bootsykowan's Blog

In my days, an athlete who was 5'10" was tall.  Tall athletes were considered awkward.  Basketball is a joke.  Let's have teams with athlete's maxed out at 5'10".  That would be fun to watch.  Then have a different league for  the taller guys.  They do this in boxing don't they?

From Spinoza's treatment of the word "blessing" I was introduced by Baruch to the word from the Bible "glory". So I wanted to find the Hebrew word for "glory". One of the sources was the Kernerman Dictionary. I was astounded and angry. No Hebrew. There was Arabic though. however, I tempered my hormones and forced myself to be calm and find out everything about Kernerman before I thought "Jew Hater". So glad I did. It was an Israeli Dictionary:) So Israelis can't compare English, Arabic and Hebrew in the same dictionary if they use the Kernerman MultiLanguage dictionary;)

I was accused of stinking on the MyFoxDC/Boards.  Great opportunity to explain all about body odor.  Tom Naylor of MCI got the corporation to measure my body odor at work.  This was a great scientific experiment at corporate expense.  The set up a bubbling machine in the nearest corner of the huge room (individualized cubicles) from my cubicle.  When I asked Tom for the results, he refused to tell me.  So I called up maintenance and they told me it was negative.  I don't have a body odor.  I demanded that they redo the research right outside my cubicle.  It was too far away.  Tom's cubicle was right across a narrow aisle from mine.  They did.  It became an office joke yelled at across the aisles.  I never got "friendly" with my fellow workers so I enjoyed the quips silently.  You know "I took it all in."  Maintenance protested because they said I would not be able to withstand the "noise".  I said I still wanted to make sure that Tom couldn't smell my body.  So it was outside my cubicle in the aisle for 1 week.  That ended Tom always complaining to management that he couldn't attend meetings with me because I stink.  There's a test for everything.  So why can't they test my hormones before giving me steroids?

Just learned about them from the FBI.

