Today is Tuesday, Feburary 3rd, 2009 and it is now 5:30 AM here in the Philippines.
I will skip "music" this time around, have not been listening as of late but "reading" wise I am into a fictional piece by 2 Princton grads, Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason "The Rule of Four." A piece rather similar to Dan rown's "DaVinci Code" which was a horrid piece of nonsense both as a book and with regard to its ridiculous subject matter.
"DaVinci Code" of course, made into a blockbuster movie with Tom Hanks is about Opus Dei the ultra-consiervative Roman Catholic organisation and in the story the organisation is protector of a centuries old secret. The mystery? Jesus' favourite disciple was , according to the tale, Mary Magdalene, his WIFE.
It revolves around a fictitious group called "The Priory of Zion," a European group dedicated to protecting that earth shattering secret and to protect the result of that "fact": Mary was pregnant when Jesus bit the bullet and made her way to France (hahahah) where she sired the founder of a major French dynasty.
Various luminaries are supposed to have been the "Priors" of the "Priory of Zion." Such disaprate people as Sir Isaac Newton, Leonardo DaVinci and so on. DaVinci supposedly shows the "secrtet" in his famed painting "The Last Supper."
It is true that if you look at the painting, especially at the restored copy, the person sitting next to Jesus at the table of the Last Supper DOES look eerily like a female but then old Leonardo was gay and the figure COULD represet a number of things.
About 30 odd years ago a down on his luck Frenchman came up with the idea to perpertuate a fraud involving this entire story along with a buddy while drinking (well that explains it then!) and of course got umpteenth public attention and controversy, more than he ever bargained for. The short term result was a British author purporting to wirte a non-fiction piece on this convoluted tale, and this was the basis of Brown's "DaVinci Code."
Too bad because masochistic albinos do make interesting literary characters, better than what is happening with alinos now in Africa; In East Central Africa, especially in Tanzania, traditional healers are making a fast buck on the sale of albino body parts. The truly horrid aspect is that some people are actually walking into peoples' homes and lopping off breasts, etc. of albinos in order to gain these accoutrements!
The problem is so rampant that the leader of the country has gone ahead and adopted an albino orphan to show that albinos "derserve love too" awwwwwww, so heartwarming. I guess all those fisherman who tie albino hairs into their fishing nets will soon be shit out of luck.
60% of the population in the country rely on traditional shaman (i.e. "Witch Doctors") who are liscensed by the govt. Sadly, the govt. has had a knee jerk reaction ad illegalised ALL traditional healers! What a topsy turvy world.
Anyway, the book I am reading is pretty good so far, especially since I pretty much find ALL fiction as putrid as can be save very small amounts of historically accurate Historical Fiction. "The Rule Of Four" is about a Europen manuscript that originated in pre-Renaissance Italy and has entranced centuries of curious minds, and ends up as a murder mystery. Truth be told I am only into it about 30 odd pages but have found it palatable thus far.
It has been quiet for a day or two, not even artillery, which has been steadily trucked in is running at the moment. I have still been in and about the compound, not trusting things quite yet but do want to do some planting soon (veggies, nothing illicit hahahah).
Raining steadily as it has for about 4 months now which would be fine by me except we will lose a rice crop this year and it is never something positive when so many will go hungry and otherwise suffer. We can weather the downturn, thank G-D but so many here truly live hand to mouth and there will be more dying come spring.
On that cheerful note, I though I would talk about myself a bit since Journals are 86d as the saying goes.
My full name is Rachamim Ra'anan Ben Ami. it is Hebrew and means "Very Compassionate and Inspired Son of My People."
The "Ben Ami" surname, which means "Son of Mt People" literally, was given to my family by my father in and around Israeli Independance
(nineteen fourty eight). It was the custom amongst ardent Zionists to Hebracise or judacise their names as the case maybe.
