The Mensch In The Moon

2007-12-21T01:42:00.000-06:00

New blog

2005-08-03T18:12:00.000-06:00

New blog Hitnatzrut, see ya all there. Maybe?

2005-07-29T03:06:00.000-06:00

updoot

2005-07-23T12:29:00.000-06:00

Ok, I think I'll start blogging again, soon. I'll probably start a new blog though, this one feels cluttered. By the way I used to live in that gorgeous house pictured below.

2005-07-22T20:06:00.000-06:00

2005-06-05T19:15:00.000-06:00

I was at a place called Jackfish Lake last week. It rained a lot. It was fun non the less. I also visited a friend on the thunderchild reserve, which was very special. more to come, maybe. Or maybe I'll just wait until I have something deeply profound to say before I post again.

2005-05-31T15:00:00.000-06:00

Went to an In Medias Res show last week, No Birds sang (played) as well.
IMR have a top notch web page which can be acessed here.
That's all for now.

shabbat shalom

2005-05-20T19:44:00.000-06:00

Today I bought a plane ticket for Israel. I love you all.

2005-05-17T11:44:00.000-06:00

I'm not going to appologize for not bloging. Or for the impending time of not bloging.

Watch Wild Strawberries
Listen to The Riderless, I went to a show of theirs last week.

No Appologies!!

2005-05-09T00:18:00.000-06:00

Let me recommend to you this

Live from the gooseberry

2005-05-08T10:08:00.000-06:00

From the Washington Post (whole article)
WAYNESVILLE, N.C., May 7 -- Some in Pastor Chan Chandler's flock wish he had a little less zeal for the GOP.
Members of the small East Waynesville Baptist Church say Chandler led an effort to kick out congregants who did not support President Bush.
(courtesy of DovBear)

I hate politics. I wonder what it's like down there, in the States, all the patriotism and political type stuff. In Norway there was some nationalism but I get a different vibe from the American stuff. Norway is an old country, they have "old" nationalism. America, eh, GOP, eh, sigh... protestantism.
Today is Mother's Day, I'm going to a Holocaust memorial service at the Shul this afternoon.

Shabbat Shalom

2005-05-07T13:09:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted in a while... not much to say I guess. Good Sabbath from Canada's fattest city (quite literally). I supose I still don't have too much to say but couldn't let a whole week go by without saying anything.

?
'Then, too, it is out of the sons of the sojourners who live as aliens among you that you may gain acquisition, and out of their families who are with you, whom they will have produced in your land; they also may become your possession.
'You may even bequeath them to your sons after you, to receive as a possession; you can use them as permanent slaves. But in respect to your countrymen, the sons of Israel, you shall not rule with severity over one another.
?
Any insights? oh well.
So I had a Scrabble party last week, went to a rap show featuring Ira lee and Gruff the Druid, baked chicken in the oven, worked on getting my passport, tutored Taylor my 8 year old student, I watched the sun rise and set alone and with friends, and I'm hatching a plan to produce a full "album" of electronic music over the next week or three.

Is Yiddish... ? funny?

2005-05-01T13:04:00.000-06:00

"Dayne tseyn zoln zikh tsebeyzern un aropshlingen dem kop!"
-May your teeth get angry and chew off the rest of your head!

Sabwa Toyb Y'all

2005-04-29T23:57:00.000-06:00

Happy Karaite Lag B'omer!

2005-04-29T13:16:00.000-06:00

There's a new Marzipan answering machine and it's FUH Nee.
Shabbat is coming, I can feel it.
Have a good one!
(Oh yeah, I think Pentecost, Buddha's Birthday and Karaite Shavuot all fall on the same day this year, hahaha.)

BoNirds

2005-04-28T15:13:00.000-06:00

Have I ever mentioned NoBirds? Well, they're quite the band. If you want to download their music for free go here and if you want to go to their webpage go here.

The chap on the left is Mehta he plays in TimePhalcon with me, as does the guitar playin' chap in the middle William. The other two are Robin Wilson and Charlotte.

32 what's new?

2005-04-28T14:58:00.000-06:00

As I have done in the past I will post the latest Karaite newsletter. I found it most interesting having never known much about the Karaite Sadducee connection.

Karaite Korner Newsletter #213Karaites and Resurrection
Recently there has been some confusion and misinformationabout Karaite beliefs concerning the Resurrection of theDead. Karaites in fact do believe in Resurrection of the Dead.Most people have heard of Maimonides' "13 Principles ofFaith". Maimonides copied the idea of a list of principles offaith from Yehudah Hadasi, a 12th Century Karaite teacherwho was the first in history to formulate such a list. Hadasi's8th Principle of Faith is the belief in the Resurrection of theDead. All Karaites today accept this, not because Hadasi saidit, but because it is very clear from the Tanach that there willbe a final judgment and physical resurrection of the dead. Ican cite many verses including Dan 12:2; Ezek 37; Isa 66:14.While Karaites today believe in Resurrection of the Dead, anumber of ancient sources inform us that the Sadducees ofthe 1st Century CE went astray and denied this belief.However, when discussing this topic, most historians fail tomention that earlier Sadducees did believe in Resurrection asdocumented in some of their writing. This is discussedbriefly in my book, The Hebrew Yeshua vs. the Greek Jesus,pages 86-88. Here I will add another ancient source which Idid not bring in my book. The Talmud reports the followingabout the Sadducees:"At the end of every blessing in the Temple they used to say,'ad ha'olam "for ever". From the time the Sadducees becamecorrupted saying there is no world but one, the [Rabbis] madean enactment that they would say [at the end of everyblessing in the Temple], min ha'olam 'ad ha'olam "for everand ever"." (Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 54a)It is clear from this Talmudic passage that originally theSadducees believed in Resurrection but later there was a"time" when they "became corrupted saying there is no worldbut one". Before that "time" they did believe in Resurrection!One of the sources which mention the Sadducees as notbelieving in Resurrection is the New Testament. In the NT,Yeshua corrects the Sadducees on the issue of Resurrection(rightly so!). On the other hand, I think it is interesting thatYeshua did not correct the Sadducees on anything else butthis. Another interesting point to note is Yeshua's warning tohis disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and ofthe Sadducees (Mat 6:16). The parallel passage in Mark 8:15is more specific and there Yeshua warns his disciples to"beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven ofHerod". The "leaven of Herod" refers to the corrupt teachingsof the Herodian Sadducees, also known as Boethusians. TheBoethusians/ Herodian Sadducees were a unique faction ofSadducees who denied Resurrection of the Dead and theexistence of angels and this distinguished them from all theother Sadducees. Unfortunately, from the time of Herod, theHerodian/ Boethusian Sadducees were the dominant factionamong the Sadducees. Josephus describes how they rose topower when the evil king Herod appointed Simon of theHouse of Boethus as High Priest in place of the legitimateheir to the high priesthood (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews15:9:3). By the way, it appears from Josephus' descriptionthat they called themselves Boethusians, while theiropponents called them "Herodians" as an insult. On the otherhand, the prophet Ezekiel (44:15) speaks very positively ofthe non-Boethusian Sadducees, referring to them as "theLevitical priests, Sons of Zadok, who kept the instruction ofMy sanctuary when the children of Israel strayed from me."One last point I want to clarify is the relationship betweenSadducees and Karaites. The Sadducees were a Karaite(=Tanach-only) movement, but not all Karaites areSadducees. Sadducees are to Karaites what Lutherans are toProtestants; all Lutherans are Protestants but not allProtestants are Lutherans. Only a demagogue would try toconfuse people by declaring that all Protestants adhere to thepeculiar doctrines of the Lutherans. (Note: I have no ideawhat Lutherans believe, and I am not knocking them, justusing them for an analogy.)

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

Oh yeah, here's the joke of the day: tomorrow is Karaite Lag B'omer.

appy polly loggy

2005-04-23T14:44:00.000-06:00

I'm sorry to you, me and the whole world for not having dredlocks anymore. Seriously, my hair is now a lie.

Shubbus Sheloylem

2005-04-23T00:53:00.000-06:00

Happy 28 and shabbat shalom. Happy Pesah for those who are on the "normal" calendar.
So every now and then I make a really vague but sort of gut wrenching post. I guess the post just previous to this one would classify as such. Everything is ok now just so you know. Community is so important, but if you can't be vulnerable in a community it doesn't really work properly. Doing calisthenics with euphemisms? Breaking it down to phonetics, dip it in egg-whites and bread it? I beg your pardon?
They don't call me pedantic... for nothing.
But when I slay I get frantic, the blood lust, the berserker, the tear jerker,
the bambino, spaghetti strap trapper, the sourdough slayer.
They don't call me platitudinous... cause I'm not.
I get into the compost cause we all wanna rot.
They don't call me rain drop... for naught.
Because I won't stop till I reach the top,
though evaporation and condensation may serve as my stations, of the cross,
that doss punter's a lunker, off my cloud.
Oh, the photo? Just a photo. Don't drink the cool aid.

Nauseous

2005-04-19T15:05:00.000-06:00

Security guards not needed and the show was in a gymnasium so the acoustics were awful but whatevs, more rap so that's good.

I was raised. I was raised by my parents. I've believed that I have power. They said "You don't have to be bored if you choose not to be" and "You can choose not to get offended" "You can make it fun" "Don't get mad". Happiness is a function of your will. "just be happy". Now I might be wrong but the real word is not like that so much. How can I say this? I feel powerless. I feel pain. It isn't even really mine, no who am I kidding, it's mine and it hurts. Relationships, are a place of submission the giving up of control, you will be hurt by people. You will be hurt. I'm scared of trusting these peoples but I'm lonely and I need to be vulnerable for somebody. Keeping your guard up is exhausting.
Happy yom 24 by the way.

G'night you alls

2005-04-17T01:42:00.000-06:00

N.I.F.T.Y, Manafesto, Redcloud, DJ Wise, Gaff, Eekwol. I went to a rap show, hurrah, sweat stink, whatwhat. I might be going to P.A. tomorrow to do security for redcloud's next gig, we'll see. Whatevs. Shavua Tov.
"hip-hop is the new literature"

Gut Shabbos

2005-04-16T01:11:00.000-06:00

Continuing the theme of not writing anything original, another quote:
Things can look so different on either side of an hour, two words can flip your heart upside down and wake up an ugliness inside your chest you didn't know was there. But cold rain hides hot tears and things will be better in the morning except that this is the morning, so maybe it was a different morning they were talking about. It's not our fault (and not our faults); we've been tricked by a dishonest world.
-Fraser Baalim

3x7

2005-04-15T22:12:00.000-06:00

I'll steal again from the quote dept. this one is from Kierkegaard c/o Jordan Cooper c/o Tony Campolo.
Perhaps my favorite Kierkegaardian story is his parable of the ducks. He describes a town where only ducks live. Every Sunday the ducks waddle out of thier houses and waddle down Main Street to their church. They waddle into the sanctuary and squat down in thier proper pews. The duck choir waddles in and takes its place, then the duck minister comes forward and opens his duck Bible (Ducks, like all other creatures on earth, seem to have their own special version of the Scriptures.) He reads to them: "Ducks! God has given you wings! With wings you can fly! With wings you can mount up and soar like eagles. No walls can confine you! No fences can hold you! You have wings and you can fly like birds!"All the ducks shouted, "Amen!" And they all waddled home.

וְעָלוּ מוֹשִׁעִים בְּהַר צִיּוֹן

2005-04-12T10:18:00.000-06:00

Nathan, who lives on my block, wrote an entry in his blog about racism and stuff. I thought it was insightfull so click here to read it.

It is a trustworthy statement:
For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;
If we endure, we will also reign with Him;
If we deny Him, He also will deny us;
If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.

Quotations in regard to food

2005-04-11T08:57:00.000-06:00

Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese; garlic makes it good.
Alice May Brock.

What some call health, if purchased by perpetual anxiety about diet, isn't much better than tedious disease.
George Dennison Prentice.

Never eat more than you can lift.
Miss Piggy.

