of me
I climb up the mountain, my flock running ahead of me
Stumbling onto holy ground, my eyes must be deceiving me

I see a fire burning, but the leaves are crisp and green
I see a fire burning, but the leaves are crisp and green
A still small voice is wailing, like nothing I've ever seen

"Go to your people, tell them what you know.
I said, Go to your people, tell them what you know.
Tell that bloody Pharaoh to let your people go."

Topic: Song Lyrics, Passover

Attending to the World

"The encounter with God does not come to man in order that he may henceforth attend to God but in order that he may prove its meaning in action in the world. All revelation is a calling and a mission. But again and again man shuns actualization and bends back toward the revealer: he would rather attend God than to the world...
When you are sent forth, God remains presence for you; whoever walks in his mission always has God before him: the more faithful the fulfillment , the stronger more constant the nearness. Of course, he cannot attend to God but he can converse with him. Bending back, on the other hand, turns God into an object. It appears to be a turning toward the primal ground, but belongs in truth to the world movement of turning away, even as the apparent turning away of thise who fulfill thier mission belongs in truth to the world movement of turning toward."

- Martin Buber, I and Thou (Trans by W. Kaufmann)

Topic: Quotations, God; Judaism.

A Lesson Worth Sharing

"But it's all right now, I learned my lesson well.
You see, ya can't please everyone, so ya got to please yourself"

- Rick Nelson, Garden Party

Topic: Quotations

טלית קטן של אנרכיסט אורתודוקסי

Mobius, the Orthodox Anarchist, has some very thought provoking words to share about the mitzvah of tzitzit, as well as a very creative new deign for a tallit katan:

Talit HaKatan Shel Shabbatai Tzvi

Topic: Judaism

The Jewish Cowboy Gypsy on a Pirate Ship

A public service anouncement for all my Texan readers:

Since I've launched my spiritual quest to resurrect the Independent spirit of Sam Houston and Teddy Roosevelt and make that Lone Star shine again, I've been amazed at the number of you gypsies boarding my pirate ship. With a good tailwind, this ship should be at the governor's mansion by next November.

If we're going survive this cruise, the first step is getting my name on the ballot. The major parties have, of course, made this a very difficult task. But this is just the first port of call on the voyage, nothing we can't do if we all pitch in and start right away. Y'all need to do the Kinkster a favor and click here to download the Kinky Kit and start signing up your friends and family: http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/Supporter_Kit.pdf

This puppy has already set sail. We'll be in Austin on April 20th for "A Spiritual Walk For Independence" across the UT campus. For more details on that event click here: http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/walk.html

Please, y'all, spread ! the Kinky gospel. We're just getting started.

Thank you,
Kinky Friedman

Paid For By The Kinky Friedman For Governor Campaign
John McCall, Treasurer, P.O. Box 293910, Kerrville, TX 78029

I just wish I still lived in Texas so I could vote for him myself...


Topic: Kinky Friedman

Tanakh on Demand

Tanach on Demand offers a service where by you can download any verse(s) from the Tanakh in either graphic or PDF format.


Topic: Tanakh, Hebrew Bible; Torah

Not for Glory, Nor Riches, Nor Honours...

On 6 April 1320 the Declaration of Arbroath was drawn up by Abbot Bernard de Linton, the Chancellor of Scotland, and signed by 38 Scottish Lords. Despite Robert the Bruce having assumed the kingship of the Scots and effectively driven the English from Scottish soil, the Pope--and therefore the rest of the Christian world--refused to recognise Scottish indipendence from England. The Bruce had been excommunicated by the Pope for the slaying of his rival John Comyn in a church in Dumfries in 1306. Comyn had been collaborating with King Edward of England, but was considered by some to have a stronger claim to the throne. The Declaration was a petition to the Pope stating the Scottish perspective and asking him to reconsider. While always respectful, the Declaration used strong language, stating that any further wars and bloodshed would be the fault of the Pope if he made the wrong decision.

