Blog Smith is inspired by the myth of Hephaestus in the creation of blacksmith-like, forged materials: ideas. This blog analyzes topics that interest me: IT, politics, technology, history, education, music, and the history of religions.
Prior to the Revolutionary War, the tradition of self-government in America was nurtured by the English common law tradition and the original charters of the American colonies. Colonial debates regarding representation and taxation grew out of the larger practical and theoretical debates in England on the nature of sovereignty, the power and authority of the monarch over Parliament, and the rights of Englishmen in the wake of social and political changes brought about by the Glorious Revolution.
The presentation may contain content that is deemed objectionable to a particular viewer because of the view expressed or the conduct depicted. The views expressed are provided for learning purposes only, and do not necessarily express the views, or opinions, of Strayer University, your professor, or those participating in videos or other media.
We will have two ten-minute breaks: at 7:30 - 7:40; and, at 9:00 pm - 9:10 pm. I will take roll after the second break before you are dismissed at 10 pm.
REVIEW
ILLUSTRATIONS
1. At the beginning of study of the so-called Western traditions, ask students about the terms “Western” and “Eastern” and how they apply to world geography. From what perspective is the east east and the west west? What does this suggest about how westerners view the world?
2. The widely circulated “Letter to Dr. Laura” is available on many websites; the letter lists questions pertaining to the laws outlined in the Torah, and includes questions such as “I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?” The letter, while humorous, provides the basis for serious discussion of the issues that arise in interpreting sacred texts and in preserving belief and practice in the face of social change. Ask students how they would respond to the questions in this letter, and how the questions raised by the letter might be addressed by the various contemporary branches of Judaism.
Activities Part 2
1. What comes to mind when you think of the words “Jew” and “Judaism.” In small groups discuss the preconceptions brought by students to a study of Judaism.
2. Students also bring a variety of preconceptions to a study of the Tanak (known to most as the Old Testament). Ask them to write down what comes to mind when they think of the words “Bible” and “Old Testament” and bring to the surface the variety of assumptions present in the class. Ask what questions are raised for them by discussion of the Tanak.
3. ABC-TV journalist Ted Koppel once gave a commencement speech in which he said that the source of many problems today is that the Ten Commandments have become the Ten Suggestions. Have a debate or a discussion on Mr. Koppel’s assertion.
4. Assign students the task of bringing to class an article from a recent newspaper or magazine on the State of Israel. Discuss/debate the importance of Israel for the preservation of Judaism.
5. “Assimilation” is an issue not only for Judaism, but for all religions in the modern world. Ask students to think of examples of assimilation they have experienced, observed, or participated in either for Jews or other religious people. Pose the question, “Does ‘assimilation’ threaten the survival of Judaism (and other religions)?”
6. Debate/discuss any of the following assertions:
a. The only true Jews today are Orthodox Jews.
b. The Torah is not relevant to modern life.
c. The diversity within modern Judaism is healthy.
d. A Jew concerned about the survival of the Jewish community should not marry a non-Jew.
e. Telling a joke that stereotypes Jews is not an anti-Semitic act, because it’s just for fun.
f. The conflict between Palestinians and Israelis is political. Religion has little to do with the dispute, but has been used by politicians to exacerbate it and harden positions on both sides.
JUDAISM
OTHER PREPARATION The Exodus (from Greek ἔξοδος exodos, "going out") is the founding, or etiological, myth of Israel; its message is that the Israelites were delivered from slavery by Yahweh and therefore belong to him through the Mosaic covenant.[1][Notes 1] It tells of the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt following the death of Joseph, their departure under the leadership of Moses, the revelations at Sinai (including the Ten Commandments), and their wanderings in the wilderness up to the borders of Canaan.[2] The exodus story is told in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, and their overall intent was to demonstrate God's actions in history, to recall Israel's bondage and salvation, and to demonstrate the fulfillment of Israel's covenant. [3]
The historicity of the exodus continues to attract popular attention, but most histories of ancient Israel no longer consider information about it recoverable or even relevant to the story of Israel's emergence.[4] The archeological evidence does not support the story told in the Book of Exodus[5] and most archaeologists have therefore abandoned the investigation of Moses and the Exodus as "a fruitless pursuit".[6] The opinion of the overwhelming majority of modern biblical scholars is that the exodus story was shaped into its final present form in the post-Exilic period,[7] although the traditions behind it are older and can be traced in the writings of the 8th century BCE prophets.[8] How far beyond that the tradition might stretch cannot be told: "Presumably an original Exodus story lies hidden somewhere inside all the later revisions and alterations, but centuries of transmission have long obscured its presence, and its substance, accuracy and date are now difficult to determine."[3]
