Shriners
Shriners International commonly known as The Shriners or known as the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, is a society established in 1870 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida. Shriners International describes itself as a fraternity based on fun and the Masonic principles of brotherly love and truth. There are 350,000 members from 196 temples in the U. S. Canada, Bolivia, the Republic of Panama, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Australia; the organization is best known for the Shriners Hospitals for Children that it administers, the red fezzes that members wear. The organization was known as "Shriners North America"; the name was changed in 2010 across North America, Central America, South America and Southeast Asia. In 1870 there were several thousand Freemasons in Manhattan, many of whom lunched at the Knickerbocker Cottage at a special table on the second floor. There, the idea of a new fraternity for Masons, stressing fellowship, was discussed. Walter M. Fleming, M. D. and William J. Florence took the idea enough to act upon it.
Florence, a world-renowned actor, while on tour in Marseille, was invited to a party given by an Arab diplomat. The entertainment was something in the nature of an elaborately staged musical comedy. At its conclusion, the guests became members of a secret society. Florence took copious notes and drawings at his initial viewing and on two other occasions, once in Algiers and once in Cairo; when he returned to New York in 1870, he showed his material to Fleming. Fleming created the ritual and costumes. Florence and Fleming were initiated August 13, 1870, they initiated 11 other men on June 16, 1871; the group soon established Temples. The first Temple established was Mecca Temple, established at the New York City Masonic Hall on September 26, 1872. Fleming was the first Potentate. In 1875, there were only 43 Shriners in the organization. In an effort to encourage membership, at the June 6, 1876 meeting of Mecca Temple, the Imperial Grand Council of the Ancient Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine for North America was created.
Fleming was elected the first Imperial Potentate. After some other reworking, by 1878 there were 425 members in 13 temples in eight states, by 1888, there were 7,210 members in 48 temples in the United States and Canada. By the Imperial Session held in Washington, D. C. in 1900, there were 82 Temples. By 1938 there were about 340,000 members in the United States; that year Life published photographs of its rites for the first time. It described the Shriners as "among secret lodges the No. 1 in prestige and show", stated that "n the typical city in the Middle West, the Shriners will include most of the prominent citizens."Shriners participate in local parades, sometimes as rather elaborate units: miniature vehicles in themes, an "Oriental Band" dressed in cartoonish versions of Middle Eastern dress. Until 2000, before being eligible for membership in the Shrine, a Mason had to complete either the Scottish Rite or York Rite systems, but now any Master Mason can join. While there are plenty of activities for Shriners, there are two organizations tied to the Shrine that are for women only: The Ladies' Oriental Shrine and the Daughters of the Nile.
They both support the Shriners Hospitals and promote sociability, membership in either organization is open to any woman 18 years of age and older, related to a Shriner or Master Mason by birth or marriage. The Ladies Oriental Shrine of North America was founded in 1903 in Wheeling, West Virginia, the Daughters of the Nile was founded in 1913 in Seattle, Washington; the latter organization has locals called "Temples". There were ten of these in 1922. Among the famous members of the Daughters of the Nile was First Lady Florence Harding, wife of Warren G. Harding; some of the earliest Shrine Centers chose a Moorish Revival style for their Temples. Architecturally notable Shriners Temples include the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, the former Mecca Temple, now called New York City Center and used as a concert hall, Newark Symphony Hall, the Landmark Theater in Richmond, the Tripoli Shrine Temple in Milwaukee, the Polly Rosenbaum Building in Phoenix, the Helena Civic Center, Abou Ben Adhem Shrine Mosque in Springfield and the Fox Theatre, jointly built between the Atlanta Shriners and movie mogul William Fox.