My dad's original surname was "Dwek" which is an Arabic surname. It can be spelled as "Dweick" or more often, in the West, "Dweck." My dad was born in Hebron, in what is today called the "West Bank" but as with any person born in the British Mandate, his birthplace is listed ad "Palestine," a country that has never existed.
In 1929, when my dad was just a very young boy his dad (my own paternal granddad) was holding his eldest son (my eldest uncle) when he was stabbed to death and decapitated. My uncle was ripped limb from limb while alive. Both were buried in a mass grave by the British who came days after the Arab onslaught and then deported the entire Jewish Community that had lived there since the Bibile was still orally transmitted.
My patrilineal genealogy is dated only to the early 10th Century CE/AD but by our best estimation we are a clan that never went into Exile when our country fell in the 2nd Century CE/AD, to the Romans.
My mum was born in Bessarabia, an area in what is now within the nation of Moldova (actually contested by Russia). The region had been fought over since time immemorial, and had usually been under Turkish dominion for the last 3 to 400 years before her birth, although since WWI had been in the Soviet orbit.
Mum's family originally came from Spain, but by her birh in 1932 had long been adapted to the majority Ashkenazi Jewish Culture, specifically Bratzlav Chassidic culture. In English it is usually referred to as "Breslov Hassdic Culture."
Jews from Spain are normally known as "Sephardim," which literally means "Spanish" in Hebrew. In 1492 CE/AD, the same year Colmbus set sail, the Spanish Monarchy expelled all Jews from the kingdom, and at the same time the Ottoman (Turkish) Sultan allowed many to settle in his kingdom, which as I said included most of the time anyway, Bessarabia.
They migrated eastward into the Ottoman lands. At that same time a major branch of my father's ancestry also suffered Spanish expulsion and made their way to Turkish ruled "Palestine," and ended up marrying into my father's main branch in the 1500s.
So, unlike most Jews I have Ashkenaz, Sephard AND Mirzrach ancestry! "Mizrach" means "East" and is applied to those Jews who never left the Middle-East when our nation lost its sovereignity in the 2nd Century CE/AD. It has been valuable to me in learning many different Jewish perspectives, much more than most other Jews.
Bessarabia, where my mum was born fell to the Nazis and my mum while still a girl was interred in the Death Camps. She obviously survived, and after a long period in a British Refugee Camp where she had been interned while trying to move to Mandate Palestine utilised the services of a matchmaker, entering into an Arranged Marriage with my father. She had wanted to make her way to the US where she had cousins who had emigrated years earlier, not having any other surviving family but the US didn't care much for Jewish Refugees (wait, don't Jews run America?)..
My father meanwhile, was raised in Damascus after his family had been deported by the British, from Hebron. All Jews from Hebron were at first taken to a Camp in Jerusalem, and from there parceled ot wherever it was easiest for the Brits. Aleppo was home to the main branch of our Clan and so it was there his mum and he went to live for a short while before migrating down to Damascus.
In 47 when violence reached fever pitch in Syria, against the Jews, many went to the safest harbour, the land that is now Israel. My dad was matched in marrage already and took his first wife with him back to the land of his birth, along with his mum, my grandmum.
He joined the nascent Haganah, the organisation that would soon become the IDF, and while fighting in Jerusalem he decided to change our surname to "Ben Ami." Unfortunately his first wife was killed in an act of terrorism in the leadup to the War of Independance, never having borne him children.
He fought again in Egypt in 56, and after that war worked as truck driver for a few months before looking for better pay in the US due to my mum egging I'm on. At the time there wasn't a chance in hell of a non-English speaking Jew gaining a visa so he took the only avenue available, enlisting in the US Navy.
After he finished his second hitch in the early 1960s he brought my mum and eldest brothers over from Israel for what was supposed to be at most, five years. I was born in 67, one of 11 children. We soon moved in with my dad's mum in Brooklyn (NYC), a neighbourhood called Midwood (Ocean Avenue and Aveneue M, 1818 Ocean Ave. actually).
