text:
Immersion pools exavated at Machaerus
BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: King Herod's Ritual Bath at Machaerus. Ritual purification high above the Dead Sea (Robin Ngo). As usual, this essay summarizes an article in the current issue of BAR: Győző Vörös, "Machaerus: A Palace-Fortress with Multiple Mikva'ot."
I noted the recent discovery of the large mikveh (immersion pool) at Machaerus here. Follow the links there for past posts on the site.
Novenson on The Grammar of Messianism
THE CSCO BLOG: The Grammar of Messianism, PT. 1. A video of Dr. Matthew Novenson of the University of Edinburgh. He speaks about his new book with the same title.
Ancient Ethiopic is alive in Israel
ETHIOPIC WATCH: Israel's Ethiopian Jews keep ancient language alive in prayer (Mordechai Goldman, Al-Monitor).
On June 7, another group of about 70 Falash Mura (people of Jewish origin) immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia. Their arrival revived discussions of the preservation of Ethiopian Jewry's ancient traditions, particularly their language, Ge'ez.
Ge'ez is an ancient Semitic language with its own unique alphabet. It served as the national language of the Ethiopian Empire until about one thousand years ago. It is survived by its close relatives, the contemporary Semitic languages of Ethiopia: Tigre, Tigrinya and Amharic. With the penetration and growth of Amharic, Ge'ez was increasingly marginalized. Now, it is only used as the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Church, the Eritrean Church and the Ethiopian Jewish community.
Ge'ez is best known, at least in my circles, as the only language in which the full text of 1 Enoch survives. Some recent past PaleoJudaica posts about Ge'ez and Ge'ez literature are here, here, here, here, and here.
Church Slavonic for children?
CHURCH SLAVONIC WATCH: Russian Orthodox Church thinks kids should have to learn Church Slavonic (The Calvert Journal). This sounds like a good idea to me, but then I also think that children in the West should have to learn Latin. I'm not sure that either idea is going to catch on right away.
For many past posts on (Old) Church Slavonic, Slavonic philology, Slavonic Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, etc., see here and here and follow the links.
The Talmud on when he's getting better
THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: What Happens When a Dying Man Doesn't Die? A question of morals for a loopy Coen-brothers script, in this week's 'Daf Yomi' Talmud study.
But what happens, the Talmud asks, if a man makes a gift thinking he is about to die, and then he recovers? He is placed in an awkward position: He may have given away all his property on the assumption that he wouldn't need it anymore, and when he recovers he is destitute. To prevent this outcome, the Mishna in Bava Batra 146b explains that a gift from a dying man who recovers "does not stand." But this is the case only if it was a gift of everything he owned because a person presumably would not give away all his property unless he believed he was going to die. If, on the other hand, he reserved for himself "any amount of land," the assumption is that this provision was meant to suffice for him in case he recovered, so that the rest of his gift remains in force.
Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.
T. Abraham: evading death
READING ACTS: "No One Escapes Death" – Testament of Abraham 1-9. Phil Long continues his series on Testamentary literature as part of his longer series on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. For notice of past posts see here (also on the Testament of Abraham) and follow the links.
Lambdin on Egyptian loan words in Hebrew
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Egyptian Loanwords in Tanach (Mitchell First, Jewish Link of New Jersey).
Did you ever wonder which words in Tanach are not Hebrew but are Egyptian? Others have been wondering as well! In 1953, the classic article on this topic was published by Thomas Lambdin in the Journal of the American Oriental Society. Lambdin was a professor of Semitic languages at Harvard for many years. (His "Introduction to Biblical Hebrew" is used as a textbook at YU.)
Of course, identifying Egyptian loanwords in Tanach is not an exact science. We must distinguish between: 1) words that are definitely or almost certainly of Egyptian origin, 2) words that have a significant possibility of being of Egyptian origin, and 3) words for which an Egyptian origin has been suggested but the suggestion is very unlikely. For the most part, Lambdin's article avoids words in the third category.
I am going to present to you the words that Lambdin included. Usually, the suggested original Egyptian word does not completely match the Hebrew word. But scholars are capable of making educated guesses about which discrepancies are to be expected, and which discrepancies indicate that the supposed word-borrowing should be rejected altogether.
Cross-file under Philology.
That JAOS article was written a long time ago and I don't doubt that there have been advances on this question — one that is outside my expertise. But Professor Lambdin's research has always been impeccable and I imagine it would have stood the test of time well.
Incidentally, Professor Lambdin is still alive as far as I know. A past post on him is here. He retired from Harvard in 1983, the year I began my PhD studies. He was the teacher of John Huenhergard, from whom I learned Comparative Semitics and the historical grammar of Hebrew.
The Schneerson Library goes online but stays in Russia
PROGRESS OF A SORT: Look, but don't touch: Moscow's Schneerson Collection goes online. Russian government continues to hold the Chabad dynasty's seized collection of ancient books, but is opening it to public viewing on the web (Juile Masis, Times of Israel).
MOSCOW — In 1922, a few years before he fled the Soviet Union, the sixth Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson petitioned the Russian government to return 35 crates of books they had seized years earlier.
The Soviet government did not return the books, and for almost a century they remained on the shelves of the Lenin public library in Moscow. But this month the Russian State Library will finish scanning and putting online the more than 4,500 books in the Schneerson Collection, making them accessible to everyone in the world at the click of a mouse.
I have been following the dispute over these books and papers of the Lubavitcher Rebbes for some years. Background here and links.
Ezekiel's Merkavah anniversary is today
TODAY IS THE 5TH OF TAMUZ, the anniversary of Ezekiels Merkavah vision as described in Ezekiel chapter 1. This was Ezekiel's prophetic call. This chapter also is the central inspiration for later Jewish and Christian mysticism. I have commented more about Ma'aseh Merkavah ("the working of the Chariot," the traditional name of the chapter) and its influence in last year's post here.
I've been saving up a treat for you for this year's post. The Visual Midrash from the Tali Education Fund website has an article by Jo Milgrom and Yoel Duman on Ezekiel the Prophet: Dura Europos and beyond . It has a detailed discussion of the two scenes about Ezekiel in the murals that came from the third-century CE synagogue from Dura-Europos in Syria. It includes some later iconographic context.
The scenes do not have to do with the Merkavah vision, but they involve suitably visionary themes. The first is of the national resurrection in the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37. The second is of angelic slaughter of the sinful inhabitants of Jerusalem in the vision of Ezekiel 9. The latter takes place just before Ezekiel's second Merkavah vision in chapter 10.
Happy anniversary, Ezekiel!
For the many past PaleoJudaica posts on Dura-Europos, start here and follow the many links.
Newsweek on the Zohar
ZOHAR WATCH: ZOHAR'S TRANSLATION UNLOCKS THE SECRETS OF JEWISH MYSTICISM IN AN AGE OF EXTREMISM (ALEXANDER NAZARYAN, Newsweek). Despite the clickbaitish title (for which I do not hold the author responsible), the article is good and is worth reading in full.
If you haven't read Hebrew since the rite-of-passage ceremony known as the bar mitzvah, customarily conducted at the age of 13, then a willfully obscure text of ancient Jewish mysticism is probably not the best means to reacquaint yourself with the language of the Old Testament. Yet there I was in a Northern California synagogue, trying to remember my alefs and daleds, less out of the famous guilt of my tribe than a curiosity about that text—the Zohar—and, more specifically, about the man who has done more than any other alive today to unlock its secrets.
Knowing Hebrew is of relatively little help for reading the Zohar in the original. The author does note later that it is written in the cognate language Aramaic. A particularly uncooperative medieval Aramaic, at that.
Each month, the scholar of Jewish mysticism Daniel Matt holds a study session on the Zohar, among the most beautiful yet impenetrable works of Jewish spirituality. Matt's authority on the subject is unrivaled: He is the only person to have translated the entirety of the Zohar into English. The effort spanned two decades and ran to 12 volumes (he had help on the last three). When I visited him in May at his house in Berkeley, California, the last of these had just been published. "For the English-speaking world, the Zohar's gates are now opening even wider," declared Judy Silber on NPR.
I knew about the Daf Yomi Zohar study group (cf. here) on Facebook, but I didn't know about this group. It sounds fascinating.
The following is a great description of the content of the Zohar. But I would go easy on any comparisons to quantum physics.
The Zohar—central to the mystical strain of Judaism known as Kabbalah—is a 13th-century commentary primarily on the first five books of the Bible, known as the Torah. That might make it sound dull; it is anything but. Imagine the Old Testament as written by H.P. Lovecraft, Bible stories tripping on acid, rendered in difficult-to-decipher Aramaic, full of wisdom and beauty but shrouded in obscurity, a 1,900-page text written more than 700 years ago whose teachings have been embraced by celebrities like Madonna but not fully understood even by most scholars of Judaism.
The Zohar serves as "the ur-text of the mystical Jewish imagination," explains Shaul Magid, the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein professor at Indiana University, where he teaches Jewish and religious studies. Magid calls it a "kind of 'mystical Jewish Bible,' refracting the Hebrew Bible through its particular cosmological lens," which includes a complex schema of 10 dimensions, or sefirot, that constitute reality. Some have even compared the cosmology of the Zohar to the conception of the universe suggested by quantum physics, string theory in particular.
Again, read the whole article.
For background on the Zohar and on Daniel Matt's translation of it, start here (cf. here) and follow the many, many links. Or run the term "Zohar Watch" through the blog search engine.
Dyed textiles from Solomonic-era Timna
ARCHAEOLOGY: ARCHEOLOGISTS FIND EVIDENCE OF PLANT DYES FOR CLOTHING DATING TO SOLOMON. Joint study concludes 3,000-year-old dyed textiles found in Timna Valley used by 'fashion elite' (Daniel K. Eisenbud, Jerusalem Post).
According to the authority, the excavations, directed by [Dr. Erez] Ben-Yosef, recovered dozens of fragments of 3,000-year-old textiles, which were preserved due to the region's extremely arid climatic conditions.
"The textiles date to King Solomon's reign, in the Iron Age [11th-10th centuries BCE]*, and some are decorated with a red-and-blue bands pattern," he said. "These are the earliest examples to have been found in the country and in the Levant [the eastern Mediterranean] of the remains of plant-based dyes."
I am keeping an eye on the Timna Valley excavation. It is one of the few sites in Israel that has a dry enough climate to preserve organic remains for 3,000 years. So far they have found animal dung and textiles. The textiles are fragmentary, but survive well enough to preserve some of the colored dye on the fabric. This is an environment in which inscribed papyrus documents and parchment scrolls could conceivably survive. They haven't found any inscribed materials yet, but it is possible they are there. Keep digging!
Background here, here, and here.
*The second bracketed phrase is in the original paragraph.
The Testament of Abraham - introductory matters
READING ACTS: What is the "Testament of Abraham"? (Phil Long). Last year I commented on the Testament of Abraham with reference to a post in Phil's series on Romans. I have nothing to add here.
I have been following Phil Long's blog series on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha here and links. Lately he has been posting on the Testamentary literature. Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.
Remembering Nahum Sarna (1923 – 2005)
HIS YAHRZEIT WAS 16 SIVAN (10 JUNE): Nahum M. Sarna (TheTorah.com).
A Biography by Prof. Marc Zvi Brettler and Eulogy (delivered at the funeral) by Prof. Lawrence Schiffman.
I noted his passing in 2005 here, here, here, and here.
Digital language database job
RELIGION PROF: Digital Humanist Wanted. James McGrath shares a job announcement. If you are good at digital language research, Greek, Syriac, and Arabic, and if you also want to live in Vienna, this could be the job for you.