2 weeks + 2 days

2005-04-11T00:21:00.000-06:00

Shavua tov y'all and Rosh Chodesh Sameach (on Sunday April 10, 2005, the new moon was sighted from Jerusalem at 19:07).

The geese are coming back north for the summer.

So, on erev Shabbat, for some reason, I decided to make an appearance at a social function a friend of mine was facilitating. So, I went to the party. I'm standing in the kitchen and my friend Mitch comes up and greets me, his breath bearing the fragrance of maryjane and fire water. We talk about the last show his band played and I'm like "I would've come but it was on passover" and he's understanding. Here's where the story get interesting. Another drunken droog jumps in when he hears me mention passover. "Hey! thats when they painted the door posts with blood and God didn't kill the first born, but he killed the Egyptian firstborns. And God did all these miracles to save his people!"
The other intoxicated brother says "Yeah and he split the sea to let them walk through on dry land! I think that's even more amazing than the ten plagues!"
"And don't forget the pillar of cloud!"
"And Moses, that guy was amazing."
"And when he came down from the mountain the people were worshiping the fucking gold cow. Those Israelites were bad-ass. God was so patient with them!"
So, I'm just standing there listening to these two drunk non religious dudes proclaiming the power and mercy of HaKadosh Boruch Hu. Seriously, they are singing praise to my God it's absolutely amazing. When he led the people out of Mitzraim he said it was so that the whole world, the goyim, would know his power. I felt like I was witnessing the very reason that Yah brought me out of Egypt.

Check out Mobius's sweet comment on the tzitziot, and his craft.

day one-three o' the omer

2005-04-08T15:54:00.000-06:00

I get some pretty "unique" hits from search engines. The latest one that really wierded me out was "obese plumber photos". I can only imagine what kind of home-work project that was for. Another hit came from the search "Raelian Sphere". I'm lost for words on that one (the Raelians are a cult founded by a Canadian race car driver, they claim to have cloned a human being, and they also made Eminem an honorary priest). I receive multiple hits which deal with "trigonosis", "barley", and "Matisyahu" and the rest are mostly spinoffs of the barley search.

Here is a small devotional thought.
"the wise man and the fool alike die." "For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun?" Qohelet has issues, don't we all? His observation is that the universe is unfair. We sow but do not reap. Some reap without sowing. The wicked prosper, and the righteous don't. Basically there is a discrepancy between the supposed cause and effect, the equal and opposite reaction machine broke it's ethical-control-valve. It's true, life's not fair. Ok, Yeshua knew Qohelet, and I think that's cool. In his big message Yeshua said:
"Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?"
I don't know, it's like Yeshua echoed Qohelet, "life's not fair but that's awesome because we can't possibly earn anything because it's all a gift." So, the solution isn't to work harder or worry more. The only way to take advantage of the unfairness in life is to become a child of EL CHAI.

2005-04-07T09:46:00.000-06:00

A not of explanation in regards o the last few posts. We were dealing with James Joyce in he last few english classes, I really like rap... I wanted to Make poetry... sorry folks I'll write this post in english.

The weather! So fantastic, last night my roommate and I ate supper on the back porch and he was wearing his straw hat. I also hung my laundry to dry outside which was a real thrill.

So last night I had a dream, I dreamed that I was falling. I fell for ages, through clouds and everything. I landed comfortably in a forest cushioned by the branches and ending up in a bed of leaves.
It was a fantastic dream.

Ooh I gotta run I've a class in six minutes

7+3

2005-04-05T11:48:00.000-06:00

Vi vi vi vi vie vie we we weewee . Lookintheye, from whence cometh ainity, or mayb aynity Inity come with me. Echhhhad, finally, finale, Boom. Ba ba l'hagarbageheap immi imma. where we'll quest quest quest, Oh! for the inaccesable. For those in sablechoshetsvartrtdarkrkblakaydayblay ALIGHT has ari veda beda bonn, JESU JESU last and only first and lonley EchhhHHAD. Textus receptus friend, and you will know the name, copperuvula, ken wit noesis knowing headexploding the Son of Man. Headexploding not only, knowing in the biblical sense, poking bonking knowing seedplantgrowing. benebenjess hopefullness. Vie vi wee.

tesha l'omer 7+2

2005-04-03T22:51:00.000-06:00

In my ongoing quest for personal status I found myself in the garden of opaqueness where I wrote out this verse. Paul said it in PHil 3.

I floccinaucinihilipilificate my brass: foreskinlessness on the shiminy, Israeli, a sonofa sonofa right hand, an Ivry Ivrim the superlative son of Eber, lawisticly-Ferrisy; pretty much perfect (insofar as I fought the kingdom of the shamaim). Yeah dootless, nevertheless I think it all haval havalim for the mos' excellen knowledge of the anointed Jesu Tafari.

ate the omer one week an a day

2005-04-03T17:12:00.000-06:00

My dad is back from Mehiko and my bro also, it's thaw time in tune town as well. Ah so nice, spring is in the air.
Yesterday on Shabbat my room-mate and I took Sioux, my dog, for a walk down by the train tracks. We raced twigs in the melting streams just like little boys, and I won. And Sioux is getting into the habit of killing gophers, she killed her third today. I feel a little wierd about the whole thing, it's just kinda disturbing to hear their little shrieks before she snaps the spine.
here's a poem I wrote for a recent death.
Oh vicar of the son of god, notso innosent the ten billianth, let wor m.s. wor ship your suck chulent cad averneau. Pap million's patterns like the roar-shack's-mir, wherever dada fodiles bedressed as spleen doer us as thou. Dressup catsup pater splatter eat-up.

Yom five stayin' alive

2005-03-31T07:45:00.000-06:00

Here is link to a powerful post on Nathan's blog.

Here is another link, less porfound but fascinating.

Linkerdoodle doo! audio kitchen

Linkedeedee virtual cantor

linkadada Words!!

Well, no sleep yet, another allnight essay fiesta, but I dare say my travail was not in vain, it feels mighty nice to be on the other side, I'm basically incoherent at this point.

Prague mat ix nay on the even lay and the east, yay! of the ferris eh, curd sand way cool bachur frahm saskahatzooahn. ale way ofatale say it t' me. ail on the trail of war, saw 'ee saw sawing wood an' ee saw thit ee saw 'im dig up the hat, Chet! baker's dozen moo the dath roc. buoi oo boy. she was Grand eh, grande ,b'you tea full, ay the vowl-o-the-movment-o-the-bowel-o-the-bull, shiayt and suni, radical grammatical, vernacualar spec tack you lare, brer, rabit w/ a habit, mother superior they called the bun E.

היום יום ארבעה ימים לעומר

2005-03-30T17:48:00.000-06:00

but before all this I must write a paper.

3rd day of the omer

2005-03-29T16:28:00.000-06:00

mmmmatzah mmmmmitzvah! mmmmm mm m. My mother's is so much better than the cardboard from the store.
So today I actually met real hapax legomenon! in Mishlei Shlomo 3 there's a word which means snare and it's a true blue H to the hockeystick-ego-man on.

Omer day 2

2005-03-28T13:28:00.001-06:00

I was just checking the stat counter and realized that an inordinate amount of you, my guests, are here because you searched either google or yahoo with keywords such as "Aviv" "Abib" "2005" "Pesach" "march 25, 24, 26" "Nehemia" "Karaites". I get the picture, there is a major confusion out there in the 'messianic' world as to when the moedim will be this year, because of the discrepancy between the leap-year extra month which the traditional/exile/Hillel's/rabbinic calendar will have (adar bet). The question is both complex and very simple (like most questions). I will outline the arguments which I have heard alot in various communities in Western Canada.

Yeshua definitely kept the calendar which is most similar to the one the karaites, for example, keep. In fact the fixed calendar wasn't invented until well after Yeshua's day.
"The month needs to be declared by the Sanhedrin." In the days of Yeshua the month was declared by the Sanhedrin, so that much is true. The question is: did the early church recognize the authority of the Sanhedrin in Yerushalaim? We know that they (the early church) basically established their own authority in The Holy City, an apostolic bet din of sorts. Right now there is no Sanhedrin... Ok there are a handful of Kachniks masquerading but never mind them (I'm not saying that they're not absolutely fascinating and probably prophetically significant, but they don't have authority over the Body). Some people talk about establishing a "messianic Sanhedrin", that sounds like a son-of-the-slave-woman to me, i.e. an Ishmael y'know dead works which are apart from the spirit. Maybe the 144 thousand will help set things straight. In conclusion an the Sanhedrin issue, there isn't one and if there were it probably wouldn't be authoritative to believers, and, there is nothing in the Torah that says that the month cannot be declared without a Sanhedrin.
"We're in exile shouldn't we keep the exile calendar?" Um... we all know that the Rabbinic calendar is wrong. Even today's Orthodox world knows that. The observance of Holy days on specific days is a mitzvah.... I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's a sin to ignore the facts and keep a faulty calendar when you know there's a better one out there, i.e. the Rabbinic world sinned when it created a fixed calendar.
"We want Judah to fellowship with us." This one is more common, I'd assume, with two-house folk because of their (I guess "our") emphasis on the joining of the two metaphorical sticks. I suppose that this point might be brought up in messianic Jewish ("one-house") just as much because of their desire to be accepted as a legitimate branch of Judaism. I think it boils down to peer pressure, as it is written "do not follow the majority in sinning".
"We don't really know if the 'ancient' calendar is really correct." I think it's pretty much a closed case, if you want ancient calendar apologetics go to the Karaite Korner
"It's usually just one or two days off, what's the difference?" Well, this year it's a whole month off and if one day doesn't matter than Sabbath is on Sunday or maybe Friday.
"It doesn't matter because the temple isn't up and we're just rehearsing anyway." Most arguments that say it doesn't matter are just excuses to take the easy way out. The fact that it's only a rehearsal shouldn't mean that we can be sloppy or disregard the facts. There is another attitude which surfaces in the "no temple" excuse and it is one which I see alot. This attitude is a mirror of the Jewish attitude which can be summed up in these words which I got from an Orthodox Torah commentary: "For the last 2000 years [since the temple was destroyed in 70] we've been living in a shadow." Ok guys wake up, the temple was a shadow. As christians (messianics, Israelites, whatever) we believe that 2000 years ago we got a glimpse of the real thing and passed into reality (and of course we don't ignore or disregard the shadow,i.e. we don't sin by breaking the Holy Torah). Remember what Yeshua said "soon you will neither worship in Jerusalem or on Mt. Gerizim but in spirit and truth." "'I will tear down this Temple and rebuild it in three days' speaking of his body", That's us we're his body!!

Ok, that's enough for me for now. Just let me say, if you want to keep the wrong calendar we can still be friends. I'm just stating my opinion so don't get offended, I love you, and the fact that you care enough to keep the Holy days at all is way cool. Here's an other link that might be useful

Omer day one

2005-03-27T00:14:00.000-06:00

Hi, today is Bikkurim for me and those of you who follow the lunar calendar which intercalates based on the abib or the vernal equinox. Yesterday was the first day of Matzah and now the omer count has kicked off. Of course in you're a Rabbinate, or for whatever reason follow "Hillel's" fixed lunar calendar, then happy Purim time, I guess it's over by now though.
I had such an awesome time today having a holy convocation today with friends. We read and ate and talked and talked and threw snow at each other and fought and then we moved on to playing music and eating matzah and then there was beer after which we watched a Krav Maga video which naturally lead to more fighting... ahh.
stinkoman game... reminds me alot of playing duke nuke 'em at the age of around 9.