I will continue shortly...
I will skip "music" this time around, have not been listening as of late but "reading" wise I am into a fictional piece by 2 Princton grads, Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason "The Rule of Four." A piece rather similar to Dan rown's "DaVinci Code" which was a horrid piece of nonsense both as a book and with regard to its ridiculous subject matter.
"DaVinci Code" of course, made into a blockbuster movie with Tom Hanks is about Opus Dei the ultra-consiervative Roman Catholic organisation and in the story the organisation is protector of a centuries old secret. The mystery? Jesus' favourite disciple was , according to the tale, Mary Magdalene, his WIFE.
It revolves around a fictitious group called "The Priory of Zion," a European group dedicated to protecting that earth shattering secret and to protect the result of that "fact": Mary was pregnant when Jesus bit the bullet and made her way to France (hahahah) where she sired the founder of a major French dynasty.
Various luminaries are supposed to have been the "Priors" of the "Priory of Zion." Such disaprate people as Sir Isaac Newton, Leonardo DaVinci and so on. DaVinci supposedly shows the "secrtet" in his famed painting "The Last Supper."
It is true that if you look at the painting, especially at the restored copy, the person sitting next to Jesus at the table of the Last Supper DOES look eerily like a female but then old Leonardo was gay and the figure COULD represet a number of things.
About 30 odd years ago a down on his luck Frenchman came up with the idea to perpertuate a fraud involving this entire story along with a buddy while drinking (well that explains it then!) and of course got umpteenth public attention and controversy, more than he ever bargained for. The short term result was a British author purporting to wirte a non-fiction piece on this convoluted tale, and this was the basis of Brown's "DaVinci Code."
Too bad because masochistic albinos do make interesting literary characters, better than what is happening with alinos now in Africa; In East Central Africa, especially in Tanzania, traditional healers are making a fast buck on the sale of albino body parts. The truly horrid aspect is that some people are actually walking into peoples' homes and lopping off breasts, etc. of albinos in order to gain these accoutrements!
The problem is so rampant that the leader of the country has gone ahead and adopted an albino orphan to show that albinos "derserve love too" awwwwwww, so heartwarming. I guess all those fisherman who tie albino hairs into their fishing nets will soon be shit out of luck.
60% of the population in the country rely on traditional shaman (i.e. "Witch Doctors") who are liscensed by the govt. Sadly, the govt. has had a knee jerk reaction ad illegalised ALL traditional healers! What a topsy turvy world.
Anyway, the book I am reading is pretty good so far, especially since I pretty much find ALL fiction as putrid as can be save very small amounts of historically accurate Historical Fiction. "The Rule Of Four" is about a Europen manuscript that originated in pre-Renaissance Italy and has entranced centuries of curious minds, and ends up as a murder mystery. Truth be told I am only into it about 30 odd pages but have found it palatable thus far.
It has been quiet for a day or two, not even artillery, which has been steadily trucked in is running at the moment. I have still been in and about the compound, not trusting things quite yet but do want to do some planting soon (veggies, nothing illicit hahahah).
Raining steadily as it has for about 4 months now which would be fine by me except we will lose a rice crop this year and it is never something positive when so many will go hungry and otherwise suffer. We can weather the downturn, thank G-D but so many here truly live hand to mouth and there will be more dying come spring.
On that cheerful note, I though I would talk about myself a bit since Journals are 86d as the saying goes.
My full name is Rachamim Ra'anan Ben Ami. it is Hebrew and means "Very Compassionate and Inspired Son of My People."
The "Ben Ami" surname, which means "Son of Mt People" literally, was given to my family by my father in and around Israeli Independance
(nineteen fourty eight). It was the custom amongst ardent Zionists to Hebracise or judacise their names as the case maybe.