The Shrine's charitable arm is the Shriners Hospitals for Children, a network of twenty-two hospitals in the United States and Canada. In June 1920, the Imperial Council Session voted to establish a "Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children." The purpose of this hospital was to treat orthopedic injuries and conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, birth defects, such as cleft lip and palate, in children. After much research and debate, the committee chosen to determine the site of the hospital decided there should be not just one hospital but a network of hospitals spread across North America; the first hospital was opened in 1922 in Shreveport, by the end of the decade 13 more hospitals were in operation. Shriners Hospitals now provide orthopedic care, burn treatment, cleft lip and palate care, spinal cord inj
Red Cross of Constantine
The Red Cross of Constantine, or more formally the Masonic and Military Order of the Red Cross of Constantine and the Appendant Orders of the Holy Sepulchre and of St John the Evangelist, is a Christian fraternal order of Freemasonry. Candidates for the order must be members of Craft Freemasonry and Royal Arch Freemasonry; the Masonic and Military Order of the Red Cross of Constantine is a three-degree Order of masonry, with its "Appendant Orders" a total of five degrees are conferred within this system. Installation as a “Knight of the Red Cross of Constantine” is admission to the Order’s first degree. There are two more degrees which follow, the two other distinct Orders of Masonry which are under the control of each national Grand Imperial Conclave of the Order. On admission to the Order a member becomes a Knight-Mason, or a Knight of the Red Cross of Constantine; this ceremony is known as installation, is performed in a ‘Conclave’. A Conclave is the regular unit of this Order, the name for any assembly of members of the Order’s first degree.
The ceremony is short and simple, but teaches valuable moral lessons to the candidate, based upon the story of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. On election to serve as Viceroy, a member must be admitted to the second degree, by which ceremony he becomes a Venerable Priest-Mason, or an Installed Eusebius; this ceremony is performed in a ‘College’ of Priests-Mason. A College is the name for any assembly of members of the Order’s second degree; the ceremony is spiritual in nature, incorporates more overtly religious symbolism and ritual. Having received this degree the Installed Eusebius or Priest-Mason is entitled to serve as Viceroy in his own, or any other, Conclave or College. In general this degree may only be conferred on those elected to serve as Viceroy of a Conclave, although exceptions are possible by dispensation. On election to serve as Sovereign, a member must be admitted to the third degree, by which ceremony he becomes a Perfect Prince-Mason.
The ceremony is performed in a ‘Senate’ of Princes-Mason. A Senate is the name for any assembly of members of the Order’s third degree. Having received this degree the Prince-Mason is entitled to serve as Sovereign in his own, or any other, Conclave or Senate. Except by dispensation, this degree is only conferred on those elected as Sovereign; as with all masonic degrees, it may only be conferred on a person once - therefore a person becoming Sovereign for a second time, or in a different Conclave, would be appointed and installed into office, would not go for a second time through the full degree ceremony. Two additional Christian Orders of Masonry are under the control of the Grand Imperial Conclaves of the Red Cross of Constantine. One is the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and the other is the Order of St John the Evangelist; each of these Orders consists of a single degree or ceremony, although the two Orders are conferred separately, they are conferred on the same day, one straight after the other.
It is a rule of most jurisdictions that a member of the first degree of the Red Cross of Constantine must subsequently take these two Appendant Orders, before he may be considered qualified to proceed to the second and third degrees of the Red Cross of Constantine. The Masonic Order should not be confused with the identically named Order of the Holy Sepulchre within the Roman Catholic Church. Although both Orders recall the same historical events, there is no actual connection between them; the Masonic Order of the Holy Sepulchre has a long and complex ritual of symbolic meaning, based upon the legend of knights guarding the supposed place of burial of Jesus Christ. Both the Masonic and ecclesiastical Orders take the Jerusalem Cross as their symbol, but whereas the ecclesiastical Order displays this cross in red on a white shield, the Masonic Order displays the cross within a circle set at the centre of a Cross potent. A meeting of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre takes place in a ‘Sanctuary’, the presiding officer is called the'Prelate'.
This Order is conferred in a short ceremony of an overtly Christian character. A meeting of the Order of St John the Evangelist takes place in a ‘Commandery’, the presiding officer is called the'Commander'; the jewel of the Order of St John the Evangelist features a silver eagle with its wings extended, to which a crown is added in reference to the role of Commander, or any member of the Order, a current or past Commander. The eagle is a traditional symbol of St John the Evangelist. Since at least the 18th century, Freemasonry has incorporated symbols and rituals of several Medieval military orders in a number of Masonic bodies, most notably, in the "Red Cross of Constantine", the "Order of Malta", the "Order of the Temple", the latter two featuring prominently in the York Rite. Tracing the precise origins of these Orders has proved problematic to historians, not least due to the large number of fraternal organisations whose titles include, or have included, the phrase "Red Cross", it seems that the Order of the Red Cross of Constant
Masonic lodge
A Masonic lodge termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets; every new lodge must be warranted or chartered by a Grand Lodge, but is subject to its direction only in enforcing the published constitution of the jurisdiction. By exception the three surviving lodges that formed the world's first known grand lodge in London have the unique privilege to operate as time immemorial, i.e. without such warrant. A Freemason is entitled to visit any Lodge in any jurisdiction in amity with his own. In some jurisdictions this privilege is restricted to Master Masons, he is first required to check, certify, the regularity of the relationship of the Lodge – and be able to satisfy that Lodge of his regularity of membership. Freemasons gather together as a Lodge to work the three basic Degrees of Entered Apprentice and Master Mason. Technically, Freemasons meet as a lodge not in a lodge. In this context, the word "lodge" refers to a local chapter of Freemasons.