T. Job: executive summary
READING ACTS: The Testament of Job. A chapter-by-chapter summary.
For past posts in Phil Long's blog series on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, see here and links. He has been posting on Testaments recently. Yesterday's post was the first on the Testament of Job. Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.
Latest on Emek Shaveh's tunnel petition
TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: LEFT-WING NGO PETITIONS HIGH COURT TO HALT WESTERN WALL TUNNEL EXCAVATIONS. 'According to law, a ministerial committee must convene and decide whether to approve the archaeological excavations carried out in the tunnel,' says Emek Shaveh (Daniel K. Eisenbud, Jerusalem Post). I have been following Emek Shaveh's litigation about the Western Wall tunnel excavation for some time. The details are technical and I'm not sure I follow all of them.
Background to the story is here and links.
Reactions to suspension of Western Wall plan
TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Some critics of Western Wall plan still unhappy after freeze. Archaeologist says expansion of pluralistic prayer site may still harm antiquities; feminist religious activist who opposed agreement finds little joy in reversal (Melanie Lidman, Times of Israel).
The government decision to suspend a plan creating a pluralistic prayer space at the Western Wall brought little satisfaction to two non-Orthodox groups that opposed the original proposal: archaeologists and religious activists who had sought greater gains than the compromise afforded.
On Sunday, the government suspended a plan it had previously approved for a pluralistic prayer area, following calls by Netanyahu's ultra-Orthodox coalition allies to scrap the deal. The plan would have seen the establishment of a properly prepared pavilion for pluralistic prayer — as opposed to current temporary arrangements — under joint oversight involving representatives of all major streams of Judaism.
The government has said despite the deals being canceled, it will continue to expand the prayer space at Robinson's Arch south of the main Western Wall plaza, leading to continued concerns over archaeological damage to antiquities there.
I have been following this controversy for some time, with particular attention to the concerns of archaeologists. Background here and links.
Review of Maltominiand Slattery (eds.), Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Volume LXXXII
BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: N. Gonis, F. Maltomini, W. B. Henry, S. Slattery, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Volume LXXXII [Nos. 5290 - 5319]. Edited with Translations and Notes. Graeco-Roman memoirs, 103. London: Egypt Exploration Society, 2016. Pp. xii, 176; 12 p. of plates. ISBN 9780856982309. £85.00. Reviewed by Michael Zellmann-Rohrer, Oxford (michael.zellmann-rohrer@classics.ox.ac.uk).
This new volume includes fragments of Classical works, some new Greek fragments of Jannes and Jambres, a fragment of Philo, some new Greek magical papyri, and more.
Another new manuscript of Jannes and Jambres was noted here. Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and its world.
The Testament of Job
READING ACTS: What is the "Testament of Job"? (Phil Long). I cannot rule out that the Testament of Job is a first-century Jewish work, but I do not assume that it is. It makes good sense as a late-antique Christian work. That is the first social context in which we find it.
The Testament of Job was composed in Greek. A fragmentary fourth-century Coptic manuscript is our earliest witness to it. We have published a translation by Gesa Schenke ("The Testament of Job: Coptic Fragments") in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures (Ed. Bauckham, Davila, and Panayotov; Eerdmans, 2013), pp. 160-175. So you should buy this book.
For Phil Long's blog series on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha start here and follow the links. He is currently working through the Testaments and he just finished the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.
Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz z'l'
SAD NEWS: Artscroll Founder Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz Dead at 73 (David Israel, The Jewish Press).
Rabbi Zlotowitz et al's most ambitious endeavor was the publication of the Schottenstein English Edition of the Talmud. This monumental, 73-volume work was published one tractate at a time, and completed in 2005 after fifteen years of painstaking labor. The worldwide impact of the Schottenstein Talmud has been unprecedented, offering thousands of Jews access to the Talmud.
For more on the ArtScroll/Schottenstein Talmud, start here and follow the links.
More Assyrian land woes in Turkey
ASSYRIAN (MODERN SYRIAC) WATCH: Turkey Seizes Assyrian Monastery Property (Ygar Gültekin, http://www.agos.com.tr via AINA).
After Mardin became a Metropolitan Municipality, its villages were officially turned into neighbourhoods as per the law and attached to the provincial administration. Following the legislative amendment introduced in late 2012, the Governorate of Mardin established a liquidation committee. The Liquidation Committee started to redistribute in the city, the property of institutions whose legal entity had expired. The transfer and liquidation procedures are still ongoing.
In 2016, the Transfer, Liquidation and Redistribution Committee of Mardin Governorate transferred to primarily the Treasury as well as other relevant public institutions numerous churches, monasteries, cemeteries and other assets of the Syriac community in the districts of Mardin. The Mor Gabriel Monastery Foundation appealed to the decision yet the liquidation committee rejected their appeal last May. The churches, monasteries and cemeteries whose ownerships were given to the Treasury were then transferred to the Diyanet.
Inquiries of the Mor Gabriel Monastery Foundation revealed that dozens of churches and monasteries had been transferred to the Treasury first and then allocated to the Diyanet. And the cemeteries have been transferred to the Metropolitan Municipality of Mardin. The maintenance of some of the churches and monasteries are currently being provided by the Mor Gabriel Monastery Foundation and they are opened to worship on certain days. Similarly, the cemeteries are still actively used by the Syriac community who visits them and performs burial procedures. The Syriacs have appealed to the Court for the cancellation of the decision.
Oh dear. I had thought that the complications regarding the lands associated with the Mor Gabriel Monastery (whose claim on them reportedly goes back many centuries) had all been resolved. I guess there is more to be sorted out.
The Turkish Government will want to take a close look at this one. They will want to ensure that everything proceeds transparently and according to the law and natural justice. The world, including the ECHR, is watching.
Background on this story is here and many links.
The SBL Handbook of Style on MOTP
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Citing Text Collections 4: MOTP. The SBL Handbook of Style Blog tells you how to cite Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures, volume one (ed. Bauckham, Davila, and Panayotov; Eerdmans 2013). Their abbreviation is different from the one we use in the volume. We'll have to sort that out in volume two.
Trolls threaten a Classics professor
THIS IS APPALLING: UI prof's post on ancient statues, white supremacists elicits death threats. PaleoJudaica has mentioned Professor Sarah Bond's work from time to time. I am sorry to hear that this has happened to her.
Idiot trolls who threaten people are a growing plague on the internet. They come from all sides and they obstruct discussion of important topics. Everyone should condemn, shun, despise, and ridicule them.
Seidman on Cynthia Baker's "Jew"
MARGINALIA REVIEW OF BOOKS:
Jewish Identity as a Psychic Wound? Naomi Seidman on Cynthia Baker's Jew. This is the fifth essay in Marginalia's Forum on Cynthia Baker's book Jew.
This essay doesn't have anything particular to do with ancient Judaism, but I note it for the sake of completeness. For past essays in the series and more information about the forum, see here and links.
T. Benjamin: Being good.
READING ACTS: Testament of Benjamin.
For Phil Long's blog series on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha start here and follow the links. His current series on the Greek Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs has come to Benjamin, who is number twelve. Now Phil is off to Zambia for a pastors' Bible conference. But his series on the OTP Testaments will continue while he is away.
Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.
Menorah engravings at Hierapolis
HOLY LAND PHOTOS' BLOG: Jewish Presence at Hierapolis (Menorahs) Carl Rasmussen has photos of ancient menorah engravings on tombs in Hieropolis (cf. Colossians 4:12-13).
For past PaleoJudaica posts on ancient menorahs and representations of menorahs, see here, here, and here and follow the many links.
Holtz, Die Nichtigkeit des Menschen und die Übermacht Gottes
NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: GUDRUN HOLTZ, Die Nichtigkeit des Menschen und die Übermacht Gottes Studien zur Gottes- und Selbsterkenntnis bei Paulus, Philo und in der Stoa. [Human Nothingness and the Supremacy of God. Studies on Divine and Self Knowledge in Paul, Philo and the Stoa.]. 2017. XIV, 471 pages. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 377.
Published in German.
Regard for the self has recently been rediscovered as one of the central themes of Hellenistic philosophy. Taking the Jewish theologian Philo of Alexandria and the Apostle Paul as her main examples, Gudrun Holtz shows how theological anthropology was developed in contrast to contemporary philosophical conceptions of the self, particularly to the Stoa. The common core of the theological-anthropological conception of both authors can be captured in the phrase "not of people, but of God". The Pauline doctrine of justification proves itself to be a reification of this shared essence. Other than has been repeatedly assumed lately, the
Tolan et al. (eds.), Religious Minorities in Christian, Jewish and Muslim Law
NEW BOOK FROM BREPOLS: Religious Minorities in Christian, Jewish and Muslim Law (5th - 15th centuries). J. V. Tolan, C. Nemo-Pekelman, N. Berend, Y. Masset (eds.).
The fruit of a sustained and close collaboration between historians, linguists and jurists working on the Christian, Muslim and Jewish societies of the Middle Ages, this book explores the theme of religious coexistence (and the problems it poses) from a resolutely comparative perspective. The authors concentrate on a key aspect of this coexistence: the legal status attributed to Jews and Muslims in Christendom and to dhimmīs in Islamic lands. What are the similarities and differences, from the point of view of the law, between the indigenous religious minority and the foreigner? What specific treatments and procedures in the courtroom were reserved for plaintiffs, defendants or witnesses belonging to religious minorities? What role did the law play in the segregation of religious groups? In limiting, combating, or on the contrary justifying violence against them? Through these questions, and through the innovative comparative method applied to them, this book offers a fresh new synthesis to these questions and a spur to new research.
I can't find anything in the TOC that deals with anything as early as the fifth century. The title does say that, though, so I assume such matters come up somewhere.
A fourth review of Glinert, The Story of Hebrew
BOOK REVIEW: The story of Hebrew. A look at Lewis Glinert's wonderful new book (CURT LEVIANT, The Jewish Standard).
Every page of "The Story of Hebrew" is packed with information about the language, from its beginnings through post-1948 Israel. In addition to this longitudinal approach, Lewis Glinert, a professor of Hebrew and linguistics at Dartmouth, also approaches his subject laterally, focusing on various lands where Jewish or Hebrew life and culture thrived, including early Palestine, Babylonia, North Africa, Spain, Europe, Russia, the United States, and Israel.
Earlier reviews of the book have been noted here and links.
The Schneerson Library goes online but stays in Ru...
Review of Maltominiand Slattery (eds.), Oxyrhynchu...
Holtz, Die Nichtigkeit des Menschen und die Überma...
Tolan et al. (eds.), Religious Minorities in Chris...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Twenty One Pilots have released "Levitate," the third song from their upcoming album Trench. The band has also released a video for the song, which continues the storyline of "Jumpsuit" and "Nico And The Niners," the first two songs from their fifth studio album, which were released last month. Last month, Twenty One Pilots made headlines when they broke the record for the fastest rise to the top spot on Billboard's Alternative Songs radio airplay chart. The band will promote their album on a world tour set to launch on October 16 in Nashville, Tennessee. The North American leg will conclude on November 21 in Kansas City, Missouri, after which the band will head to Australia, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, the U.K, Spain and Portugal. Trench is due out on October 5.


