Feliz Ano Novo!

(Israel visto do espaço)

Vida

Tasmanian tiger (Thylacine)

All known Australian footage of live thylacines, shot in Hobart Zoo, Tasmania, in 1911, 1928, and 1933.
 

Moisés

"Moses and the Tablets of Law", José de Ribera (1638)

Áustria

Schubert, "Die Winterreise"

Trabalho

"The Harvesters", Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1565)

Roupa

"Appearance and Reality" (Mikketz), Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

Herodes Antipas

"Jesus before Herod Antipas", Albrecht Durer (1509)

Yotam Ottolenghi

Aubergine with Buttermilk Sauce 

Noé

Illustration of Noah's Ark landing on the Mountains of Ararat, from the North French Hebrew Miscellany (13th century)

Vida

Sandra, a 29-year-old orangutan, looks out from her enclosure at Buenos Aires' zoo. Sandra has been cleared to leave the zoo she has called home for 20 years after a court ruled she was entitled to more desirable living conditions. Argentina's Association of Professional Lawyers for Animal Rights (AFADA) filed a 'habeas corpus' writ (a form of legal redress against unlawful imprisonment) arguing she was 'suffering an unwarranted confinement.' The AFADA is in the process of securing Sandra's release to transfer her to a sanctuary where she is expected to live a more comfortable and happy life, lawyers said.

Moisés

"Moses Receiving the Law", William Blake (1780)

O Mar

(Cumbria)

"Ida" de Pawel Pawlikowski

Trailer (2014)

Marilyn Monroe

Mahler

Symphony No. 4 G major, Leonard Bernstein

Aharon Barak

"A Jewish and Democratic State" 

N.Y.

 Mulberry Street, Photochrom, (circa 1900)

Noé

"The Entry of the Animals into Noah’s Ark", Jan Breughel the Elder (1613)

Vida

Wolves in snow, Norway

Herodes Antipas

6 CE – 39 CE

Kurt Weill

"Speak Low", Lotte Lenya 

Marilyn Monroe

Herodes, o Grande

37–4 BCE

"Das Lied von der Erde"

5. "Der Trunkene im Frühling" ("The Drunken Man in Spring")

Wenn nur ein Traum das Leben ist, Warum denn Müh’ und Plag’!? Ich trinke, bis ich nicht mehr kann, Den ganzen, lieben Tag! Und wenn ich nicht mehr trinken kann, Weil Kehl’ und Seele voll, So tauml’ ich bis zu meiner Tür Und schlafe wundervoll! Was hör' ich beim Erwachen? Horch! Ein Vogel singt im Baum. Ich frag' ihn, ob schon Frühling sei, Mir ist als wie im Traum. Der Vogel zwitschert: Ja! Der Lenz ist da, sei kommen über Nacht! Aus tiefstem Schauen lauscht' ich auf, Der Vogel singt und lacht! Ich fülle mir den Becher neu Und leer' ihn bis zum Grund Und singe, bis der Mond erglänzt Am schwarzen Firmament! Und wenn ich nicht mehr singen kann, So schlaf' ich wieder ein. Was geht mich denn der Frühling an!? Laßt mich betrunken sein!

If life is but a dream, why work and worry? I drink until I no more can, the whole, blessed day! And if I can drink no more as throat and soul are full, then I stagger to my door and sleep wonderfully! What do I hear on waking? Hark! A bird sings in the tree. I ask him if it’s spring already; to me it’s as if I’m in a dream. The bird chirps Yes! The spring is here, it came overnight! From deep wonderment I listen; the bird sings and laughs! I fill my cup anew and drink it to the bottom and sing until the moon shines in the black firmament!

Benny Morris

"Israeli Arabs refuse to join a Palestinian state"

Rússia

Vida

Javan Tigers (Panthera tigris sondaica) which were found on the Indonesian island of Java became extinct between 1950s and 1980s. 

Mar Morto

Bret Stephens

"The Coming Global Disorder" 

Kurt Weill

"Speak Low", Marisa Monte 

Mahler

Symphony No. 3, Leonard Bernstein 

Benny Morris

"Did the Zionists come to a land without a people?"