The Exodus has been central to Judaism: it served to orient Jews towards the celebration of God's actions in history, in contrast to polytheistic celebrations of the gods' actions in nature, and even today it is recounted daily in Jewish prayers and celebrated in the festival of Pesach. In secular history the exodus has served as inspiration and model for many groups, from early Protestant settlers fleeing persecution in Europe to 19th and 20th century African-Americans striving for freedom and civil rights.[9] Passover or Pesach (/ˈpɛsɑːx, ˈpeɪsɑːx/;[4] from HebrewפֶּסַחPesah, Pesakh, Assyrian; ܦܸܨܚܵܐ"piskha"), is an important, biblically derived Jewish festival. The Jewish people celebrate Passover as a commemoration of their liberation by God from slavery in Egypt and their freedom as a nation under the leadership of Moses. It commemorates the story of the Exodus as described in the Hebrew Bible especially in the Book of Exodus, in which the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt. According to standard biblical chronology, this event would have taken place at about 1300 BCE (AM 2450).[5]
Passover is a spring festival which during the existence of the Jerusalem Temple was connected to the offering of the "first-fruits of the barley", barley being the first grain to ripen and to be harvested in the Land of Israel.[6]
Passover commences on the 15th of the Hebrew month of Nisan and lasts for either seven days (in Israel) and for Reform Jews and other progressive Jews around the world who adhere to the Biblical commandment or eight days for Orthodox,Hasidic, and most Conservative Jews (in the diaspora).[7][8] In Judaism, a day commences at dusk and lasts until the following dusk, thus the first day of Passover only begins after dusk of the 14th of Nisan and ends at dusk of the 15th day of the month of Nisan. The rituals unique to the Passover celebrations commence with the Passover Seder when the 15th of Nisan has begun. In the Northern Hemisphere Passover takes place in spring as the Torah prescribes it: "in the month of [the] spring" (בחדש האביב Exodus 23:15). It is one of the most widely observed Jewish holidays.
In the narrative of the Exodus, the Bible tells that God helped the Children of Israel escape from their slavery in Egypt by inflicting ten plagues upon the ancient Egyptians before the Pharaoh would release his Israelite slaves; the tenth and worst of the plagues was the death of the Egyptian first-born.
The Israelites were instructed to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a slaughtered spring lamb and, upon seeing this, the spirit of the Lord knew to pass over the first-born in these homes, hence the English name of the holiday.[9]
When the Pharaoh freed the Israelites, it is said that they left in such a hurry that they could not wait for bread dough to rise (leaven). In commemoration, for the duration of Passover no leavened bread is eaten, for which reason Passover was called the feast of unleavened bread in the Torah or Old Testament.[10] Thus Matzo (flat unleavened bread) is eaten during Passover and it is a tradition of the holiday.
Historically, together with Shavuot ("Pentecost") and Sukkot ("Tabernacles"), Passover is one of the three pilgrimage festivals (Shalosh Regalim) during which the entire population of the kingdom of Judah made a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem.[11]Samaritans still make this pilgrimage to Mount Gerizim, but only men participate in public worship.[12][13] Sabbath (/ˈsæbəθ/) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to Exodus 20:8 the Sabbath is commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as God rested from creation. It is observed differently among the Abrahamic religions and informs a similar occasion in several other practices. Although many viewpoints and definitions have arisen over the millennia, most originate in the same textual tradition of: "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy".
In Judaism, Sabbath is the seventh day of the Hebrew calendar week, which in English is known as Saturday. The term has been used to describe a similar weekly observance in any of several other traditions; the first crescent or new moon; any of seven annual festivals in Judaism and some Christian traditions; any of eight annual pagan festivals (usually "sabbat"); an annual secular holiday; and a year of rest in religious or secular usage, the sabbath year, originally every seventh year.
There is no established formulation of principles of faith that are recognized by all branches of Judaism. Central authority in Judaism is not vested in any one person or group - although the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish religious court, would fulfill this role when it is re-established - but rather in Judaism's sacred writings, laws, and traditions.
The various principles of faith that have been enumerated over the
centuries carry no weight other than that imparted to them by the fame
and scholarship of their respective authors.
Judaism affirms the existence and uniqueness of God
and stresses performance of deeds or commandments alongside adherence
to a strict belief system. In contrast to traditions such as Christianity
which demand a more explicit identification of God, faith in Judaism
requires one to honour God through a constant struggle with God's
instructions (Torahs) and the practice of their mitzvoth. Orthodox Judaism stresses a number of core principles in its educational programs, most importantly a belief that there is one single, omniscient, transcendent, non-compound God, who created the universe, and continues to be concerned with its governance. Traditional Judaism maintains that God established a covenant with the Jewish people at Mount Sinai, and revealed his laws and 613 commandments to them in the form of the Written and Oral Torah. In Rabbinic Judaism, the Torahs (Hebrew "Toroth") comprise both the written Torah (Pentateuch) and a tradition of oral law, much of it later codified in sacred writings (see: Mishna, Talmud).