text:
Roncus antrorum est une espèce de pseudoscorpions de la famille des Neobisiidae.

Distribution
Cette espèce est endémique d'Italie.

Description
Roncus antrorum mesure .

Systématique et taxinomie
Cette espèce a été décrite sous le protonyme Obisium antrorum par Simon en 1896. Elle est placée dans le genre Roncus par Beier en 1930.

Publication originale
 Simon, 1896 : Note sur quelques Chernetes de Ligurie. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova, , ,  (texte intégral).

Liens externes

Notes et références

Neobisiidae
Espèce de pseudoscorpions (nom scientifique)
Faune endémique d'Italie

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


I agree with Herb Payerl's comment above (Jan 22, 07 3). The thing missing from the explanation of the final example is an explanation of the asprintf function.
When reading the code I just couldn't see how the calloc function could possibly be reserving enough memory. As far as I could see it reserves space for 5 pointers, not space for 5 entire strings. Not knowing that aspintf also allocates memory I couldn't see where the string data was being stored. Since the danger with pointers is overwriting memory that hasnt been allocated this was causing me some consternation!
"The asprintf function is nearly identical to the simpler sprintf, but is much safer, because it dynamically allocates the string to which it sends output, so that the string will never overflow."
Thanks, all the tutorials are excellent.


Okay if you are one the other world's most filthy rich and have a yearning to own an unusual edition of Apple's famed Apple iPad 2 then as long as you are prepared to dig exceedingly deep into your bank account you can purchase the Apple iPad 2 Gold History Edition to impress those less well off in your social circle.
According to an article over on Geekologie, luxury device maker Stuart Hughes is now offering the Apple iPad 2 Gold History Edition that seen this version of the iOS tablet lavishly bedecked in 12.5 cts of 'I''F' flawless diamonds a total of 53 sparkling gems on the Apple logo.
The Apple iPad 2 Gold History edition as the title suggest has the rear of the slate made out of 2 kilograms of 24 carat Gold while the front frame has been made out of 75 million year old Ammolite, which is considered the oldest rock in the world.
Adoring the front of the Apple iPad 2 Gold History Edition is a single 8.5-carat diamond set in a platinum base and surrounded by 12 other flawless sparklers for the tablet's home button.
Oh and there's one other little addition the Apple iPad 2 Gold History Edition, and that is a piece of history itself in the form of a 65 million year old piece of T-REX dinosaur's thigh bone which had been splintered and shaved into the Ammolite.
So here's a material list of what's used in this luxurious iOS tablet, 16.5 carats of diamonds, single 8.5 carat diamond, 57grams of T-REX bone, 2000 grams of solid 24 carat gold, and 750 grams of Ammolite stone.
So just how much will the Apple iPad 2 Gold History Edition set you back? Well perhaps a word with your bank manager is needed before you jump in a write out the 5 million quid asking price, which is about $8 million for anyone in the US.
However if you really, really want to own one of these unique luxury Apple iPad 2 Gold History Edition slates, you will need to make up your mind rather quickly as apparently there will be only two made.
I mean come on, parts of a 65 million year old T-REX thighbone? Makes one wonder just where Stuart Hughes gets his materials from, but I do have to say if you are going to go for the dinosaur touch the best way is to choose a dinosaur everyone knows about.