"National Gallery " de Frederick Wiseman

Trailer

Yotam Ottolenghi

Tomato and Pomegranate Salad

Vida

Dodo

Noé

"Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat", Simon de Myle (1570)

"Das Lied von der Erde"

4. "Von der Schönheit" ("Of Beauty")

Junge Mädchen pflücken Blumen, Pflücken Lotosblumen an dem Uferrande. Zwischen Büschen und Blättern sitzen sie, Sammeln Blüten in den Schoß und rufen Sich einander Neckereien zu. Gold’ne Sonne webt um die Gestalten, Spiegelt sich im blanken Wasser wider, Sonne spiegelt ihre schlanken Glieder, Ihre süßen Augen wider, Und der Zephir hebt mit Schmeichelkosen das Gewebe Ihrer Ärmel auf, führt den Zauber Ihrer Wohlgerüche durch die Luft. O sieh, was tummeln sich für schöne Knaben Dort an dem Uferrand auf mut’gen Rossen? Weithin glänzend wie die Sonnenstrahlen; Schon zwischen dem Geäst der grünen Weiden Trabt das jungfrische Volk einher! Das Roß des einen wiehert fröhlich auf Und scheut und saust dahin, Über Blumen, Gräser, wanken hin die Hufe, Sie zerstampfen jäh im Sturm die hingesunk’nen Blüten, Hei! Wie flattern im Taumel seine Mähnen, Dampfen heiß die Nüstern! Gold’ne Sonne webt um die Gestalten, Spiegelt sie im blanken Wasser wider. Und die schönste von den Jungfrau’n sendet Lange Blicke ihm der Sehnsucht nach. Ihre stolze Haltung ist nur Verstellung. In dem Funkeln ihrer großen Augen, In dem Dunkel ihres heißen Blicks Schwingt klagend noch die Erregung ihres Herzens nach.

Young girls picking flowers, picking lotus flowers at the riverbank. Amid bushes and leaves they sit, gathering flowers in their laps and calling one another in raillery. Golden sun plays about their form reflecting them in the clear water. The sun reflects back their slender limbs, their sweet eyes, and the breeze teasing up the warp of their sleeves, directs the magic of perfume through the air. O see, what a tumult of handsome boys there on the shore on their spirited horses. Yonder shining like the sun’s rays between the branches of green willows trot along the bold companions. The horse of one neighs happily on and shies and rushes there, hooves shaking down blooms, grass, trampling wildly the fallen flowers. Hei! How frenzied his mane flutters, and hotly steam his nostrils! Golden sun plays about their form reflecting them in the clear water. And the most beautiful of the maidens sends long looks adoring at him. Her proud pose is but a pretense; in the flash of her big eyes, in the darkness of her ardent gaze beats longingly her burning heart.

Moses Montefiore

Jesus da Nazaré

"The Sacrament of the Last Supper", Salvador Dali (1955)

Earth faces sixth ‘great extinction’ with 41% of amphibians set to go the way of the dodo

Analysis for prestigious Nature magazine sounds alarm on the way that human activity, from overfishing to agriculture, is forcing a vast number of species to vanish from the wild.

A Tasmanian tiger in captivity, circa 1930, shortly before the species became extinct.

 

A stark depiction of the threat hanging over the world’s mammals, reptiles, amphibians and other life forms has been published by the prestigious scientific journal, Nature. A special analysis carried out by the journal indicates that a staggering 41% of all amphibians on the planet now face extinction while 26% of mammal species and 13% of birds are similarly threatened.

Many species are already critically endangered and close to extinction, including the Sumatran elephant, Amur leopard and mountain gorilla. But also in danger of vanishing from the wild, it now appears, are animals that are currently rated as merely being endangered: bonobos, bluefin tuna and loggerhead turtles, for example. In each case, the finger of blame points directly at human activities. The continuing spread of agriculture is destroying millions of hectares of wild habitats every year, leaving animals without homes, while the introduction of invasive species, often helped by humans, is also devastating native populations. At the same time, pollution and overfishing are destroying marine ecosystems.

“Habitat destruction, pollution or overfishing either kills off wild creatures and plants or leaves them badly weakened,” said Derek Tittensor, a marine ecologist at the World Conservation Monitoring Centre in Cambridge. “The trouble is that in coming decades, the additional threat of worsening climate change will become more and more pronounced and could then kill off these survivors.”

The problem, according to Nature, is exacerbated because of the huge gaps in scientists’ knowledge about the planet’s biodiversity. Estimates of the total number of species of animals, plants and fungi alive vary from 2 million to 50 million. In addition, estimates of current rates of species disappearances vary from 500 to 36,000 a year. “That is the real problem we face,” added Tittensor. “The scale of uncertainty is huge.”

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In the end, however, the data indicate that the world is heading inexorably towards a mass extinction – which is defined as one involving a loss of 75% of species or more. This could arrive in less than a hundred years or could take a thousand, depending on extinction rates.