However, the term is misused to refer to the buildings or rooms that Masons meet in. Masonic premises are sometimes referred to as temples. In many countries Masonic centre or Masonic hall has now replaced these terms to avoid arousing prejudice and suspicion. Several different lodges, or other Masonic organisations use the same premises at different times. Blue lodges, craft lodges or ancient craft lodges refer to the lodges that work the first three Masonic degrees, rather than the appendant Masonic orders such as York Rite and Scottish Rite; the term "craft lodge" is used in Great Britain. The blue lodge is said to refer to the traditional colour of regalia in lodges derived from English or Irish Freemasonry. Although the term was frowned upon, it has gained widespread and mainstream usage in America in recent times. Research lodges have the purpose of furthering Masonic scholarship. Quatuor Coronati Lodge is an example of a research lodge. Many jurisdictions have well-established research lodges, which meet less than blue lodges and do not confer degrees.
In Great Britain, a lodge of instruction may be associated with a Lodge, but is not constituted separately. The lodge of instruction provides the officers and those who wish to become officers an opportunity to rehearse ritual under the guidance of an experienced brother. In some jurisdictions in the United States, the lodge of instruction serves as a warranted lodge for candidate instruction in other aspects of Freemasonry besides ritual rehearsal, as well as hosting a speaker on topics both Masonic and non-Masonic. In Great Britain, the term mother lodge is used to identify the particular Lodge where the individual was first "made a Mason".'Mother lodge' may refer to a lodge which sponsors the creation of a new lodge, the daughter lodge, to be warranted under the jurisdiction of the same grand lodge. Lodge Mother Kilwinning No 0 in the Grand Lodge of Scotland is known as the Mother Lodge of Scotland, having been referred to in the Schaw Statutes of 1598 and 1599, having itself warranted other lodges at a time when it did not subscribe to a grand lodge.
Lodges are governed by national, state or provincial authorities called Grand Lodges or Grand Orients, whose published constitutions define the structure of freemasonry under their authority, which appoint Grand Officers from their senior masons. Provincial Grand Lodges exercise an intermediate authority, appoint Provincial Grand Officers. Different grand lodges and their regions show subtleties of tradition and variation in the degrees and practice. In any case, Grand Lodges have limited jurisdiction over their member Lodges, where there is no prescribed ritual Lodges may thus have considerable freedom of practice. Despite these minor differences, fraternal relations exist between Lodges of corresponding degrees under different Grand Lodges. To be accepted for initiation as a regular Freemason, a candidate must: Be a man who comes of his own free will by his own initiative or by invitation in some jurisdictions. Believe in some kind of Supreme Being. Be of good morals and financially supporting himself and family.
Be at least 21 years old. Live in the jurisdiction Be able to pass interviews and pass the Investigation Committee's inquiries about his past with people who have known him, which can take up to 2 years. Be of sound mind and body.. Be a "Free Man"; this may have arisen from the refusal of operative masons to pass their secr
Taxil hoax
The Taxil hoax was an 1890s hoax of exposure by Léo Taxil intended to mock not only Freemasonry but the Catholic Church's opposition to it. Léo Taxil was the pen name of Marie Joseph Gabriel Antoine Jogand-Pagès, accused earlier of libel regarding a book he wrote called The Secret Loves of Pope Pius IX. On April 20, 1884, Pope Leo XIII published an encyclical, Humanum genus, that said that the human race was separated into two diverse and opposite parts, of which the one steadfastly contends for truth and virtue, the other of those things which are contrary to virtue and to truth; the one is the kingdom of God on earth, the true Church of Jesus Christ... The other is the kingdom of Satan... At this period, the partisans of evil seems to be combining together, to be struggling with united vehemence, led on or assisted by that organized and widespread association called the Freemasons. After this encyclical, Taxil underwent a public, feigned conversion to Roman Catholicism and announced his intention of repairing the damage he had done to the true faith.