text:
Q: Typo Is Not Subscriptable I am trying to calculate taxable income from this calculator, and I keep receiving the error message "typo is not subscriptable." The error appears in the calcPEP function. I am trying to pass AGI from my TaxReturn Object into my calculator to calculate the phaseout of exemptions, and subsequently calculate taxable income.
class TaxReturn:
    def __init__(self, AGI):
        self.AGI = AGI

#import math program to retrieve rounding function
import math
#assign name to TaxReturn class
txreturn = TaxReturn()
#class for pesonal exemption phaseout (PEP)
class PEP:
#define phase in rate, personal exemption amount, AGI phaseout thresholds
    def __init__(self, phase_in_rate, personal_exemption, dependents):

        self.phase_in_rate = phase_in_rate
        self.personal_exemption = personal_exemption
        self.dependents = dependents

    #calculate PEP using AGI attribute from TaxReturn object
    def calcPEP (phase_in_rate, personal_exemption, dependents, txreturn):
        #thresholds by filer status  where PEP  phase-outs begin
        #[single, HOH, married joint, married separate]
        phase_out_threshold = int[258250, 284050, 309900, 154950]
        for i in phase_out_threshold:
            if txreturn.AGI >= phase_out_threshold:
                #calculate the amount to which PEP applies
                PEP_amount = txreturn.AGI - i
                #calculate PEP multiplier
                PEP_amount /= 2500
                #round up PEP multplier
                PEP_amount = math.ceil(PEP_amount)
                PEP_amount = (PEP_amount*phase_in_rate)/100
                #calculate total reduction of exemptions
                PEP_amount *= personal_exemption*dependents
                #calculate taxable income
                if personal_exemption*dependents - PEP_amount > 0:
                    taxable_inc = txreturn.AGI - (personal_exemption*dependents - PEP_amount)
                else:
                    taxable_inc = txreturn.AGI

            else: taxable_inc = txreturn.AGI - personal_exemption*dependents

            return taxable_inc

testPEP = PEP(2, 4000, 2)
print(testPEP.calcPEP(4000, 2, 350000))

A: Might be more, but I do see math.ceil(PEP_amount) = PEP_amount in there. You need to swap the left and right hand sides here since you can't assign a value to a function call, as the error message states.

A: The line above the syntax error shows you the problem line;
math.ceil(PEP_amount) = PEP_amount

You can't assign a value to a function call, my guess is you have it backwards:
PEP_amount = math.ceil(PEP_amount)

