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Trutharchivist

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    I sort of have one, but in Hebrew, so...
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    ...wocky. Yes, I know I'm not the first to do it, but it needed to be done again.

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    / I/I II I// III I/I / /I I// • I// \/ I II I\/ \ •
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    Reading. In addition to (obviously) Brandon Sanderson's books I've read the basic classic Fantasy books - LotR, Narnia, Harry Potter - the ones that were popular in my country a few years ago - Riordan's mythologies, Artemis Fowl and the Inheritance Cycle, some books that I won't categorize like His Dark Materials trilogy, the Inkworld trilogy, the Underland Chronicles, Seven Wonders (by Peter Lerangis), the Sunlit Lands trilogy, the Books of Beginning trilogy, the Bartimeus trilogy, Lockwood & Co., The Chronicles of Pridain, Sabriel out of the Old Kingdom series, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, Spiderweek, (the two last ones I remember, but didn't like too much, really) some random Fantasy books from the local library, Ella Enchanted (apparently), the Last Unicorn (it's an amazing book, you should read it) Five Kingdoms and Beyonders by Brandon Mull, The Homeward Bounders, Archer's Goon, the Worlds of Chrestomanci series, Fire and Hemlock, the Magids duology, Black Maria, the Time of the Ghost, the Power of Three and Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones. I also write sometimes.
    Life? What is that? Never heard of such a thing, sorry. Now, if you allow me, there's this book I'm trying to read...

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  1. Just reported to. 'tisn't much, but I hope it helps the war effort.
  2. Hello there!

    No, I'm not General Kenobi. You, on the other hand, aren't Grievous; I think you're just a spambot.

  3. I'm pretty sure you're a spambot.

  4. So, remember that series of essays on the History of Judaism I wrote? Well, guess what? I just recalled it too! not only that, I actually wrote the next installment and published it! Here it is, it's about Modern Orthodox Judaism - the group I'd consider myself to be a part of.

    For the previous parts about Haskalah, Reform and Ultra Orthodox, just click on the links!

    Hopefully you'll enjoy it.

