You don’t need a religion to do soul management, but having a sacred calendar certainly helps. Far from being an endless list of tasks, the Torah itself is a blueprint for management.Judaism, and especially Leviticus, wants us to build a civilization that prioritizes the parts of us that make us most human – our fragility, [...]
Today, Wednesday, the 20th day of the Jewish month of Menachem Av (August 21), marks 75 years since the untimely passing of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, of righteous memory, father of the Rebbe, of righteous memory. Rabbi , was respected as one of the greatest Talmudic and Kabbalistic scholars of his generation. He served as [...]
Hebrew as the irreplaceable language of Jewish expression is the second core value of Conservative Judaism. According to them its existence is coterminous with that of the Jewish people and the many layers of the language mirror the cultures in which Jews perpetuated Judaism. It was never merely a vehicle of communication, but part of [...]
To remember
- origin of Ashkenazi Jews, who come most recently from Europe > at least their maternal lineage may derive largely from Europe.
- finding contradicts notion that European Jews mostly descend from people who left Israel + Middle East around 2,000 years ago.
- substantial proportion of population originates from local Europeans who converted to Judaism
- Little known about history of Ashkenazi Jews before they were expelled from the Mediterranean + settled in what is now Poland around the 12th century.
- Ashkenazi Jews genetically as closely related to each other as fourth or fifth cousins
- Past research = 50 percent to 80 percent of DNA from Ashkenazi Y chromosome originated in the Near East => supports story wherein Jews came from Israel + largely eschewed intermarriage when they settled in Europe. [The Holy Land: 7 Amazing Archaeological Finds]
- historical documents tell slightly different tale > by time of destruction of Second Temple in A.D. 70 > 6 million Jews living in the Roman Empire > outside Israel, mainly in Italy and Southern Europe. <= only about 500,000 lived in Judea
- major Jewish communities were outside Judea
- four founders responsible for 40 percent of Ashkenazi mitochondrial DNA > originated in Europe.
- more than 80 percent of maternal lineages of Ashkenazi Jews traced to Europe, with only a few lineages originating in the Near East.
- debunk one of most questionable hypotheses: that most Ashkenazi Jews can trace their roots to mysterious Khazar Kingdom that flourished during the ninth century in region between Byzantine Empire + Persian Empire
- founding Ashkenazi women = converts from local European populations.
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Preceding
Where our life journey begins and inheritance of offices of parents
By Tia Ghose, Staff Writer | October 8, 2013
An Orthodox Jewish man with the traditional peyos, or long sidelocks.
Credit: Kobby Dagan / Shutterstock.com
The origin of the Ashkenazi Jews, who come most recently from Europe, has largely been shrouded in mystery. But a new study suggests that at least their maternal lineage may derive largely from Europe.
Though the finding may seem intuitive, it contradicts the notion that European Jews mostly descend from people who left Israel and the Middle East around 2,000 years ago. Instead, a substantial proportion of the population originates from local Europeans who converted to Judaism, said study co-author Martin Richards, an archaeogeneticist at the University of Huddersfield in England.
Little is known about the history of Ashkenazi Jews before they were expelled from the Mediterranean and settled in what is now Poland around the 12th century. On average, all Ashkenazi Jews are genetically…
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"Our own life journeys begin where the previous generation's journey ends, and this is the case throughout all the generations. This means that our own personal journeys began long ago, "along the Jordan from Beit Yeshimot to Avel Shittim, in the plains of Moav," (ibid 33:49) Israel's final point of departure in the wilderness. Together [...]
Heinrich Graetz, the greatest of nineteenth-century Jewish historians said “Judaism is not a religion of the present but of the future,” which looks “forward to the ideal future age . . . when the knowledge of God and the reign of justice and contentment shall have united all men in the bonds of brotherhood.” If [...]
At the origin of man the Divine Creator provided a world full of plants useful as food. Man was not so happy with it and wanted more variation and meat. God allowed such things but warned them about the good and bad meat or fish. God also gave man mitzvoth so that they could measure their wrong goings and should have a guide for their life. In his effort to play for God man has tried to muddle with genes and to create new hybrids. The understanding on genes and genomes, and ways to manipulate them has given many scientists extreme ideas, tending to distort and exaggerate the results or waving away the possible dangers for the next generations of plants and animals. Different kinds of risks, real benefits, aims and control systems are complicated and genuine discussion between people with different backgrounds is essential and should have to think very cautiously, wondering if we are not going to far. Not only genetic manipulation but also transporting food all over the world and producing it on industrial level should worry us and should make us to take the proper choice to protect the environment. Let us not forget that the Elohim wants us to be healthy – inside and out, living in a healthy clean environment always to know that a person is that what he eats.
Jacob Neusner (July 28, 1932 – October 8, 2016) American academic scholar of Judaism who had an exceptional prolific publishing output and was known both for his highly acerbic nature to some and his deeply affectionate loyalty to others.
The Divine Creator provided the greatest tool to learn what we should know, to make the best of our life, with His infallible Word, collected in 66 books, whereby 25% of the text is focussing on a Mashiach or Messiah, a Saviour for all mankind. For some people it may look an arcane language of ancient times not useful any more for our contemporary world. The written collection of order, instruction, or guide, issued by an authority much higher than any living being on this earth, may for many be not easily understood, abstruse or obscure, because they just not want to listen to the words like they are written down but prefer to listen to human doctrines which may confuse lots of people and bring a lot of false teachings into the world. The Bible is not at all arcane, requiring secret knowledge to be understood. One does not have to have a degree in theology to come to understand God's Word. To get to understand it and to get wisdom one needs to read it regularly and has to study those words given by the Most High, giving more attention to them than to words of so called theologians who prefer to hold on to human doctrines instead of Biblical doctrines.
Created in the image of God has every human being some elements or characteristics of the Elohim and has each individual the task to try to get all their characteristics in line with those of the Most High.
Immanuel Verbondskind - עמנואל קאָווענאַנט קינד 