The first book produced by Taxil after his conversion was a four-volume history of Freemasonry, which contained fictitious eyewitness verifications of their participation in Satanism. With a collaborator who published as "Dr. Karl Hacks", Taxil wrote another book called The Devil in the Nineteenth Century, which introduced a new character, Diana Vaughan, a supposed descendant of the Rosicrucian alchemist Thomas Vaughan; the book contained many tales about her encounters with incarnate demons, one of whom was supposed to have written prophecies on her back with its tail, another who played the piano in the shape of a crocodile. Diana was involved in Satanic freemasonry but was redeemed when one day she professed admiration for Joan of Arc, at whose name the demons were put to flight; as Diana Vaughan, Taxil published a book called Eucharistic Novena, a collection of prayers which were praised by the Pope. On April 19, 1897, Taxil called a press conference at which he said he would introduce Diana Vaughan to the press.
He instead announced. He thanked the clergy for their assistance in giving publicity to his wild claims; the confession was printed, in its entirety, in the Parisian newspaper Le Frondeur, on April 25, 1897, titled: Twelve Years Under the Banner of the Church, The Prank Of Palladism. Miss Diana Vaughan–The Devil At The Freemasons. A Conference held at the Hall of the Geographic Society in Paris; the hoax material is still used to this day. Chick Publications publishes such a tract called The Curse of Baphomet and Randy Noblitt's book on satanic ritual abuse and Ritual Abuse cites the Taxil hoax. In the magazine National Magazine, an Illustrated American Monthly, Volume XXIV: April – September, 1906, pages 228 and 229, Taxil is quoted as giving his true reasons behind the hoax. Ten months on March 31, 1907, Taxil died. Members of the Masonic orders understand the false exposure heaped upon that organization in anti-Mason wars; the Catholic church and many other religious orders have been the victims of these half-written and oftentimes venomous attacks.
The confession of Taxil, the French Free-thinker, who first exposed Catholics and Masons, makes interesting reading bearing on the present situation today. Similar motives actuate some of the "muck rakes" of today, as indicated in the following confession: "The public made me what I am; the crimes I laid at their door were so grotesque, so impossible, so exaggerated, I thought everybody would see the joke and give me credit for originating a new line of humor. But my readers wouldn't have it so. "Then it dawned upon me that there was lots of money in being a Munchausen of the right kind, for twelve years I gave it to them hot and strong, but never too hot. When inditing such slush as the story of the devil snake who wrote prophecies on Diana's back with the end of his tail, I sometimes said to myself:'Hold on, you are going too far,' but I didn't. My readers took kindly to the yarn of the devil who, in order to marry a Mason, transformed himself into a crocodile, despite the masquerade, played the piano wonderfully well.
"One day when lecturing at Lille, I told my audience that I had just had an apparition of Nautilus, the most daring affront on human credulity I had so far risked. But my hearers never turned a hair.'Hear ye, the doctor has seen Nautulius,' they said with admiring glances. Of course no one had a clear idea of who Nautilus was, I didn't myself, but they assumed that he was a devil. "Ah, the jolly evenings I spent with my fellow authors hatching out new plots, unheard of perversions of truth and logic, each trying to outdo the other in organized mystification. I thought I would kill myself laughing at some of the things proposed. A series of paragraphs about Lucifer are associated with the Taxil hoax, they read: That which we must say to the world is that we worship a god, but it is the god that one adores without superstition. To you, Sovereign Grand Inspectors General, we say this, that you may repeat it to the brethren of the 32nd, 31st and 30th degrees: The masonic Religion should be, by all of us initiates of the higher degrees, maintained in the Purity of the Luciferian doctrine.
If Lucifer were not God, would Adonay and his priests calumniate him? Yes, Lucifer is God, Adonay is als
Ye Antient Order of Noble Corks
Ye Antient Order of Noble Corks or Ancient & Honourable Societas Korcorum Magnae Britanniae, universally known, informally, as The Cork, is an informal degree allied to Freemasonry. It is described as a "fun" degree, with charitable fund raising as a principal aim. Distinctly nautical in form, its membership criteria vary between branches of the order. Whilst some branches will admit all Master Masons in good standing, others restrict membership to Master Masons who are either a companion in the Holy Royal Arch or a Warden, Master or Past Master of a craft Lodge; the title'Cork' or'Corks' is derived from the cork stopper of a wine bottle, the organisation's principal emblem. In different countries this emblem appears variously as a miniature cork set in a silver clasp, or a small cork suspended from a light blue ribon, or the image of a cork with a corkscrew inserted at an angle; the origins of the degree ceremony are unknown. The earliest surviving records of the degree are held by the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of England, but this cannot be assumed to demonstrate that the degree originated from that organisation.