I love Karaites

2005-03-21T13:49:00.000-06:00

here's the Nehemia Gordon's last news letter:

Karaite Korner Newsletter #203
The Blood Libels: A Passover History Lesson
With Passover approaching I cannot help but be reminded of the blood libels. Throughout the middle ages, Christians persecuted Jews with the blood libels. Around Passover time the Christian authorities in medieval Europe would accuse the local Jews of a blood libel. The blood libel was an accusation that the Jews allegedly kidnapped Christian children using their blood for the preparation of Matzot (unleavened bread). It did not matter that there was no truth in these accusations. The Christian leaders would shout, "Christ-killers" and "anti-Christ" whipping up the mobs into a frenzied hatred. The fact that Jews did not really use blood to make Matzah did not change a thing. The purpose of a blood libel was to distract the Gentile population from their downtrodden condition by having them take out their frustrations on the Jews, rather than on the monarchs who taxed them into poverty. Jews would sometimes try to prove their innocence of these preposterous allegations, but it was of no use. Every Passover Jews all over medieval Europe were beaten and murdered. The blood libel was a smokescreen to distract the Christian population from the real issues but the Jew-haters would not allow themselves to be confused with the facts. Blood libels still exist today in various forms. Recently some anti-Semites have begun to accuse Karaite Jews of unspeakable things. The facts are unimportant to these hatemongers. Their goal is to whip up emotion and hatred to distract their followers from the truth. A wise man from Galilee once said you can know a person by his fruits. If all a person produces is hatred, that says something about that person. My prayer is that those that seek the truth of Torah from among the nations will learn the lesson of history and reject the venom of the hatemonger.
Chag Sameach,Nehemia Gordon Jerusalem, Israel

2005-03-21T13:15:00.000-06:00

White Ninja... is it funny? why?

Haggadah shel Pesach

2005-03-21T12:41:00.000-06:00

If you click on thr "verse of the day" link you will find the Pesach Haggadah I put together last year for my family. It might be of interest to any who wonder what a "Christian" Seder might look like.

ה ד ג ה
ל ש
ח ס פ

Passover Haggadah 2004

Therefore say to the children of Israel: "I am the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the LORD."'

Kiddush:
When the festival falls on a Friday night:
And there was evening and there was morning the sixth day. Thus all the heavens and earth were finished, and al their array. On the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He abstained on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it He abstained from all His work which God created to make.
On all nights other than Friday begin here:
Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of the universe, Who creates the fruit of the wine.
All respond: Amen. (But don't drink yet.)
Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of the universe, Who has chosen us to be in His nation of Israel, separated us from iniquity, and sanctified us with His commandments. And You gave us, LORD, our God, with love Sabbaths for rest, appointed festivals for gladness, festivals and times of joy, and this festival of the Passover, the time of our freedom a holy convocation, a memorial of the Exodus from Egypt.
Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of the universe, Who has kept us alive, sustained us and brought us to this very moment.
All respond: Amen.
Drink the cup of sanctification.

Washing of Hands:
Reader one: Yeshua, knowing that the Father had given all things into His
hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, "Lord, are You washing my feet?" Yeshua answered and said to him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this." Peter said to Him, "You shall never wash my feet!" Yeshua answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!" Yeshua said to him, "He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you." For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, "You are not all clean." So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Rabbi and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Rabbi, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. "I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, "He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me. Now I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me."
Now, pass around the basin and towel so all can wash their hands before the meal.
The Parsley (Karpas)
Leader: As we eat the parsley dipped twice in the salt water we remember the
salty tears of our spiritual ancestors as they slaved for Pharaoh in Egypt. The second dip signifies a happier event, our passing through the salt water of the Red Sea on dry land into freedom. This gesture also reminds us that twice we must be born. First we are born of our earthly mothers (into corruption and decay) and a second time of the Spirit (rising in newness of life).
Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the universe, who creates the fruit of the soil.
All respond:Amen.
Dip parsley twice in the salt water and eat.
Reader two: Yeshua said, "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God,
believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know." Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" Yeshua said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." Yeshua said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, "Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.
"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. "If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever-- the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. "A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?"
Yeshua answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.

Breaking the Matzah (Yachatz)
The leader takes the middle matzah from the bag and breaks it in two. The smaller piece is put back in the bag and the larger piece is the Aphikomen.
The Aphikomen is wrapped in a cloth and stored under a pillow until after the meal.
The Bread of Afliction
(And the Maggeed)
Leader, displaying the two remaining matzot: This is the bread of affliction
which our forefathers ate coming out of Egypt. All who hunger, let them come and eat. All who are in need, let them come and celebrate the Passover. Now we are here, next year may we be on a new earth with a new heaven; now we are slaves--next year may we be free.
Fill the second cup of the evening at this point. It is the cup of instruction where we tell the ancient story of the Exodus and the story of our suffering Messiah. Reader three: Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know
Joseph. And he said to his people, "Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land." So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive."
And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank. And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him. Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it. And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him, and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children." Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?" And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go." So the maiden went and called the child's mother. Then Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages." So the woman took the child and nursed him. And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, "Because I drew him out of the water."
Reader four: Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that
he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, "Why are you striking your companion?" Then he said, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?" So Moses feared and said, "Surely this thing is known!" When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian.
Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.And the LORD said [to Moses]: "I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey... Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."
The Four Questions:
The youngest child asks: Why is this night different from all other nights? On
all other nights we may eat leavened or unleavened bread, but on this night we may eat only unleavened bread.
On other nights we eat all types of herbs, but on this night we only bitter herbs.
On other nights we do not even dip once, but on this night we dip twice.
On other nights we eat sitting or reclining, but on this night we recline.
The answer: This night is different from all other nights because it is the Lord's
Passover. On this night the children of Israel sat in their houses with the blood of a lamb on the door posts and lintel. The Angel of the Lord passed over their houses and spared the firstborn of Israel. But the Egyptians suffered a great judgment. On the next morning, they left Egypt as a free people. We eat unleavened bread because there was no time for the bread to rise. It is the bread of haste. We eat bitter herbs to remind us of the bitter bondage suffered under the Egyptian taskmasters. We dip twice to remind us of how we were born of tears and crossing the Red Sea to salvation. We recline and relax to enoy the freedom which God gave us.

The Ten Plagues:
We take no pleasure in the suffering of our fellow man, even the punishment of God upon our oppressors.
Leader: As we are reminded of the great judgments upon the gods of Egypt, let
us diminish our cup of joy for the sake of the Egyptians suffering.
Dip with a finger removing a drop of wine from your cup as each plague is recited.
Leader: Blood
Frogs
Gnats
Flies
Murrain
Boils
Hail
Locusts
Darkness
The death of the firstborn.
Reader five: Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth,
about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. A mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds--a great deal of livestock. And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves. Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years--on that very same day--it came to pass that all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night of solemn observance to the LORD for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the LORD, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations... Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, "Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt." So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt... And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.
The Shankbone (Zarowa)
Leader, holding up the Shankbone: This Shankbone represents the Passover
lamb which would have been slain in the temple (were the temple standing). And the Passover lamb slain in the temple represented the lamb slain in Egypt on the first Passover. And the lambs slain in Egypt on the first Passover represented The Lamb of God, Slain before the foundation of the world, whose Blood passes us from death to life.
All respond: Amen!
The Matzah
Leader, displaying a Matzah: The Matzah is made without leaven, to represent
purity, sinlessness. It is the striped, pierced and crushed bread of humility and suffering. In the words of Isaiah the prophet, "By his stripes, we are healed. He was pierced for our transgressions and He was crushed for our iniquities."
All respond: Amen.
The Bitter Herb (Maror):
Leader, holding up the bitter herb: The bitter herbs are a symbol of slavery.
The bitterness of slavery, whether to the Egyptians or to Sin. As it is written in the Torah, " And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage--in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor. "
The Red Sea Splits
Reader six: So the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of
Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon. And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD. And Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation [Yeshua] of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace." And the LORD said to Moses, "Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the LORD looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled the army of the Egyptians. And He took off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty; and the Egyptians said, "Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians." Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen." And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained. But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. So the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Thus Israel saw the great work which the LORD had done in Egypt; so the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD and His servant Moses.
Leader: Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the universe, who creates
the fruit of the vine.
All respond: Amen. Now drink the second cup.

The Mitzvah of Eating the Matzah
Leader: Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of the universe, who has
sanctified us with by your commandments and has commanded us to eat unleavened bread.
All respond: Amen.
Each person takes a piece of matzah and dips it in the bitter herbs.

Leader: Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of the universe, who has
sanctified us with by your commandments and has commanded us to eat bitter herbs.
All respond: Amen. Now eat the matzah with the bitter herbs
Reader seven: When Yeshua had said these things, He was troubled in spirit,
and testified and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me." Then the disciples looked at one another, perplexed about whom He spoke. Now there was leaning on Yeshua's bosom one of His disciples, whom Yeshua loved. Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask who it was of whom He spoke. Then, leaning back on Yeshua's breast, he said to Him, "Lord, who is it?" Yeshua answered, "It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it." And having dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. Now after the piece of bread, Satan entered him. Then Yeshua said to him, "What you do, do quickly." But no one at the table knew for what reason He said this to him. For some thought, because Judas had the money box, that Yeshua had said to him, "Buy those things we need for the feast," or that he should give something to the poor. Having received the piece of bread, he then went out immediately. And it was night.
Hillel's Sandwich:
Each person takes two pieces of matzah and makes a sandwich with bitter herbs and sweet charoses. Eat the sandwich and remember the Comforter that God has sent.
Reader eight: And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper,
that He may abide with you forever-- the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. "A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?" Yeshua answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.
"These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard Me say to you, "I am going away and coming back to you.' If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, "I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I. "And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me this commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.
Dinner is Served
The Lamb of God.
After the meal fill the glasses with wine again and resume the story.
Reader one: Yeshua spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said:
"Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Yeshua the Messiah whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."
Reader two: When Yeshua had spoken these words, He went out with His
disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered. And Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place; for Jesus often met there with His disciples. Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Yeshua therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, "Whom are you seeking?" They answered Him, "Yeshua of Nazareth." Yeshua said to them, "I am He." And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them. Now when He said to them, "I am He," they drew back and fell to the ground. Then He asked them again, "Whom are you seeking?" And they said, "Yeshua of Nazareth." Yeshua answered, "I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way," that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, "Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none." And they led Him away to Annas first, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas who was high priest that year. Now it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. The high priest then asked Yeshua about His disciples and His doctrine. Yeshua answered him, "I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet, and in secret I have said nothing. Why do you ask Me? Ask those who have heard Me what I said to them. Indeed they know what I said."
Then they led Yeshua from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. Pilate then went out to them and said, "What accusation do you bring against this Man?" They answered and said to him, "If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you." Then Pilate said to them, "You take Him and judge Him according to your law." Therefore the Jews said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death," that the saying of Yeshua might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die. Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Yeshua, and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?" Yeshua answered him, "Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?" Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?" Yeshua answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here." Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?" Yeshua answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, "I find no fault in Him at all. "But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?" Then they all cried again, saying, "Not this Man, but Barabbas!" Now Barabbas was a robber.
Reader three: So then Pilate took Yeshua and scourged Him. And the soldiers
twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they struck Him with their hands. Pilate then went out again, and said to them, "Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him." Then Yeshua came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, "Behold the Man!" Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him." The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God." Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid, and went again into the Praetorium, and said to Yeshua, "Where are You from?" But Yeshua gave him no answer. Then Pilate said to Him, "Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?" Yeshua answered, "You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin."
From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, "If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar." When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Yeshua out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, "Behold your King!" But they cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar!" Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. Then they took Yeshua and led Him away.
Reader four: And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of
a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Yeshua in the center. Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: YESHUA OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, "The King of the Jews,' but, "He said, "I am the King of the Jews.""' Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written." Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. They said therefore among themselves, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be," that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: "They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots." Therefore the soldiers did these things.
After this, Yeshua, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst!" Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, "Not one of His bones shall be broken." And again another Scripture says, "They shall look on Him whom they pierced." After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Yshua, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Yeshua; and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took the body of Yeshua. And Nicodemus, who at first came to Yeshua by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. Then they took the body of Yeshua, and bound it in sheets of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So there they laid Yeshua, because of the Jews' Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby.
Reader five: Now on the first of the Sabbaths Mary Magdalene went to the
tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Yeshua loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him." Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again to their own homes. But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Yeshua had lain. Then they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him." Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Yeshua standing there, and did not know that it was Yeshua. Yeshua said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, "Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away." Yeshua said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him, "Rabboni!" (which is to say, Teacher).
Yeshua said to her, "Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, "I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God."' Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.
The Aphikomen:
The leader goes to bring out the Aphikomen from under the pillow where it was left, behold it is gone (it has been hidden during the meal). The children are sent to find it and when they bring it back they hold it ransom for a treat of some sort.
Leader: And Yeshua took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them,
saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."
Break the Aphikomen and distribute it.
Leader: Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of the universe, who brings
forth bread from the earth, and more importantly You have given us bread from heaven, Your Son, Our Messiah, Yeshua.
All respond: Amen. Now eat the Aphikomen.
Leader: Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the
new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you"
Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine, and has redeemed us with the Blood of the Messiah.
All respond: Amen. Drink the cup of redemption.