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june08/ecoterror_063008.ht
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Tawrat From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2007) Part of a series on Islam Beliefs Allah · Oneness of God Muhammad · Prophets of Islam Practices Profession of Faith · Prayer Fasting · Charity · Pilgrimage History · Leaders Timeline of Muslim history Ahl al-Bayt · Sahaba Rashidun Caliphs · Shi'a Imams Texts · Laws Qur'an · Sunnah · Hadith Fiqh · Sharia Kalam · Tasawwuf (Sufism) Major branches Sunni · Shi'a Culture · Society Academics · Animals · Art Calendar · Children · Demographics Festivals · Mosques · Philosophy Politics · Science · Women Islam and other religions Christianity · Hinduism · Jainism Judaism · Sikhism See also Criticism of Islam · Islamophobia Glossary of Islamic terms Islam Portal v • d • e Tawrat (Tawrah or Taurat, Arabic: ?????) is the Arabic transliteration of the Hebrew word Torah (also known as the "Five Books of Moses" or the "Pentateuch") which Muslims believe was a holy book of Islam given by Allah to Musa (Moses). Some theorize that the Tawrat may refer to the entire Tanach or Old Testament. Muslims believe that the Tawrat has undergone tahrif, that is, meanings or words were distorted, passages were suppressed, others added, etc. [edit]Tawra in the Qur'an Actual quotations from the Torah in the Qur'an are very few and inexact. An example is 5:45 where it says: We ordained therein for them: "Life for life, eye for eye, nose for nose, ear for ear, tooth for tooth, and wounds equal for equal." (Yusuf-Ali) This could be a quote from Exodus 21:24-25: 'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe' (KJV) According to 7:157 in both the Indjil and the Tawrat there is written about Muhammed: 'Those who follow the apostle, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find mentioned in their own (scriptures), - in the law and the Gospel' (Yusuf-Ali). Most Muslims point at Deuteronomy 18:18 as a text in the Torah (Tawrat), 'the law', where it says: 'I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.' The Tawrat is also mentioned in 5:110. The Tawrat was known by Jesus. Behold! I taught thee the Book and Wisdom, the Law and the Gospel and behold! thou makest out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, by My leave, and thou breathest into it and it becometh a bird by My leave, and thou healest those born blind, and the lepers, by My leave. And behold! thou bringest forth the dead by My leave' (Yusuf-Ali) Some quotations are taken from other books of the Hebrew Bible. An example of this is 48:29 where it says: "This is their similitude in the Taurat; and their similitude in the Gospel is: like a seed which sends forth its blade, then makes it strong; it then becomes thick, and it stands on its own stem, (filling) the sowers with wonder and delight" (Yusuf-Ali). This could be a quote from Psalm 1:3, 72:16 or 92:14: Psalm 1:3: 'And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.' Psalm 72:16 'There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.' Psalm 92:14 'They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;' Or, 48:29 could simply be using an analogy, where the earlier Tawrat/Torah is the "seed", and the later books (the Book of Psalms and the Gospels) are the "blade" that grow from it, becoming stronger, with the Koran being the final book, standing "in its own stem, (filling) the sowers with wonder and delight" - the "sowers" perhaps being the practicers of the religions in question who eventually find (and, presumably, convert to) Islam. Some other quotations are from the Mishna. An example of this is 5:32 where it says 'On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people'. This could be a quote from Sanhedrin 4:5 These quotes suggest that the word had the wide meaning of the whole corpus of Jewish Scriptures, as Torah in ancient Jewish literature itself [1], but only late Muslim authors differentiate explicitly between "the wider and the specific meaning" of Tawrat. [edit]Tawrat in the Hadith Because he believed the Qur'an replaced it, Muhammad did not teach from the Torah and the Qur'an says very little about it. He did say that Musa (Moses) was one of the few prophets to receive a revelation directly from God, that is, without an intervening angel. On one occasion, some Jews wanted Muhammad to decide how to deal with their brethren who had committed adultery. Abu-Dawud records in Book 38 Number 4434: They placed a cushion for the Apostle of Allah(s.w.t) peace be upon him who sat on it and said: Bring the Torah. It was then brought. He then withdrew the cushion from beneath him and placed the Torah on it saying: I believed in thee and in Him Who revealed thee. He then said: Bring me one who is learned among you. Then a young man was brought. The transmitter then mentioned the rest of the tradition of stoning similar to the one transmitted by Malik from Nafi' (No. 4431). [edit]Semantics There is some ambiguity among English speaking Muslims on the use of Tawrat versus Torah. The Arabic of the Qur'an and hadith have only one word, Tawrat. Torah is natively a Hebrew word. Generally, in English as well, they are used interchangeably. However, some Muslims prefer to reserve Tawrat to refer only to the original revelation of Allah to Musa which was later supposedly corrupted. They use Torah to refer to the current, supposedly corrupted text. There is also ambiguity as to whether the Qur'an uses Tawrat only referring to the five books of Moses, the entire Tanach, or both. Torah in Hebrew can refer to either. This comes because the Qur'an often lists the holy books as the Tawrat, Injil, and Qur'an, discluding the Zabur (the Psalms), possibly because the Psalms are part of the Tanach. Moreover, a Muslim scholar seemed to reference Isaiah (a book of the Tanach), saying it was from the Tawrat. [1] This meaning is uncommon as most Muslims think it only refers to the five books of Moses. [edit]See also Islam Islamic Holy Books Suhuf-i-Ibrahim Torah Injil Zabur [edit]References ^ Tawrat, Zabur, & Injil [edit]External links A discussion of the Tawrat and some other scriptures Does Quran confirm the Jewish Scripts? Study Regarding the Tawrat ^ Bacher, Exegetische Terminologie, i, 197 ff. Categories: Jewish texts | Islamic texts article discussion edit this page history This page was last modified on 9 June 2008, at 21:58. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers Ten things you may not know about Wikipedia.

