Perhaps the most vivid example of basic knowledge that is lost
to our secular encyclopedists by their ignorance of the Bible
and Talmud is the history of table utensils. Some years ago, an
article in the Chicago Tribune traced the practice of eating
with a fork and a knife to the 1600s, a mere four hundred years
back. That totally blew my mind, considering my own life
history, as I shall explain. Sure enough, this seems to be
accepted wisdom. This segment from Diner's Digest is typical. It
indicates that in the 11th century a Greek princess brought
forks to Venice and was branded a heretic. They did not come
into common use until the early 17th century. The first apparent
mention of a fork in the Bible is in Exodus (27:3) where it uses
the Hebrew word "mazleg" to designate an implement used in
handling meat on the altar. However, Rashi (1040-1105)
interprets this to mean a hooked prong that was used from a
distance to manipulate meat still burning on the altar. However,
the same word "mazleg", this time clear