Dessert is Served

Grace After Meals:
Behold, we are prepared and ready to perform the commandment of Grace After Meals, as it is said: "And you shall eat and you shall be satisfied and you shall bless the LORD, your God, for the good land which he gave you."
Leader: Friends, let us bless.
All: Blessed be the Name of the LORD from this time and forever.
Leader: Blessed is the Name of the LORD from this time and forever! With
the permission of the distinguished people present, let us bless He of Whose we have eaten.
All: Blessed is He of Whose we have eaten and through Whose goodness
we live.
Leader: Blessed is He of Whose we have eaten and through Whose goodness
we live. Blessed is He and blessed is His Name.
All respond: Amen.
The blessing for the nourishment: Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of
the universe, who nourishes the entire world, in His goodness -- with grace, with kindness, and with mercy. He gives nourishment to all flesh, for his kindness is eternal. And through his goodness, we have never lacked, and may we never lack, nourishment, for all eternity. For the sake of His Great Name, because He is God Who nourishes and sustains all, benefits all, and He prepares food for all His creatures which He has created. As it is said: 'You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.' Blessed are You, LORD, Who nourishes all.
All respond: Amen.
The blessing for the land: We thank You, LORD, our God, because you have
given to our forefathers as a heritage a desirable, good and spacious land; because you removed us, LORD, our God, from the land of Egypt and You redeemed us from the house of bondage; for Your covenant which You sealed in our flesh; for Your Torah which You taught us and for Your statutes which you made known to us; for life, grace, and lovingkindness which You granted us; and for the provision of food which You nourish and sustain us constantly, in every day, in every season, and in every hour.
For all, LORD, our God, we thank You and bless You. Blessed are You, LORD, for the land and for the nourishment.
All respond: Amen.

The Hallel:
Fill the Cup of Praise.
Reader six, Psalm 113:
Halleluyah!
Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.Let the name of the LORD be praised, both now and for evermore.From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised.The LORD is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens.Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high,who stoops down to look on the heavens and theearth?He raises the poor from thedustand lifts the needy from the ash heap;He seats them with princes, with the princes of their people.He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children.Halleluyah!
Psalm 114
When Israel came out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue,Judah became God's sanctuary, Israel his dominion.The sea looked and fled, the Jordan turned back;the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.Why was it, O sea, that you fled, O Jordan, that you turned back,you mountains, that you skipped like rams, you hills, like lambs?Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool, the hard rock into springs of water.
Psalm 115
Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.Why do the nations say, Where is their God?Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see;they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell;they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats.Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.O house of Israel, trust in the LORD--he is their help and shield.O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD--he is their help and shield.You who fear him, trust in the LORD--he is their help and shield.The LORD remembers us and will bless us: He will bless the house of Israel, he will bless the house of Aaron,He will bless those who fear the LORD--small and great alike.May the LORD make you increase, both you and your children.May you be blessed by the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth he has given to man.It is not the dead who praise the LORD, those who go down to silence;it is we who extol the LORD, both now and for evermore.Halleluyah!

Reader six:
Psalm 116
I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came upon me; I was overcome by trouble and sorrow.Then I called on the name of the LORD: O LORD, save me!The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.The LORD protects the simple; when I was in great need, he saved me.Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling,that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living.I believed; therefore I said, I am greatly afflicted.And in my dismay I said, All men are liars.How can I repay the LORD for all his goodness tome?I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD.I will fulfil my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.Difficult in the sight of the LORD is the death of his holy ones.O LORD, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant; you have freed me from my chains.I will sacrifice a thank- offering to you and call on the name of the LORD.I will fulfil my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people,in the courts of the house of the LORD--in your midst, O Jerusalem.Halleluyah!
Psalm 117
Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples.For great is his love towards us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures for ever.Halleluyah!
Reader seven:
Psalm 118
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures for ever.Let Israel say: His love endures for ever.Let the house of Aaron say: His love endures for ever.Let those who fear the LORD say: His love endures for ever.In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free.The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?The LORD is with me; he is my helper. I will look in triumph on my enemies.It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.All the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.They surrounded me on every side, but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.They swarmed around me like bees, but they died out as quickly as burning thorns; in the name of the LORD I cut them off.I was pushed back and about to fall, but the LORD helped me.
The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: The LORD's right hand has done mighty things!The LORD's right hand is lifted high; the LORD's right hand has done mighty things!I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done.The LORD has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death.Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter and give thanks to the LORD.This is the gate of the LORD through which the righteous may enter.I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation.The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone;the LORD has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes.This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.O LORD, save us; O LORD, grant us success.Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. From the house of the LORD we bless you.The LORD is God, and he has made his light shine upon us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar.You are my God, and I will give thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you.
All together: Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures for ever
Leader: Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of the universe, who creates
the fruit of the vine.
All respond: Amen. Now drink the cup of praise.
Now fill the cup for Elijah and send the youngest child to go to the door to welcome the prophet.

Next Year in Jerusalem

hotbox the paddy wagon

2005-03-18T11:02:00.000-06:00

Hi folks I'm back, well not really because I'm leaving again right away. I'll just say that I was in Calgary and there's no use for hyperbole in describing the events which transpired there. I'm getting into calligraphy, especially Hebrew stuff. I'm also feeling a little depressed and my unfortunate coping mechanism has been subtly and internally mocking the world around me. Now that's a seat we don't want to sit in, so lets all pull ourselves together and make a brave face!

Aviv

2005-03-10T09:27:00.000-06:00

For tos of you who give a rip about the Biblical calender here's the latest Karaite report (for the uninitiated, the fact that the barley is ripe in Israel means that this year won't be a leap-year which means that the Rabbinic world which does have a leap-year this year will end up doing passover a month late. I also think that, strangely enough, the Christian day of pentecost lines up with the biblical day this year):

Karaite Korner Newsletter #194

Aviv Found!

On Tuesday March 8, 2005 Aviv was found in Israel at Alon
Junction and Ein Mabua near Jerusalem. Large quantities of
Aviv barley were found near Ein Mabua and smaller
quantities near Alon Junction. Ein Mabua is located 15km
east of Jerusalem. The Aviv examination on March 8, 2005
started out as a field trip to teach Aviv Searchers about what
to look for during the main Aviv Search on Thursday-Friday
March 10-11, 2005. During this preliminary examination we
immediately found that the barley in the region was in an
advanced stage of ripening. The main Aviv Search, which
will cover the Northern Negev and Jordan Valley regions,
will still be carried out on March 10-11. However, the vast
quantities of Aviv Barley already located east of Jerusalem
are enough to establish the coming month as the Month of the
Aviv. In light of this discovery, the New Moon on Friday
March 11, 2005 will be the beginning of the coming biblical
year. Chag HaMatzot (Feast of Unleavened Bread) will fall
out on Saturday March 26, 2005 and Shavuot (Feast of
Weeks) will fall out on May 15, 2005. The following people
participated in the Aviv examination on March 8, 2005:
Nehemia Gordon, Ruthanne Koch, Devorah Gordon, Glen
Cain, Karl Bloodworth, Ferenc Illesy, Avi Marcus, Dina
Marcus, Avi Gold, Terry Fehr, and Yosef Ruach.

Pictures of Aviv Barley fields found on Tuesday March 8,
2005 are posted at:
http://www.Karaite-Korner.org/aviv/2005/

Happy New Year!
Nehemia Gordon

For Sale!

2005-03-06T01:55:00.000-06:00

One snow board with boots (size 9.5) and bindings, lib-tech, only $200.
One Djembe with a 16 or 18 inch remo naugahyde head, also $200.
Hockey cards...

save me, eh

2005-03-06T00:52:00.000-06:00

There it is. crapcrapcrap. I'm feeling like that picture.
הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים אָמַר קֹהֶלֶת, הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים הַכֹּל הָבֶל.
מַה-יִּתְרוֹן, לָאָדָם: בְּכָל-עֲמָלוֹ--שֶׁיַּעֲמֹל, תַּחַת הַשָּׁמֶשׁ.

euro-thugz steppin'

2005-03-01T13:13:00.000-06:00

So, I'm getting more hits than ever right now which kinda sucks because I've been posting less than ever and mostly dumb stuff to boot. This weekend I'll try to make it up by learning to upload mp3s of my music and posting links to it.
until then I'll recomend you all read mobius's post on how he decided to go shommer shabbos

Baruch dayan haemet

2005-02-26T18:15:00.000-06:00

...

Duke Falsetto Teeth

2005-02-24T13:19:00.000-06:00

So, we took this crazy notion to drive to Oklahoma City and be back in time for class on tuesday. We spent a feverish day and a half pulling it together before it became apperant that we were being stupid. It would have been fun. R I P another plan.
The show on Tuesday went really well i.e. it was fun for me.
melencholy decends... sorry guys. Another band is in the works, new-wave anyone? One of these days this blog wil re-animate.

Newsflash

2005-02-19T15:08:00.001-06:00

There will be an other Time Phalcon night at the Roxy on Broadway next Tjuesday we'll probably play around ten o'clock. suggested donation two bucks. thou shalt attend ;)

Log!?!

2005-02-19T12:04:00.000-06:00

I better say this officially, "I only really blog on the weekends". For those of you who noticed a laxity in my updates it's mainly due to the fact that I live in a house without a computer. The fact is that I spend most Sabbaths at my parents' house where my computer still lives and that's when I usually post. Sometimes I use the computer lab at the university on Tuesdays or Thursdays though. So, now you know. I think I'll tell you about my week now.

On Monday night we had our usual Bible study afterwhich I ended up going out which lead to sledding and hot chocolate and finally to being in the CFCR studio. If anybody heard that Dexie's Midnight Runners tune on Monday night (technically Tuesday morning) on CFCR you have me to thank. My mates have the "12:30 and on" slot for Monday nights, if you're up listen to the show, they have impecable taste. I mean where else can you get a show with John Coltrane, Van Morrison and Mogwai in the same hour?
Our neighbors across the ally got grafittied on Tuesday or Wednesday night, bummer. Some thug going around writing B235 on garages in big ugly letters with black spray paint. I guess that's really the first ghetto type experience we've had, except maybe the people trying to sell us dope and the constant presence of prostitutes. But truth be told I've been offered drugs by strangers on the street even more times on the East side. And, even more times than being offered drugs I've been asked for drugs, less now without the dreds though.
On Wednesday night Mehta and I went clowning downtown. Clowning is probably somthing you should try, at least once.
I spent Friday cross-country skiing with my Pa and the Johnson boys (sans California-Izzy of course, but he's actually in Oklahoma now) what fun, we were in the Nisbet forest. I think I've mentioned before who much I like that place, in all seasons it is a good friend. It was just so nice to breath non-gross air.
Oh yeah! I met fellow blogger Nathan this week! On monday morning he came over for a tea party. His blog is added to the sidebar as I mentioned bellow. It is good to learn from new people! well, new to me.

I'm not sure about this post, i.e. in the future using this blog to make an itemized list of my weekly exploits. Yeah, I'm going to publish this but I'll try not to make this into a diary from now on.

O Yahweh, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty;
Nor do I involve myself in great matters,
Or in things too difficult for me.
Surely I have composed and quieted my soul;
Like a weaned child rests against his mother,
My soul is like a weaned child within me.
O Israel, hope in Yahweh from this time forth and forever.

update of sidebar

2005-02-18T22:13:00.000-06:00

I'm sure you noticed the new feature "verse of the day". Click on it to see the verse and perhaps even a little comment on it from me.
Also I'm adding some new stuff to the side bar. Some bloggers: Nathan as well as Jadon and Aaron all from toon town also SeekingBinah who's been commenting around here. Not to mention This American Life's archives, an endless source of radio wonder.

"Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his [or her] own master he [or she] stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him [her] stand."

Hahaha ha

2005-02-12T14:57:00.000-06:00

He paused a moment, and then resumed.
'Yes; a sense of humour, a wierd and delicate sense of humour, is the new religion of mankind! It is towards that men will strain themselves with the asceticism of saints. Exercises, spiritual exercises, will be set in it. It will be asked, "Can you see the humour of this iron railing?" or "Can you see the humour of this field of corn? Can you see the humour of the stars? Can you see the humour of the sunsets?" How often I have laughed myself to sleep over a violet sunset.'
'Quite so,' said Mr Barker, with an intelligent embarrassment.

From The Napoleon of Notting Hill by G.K.C.

Was Chesterton a prophet? Or are all my friends just really wierd?

Today I looked at photo-albums with my little sister. Who was I?

"But Thou, oh Yahweh, shalt laugh at them; Thou shalt have all the nations in derision."
Can you see the humour in the dark international forces opposing the Creator?
וְאַתָּה יְהוָה, תִּשְׂחַק-לָמוֹ; תִּלְעַג, לְכָל-גּוֹיִם

Sorry...

2005-02-12T00:11:00.000-06:00

... for getting cavities,
for being unemployed,
for procrastinating,
for being an arogant egg-head,
for not seeing the people around me,
for not reading more,
for reading too much,
and the lack of humility displayed in this post.

I AM RIGHTEOUS. I'm not pious, not wise, not rich, not humble but I won't let go of my righteousness which is not mine.

For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.
So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.
For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,
but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.
Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?!!?!

YESHUA the son of man.

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Good Sabbath y'all and happy new moon!

Look Who's in the Freezer....

2005-02-10T10:45:00.000-06:00

Uncle Ebeneezer!!!
10:45 Paper handed in, total sleep aprox. 15 min during class.
I have a week off now. If I weren't so exhausted I'd be really belligerent right now.
I'm afraid of something... I really want to spend the next few days just looking at old photo albums and maybe crying a bit.
Israel... school next year... archelology, will discuss later.

2005-02-10T02:31:00.000-06:00

ah, procrastination and eschatology. guess what I'm doing right now... two thirty in the morning?

Ahoy

2005-02-09T15:26:00.000-06:00

1st. Saskatoon was bombed?!!
2nd. the PC makes my eyes sore.
Also, I just reread The Great Divorce. What a book. It seems like that book is part of the Almighty's answer to my petition for abandon.
The reason I'm posting mid-week like this is that I ought to be writing a paper that's due tomorrow. Oh, by the way, the show last night was a smash. We played three sets because the other bands didn't come (not like they ever commited to really coming) except Holzkopf he did his thing. Very few people came actually, so it turned out to be more like having a bar to yourself and your friends to jam in for the night. We'll do it again soon.

Movies

2005-02-06T19:58:00.000-06:00

movie review day. I saw two movies this weekend and I'd like to tell you all about them.
#1 A Price Above Rubies, interesting... I guess. The rape scenes were a bit much. Another Chabad caricature/anti-religion story. Those things don't make it bad though, believe it or not I can be fairly anti-religion myself (at least toward religion which drives us away from the Most High which can include chasidut) and as far as Chabad are concerned they do, to put it mildly, have issues. So, the girl gets married to a cute but single-minded Tzadik but she is the glamorous rasha, throw in some evil diamond smuggling Hasids and some rape and there you have it. I actually didn't really mind watching the movie but it's not a recommend.
#2 Babette's Feast. Danish language film, weird Danish film. Watch it, it's slow but good. Very subtle and full of artistry. The only bad thing was a cheesy camera effect used twice. As I said it's kinda weird and it gets weirder the more you think about it.

Ghengis Phoenix, Mungus-Fungus

2005-02-04T01:45:00.000-06:00

Ok guys here it comes.... TIMEPHALCON Present HOLZKOPF! (or vis versa)
That's right we're puttin' on a show next week. TimePhalcon is my band, we play 100% improvised music and no it's not jazz. Apparently we'll be playing with Damo Suzuki this summer potentially when he passes through town. Here's the info, Tuesday night at about 9 or 9:30 we'll be playing at the Roxy on Broadway (in saskatoon of course) cover charge is only two bucks.
I'm pretty stoked about this, I haven't preformed music for a general audience in probably two years.

2005-02-04T01:35:00.000-06:00

Louis, Freakin' ,Riel!!
You all lose. You silent, ignorant, passive... tunnel-visioned computer people. (except Yoel of course, and lalookareem at least tried ( though I'll wager she didn't do too much research). Just kidding guys I realize that nobody actually reads this blog who isn't from toon town and who would know anything about Louis Riel. By the way the entrance/mall-tunnel is called Place-Riel.

עֶבֶד עִבְרִי

2005-01-28T23:16:00.000-06:00

My Mommy is home! She has returned from her three weeks of prodigal gallivanting in Norway. Now my auntie Ingy is once again happily married.
The liminal geography of the transit system is catalysis for contemplation of criminal typography. Translation "the bus is like the wood between the worlds and it makes me want to write my name on trash cans".
The main entrance of our university is named after a man who declared himself the pope of america, can you guess who he is? (contest only open to those from outta town.)
I'm in the process of getting a couple of projects off the ground... soon I will once again be on the music scene. No shabbes shows though, of course. I'm currently jamming with "Time Phalcon" the most crazy thing I've ever indulged musically. Totally improvised. Also I'm getting a "solo acoustic" set put together Joel will be tickling the ivories in that one. What follow are some of the lyrics to my "hit single" which I believe was mentioned in passing on Joel's Blog.

They are wont to say, "I've never felt this way!
it's like ice in my brisket, it's like salt in my wounds"
They are wont to say, "we never felt this way,
it's like fur across the palate when your blinded by the moon."

And it's blood blood blood, blood on the ceiling, blood on the floor,
blood on the doorposts of our door, it wasn't there before.

And the blood isn't mine, and it's not my mother's nor the priest's,
or the sacrificial beast's, but it's Your's...

And it's Your's (Waooh), It's Your's (waohh),
it's not the blood of a thousand filthy whores, but it's Your's
And they are wont to say, "I've never felt this way!
it's like ice in my brisket, it's like salt in my wounds"

2005-01-28T20:34:00.000-06:00

A couple days have passed and that post must be apologized for. I was just trying to express my frustration. It was largely unsuccessful (i.e. I didn't express my specific problem) except that I'm sure you all now know that I'm upset.

Scream

2005-01-25T14:41:00.000-06:00

I'm really feeling alot of turmoil inside. they say that the order is: first fact then faith and then experience. !!! . I can't really distinguish fact from experience. and that's a fact. like how do you know that a fact is a fact without some emirical evidence? I don't believe in santa claus! And I really hope God doesn't insist on acting like sant claus... this is all. Also .... never mind. I hate this post. How can one part of me believe so strongly and the other part doubt so profoundly? A little experience would be nice, ie an experience to confirm my faith. come on, just a little miracle, you did it on mount Carmel. So, there's nothing principly wrong with experiencial faith, I guess that's not faith though. But what's the inherent value in faith? why are facts so boring? And how does this all end up summed up as Love? Whatever I'll just do what I do for now and hope that the Most high sees fit to make my resumes pleasing in the eyes of an employer.

Shvua Toyv

2005-01-23T18:31:00.000-06:00

So I've run into a bit of a dry spot in terms things to post. I think instead of posting alot of boring uninspired stuff I'll just lay low a bit until I can think again. So at the most I'll post good quotes from other people or maybe if I get a job I'll send out a cyber B"H.

2005-01-22T19:07:00.000-06:00

This pertains to me only insofar as I'm Norwegian and wierded out.

2005-01-22T17:55:00.000-06:00

I like ulead-photo impact, just look at this sweet picture I made.

2005-01-16T11:58:00.000-06:00

I feel like I should maybe post again before I treck across the river for the rest of the week; before I go to my wonderfully analog house in the ghetto. I was checking how people get to the ol' mensch and was not surprised. There was a google for triganosis and another for hasidic raggae as well as one hop from a comment on an other blog, and of course there are mostly visiters from what-amalek-did and the hassid heretic. So, nothing earth-shattering. Trigger Gnosis (I just thought of that, funny eh). Acidic rag eh... I'm on a roll.
So, I went to a show last night: Parades against Parades, a coupla bands from T dot and the Jr. Panthers. A hygelig eve all in all but loud and I only had one ear plug. Apparently lots of dental students were there... This post is just like small talk so far, now all I have to do is say something pedantic. Ummm... Yikes I Need to redeem this post if it is to make it to the front page...
וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה אֶל-הָעָם, אַל-תִּירָאוּ--הִתְיַצְּבוּ וּרְאוּ אֶת-יְשׁוּעַת יְהוָה, אֲשֶׁר-יַעֲשֶׂה לָכֶם הַיּוֹם

Boo!

2005-01-15T19:12:00.000-06:00

Another week is now history... shavua tov y'all. What a Parsha guys! The Pesah, the climax of the exzodos and indeed a mini type of the climax of history. The setting free of the captives, the coverage of the blood, the judgement on the mitzrim. There's a picture for you to help you visualize the real slaughter of the real lamb... real blood. By the way there was a Jewschool post about how those posing as "sanhedrin" might actually sneak onto the "har HaBayit" and slaughter the pesah (an actual one). Of course there is the small fact that the temple mount is actually not on the temple mount and all that jazz.
Ever notice how Moses was the offspring of an illegal relationship? that's right Amram and Jochabed were incesty in their marriage. Not that this is anything new at this point in the Torah all the Avot were incesty too, just an observation.
Yesterday it was -53c with the windchill! the dog doesn't get too much in the way of walks nowadeeys. So yeah, this is booger freezing weather.

Define Your Terms

2005-01-13T13:49:00.000-06:00

There've been times when I"ve jokingly referred to my status as floundering bachelor. Yesterday I experienced the force of that rank in negative terms. Yeah, lonely and bored. Of course that is a surface assessment. I'm not really lonely in the superficial sense, it is the profound meaning which I'm tasting. And as far as bored goes that too is a quite superficial term. I'm again alluding to the deeper meaning of it; that seeing of things as oversized and homogeneous. This weekend I'll be at the folk's place and get into greater depth perhaps.

2005-01-08T02:54:00.000-06:00

I've always really enjoyed this one. It rings true, a reminder to live authenticly (as the existentialist might say).

Review

2005-01-08T01:43:00.000-06:00

So, I watched a movie, Songs From The Second Floor. Yipes! Bleakness. Swedish. The subtitles make fun of you, they mocked. Being able to follow the Swedish I didn't feel like the sub-titles hit me, but we were both laughing at Ebert. I'm sorry this one doesn't make it to my recommends category. It's full of insight to the deadness of babylon's edifice and it's inevitable fall, but there is no rock hewn not by any hand. Not too gusting, barfing old men and sacrificed little girls. I usually don't mind nudity too much in movies if it's not gratuitous (sometimes it's the proverbial bathwater as beneath and against the baby), this time it kinda made my skin crawl. In conclusion: there was enough death but not enough resurrection.
Movies are an incredible medium, and powerful! but unfortunatly so saturated with the fluff and filth...

Maybe I'll be employed soon... I'll keep you posted because I know the internet cares.

2005-01-08T01:38:00.000-06:00

from the womb of the dawn, Your youth is to You as the dew.

updoot

2005-01-05T16:36:00.000-06:00

I'm at my parents', grinding weat into flour and bidding farewell to my mother who is going to Norway tommorow. Yesterday and the day before it was -30 c or more (I guess I mean less). I was sleeping in a house of snow and skiing and freezing my tush off on monday and tuesday.