Traditionally, the practice of Judaism has been devoted to the study of Torah
and observance of its laws and commandments. In normative Judaism, the
Torah and hence Jewish law itself is unchanging, but interpretation of
the law is more open. It is considered a mitzvah (commandment) to study and understand the law.
The proper counterpart for the general English term "faith" -as
occurring in the expression "principles of faith"- would be the concept
of Emunah[1] in Judaism. While it is generally translated as faith or trust in God, the concept of Emunah can more accurately be described as "an innate conviction, a perception of truth that transcends (..) reason."[1] Emunah can be enhanced through wisdom, knowledge, understanding and learning of sacred Jewish writings. But Emunah is not simply based on reason, nor can it be understood as the opposite of or standing in contrast to reason.
There are a number of basic principles that were formulated by
medieval rabbinic authorities. These are put forth as fundamental
underpinnings inherent in the "acceptance and practice of Judaism."
This video presents "Holy Places and Pilgrimage: Jerusalem." :25
http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/SSA_SHARED_MEDIA_1/religion/MRK/videos/myreligionkit/Jerusalem_MyLab.html
This video presents "Roots and Wings: Sabbath." 1:28
http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/SSA_SHARED_MEDIA_1/religion/MRK/videos/myreligionkit/Sabbath_MyLab.html
Sabbath, 2:32
This video presents "Holy Places and Pilgrimage: Torah."
http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/SSA_SHARED_MEDIA_1/religion/MRK/videos/myreligionkit/Torah_MyLab.html
Celebrations and Festivals
This video presents "Roots and Wings: Passover." 2:06
Depicts the foods at a Passover Seder and describes their symbolic significance; portrays a part of the Seder ritual.
http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/SSA_SHARED_MEDIA_1/religion/MRK/videos/myreligionkit/Passover_MyLab.html
Pre-Built Course Content
LECTURE 1 Pre-Built Course Content
LECTURE 2 Pre-Built Course Content
Read: Chapter 8: Judaism
Torah Entering Torah Prefaces to the Weekly Torah Portion by Reuven Hammer
Gefen Publishing House (2009) Unlocking the Torah Text Vayikra (Leviticus) by Shmuel Goldin
Gefen Publishing House (2010)
Tradition The Judaic Tradition by Nahum N. Glatzer
Behrman House Publishing (1982) HISTORY OF THE JEWS by Abram Leo Sachar
Alfred A. Knopf (1948)
Modern A History of Israel by John Bright
Westminster John Knox Press (2000) The Course of Modern Jewish History by Howard M. Sachar
Vintage (1990) Judaism and modern man: An interpretation of Jewish religion (Harper torchbooks : The Temple library ; TB 810 L) by Will Herberg
Harper & Row (1965) Jerusalem: Rebirth of the City. by MARTIN GILBERT
Publisher (1985) Israel for Beginners: A Field Guide for Encountering the Israelis in Their Natural Habitat by Angelo Colorni
Gefen Publishing House (2010)
https://www.librarything.com/catalog/gmicksmith&collection=-1&deepsearch=Judaism
View the Other Preparation Materials
View the lectures contained in the course shell
Participate in the Discussion titled "The Role of the Torah and Special Covenant"
Complete and submit the World View Chart Assignment Judaism FisherBriefPPT_Ch8.ppt Presentation Materials
http://wps.prenhall.com/hss_fisher_livingrel_BRIEF_3e/206/52790/13514333.cw/index.html Religious Profile
http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/SSA_SHARED_MEDIA_1/religion/profiles/chapter-6/index.html
The Israelites identified themselves as a people whose ancestors, Abraham and Sarah, moved from Ur and Haran in Mesopotamia to Canaan; Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, called “Israel,” resettled his large family in Egypt.
This map reflects the Israelite monarchy.
This map reflects Israel and Judah in the 8th century BCE.
According to Jewish tradition and the Bible's internal chronology, Abraham was born in the year 1948 from Creation (1813 BCE).[5]
To date, there has been little if any archaeological or other
scientific evidence to confirm his existence at that time. Scholars
variously consider Abraham to have lived as late as the seventh century
BCE,[6] or that he is a later, literary construct and not a historical person.[7] Potentially, excavation of his traditional burial site, the Cave of the Patriarchs at Hebron, along with carbon dating and/or DNA analysis from the bodies in comparison with the shared Y-chromosomal genes among Jewish and Arab people, his patriarchal offspring by tradition,[8] could provide evidence confirming his existence and chronology.
The Genesis narrative of Abraham traces his descent from Shem, the father of Semitic
peoples, and describes his faith, journeys, and legacy in believing in
the God of heaven and earth, and departing from his idol-worshiping
father and homeland to settle in the land of Canaan which God promised to him and his seed. Abraham was extremely wealthy and powerful, but his wife Sarah was barren, so his servant Eliezer, and Ishmael the son of Sarah's handmaid Hagar might have been candidates to inherit him.