 Chumash (Judaism) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2007) Part of a series on Judaism Portal | Category Jews · Judaism · Denominations Orthodox · Conservative · Reform Haredi · Hasidic · Modern Orthodox Reconstructionist · Renewal · Rabbinic Humanistic · Karaite · Samaritanism Jewish philosophy Principles of faith · Minyan · Kabbalah Noahide laws · God · Eschatology · Messiah Chosenness · Holocaust · Halakha · Kashrut Modesty · Tzedakah · Ethics · Mussar Religious texts Torah · Tanakh · Talmud · Midrash · Tosefta Rabbinic works · Kuzari · Mishneh Torah Tur · Shulchan Aruch · Mishnah Berurah ?umash · Siddur · Piyutim · Zohar Holy cities Jerusalem · Safed · Hebron · Tiberias Important figures Abraham · Sarah · Isaac · Rebecca · Jacob/Israel · Rachel · Leah · Twelve Tribes · Moses Deborah · Ruth · Solomon · David Hillel · Shammai · Rabbi Akiva · Judah the Prince Rav · Saadia Gaon · Rif · Rashi · Tosafists Maimonides · Nahmanides · Yosef Karo Jewish life cycle Brit · Bar/Bat Mitzvah · Shidduch · Marriage Niddah · Naming · Pidyon HaBen · Bereavement Religious roles Rabbi · Rebbe · Hazzan Kohen/Priest · Mashgiach · Gabbai · Maggid Mohel · Beth din · Rosh yeshiva Religious Kehilla & institutions Synagogue · Mikvah · Gemach Religious buildings Synagogue · Mikvah · Holy Temple / Tabernacle Religious articles Tallit · Tefillin · Kipa · Sefer Torah Tzitzit · Mezuzah · Menorah · Hanukiah · Shofar 4 Species · Kittel · Gartel · Yad Jewish prayers and services Shema · Amidah · Aleinu · Kol Nidre Kaddish · Hallel · Ma Tovu · Havdalah Judaism & other religions Christianity · Islam · "Judeo-Christian" · Others Abrahamic faiths · Judeo-Paganism · Pluralism Related topics Antisemitism · Criticism Philo-Semitism · Slavery · Yeshiva · Zionism v • d • e The Artscroll Chumash Chumash (IPA: [xu'm??]) (Hebrew: ????; also Humash) is one of the Hebrew names for the Five Books of Moses, also known as the Pentateuch or Torah. The word comes from the Hebrew word for five, chamesh. A more formal term is "Chamishah Chumshei Torah." [edit]Origin of the term The word "Chumash" may be a misreading of chomesh, meaning "one-fifth", alluding to any one of the five books: as the Hebrew ???? has no vowel signs, it could be read either way. It could also be regarded as a back-formed singular of chumashim/chumshei (which is in fact the plural of chomesh). In early scribal practice there was a distinction between a Sefer Torah, containing the entire Pentateuch on a parchment scroll, and a copy of one of the five books on its own, which was generally bound in codex form, like a modern book, and had a lesser degree of sanctity. The term chomesh strictly applies to one of these. Thus, Chomesh Bereshit strictly means "the Genesis fifth", but was misread as Chumash, Bereshit and interpreted as meaning "The Pentateuch: Genesis", as if "Chumash" were the parent directory of which "Bereshit" was a subfolder.[1] In the legal codes, such as Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, it is laid down that any copy of the Pentateuch which does not comply with the strict rules for a Sefer Torah, for example because it is not a parchment scroll or contains vowel signs, has only the same sanctity as a copy of an individual book (chomesh). In this way, the word chomesh (or chumash) came to have the extended sense of any copy of the Pentateuch other than a Sefer Torah. [edit]Usage The word chumash generally only refers to "book" bound editions of the Pentateuch, whereas the "scroll" form is called a Sefer Torah ("book [of the] Torah"). In modern Jewish practice: A printed Chumash usually sets out the Hebrew text of the Torah with vowel points and cantillation marks, separated into its 54 constituent parshiyot (weekly reading portions), together with the haftarah for each parsha and, often, translations and notes. A Chumash-Rashi also contains the Targum of Onkelos and the commentary of Rashi; there is often no vernacular translation included. A multi-volume set in Hebrew only, including the entire Tanakh with masoretic notes, Targumim and several classical commentaries, is referred to as Mikraot Gedolot. [edit]Various Publications see also Jewish English Bible translations Gutnik Chumash with commentary from the Lubavitcher Rebbe Hertz Chumash, containing the commentary of former British Chief Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz Stone Edition (Published by Artscroll/Mesorah Publishers: ISBN 0-89906-014-5) (Referred to as The ArtScroll Chumash) Soncino Chumash, ed. A. Cohen, containing notes summarizing the traditional commentaries Torah and the Haftarot, translation by Philip Birnbaum (Hebrew Publishing Company, 1983. ISBN 0884844560) Etz Hayim Humash (Published by the Jewish Publication Society of