Parashat Shemot

2004-12-31T16:51:00.000-06:00

YHVH said to him, "What is that in your hand?" And he said, "A staff."
Then He said, "Throw it on the ground." So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it.
But the YHVH said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail"--so he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand. I don't know quite how to unpack this one. It makes for a good meditation indeed. Throw down your security and pick up your insecurity.

There is a niggling in the back burner... On one hand the Almighty is quite free with the miracles. In multiple anecdotes He suspends, bends and breaks the laws of nature for purposes of persuasion, vindication or "showing off". But on the other hand what is our response to these displays? I'm thinking about the passage in Devarim 13 when God speaks about allowing miracles to come from "bad" sources to test His people. Also there is the adage "blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. And what about second-hand signs and wonder? To what degree can one base one's beliefs on other's experiences? ...not much. Of course when we talk about miracles as empirical foundation we may be shang-haiing the whole phenomenon. A foundation needn't be based on aberrations in the natural order of things, everyday experiences ought to suffice.... Mircles, lonliness and the fear of Yah.

So John Bull what's it gonna be "Brit-am" or "Brit-ayn"

2004-12-31T01:08:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I have a difficult time mustering enough psychic distance to appreciate... giant golden buddhas, chrismas trees or blockbusters in general.

Saved

2004-12-30T15:53:00.000-06:00

I am compelled to post- now- don't ask me why. What can I do to make up for the platitudinous stuff I wrote about emptying yourself (yuck)? I feel something very special right now and I should try to convey it in a "solid" manner. Less rhetoric, less dogma, less platitudes, more honesty both intellectually and emotionally. I'm experiencing something intense right now, it may be what they call "working out your salvation with fear and trembling". I've been reading Surprised By Joy by C.S. Lewis and it expresses something of what I feel on the cerebral level. On the emotional level I'm finally feeling what I've longed for "Abandon". The slavery which is really freedom. The only freedom. I was like an obsessive compulsive pilot going through his checklist a million times "landing gear, check, landing gear, check, landing gear, check...". I wanted to fly but I couldn't justify it without something, something elusive. I think I was looking for an epistemic standard or something but what I needed was not in that line it was parallel, deeper. And it's so centered on the "gospel" i.e. the death and resurrection. Analogy: in the army they first break you down (as an individual) and then build you up again for the purpose of being a functional part of the unit. It is necessary for the individual to "die" (at least superficially) for the "part-of-the-machine" to be raised up. The "Kingdom of God" is analogous in the sense that "I've died with Christ, so it is no longer I who lives but Christ in me". This always frightened me because of its not so subtle threat to my individuality. But, in truth, it is so very different because Christ is the proto-type, the "Adam kadmon" if you will. The resurrection in Him is the rectification of the marred image we originally bore. If you are in the "second Adam" you are truly in the proto-Adam. Indeed I am more "me" when I'm "dead to self and alive in Christ" than any other time. It is like the Akeida when Avraham Avinu had to put his "moralistic monotheism" on the back burner in order to pursue a raw and uncomfortable "immoral" relationship with Yah. Just like Avraham's "moralistic- monotheism" could only be vital by being second to a raw and spiritual relationship, so my individuality only is fulfilled in its "death". And that's what it's all about folks: our righteousness is as untouchable as Job's because it isn't ours, it's His!

Shavua Tov

2004-12-26T11:38:00.000-06:00

The truest and most horrible claim made for modern transport is that it 'annihilates space'. It does. It annihilates one of the most glorious gifts we have been given. It is a vile inflation which lowers the value of distance, so that a modern boy travels a hundred miles with less sense of liberation and pilgrimage and adventure than his grandfather got from traveling ten. Of course if a man hates space and wants it to be annihilated, that is another matter. Why not creep into his coffin at once? There is little enough space there. C S Lewis, Surprised by Joy
A really true little quote. It's concept has surfaced often in my relatively well-traveled life. The first time I heard it lucidly expressed was by my aunt a couple years ago in the form of a little story.

2004-12-24T23:56:00.000-06:00

For many people it's christmas eve, for me it's "just" Erev Shabbat.
Tonight was wonderful. I had my family over all at once for the first time, we had a jolly Shabbat meal together. I'm full of desire and pleasure and security inside but it can only be there because of all the things that I emptied out. EVERYONE, rid yourselves of ambition and pride, love of material wealth, and conformity to this world's mind. Be children in God's house!

love sweet love

2004-12-19T21:45:00.000-06:00

New blog is launched... "Follow The Cloud". It's a joint project between Joel and I and it is geared toward the "messianic" audience (ephraimite, israelite, two-house or whatever). If you want to join the contributing team let me know.
Newsflash: The Most High works inspite of us. From whence is the freedom from dead works!

2004-12-18T23:26:00.000-06:00

philandering bachelor's rant

2004-12-15T14:46:00.000-06:00

New Moon Report December 2004 Tenth Month
On Monday December 13, 2004 the New Moon was sighted from Jerusalem by the Karaites. May y'all be inscribed for a month of blessing.
I'm glad for the Karaites, they're useful in terms of calendars. They're sure not Rekabites though. Neither am I.

Yesterday I went out to the forest with Yoel and Kifi and Coly. We were going to go x-country skiing but Yoel's binding busted, so it turned out to be a hiking day instead. The Nisbet forest is one of my favorite places. Today I took my dog out to the field for her daily fresh air and exercise. We looked at mouse tracks and ate snow.

The reflection for the day will be an exploration of a previously discussed topic "belief in the religious sense".
I've mentioned before the verse, "Then he [Avraham avinu] believed Yahweh; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness." And indeed, as Habakuk says "but the righteous will live by his faith". As the talmud says: Makkoth 23b - "Six hundred and thirteen precepts were communicated to Moses ... David came and reduced them to eleven ... Isaiah came and reduced them to six ... Micah came and reduced them to three ... Again came Isaiah and reduced them to two ... Amos came and reduced them to one ... But it is Habakuk who came and based them all on one [principle], as it is said, But the righteous shall live by his faith."
I disagree with the talmud (that's allowed), or at least its wording. It is not about "reducing" mitzvot or faith "as a mitzvah". As a certain Yaacov once wrote "show me your faith without the mitzvot, and I will show you my faith by my mitzvot."
But what exactly is this faith? What did Abraham believe, or believe in? It says he believed (in) Hashem. Does that mean he believed in the existence of God? No. It is said that even the demons believe "in" God ... and shudder. C.S. Lewis wrote about (christian) religion as a special case (I.e. in terms of defending it from the onslaught on scientific condescending poopooing). He spoke of faith and doubt-resistance in terms of relationship. A couple have faith in each other, they are both quite aware of the other's existence, the faith they have is faithfulness. They are not constantly in doubt of the other's fidelity. And in turn they don't go sleeping around. It is at least so ideally, the concept of a partnership or marriage is thus idealized.
I've clung to the belief that God is not tricky. There is no exam with a trick question which determines your eternal destiny. There is an offer of relationship from our father. There is an opportunity to be adopted back into the family (grafted in to the rich root so to speak). If God wants to tell you something don't you think he'll tell you in a way you'll understand. Why would he speak to me in Swiss if he wanted me to know what he was saying. And if he doesn't want us to understand, why even speak at all? This is not about reciting a magic formula that will reset your soul to "sin-free".
What did God do? He asked Avraham to "leave your father's house and go to a land I will show you". What did Avraham do? He left his father's house and started walking. God didn't ask Avraham to guess a number between one and a hundred. How did God communicate? I don't know, but Avraham understood and obeyed. When God later said "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love...". Father Avraham could obey because he knew the voice of God. Could he check the request for consistancy with other things God had said? No, Isaac was the promised son through whom the seed would be reckoned. Also, one would think that Avraham had recieved some sense of morality from God. Surely this request would contradict all moral ideas recieved from on high. Avraham had to notice that God was being inconsistant but he still proceded to get up early and start the journey. Yeshua says "my sheep know my voice", that's all we can trust in... the Voice. But, Avraham Avinu doesn't believe God... When he leaves the donkey and the servant he says "I and the lad will return". He respondes to his son's quiery about the offering with "God will provide the lamb". Avraham still has not abandoned his moral senses or the previous promises of his God. Some say that he believed that God would raise the boy from the dead, whatever it was he thought would happen it seems like he knew God was up to something ...God seems to be playing tricks here... What should we trust: our moral sensibilities which abhor human sacrifice, the previous promises of God regarding the son, the most recent word from God requesting the execution of the boy or do we follow God seemingly immoral requests assuming that after the fact things will look differently? What to do? How could Abraham believe a God who contradicted not only Abraham's divinly given morals but also His own promises.
So, what was meant to be a sermonette about faith mutated into a religious conundrum. I don't know quite what to think. But this past week there were some 50 visits to the blog so I'd like to try opening it up for discussion. Please comment on the topic of the nature of faith and Abraham's dilemma. Also, how was Abraham's belief sincere (even though he said "I and the lad shall return) and how was his belief justified, and how was God justified in requesting such a thing from Abraham? Once again I will not blog again until someone discusses this, please if nothing else just leave your initial thoughts in a comment.

The Christmas Spirit

2004-12-10T21:49:00.000-06:00

My opinion on the true spirit of christmas is that it's something along the lines of the true spirit of the golden calf. As Saul, or as he was known to the greeks Paul, said: Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, "THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK, AND STOOD UP TO PLAY." Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. . . . . Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; you judge what I say. Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread. Look at the nation Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar? What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons.
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
That's as heavy handed I'll get for today. But I'll point out one more thing when the children of Yisrael made the golden calf it was made for the purpose of the worship of the true God, Yahweh. as they said: "This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt." Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to Yahweh."
So, Christians out there please do not partake in the cup of Idols, do not create for yourself a holiday and proclaim it "a feast to Yahweh." He has plenty of feasts and he outlines them in the Holy Torah, and he certainly doesn't need any more feasts to be invented.

....Sorry, today turned out to be my day for pooing on other peoples holidays. Not very PC, eh? Whatever. It's all about internal consistency.

Twenty Years of ____! (Ineffible wierdness)

2004-12-09T15:55:00.000-06:00

I have garnered, ineed, ordained myself a comment from the Shtreimel. Mere hours after my request for a solitary voice out of this cold web of information an apostate Satmerer raised his voice. No Shtreimy, thank you.
-I remember sitting on the floor in my room, a grade ten or eleven student with big wooly dreadlocks, listening to a free jazz version of Eliahu HaNavi tears rolloing down down my cheeks...
-I live in a house with two other guys and a pit-bull. Once a week my house-mate Kevin aka Yaacov's two brothers go to an auction and buy us ten dollars worth of groceries. Last week we had a box of pears, four cabbages and a water-mellon. We made chutney from the pears and sourkraut from the cabbage. This week we got ten bags of washed spinach and a flat of yogurt.
-I'm part of a religious sect with heavy escatological leanings (read doomsday cult).
-I attend lectures at the university of Saskatchewan (home of canada's $173.5-million Synchotron) on the topics of language, religion and art...
-I went to the licence issuer to renew what would be (in an alternate reality) my driver's licence. Both emploees behind the desk there were "over-weight" i.e. fat. A middle aged woman and a younger woman, both wearing too much eye make-up.
-I'm unemployed, i.e. not-employed. Don't ask me how I plan on paying the rent. God willing I will soon have an income.
-.........this kind of post has a tendancy to get boring.