All fees received by the Lodge must be paid, in full, to the treasurer of a charity, preferably a children's charity with no deduction being made for administrative expenses. Meetings are characterised by regular humorous'fines', in which a single member, or everybody present, is required to pay a fine by throwing a coin into a bucket or other receptacle. All fines are applied to charitable purposes a children's charity. Members are required to carry a pocket cork at all times, be able to produce it on demand. Any member being unable to produce the jewel is fined, this being given to the Lodge treasurer at the next meeting for contribution to charity; the nature of the pocket cork varies. In some traditions it is a piece of cork in a metal ring, in others it is a small cork set in a silver clasp, in still others it is a flat piece of cork which may be carried in a wallet. Membership is not onerous—the only costs on top of membership being dining fees, etc; the idea and aim being to raise money for children's charities, with Corkies having fun in so doing.
In Boards under the English Great Board of Corks there are no subscriptions or joining fees. Candidates can be initiated on the same night. Compared with masonic meetings, dress is informal - as meetings tend to be boisterous affairs, in good spirits; the ritual and initiation part takes up the first part of the evening, followed by festivities that are “closer to a Scottish Harmony than an English Festive Board”. Hats are worn during the meeting, with head-gear style being of personal choice - the sillier, the better; the presiding officer is known as the Admiral. The head of a national Great Board of Corks is known as the Great Admiral. All board or lodge officers have naval titles equating to the officers in a Craft Lodge, with jewels of office being borne on strings of corks. Titles vary between countries and traditions, but the following is one example: Rather Worshipful Admiral Uncommonly Worshipful Mate Highly Worshipful Purser Hardly Worshipful Lookout Nearly Rather Worshipful Vice Admiral Undoubtedly Ship's Writer Little Less Worshipful Doctor Barely Worshipful Cook Mainly Worshipful Bosun Particularly Worthy Screw Almost Worthy Carpenter Particularly Worthy ShipmateScotland: the Cork tradition is strong in Scotland, where lodges come under the supervision of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter.
United States of America: whilst the Cork is associated with Mark Masonry, in the United States it forms an informal and optional part of the formal system of the Allied Masonic Degrees. England and Wales: in England the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons holds the oldest known English Cork records and regalia. Before the Second World War there are various references to English Mark Lodges working the Cork degree at dinner after their formal Mark meeting. A body known as the'Great Board of Corks', consisting of senior Grand Officers of the Mark Grand Lodge, controlled the Cork degree for many years, but fell into abeyance. By 2002 it had been revived, with at least one surviving member of the original Great Board. Additionally, at least one'Board of Corks' under the authority of the Great Board, has survived the passage of time. However, the English situation is now complicated in that some old Cork lodges have histories originating without reference to the Great Board, may properly be considered independent of that body.
In general, English bodies styling themselves a'Lodge of Corks' are independent, derived from Scottish tradition, whilst English bodies styling themselves a'Board of Corks' are under the jurisdiction of the Great Board of Corks. In 2012 several independent Cork Lodges, not associated with the Great Board of Corks, formed themselves into the Grand Fleet of Cork Lodges; the fleet includes mainland European Cork Lodges. Australia: while new in Australia, it follows the tradition of the Cork Order in Scotland and England. However, its membership is open to all Master Masons in good standing. There is only one authorised Cork Lodge in Australia operating in the city of Brisbane; this lodge is Endeavour Cork Lodge No.1 and was established in 2011. The following are some examples of Cork Lodges. Armada Cork Lodge, West Lothian. Maeshowe Antient & Most Noble Cork Lodge, Orkney Angus & Mearns Cork Lodge Eastmuir Cork Lodge & Chapte
Grand Anti-Masonic Exhibition
The Grand Anti-Masonic Exhibition was the name of an antisemitic exhibition, opened on 22 October 1941 during World War II in Belgrade, the capital of the Nazi Germany-established Militärverwaltung in occupied Serbia. Financed by the Germans and opened with the support of collaborationist leader Milan Nedić, it featured an estimated 200,000 brochures, 108,000 copies of nine different types of envelopes, 100,000 flyers, 60,000 copies of twenty different posters, 176 different propaganda films, seen during The Eternal Jew exhibitions in Munich and Vienna in 1937. Despite nominally being anti-Masonic, its purpose was to promote antisemitic ideas and intensify hatred of Jews. Certain displays were intended to dehumanize the Jewish people and justify their extermination by the Germans. Others resembled anti-Jewish propaganda from the period of the Russian Empire and repeated the claims put forward in the book The Protocols of the Elders of Zion; the exhibition was organized by former members of the fascist movement known as Zbor and sought to expose an alleged Judeo-Masonic/Communist conspiracy for world domination through several displays featuring antisemitic propaganda.