  5. Thank you for stopping by at Trutharchivist’s Rambles again! This is Trutharchivist (not that you were expecting anyone else), and in my next post I’d like to talk about Neo-Orthodox Judaism. To summarize the previous few posts, we talked about the Haskalah movement from the 18th century and its ideology, then how it led to Jews slowly trying to somewhat assimilate to their local culture - eventually leading to a Reform in the Jewish faith, with Orthodox rabbis resisting it through the beginning of the 19th century. And now, we’ll talk about a balance that was created between Orthodoxy and Haskalah during the 19th century - a balance that was named Neo-Orthodoxy or Modern Orthodoxy, for balancing tradition and change, or modernity. Now the idea here is to allow new ideas in, while still keeping true to the traditional ways of the Torah. So unlike in Reform Judaism, there is no giving up on the Messianic ideal or critical study of the Torah - since the Torah is seen as G-d’s word, and not just a text written by humans. On the other hand, Neo-Orthodoxy was far more accepting to studying science and philosophy than Ultra-Orthodoxy, and its prominent rabbis sometimes made a sermon in the local language and not Hebrew - which while controversial wasn’t forbidden in any way according to the Halacha. Before we continue to talk about the prominent rabbi I want to use as an example for that branch, though, I’d like to talk a bit on what made it so difficult for me to write this installment. It wasn’t just the war - though it did have a big part in it. It definitely wasn’t for a lack of a rabbi to use as an example - I had someone very specific in mind ever since I conceived of this series of essays. My list of prominent rabbis and thinkers for this was always going to be Moses Mandelssohn, Abraham Geiger, Ḥatam Sofer, Rashar Hirsch and Zacharias Frankel, all mentioned in past essays and claimed to be discussed later. No, my issue was the precise distinction of Neo-Orthodox from Ultra-Orthodox and its relation to the current division of Jews in Israel. The problem is, while I claim that those topics are ones still in discussion and relevant to this very day, things did change a bit in the previous 200 years, mostly regarding Zionism. This is also why I avoided touching the “where are they now” point in the previous essay - the division between Neo-Orthodoxy and Ultra-Orthodoxy are a little less apparent nowadays, with the major differences being more along the lines of Zionism. I’ll talk about some of it by the end of this essay, but I reserve discussing Zionism and anti-Zionism to a later date - likely a much later date, I’m afraid. Anyway, back to our topic! While there are a couple of other examples for Neo-Orthodox rabbis, one of the most prominent among them was Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, abbreviated to Rashar Hirsch usually. He was born in Hamburg (then a part of the Napoleonic Empire) in 1808. The perceptive of you will note that assuming his family didn’t move, he was 10 during the Temple dispute - a fact referred to in a biography of his written by one of his descendants I’ve had the luck to read. Said book either uses creative license - or knowledge from a source I don’t have - to write about a meeting occurring in the Hirsch household, for discussion about the Temple. It’s likely that Rashar Hirsch heard of it anyway even if it wasn’t this way, and it likely influenced him later. The young Hirsch studied under Ḥacham Isaac Bernays - an interesting Jewish scholar into himself, if slightly less well-known. He was among the first Orthodox rabbis to carry a Drasha, a sermon, in German instead of Hebrew or Yiddish, and chose to call himself Ḥacham - wise man - instead of rabbi, for some reason. The biography of Rashar Hirsch mentioned above claims it was to differentiate himself from the Reform rabbis by taking on a title from Sepharadi Jewish origin, but I don’t know. Anyway, Rashar Hirsch grew up in a very Orthodox family, though he studied from a relatively more open rabbi. Originally he intended to study to become a merchant, but he eventually forsook it for the study of the Torah and went to Manheim for that purpose in 1828. After studying there for a while he got a Semikha - he was ordained to be a rabbi. Then, in 1830, he went to the University of Bonn to study there. Sounds familiar? Well, it should, because guess who also studied there at the time. If you’ve been following my essays so far, you’ll note that at this exact time, Abraham Geiger also went to the University of Bonn. While the latter wasn’t ordained as a rabbi yet, the two became study partners - until Rashar Hirsch left to serve as a rabbi in Oldenburg not long after he went to university. By the time Geiger started his activities, Rashar Hirsch became one of his most outspoken opponents. From here on out, there’s quite a lot to say about Rashar Hirsch that would be relevant. To make it relatively short, I’ll start by listing the places where he served as rabbi - after the Duchy of Oldenburg in northern Germany he went to the city of Emden (which is apparently around the same area) in 1841, and later he became the Chief Rabbi of Moravia - which nowadays is a part of the Czech Republic - in 1846. From there, in 1851, he went to serve as the rabbi in a small sub-congregation in a city in Germany - perhaps you’ve heard of it? It was called Frankfurt-am-Main, where he served for the rest of his life. Why, yes, it is the same Frankfurt from which both Ḥatam Sofer and Abraham Geiger originated from! I’m glad you noticed. You see, the Jewish community in