America ISBN 0-8276-0712-1): associated with Conservative movement The Torah: A Modern Commentary Revised Edition. W. Gunther Plaut, ed. New York: Union for Reform Judaism, 2006: associated with American Reform movement [edit]References ^ Cf. the misunderstanding of "Tur" to mean the entirety of the Arba'ah Turim. [edit]See also Pentateuch Torah Sefer Torah [hide] v • d • e Jews and Judaism Denominations Schisms · Intra-Jewish relations · Orthodox · (Haredi · Hasidic · Modern Orthodox) · Conservative · Reform · Reconstructionist · Jewish Renewal · Rabbinic · Karaite · Samaritan · Humanistic Philosophy Principles of faith · Chosen people · Eschatology · Ethics · Halakha · Holocaust theology · Kabbalah · Kashrut · Messianism · Minyan · Mussar Movement · Names of God · Seven Laws of Noah · Tzedakah · Tzniut Religious texts Tanakh (Torah · Nevi'im · Ketuvim) · Arba'ah Turim · Chumash · Kuzari · Midrash · Mishnah Berurah · Mishneh Torah · Piyyut · Rabbinic works · Shulchan Aruch · Siddur · Talmud · Tosefta · Zohar Jewish leadership Abraham · Isaac · Jacob · Sarah · Rebecca · Rachel · Leah · Moses · Deborah · Ruth · David · Solomon · Elijah · Hillel · Shammai · Judah haNasi · Saadia Gaon · Rashi · Isaac Alfasi · Abraham ibn Ezra · Tosafists · Rambam · Nahmanides · Asher ben Jehiel · Gersonides · Joseph Albo · Yosef Karo · Baal Shem Tov · Shneur Zalman of Liadi · Vilna Gaon · Leopold Zunz · Israel Jacobson · Abraham Geiger · Ben Ish Chai · Avrohom Mordechai Alter · Ovadia Yosef · Moshe Feinstein · Elazar Shach · Menachem Schneerson Life and culture Who is a Jew? · Bar Mitzvah / Bat Mitzvah · Bereavement · Brit milah · Etymology of the word Jew · Marriage · Niddah · Pidyon HaBen · Secular Jewish culture · Shidduch · Zeved habat Roles and places Four Holy Cities (Jerusalem · Safed · Hebron · Tiberias) · Beth din · Gabbai · Hazzan · Kohen · Maggid · Mashgiach · Mikvah · Mohel · Rabbi · Rebbe · Rosh yeshiva · Synagogue · Temple · Tabernacle · Western Wall Religious articles Aleinu · Amidah · Four Species · Gartel · Hallel · Havdalah · Kaddish · Kittel · Kol Nidre · Ma Tovu · Menorah (Hanukiah) · Mezuzah · Prayer · Sefer Torah · Services · Shema Yisrael · Shofar · Tallit · Tefillin · Tzitzit · Yad · Yarmulke Other religions Jewish views of religious pluralism · Abrahamic religions · Christianity (Catholicism · Christian-Jewish reconciliation · Judeo-Christian · Mormonism) · Islam · Jewish Buddhist · Judeo-Paganism · Others Languages Hebrew · Judeo-Arabic · Judeo-Aramaic · Judeo-Persian · Ladino · Yiddish History Ancient · Temple in Jerusalem · Babylonian captivity · Jerusalem (Significance · Timeline) · Hasmonean · Herod · Sanhedrin · Pharisees Saducees · Essenes · First Jewish-Roman War · Bar Kokhba revolt · Diaspora · Middle Ages · Muslim rule · Sabbateans · Haskalah · Emancipation · The Holocaust · Aliyah · Israel (History) · Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts · Land of Israel · Baal teshuva movement · History of the Jews in Jamaica Politics Zionism (General · Labor · Religious · Revisionist) · Political movements (Jewish left · Jewish right · Jewish anarchism) · General Jewish Labor Union · World Agudath Israel · Feminism · Politics of Israel Antisemitism History · Persecution · New · Racial · Religious · Secondary Categories: Jewish texts | Hebrew words and phrases | Hebrew Bible topics | Torah article discussion edit this page history This page was last modified on 26 May 2008, at 02:42. 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Seems they can.  The whole subject of Transsexuality is a complete mystery to me.My first response would be:  Give me their endocrine readout.  First steroids?  Estrogen, Progesterone, Testosterone.  I discovered on a visit to a psychiatrist that females require testosterone for strength.  I was in my late sixties when I first heard it.  It's because one family member who was present at the visit  made a simple statement:  "I remember that in elementary school I never had strength to complete the jungle gym using my hands to go across an empty space."  
I still think the highest powers that formulate the rules for curriculum for Medical School in the USA should state their mission something like "Produce non-surgical endocrinologists."  If all of our cellphones were programmed with the Periodic Table of Elements (PTE) and the Electro-Magnetic-Gravitational-Radiation Spectrum (EMGRS) then it would happen sooner.  Maybe we can get a factory set up among the tribes of South Africa to do this.  It only takes one tribe on the Planet Earth.  We don't have to wait until we get people on Mars or even on the Earth's satellite, the Moon.  Some African tribe can be endowed to do this for us.  Just one factory in South Africa can change the world.  