The Earth has gone through only five previous great extinctions, all caused by geological or astronomical events. (The Cretaceous-Jurassic extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago was triggered by an asteroid striking Earth, for example.) The coming great extinction will be the work of Homo sapiens, however.

“In the case of land extinctions, it is the spread of agriculture that has been main driver,” added Tittensor. “By contrast it has been the over-exploitation of resources – overfishing – that has affected sealife.” On top of these impacts, rising global temperatures threaten to destroy habitats and kill off more creatures.

This change in climate has been triggered by increasing emissions – from factories and power plants – of carbon dioxide, a gas that is also being dissolved in the oceans. As a result, seas are becoming more and more acidic and hostile to sensitive habitats. A third of all coral reefs, which support more lifeforms than any other ecosystem on Earth, have already been lost in the last few decades and many marine experts believe all coral reefs could end up being wiped out before the end of the century.

Similarly, a quarter of all mammals, a fifth of all reptiles and a seventh of all birds are headed toward oblivion. And these losses are occurring all over the planet, from the South Pacific to the Arctic and from the deserts of Africa to mountaintops and valleys of the Himalayas.

A blizzard of extinctions is now sweeping Earth and has become a fact of modern life. Yet the idea that entire species can be wiped out is relatively new. When fossils of strange creatures – such as the mastodon – were first dug up, they were assumed to belong to creatures that still lived in other lands. Extant versions lived elsewhere, it was argued. “Such is the economy of nature,” claimed Thomas Jefferson, who backed expeditions to find mastodons in the unexplored interior of America.

Then the French anatomist Georges Cuvier showed that the elephant-like remains of the mastodon were actually those of an “espèce perdue” or lost species. “On the basis of a few scattered bones, Cuvier conceived of a whole new way of looking at life,” notes Elizabeth Kolbert in her book, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History. “Species died out. This was not an isolated but a widespread phenomenon.”

Since then the problem has worsened with every decade, as the Nature analysis makes clear. Humans began by wiping out mastodons and mammoths in prehistoric times. Then they moved on to the eradication of great auks, passenger pigeons – once the most abundant bird in North America – and the dodo in historical time. And finally, in recent times, we have been responsible for the disappearance of the golden toad, the thylacine – or Tasmanian tiger – and the Baiji river dolphin. Thousands more species are now under threat.

In an editorial, Nature argues that it is now imperative that governments and groups such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature begin an urgent and accurate census of numbers of species on the planet and their rates of extinction. It is not the most exciting science, the journal admits, but it is vitally important if we want to start protecting life on Earth from the worst impacts of our actions. The loss for the planet is incalculable – as it is for our own species which could soon find itself living in a world denuded of all variety in nature. As ecologist Paul Ehrlich has put it: “In pushing other species to extinction, humanity is busy sawing off the limb on which it perches.”

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/dec/14/earth-faces-sixth-great-extinction-with-41-of-amphibians-set-to-go-the-way-of-the-dodo

Mahler

Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection", Leonard Bernstein

Terrorismo

"My trip to Al-Qaeda", Lawrence Wright (Trailer)

Vida

Two-year-old Samson, a Barbary lion, undergoing a (big) CAT scan at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Pedro Nunes

"Das Lied von der Erde"

3. "Von der Jugend" ("Of Youth")

Mitten in dem kleinen Teiche Steht ein Pavillon aus grünem Und aus weißem Porzellan. Wie der Rücken eines Tigers Wölbt die Brücke sich aus Jade Zu dem Pavillon hinüber. In dem Häuschen sitzen Freunde, Schön gekleidet, trinken, plaudern. Manche schreiben Verse nieder. Ihre seidnen Ärmel gleiten Rückwärts, ihre seidnen Mützen Hocken lustig tief im Nacken. Auf des kleinen Teiches stiller Wasserfläche zeigt sich alles Wunderlich im Spiegelbilde. Alles auf dem Kopfe stehend In dem Pavillon aus grünem Und aus weißem Porzellan; Wie ein Halbmond steht die Brücke, Umgekehrt der Bogen. Freunde, Schön gekleidet, trinken, plaudern.

In the middle of the little pond stands a pavilion of green and white porcelain. Like the back of a tiger arches the jade bridge over to the pavilion. Friends sit in the little house well dressed, drinking, chatting. some writing verses. Their silk sleeves glide backwards, their silk caps rest gaily at the napes of their necks. On the small pond’s still surface, everything shows whimsical in mirror image. Everything stands on its head in the pavilion of green and white porcelain. Like a half-moon is the bridge its arch upturned. Friends well dressed, drinking, chatting.