Frankfurt was a large and prominent community among the Jews in Germany. Even talking outside of what you;ve learned from my essays, you may well have heard of the Rothschild family of Jewish bankers - they originated from Frankfurt. I daresay this essay isn’t likely to be the last time we visit the city, though it might still be the latest time period we visit it in. Either way, I intend to go back to Rashar’s period in Oldenburg before continuing on to Frankfurt, because while in Oldenburg, Rashar Hirsch wrote two of his prominent books: Nineteen Letters on Judaism (published originally under a Pseudonym), which is a fictional correspondence between a young Jew influenced by the changing times and his studious friend, and an elaboration on the Letters - which was actually the original book, the letters being more or less a summary - named Horeb, or Essays About the Duties of Israel in Exile. Both books were written in German - an unusual move for an Orthodox rabbi at the time, but the Jewish youths who were the intended audience knew little Hebrew so it was necessary. I have not read either book, sadly - I only took a quick peek into the Nineteen Letters, if memory serves it’s mostly made of arguments regarding the Torah and perhaps G-d. But our point here is to point out what is unique about the movement known as Neo-Orthodoxy. So, the first noticeable point is likely the excessive use of German. One likely reason is that the intended audience for Rashar Hirsch’s sermons and books merely understood German better than Hebrew or Yiddish. Such points were a factor in other religious books historically - a couple of books were written in Arabic explicitly so the average Jew could understand them, like Ḥovot HaLevavot (Duties of the hearts) by Rabenu Baḥya Ibn Paquda, maybe the Book of Beliefs and Opinions by Rav Sa’adia Ga’on, and likely Maimonides’ commentaries on the Mishnah. Yet, some people shied away from that in more modern times due to the association with Reform Judaism and secularity - Rashar Hirsch didn’t, though. To talk about another, perhaps more fundamental, point of innovation from Rashar Hirsch, though, I’m going to move on to his time as a rabbi in Frankfurt. You need to understand that by this time - the late ‘40s of the 19th century - the larger Jewish community in Frankfurt was Reform. Now, you might think it was the time of Geiger as a rabbi there and a reunion between the former friends - nope, it wasn’t, the current rabbi of Frankfurt at the time was one Leopold Stein. Geiger didn’t make his comeback until a couple of years later. Anyway, all that is not to say there weren’t Orthodox-aligned Jews in Frankfurt; there were, and they elected to separate from the major congregation in 1849. Legally it was a complicated matter - separation of Church and State, while not unheard of, wasn’t applied at the time, and if you were a Jew you had to belong to the Jewish congregation in your city. Still, they managed to found a small congregation of their own called ‘Adas Yeshurun. By ‘51 they managed to get approval to have their own rabbi, and one of their candidates was none other than Rashar Hirsch. Now, I have very little idea regarding how the process of picking a rabbi for a congregation, city or state was conducted. There usually were multiple candidates who wanted the office, and one of them was picked - but in many cases, requests were sent to rabbis who already served somewhere, Rashar Hirsch being an example, and they could choose to simply refuse and stay where they were. The congregation they currently served tended to try and convince them to stay, and Rashar Hirsch was definitely someone the state of Moravia wanted to keep. In addition, you can clearly see that this would be a stp down - from the Chief Rabbi of a state to the rabbi of a sub-congregation in what was definitely a major city - but nothing more than a city. But here’s a counterpoint: they needed him more. By that time, Rashar Hirsch was already known for his opposition to Reform. It may well be that there was a fight to be had at Moravia, but I’m pretty sure there were enough Orthodox rabbis to continue on the work there. In Frankfurt, on the other hand, the Orthodox congregation was a minority, and it was subjugated to the Reform congregation (which, for understandable reasons, didn’t want the Orthodox to be independent like this; not wanting old-fashioned ideas is something common among people who see themselves as enlightened). That was reason enough for Rashar Hirsch to move there. One of the first things Rashar Hirsch did in his new congregation was found a school, for what is the point of having an Orthodox congregation if the children are taught by the Reform one and will grow to join it? In general, education was one of the most important things in Rashar Hirsch’s eyes - I’m not sure I remember it precisely, but I think it’s apparent from his commentaries on the Torah (Pentateuch), which I probably don’t even need to say were written in German. I won’t claim to know much about Hirsch’s educational philosophy, but I do know of one major point of difference between it and a traditional school: it taught general sciences, while still staying loyal to studying the Torah and living by it. That was in realization of Rashar Hirsch’s motto - “Torah ‘Im Derech Eretz”, lit. Torah with the Way of the Land. Rashar Hirsch didn’t see modern ideas as opposed to Judaism, but tools that could be used in conjunction with it. There are a couple of additional points to be mentioned - for example, Rashar Hirsch did think Emancipation could be a blessing for the Jews, and tried