- Matzav.com - The Online Voice of Torah Jewry - http://matzav.com -
Lost Sentence of Talmud Yerushalmi Unearthed in Geneva
Posted By Matzav Editor On March 25, 2010 @ 9:10 AM In Breaking News, Jewish Community | 7 Comments
Manuscripts from the Cairo Genizah, the famous collection of ancient Jewish writings stored in Egypt, which were recently examined reveal new segments of Gemara, Mishnayos and more. Among the manuscripts was an entire sentence from the Talmud Yerushalami in Maseches Bikkurim which had been missing until now. The incorporation of the phrase in the Talmud Yerushalmi renders the Gemara understandable.
The manuscripts, which include 350 pages from the Cairo Genizah, were stored for some 100 years in a tin can in the Geneva University that no one knew existed. Greek papyrus experts recently discovered the tin can and employed the services of Hebrew Univesity’s Prof. David Rosenthal of the Talmud Department.
Rosenthal recently published a book containing some of the newly discovered segments together with accompanying analyses.
“The Cairo Genizah included any tattered Jewish book, which means it contains a variety of literature. There were texts we didn’t know existed and each one is important,” Rosenthal explained.
“The Talmud Yerushalmi we know is based on a single manuscript and therefore any ancient Genizah segment we find it extremely important. What we found in the Geneva collection is a sentence which didn’t appear in the versions we know of.”
Apart from the Talmud Yerushalmi, the manuscripts found also contained other sources such as a piece from Rav Saadia Gaon’s Sefer Hagalui, as well as poetry and liturgy.
”The 20th century has given us two great discoveries. One is the Dead Sea Scrolls and the other is the unearthing of parts of the Cairo Genizah,” Prof. Rosenthal said.
”The segments in the Genizah exposed us to many new writings we had no knowledge of, and equally as important - introduced us to different versions of known text. Therein lays the importance of the pages found in Geneva.”
{Yair Alpert-Matzav.com Israel/Ynet}
Article printed from Matzav.com - The Online Voice of Torah Jewry: http://matzav.com
URL to article: http://matzav.com/lost-sentence-of-talmud-yerushalmi-unearthed-in-geneva
Click here to print.
Copyright © 2009 Matzav.com - The Online Voice of Torah Jewry. All rights reserved.
Rabbi Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer הרב יוסף גבריאל בקהופר
Friday, March 26, 2010
Platonic Friendships
This was an essay I edited for use in The Academy News when they approached me to contribute something concerning co-educational relationships and activities. To make the essay "appropriate," I edited it severely. The original is at http://xenlogic.wordpress.com/2007/12/02/men-for-dummies.
The World According to Xenocrates: Men for Dummies
“Men and women can only be friends once there is absolutely no sexual attraction between them.”
- Xenocrates
Why is it that when it comes to friendships with men, that women can’t understand that there is and always will be sexual intent in a man’s relations with her? It’s not even something that we premeditatively desire. It’s just there – like a sting in the back of our minds, slowly driving us mad. Even if the relationship is purely professional and they never see each other again until the next seminar or meeting, EVERY man thinks about every woman he sees that is not directly related to him as a sexual object before he sees her as anything else – even if that woman is his boss. Men are hardwired to sexually objectify women. We do it every single time we see an even moderately attractive woman. The process is so automatic and happens so fast, that most men aren’t even consciously aware of it when it happens. If you’re a man reading this, think of every woman in your office that is even remotely attractive. I’m sure there’s at least one. Now imagine if you weren’t married or otherwise engaged. Do you realize where you thoughts went just for a second there? Yeah. You know what I’m talking about.
Women out there probably won’t be able to relate to this, since women can become such good friends with a man that the thought of... [intimacy] never enters her mind – ever. Women can be... duds like that. That’s the most fascinating thing about them for me; women have to be “switched” on... It either happens if you bring enough chemistry to the table when you first meet one or you meet her physical requirements the first time she sees you. Men however, are just on 24-7, whether or not we want to think about it. Now that’s one of the crucial things that most women fail to understand when they decide to have guy friends. They don’t realize that men were simply not designed to be friends with women unless the level of attraction is positively zero. In fact, whenever a man sees a woman for the first time, several things automatically happen in his head at the speed of thought:
He checks her shape – He does a quick symmetrical analysis of her body’s curvature. Calculations of gradients under each curve happen at lightning’s pace.
Inventory – He does a quick check of key vitals... His brain quickly records all this information for future reference. Yes – there’s always a future reference.
Comparison Chart – After enumerating her inventory, the man’s brain automatically compares his numbers against his shopping list. This is a list of key items in the perfect woman in his mind. If he is already involved, he compares her with that girl.