Today I would call it OR YHWH
Help us improve Wikipedia by supporting it financially.Or HashemFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia  (Redirected from Or Adonai)Or Hashem, ("Or Adonai"), The Light of the Lord, is the primary work of Rabbi Hasdai Crescas (c. 1340 - 1410/1411), a Jewish philosopher. As Adonai is one of the names of God in Judaism, the book is usually called Or Hashem ('??? ?) in verbal usage to avoid mentioning God's name directly.

[edit]Purpose of the work
In the early medieval era there had been a tendency for some Jewish religious rationalists to reinterpret classical Jewish theology in the light of the then modern day philosophy, specifically neo-Aristotelian rationalism. This was the program of Jewish rationalist philosophers such as Saadia Gaon, Maimonides (who was influenced by Ibn Sina aka Avicenna)[citation needed], and Gersonides (who was influenced by Ibn Roshd, aka Averroes). In the view of Crescas, this point of view often led to mistaken conclusions, and threatened to blur the distinctness of the Jewish faith. He felt that this program reduced the doctrinal contents of Judaism to a surrogate of Aristotelian concepts.Crescas makes no concealment of his purpose to vindicate classical Jewish thinking against the rationalism of Maimonides and Gersonides. Of these two the former especially had endeavored to harmonize revelation and faith with philosophy. While, in those instances where this harmony could not be established, Maimonides refused to follow Aristotle to the exclusion of Moses, his successors seemed bent upon the opposite course. For them philosophical rationalism was superior to classical religious thinking.

Crescas met the medieval rationalists as a philosopher who recognized the right of philosophical speculation. He did not agree with those Christian and Muslim theologians who in their speculations were advocates of a twofold truth, one for the theologian and the other for the philosopher, the former not cognizable by natural man, because supernatural and irrational, the latter open to the intelligence of natural man.

Crescas attempted to show that Aristotelian rationalism was far from infallible. In this, he is a precursor of Baruch Spinoza. Crescas deplores the fact that Maimonides, whose scholarship and honesty he otherwise admires, seemed to make Greek philosophy the basis for Jewish doctrine.

After attempting to show the untenability of the Aristotelian propositions, Crescas attempted to "establish the roots and the cornerstones upon which the Torah (i.e. Jewish religion) is propped, and the pivots upon which it turns" (from the preface.)

Crescas does not denounce heretics, but rather exposes the weakness of the ground on which those views he considers to be heterodox rest. He desires to set forth the contents of Judaism and the limitations in respect to them of the scope of philosophy.His book comprises four main divisions ("ma'amar"), subdivided into "kelalim" and chapters ("perakim"): the first treating of the foundation of all belief—the existence of God; the second, of the fundamental doctrines of the faith; the third, of other doctrines which, though not fundamental, are binding on every adherent of Judaism; the fourth, of doctrines which, though traditional, are without obligatory character, and which are open to philosophical construction.

[edit]The First Cause
The first main division opens with a thorough criticism of the twenty-five (or twenty-six) Aristotelian propositions ("hakdamot") which Maimonides accepts as axiomatic and out of which he constructs his idea of God.In the first section he presents all the demonstrations for these theorems, especially those adduced by Tabrizi; in the second, he shows the inadequacy of many of these ontological and physical propositions, and thus demolishes Maimonides' proofs for his God-concept. Crescas, admitting that the existence of a first cause is susceptible of philosophic proof, but only by contingence (he rejects the Aristotelian assumption that an endless chain of causes is unthinkable; i.e., the first cause of all that is must be regarded as existent), holds philosophy to be incompetent to prove God's absolute unity, as does Ghazzali.

