An Untitled Novel, Part 7

Mytreetopper.com started to sell a Magen David tree topper for Christmas. I wanted to get one offline or even in a store in Baltimore if I could find one. My dad said no. "I am not Jewish. I do not care if you and your mother-- and your sisters-- are Jewish. Your brothers and me are not Jewish. So we will not get a Star of David tree topper. Besides, your mother's the one who lets you celebrate that holiday for the White man's messiah, and she doesn't even believe that he's the Jewish Messiah."


A similar occurrence took place when I wanted to put my electric menorah in the window for Hanukkah and asked him about it. "No!" he responded. But I even quoted from the Soncino Talmud, the Talmud Bavli equivalent of the Christian King James Bible, to explain why the menorah was to go in the window at least until we all went to bed each night-- actually, in the window l'kol Yamim-Hanukkah and turned on each night until we all went to bed:

"Our Rabbis taught: It is incumbent to place the Hanukkah lamp by the door of one's house on the outside;  if one dwells in an upper chamber, he places it at the window nearest the street. But in times of danger  it is sufficient to place it on the table. Raba said: Another lamp is required for its light to be used; yet if there is a blazing fire it is unnecessary. But in the case of an important person,even if there is a blazing fire another lamp is required.

"What is  Hanukkah? For our Rabbis taught: On the twenty-fifth of Kislew the days of Hanukkah, which are eight on which a lamentation for the dead and fasting are forbidden.  For when the Greeks entered the Temple, they defiled all the oils therein, and when the Hasmonean dynasty prevailed against and defeated them, they made search and found only one cruse of oil which lay with the seal of the High Priest,  but which contained sufficient for one day's lighting only; yet a miracle was wrought therein and they lit  therewith for eight days. The following year these  were appointed a Festival with Hallel  and thanksgiving."

My dad responded, "I and your brothers are not Jewish. It is not going in my window."

Intellectual Dishonesty and Word Games On the Part of Dr. Joel Hoffman

• The tenth Commandment, commonly but wrongly translated as "thou shalt not covet," illustrates how internal structure or etymology can be misleading. Like the English "host" and "hostile" that share a root but don't mean the same thing, the words for "desirable" and "take" in Hebrew come from the same root. It's the second word, "take," that appears in the Ten Commandments. But translators, not recognizing that related words can mean different things in this way, misunderstood the Hebrew and wrongly translated the text as "thou shalt not covet" for what should have been "thou shalt not take." (Learn more: "Thou shalt not covet?")

Dr. James Strong's carefully-compiled concordance can immediately challenge this:


"The KJV Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon

Strong's Number: 02530 Original Word Word Origin dmx a primitive root Transliterated Word TDNT Entry Chamad TWOT - 673 Phonetic Spelling Parts of Speech khaw-mad' Definition v to desire, covet, take pleasure in, delight in (Qal) to desire (Niphal) to be desirable (Piel) to delight greatly, desire greatly n f desirableness, preciousness King James Word Usage - Total: 21 desire 11, covet 4, delight 2, pleasant 1, beauty 1, lust 1, delectable things 1"

• The translation "Jubilee year" results from a mistaken application of cognates (similar words in different languages). In the original Hebrew, the year was called the "year of the horn," or, in Hebrew, "the year of the yovel." The Latin for yovel is iobileus, which just happens to sound like the Latin word iubileus, connected to the verb iubilare, "to celebrate." The English "Jubilee year" comes from the Latin. (A similar Latin coincidence gave rise to the notion that the fruit in the Garden of Eden was an apple.)

This can be easily challenged by context. HaShanah l'Yovel was announced with the shofar on the 49th-counted Yom Kippur in the cycle, and it was a cause for celebration:


"'You are to count seven Shabbats of years, seven times seven years, that is, forty-nine years. 9 Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, on Yom-Kippur, you are to sound a blast on the shofar; you are to sound the shofar all through your land; 10 and you are to consecrate the fiftieth year, proclaiming freedom throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It will be a yovel for you; you will return everyone to the land he owns, and everyone is to return to his family. 11 That fiftieth year will be a yovel for you; in that year you are not to sow, harvest what grows by itself or gather the grapes of untended vines; 12 because it is a yovel. It will be holy for you; whatever the fields produce will be food for all of you. 13 In this year of yovel, every one of you is to return to the land he owns. 14 "'If you sell anything to your neighbor or buy anything from him, neither of you is to exploit the other. 15 Rather, you are to take into account the number of years after the yovel when you buy land from your neighbor, and he is to sell to you according to the number of years crops will be raised. 16 If the number of years remaining is large, you will raise the price; if few years remain, you will lower it; because what he is really selling you is the number of crops to be produced. 17 Thus you are not to take advantage of each other, but you are to fear your God; for I am ADONAI your God...