But the couple are visited by an angel and Sarah in her old age bears her only son Isaac, who becomes the exclusive heir. Abraham purchased, at an exorbitant price, the Cave of the Patriarchs at Hebron
to be Sarah's burial place when she died, thus establishing unequivocal
rights to that land. Isaac was married to a woman from his own
relatives, thus ruling the Canaanites out of any right to his
inheritance.
Abraham later married Keturah
and had six more sons, but on his death, when he was buried beside
Sarah, it was Isaac who received "all Abraham's goods", while the other
sons received only "gifts".
This video presents "Judaism From The Roots of Belief: Abraham." :50
http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/SSA_SHARED_MEDIA_1/religion/MRK/videos/myreligionkit/Abraham_MyLab.html
This video presents "From The Roots of Belief: Exodus." 3:27
http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/SSA_SHARED_MEDIA_1/religion/MRK/videos/myreligionkit/Exodus_MyLab.html
Exodus, 3:35
According to the Book of Exodus, Moses was born in a time when his people, the Israelites, an enslaved minority, were increasing in numbers and the Egyptian Pharaoh was worried that they might ally with Egypt's enemies.[5] Moses' Hebrew mother, Jochebed,
secretly hid him when the Pharaoh ordered all newborn Hebrew boys to be
killed in order to reduce the population of the Israelites. Through the
Pharaoh's daughter (identified as Queen Bithia in the Midrash), the child was adopted as a foundling from the Nile river and grew up with the Egyptian royal family. After killing an Egyptian slavemaster (because the slavemaster was smiting a Hebrew), Moses fled across the Red Sea to Midian, where he encountered the God of Israel speaking to him from within a "burning bush which was not consumed by the fire" on Mount Horeb (which he regarded as the Mountain of God).
God sent Moses back to Egypt to demand the release of the Israelites
from slavery. Moses said that he could not speak with assurance or
eloquence,[6] so God allowed Aaron, his brother, to become his spokesperson. After the Ten Plagues, Moses led the Exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt and across the Red Sea, after which they based themselves at Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments. After 40 years of wandering in the desert, Moses died within sight of the Promised Land. Rabbinical Judaism calculated a lifespan of Moses corresponding to 1391–1271 (120 years) BCE;[7]Jerome gives 1592 BCE,[8] and Ussher 1571 BCE as his birth year.[9][a]
This video presents "From The Roots of Belief: Moses." :13
http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/SSA_SHARED_MEDIA_1/religion/MRK/videos/myreligionkit/Moses_MyLab.html
Modern scholarship has found likely influences in Hittite and Mesopotamian laws and treaties, but is divided over exactly when the Ten Commandments were written and who wrote them.
The commandments include instructions to worship only God, to honour parents, and to keep the sabbath; as well as prohibitions against idolatry, blasphemy, murder, adultery, theft, dishonesty, and coveting. Different religious groups follow different traditions for interpreting and numbering them.
This video presents "From The Roots of Belief: Ten Commandments." :35
http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/SSA_SHARED_MEDIA_1/religion/MRK/videos/myreligionkit/TenCommandments_MyLab.html
The Bible (from Koine Greek τὰ βιβλία, tà biblía, "the books") is a canonical collection of texts sacred in Judaism and Christianity. There is no single "Bible" and many Bibles with varying contents exist. The term Bible is shared between Judaism and Christianity, although the contents of each of their collections of canonical texts is not the same. Different religious groups include different books within their Biblical canons, in different orders, and sometimes divide or combine books, or incorporate additional material into canonical books.
By the 2nd century BCE Jewish groups had called the Bible books the "scriptures" and 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). An early 4th-century Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible is found in the Codex Vaticanus. Dating from the 8th century, the Codex Amiatinus is the earliest surviving manuscript of the complete Vulgate Bible. The oldest Tanakh manuscript in Hebrew and Aramaic dates to the 10th century CE. The Bible was divided into chapters in the 13th century by Stephen Langton and into verses in the 16th century by French printer Robert Estienne and is now usually cited by book, chapter, and verse.
The Bible is widely considered to be the best selling book of all time, has estimated annual sales of 100 million copies, and has been a major influence on literature and history, especially in the West where it was the first mass-printed book. The Gutenberg Bible was the first Bible ever printed using movable type. First Known Copy of Mishnah, Naples Italy, 1492
The Mishnah or Mishna (/ˈmɪʃnə/; Hebrew: מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition"), from the verb shanahשנה, or "to study and review", also "secondary," is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions known as the "Oral Torah". It is also the first major work of Rabbinic literature. The earliest known copy of the Mishnah has additions, and is contained within a book featuring commentary that was printed in Naples Italy during the late 15th century.