The first cause may be philosophically construed to be simple, for if it were composite another would have to be assumed for the compounding. Still, this would not necessitate the positing of God's unity. Other deities might with other functions still be in existence, even if our God were thought to be omnipotent. Therefore revelation alone is competent to establish God's unity. Without the creed of Shema Yisrael ("Hear, O Israel") philosophy fails to be a trusty guide.

Crescas introduces a new element into his idea of God. His predecessors contended that God's highest happiness, the divine essence, was God's own knowledge. Crescas rejects this as inadequate, and posits instead God's love, always intent upon communicating itself and doing good. He argues against Maimonides for the admissibility of divine attributes. From the human subjective point of view, attributes may appear to posit differences in God; but this does not mean that they do so in God objectively. In God, in the Absolutely Good, they merge as identical unity; predicates, especially of only logical or conceptual significance, are incompetent to cause real multiplicity or composition.[edit]Six fundamental doctrines
In the second division Crescas enumerates six fundamental doctrines as presupposed by revealed faith, without which he believes Judaism would fall: God's omniscience, providence, and omnipotence; the belief in prophecy, Free will, and that the world was created for a purpose.

God's omniscience embraces all the innumerable individual beings; God has knowledge of what is as yet not in existence; God knows what of all possibilities will happen, though thereby the nature of the possible is not altered. God's knowledge is different from that of man: inferences from one to the other are not valid. (Here he sides with Maimonides against Gersonides.)

God's providence embraces directly and indirectly all species and individuals. It rewards and punishes, especially in the hereafter. Crescas rejects the theories of Maimonides and Gersonides on this point. Love, not knowledge (intellectual), is the bond between God and man. From God's love proceeds only what is good, and punishment is also inherently good. God's omnipotence is not merely infinite in time, but also in intensity.

Revelation, and it alone ("creatio ex nihilo"), makes it clear. Natural law is no limitation for God, but whatever is irrational proves neither God's omnipotence nor His lack of power; that is, God acts reasonably.Prophecy is the highest degree of human mentality. Maimonides makes it dependent upon certain conditions. While Crescas admits this, he differs from Maimonides in that he will not admit the refusal of the prophetic gift when these conditions are fulfilled. Connection and communion with God are not brought about by knowledge, but by love and reverence, leading us to God if we keep His commandments.

Very extensive is Crescas's presentation of the freedom of the will. He inclines toward its rejection; at all events, to its limitation. The law of causality is so all-pervasive that human conduct can not withdraw itself from its operations. Moreover, God's omniscience anticipates our resolutions. But the Torah teaches the freedom of choice and presupposes our self-determination. Thus he concludes that the human will is free in certain respects, but determined in others. Will operates as a free agent when considered alone, but when regarded in relation to the remote cause, it acts by necessity; or, will operates in freedom, both per se and in regard to the provoking cause, but is bound if analyzed with reference to the divine omniscience. Man feels himself free; therefore he is responsible and must be rewarded or punished. The accompanying sentiment (readiness or disinclination to act) makes the deed our own

.[edit]The Purpose of the World

Maimonides rejected as futile and unwarranted all inquiry into the ultimate purpose of the world. Crescas posits such an ultimate purpose and assumes it to be the happiness of the soul. In this life the soul is intently striving after union with the divine; the laws of the Torah help to realize this, the soul's, never quiescent yearning. After death, the soul will enter upon greater possibilities of love, in the higher existence. Former thinkers made immortality depend on knowledge. This is contrary to the teachings of religion, and also utterly unreasonable. Love brings about the soul's happiness of eternal duration in the hereafter and the communion with God thereupon ensuing. "The soul is the form and essence of man, a subtle spiritual substance, capacitated for knowledge, but in its substance not yet cognizant."By this definition Crescas attempts to establishes the soul's independence of knowledge. Knowledge does not produce the soul. Man's highest perfection is not attained through knowledge, but principally through love, the tendency to, and longing for, the fountainhead of all good. Man's last purpose, his highest good, is love, manifested in obedience to God's laws. God's highest purpose is to make man participate in the eternal bliss to come.

The third main division devotes much attention to the theories concerning Creation. Whatever theory, however, be accepted, the belief in miracles and revelation is not affected. Religious tradition is so preponderatingly in favor of the assumption that the world and matter are created, and Gersonides' counter-reasoning is so inconclusive, that Crescas regards the denial of creation as heterodox. Immortality, punishment, reward, resurrection (a miracle, but not irrational), the irrevocability and eternal obligation of the Law, the belief in urim and thummim and Messianic redemption, are the other tenets treated as doctrines which should be accepted, but which are not strictly speaking, basic.