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Home / Feature / For almost 60 years of Oscar action, DeMoss screams for the silver screen
For almost 60 years of Oscar action, DeMoss screams for the silver screen
By Brian Winkel on March 5, 2012
English teacher Marguerite DeMoss has watched every Academy Awards showing ever since the televised debut in 1953.
Director Martin Scorsese, acting legend George Clooney, English teacher and film aficionado Marguerite DeMoss — each, in their own right, Hollywood royalty.
For though only two of the three listed will be walking the red carpets at the 84th annual Academy Awards, only one has viewed each and every televised Oscars ceremony since its black-and-white television debut in 1953.
Though her resume is strung with character roles in various theater productions, DeMoss' passion for acting's big night burgeoned well before taking to the stage herself. "Ever since I could read I was in love with movies, always tearing through movie magazines and movie gossip," DeMoss said. Such love, perhaps, was fostered by necessity. "In my small town, there wasn't much to do except go to the movies or ride your bike around, so every Saturday afternoon for years I was at the matinee. We just had a little theater, and it just showed one movie on Saturday afternoon and three other nights a week. It was always, always a cowboy movie, and those would involve a little cartoon and newsreel."
From cowboys and cartoons grew film genres starring some of America's most famous historical heartthrobs. Big names like Elvis Presley and Marlon Brando took to the big screen, redefining the movie experience for viewers unfamiliar with such leading man potential. "There weren't anything like teenage movies per se, but when James Dean came around, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. You can only imagine the devastation when news broke of his car crash," DeMoss said.
With strong pulls to the world of films, 1953's first televised Oscars ceremony drew DeMoss' attention with ease. Citing winners like Shirley Booth's best actress nod for "Come Back, Little Sheba" and Gary Cooper's turn in "High Noon," DeMoss recalled the television event with apparent attachment. "I was still fairly young, so it was a big deal that my grandparents let me stay up to watch. They sat to watch, too, and got so caught up in it that they forgot I was there, and I stayed up the whole time."
Since the first airing in 1953, DeMoss has religiously followed the ballot race every year, annually following the award show and the hype surrounding it. Such longevity in dedication and time allows her to compare the star-studded show throughout the decades. "The '50s were always fun because you'd always get one or two films that were really racy for the time, and they just rocked the rafters because it all seemed so wicked!"
The 1960s and 1970s also provided memorable soundbites as stars utilized their stage time politically, treating the acceptance podiums as platforms for protest. DeMoss recalls Jane Fonda's infamous Black Panther fist raise after her Best Actress win and the audience that booed Vanessa Redgrave for her acceptance speech that morphed into an attack against Israelies. Infamous protester Marlon Brando shook up the Academy Awards when he enlisted a Native American to accept his Best Actor award in his place and to deliver a statement about the misrepresentation of Native Americans in the film industry. "That was a scandalous year. Brando sends up this gorgeous Native American princess who, as it turns out, isn't even Native American, just some actress he'd hired. That was also the same year a naked streaker ran behind [host] David Nimen," she cackled.
Though format remains essentially the same — film-industry greats receive accolades, stars deliver gasping speeches that last too long, shows consistently run overtime — certain aspects of today's Academy Awards differ from its inaugural television debut in 1953. "Nowadays, the productions are always just so much more extravagant than they ever have been. There weren't really the red carpet affairs that they have today, and the jokes are much raunchier than they ever have been," DeMoss noted.
The thrill of speculating, however, transcends time. "I'm typically always most interested in the nominees for Best Actor and Actress. My son usually calls and asks for predictions, but I'm fairly certain [Best Supporting Actor] Christopher Plummer will walk away this year, and it's an absolute toss up between Meryl Streep and Viola Davis for Best Actress, and Best Actor is definitely going to be Jean Dujardin from 'The Artist' or George Clooney for 'The Descendants,'" DeMoss said.
As DeMoss settles in on Feb. 26 to watch her predictions unfold, celebratory traditions from years past will be maintained. "I don't dress up or throw elaborate parties. I'll be celebrating the way I always do: with a big steak and a glass of red wine. My sons know I will not be answering the telephone during the broadcast, except during the commercials. They also know they can't exceed commercials or else I'll hang up," she said, laughing.
The 84th Academy Awards airs at 7 p.m. Feb. 26 on ABC with red carpet coverage beginning at 4 p.m.
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Bible > KAD > Ezra 10
◄ Ezra 10 ►
Keil and Delitzsch OT Commentary
Ezra 10:1
Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore.
The separation of the strange wives from the congregation. - Ezra 10:1-5. While Ezra was making this confession before God, a numerous assemblage gathered around him, and wept aloud. From this point onwards Ezra relates the further course of events in such wise as to cast his own person in the background, and speaks of himself in the third person. The matter of his prayer is more definitely declared by וּכהתודּתו, and his posture in prayer by וּמתנפּל בּכה, weeping and casting himself down (lying on his knees, Ezra 9:5). "Before the house of God," i.e., in the court of the temple. The confirmatory clause: for the people wept much (בכה הרבּה, a weeping in mass), furnishes the motive of so great a number of men, women, and children gathering around Ezra. Very many were as distressed as he was at the marriages with strange wives, and regarded them as a grievous trespass; hence they assembled weeping around him.
And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.
Then one of the sons of Elam, Shecaniah, the son of Jehiel, stood forth from amidst the assembly, and uttered the confession: "We have been unfaithful towards our God by marrying strange wives, but there is yet hope for Israel concerning this thing. We will now make a covenant with God to put away all the strange wives and their children from the congregation, according to the counsel of the Lord, and of those who fear the commandment of our God, that it may be done according to the law." Shecaniah, of the sons of Elam (comp. Ezra 2:7; Ezra 8:7), is a different person from the descendant of Zattu, mentioned Ezra 8:5; nor is Jehiel identical with the individual whose name occurs in Ezra 10:26. ונּשׁב, and have brought home strange wives. הושׁיב, to cause to dwell (in one's house), said in Ezra 10:10, Ezra 10:14, Ezra 10:17, Ezra 10:18, and Nehemiah 13:23, Nehemiah 13:27, of bringing a wife home. Shecaniah founds his hope for Israel in this trespass upon the circumstance, that they bind themselves by a solemn covenant before God to put away this scandal from the congregation, and to act in conformity with the law. To make a covenant with our God, i.e., to bind themselves by an oath with respect to God, comp. 2 Chronicles 29:10. הוציא, to put away - the opposite of הושׁיב. All the wives are, according to the context, all the strange women (Ezra 10:2), and that which is born of them, their children. Instead of אדני בּעצת, according to the counsel of the Lord, De Wette, Bertheau, and others, following the paraphrase in the lxx and 1 Esdras, read אדני, according to the counsel of my lord, i.e., of Ezra. But this paraphrase being of no critical authority, there is no sufficient reason for the alteration. For Shecaniah to call Ezra my lord sounds strange, since usually this title was only given by servants to their master, or subjects to their sovereign, and Shecaniah afterwards addresses him simply as thou. Besides, Ezra had given no advice at all in this matter, and still less had he come to any resolution about it with the God-fearing members of the community. יעשׂה after the preceding נכרת־בּרית, we will make a covenant, must be taken as hortative: and let it be done according to the law. בּ חרד, caring for with trembling.
Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.
Arise; for this matter belongeth unto thee: we also will be with thee: be of good courage, and do it.
"Up! for this matter concerns thee (thou art called to carry it out), and we are with thee (will assist thee therein); be strong (courageous) and do it."
Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they should do according to this word. And they sware.
Then Ezra (who during this speech had continued upon his knees) arose, and made the chiefs of the priests, of the Levites, and of all Israel swear to do according to this word; and they swore. הזּה הדּבר is Shecaniah's proposal to put away the strange wives.
Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away.
Hereupon Ezra left the place before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib, to fast and mourn there for the unfaithfulness (transgression) of them that had been carried away (הגּולה מעל like Ezra 9:4). Johanan the son of Eliashib cannot actually be Johanan ben Eliashib (Nehemiah 12:23) the high priest, however natural it may be to understand by the chamber of Johanan one of the chambers in the out-buildings of the temple, called after the name of some well-known individual. For the high priest Eliashib was a contemporary of Nehemiah, and the high priest Johanan was not the son, but, according to the definite statement, Nehemiah 12:10, the grandson, of Eliashib, and the son of Joiada (the correct reading of Nehemiah 12:11 being: Joiada begat Johanan and Jonathan). Now a chamber of the temple could not in Ezra's time have been as yet called after a grandson of Eliashib the contemporary of Nehemiah;
(Note: This would not, indeed, be impossible, because, as we shall subsequently show (in our Introduction to the book of Nehemiah, 2), Eliashib's grandson Johanan might be already ten years of age at the time of the transaction in question; so that his grandfather, the high priest Eliashib, might have called a chamber of the temple after the name of his grandson. This view is not, however, a very probable one.)
and both Johanan and Eliashib being names which frequently occur (comp. Ezra 10:24, Ezra 10:27, Ezra 10:36), and one of the twenty-four orders of priests being called after the latter (1 Chronicles 24:12), we, with Ewald (Gesch. iv. p. 228), regard the Johanan ben Eliashib here mentioned as an individual of whom nothing further is known-perhaps a priest descended from the Eliashib of 1 Chronicles 24:12, and who possessed in the new temple a chamber called by his name. For there is not the slightest reason to suppose, with Bertheau, that a subsequent name of this chamber is used in this narrative, because the narrator desired to state the locality in a manner which should be intelligible to his contemporaries. Cler. and Berth. desire, after 1 Esdr. 9:1((καὶ αὐλισθεὶς ἐκεῖ), to change שׁם ויּלך into שׁם ויּלן: and he passed the night there without eating bread or drinking water. But the lxx having καὶ ἐπορεύθη ἐκεῖ, and the repetition of the same word being, moreover, by no means infrequent, comp. e.g., ויּקם in Ezra 10:5, Ezra 10:6, and finally שׁם repeatedly standing for thither, e.g., 1 Samuel 2:14 (שׁם הבּאים), there are no adequate grounds for an alteration of the text. The paraphrase of 1 Esdr. arises merely from the connection, and is devoid of critical value. To eat no bread, etc., means to fast: comp. Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 9:9.
And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem;
The resolution carried into execution. - Ezra 10:7, Ezra 10:8. A proclamation was sent forth throughout Judah and Jerusalem (קול העביר, comp. Ezra 1:1) to all the children of the captivity to assemble at Jerusalem under pain of the punishment, that whoever should not come within three days, all his substance should be forfeited and himself excluded from the congregation, according to the decision of the princes and elders, who, as the heads of the community, had taken the matter in hand, and made this announcement. The forfeiture of substance is not its destruction, as prescribed Deuteronomy 13:13-17 in the case of a city fallen into idolatry, but its appropriation to the benefit of the temple, after the analogy of Leviticus 27:28.
And that whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away.
Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain.
After three days all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem. This took place on the twentieth day of the ninth month. On this statement of time, see the remark in Ezra 9:1. The assembled multitude sat there on the open space of the house of God, i.e., probably the open space (הרחוב) in front of the water-gate, Nehemiah 8:1, Nehemiah 8:3, Nehemiah 8:16, at the eastern or south-eastern side, before the temple court; see remarks on Nehemiah 8:1. "Trembling" because of this matter, the seriousness of which they might perceive from the heavy penalty attached to their non-appearance within three days, and "because of the rain." The ninth month, corresponding with our December, is in the cold rainy time of the year (comp. Ezra 10:13), "when the rain usually falls in torrents" (Robinson, Phys. Geog. p. 287).
Ezra 10:10
And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.
Ezra then stood up and reproved the assembled multitude, saying: You have brought home (הושׁיב, comp. Ezra 10:2) strange wives to increase the trespass of Israel (comp. Ezra's confession, Ezra 9:6-15), and exhorted them to give glory to God and to do His pleasure, (viz.) to separate themselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives. On תודה תּנוּ, comp. Joshua 7:19. Separation from the people of the land consisted, under the circumstances, in the dismissal of the strange wives.
Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.
Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do.
The whole assembly replied with a loud voice, and therefore with firm resolve: According to thy word it is our duty to do. עלינוּ must not be drawn to what precedes, as in the Vulgate, juxta verbum tuum ad nos, sic fiat, but to what follows, as in Ezra 10:4, Nehemiah 13:13; 2 Samuel 18:11. But - they further remark, Ezra 10:13 - the people are many, - i.e., the assemblage is very large to be able to deal immediately with the several cases; and it is (now) the time of the heavy rains, and there is no power to stand without, - i.e., at the present season we are not able to remain in the open air until the business is discharged; neither is this the work of one day, or of two, for we have transgressed much in this matter, - i.e., one or two days will not suffice to investigate and decide upon all cases, because very many have broken the law in this respect.
But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing.
Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us.