to convince the members of his congregation to leave the major congregation of Frankfurt when it was permitted - though with limited success. He also (unsurprisingly) saw much value in religious studies and tried founding a Yeshivah - an institute for religious Jewish learning - in Frankfurt, which his congregation also didn’t support much. He also resisted Zionism, as part of his views. He was not the only major innovative Orthodox rabbi of his time - one other name that cropped up was Rav Azriel Hildesheimer, who founded a Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin - I don’t know nearly enough about him though, I’m afraid. So, in modern day, where are the Orthodox Jews? Where are the disciples of Rashar Hirsch and Ḥatam Sofer? Well… It’s kind of complicated. Orthodox Jews can be found in many places across the globe, but like (I think) @Kingsdaughter613 (sorry for the tag, hope you don't mind) could attest, the major communities will be found either in the state of New York and around it, or in Israel. By that I mean generally Orthodox communities. Regarding the specifics of the Ultra vs Modern, though, this is the complicated part. I won’t speak much about the USA here - frankly, there are others here better equipped than me to talk about this. It’s likely also true about Reform and Conservative Judaism - honestly, it’s more true with those two - but I have no idea, I can’t tell and thus I’m saying what I can and hope I may be corrected. Anyway, one institute I think can safely be called Modern Orthodox in the USA is the Yeshivah University in New York. In addition, quite a few American Jews come to Israel to study in Israeli Yeshivas - I would say the ones coming to places like the Gush, Kerem B’Yavneh and Ma’aleh Adumim are likely more Modern Orthodox. More than that I honestly can’t say much. In Israel, there is a division between the Ḥareidim - roughly translated as pious/G-d-fearing - and the Religious-Zionists. Those are rough but imprecise equivalents of Ultra Orthodox and Modern Orthodox Jews, respectively. The issue at hand, though, is that… well… Rashar Hirsch was opposed to Zionism. So were many of his students. Being a Religious-Zionist, though, kind of requires one to be a Zionist, right? So, how does this work? Well, to try and not make too much of a mess of things, I’ll say that the Yekkes (Jews of German origin) who came to Israel originally didn’t consider themselves part of the Religious-Zionist community. They even founded their own school, called Ḥoreb - which likely had a thing to do with Rashar Hirsch’s book. Nowadays, though, this school is one of the most prestigious Religious-Zionist schools. I’m not 100% sure how that came to be - a major figure in the community turning Zionist or something? The rather segregationist tendencies of the Ḥareidim clashing with their ideas and the Yekkes not being enough people to form their own group? All of the above? That happened, anyway. And yet, when some people who consider themselves Neo-Orthodox come to Israel from abroad, they tend to join the Ḥareidi communities - they somehow see themselves closer to them. In short, this internal Orthodox division isn’t as clear cut as you might think. There are even Religious-Zionists who are somewhat more Ultra-Orthodox than the rest. So, I think it could be said this is a little complicated. In short: Neo-Orthodoxy or Modern Orthodoxy is a movement of Jews that stayed completely loyal to the Halachic rules but were willing to accept things like general studies at a young age and usage of other languages in sermons, though perhaps not in prayers. Rashar Hirsch is a good example of this, and made his innovations in multiple places but mostly in Frankfurt-am-Main, where he more or less saved the Orthodox congregation from assimilating back to the Reform one. He had a couple of clashes with Reform Jews which weren’t really elaborated upon - one guy named Heinrich Graetz studied under him in Oldenburg , and later became a famous Jewish historian… who also went in a slightly less Orthodox direction, and Rashar Hirsch opposed him over that. He wasn’t exactly Reform, though - we might touch on the movement he belonged to in the next essay. Anyway, Rashar Hirsch’s motto was Torah with the Way of the Land, something that was expressed in how his school taught both religious and core studies. Thank you for reading this far, and have a good day! (P.S., I realize that I didn’t always mention my sources so far, so I wanted to take the opportunity to list some of them - for the most part those are the Wikipedia articles on the movements and people I mention, in addition to (in some cases) the Hebrew Encyclopedia in its article on tradition and change, books by the rabbis mentioned, general knowledge from my history lessons in high school and Mandelssohn’s biography. Just wanted to mention them in case I’d forget to later.)
  6. Mourn the fact I have nowhere to put it then send a picture to my expanded family to see if anyone wants it. WWYDIYF a note saying "Enter Me" tied to your pocket? (It's also in the pocket, but I wanted to make it clear.)
  7. Hello! It's been a while, hasn't it. So, short reminder of what I do here: I write pieces about Jewish holidays, explaining their origins and traditions as much as I can remember at the moment, more or less. And now, we're getting close to exactly 12 Hebrew months since we started - which would be next Sunday! Yet, I still have one more holiday to talk about. It's special in various ways, but every holiday is so I guess there's no need to make a big deal out of it. So, anyway, the holiday of Purim!