The Mishnah was redacted by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi before his death around 217 CE, in a time when, according to the Talmud, the persecution of the Jews and the passage of time raised the possibility that the details of the oral traditions of the Pharisees from the Second Temple period (536 BCE – 70 CE) would be forgotten. The majority of the Mishnah is written in Mishnaic Hebrew, while some parts are Aramaic.
The Mishnah consists of six orders (sedarim, singular sederסדר), each containing 7–12 tractates (masechtot, singular masechetמסכת; lit. "web"), 63 in total, and further subdivided into chapters and paragraphs or verses.
The word Mishnah can also indicate a single paragraph or a verse of the work itself, i.e. the smallest unit of structure in the Mishnah. For this reason the whole work is sometimes called by the plural, Mishnayot.
The Talmud (/ˈtɑːlmʊd,-məd,ˈtæl-/; Hebrew: תַּלְמוּדtalmūd "instruction, learning", from a rootlmd "teach, study") is a central text of Rabbinic Judaism. It is also traditionally referred to as Shas (ש״ס), a Hebrew abbreviation of shisha sedarim, the "six orders". The term "Talmud" normally refers to the Babylonian Talmud, though there is also an earlier collection known as the Jerusalem Talmud.
The Talmud has two components. The first part is the Mishnah (Hebrew: משנה, c. 200 CE), the written compendium of Rabbinic Judaism's Oral Torah (Torah meaning "Instruction", "Teaching" in Hebrew). The second part is the Gemara (c. 500 CE), an elucidation of the Mishnah and related Tannaitic writings that often ventures onto other subjects and expounds broadly on the Hebrew Bible. The term Talmud can be used to mean either the Gemara alone, or the Mishnah and Gemara as printed together.
The whole Talmud consists of 63 tractates, and in standard print is over 6,200 pages long. It is written in Tannaitic Hebrew and Aramaic. The Talmud contains the teachings and opinions of thousands of rabbis on a variety of subjects, including Halakha (law), Jewish ethics, philosophy, customs, history, lore and many other topics. The Talmud is the basis for all codes of Jewish law and is much quoted in rabbinic literature.
Final Solution
Middle Eastern Crisis
Who is most likely to receive support? The only free, democratic nation in the Middle East, or, ISIS?
David Horowitz at UCSD 5/10/2010. Hosted by Young Americans for Freedom and DHFC, 3:28
Why do opponents of Israel wish that all Jews are collected in one place?
http://youtu.be/8fSvyv0urTE
Origin of All Things
Nature of God/Creator
View of Human Nature
View of Good and Evil
View of "Salvation"
View of After Life
Practices and Rituals
This video presents "Holy Places and Pilgrimage: Jerusalem." :25
http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/SSA_SHARED_MEDIA_1/religion/MRK/videos/myreligionkit/Jerusalem_MyLab.html
This video presents "Roots and Wings: Sabbath." 1:28
http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/SSA_SHARED_MEDIA_1/religion/MRK/videos/myreligionkit/Sabbath_MyLab.html
Sabbath, 2:32
This video presents "Holy Places and Pilgrimage: Torah."
http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/SSA_SHARED_MEDIA_1/religion/MRK/videos/myreligionkit/Torah_MyLab.html
Celebrations and Festivals
This video presents "Roots and Wings: Passover." 2:06
Depicts the foods at a Passover Seder and describes their symbolic significance; portrays a part of the Seder ritual.
http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/SSA_SHARED_MEDIA_1/religion/MRK/videos/myreligionkit/Passover_MyLab.html
REFERENCES
The Chosen People, exposes the movement of Messianic Jews, which is among the most controversial movements in Judaism. The Chosen People reveals one of the fastest growing movements affecting the Jewish World. 65:18
http://mediaplayer.pearsoncmg.com/_white_set.title.The_Chosen_People__/ph/hss/hss_fisher_livingrel_8lab/thechosenpeople
MUSIC
Boney M ~ Rivers of Babylon, 2:37
Based on Psalm 137
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
ye-eah we wept, when we remembered Zion.
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
ye-eah we wept, when we remembered Zion.
When the wicked
Carried us away in captivity
Required from us a song
Now how shall we sing the lord's song in a strange land
When the wicked
Carried us away in captivity
Requiering of us a song
Now how shall we sing the lord's song in a strange land
Let the words of our mouth
and the meditations of our heart
be acceptable in thy sight here tonight
Let the words of our mouth
and the meditation of our hearts
be acceptable in thy sight here tonight
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
ye-eah we wept, when we remembered Zion.