• This is how the Hebrew in Isaiah 7:14 -- which describes a young woman giving birth to a boy who will be named Emmanuel -- ended up in Greek as a virgin giving birth. Though these facts about Greek and Hebrew are generally undisputed among scholars, the translation error remains, both because people are usually unwilling to give up familiar translations, and also perhaps because the Gospel of Matthew describes the virgin birth of Jesus by quoting the mistaken Greek translation of Isaiah 7:14.

In context, in Yesha'yahu 7:14, "almah" and its Greek equivalent absolutely referred to a betulah. Dr. David Stern further explains this in the Complete Jewish Bible translation.

• Metaphors are particularly difficult to translate, because words have different metaphoric meanings in different cultures. Shepherds in the Bible were symbols of might, ferocity and royalty, whereas now they generally represent peaceful guidance and oversight. So the image of the Lord as shepherd in Psalm 23 originally meant that the Lord was mighty, fierce and royal. The impact was roughly the same as "the Lord is a man of war." But in most English-speaking cultures, "the Lord is my shepherd" conveys a wholly different, and therefore inaccurate, image.

Actually, shepherds were considered low lifes, ishim-ha'aretz, such as was David ben Yishai, who surprisingly became the  melekh b'kiddush-- sanctified king-- of Yisra'el.

• Similarly, kinship terms like "father," "brother," "sister," etc. were used in the Bible specifically to indicate power structure. This is why the romantic Song of Solomon -- the Bible's only full length treatise on relationships -- says "my sister, my bride" or "my sister, my spouse." On its face, that English translation is not only unromantic but in fact felonious. The original point, however, was that the woman in this relationship should be the man's equal.

Here, Mr. Hoffman is obviously playing word and decontextualization games. She isn't literally his biological achoti, but she is a Shulamit achot. So, there is adultery but not a felony (as we think of felony, anyway.). Shlomo clearly took more than one wife and a goyah kallah.

Dear Mom...

I know that I'm a failure. I know that you're not proud that I don't study as hard as I could, do much around the house as I could, and do much else as I could. But I try. I struggle with OCD/Anxiety, Depression, and possible Aspberger's. I may also struggle with ADD and ADHD (Aunt Mary struggles with mild ADD.). And I struggle with my Cerebral Palsy.

Imagine going through all that I've gone through with little to no support, and spurts of support that are about the extent of the support that I get. Imagine knowing that you're-- though imperfect-- unappreciated and not good enough for anyone no matter what you do. Imagine having my rough family history and not being discouraged from dealing with and talking about it, especially by me & other family. And imagine being mostly or entirely alone otherwise all the time.

I could go on; but Dear Mom, I know that I'm a failure. And now you know why.

When Math Is the Matter, the Calculator Is My Best Friend...

I'm from the lingual, political, and other mostly-right-brained side of my family (and you have to be at least little creative to be lingual-- since languages, such as verbal conjugations, don't just happen overnight; and political-- since governments don't just happen overnight, and an example of a creative type was the multi-talented Mizrahi Jewish Thomas Jefferson. He was a musician and revisionist Biblotique for goodness' sake-- and you have to be a little creative to come up with a seemingly-plausible alteration of the Bible).

Other relatives, on the other hand (or in the other brain), are left brained-- cousins Shelley and Rob, and granduncles Jim and Tony, for example. They're in the medical, financial, computer, and similar fields. I didn't inherit their passed-down math skills-- and I honestly don't know who passed the math down to them.

I know that their grandparents (and Shelley's and Rob's great-grandparents) Julian and Alexandria were creative types; that's for sure. They did an excellent job of posing as Polish-Lithuanian Roman Catholics, at least on the surface and to the untrained Census and Immigration-Naturalization officials. I mean, for example, inconsistencies and other material on the Census and Immigration-Naturalization records should've stuck out-- e.g., "Czornecki"/"Czarnecki" in 1910, "Chernetski"/"Chernetobe"/"Chernitcki" in 1920, "Czarnecki" in 1930-- come on. And Great-Granddad being three when he came over must've learned perfect English from somewhere besides school and English speakers outside of his home.

So, here I go studying for my math test. Wish me b'tzlacha and buena suerte, and rogen por mi and 'im tefilot. Todam v'/y gracias.

An Untitled Novel, Part 6

I once shocked my grandparents during one Hanukkah when I was still little. I told them that I considered that Jesus might be Messiah. They looked at me apprehensively and asked, "Are you sure?", and I knew not to discuss whether Jesus is or isn't the Messiah further. Then they continued the reading and discussion of the parsha l'hayom.

When I took this trip to Northwest Baltimore then to Sugar Notch to compare the lives of my Jewish family and the mysterious Crypto-Jewish family about which I'd heard in relation to Mom's great-great-grandparents, that matter didn't end as well. My dad mockingly sat shiva for me, and my mom couldn't understand why I had to compare Yehudim and Anusim to better understand my heritage and get a clearer picture of the Jewish community at large.

So first, I Googled the Northwest Baltimore shtetl. I'd read enough in the "Baltimore Jewish Times", and heard and seen other material regarding the Jewish Marylander haredit kelliat. Besides, since the Lewjes lived there, I had to see where my mom's family even still live-- although as I said, they sat shiva for her; so they wouldn't talk to her, let alone me.