An excerpt:

But from these countless evils we have been set free, by the help of Him Who though He afflicts yet heals and restores, by our most tireless Prince, King and Lord, the Lord Robert. He, that his people and his heritage might be delivered out of the hands of our enemies, met toil and fatigue, hunger and peril, like another Macabaeus or Joshua and bore them cheerfully... Yet if he should give up what he has begun, and agree to make us or our kingdom subject to the King of England or the English, we should exert ourselves at once to drive him out as our enemy and a subverter of his own rights and ours, and make some other man who was well able to defend us our King; for, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom -- for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.

The full text of the Declaration can be read on-line in either the original Latin or in English.



Topic: Scotland

The UN's Blame Game

Via Smooth Stone:

Now, according to a UN-sponsored report released today, the creation of Israel and the US support for its policies in the West Bank are partially to blame for the lack of reform in the Arab world...

The Arab Human Development Report 2004 (AHDR) cited the creation of the Jewish state as one of the roots of authoritarianism in the Middle East, along with the discovery of oil and the support for dictators by the superpowers during the Cold War.

Israel rebuffed the claims. "For too long too many people in the Arab world have used Israel as an excuse to justify behavior that cannot be justified," said Mark Regev, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry. "You can't have democratic elections because of Israel and you can't give equal rights to women in Saudi Arabia because of Israel. This is of course a cop out."...

In the most controversial part titled Towards Freedom in the Arab World, the report stated that the Israeli occupation of the territories and the US occupation of Iraq both created excuses for Arab governments to postpone democratization and they strengthened extremist groups which advocate violence.

A spokesman for the State Department rejected those claims.

"We think it's misguided to blame Israel for the problems and the challenges that the Arab world faces," said Greg Sullivan, spokesman for the Near East Affairs Department.

The report was written by Arab intellectuals ( Ha. That's an oxymoron. - Smooth ) and scholars(?) including MK Azmi Bishara and Palestinian human rights (shyeah, human rights for all as long as you're not a Jew - Smooth ) lawyer Daoud Kuttab.

[Read the Full Story]

Topic: Israel, Jew-Hardred, antisemitism

What is The Human Heart For?

Found at PBS.org:

Girl Disappointed in Love
by Karol Wojtyla

With mercury we measure pain
as we measure the heat of bodies and air;
but this is not how to discover our limits--
you think you are the center of things.
If you could only grasp that you are not:
the center is He,
and He, too, finds no love---
why don't you see?
The human heart--what is it for?
Cosmic temperature. Heart. Mercury.

From the book The Place Within : The Poetry of Pope John Paul II



Topic: Poetry; Pope John Paul II.

Ask a Silly Question...

"How should they answer?"

- Abigail Van Buren in reply to the question: "Why do Jews always answer a question with a question?"

Topic: Quotations, Judaism; Jews

Ahh, Spring Has Definitely Arrived

New York Daily News:


Topic: Baseball, New York Yankees

Isn't Lashon HaRa Trayf?

During the Torah reading this morning, as is my usual practice, I let my eye wander from the Hebrew text to the English to the commentaries and notes in the Etz Hayim chumash. One that caught my attention today was a note on Leviticus 11.7. This portion of Leviticus--11.1-47--deals with the rules of kashrut and verse 7 is part of the listing of animals which are forbidden for food:

וְאֶת־הַחֲזִיר כִּי־מַפְרִיס פַּרְסָה הוּא וְשֹׁסַע שֶׁסַע פַּרְסָה וְהוּא גֵּרָה לֹא־יִגָּר טָמֵא הוּא לָכֶם׃

The note in Etz Hayim's drash commentary reads:

"Only twice in the Torah are we commended not to eat pork, yet every Jew knows that it is forbidden. The Torah commands us many more times to refrain from gossip and hurtful speech, yet many observant Jews do not sense that they are violating the Torah when they speak ill of others (Salanter)"

Sadly, I think the observation is very apt. I know many observant Jews who are very learned and well read in Torah and Talmud who are also the worst gossips in the world. I know the mitzvot concerning lashon hara can be very difficult to follow at times, but that's because they represent the ideal. What I find sad is that so many seem unwilling to strive for that ideal.