"Let then our rulers stand for the whole congregation, and let all who in all our cities have brought home strange wives come at appointed times, and with them the elders of each city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God be turned away from us, as long as this matter lasts." There were so many cases to deal with, that the rulers, as the judicial authorities, must decide in this matter; and those who in all the cities of the land had transgressed, were to appear before these authorities, and submit their individual cases to their jurisdiction. The choice of the verb יעמדוּ, to stand or set oneself to discharge some business, here therefore to give judgment, is occasioned by the preceding לעמוד. The whole community had assembled according to the proclamation, and was standing there for the purpose of bringing the matter to a close. This they were not, however, able to do, for the reasons stated Ezra 10:13; hence the princes, as rulers of the community, are to remain for the discharge of the business. לכל־הקּהל is not a genitive dependent on שׂרינוּ, and explanatory of the suffix of this word-our, viz., the whole congregation's, princes (Bertheau) - an unnatural and superfluous elucidation; for if the whole congregation say: our princes, it is self-evident that not the princes of a section or portion of the people, but of the whole congregation, must be intended. לכל־הקּהל is the object of יעמדוּ: let them stand for the whole congregation (ל עמד like ל קוּם, Psalm 94:16), not instead of, but for the good of the congregation, and transact its business. In our cities, i.e., including the capital, for there is here no contrast between Jerusalem and the other cities. The article to ההשׁיב stands, as is often the case, for the relative אשׁר, e.g., Ezra 10:17, Ezra 8:25. מזמּנים עתּים, appointed times, stated terms, used only here and in Nehemiah 10:35; Nehemiah 13:31. זמּן is a Chaldaistic expression. With the accused were to come the elders and judges of every city, to furnish the necessary explanations and evidence. להשׁיב עד, until the turning away of the fierceness of the wrath (ל עד according to the later usage of the language instead of עד only, comp. Ewald, 315, a, not instead of ל only, as Bertheau seeks, by incorrectly interpreted passages, to prove). The meaning is: until the fierce wrath of God concerning these marriages shall be turned away, by their dissolution and the dismissal of the strange women from the congregation. The last words, הזּה לדּבר עד, offer some difficulty. De Wette and Bertheau translate them: on account of this matter, which ל עד can by no means signify. We regard ל עד equals עד of the older language, in the sense of during, like 2 Kings 9:22, according to which the meaning is: as long as this thing lasts; but we connect these words, not, as J. H. Michaelis, with the immediately preceding clause: the wrath which is fierce during this matter (quae usque, i.e., constanter ardet), but take them as more exactly defining the leading idea of the verse: the princes are to stand and judge the guilty as long as this matter lasts, so that הזּה לדּבר עד is co-ordinate with וגו להשׁיב עד.
Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed about this matter: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.
Jonathan the son of Asahel, and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah, indeed opposed this proposal on the part of the community, and were supported in their opposition by two Levites, but without being able to carry it out. This statement is introduced by אך, only, in the form of a qualification to the remark that the whole assembly (Ezra 10:12) made this resolution: nevertheless Jonathan ... stood up against this. For על עמד, to stand up against, or as elsewhere על קוּם, comp. 1 Chronicles 21:1; 2 Chronicles 20:23; Daniel 8:25; Daniel 11:14. Such also is the view of R. Sal. and Lightf., while older expositors understand it as meaning: only Jonathan ... stood up for this matter, like the steterunt super hoc of the Vulgate, or as the decidedly incorrect explanation of J. H. Mich.: praefecti sunt huic negotio. - Nothing further is known of the four opponents here named. That they did not succeed in this opposition appears from what follows. Ezra 10:16 The children of the captivity, i.e., the returned exiles, did so; i.e., the congregation carried their resolve into execution. And Ezra the priest, and men, heads of houses according to their houses, - i.e., so that each house was represented by its head, - were separated, i.e., chosen to conduct the investigation. The ו copulative before אנשׁים has been lost, as asyndeton seeming in this case inadmissible. Bertheau, on the contrary, unnecessarily changes ויבּרלוּ into לו ויּבדל after 1 Esdras 9:16. "And they all by names," comp. Ezra 8:20. ויּשׁבוּ, and they held a sitting (i.e., their first sitting) on the first day of the tenth month, and therefore only ten days after the assembly just spoken of. הדּבר לדריושׁ, to inquire into the matter. It is impossible in Hebrew to form דּריושׁ from דּרשׁ, and this word can only arise from דּרושׁ, as Ewald, 239, a, note, Olshausen, Lehrb. d. hebr. Spr. p. 150, and Bttcher, ausf. Lehrb. der hebr. Spr. i. 1, p. 162, note, unanimously agree.
And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names, were separated, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.
And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month.
And they made an end with all, with respect to the men who had brought home strange wives. בּכּל (with the article) cannot be so connected with אנשׁים, from which it is separated by the accentuation of the latter, as to admit of the repetition, as by older expositors, of the preposition בּ before אנשׁים: with all, namely, with the men. Still less can בּכּל, as Bertheau thinks, be taken in the sense of "in every place," and אנשׁים connected as an accusative with ויכלּוּ: they finished in every place the men (!); for כּלּה with an accusative of the person signifies to annihilate, to make an end of, while ב כּלּה means to finish, to make an end with, comp. Genesis 44:12. If, as the accentuation requires, we take בּכּל independently, אנשׁים can only be an accusative of more exact definition: in respect of the men (אנשׁים being without the article, because words which define it follow). As this gives a suitable meaning, it seems unnecessary to alter the punctuation and read בּכל־אנשׁים, or with Ewald, 290, c, note 1, to regard אנשׁים בּכּל as a singular combination. - Till the first day of the first month (of the next year), therefore in three months, their sittings having begun, according to Ezra 10:13, on the first day of the tenth month. - The account of this transaction closes with -
The list of the men who had taken strange wives, vv. 18-44; among whom were priests (Ezra 10:18-22), Levites (Ezra 10:23, Ezra 10:24), and Israelites, i.e., laymen (vv. 25-43).
And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken strange wives: namely, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren; Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah.
Among the priests there stand first, four names of sons and brethren of the high priest Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, who returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel. אחיו, his (Jeshua's) brethren. Judging by Ezra 2:36, these were among the descendants of Jedaiah, a section of the house of the high-priestly family (see rem. on Ezra 2:36), and were therefore distant cousins of the high priest. They gave their hands, i.e., bound themselves by shaking hands, to put away their wives, i.e., to dismiss them, and to sever them from the congregation of Israel, ואשׁמים, "and guilty a ram for their trespass," i.e., condemned to bring a ram as a trespass-offering. ואשׁמים is to be regarded as the continuation of the infinitive clause להוציא. As elsewhere, infinitive clauses are continued without anything further in the verb. finit. (comp. Ewald, 350); so here also does the adjective אשׁמים follow, requiring that להיות should be mentally supplied. איל־צאן, a ram of the flock, is, as an accusative of more exact definition, dependent on אשׁמים. This trespass-offering was imposed upon them according to the principle of the law, Leviticus 5:14, etc., because they had committed a מעל against the Lord, which needed expiation; see on Leviticus 5:14. - In what follows, only the names of the individuals, and a statement of the families they belonged to, are given, without repeating that the same obligations, namely, the dismissal of their strange wives, and the bringing of a trespass-offering, were imposed on them also, this being self-evident from the context. - Among the sons of Immer were three, among the sons of Harim five, among the sons of Pashur six offenders; in all, eighteen priests. By comparing Ezra 2:36-39, we perceive that not one of the orders of priests who returned with Zerubbabel was free from participation in this transgression. Some of the names given, Ezra 10:20-22, reappear in the lists in Nehemiah 8:4 and Nehemiah 10:2-9, and may belong to the same individuals.
And they gave their hands that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass.
And of the sons of Immer; Hanani, and Zebadiah.
And of the sons of Harim; Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah.
And of the sons of Pashur; Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethaneel, Jozabad, and Elasah.
Also of the Levites; Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah, (the same is Kelita,) Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.
Of Levites, only six names are given, and that without stated the houses to which they belonged. From Ezra 2:40, however, it appears that they were of the sons of Jeshua and Kadmiel there mentioned. "Kelaiah, the same is Kelita;" the latter is the usual name of the person in question, and that which he bears in Nehemiah 8:7 and Nehemiah 10:11. Jozabad also reappears in Nehemiah 8:7.
Of the singers also; Eliashib: and of the porters; Shallum, and Telem, and Uri.
Of singers one, and of porters three names are given; comp. Ezra 2:41-42. In all, ten Levites.
Moreover of Israel: of the sons of Parosh; Ramiah, and Jeziah, and Malchiah, and Miamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah.
Of Israel, as distinguished from priests and Levites, i.e., of the laity. Of these latter are given in all eighty-six names, belonging to ten races, vv. 25-43, who returned with Zerubbabel. See Nos. 1, 5, 6, 9, 8, 4, 30, 17, and 27 of the survey of these races. ירמות in Ezra 10:29 should, according to the Chethiv, be read ירמות. - The twofold naming of sons of Bani in this list (Ezra 10:29 and Ezra 10:34) is strange, and Bani is evidently in one of these places a mistake for some other name. Bertheau supposes that Bigvai may have stood in the text in one of these places. The error undoubtedly lies in the second mention of Bani (Ezra 10:34), and consists not merely in the wrong transcription of this one name. For, while of every other race four, six, seven, or eight individuals are named, no less than seven and twenty names follow בּני מבּני, though all these persons could hardly have belonged to one race, unless the greater number of males therein had married strange wives. Besides, no names of inhabitants of cities of Judah and Benjamin are given in this list (as in Ezra 2:21-28, and Ezra 2:33-35), although it is stated in Ezra 10:7 and Ezra 10:14 that not only the men of Jerusalem, but also dwellers in other cities, had contracted these prohibited marriages, and been summoned to Jerusalem, that judgment might be pronounced in their several cases. These reasons make it probable that the twenty-seven persons enumerated in Ezra 10:34-42 were inhabitants of various localities in Judah, and not merely individuals belonging to a single house. This supposition cannot, however, be further corroborated, since even the lxx and 1 Esdr. read the name Bani in Ezra 10:27 and Ezra 10:34, nor can any conjecture respecting the correct reading laying claim to probability be ventured on. In the single names, the Greek texts of the Septuagint and 1 Esdras frequently differ from the Hebrew text, but the differences are almost all of a kind to furnish no material for criticism. A considerable number of these names reappear in the lists of names in the book of Nehemiah, but under circumstances which nowhere make the identity of the persons bearing them certain.
And of the sons of Elam; Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Eliah.
And of the sons of Zattu; Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza.
Of the sons also of Bebai; Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai.
And of the sons of Bani; Meshullam, Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, and Ramoth.
And of the sons of Pahathmoab; Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezaleel, and Binnui, and Manasseh.
And of the sons of Harim; Eliezer, Ishijah, Malchiah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,
Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah.
Of the sons of Hashum; Mattenai, Mattathah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei.
Of the sons of Bani; Maadai, Amram, and Uel,
Benaiah, Bedeiah, Chelluh,
Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib,
Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasau,
And Bani, and Binnui, Shimei,
And Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah,
Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,
Azareel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah,
Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph.
Of the sons of Nebo; Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jadau, and Joel, Benaiah.
All these had taken strange wives: and some of them had wives by whom they had children.
Ezra 10:44 contains the statement with which the account of this transaction closes. The Chethiv נשׂאיּ seems to be an error of transcription for נשׂאוּ (the Keri), which the sense requires. וגו מהם וישׁ, "and there were among them women who had brought forth sons." מהם must be referred to women, notwithstanding the masculine suffix. ישׂימוּ, too, can only be referred to נשׁים, and cannot be explained, as by J. H. Mich.: unde etiam filios susceperant seu procreaverant. The gender of the verb is adapted to the form of the word נשׁים, an incorrectness which must be attributed to the increasing tendency of the language to use the masculine instead of the feminine, or to renounce a distinction of form between the genders. There are no adequate reasons for such an alteration of the text as Bertheau proposes; for the lxx already had our text before them, and the καὶ ἀπέλυσαν αὐτὰς σὺν τέκνοις of 1 Esdr. 9:36 is a mere conjecture from the context. The remark itself, that among the women who were sent away were some who had already brought children into the world, is not superfluous, but added for the purpose of showing how thoroughly this matter was carried out. Separation from women who already have children is far more grievous, ob communium liberorum caritatem, than parting with childless wives.
Strictly as this separation was carried out, this evil was not thereby done away with for ever, nor even for very long. After the arrival of Nehemiah at Jerusalem, when the building of the wall was concluded, the congregation again bound themselves by an oath, on the occasion of a day of prayer and fasting, to contract no more such illegal marriages (Nehemiah 10:31). Nevertheless, Nehemiah, on his second return to Jerusalem, some five and twenty to thirty years after the dissolution of these marriages by Ezra, again found Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Moab, and Ammon, and children of these marriages who spoke the tongue of Ashdod, and could not speak the Jews' language, and even one of the sons of the high priest Jehoiada allied to a daughter of Sanballat the Horonite (Nehemiah 13:28, etc.). Such a phenomenon, however strange it may appear on a superficial view of the matter, becomes comprehensible when we consider more closely the circumstances of the times. The nucleus of the Israelite community in Jerusalem and Judah was formed by those exiles who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel and Ezra; and to this nucleus the remnant of Jewish and Israelite descent which had been left in the land was gradually united, after the rebuilding of the temple and the restoration of the worship of Jahve. Those who returned from Babylon, as well as those who remained in the land, had now, however, lived seventy, and some of them one hundred and fifty, years (from the captivity of Jehoiachin in 599, to the return of Ezra in 457) among the heathen, and in the midst of heathen surroundings, and had thus become so accustomed to intercourse with them in civil and social transactions, that the consciousness of the barriers placed by the Mosaic law between Israel, the people of Jahve, and the Gentiles, was more and more obliterated. And this would specially be the case when the Gentiles who entered into matrimonial alliance with Israelites did not flagrantly practise idolatrous worship, i.e., did not offer sacrifice to heathen deities. Under such circumstances, it must have been extremely difficult to do away entirely with these unlawful unions; although, without a thorough reform in this respect, the successful development of the new community in the land of their fathers was not to be obtained.
Ezra's narrative of his agency in Jerusalem closes with the account of the dissolution of the unlawful marriages then existing. What he subsequently effected for the revival of religion and morality in the re-established community, in conformity with the law of God, was more of an inward and spiritual kind; and was either of such a nature that no striking results ensued, which could furnish matter for historical narrative, or was performed during the period of his joint agency with Nehemiah, of which an account is furnished by the latter in the record he has handed down to us (Nehemiah 8:10).
Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78].
Text Courtesy of Internet Sacred Texts Archive.