    Firstly, I'd like to answer the (unasked) question regarding how twelve months have pased and yet it wasn't a year. Lucky you, I talked about it a bit in the past here. But it appears I didn't elaborate on this specific point, so let's do that a bit: the Hebrew year is a lunar one, but there's a commandment on Pesach (Passover) that says it has to occur during the spring. So, for this reason, every two-to-three years there's an extra month in the Hebrew calendar. Incidentally, it's a double of the month we're currently at, called Adar. This year is a leap year, so we have this extra month - but the month's holidays are kept for the second of the two, which is why we're in this situation now. There's a reason for that, but this isn't our topic and frankly, has taken too much space as it is.

    So, Purim! The last holiday in the Hebrew Bible, nicknamed the Last of Miracles (not commonly so, but still). The only holiday which story both starts and ends while the Jews are in exile. Technically the first of the Sages' holidays (its story predates Hannukah), but in the yearly cycle it comes after. Being a Sageic (is that a word?) holiday, you can bet it has a story - one we actually read during it, because the book documenting it did get canonized in the Hebrew Bible. So, say hello to the Book of Esther!

    Our story begins with the Persian king Ahasuerus, commonly assumed to be Xerxes I. You see, he held a feast for over half a year-

    groans

    Oh, come on, it's not that's bad. That's how it's told in the Bible!

    You can shorten it, though.

    And I'm going to! I was about to do that when you interrupted. Rude.

    Anyway, Ahasuerus had his feast for all his ministers and governmental workers for about half a year. Then he held a week long feast for all of the citizens in his capital. He became drunk, asked his wife to come so he can show her off, and when she refused he opted to get rid of her.

    That's not shortened! And besides, what does all that have to do with Jews?

    Fiiiine, I'll try actually making it short. You see, the Book of Esther is unique in multiple ways. Two defining features are: a. It's one of the only two books in the Hebrew Bible to not mention any of G-d's names. Literally, G-d is completely absent for the entirety of this book. b. It starts and ends with the deeds of a foreign king - Ahasuerus. And one of the most compelling explanations for that is that it wasn't written solely boy Jews for Jews; it was also written to sit in the bookcase of Persian history.

    It's still mostly about the story of the Jews there - how incidentally a Jewish girl was picked to become queen; how Mordechai the Jew saved the king from an assassination attempt; how Haman the Agagite rose to power and decided to plan the first recorded genocide on the Jews (unless you count Pharaoh's, I guess) as a petty revenge over Mordechai not bowing to him; and finally, how Haman - and later his attempted genocide and ten children - were rid of by a collaboration of Mordechai and Esther. That would be the short summary, the longer variation includes death sentences over various crimes, rules that can't be changed, regal horses and clothing, and one can't forget the feasts! And fasts, too. If you want the entire story, go read the Book of Esther. It's not that long and can easily be found for free on the Internet, here and here, for example (former is a Jewish resource, latter is Christian).

