Purim!

Stamford Hill, © Estelle Hanania

  

Christine Hayes

"Divine Law: A Tale of Two Concepts and Three Responses"

Hamantaschen

Dario

The Behistun Inscription, describing conquests of Darius the Great in Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian languages. 

These reliefs and texts are engraved in a cliff on Mount Behistun (present Kermanshah Province, Iran).

Música

"Concepts of Music in Jewish Mysticism", Moshe Idel

Tolerância

"The Religious Origins of Toleration in Enlightenment Europe", David Sorkin

Mishneh Torah

 

"Mishneh Torah", Maimonides (1180), copied in Spain, illuminated in Perugia (c. 1400)

A typical decorated opening page for the "Book of Love [of God]." The illustration on the top initial-word panel shows a man embracing a Torah scroll. In the lower margin another man is reciting the shema before going to bed. This is one of the most sumptuous manuscripts of the Mishneh Torah. In the absence of colophon, it can be inferred from the script that the manuscript was copied either in Spain or southern France in the first half of the 14th century (in any case, before 1351, when the codex was sold in Avignon). The scribe's name was probably Isaac, since this name is decorated in several places in the text. The manuscript was illuminated in burnished gold and lively wash colors by a skilled non-Jewish artist of Perugia, Matteo di Ser Cambio.

"Illuminated Manuscripts" by Bezalel Narkiss, Encyclopedia Judaica, Jerusalem (1969)

Isaías

"Has Archaeological Evidence of Isaiah the Prophet been Discovered?"

All love that is dependent on a particular thing,
when the thing ceases, the love ceases.
All love that isn't dependent on a particular thing,
it will never cease.
Which is a love dependent on a particular thing?
The love of Amnon and Tamar.
Which is a love not dependent on a particular thing?
The love of David and Jonathan.

Avot 5:19
(JPS)

Chava Rosenfarb

Vida

Short-Eared Owl

Rabbi Lawrence Kushner

"Jewish Spirituality & Mysticism"

Polónia

"The Crime and the Silence", Anna Bikont (2015)

Copper Scroll

(Detail of a replica)

Christine Hayes

"On modern notions of God"

Império Selêucida

The Seleucid Empire in 200 BCE (before expansion into Anatolia and Greece)

Nigun

"Ech Ti Zimlak" (Russian version of "Echad Mi Iodea")

Vida

Hellbender salamanders

Jerusalém

"Birds Head Haggada" (circa 1300)

Jónatas

"Jonathan embraces David", Caspar Luiken (1712)

Sofer STaM

סופר סת״ם‬ (Jerusalem, 1958)

Império Selêucida

 

The empire at its greatest extent and on the eve of the death of Seleucus I (281 BCE)

Turn it and turn it, for all is in it.
Reflect on it, grow old and gray with it, and do not leave it.
For you will have no better guide than it.

Avot 5:25

Vida

Bob Dylan

"Gotta Serve Somebody"

"You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody

You might be a rock ’n’ roll addict prancing on the stage
You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage
You may be a businessman or some high-degree thief
They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody

You may be a state trooper, you might be a young Turk
You may be the head of some big TV network
You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame
You may be living in another country under another name

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody

You may be a construction worker working on a home
You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome
You might own guns and you might even own tanks
You might be somebody’s landlord, you might even own banks

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody

You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side
You may be workin’ in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair
You may be somebody’s mistress, may be somebody’s heir

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody

Might like to wear cotton, might like to wear silk
Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk
You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread
You may be sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a king-sized bed

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody

You may call me Terry, you may call me Timmy
You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy
You may call me R.J., you may call me Ray
You may call me anything but no matter what you say

You’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody" 

 

Revolução Francesa

"Were Jews central to the French Revolution?", David Sorkin

Tu B'Av

Calendário de Gezer

 

Replica of the Gezer calendar in Israel Museum, Israel (10th century BCE)

Martha Nussbaum

Martha Nussbaum on Creating Capabilities

Polónia

"Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland", Jan Gross (2001)

Vida

Mountain hare

Balaam

"Balaam and his Ass", Rembrandt (1626)

Winston Churchill

"Their Finest Hour" Speech (1940)

Albert Einstein

"Inside Einstein's Mind - The Enigma of Space and Time" (2015)

Jerusalém

Jerusalem (1920-1939)

Leningrad Codex

Closeup of Leningrad Codex, Exodus 15:21-16:3 (1008 CE)

Sholem Aleichem

"The Remarkable Life and Afterlife of Sholem Aleichem"

Vida

Great egret

Moses Mendelssohn

"Why Moses Mendelssohn Matters", Michah Gottlieb & David Sorkin

Musar

"A Musar Perspective on the Good Life", Rabbi Shai Held

Arthur Szyk

(circa 1945)

Leonard Cohen

"Bird on the Wire"

"Like a bird on the wire,
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
Like a worm on a hook,
Like a knight from some old fashioned book
I have saved all my ribbons for thee.
If I, if I have been unkind,
I hope that you can just let it go by.
If I, if I have been untrue
I hope you know it was never to you.

Like a baby, stillborn,
Like a beast with his horn
I have torn everyone who reached out for me.
But I swear by this song
And by all that I have done wrong
I will make it all up to thee.
I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch,
He said to me, "You must not ask for so much."
And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door,
She cried to me, "Hey, why not ask for more?"

Oh like a bird on the wire,
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free"

 

Phoenician	Paleo-Hebrew	Samaritan	Hebrew	(English name)
		ࠀ	א	Aleph
		ࠁ	ב	Bet
		ࠂ	ג	Gimel
		ࠃ	ד	Dalet
		ࠄ	ה	He
		ࠅ	ו	Waw
		ࠆ	ז	Zayin
		ࠇ	ח	Heth
		ࠈ	ט	Teth
		ࠉ	י	Yodh
		ࠊ	כ/ך	Kaph
		ࠋ	ל	Lamedh
		ࠌ	מ/ם	Mem
		ࠍ	נ/ן	Nun
		ࠎ	ס	Samekh
		ࠏ	ע	Ayin
		ࠐ	פ/ף	Pe
		ࠑ	צ/ץ	Tsade
		ࠒ	ק	Qoph
		ࠓ	ר	Resh
		ࠔ	ש	Shin
		ࠕ	ת	Taw