Windows 7: How to remove background color in a Word 2000 document?
Another thing I can't find the correct button or menu for. I copied this text online into a new word doc so I can save it for future reference.
How do I delete the gray background color from the text? I can change the text color with that "A" button, and can change the background color with the "Highlight" button to the left of it, but just can't seem to delete the background color completely. If I go, Format:Background:, it just changes the color around the block of text, not inside it. Any ideas?
That looks to me like what happens when you highlight text using the copying procedure. Normally this would not be pasted to the new document, but in your case it seems that it has.
Word 2000 is getting pretty old now & this may be a compatibility problem using it with Windows 7.
To avoid having formatting in copied text, I copy first to Notepad and then from Notepad to Word or Excel.
You might have to do a little correction, but this usually works without any issues.
OK this worked, great idea.
Did you try, Paste Special>Unformatted Text? It works in Office 2000, which I use because I can do things 'by feel' without reading all the drop-down boxes in Format, etc. That helps when vision is a issue.
Years ago I had a Word macro that was assigned to CTRL-SHIFT-V, I believe. Somewhere along the way it got wiped out. I think someone on Woody Leonard's forum offered it. I've found suggestions by others for how to reestablish it, but I have yet to meet with success in getting one to work.
Back in the 80's, with Woody's guidebook I managed a measure of skill in Word Basic. Then the Excel team at MS won the battle and VBA became the MSOffice macro programming language of choice. I found it obtuse enough that I decided it was not worth hours of the rest of my life I'd need to devote to it to master its use. You develop that kind of perspective as the end of life approaches.
Removing A Document's Background Color: Possible ?