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
ye-eah we wept, when we remembered Zion.
http://youtu.be/fGyfxOCYvtM
Kinky Friedman, They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore, 4:04
http://youtu.be/ESNCWrks6vQ
Bob Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman (Hebrew name שבתאי זיסל בן אברהם [Shabtai Zisl ben Avraham]) on May 24, 1941. Dylan's paternal grandparents, Zigman and Anna Zimmerman, emigrated from Odessa in the Russian Empire now Ukraine, to the United States following anti-Semitic pogroms of 1905. His maternal grandparents, Ben and Florence Stone, were Lithuanian Jews who arrived in the United States in 1902. In his autobiography Chronicles: Volume One, Dylan writes that his paternal grandmother's maiden name was Kirghiz and her family originated from Kağızman district of Kars Province in north-eastern Turkey.
In October and November 1967, Dylan was in Nashville and back in the studio after a 19 months recovery from a motorcycle accident. The result was John Wesley Harding, a contemplative record of shorter songs, set in a landscape that drew on the American West and the Bible. The sparse structure and instrumentation, with lyrics that took the Judeo-Christian tradition seriously, departed from Dylan's own work and from the psychedelic fervor of the 1960s. It included "All Along the Watchtower", with lyrics derived from the Book of Isaiah (21:5–9). The song was later recorded by Jimi Hendrix, whose version Dylan acknowledged as definitive.
"There must be some kind of way out of here,"
Said the joker to the thief,
"There's too much confusion,
I can't get no relief.
Businessman they drink my wine,
Plowman dig my earth
None will level on the line, nobody offered his word, hey"
"No reason to get excited,"
The thief, he kindly spoke
"There are many here among us
Who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I, we've been through that
And this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late"
All along the watchtower
Princes kept the view
While all the women came and went
Barefoot servants, too
Outside in the cold distance
A wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching
And the wind began to howl
*buisness man there, drink my wine,
Come and take my herb.
BOB DYLAN - All Along the Watchtower, 3:09
http://youtu.be/BzanOzyqgas
Dylan considers the Jimi Hendrix version as definitive.
Jimi Hendrix ~ All Along The Watchtower, 3:56
http://youtu.be/pJV81mdj1ic
In 1972, Dylan signed to Sam Peckinpah's film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, providing songs and backing music for the movie, and playing "Alias", a member of Billy's gang with some historical basis.[138] Despite the film's failure at the box office, the song "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" became one of Dylan's most covered songs.
Bob Dylan - Knocking on Heavens door (Movie version 1973 - Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid), 2:30
Lyrics: Mama, take this badge off of me
I can't use it anymore.
It's gettin' dark, too dark to see
I feel I'm knockin' on heaven's door.
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Mama, put my guns in the ground
I can't shoot them anymore.
That long black cloud is comin' down
I feel I'm knockin' on heaven's door.
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
In the late 1970s, Dylan became a born again Christian and released two albums of Christian gospel music. Slow Train Coming (1979) featured the guitar accompaniment of Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits) and was produced by veteran R&B producer Jerry Wexler. Wexler said Dylan had tried to evangelize him during the recording. He replied: "Bob, you're dealing with a 62-year-old Jewish atheist. Let's just make an album." The album won a Grammy Award as "Best Male Vocalist" for the song "Gotta Serve Somebody". The second evangelical album, Saved (1980), received mixed reviews, described by Michael Gray as "the nearest thing to a follow-up album Dylan has ever made, Slow Train Coming II and inferior."
Gotta Serve Somebody, 5:24
http://youtu.be/C8sI5WekW78
In 1997 he performed before Pope John Paul II at the World Eucharistic Conference in Bologna, Italy. The Pope treated the audience of 200,000 people to a homily based on Dylan's lyric "Blowin' in the Wind".
On October 13, 2009, Dylan released a Christmas album, Christmas in the Heart, comprising such Christmas standards as "Little Drummer Boy", "Winter Wonderland" and "Here Comes Santa Claus".] Dylan's royalties from the sale of this album will benefit the charities Feeding America in the USA, Crisis in the UK, and the World Food Programme.
The album received generally favorable reviews. The New Yorker commented that Dylan had welded a pre-rock musical sound to "some of his croakiest vocals in a while", and speculated that Dylan's intentions might be ironic: "Dylan has a long and highly publicized history with Christianity; to claim there's not a wink in the childish optimism of 'Here Comes Santa Claus' or 'Winter Wonderland' is to ignore a half-century of biting satire."[276] In USA Today, Edna Gundersen pointed out that Dylan was "revisiting yuletide styles popularized by Nat King Cole, Mel Tormé, and the Ray Conniff Singers." Gundersen concluded that Dylan "couldn't sound more sentimental or sincere".
In an interview published in The Big Issue, journalist Bill Flanagan asked Dylan why he had performed the songs in a straightforward style, and Dylan responded: "There wasn't any other way to play it. These songs are part of my life, just like folk songs. You have to play them straight too."