Jesus da Nazaré

"Legends, Fictions, and Manuscripts that Illustrate Christ's Story", Bart Ehrman

Tamar

"Judah and Tamar", school of Rembrandt (1650-60)

Isaac Babel

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory."

Isaiah 6:3

"The Congress" de Ari Folman

Trailer (2014)

Vida

A photo of a southern stingray taken just below the surface of the water  in Grand Cayman.

Joaquim Carreira

O padre Joaquim Carreira abrigou judeus durante a ocupação nazi de Roma, entre Setembro de 1943 e Julho de 1944, quando era reitor do Colégio Pontifício Português da capital italiana. Será o quarto português a entrar na lista do Yad Vashem, o Memorial do Holocausto de Jerusalém.

Antes do antigo reitor, já três portugueses tinham sido declarados "Justos" pelo Yad Vashem, numa lista com mais de 25 mil nomes. Para além de Aristides de Sousa Mendes, o cônsul que em Bordéus atribuiu vistos a mais de dez mil judeus em fuga (e cuja história é a única de um português contada no site do Yad Vashem), está lá Carlos Sampayo Garrido, embaixador em Budapeste que deu documentos portugueses a centenas de judeus e os colocou em residências da embaixada. Um terceiro nome aparece listado como francês — trata-se do operário português que salvou uma menina judia em França, José Brito Mendes, e que tinha dupla nacionalidade. Os “Justos” recebem uma medalha cunhada com o seu nome e um certificado de honra, para além de terem os seus nomes acrescentados ao Mural de Honra do Jardim dos Justos do Memorial do Holocausto. O Yad Vashem pode ainda “conceder a cidadania honorária ou a cidadania póstuma se já tiverem morrido”. A cerimónia de entrega da medalha e do certificado a familiares do padre Carreira ainda não está marcada, mas deverá acontecer na primeira metade de 2015, na embaixada de Israel em Lisboa.

Paulo

Paul's Travels Map

Tamar

"The Heroism of Tamar" (Vayeshev), Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

Abraham Joshua Heschel

""Why Amazement Matters", Shai Held

Mahler

Symphony No. 1 "Titan", Leonard Bernstein

Moshe Halbertal

Moshe Halbertal, Raghida Dergham: "Achieving a Two-State Solution"

Bobowa Synagogue

Historic Bobowa Synagogue from 1778

"Regarding Susan Sontag"

Trailer

Giorgio Perlasca

Vida

An orange painted frogfish (Antennarius pictus) - measuring the size of a golf-ball - waits to ambush prey disguised as a sponge (Bitung, North Sulawesi, Indonesia)

"The Death of Klinghoffer"

Official Met Trailer

Morte

A company is offering a funeral service which is out of this world - by sending the ashes of loved ones into space. Ashes travel up on a weather balloon, with GoPro cameras attached so people can watch, before being scattered at the edge of space. The particles will hang around in the atmosphere for a while before falling back to Earth as part of rain or snowfall.

 

Ben-Gurion

"Being Ben-Gurion", Anita Shapira

"Das Lied von der Erde"

2. "Der Einsame im Herbst" ("The Lonely One in Autumn")

 

Herbstnebel wallen bläulich überm See; Vom Reif bezogen stehen alle Gräser; Man meint, ein Künstler habe Staub von Jade Über die feinen Blüten ausgestreut. Der süße Duft der Blumen ist verflogen; Ein kalter Wind beugt ihre Stengel nieder. Bald werden die verwelkten, gold’nen Blätter Der Lotosblüten auf dem Wasser zieh’n. Mein Herz ist müde. Meine kleine Lampe Erlosch mit Knistern, es gemahnt mich an den Schlaf. Ich komm’ zu dir, traute Ruhestätte! Ja, gib mir Ruh’, ich hab’ Erquickung not! Ich weine viel in meinen Einsamkeiten. Der Herbst in meinem Herzen währt zu lange. Sonne der Liebe willst du nie mehr scheinen, Um meine bittern Tränen mild aufzutrocknen?

Autumn fog creeps bluishly over the lake. Every blade of grass stands frosted. As though an artist had jade-dust over the fine flowers strewn. The sweet fragrance of flower has passed; A cold wind bows their stems low. Soon will the wilted, golden petals of lotus flowers upon the water float. My heart is tired. My little lamp expires with a crackle, minding me to sleep. I come to you, trusted resting place. Yes, give me rest, I have need of refreshment! I weep often in my loneliness. Autumn in my heart lingers too long. Sun of love, will you no longer shine to gently dry up my bitter tears?