>insert platitude<

2004-12-08T21:18:00.000-06:00

"It is wrong always, everywhere and for anyone to believe anything upon insufficient evidence" (367). W.K. Clifford’s attack on religious belief is abrasive, sweeping and to the point. He assaults a part of religious life that is central to its essential structure, a synonym for religion, faith. The three main monotheistic religions all have as a foundational character that of father Abraham. What story about Abraham is better known than that of the binding of Isaac. This story has culturally become the archetypal picture of religion’s demand for counterintuitive action. Religion recurrently demands the submission of our reason, holding back the evidence to necessitate faith. Clifford quite succinctly puts most obvious objection to faith: the lack of scientific evidence supporting conclusively either the general or the specific claims of religion. There have been many different responses to this ever-present question mark in defense of the faith focused essence of religion. One common strategy is to put religion into a different category which simply does not require empirical evidence. They plead that religion is a self-evident special case. The other common line of defense challenges the assumption that any of our systems, like religion and science, can be judged externally. The claim is that a framework can only be criticized on its own grounds, that is, from the inside. Wittgenstein’s theory of language games expresses this type of fideism and it is developed further by his disciple Norman Malcolm. There have been pointed out some considerably gaping holes in this approach to religion, but it seems likely that there is a charitable light in which to view as basic a human institution as religion without giving up on external evidence and proof.
Malcolm’s goes about at creating a type of immunity from external attack for our basic frameworks. He starts out with an outlandish example (which he later receives flak for) but his message is clear, in order to get started in a framework there are groundless assumptions that must be made. Just like a child cannot express doubt or demand evidence without first accepting in faith a language and a framework to operate within. He points out that "a system provides the boundaries within which we ask questions, carry out investigations and make judgements" (393). So, for the practice purpose of even acquiring a language we must first trust. And once within a language game there can be immanent refinement and criticism, but how can you challenge the very language itself which gave you the ability to challenge and the faculty of doubt. Malcolm levels the playing field of frameworks pointing out that for any framework to be built up there is always an essential element of the argument which is "groundless"(394). And to be initiated into any language game there is an intrinsic level of "belief in the religious sense" that is required (394).
The consequence of Wittgenstein’s leveling of the playing field is that there are no longer objective standards to judge a framework. Notice that to externally judge a framework, who’s basis is arbitrary or groundless, one must step outside the framework which lands one in a different but necessarily equally groundless framework. Malcolm comes right out and says that "we should not expect that there might be some sort of rational justification for the framework itself" (396). Keep in mind that this does not rule out "justification, evidence, proof... good and bad reasoning" and the like, but they exist only in terms of being within a language game and should not be applied to the language game itself (396). A manifestation of this would be, as Wittgenstein explains, that the real meaning of the term "I don’t believe in this," simply means that one does not have the frame work for "these thoughts and anything that hangs together with them" (389). This illustrates a worry later on in terms of how we can understand to communicate with each other when operating within essentially different languages.
Malcolm deals specifically with the religious language game pointing out how it is often viewed with "condescension or even contempt" by "western academic philosophy" (394). Because it is a completely separate language game, religion, appears as "an alien form of life," to the scientific language game, which has no trouble noticing it’s essential groundlessness (398). Where the scientific language game is in error, according to Malcolm, is their acceptance of "the illusion that science can justify it’s own framework" (398). (It is ironic that he seems to be arguing just that on behalf of religion, that is, that religion can justify its own framework), Malcolm, almost caricaturing Clifford, speaks of the academic world’s idea that "The objective, mature, strong attitude is to hold beliefs solely on evidence" (394). Which is of course in contrast to the "belief in the religious sense" that he claims all frameworks require.
Malcolm insightfully points out a contrast between the philosophical approach to "belief in the existence of God" and the simple religious approach to "belief in God" (398). This functional contrast illustrates the difficulty in communication across frameworks. Though they might think that they are speaking the same language those occupying different language games can not really relate to each other. And if there is such difficulty in coherent discussion across the boundaries of disparate frameworks surely it is implied there is no room for criticism of different language games.
That was part of an essay I wrote....
If I had the unction to rewrite that sucker I would have geared it towards more of a subjectivism than reletivism. Needless to say what I write in a paper for a philosophy of religion class has little or no connection to my real opinions on the philosophy of religion. But, "deep down" I do have a desire for my religion to transcend the "complex-glorified-mythology" which it has a tendancy to slip towards.
I refuse to post again until some one who has never commented before leaves a comment. I know you're out there.
P.S Remember the oil in the Beis HaMikdash as you eat your doughnuts.

>insert platitude<

2004-12-05T17:13:00.001-06:00

I wrote a post but it got eaten by the internet.

>insert platitude<

2004-12-05T17:13:00.000-06:00

I wrote a post but it got eaten by the internet.

2004-11-30T15:54:00.000-06:00

Besides taking the top chart position this week for his album, Encore, Eminem is getting another top position as an "honorary priest" of the Raelian Movement. The group's founder, Rael, formerly known as Claude Vorilhon, has bestowed the title upon Eminem for his anti-war video, "Mosh," which calls upon American youth to stand up against the Bush administration's war on Iraq. (c/o)

Wow... ain't life grand? Watch the video here.

[I have a parable about parables to post soon... anticipate.]

monday mourning

2004-11-29T01:09:00.000-06:00

I went to Group hug dot com (DO NOT VISIT THE SITE) I found it very poignant. I don't why I'm drawn to anything this depressing. I guess maybe because I have fears that I want to get rid of and thinking about them, facing them head on is the only way I can relate to them. I need to maintain my idealism. Sometimes I loathe it (my idealism) but it's like a life-line I guess. Abraham Believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Faith. Moses died in the wilderness with his generation because he did not believe Yah. Believe in the promises. Wittgenstein differenciated between believing in God and believing in the existence of God. It was a good point. The six sides of the continual mitzvah cube are as follows: above- believing in the existence of God, below- not worshiping idols, front- believing in the oneness of God, right- loving God, left- fearing God, behind- guarding your mind. They correspond to the six cities of refuge, and the six remembrances, and the sixth day when adam was created male and female, and the sixth letter in the alephbet which is a glyph of a nail and the third letter of the Holy Name, The Holy of Holies had six sides, and there are the six cardinal directions East South West North Up and Down. The Holy presence indwells the Holy of Holies the bodies of people and is immanent in the earth.

50 gallon drum

2004-11-28T03:54:00.000-06:00

Get this, last time I got the little report about how many people visited the blog it was five people with an average of seventeen minutes. This week there were forty six guests spending an average of nine minutes and twenty three seconds! Why does this boost my ego? Now that I know about you guys I'm afraid I might misrepresent something, my tribe I suppose. I'm not too worried about misrepresenting myself, but I might not be the best Israelite... well, as we learned in this week's Torah portion yaacov avinu was given the name Yisrael because he wrestled with El (compare with islam "the way of submission"). So, maybe I am representing the tribe after all. What you read are wrestlings, the true wrestlings of a son of Israel.
I've been thinking a little about the Post-modern christians. In terms of cautionary parallels to post-modern art. Modern art centered around immanent criticism (based on Kant's schtick) manifesting as art about art. In a sense an internal refinement and maximizing of "selfness", i.e. each genre trying to be what it was by capitalizing on it's uniqueness. Post-modern art came about, in some senses, by people getting bored of immanent criticism and internal refinement (at least in the world of architecture I believe). Seeking external justification they abandoned psychic distance and embraced eclecticism to the point of (gasp) making art about politics! What I'm getting at is nothing more than this: bad post modernity is just defining yourself as not-modern and, as has been pointed out, one should not seek a definition as simply not another thing. Don't seek refuge in post-modernism from internal criticism, the internal tension of the scriptures is one of the things which propels us. The good thing about post-modernism is that it allows for external justification... but wait, does it really? I don't' know. I'm bored of this, and so are you. Lets talk about rap. My new best-friend Ariel has a blog called "The Vocabulary Reclamation Project" with a wonderful mission (which is evident in its title). But I'd like to address a common misconception about rap which was reinforced in said blog. The conception that rap music is dumb egocentric thug stuff. I realize that some of the "gangstah" stuff and the mainstream stuff are actually perfect examples of simplistic repetitive language. So I'm not actually disagreeing with Ariel, but I'd like to offer a defense of rap in the form of a playlist. It is meant as a vindication and a vestibule, of sorts ,for the uninitiated into the lyrical power and beauty of the genre. You, the person who dislikes rap but desires to enjoy all good things, are meant to find/download these songs and judge for yourself the lyrical skillz. If you do listen to these tracks, even just a few, post a comment and give your opinion. (actually I have a fairly limited knowledge of hip hop so there's probably a far better group of songs that could be given but here's my attempt)
This is operation vindication yo:
Riverbed 3, by Buck 65
Roses and bluejays, by Buck 65
Craftsmanship, by Buck 65
463, by Buck 65
No regrets, by Aesop rock
9-5ers anthem, by Aesop rock
Daylight, by Aesop rock
embarrassed, by Sage Francis
The Seed, by The Roots
December 4th, Dj Danger mouse - the grey album
And here's a little turntableism:
morning people, by kid koala
Emperor's main course, by kid koala
like regular chickens, by kid koala.

Anyway, anything off Buck 65's Talkin Honkey Blues album is lyrical gold and anything at all of kid koala's scratching stuff is good.

Mitzvah Coordinate Cube

2004-11-26T21:34:00.000-06:00

So, not too long ago I was skipping around the blogger profiles checkin' out who likes 'Til We Have Faces (read that book!). From a 'Til We Have Faces fan I hopped to the Waterdeep fans (listen to that band!). Then I realized that I was on the turf of the post-modern christians! I'd almost forgotten about them and it was jolly alright to be reminded. I guess that water-deep and C.S. Lewis is common fare in the the ranks of the post-modern faithful. I like post modern christians just like I like hippy christians, and hip-hop. I don't really like post-rock though but enough about me. The nice thing about these folks (the PMCs) is that they aren't afraid of being in the world i.e. space and time. Whatev. A new twist on dispensationalism, the post-modern dispensation. Chadeish yameinu, chadeish yameinu k'kedem!
There's this one PMC blog called Real Live Preacher and, among other things, he retells bible stories and the one I read was very well done. The story of the writing in the sand aka the woman caught in adultery (read here). I was impressed that he didn't interpret the story through the "law breaker/abolisher" messiah glasses but showed that Yeshua was being true to Torah in his judgment. Yeshua when he asked the one without sin to throw the first stone was invoking another mitzvah from Devarim 17 where it says that the witness (of which Torah demands no less than two eye-witness in capital cases) must cast the first stone. The one without sin = the eye witness, or, the eye-witness without sin. No one steps up, showing that the accusers are complicit in the act or set the whole situation up as a trap. Once again the messiah draws from and reinforces the Torah. But here's the sad bit. In the comment thread ensuing RLP goes and says "Jesus came to abolish the law". Wah!?! First of all there's the fact that Yeshua himself denied that in Matt 5:17. Unless of course you want to say that abolish = fulfill in which case his statement is wholly meaningless. But beyond that, think about it, abolish the Holy Torah?! The Living Word came to render himself void or irrelevant?
I can't even fathom my christianity without a lifestyle of mitzvot that places me in holy time and space anymore. Religion is lifestyle. The Almighty relates to us and we relate to the Almighty through time and space, food, sex, holy days, money, and all that jazz. We believe in the bible and the part of the bible that meticulously deals with lifestyle in nitty-gritty detail is the Torah.
By the way I posted the wrong link on the previous post for matisyahu's mini-doc it's right now.
Link of the day.... Mother

2004-11-24T18:28:00.000-06:00

mini-doc about matisyahu courtesy jewschool Something that tastes good about Matisyahu is the semi-contradiction he is, i.e. a Hasidic Raggae superstar. A flavor I have savoured in myself, this type of paradox, the superficial non-jivance of image. This superficial paradox is merely fashionable and not to be confused with personality inconsistency. Being spiritually/psychologically inconsistent is a far more serious problem, one which I struggle with.
In a comment thread on the Hasidic Heretic blog somebody said that people often believe in 'believing in god' instead of actually believing in God. This is a error I have and might again fall into. It rises to my mind that the tired old buzzwords "it's not a religion, it's a relationship" might not be so ridiculous. You need to have a relationship with the infinite just like you need a relationship with the earth, yourself, your society, in short 'the finite'. You ought to take a no more distanced stance to God than you should toward mathematics or any other experience which you are obligated to partake in. Sometimes I feel like I'm not being true to myself, true to the truth, I feel like I'm merely "believing in believing". Sometimes I feel like a sham. I'm trying to be a fundamentalist 'christian' philosopher and a skeptic mystic. The skeptic in me always seems to kill the mystic. I want to be part of the world without the world being part of me, it's a painful thing.