BOB DYLAN Hava Nagila הבה נגילה
3:08
Bob Dylan accompanies son-in-law Peter Himmelman and Harry Dean Stanton in this unorthodox rendition of "Hava Nagila." for a telethon. Check out the rabbi who tells Harry Dean he should be the cantor in his synagogue! A classic. 25th Anniversary of Chabad, a Lubavitch organization. Los Angeles, California September 24, 1989
http://youtu.be/yGXcTAHCcmo
Hava Nagila, 2:58
http://youtu.be/LgvKCucx0oU
שירי שבת \ אסף נוה שלום - שעה שלימה של עונג SHABBAT SONGS . Jewish Prayer Songs שירי קדושה 1:13:31
http://youtu.be/1LWHnXbayEk
Al Jazeera Censors Criticism of Mohammed Censored
Obama Establishes Mosque
http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/mosque-obama-visiting-graduated-terrorist-who-targeted-federal-building/
The mosque was led for over a decade by an Imam who justified suicide bombings in some circumstances and who helped found a mosque with ties to Al Qaeda. The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)–which has been declared a terrorist organization in the United Arab Emirates and was named by federal prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation’s Hamas-funding operation–welcomed Obama’s decision.
Mohamad Adam el-Sheikh, a native of Sudan and former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, led the institution for eighteen years as its Imam.
Before becoming Imam there, el-Sheikh helped found the Muslim American Society, an outfit created by Muslim Brotherhood members.
In 2004, he told the Washington Post, commenting on Palestinian suicide bombers: “If certain Muslims are to be cornered where they cannot defend themselves, except through these kinds of means, and their local religious leaders issued fatwas to permit that, then it becomes acceptable as an exceptional rule, but should not be taken as a principle.”
El-Sheikh also helped found the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque, which was once led by the deceased infamous Al Qaeda terrorist Anwar Al Awlaki.
When he left the Islamic Society of Baltimore, El Sheikh became the Imam of Dar Al-Hijrah, following Awlaki’s escape from the U.S. after the September 11 attacks.
The Dar Al-Hijrah mosque was founded thanks, in part, to a large grant from Saudi Arabia’s Embassy in the United States, which allowed for the large facility to accommodate some 5,000 Muslims.
Dar Al-Hijrah, which is located right outside Washington, D.C., is connected to several high-profile Islamic terrorists who prayed there, including Major Nidal Hassan – the Ft. Hood massacre jihadi, two September 11 hijackers, and an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
El-Sheikh was also the former Baltimore regional director of the Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA), which the U.S. Treasury Department later designated a specially designated global terrorist group for its support of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
While in Baltimore, el-Sheikh served as a regional director for the Islamic American Relief Agency. That group’s parent organization is the Islamic African Relief Agency, which the Treasury Department says provided funds to Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, Hamas and other terrorist organizations.
After leaving Baltimore, el-Sheikh served as imam at the infamous Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church. That mosque has a lengthy roster of known terrorists and terrorist sympathizers. Its imam during much of the 1990s was Mohammed al-Hanooti. He was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six people.
Dar al-Hijrah came under the control of Anwar al-Awlaki in 2001. He’s the American al-Qaeda recruiter who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2011. Nidal Hasan, the U.S. Army major who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in Nov. 2009, is said to have attended the Virginia mosque when al-Awlaki served there. The pair also reportedly exchanged emails. Two of the 9/11 hijackers also attended Dar al-Hijrah during al-Awlaki’s tenure.
Moreover, tolerance does not appear to be a virtue shared by ISB’s resident scholar, Yaseen Shaikh.
A 2013 Youtube video shows Shaikh, who previously served as imam at a mosque in Plano, Tex., speaking out forcefully against homosexuality in Islam.
During an hour long diatribe, Shaikh called homosexuality a psychological disorder that has no place in Islam or society. He also lamented that gay rights groups have “hijacked” political discourse.
“This whole subject of homosexuality in the public sphere…is no longer a religious issue, unfortunately, as much as we want to use the religious card and try to defeat this, now it’s become a politicized issue,” Shaikh says in the video.
“Politicians are highly influenced by people who back them, and we find that these politicians who are calling for gay rights and marriage and supporting gay rights are lobbied and campaigned by gay activists, by gay groups. And they are throwing money at it left and right to gain some acceptance in society, to be considered normal people, to be treated normally.”
Obama is one such politician who has supported gay rights.
“We have to counter the efforts that are taking place elsewhere,” Sheikh says in the video, advising that “if our children are taught that [homosexuality is] okay, we have to teach them it’s not okay.”
DISCUSSION
Week 6 Discussion "The Role of the Torah and Special Covenant" Please respond to the following: Discuss the significance of the “special covenant” between the Jewish people and God. Name at least two examples of this covenant in the Jewish religion.