Like most shtetlach, the Northwest Baltimore shetl is in a "Heights" area-- Upper Park Heights. There also is the Reisterstown Road shopping district, but I was looking for the Park Heights shtetl; and so I went to the Park Heights shtetl in Fallstaff.

My grandparents faithfully walked to B’nai Israel Congregation of Baltimore from their home in the Fallstaff shtetl and drove only in emergencies-- for example, when one of the children or one of themselves was sick or unable to walk, but no so ill or debiltated that he or she could not observe Shabbat at the shul. They awoke three hours earlier than they had to, to walk the nearly-three hours that getting to the shul took them. When they drove, they arrived there in 20 minutes to an hour.

Their affectionally-called "rav" was Samuel "Sh'mu'el" Pilskin. According to B'nai Yisra'el's website, "Rabbi Pliskin was meticulously Orthodox, but he did not question the level of observance of his congregants. He said, "When a long-lost child comes home, parents do not ask questions.'"

Of course, the Lewjes never had to worry about any questioning from anyone, as they were shomrim-Haredi Yahadut. They will remain shomrim until they die, being buried in B'nai Israel Cemetery as soon as humanly and Jewishly possible after they die. Meanwhile, the family of Rachel Helen Lewj Umani is not invited to any of the Lewj levayot.

How To Use Blogger To Do Schoolwork

As I was sitting there and about to save one of my Introduction to Corrections essays for home, a proverbial figurative lightbulb went off: I could use Blogger to draft the essay, then finalize it at home and in Microsoft Word. As my piano professor said, study and practice in spurts throughout the day-- like taking small meals-- instead of huge timeslots. In the same way, I could use a for-right-now hobby (which could become a career) to study and make use of time that could've been otherwise procrastination or eventual boredom.

I wrote my first draft of my reflection, take-home essay on Blogger (and wergild is still a hard word to remember how to spell). Using Word, I double-checked "wergild" before replacing "weirgald" with it. By the way, I've similarly done at-home Sociology assignments on Blogger.

In conclusion, I used social media to make the grade and share knowledge with both my professor (so that he can see that I learned in class) and with the world and fellow people who are only in (and not of) the world (to prove that, while I'm not the brightest bulb in the bunch, I'm not the dullest bulb, either).

Second Draft of My Essay for Criminal Justice

In regards to Introduction to Corrections, I still maintain that the class could have been taught with much less book learning and more "chit chat", or engagement of and with the material. Engagement of and with the material would not only have supplemented the book learning, but applied it and made it easier to remember. The field events were a fine application; but the engagement known as "chit chat" would have also helped, and frankly helped apply to the field experience what we learned in class.

I also maintain that Drako did not apply "the punishment fits the crime" first, and the Ancient English did not apply lex talions and wergild first. The Hebrews did, and Genesis 9:6 applies one of the first-- if not the first of the-- Drakon-associated codes. As for lex talions (family justice) and wergild (restitutive sanctions-- e.g., blood money), the Hebrew Torah gives cases in which each are to be applied. For example, if a man accidentally kills another and does not flee to a marked city of refuge allows for lex talions, or if he must make restitution for a baby who he caused to be miscarried during a fight allows wergild.

I respectfully bring to point that I did not like the mockery of Christianity. Being a Messianic Jew and now understanding that (as far as I can tell) you are a Non-Messianic Jew, I fully respect your right not to believe in Jesus. However, I did not like the mockery of, incidentally, what the Quakers themselves based their rehabilitative, reformatory, and penitentiary models on. To them and me, Jesus would not just have been another high for drug and alcohol addicts, let alone one comparable to work and other addictions for the same. I also did not like the "Lazarus has risen" joke regarding Cameron. To me, Lazarus' resurrection was a sacred even and nothing to make light of, let alone to use as a metaphor for Cameron finally coming back to class after car problems.

I myself do not seek to proselytize, but hold strong Evangelical Christian, Messianic Jewish views. As the Quakers did with the views, I apply my views to my life and every aspect thereof, including an Introduction to Corrections class and corrections themselves. On that point, I found the Drug Court to be consistent with a Quaker-Christian view of saving the lost, rehabilitating, reforming, and bringing to penance. As a Messianic Jew, I look forward to seeing the Drug Courts-- and now the Mental Health, Veterans', and other Specialized Courts-- increase in number and effectiveness in decreasing the backlog in the Criminal Justice System.

In conclusion, I learned much about corrections and how to strengthen and apply my views to corrections in Introduction to Corrections, but I still would have liked to engage more with the material to supplement it and the applications of it (e.g., the field trips). I also, as I said, would've liked to see less mockery of Christianity, although I understand your views and certainly do not seek to proselytize. However, as aforementioned, I will do my views as the Quakers did with their views-- that is, apply them to corrections, and learn about other views in light of how to examine and strengthen my own.