Topic: Torah

אפיפיור יוחנן פאולוס השני (1920–2005) נ״ע

Pope John Paul II
(Karol Józef Wojtyła)
18 May 1920 - 2 April 2005

I know many of my fellow Jews will disagree with me, but I've always felt that John Paul II was--aside from Pope John XXIII--the most philo-Judaic pope in recent memory and a very positive influence on Jewish-Catholic relations. I believe it says much that he was the first Pope--other than Peter (Shimon ben Yonah), of course--to ֪visit a synagogue. Above all he was a genuinely good man who strove to serve God. May his memory serve as a source of blessing for all who mourn his passing.

"I remember, first of all, the elementary school in Wadowice, where at least one-fourth of my classmates were Jewish boys. It is appropriate here to mention my friendship with one of them, Jerzy Kluger. It has lasted from my student days to the present time. My eyes still behold, like a living picture, the Jews walking on the Sabbath to the synagogue near our high school. The two religious blocs, Catholic and Jewish, were linked, so I assume, by the knowledge that they worship the same God. Despite the difference in language, the prayers in church and synagogue were based on the same texts. Then came the Second World War, with the concentration camps and the planned extermination. Its primary victims were the sons and daughters of the Jewish people, solely because they were Jews. Everyone who lived in Poland at that time must have come into contact with it, at least indirectly. This was also my personal experience, which I carry inside to this day. Auschwitz, evidently the most salient symbol of the Shoah of the Jewish people, illustrates the level to which a system resting on foundations of racial hatred and aspiration to governmental supremacy of one people can descend The warning of Auschwitz continues to resound. Auschwitz, meaning antisemitism, a massive sin against humankind, signifies that any manifestation of racial hatred that inescapably leads to the trampling of humankind is a great sin against humankind."

- Pope John Paul II, quoted in Yad VaShem's Pope John Paul II: A Portrait

"Jews and Christians share an immense spiritual patrimony, flowing from God's self-revelation. Our religious teachings and our spiritual experience demand that we overcome evil with good. We remember, but not with any desire for vengeance or as an incentive to hatred. For us, to remember is to pray for peace and justice, and to commit ourselves to their cause. Only a world at peace, with justice for all, can avoid repeating the mistakes and terrible crimes of the past.
As bishop of Rome and successor of the Apostle Peter, I assure the Jewish people that the Catholic Church, motivated by the Gospel law of truth and love, and by no political considerations, is deeply saddened by the hatred, acts of persecution and displays of anti-Semitism directed against the Jews by Christians at any time and in any place. The church rejects racism in any form as a denial of the image of the Creator inherent in every human being.
In this place of solemn remembrance, I fervently pray that our sorrow for the tragedy which the Jewish people suffered in the 20th century will lead to a new relationship between Christians and Jews. Let us build a new future in which there will be no more anti-Jewish feeling among Christians or anti-Christian feeling among Jews, but rather the mutual respect required of those who adore the one Creator and Lord, and look to Abraham as our common father in faith.
The world must heed the warning that comes to us from the victims of the Holocaust, and from the testimony of the survivors. Here at Yad Vashem the memory lives on, and burns itself onto our souls. It makes us cry out: 'I hear the whispering of many - terror on every side - but I trust in you, O Lord: I say, "You are my God."' (Psalms 31:13-15)"

- excerpt from John Paul II's speech at Yad Vashem on 23 March 2000

Pope John Paul II with Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Israel Mier Lau at a meeting at the Vatican in 1993


John Paul II with the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Rabbi Elio Toaff on the occassion of the Pope's historic visit to the great synogogue of Rome in 1986.


John Paul II is greeted by Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Israel Mier and Chief Sephardi Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi Doron during the Pope's visit to Israel in March 2000.

John Paul II with Bob Dylan in 1997. Dylan had been invited to the Vatican to preform a short concert for the Pope.


Praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, 2000

Topic: Pope John Paul II, Jewish-Christian Relations