Decision – If her statistics match or exceed his perfect woman chart stats, his brain starts to produce a neurotransmitter called Serotonin, that incites his brain’s pleasure center. If not, she is instantly discarded as a potential. Even when he is already engaged with another woman, women who fit his comparison chart are relegated to a waiting list... Even if a man has no intention of engaging the woman... [intimately], his brain does this processing anyway. Every man does this to virtually every ... eligible woman he meets – even women that are just friends. And that is where the trouble is…
Can men and women be friends? Sure - just like lions and gazelles. If a lion isn’t hungry, the gazelle is safe – just like in that Disney animated movie where predator and prey sing and dance together like duplicitous morons high on crack. So long as there is absolutely no sexual attraction between them, men and women can be ‘just friends’ for as long as they feel like fooling themselves. However, men were not designed to ‘befriend’ women...
In fact, just like in the animal kingdom, men can make deeper bonds with other men than women, because they can share that same powerful hunter instinct with their kinsmen. You don’t see lions and deer sharing a joke over coffee, or an eagle and a mouse trading cooking secrets...
Women believe that they can make friends with any man - even when they know those men are attracted to them. This is a logical fallacy... Only nice guys fall for this psychological delusion. You can spot nice guys by the high number of female friends they have. These are men who readily befriend women in the hopes that one day, they will get lucky... They are effectively playing a numbers game, while their women folk think they have a nice, innocent, completely platonic relationship with them. They would even swear by it. Silly, naive women.
Women need to understand that whether he’s a nice guy or an alpha male, no single man in his right mind wants to be “just friends”. Not a single one of them...
Ladies, now that you know what’s on our minds (as if you didn’t already know), then think carefully the next time you tell a guy that you just want to be friends. It’s probably not worth it. In fact, if you respect your male friend, just turn him down firmly but gently. It’ll make a man out of him yet. I know a lot of you women treat this information with broken hearts. Some of you become perplexed as to why a man would walk away from a perfectly decent friendship – it’s simple: There are other women out there that would be more than willing to give him what he’s looking for. Why waste his energy on the one woman who won’t? That’s crazy. If that sounds too harsh, then that’s because it’s true...
Men and women can be friends only under the following circumstances:
If the woman outrightly fails the man’s instant four stage objectification analysis. In other words, she is ... unattractive.
If the man has identified another woman that far exceeds the scoring of the prospective female friend.
If the woman is married or otherwise engaged to a male friend – or at the very least, a male who he respects.
If the woman has children and he doesn’t want kids, yet...
That’s how it works ladies. So stop whining about us and our complaints about being “just friends”. So long as a... possibility [of intimacy] exists, we don’t want to be just friends.
An Opinion Piece on Attending Secular Colleges
To be published in the forthcoming issue of MTA's student newspaper The Academy News:
And when you examine the matter you will see that only connecting to G-d constitutes true perfection. And that is what King David says: “And I, for me 'good' consists of closeness to the Lord.” And he [also] says: “One request I have asked of G-d, that [thing] I seek, that I sit in the house of G-d all the days of my life...” For this alone constitutes “good,” and any other thing that people think constitutes “good” is but vapid and naught, [leading them] astray. However, in order for man to attain this “good,” it behooves him first to toil and attempt with his efforts to acquire it. And this is by striving to connect to Him, may He be blessed, through deeds that bring about this matter, and these [deeds] are mitzvos.
(Mesillas Yesharim, Chapter 1)
“One request I have asked of G-d” – I do not ask for many things when new needs arise, for [were that the case], a person would have to ask for different things at different times – viz., health, sustenance, salvation from enemies, etc. Rather, I have only asked for one request in the past, and that same request I will ask in the future, for this request encompasses all requests. And that is: “That I sit in the house of G-d all the days of my life...”
(Malbim, Tehillim 27:4)
The question of which college or university one should attend is an important issue, and arguments can be made pro and con secular institutions. However, to paraphrase the Malbim, there is an overriding issue that encompasses all other issues: How will my secular education and my career choice mesh with with the core and critical value of Shivti b'Beis Hashem kol yemei chayai? What quantity and what quality of learning suffice to fulfill my purpose in life? What kind of environment do I need to ensure that my Yiras Shomayim and Avodas Hashem are in sync with my all-encompassing quest of Shivti b'Beis Hashem? And, even more importantly, is my main ambition, that which I seek in life, a holistic synthesis that makes as many of my pursuits as possible reflect that core value and all encompassing quest? Granted, we are human, and far from perfect, but we have to optimize...
In short, the choice of college or university must be informed by several intertwined values (not in any specific order):
Optimizing Talmud Torah.
Safeguarding Yiras Shomayim.
Defining a personal fulfillment of Shivti b'Beis Hashem.
Syncing education and career with ultimate purpose in life.
Avodas Hashem and Kiddush Hashem.
A final point: In Hamlet, Polonius exhorts his son Laertes: “This above all: to thine own self be true...” Easy to say, but hard to practice. As the Ba'alei Mussar teach us, we far too often are rendered incapable of objectivity by our vested interests (“negi'os”). It is therefore obviously advisable to consult in such matters with a Rebbe or other mentor who knows you, and who you know to possess the ultimately proper values. Such consultation will likely make it easier to perceive the Ratzon Hashem. May He guide us in the right pathways throughout our lives.
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)