    So woohoo, the Jews were saved from genocide! (And killed 75800 people who were supposedly attempting said genocide. All across the Persian empire.) That's... a pretty good cause for celebration. No questions asked, right?

    Well, there are a couple before we get to the holiday practices and traditions. Those are: is this the only time Jews were saved from genocide? If not, why then don't we have other holidays celebrating similar things? What does "Purim" mean, and why is this holiday called that?

    The answer to the first and second questions is basically that there were other averted genocides - and that they were celebrated. Honest! There was a time were every other Jewish community has its own Purim. Literally so, because it was often called this community's Purim. But in modern times, with so many Jews emigrating to specific centres, this practice all but disappeared. That is likely because most weren't as wide as the attempt at Purim to wipe the Jewish people off the Persian map. But what of the Holocaust? I hear you ask? Well, we... umm... weren't exactly saved from it. Also, it ostly hit Ashkenazi Jews - which isn't all that relevant, but still.

    The third question is tricky, and not just because it's a double question. The first half is easy enough: Purim is the plural form of Pur, which the Book of Esther itself explains to be lot. So Purim means, essentially, lots. Now, I once read a book that asked this question and took a few chapters to answer it; I can't really do that here, so I'll give a short answer that is also related to G-d's absence: the story is full of coincidences. There is a huge miracle here - but it's hidden with the natural works of the Persian Empire. Purim, then, is the holiday when seemingly random chance - a lot - saved us. So it's called appropriately, while somewhat hiding that G-d's hand was in it.

    So, it's time for practices and tradtions! First, there are two days during which Purim might be celebrated - the 14th of Adar for most places, every city that isn't walled since the time of Joshua/Shushan (in which the miracle occured, since it was the capital of the Persian Empire at the time), while the walled cities celebrate at the 15th. The original reason for that was... Well, remember the genocide I've mentioned? It had a date attached. It was supposed to occur (or at least start) during the 13th of Adar. Mordechai and Esther saved the Jews by sending a second decree that called the Jews to fight against the genocide-committers at this same day. When this day came around and the Jews killed 500 people in Shushan, Esther and the king talked for a bit, and Esther convinced him to give the Shushanki Jews an extra day for vengence. Or something like that. So, the Jews around the Persian empire rested at the 14th of Adar and made it a celebration, while in Shushan the Jews didn't get to rest until the 15th of Adar. The reason for the "walled cities" rule is slightly more vague and has a couple of explanations I don't want to elaborate on right now. This year, the days of the holiday are next Sunday and Monday. I live in Jerusalem, so I usually practic the later of the two, but since my Yeshivah isn't in a walled city, I'm celebrating both.

    During whichever day you celebrate, there are four major practices: reading the Scroll (=the Book of Esther), handing money to the poor, giving each other food (kind of a reverse trick-or-treat) and last but not least: feasting!

    To try not to derail much, I'd say that according to the Talmud tractate for the holiday (it has one, unlike Hannukah) - those practices are paired with each other. The food sent should be served as part of the feast, and the poor wair for the Reading of the Scroll to receive their money. The reading occurs twice - once in the night before (since Hebrew calendar days begin with sunset) and once in the morning. The feast has to be during the day - not that it stops people from feasting during the night as well. There are certain definition for how much food/money to give your friends/the poor, but I don't have the willpower to elaborate on that.

    The holiday has a couple of traditions, and honestly - I'm bound to forget something. For example, I didn't find a place yet to talk about the fast the day before Purim - at the 13th - which is practiced early this year since it occured during Saturday and we don't fast during Shabbat. And by "early" I mean "right now" for me, so excuse me if my hunger gets the better of me. This day is called "the Fast of Esther" - likely after the time Esther fasted three days before coming to see Ahasuerus. The reason for the fast might be to commemorate that - but this fast actually occured during Nissan (the next month), so this connection is a bit dubious. Some claim that during the fighting the Jews fasted - presumably the ones who didn't fight, becuase it's not a great idea otherwise. It has all the regular fast practices like the 17th of Tamuz, the Gedaliah Fast and the 10th of Tevet, though it's the least important of the six yearly fasts - supposedly you're allowed to eat if your eyes hurt. It's in some ways the flimsiest of the fasts - outside of the Fast of Firstborns, which I only mention here as a random tease and will likely never bring up again.