My dad's original surname was "Dwek" which is an Arabic surname. It can be spelled as "Dweick" or more often, in the West, "Dweck." My dad was born in Hebron, in what is today called the "West Bank" but as with any person born in the British Mandate, his birthplace is listed ad "Palestine," a country that has never existed.
In 1929, when my dad was just a very young boy his dad (my own paternal granddad) was holding his eldest son (my eldest uncle) when he was stabbed to death and decapitated. My uncle was ripped limb from limb while alive. Both were buried in a mass grave by the British who came days after the Arab onslaught and then deported the entire Jewish Community that had lived there since the Bibile was still orally transmitted.
My patrilineal genealogy is dated only to the early 10th Century CE/AD but by our best estimation we are a clan that never went into Exile when our country fell in the 2nd Century CE/AD, to the Romans.
My mum was born in Bessarabia, an area in what is now within the nation of Moldova (actually contested by Russia). The region had been fought over since time immemorial, and had usually been under Turkish dominion for the last 3 to 400 years before her birth, although since WWI had been in the Soviet orbit.
Mum's family originally came from Spain, but by her birh in 1932 had long been adapted to the majority Ashkenazi Jewish Culture, specifically Bratzlav Chassidic culture. In English it is usually referred to as "Breslov Hassdic Culture."
Jews from Spain are normally known as "Sephardim," which literally means "Spanish" in Hebrew. In 1492 CE/AD, the same year Colmbus set sail, the Spanish Monarchy expelled all Jews from the kingdom, and at the same time the Ottoman (Turkish) Sultan allowed many to settle in his kingdom, which as I said included most of the time anyway, Bessarabia.
They migrated eastward into the Ottoman lands. At that same time a major branch of my father's ancestry also suffered Spanish expulsion and made their way to Turkish ruled "Palestine," and ended up marrying into my father's main branch in the 1500s.
So, unlike most Jews I have Ashkenaz, Sephard AND Mirzrach ancestry! "Mizrach" means "East" and is applied to those Jews who never left the Middle-East when our nation lost its sovereignity in the 2nd Century CE/AD. It has been valuable to me in learning many different Jewish perspectives, much more than most other Jews.
Bessarabia, where my mum was born fell to the Nazis and my mum while still a girl was interred in the Death Camps. She obviously survived, and after a long period in a British Refugee Camp where she had been interned while trying to move to Mandate Palestine utilised the services of a matchmaker, entering into an Arranged Marriage with my father. She had wanted to make her way to the US where she had cousins who had emigrated years earlier, not having any other surviving family but the US didn't care much for Jewish Refugees (wait, don't Jews run America?)..
My father meanwhile, was raised in Damascus after his family had been deported by the British, from Hebron. All Jews from Hebron were at first taken to a Camp in Jerusalem, and from there parceled ot wherever it was easiest for the Brits. Aleppo was home to the main branch of our Clan and so it was there his mum and he went to live for a short while before migrating down to Damascus.
In 47 when violence reached fever pitch in Syria, against the Jews, many went to the safest harbour, the land that is now Israel. My dad was matched in marrage already and took his first wife with him back to the land of his birth, along with his mum, my grandmum.
He joined the nascent Haganah, the organisation that would soon become the IDF, and while fighting in Jerusalem he decided to change our surname to "Ben Ami." Unfortunately his first wife was killed in an act of terrorism in the leadup to the War of Independance, never having borne him children.
He fought again in Egypt in 56, and after that war worked as truck driver for a few months before looking for better pay in the US due to my mum egging I'm on. At the time there wasn't a chance in hell of a non-English speaking Jew gaining a visa so he took the only avenue available, enlisting in the US Navy.
After he finished his second hitch in the early 1960s he brought my mum and eldest brothers over from Israel for what was supposed to be at most, five years. I was born in 67, one of 11 children. We soon moved in with my dad's mum in Brooklyn (NYC), a neighbourhood called Midwood (Ocean Avenue and Aveneue M, 1818 Ocean Ave. actually).
I will continue shortly...