This courthouse is said to be one of just two round halls of justice in the USA.
Clouds fill the sky in the domed ceiling above the round courtroom.
Between Winnemucca and Sparks (a town joined to Reno by urban sprawl), the greatest excitement is in Lovelock, a town lying in a meadow valley bounded by three mountain ranges. It was here that pioneers heading west stopped to rest and graze their animals before crossing a dreaded 40-mile desert and the Sierras to reach California and Oregon.
A modern traveler will find that Lovelock now has three very different claims to fame. First is its courthouse, said to be one of only two round courthouses in the country. Since 1919, when Lovelock became the seat of Pershing County, justice has been meted out here. But when my husband and I visited, there was no one in the building to ask whether a court in the round is any more just than a square or rectangular court.
A multitude of locks has been left behind by romantic visitors.
The second attraction is a small park right behind the courthouse. In 1868, the coming of the Central Pacific Railroad brought a large Chinese population to the town, and it is here, in Lovers Lock Plaza, that the town preserves a Chinese custom of symbolically "locking one's love" on a never-ending chain.
Accordingly, lovers bring a lock (or buy one in the town) and make eternal their declaration of love by attaching the lock to one of the chains strung between metal poles behind the courthouse. A quick look at the locks reveals that many bear a "Lovelock" stamp, which suggests that this "ancient Chinese custom" is very good for local business. The town's name, however, has nothing to do with love and locks, but derives, instead, from the surname of merchant, rancher, and prospector George Lovelock.
The town's third claim to fame―or infamy―is that O.J. Simpson, who did not know how to love or live, has been locked up since 2008 in the Lovelock Correctional Center, where he is serving a 33-year sentence (with possibility of parole after nine years) for his part in an armed robbery. The judge in this trial said that the sentence, which some consider stiff, was unrelated to Simpson's 1995 acquittal in the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.
Text and photographs copyright 2011 by Esther Hecht. No portion of this text or photographs may be reproduced in any form without the express permission of Esther Hecht.
Hostess-apron curtains: an unusual design element at Bella's Espresso House.
The word "Espresso" on the café's sign caught my eye when we turned off Intestate 80 at Wells for lunch. My husband loves good coffee, and the name, Bella's Espresso House, suggested it would be a nice change from Denny's.
Our friendly waitress, who turned out to be the proprietor, assured us that everything is homemade. That sounded encouraging (though the food turned out to be very middling).
Meanwhile, I noticed an unusual, homey, element of the décor. The entire upper row of curtains was made up of vintage hostess aprons.
"Some are my mother's, some are my grandmother's, and some came from yard sales," the proprietor told us.
While we waited for the food, I got up to examine another element of the décor, an enlarged newspaper article in a massive gilt frame.
The article, which appeared in a local paper in 2002, was about two brothels (they're legal in Nevada) and how they turned a buck from the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, 160 miles away. The madam of one of them, Bella's Hacienda Ranch, said she drew about 100 extra customers by providing limousine service to her establishment.
As I was paying for our food, I asked the proprietor whether she was the Bella of Bella's Espresso's House.
"Oh no," she said. "Bella's my mother. She opened this place eight years ago." The daughter said her name was Shaunia.
Is her mother the same Bella mentioned in the newspaper article? "Yes," Shaunia said.
I couldn't help wondering whether the nice couple I had photographed with the curtains was aware of the connection between the two establishments.
An Internet search for Bella's Hacienda Ranch (which, by the way, the newspaper article described as looking nothing like its name but rather like a truck-stop motel) turned up the information that the business, which has existed since 1950, is for sale.
You could be the next madam of Bella's.
Text and photograph copyright 2011 by Esther Hecht. No portion of this text or photograph may be reproduced in any form without the express permission of Esther Hecht.
It's white, it's crunchy; bring on the skis!
The highway west from Salt Lake City to Wendover feels like the road to eternity. Sure, you get a glimpse of the Great Salt Lake and a lot more of the great salt flats. But the ruler-straight interstate leaves you wishing for some diversion, and there's no relief until the change in terrain at the Nevada line.
That weird sign makes sense when we spy travelers walking gingerly on the salt, bending down to taste it, and posing for souvenir pictures. From a distance, the salt looks exactly like snow, and the travelers would look a lot more like a part of the scene if they had cross-country skis.
At Wendover you begin the ascent on the Toana Range through the Silver Zone Pass. The terrain becomes greener, though the trees appear to be juniper pine and too short to provide dependable shade for humans.
As we approach Wells―where pioneers following the Humboldt Trail stopped to regroup―we see real snow, last year's leftovers, on the surrounding peaks. And Wells, well, it's a very small town with a very big surprise. Read about it in the next post.
Cedar Breaks National Monument: All we had to do was to step out of our car.
As America marked the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and as the symphony of memory reached a crescendo, my husband and I were driving into the land of Zion. We were on our way from Phoenix to Salt Lake City, passing the national parks we love most and have visited many times: Zion, Bryce, and Grand Canyon. This time, sadly, we were on too tight a schedule to stop.
But there was one opportunity to let our spirits soar. We were traveling north on Highway 89, which passes the Grand Canyon and continues north between Zion and Bryce. Before we reached the entrance to Bryce, we turned west on scenic route 14 toward Cedar City. Halfway across the mountains we turned north again, heading toward Parowan. That road on top of the world (the summit of Brian Head is 11,307 feet high) passes through Cedar Breaks National Monument. The visitor center is open only June through October; for most of the rest of the year the road is covered with snow and impassable.
Cedar Breaks, a treasure we had never seen before, is a giant amphitheater 3 miles wide and more than 2,000 feet deep, with brilliant oranges and yellows and spire-like formations, as in Bryce. All we had to do was step out of our car and this glorious natural palette was spread before us.
As we drove over towering mountains and through fertile mountains, we heard on the radio the many expressions of love of the country and appreciation of its freedoms. For us, that freedom was manifested in the vastness of the continent and the magnificence of its natural wonders. We felt so privileged to be able to travel again through the land of Zion.
The Lone Ranger surprised us at the restaurant across from the motel.
Kanab, the first town in Utah you encounter on your way north from Phoenix on Highway 89, is the gateway to Zion National Park, Bryce National Park, the Grand Canyon, and many other natural wonders.
But Kanab (pronounced Kuh-NAB) has another distinction. It was here that the Lone Ranger called "Hiyo, Silver" and rode off into the sunset. The area around Kanab and Fredonia (the town to its south on the Arizona side of the line) has been the location for dozens of movies, mainly westerns (56 to be precise), and many television programs. It is said that more westerns and television programs have been filmed in this area than in any other single location outside of Hollywood.
It had been a beautiful but long drive from Phoenix, and my husband pulled in to the first motel we saw, the Sun'N'Sand. It looked as though it was built in the 1950s and hadn't been remodeled since. But it had everything we needed, including a round-the-clock supply of coffee and donuts, and the proprietor was very welcoming.
When we asked for a restaurant recommendation, he sent us across the street to a place called Nedra's Too. He promised we would get a discount if we mentioned his hotel (in fact, they give a 10 percent discount to anyone who is staying in the town).
We expected a diner on about the same level as the motel, but we were in for a surprise. The place had rustic charm and the walls were covered with autographed photos of movie stars (most of whom I had never heard of but had probably seen on screen). From the menu we learned that the original Nedra, the granddaughter of a Mormon pioneer, was born in Kanab in 1917. She opened a café in Fredonia in 1957, serving American food every day but one, when she served her own style of Mexican cuisine. Her clients persuaded her to cook Mexican all week.
The café became a favorite stop for movie crews and stars, including James Garner, Vera Miles, Sidney Poitier, and Clint Eastwood. The late Sen. Barry Goldwater used to have gallons of Nedra's special hot sauce flown to his Arizona ranch, the menu said.
In 1990, Nedra's Too opened in Kanab and is today operated by the original Nedra's daughter, Nedra Pauline. The food is a cut above Mexican-style diners; the veggie quesadilla with spinach was excellent. And visitors can wax nostalgic about such classic westerns as Buffalo Bill (1944), sci-fi films like The Planet of the Apes (1968) and the 1999 Planet of the Apes, and TV series such as Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, and Daniel Boone.
Yuma is the town near the California-Arizona border where aliens abducted my husband's hat, almost exactly a year ago. The hat has not been the same since.
This year something even stranger happened. We pulled into Yuma for a lunch stop on our way from San Diego to Phoenix, and shortly after we left, Yumans lost their electrical power. I would have accused the aliens for this event too, except that the outage spread back to San Diego, where we had just been, and ahead to Arizona, where we were headed.
Must have been something we ate.
Speaking of what we ate: We had lunch at Denny's, which serves impossibly large portions. This time I decided to beat the system (both calorie-wise and money-wise) by splitting one order with my husband. What I chose, however, was something they call a make-your-own slam. For $6 you may choose four items from a list.
So I chose two short stacks of whole-wheat pancakes (each pancake turned out to be the size of a large plate), a bowl of cereal (it was delicious but huge) with milk and brown sugar, and two fried eggs. That could easily have fed a family of four. Next time I'll bring along some more people (or aliens) to share it with.
"The cheese is kasher," the young waiter said, using the Hebrew pronunciation, as I took my time choosing from the breakfast buffet at the Days Hotel in Hounslow.
The waiter, whose nametag bore the unfamiliar moniker Inteaze, proceeded to inform me that kasher food and food for Muslims is essentially the same.
My husband and I were in Hounslow because we prefer to break up the long flight from Israel to California with an overnight stay. But because the layover was too short for us to see anything in London, there was no point in going all the way into the city. So I chose this hotel, which is a bargain at under $90 per night (not including breakfast) and is only a few stops on the Underground from Heathrow.
Inteaze (In-tee-AAZ), it turned out, is from Mauritius, and he knew of the existence of the Jewish cemetery there, a fact he found puzzling because almost no Jews remain on the island. There had been a Jewish community there for a brief period, I explained.
Some 1,600 Jews who were trying to escape Nazi Europe by coming to Palestine in 1940 were refused entry by the British and detained in Mauritius, where 128 of them died of tropical diseases and harsh conditions and were buried in the St. Martins Jewish Cemetery. In August 1945 the British allowed the remainder to return to Palestine. A few dozen still live on the island.
The friendly waiter said he'd learned about kosher food while working at a Club Med resort in Eilat some years before. Another thing he'd learned there was that Jews don't cook from sundown on Friday until Saturday night, and he knew the greeting "Shabbat shalom" (Sabbath peace).
When he came to our table to pour our tea, he smilingly tried to explain the relationship between Islam and Judaism.
"But they made a mistake," my husband interjected.
That was one mistake I had never heard of; I'll have to look it up.
And so we finished our tea, wished each other well, took our mistakes, and headed back to Heathrow.
Text copyright 2011 by Esther Hecht. No portion of this text may be reproduced without the express permission of Esther Hecht.
What would you do for peace?
Esther Hecht's blog copyright 2009-2013. No part of this blog may be reproduced without written and express permission of the author.


text:
Q: About the trace operator and matrix multiplication Suppose we have a matrix $T$ with dimension $N$x$N$,  As we know that $E(TT^H) = tr(TT^H)$ where $E(.)$ denotes the expected value, $(.)^H$ indicates the conjugate transpose, $tr(.)$ is the trace operator.
In case if we multiplied  $(TT^H)$ with different permutation matrices, the results of  $tr(TT^H)$ will be changed also to have minimal and maximal values.
What I need to check, what's about if the $T$ is diagonal matrix, that means that multiplcation of $(TT^H)$ with such permutation matrices gives $tr(TT^H)$ = $0$. Is that right?

A: To make this question closable here is a couterexample which I alluded to in the comments:
Suppose $T=\operatorname{id}_{\mathbb{R}^3}$ and
$P=\begin{pmatrix}&1&\\1&&\\&&1\end{pmatrix}$.
Then $\operatorname{tr}(PTT^H)=\operatorname{tr}(P)=1\neq0$.