Happy Chaka Khan!
Posted on 09/24/2008 7:30:42 PM PDT by Zionist Conspirator
As most people know, the Jewish day does not run from midnight to midnight (which is all screwed up now thanks to Daylight Savings Time anyway) but from nightfall to sunset. Tonight, 9/24/'08, and tomorrow, 9/25/'08 (up until sunset) corresponds to 25 'Elul--which is in the Jewish tradition the day when G-d said "Yehi 'or!" ("Let there be light!"). It is the anniversary of the First Day of Creation.
You will note that I said this is the anniversary "in Jewish tradition." If I had merely said "this is the anniversary of the first day of creation" I would have opened myself up to all sorts of snarky remarks. The inclusion of the words "in Jewish tradition," however, implies for some bizarre reason or other that it isn't really so (sort of like calling a "religion" a "faith tradition"). So the people who would be making the snarky remarks will instead exclaim "Oh, isn't that such a beautiful story!" and wait until 10/22 to attack creationism because of Bishop Ussher's chronology.
Shhh. I'm going to tell you a secret. Come closer. Now . . . don't let this get around . . . but "today is the anniversary of the first day of creation" and "today is, according to Jewish tradition, the anniversary of the first day of creation," both mean the exact same thing. But don't tell anybody.
There is a great deal packed in this concept. Because light was created on the 25th day of the month the number 25 becomes a number of light. This is why the Festival of Lights, Chanukkah, begins on the 25th day of Kislev. And yes, before you chr*stians chime in, I am well aware of the date of chr*stmas. But which came first?
Furthermore, since the Hebrew 'Alef-Bet has numerical value, this means that the number 25 is represented by the letters kaf-he' (roughly k-h). Thus the word "Chanukkah" is also the statement "Chanu Ka"H), "they camped on the 25th," meaning the Chashmonayim ceased fighting on that day after routing the Antiochenes. Another most interesting example of this is the question G-d asks Adam after the latter has hidden in the Garden. The question rendered "Where are you?" in English Bibles is the unusual word 'Ayyekkah. The first part of the word is a form of the Hebrew interrogative "where?" The remaining two letters, kaf-he', are the number for "25." Usually the kaf alone represents the second person masculine singular suffix, but the addition of the letter he' gives G-d's question a double meaning: not only "Where are you?" but also "Where is the light?" (the light Adam lost when he sinned).
The Hebrew language, and the Hebrew Bible, are full of interesting lessons like this.
History is not dated from the First Day of Creation (25 'Elul) but from the Sixth Day of Creation (1 Tishrei)--Ro'sh HaShanah, when Adam was created (specifically, history began when Adam first spoke). This illustrates man's place as the center and purpose of creation, since history only truly begins with Adam despite his being the last thing created.
Adam and Eve were created on the first Ro'sh HaShanah. That same day they procreated and brought forth five children and committed the first sin. For this reason all mankind, and all creation, are judged on Ro'sh HaShanah each year. (I may be wrong, but it is my understanding that G-d waited until after Shabbat to expel them from the Garden, and it was on that day, the second "first day," that G-d gave man the gift of fire).
While the Sefaradim recite their selichot throughout the entire month of 'Elul (in memory of the forty days from when Moses broke the First Tablets of the Law at the sin of the golden calf until he descended Sinai with the Second Tablets), the 'Ashkenazim always begin selichot one or two sundays before Ro'sh HaShanah in memory of the Days of Creation.
One final observation: it is of interest that according to Jewish tradition (wink, wink!) the creation occurred in the autumn (in fact, the shortening days lead Adam to speculate that his sin was destroying the world; when he saw this was not the case at the next solstice his celebration became the great-granddaddy of all the winter solstice celebrations kept by almost all peoples since that time). As the vegetation was created not as seeds or young plants but fully mature and laden with fruit, this certainly implies that the universe could have been created in a fully formed state, without the necessity of aeons of the workings of natural processes (as they operate presently) to bring it about (and of course, there were no natural processes until the creation was complete).
To all who acknowledge the Torah's account of creation, I wish a happy anniversay of Yom 'Echad (Day One)!
A ping strictly for your interest, old friend!
Thanks for the interesting read!
Happy Anniversary!
Awesome. Good read.
Thank you. Always interesting to read about Jewish teaching.
>>I am well aware of the date of chr*stmas.
We picked that date to p*ss off the pagans ;o)
And a Happy Roshashana to you and your family for next week.
This year we are going to build a Sukkah for my granddaughter. She’s our “mazel.”
read later
Happy Chaka Khan!
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Tom Frieden said the patient left Liberia on Sept. 19, arrived the next day* to visit family and started feeling ill four or five days later
The unidentified man was critically ill and has been in isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital since Sunday, officials said
* 25 Elul
In paleoanthropology, the recent African origin of modern humans, or the "Out of Africa" theory, is the most widely accepted model of the geographic origin and early migration of anatomically modern humans.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Recent_African_origin_of_modern_humans&redirect=no
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