Four stamps commemorating the exhibition were issued by Serbian collaborationist authorities in January 1942, depicting Judaism as being the source of all evil in the world and portraying a "strong and victorious Serbia triumphing over the plot of world domination." An estimated 80,000 people, including collaborationist leader Milan Nedić and some of his ministers, visited the exhibition prior to its closure on 19 January 1942. On 6 April 1941, Axis forces invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Poorly equipped and poorly trained, the Royal Yugoslav Army was defeated; the country was dismembered, with the Wehrmacht establishing the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia under a government of military occupation. The territory included most of Serbia proper, with the addition of the northern part of Kosovo, the Banat, it was the only area of occupied Yugoslavia. This was done to exploit the key rail and riverine transport routes that passed through it, because of its valuable resources non-ferrous metals.
The Military Commander in Serbia appointed Serbian puppet governments to "carry on administrative chores under German direction and supervision". The Germans promoted the fascist Yugoslav National Movement, led by Dimitrije Ljotić. Meanwhile, the extreme Croat nationalist and fascist Ante Pavelić, in exile in Benito Mussolini's Italy, was appointed Poglavnik of an Ustaše-led Croatian state – the Independent State of Croatia; the NDH combined all of modern-day Croatia, all of modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina and parts of modern-day Serbia into an "Italian-German quasi-protectorate." NDH authorities, led by the Ustaše militia, implemented genocidal policies against the Serb and Romani population living within the borders of the new state. As a result, two resistance movements emerged in Yugoslavia – the Serb royalist Chetniks, led by Colonel Draža Mihailović, the multi-ethnic, Communist Yugoslav Partisans, led by Josip Broz Tito. On 29 August 1941, the Germans appointed the Government of National Salvation under General Milan Nedić, to replace the short-lived Commissioner Administration.
Nedić, a pre-war politician, believed since the defeat of France in the 1940 that the Germans would emerge as the winners in World War II and sought to protect the Serbian people from German retaliation by cooperating with the Axis. Resistance to the Germans emerged and caused the German High Command to declare that a hundred Serbs would be executed for every German soldier killed and fifty Serbs would be executed for every German soldier wounded. By October 1941, the Germans executed more than 25,000 Serbs in various revenge killings throughout the occupied territory. Upon capturing Belgrade in April, the Germans ordered the city's 12,000 Jews to report themselves to the occupational authorities. Laws were passed which prohibited Jews from various activities in the occupied territory, ranging from going to restaurants to riding streetcars. Jews were ordered to wear identifying armbands; some Serbs accused the Jews of being behind the Yugoslav coup d'état which resulted in the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia and Nedić went so far as to call the Partisans a "criminal Jewish gang."
The Grand Anti-Masonic Exhibition opened in Belgrade on 22 October 1941 at 8 Ilija Garašanin Street. The Belgrade exhibit was organized by former members of Zbor and sought to expose an alleged Judeo-Masonic/Communist conspiracy for world domination through several displays featuring antisemitic propaganda, it was opened with Nedić's support. Despite nominally being anti-Masonic, its purpose was to promote antisemitic ideas and intensify hatred of Jews. Certain displays were intended to dehumanize the Jewish people and justify their extermination by the Germans. Others resembled anti-Jewish propaganda from the period of the Russian Empire and repeated the claims put forward in the book The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Besides the exhibits themselves, large amounts of propaganda material were prepared. An estimated 200,000 brochures, 108,000 copies of nine different types of envelopes, 100,000 flyers, 60,000 copies of twenty different posters, 176 propaganda films and four postage stamps designed specially for the occasion were presented to visitors.