James Kugel

"The Book of Jubilees: the Oldest Commentary on the Book of Genesis"

Aharon Barak

"Waltz With Bashir"

"Waltz with Bashir", Ari Folman (2008)

Árvores

Branches of a tree covered with ice near Amstall in northern Austria

Israel

"Israel at the Crossroads of Democracy, Nationalism, and Religion", Moshe Halbertal

Violência

"The Parable of the Tribes" (Vayishlach), Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

Arthur Green

"Sacred Silence from the Jewish Perspective"

Imigrantes

(Melilla)

Vida

This is the moment a lucky seal escaped certain death - avoiding a great white shark's jaws by inches.

Beethoven

Complete Piano Concertos (Alfred Brendel)

Portbou

"Das Lied von der Erde"

1. "Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde" ("The Drinking Song of Earth's Misery")

 

Schon winkt der Wein im gold'nen Pokale, Doch trinkt noch nicht, erst sing’ ich euch ein Lied! Das Lied vom Kummer soll auflachend in die Seele euch klingen. Wenn der Kummer naht, liegen wüst die Gärten der Seele, Welkt hin und stirbt die Freude, der Gesang. Dunkel ist das Leben, ist der Tod. Herr dieses Hauses! Dein Keller birgt die Fülle des goldenen Weins! Hier, diese Laute nenn’ ich mein! Die Laute schlagen und die Gläser leeren, Das sind die Dingen, die zusammen passen. Ein voller Becher Weins zur rechten Zeit Ist mehr wert, als alle Reiche dieser Erde! Dunkel ist das Leben, ist der Tod! Das Firmament blaut ewig, und die Erde Wird lange fest steh’n und aufblüh’n im Lenz. Du aber, Mensch, wie lang lebst denn du? Nicht hundert Jahre darfst du dich ergötzen An all dem morschen Tande dieser Erde! Seht dort hinab! Im Mondschein auf den Gräbern Hockt eine wild-gespenstische Gestalt -- Ein Aff’ist’s! Hört ihr, wie sein Heulen Hinausgellt in den süßen Duft des Lebens! Jetzt nehmt den Wein! Jetzt ist es Zeit, Genossen! Leert eure gold’nen Becher zu Grund! Dunkel ist das Leben, ist der Tod!

The wine beckons in golden goblets but drink not yet; first I’ll sing you a song. The song of sorrow shall ring laughingly in your soul. When the sorrow comes, blasted lie the gardens of the soul, wither and perish joy and singing. Dark is life, dark is death. Master of this house, your cellar is full of golden wine! Here, this lute I call mine. The lute to strike and the glasses to drain, these things go well together. A full goblet of wine at the right time is worth more than all the kingdoms of this earth. Dark is life, dark is death. The heavens are ever blue and the Earth shall stand sure, and blossom in the spring. But you O man, what long life have you? Not a hundred years may you delight in all the rotten baubles of this earth. See down there! In the moonlight, on the graves squats a wild ghostly shape; an ape it is! Hear you his howl go out in the sweet fragrance of life. Now! Drink the wine! Now it is time comrades. Drain your golden goblets to the last. Dark is life, dark is death.

Guerra

"Gaza, the IDF Code of Ethics, and the Morality of War", Moshe Halbertal

Shilo

 "The Tabernacle Plateau"

MS St. Louis

MS St. Louis surrounded by smaller vessels in its homeport of Hamburg

Mahler

The small hut in Steinbach on the Attersee in Austria where Mahler composed his Second and Third Symphonies

Maimónides

"Maimonides on Mourning: Jewish Law and Emotion", Moshe Halbertal 

Walter Benjamin

"The Frankfurt School of Critical Theory" (Yale Course)

Vida

Ants carry a droplet of water, Mataram, Indonesia

Mendel Grossman

Two Jewish women kiss through a fence in the Lodz Ghetto, Poland.

"Fagin"

(Alec Guinness)

Media

"Israel in the Eyes of the Media" - Ethan Bronner, Daniel Gordis

Mahler

The Metropolitan Opera, New York, at around the time of Mahler's conductorship (1908–09)

Will Eisner

"A Contract with God" (1978)

Jon D. Levenson

"The Binding of Isaac, the Crucifixion, and Resurrection"