    Also, going with the traditions that are more well based, we read from the Torah at Purim from Exodus 16 (I think) - the War with Amalek, due to the tradition that Haman was an Amalekite - a descendant of Agag, the king of Amalek at the time of King Shaul (Saul). We don't say Tachanun during Purim, but we don't read the Hallel either - the reading of the scroll sort of replaces that. There are also some other traditions going with the Shabbats around Purim, but I don't think I can push it here.

    But now, let's get to the meat of it. Because if you ask the average Jew, when they hear Purim they don't think of reading the Scroll. Most of them will think of two things: getting drunk and wearing costumes. The getting drunk part derives from the feast, but it's kind of an expansion on that. The Talmud is what actually brought it up - one Amora (a sage of the Talmud) said that every Jew has to get so drunk in Purim that he couldn't tell the difference between cursing the villain and blessing the hero of the Book of Esther. This is paraphrasing, but this is the gist of it - or, well, being unable to tell the difference between the hero and villain themselves is more the gist of it. So... yeah, people get very drunk. Some people (such as myself) lean more on softer interpretations, like drinking until you sleep (maybe drinking and then sleeping is enough?) or drinking just a little more than you're used to (which isn't much, in my case).

    The costume tradition has much, much less basis. I honestly don't know of evidence it even existed over 500 years ago. It's still surprisingly old, though - it's mentioned in a halachic book from 500 years ago. You could say it's copying Hallowe'en, but it's not very close to it in the yearly cycle. There are a couple of explanations for that - including the idea it's part of the flipping theme of the holiday. Which exist, because "on the day during which the enemies of the Jews hoped to rule over them it was reversed." (Esther 9, 1). So everything is flipped. Kind of. An additional point I forgot to mention that is tangentially related is the fact the Talmud stated: "once the month of Adar [during which Purim occurs] starts - happiness shall be added" (rough translation, it's kind of hard to translate). In modern day, it means that the somewhat topsy-turvey atmosphere of Purim is expanded to the two weeks before it - though TBH, I think it's most apparent in schools, where a Purim Rabbi is appointed to say a humurous sermon (so to speak, I honestly am having a hard time finding good terms). Or, well, sort of - I'm not sure I've ever seen a prooper Purim Rabbi, but I've heard quite a few Purim Torahs, which is the term for such a humurous sermon. There's also the "turning the entire school into something else" day, having special rules temporarily added to the school charter, having an equivalent of Secret Santa only with mostly food, parodying teachers, and the obligatory "come to school in a costume" day. And we've circled right back!

    In addition to wine and other alcoholic drinks, Purim has its own trademark food. The Hamantash(TM) is a triangular pastry, usually filled with poppy seeds or - if you're slightly saner - chocolate. It's known as 'Ozen Haman (lit. Haman's ear) in Hebrew, since there's a rumor that the holiday's villain had triangular ears. Maybe they were even full of poppy seeds! Anyway, some claim that Hamantash(TM) are actually named that because they're poppyseed pouches, and the Yiddish word for such a thing would be montash - with the Ha- added as the Hebrew equivalent of the defining article (the o and a sounds tend to be swapped for each other among Ashkenazi Jews sometimes. Long story, this isn't precise but I don't have the willpower to elaborate right now). This is, obviously, heresy, and we will bear no such thing said regarding the Hamatashen(TM). There is also an annual debate in the Univesity of Chicago whether the Hamantash(TM) or the latke is the superior food. The actual answer is obvious (it's the Hamantash(TM), as long as it's filled with chocolate), and yet they keep debating. At least they enjoy it.