Huntington, Samuel P., The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order;
Info World: Information Technology News, Computer Networking & Security;
Information Week: Business Innovation Powered by Technology:
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Intel Premier IT: Sharing Best Practices with the Information Technology Community;
Irwin, Robert, Dangerous Knowledge: Orientalism and Its Discontents;
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Johnson, Chalmers, Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire;
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Kagan, Donald, The Peloponnesian War;
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Keegan, John, Intelligence in War: The Value--and Limitations--of What the Military Can Learn About the Enemy;
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Koestler, Arthur, Darkness at Noon: A Novel;
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Marcus, Greil,Invisible Republic: Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes;
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McLynn, Frank, Marcus Aurelius: A Life;
McManus, John, Deadly Brotherhood, The: The American Combat Soldier in World War II ;
McMaster, H. R., Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam;
McNamara, Patrick, Science and the World's Religions Volume 1: Origins and Destinies (Brain, Behavior, and Evolution);
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Meacham, Jon, American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House;
Mearsheimer, John J., and Stephen M. Walt, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy;
Meier, Christian, Caesar: A Biography;
Menzies, Gaven, 1421: The Year China Discovered America;
Perrett, Bryan, Cassell Military Classics: Iron Fist: Classic Armoured Warfare;
Perrottet, Tony, The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Olympic Games;
Peters, Ralph, New Glory: Expanding America's Global Supremacy;
Phillips, Kevin, American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush;
Pick, Bernhard; Paralipomena; Remains of Gospels and Sayings of Christ (Sony Reader);
Pimlott, John, The Elite: The Special Forces of the World Volume 1;
Pitre, Brant, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist: Unlocking the Secrets of the Last Supper;
Plutarch's Lives, X: Agis and Cleomenes. Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. Philopoemen and Flamininus (Loeb Classical Library®);
Podhoretz, Norman, World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism;
Posner, Gerald, Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK;
Potter, Wendell, Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans;
Pouesi, Daniel, Akua;
Premier IT Magazine: Sharing Best Practices with the Information Technology Community;
Price, Monroe E. & Daniel Dayan, eds., Owning the Olympics: Narratives of the New China;
Profit: The Executive's Guide to Oracle Applications;
Public CIO: Technology Leadership in the Public Sector;
Putnam, Robert D., Bowling Alone : The Collapse and Revival of American Community;
Quintus of Smyrna, The Fall of Troy;
Rawles, James Wesley, Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse;
Red Herring: The Business of Technology;
Redmond Channel Partner: Driving Success in the Microsoft Partner Community;
Redmond Magazine: The Independent Voice of the Microsoft IT Community;
Renan, Ernest, The life of Jesus (Sony eReader);
Richler, Mordecai (editor), Writers on World War II: An Anthology;
Roberts, Ian, The Energy Glut: Climate Change and the Politics of Fatness in an Overheating World;
Rocca, Samuel, The Army of Herod the Great;
Rodgers, Nigel, A Military History of Ancient Greece: An Authoritative Account of the Politics, Armies and Wars During the Golden Age of Ancient Greece, shown in over 200 color photographs, diagrams, maps and plans;
Rodoreda, Merce, Death in Spring: A Novel;
Romerstein, Herbert and Breindel, Eric,The Venona Secrets, Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors;
Ross, Dennis, Statecraft: And How to Restore America's Standing in the World;
Roth, Jonathan P., Roman Warfare (Cambridge Introduction to Roman Civilization);
SC Magazine: For IT Security Professionals;
Scahill, Jeremy, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army [Revised and Updated];
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Scheuer, Michael, Osama Bin Laden;
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Scholastic Parent & Child: The Joy of Family Living and Learning;
Schopenhauer, Arthur, The World As Will And Idea (Sony eReader);
Schug-Wille, Art of the Byzantine World;
Schulze, Hagen, Germany: A New History;
Schweizer, Peter, Architects of Ruin: How Big Government Liberals Wrecked the Global Economy---and How They Will Do It Again If No One Stops Them;
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Security Technology & Design: The Security Executive's Resource for Systems Integration and Convergence;
Seibel, Peter, Coders at Work;
Sekunda N., & S. Northwood, Early Roman Armies;
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Sewall, Sarah, The U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual;
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Sides, Hampton, Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West;
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Sinchak, Steve, Hacking Windows Vista;
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Software Development Times: The Industry Newspaper for Software Development Managers;
Software Test Performance;
Solomon, Norman, War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death;
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Sound & Vision: The Consumer Electronics Authority;
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Sri, Edward, Men, Women and the Mystery of Love: Practical Insights from John Paul II's Love and Responsibility;
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Strassler, Robert B., The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War;
Strassler, Robert B., The Landmark Xenophon's Hellenika;
Strategy + Business;
Streete, Gail, Redeemed Bodies: Women Martyrs in Early Christianity;
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A tax on toilet paper; I kid you not. According to the sponsor, "the Water Protection and Reinvestment Act will be financed broadly by small fees on such things as . . . products disposed of in waste water." Congress wants to tax what you do in the privacy of your bathroom.
The bosom of Abraham – medieval illustration from the 
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