The po
Solomon's Temple
According to the Hebrew Bible, Solomon's Temple known as the First Temple, was the Holy Temple in ancient Jerusalem before its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar II after the Siege of Jerusalem of 587 BCE and its subsequent replacement with the Second Temple in the 6th century BCE. The period in which the First Temple or stood in Jerusalem, is known in academic literature as the First Temple period; the Hebrew Bible states that the temple was constructed under Solomon, king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah and that during the Kingdom of Judah, the temple was dedicated to Yahweh, is said to have housed the Ark of the Covenant. Jewish historian Josephus says that "the temple was burnt four hundred and seventy years, six months, ten days after it was built"; because of the religious sensitivities involved, the politically volatile situation in Jerusalem, only limited archaeological surveys of the Temple Mount have been conducted. No archaeological excavations have been allowed on the Temple Mount during modern times.
Therefore, there are few pieces of archaeological evidence for the existence of Solomon's Temple. An ivory pomegranate which mentions priests in the house "of ---h", an inscription recording the Temple's restoration under Jehoash have both appeared on the antiquities market, but their authenticity has been challenged and they are the subject of controversy; the noun hekhal means "a large building". This can be either the main building of the Temple in Jerusalem, or a palace such as the "palace" of Ahab, king of Samaria, or the "palace" of the King of Babylon. Hekhal is used 80 times in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible. Of these, 70 refer to the House of the LORD, the other 10 are references to palaces. There is no reference to any part of the tabernacle using this term in the Hebrew Bible. In the year that king Uzziah died. I saw the LORD sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, His train filled the hekhal. In older English versions of the Bible, including the King James Version, the term temple is used to translate hekhal.
In modern versions more reflective of archaeological research, the distinction is made of different sections of the whole Temple. Scholars and archaeologists agree on the structure of Solomon's Temple as described in 1 Kings 6:3–5, with three main elements: the porch. Schmid and Rupprecht are of the view that the site of the temple used to be a Jebusite shrine which Solomon chose in an attempt to unify the Jebusites and Israelites. Rabbinic sources state that the First Temple stood for 410 years and, based on the 2nd-century work Seder Olam Rabbah, place construction in 832 BCE and destruction in 422 BCE, 165 years than secular estimates; the exact location of the Temple is unknown: it is believed to have been situated upon the hill which forms the site of the 1st century Second Temple and present-day Temple Mount, where the Dome of the Rock is situated. The only source of information on the First Temple is the Tanakh. According to the biblical sources, the temple was constructed under Solomon, during the united monarchy of Israel and Judah.
The Bible describes Hiram I of Tyre who furnished architects and cedar timbers for the temple of his ally Solomon at Jerusalem. He co-operated with Solomon in mounting an expedition on the Red Sea. 1 Kings 6:1 puts the date of the beginning of building the temple "in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel". The conventional dates of Solomon's reign are circa 970 to 931 BCE; this puts the date of its construction in the mid-10th century BCE. 1 Kings 9:10 says that it took Solomon 20 years altogether to build his royal palace. The Temple itself finished being built after 7 years. 1 Kings 8:10-66 and 2 Chronicles 6:1-42 recount the events of the temple's dedication. When the priests emerged from the holy of holies after placing the Ark there, the Temple was filled with an overpowering cloud which interrupted the dedication ceremony, "for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord". Solomon interpreted the cloud as " that his pious work was accepted": The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.
I have built you a place for you to dwell in forever. The allusion is to Leviticus 16:2: The Lord said to Moses: Tell your brother Aaron not to come just at any time into the sanctuary inside the curtain before the mercy seat, upon the ark, or he will die. Solomon led the whole assembly of Israel in prayer, noting that the construction on the temple represented a fulfilment of God's promise to David, dedicating the temple as a place of prayer and reconciliation for the people of Israel and for foreigners living in Israel, highlighting the paradox that God who lives in the heavens cannot be contained within a single building; the dedication was concluded with sacrifices said to have included "twenty-two thousand bulls and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep". During the United Monarchy the Temple was dedicated to the God of Israel. From the reign of King Manasseh until King Josiah, Baal and "the host of heaven" were worshipped; until the reforms of King Josiah, there was a statue for the goddess Asherah and priestesses wove ritual textiles for her.
Next to the temple was a house for the temple prostitutes (2 Kings