In the fourth division thirteen opinions are enumerated as open to speculative decision, among them the questions concerning the dissolution of the world. (Crescas holds the earth will pass away while the heavens will endure.) Have there been other worlds besides our own? Are the heavenly bodies endowed with soul and reason? Have amulets and incantations any significance? What are the "Shedim"? What about metempsychosis?

An opponent of Maimonides on philosophical grounds, Crescas was also dissatisfied with the method of Maimonides law code, the Mishneh Torah,. This was due to its absence of indications of the sources, the rare mention of divergent opinions, and the lack of provision to meet new cases, owing to its neglect to establish general principles of universal application ("Or Adonai," Preface).

If among Jews he exercised for a long time only through Albo any perceptible influence, though he was studied, for instance, by Don Isaac Abravanel, who controverts especially his Messianic theories, and by Abram Shalom in his Neveh Shalom, Crescas' work was of prime and fundamental importance through the part it had in the shaping of Baruch Spinoza's system. Spinoza's distinction between attributes and properties is identical with Crescas' distinction between attributes subjectively ascribed and their objective reality in God. The connection between Spinoza's views on creation and free will, on love of God and of others, and those of Crescas has been established by Joël in his "Zur Genesis der Lehre Spinoza's" (Breslau, 1871).Categories: Jewish philosophical and ethical textsarticle discussion edit this page historyLog in / create accountnavigationMain PageContentsFeatured contentCurrent eventsRandom articleinteractionAbout WikipediaCommunity portalRecent changesContact WikipediaDonate to WikipediaHelpsearch    toolboxWhat links hereRelated changesUpload fileSpecial pagesPrintable versionPermanent linkCite this page


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Have questions? Find out how to ask questions and get answers.Hasdai CrescasFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaHasdai ben Abraham Crescas (Hebrew: ????? ?????) (born in Barcelona, Catalonia c. 1340 – 1410/1411) was a Jewish philosopher and a renowned halakhist (teacher of Jewish law). Along with Rambam, Ralbag, and Albo, he is known as one of the major practitioners of the rationalist approach to Jewish philosophy, and his positions on issues of natural law and free will in Or Hashem can be seen as precursors to those of Spinoza.Contents 
[show][edit]Biography
Hasdai Crescas came from a family of scholars; he was a disciple of the Talmudist and philosopher Nissim ben Reuben, known as The RaN. Following in the footsteps of his teacher he became a Talmudic authority and a philosopher of great originality. He is considered important in the history of modern thought for his deep influence on Baruch Spinoza.While Crescas did not occupy an official position as rabbi, he seems to have been active as a teacher. Among his fellow students and friends, Isaac ben Sheshet (known as the RIBaSH), famous for his responsa, takes precedence. Joseph Albo is the best known of his pupils, but at least two others have won recognition, Rabbi Mattathias of Saragossa, and Rabbi Zechariah ha-Levi.

Crescas was a man of means. As such he was appointed sole executor of the will of his uncle Vitalis Azday by the King of Aragon in 1393. Still, though enjoying the high esteem even of prominent non-Jews, he did not escape the common fate of his coreligionists. Imprisoned upon a false accusation in 1378, he suffered personal indignities because he was a Jew. His only son died in 1391, a martyr for his faith, during the anti-Semitic persecutions of that period. Nevertheless he kept his faith.

Notwithstanding this bereavement, his mental powers were unbroken; for the works that have made him immortal were written after that terrible year. Another episode of his life worthy of note is connected with the appearance of the pseudo-Messiah of Cisneros, one of whose adherents he became. In 1401-02 he visited Joseph Orabuena at Pamplona at the request of the King of Navarre, who paid the expenses of his journey to various Navarrese towns (Jacobs, l.c. Nos. 1570, 1574). He was at that time described as "Rav of Saragossa."

[edit]His works
His works on Jewish law, if indeed ever committed to writing – have not reached us. But his concise philosophical work Or Adonai, The Light of the Lord became a classical Jewish refutation of medieval Aristotelianism, and a harbinger of the scientific revolution in the 16th century.