The reason I'm writing this entry is that I ought to be writing an essay.

88 shades of grey

2004-11-21T16:31:00.000-06:00

The first thing I ever posted was this: "You can't be idealistic in this world and not be crazy. Because they've created such a deep structure now, you can't get in. And we don't want to get in. We're on the outside. But we're not on the outside looking in, we're on the outside looking out. So I feel we're in a very healthy place. The idealists will always be in society, and we will survive. " A quote from John Zorn which I found inspiring at the time. Idealism = arrogance = selfishness. I went to a church today I hope I don't have to do that again for a long time. The point about inside/outside and idealism is interesting. It is said that the first letter in the bible is a glyph of a house because what follows concerns the difference between being inside and outside. John Zorn was not talking about that though. He was talking about the man made "deep structure". Perhaps Yeshua was talking a little bit about man's rigidity when he quoted Isaiah "THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN." If John Zorn thinks that while escaping the "deep structure" he is escaping all structure he is wrong. People cannot function sans-framework. You might define yourself as "outside" something, but there is no escaping that you're inside something else. What is the framework of the (bible) believer? Duh... the bible? "Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men!" = bad framework, internally inconsistent. Last night the boys and I played bible trivia with Matthew and Carol Bird. Then we had a sleep-over at mine's house and made pancakes in the morning.... but you don't really care about that stuff. I've realized that this blog doesn't have a very large demographic for a target audience. Are you jewish? Then you wouldn't come here. christian? Philosopher? pit-bull owner? stupid? bored? either way I'm sure I can drive you all away by alienating you... just as I am alienated through my poor choice of obsessions. The sourdough enthusiast reads on. Through divination I have ordained that there were five people who visited this blog last week each spending an average of 17 minutes and 49 seconds here. That's a lot of time, seventeen big ones!! thanks guys and I'm sorry about the pure bullshit you had to read. Keep the faith kids

Run Like The Dickens

2004-11-20T13:13:00.000-06:00

I'm home for the weekend i.e. Shabbes. Right now my family is all at SCS where the regional girls' volleyball tourney, which my sister is partaking in, is. I'm alone at the PC in my old room where I spent my pre and adolescent years. I was convinced at one point that I'd seen a real demon in here, I'm not so positive about the validity of the manifestation any more though. Right now I'm listening to the mainstream rock and rap music my fifteen(?) year old sister downloaded onto my computer. I was actually intending to listen to Grieg's Holberg Suite but somehow Eminem popped up!!? Cycles of depression come and go, self-loathing and guilt hang out at the university, the isolation factor is off the heazy. A pretty good week all in all I guess. No joke. I blame on the impending papers I have to compose: ten to twelve pages for my philosophy of art class and eight or nine pages for my philosophy of religion class. The religion one I'm actually looking forward to writing. I had an idea the other day when pondering the faith/reason issue which I doubt I will be able to work in to my essay but I might be able to work it into my blog... There is objective truth. But it is inaccessible to us humans or at least it is is not observable by the general population. If it were accessible there would be greater consensus on metaphysical issues (unless of course the objective truth is cleverly concealed by counterfeits, which would result in the spiritual elite being those who could discern between real and fake. But on what basis could they make this distinction?). Anyway, believing in the existence of an objective truth does not preclude the acceptance of the subjectivity of our individual frameworks. I suggested on Friday that perhaps the internal refining of the individual subjective framework brings that individual closer to the objective truth (in some ways I think this is consistent with the epistemic thingy of cohesionism over foudationalism without being too hardcore relativistic). The response was that they nazi who refined her nazism internally would probably still be a nazi with a bad framework (nazism). I was not convinced, I entertained the idea that an internally refined nazism would self-destruct but I think that there is a better approach. The problem to deal with is the case of the bad framework, how to reason with and salvage it. The nazi does not compartmentalize her nazi framework consciously just like the scientist who reasons deductively in the lab likely doesn't make a conscious decision to switch to inductive reasoning when grocery shopping. The boundaries between bliks/frameworks are a bit blurry. The refining (movement toward greater internal consistency) of a subjective (and foundationally criterionless/arbitrary) framework alone is not enough and likely not enough to bring it to objective consistency. There is always the external consistency of a person's frameworks, i.e. their cohesiveness, is it possible to refine this as a way toward the objective truth?...nah...Divine revelation?.....Science?....Pit-Bulls...love, relationships. Between me and you, me and me, me and the earth, me and the Divine, me and the alphabet, me and 'M' 'E'... in the future I might try to gear this typing toward poetry more , journal less, essay practice less, psychotherapy more, art less. We are in exile. There are different ways of interpreting this statement. I realized that though we all agree that babylon system is bad juju our responses are varied. Response 1: Flee from the mother of harlots. Response 2: Become the chief of the civic occultists like Daniel HaNavi or a big cheese in the bureaucracy like Yoseph. Response 3: Join the branch Davidians. Response 4: "when in rome" lose your identity (lo-ami). Response 5: Get executed (failed by Daniel's three pals in the furnace incident). Response 6: Write the Bavli. Response 7: Die. I have encountered various permutations of these responses and have felt a certain level of tension between people with personal responses that do not match my own.
Shabbat Shalom

Residuals don't make you an MC

2004-11-05T23:03:00.000-06:00

So, Arafat is basically dead and Bush is back. No comment. The world is hurtling into oblivion, no big deal. My world is small. I talk a lot. I'm in love a lot. I don't know what love is.

Since as long as I remember I've been told to accept authority. Before I was ever allowed to ask why my father would make me say yes. First agree and then question. E.g. "Do the dishes," "why?" "first say yes and then you can ask" Yes... Why?" "because... (x, y, z.)".
True authority must be the highest thing. It must not be contingent. In short it is arbitrary. Often we appeal to justification in Reason or Logic, but Reason and Logic are by definition arbitrary if there is nothing "above" them. What I mean is not that all things that exist fit into a hierarchy. I do by the way believe that Reason and logic require external justification. Things seek validation from other things and that which is validated by itself is arbitrary. I believe that HaShem validates all things and in turn does not require validation from an external source. So, HaShem uses Reason and Logic but they do not "use" him. They need him but he does not need them. Can we question? Yes. But understand that a mitzvah requires no "external" reason. Is trigonosis bad? Yes. But God does not need trigonosis to validate a ban on pork. This leaves the skeptic in an awkward position, what is the point in asking these questions if HaShem isn't required to respond?
"Because I love you." This is not the response a scientist desires to get from his hypothesis. (Or maybe it is.)

2004-11-02T14:26:00.000-06:00

Hi, Bye. This blog will be updated much less often because I don't live at home anymore.

2004-10-29T14:19:00.000-06:00

Dry wine and heavy cream
Dream catcher, flame thrower
by the time you sit down the movie's already over.

This is a little funny I've actually thought about it before.

We (70's religious conspiracy theorists) hold these truths to be self-evident:

Bar codes are the mark of the beast.
The pope is the anti-christ.
Ronald Wilson Reagan 6 6 6.
The "beast" is a super-computer in Belgium.
There are satellites with lazers that can vaporize anyone on earth (they use 'em on stray dogs.)
Computer graphics might be the abomination of desolation.
In Medias Res is an awesome band. Skilled musicians and straight up good men!

According to the 'New York Daily News', both the Presidential candidates, who are ninth cousins twice removed, have genealogical links with Vlad II Dracul, the 15th-century Transylvanian warlord whom 'Dracula,' was based on. And with that I wish you shabbat shalom.

2004-10-28T14:01:00.000-06:00

"White Ninja Comics are not for the weak of mind. They are a brilliant satirical commentary on controversial worldly issues." Today white ninja is comming to visit the mensch.

2004-10-27T21:18:00.000-06:00

http://www.foundmagazine.com/ good for a browse. This is my kind of thing. It really is.

Also Arafat is sick, maybe he'll die, I wonder what will happen.

I hope my family buys a chocolate brindle shar-pei pit-bull cross when I move out. (yes, there has been talk)

I'm on the bus. A guy with a big beard and a pretty young lady with a newborn child in a stroller are there to. So the the beard man asks the baby woman something about maternity leave. She says she isn't taking any, she's a philosopher (that's her job) and an artist. "I've been bridging the I-ching, like yin yang, with quantum physics." Beard man continues the small talk in the baby vein i.e. healthy kid, you get personal time?, you're so lucky, ect. At five corners philosopher woman gets off the bus and beardy helps her with the stroller and a block later he gets off. I was left there. Quantum physics? I-ching? The woman was sufficiently attractive that it didn't occur to me that she could also be... wait aren't the bearded ones supposed to be the philosophers? How could he not care about I-ching and just blather on about the brat? How could I be such a failure, this question arose naturally from her presence, how could I not even know what I-ching was? I don't have a baby! I don't know quantum physics! Everyone else has gotten off the bus, we're almost at taylor street. The halogen bulbs behind the advertisments buzz. The bus engine hums. If this was a movie the scene would be set for an epiphany right about know. . . Nope, nothing yet. . . my mind is racing, think boy! think! buzzzz. . . huuumm. I don't believe in anything. Uh, that's not right. Think harder, relax, God, Blik, Dogs, the brakes are loud. get off the bus.

2004-10-22T15:23:00.000-06:00

Sabbath peace to Y'all. Welcome the Queen into your homes and weep with joy because the divine presence is with you today.
Newsflash: I don't believe in infinity. It's just a mathamatical symbol on paper and I can't see proof that it transfers into reality.

2004-10-20T19:38:00.000-06:00

I haven't had anything worthwhile to write recently. I still don't.
If one wanted to listen to a radio station that plays all Jewish stuff it might be Bnai Brith's radio . Hypothetically that is. I personally wouldn't listen to it.

2004-10-17T21:12:00.000-06:00

I've been upset by this Pit-Bull ban in Ontario. It's on my mind... here's a little more info on Germany's rules:

Dangerous Dog Legislation" of Hessen, Germany, states:
Pit bulls, Amstaffs, Staffordshire Bull terriers, American Bulldogs, Bandogs, Bull Terriers, and Mastiffs are all labeled "fighting dogs" and are on the "Dangerous Dog List."
consequences include:
Dogs must undergo a 5-hour, $500 temperament test. If your dog fails, YOUR DOG IS TAKEN FROM YOU AND EUTHANIZED. If your dog passes, you must then prove that you have a "just interest" for owning the dog and file a petition to keep the dog. IF permission is granted, your dog must be MUZZLED IN PUBLIC AT ALL TIMES, spayed/neutered and only walked/handled by someone age 18 or older. You must post "Warning Dangerous Dog" signs. Breeding, buying, selling, or giving away a dog of this breed is prohibited. Similar laws exist in England. Laws which have been proven not to affect dog bite statistics.
Countless numbers of family pets, pit bulls and Amstaffs as well as dogs that "look like" these breeds, have since been euthanized. Dog owners have been terrorized by neighbors and passerby. In one case, a dog was set on fire and killed in front of its owner. (see link to article at right)
1998 dog bite list for Germany, by breed: 1. German Shepherd Dog mixes: 2,379 2. German Shepherd Dog: 1,956 3. Rottweiler: 542 4. Pit bull: 320 5. Doberman Pinscher: 223 (Note: the German Shepherd Dog is NOT ON THE DANGEROUS DOG LIST!)

If the Government came and killed my little Sioux I would seriously give up on society all together. I'm not kidding I would just leave.

Happy Snow

2004-10-17T13:03:00.000-06:00

Last night I went down to the river with the Johnson boys. Big snowflakes started to drift down from above. We sang, long and loud. And danced, but it was slippery because of the snow. They left this morning for Kelowna to be at Vin's wedding, and from there Izzy will head to california. When the other guys come back Yaacov will move into 411 with me.

2004-10-15T21:25:00.000-06:00

Germany already banned pit bulls... and amstaffs and staffies and rotties and dobbies and bull terriers and mastiffs of all types. They basically killed a bunch of pets and didn't solve any problems. Don't let Ontario become another Germany!