    There's also a tradition to make noise every time Haman's name is read in the Scroll, which led to the marvelous line of toys that have no purpose other than making noise appropriately called noisemakers. I may have forgotten some other things that are still relevant - if you note such things, feel free to inform me. 

    Sadly, this year I didn't find the time to make myself the costume I wanted, so I'm going to wear an old Johnnie Walker costume of my father's - ironic, since I myself don't drink Whisky. 

    Short version of all of the above: during the time of the Persians they tried to kill us. They didn't succeed due to some political maneuvers and heavenly help (which isn't really mentioned). It was, in fact, reversed back on them. Let's celebrate!

    Anyway, have a happy Purim! I may or may not continue this series in order to round off all the bits I skipped. I also may or may not try to record those things and upload them to YouTube - it's something I've considered, but I know nothing about video editing. So I'll guess we'll have to see if and where you're going to see me next!

    1. Show previous comments  1 more
    2. Trutharchivist

      Trutharchivist

      Well, I think you've noticed that a third of the Jewish population worldwide died in the holocaust. 

      A celebration of a miracle saving the Jewish people kind of requires a little less losses, I should think. Sure, the goal was to kill us all and that didn't happen; but it was more of a disaster than a miracle.

      That's a personal view, and maybe I'm making excuses of why we don't celebrate the day Auschwitz was liberated.

      Obviously, I'm descended from people who did survive; but if you look at the entirety of the Jewish people... It's hard to say that we were saved from it.

      And also, I guess if we're being more exact, we weren't miraculously saved.

    3. Lego Mistborn

      Lego Mistborn

      That makes sense. Thank you

    4. ΨιτιsτηεΒέsτ

      ΨιτιsτηεΒέsτ

      This is very interesting thank you.

  8. You aren't, congratulations! If you're on mobile, there are three dots on every post's corner, if you press on them it offers you to report. Otherwise, the little flag icon in the corner of a post is the reporting button - just press on it, write in the text box that it's a spambot or something and send.
  9. Pour it down the throat of a nearby skull. WWYDIYF a talking butterfly that references random pieces of literature IYP?
  10. I have managed to become...Ummm... Essentially a Voidbringer, but with a cooler title. In theory it's very temporal, but I am not prone to getting reputation points, so I may savour it. I may even do so by talking about 666 and how it's a Christian thing to asociate this number with Evil! (Unsurprisingly, considering it's from the New Testament - Book of Revelation, was it?)
  11. @Lego Mistborn: Hopefully you aren't insulted by it. Also, please note that my next rank should be Torturer of Heralds (unless it was changed when I wasn't looking), so if you want upvote that (if you see one reputation point already) try to make sure to either take a picture of the rank or wait for me to mention it in This Stupid ranks, because it's fun and IIRC it's one of those that disappear immeddiately. That is, assuming this will get me reputation, which is never guaranteed.
  12. Well, I've had to read back on the PM to find out you wrote mostly nothing, and from what I've seen - that tracks. It's the only book you said you weren't going to foreread. Hmm. Maybe I could meme you out of this... Is there a meme for making a choice then regretting it?
  13. Hey, you never said anything in SPORG about that! Not that it's likely you'd have convinced me (or possibly anyone else, I don't know) but you could've presented a counter opinion. I'm considering trying to reread it at some point. I think it may just have been a miss for me - it has interesting concepts, it just didn't click with me.
  14. Here to make everyone feel young again: I've read the Hunger Games. Also, I'm here for 3 years already. I'm most likely older than anyone who said they feel old, though I'm relatively young myself - only 23 years old. Cheers! I think. Also, I would enjoy being memed if anyone here thinks they know me enough. Lego Mistborn, before you try - if it's about the reading group it has to be a new one. I actually have half a mind to not allow those, but a. It's not like I have that much authority, and b. It still might be interesting to see what you come up with.
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