Three of his writings have been preserved:His letter to the congregations of Avignon, published as an appendix to Wiener's edition of "Shevet Yehudah" (see above), in which he relates the incidents of the persecution of 1391.

An exposition and refutation of the main doctrines of Christianity. This "tratado" was written in Catalan in 1398. The Catalan original is no longer extant; but a Hebrew translation by Joseph ibn Shem-Tov, with the title ("Refutation of the Cardinal Principles of the Christians"), has been preserved. The work was composed at the solicitation of Spanish noblemen. Crescas' object in writing what is virtually an apologetic treatise on Judaism was to present the reasons which held the Jews fast to their ancestral faith.

His primary work, Or Adonai (book), The Light of the Lord. A separate article exists on this topic.A commentary on the Talmudic tractate Gittin, historically attributed to the 13th century Rabbi Yom Tov Asevilli (Ritva), has been more recently attributed by many scholars to Hasdai Crescas[citation needed].

[edit]Works
The Light of the Lord (Hebrew: Or Hashem or Or Adonai)The Refutation of the Christian Principles (polemics and some philosophy)Passover Sermon (religious philosophy and some halakha)[edit]Important studies
Harry Austryn Wolfson, Crescas' Critique of Aristotle. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1929.

I'm finding that within family matters, architecture is a really important subject with me.  It's part of growing old.  I seem to focus on the basics now: shelter, food, clothing, security.  I love the architecture of the garden apartments where I live.  It's like living in an area made up of castles.  There so much common area here that equalizes us all, of every age and mentality.  We can help each other if we viewed the individual building where we lived as a castle.  It turns out that shelter and security are really closely related.  Eldercare is all about security.  I'm beginning to find out that I have the same concerns about me that I had about my young children.  It's like I'm my own child.  A child that has a huge memory.  I wonder if any one who is growing old ever thinks about architecture with respect to eldercare - shelter/security.  It's simply more than filling out a financial form.  I wonder if social workers and psychiatrists and psychologists legally talk about these things with their elderly customers?  
Hmmm, come to think of it.  When I relocated to a foreign country called Dallas County, Texas, I was completely scared of everyone because of threats.  So for 4 years I kept my blinds closed and wouldn't even look at my neighbors.  Then one neighbor was giving me grief about mowing my property and assuming it as part of theirs.  So I had to get involved with lawyers.  That led me to review my Title because I thought I had problems with the neighbor on the other side.  Sure enough.  So I called this neighbor up to discuss the boundary between us.  He invited me over for a drink and all we talked about was the architecture of the community.  This included the flood plain/plane and all the problems they suffered because of the creek behind our homes.  How neighbor turned against neighbor even in school with the children.  We became good friends since that fateful night.  Even though I'm back "home" I have them in living in my mind right next door to me. 
In fact, most of our combined lives  as neighbors have centered around shelter/security.  I was able to keep my blinds open and enjoy the view without being scared.  

http://www.catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?recnum
=6040
The subsequent history of the larger collection is briefly told. The National Government had purchased Jefferson's papers and had published an edition of his writings. Public interest was expressed particularly in the "Bible of Thomas Jefferson" after it came into the possession of the United States National Museum, and it was in consequence of this interest that the Fifty-seventh Congress in its first session passed the following resolution:

That there be printed and bound, by photo-lithographic process, with an introduction of not to exceed twenty-five pages, to be prepared by Dr. Cyrus Adler, Librarian of the Smithsonian Institution, for the use of Congress, 9,000 copies of Thomas Jefferson's Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, as the same appears in the National Museum; 3,000 copies for the use of the Senate and 6,000 copies for the use of the House.17
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Publication dates:
umber Of Pages: 103Publisher: Applewood BooksAuthor: Thomas JeffersonPublication Date: 2006-08-01Dewey Decimal Number: 220ISBN: 1557091846EAN: 9781557091840

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Won't you help me download for free from the Oriental Institute of Chicago U., an InterLinear Qur'an: Arabic2Hebrew and an InterLinear Khoomash: Hebrew2Arabic?

You are responsible for me deciding to see if you were telling me your truth about Jefferson's brain.  While you were talking I discovered in early  2007 that there was such a thing as Jefferson explaining himself and it was finally available to me for purchase.  It was a miracle find for me.  Maybe you can make more miracles and help the Global Universities?  Also help linguistics?  It would be almost as great as the Rosetta Stone.