1.
Megatron
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Megatron is a character from the Transformers franchise, created by Hasbro in 1984, based on a toy design by Takara. The original Megatron was the Decepticon Leader, which could transform into three different types of guns, a Walther P38 handgun, a beam cannon. He is a sentient robotic lifeform from the planet Cybertron and the leader of the villainous Decepticons as well as the archenemy of the Autobot leader Optimus Prime, Megatron is usually depicted as having risen up from the lowly worker to become a champion in gladiatorial combat. As a gladiator, he took the legendary name Megatronus as his own, Prime would later use his teachings against him when he became corrupt. He has the ability to transform between his robot shape and various weapons or vehicles, but these alternate-modes, his origins and even personality and this origin is considered the most consistent between the various incarnations. Further differences are listed in the sections below. The original Megatronus, better known as the Fallen, was one of the original Thirteen Primes created by Primus, Megatronus betrayed his creator by siding with Primus dark twin, the malevolent planet-eater Unicron. In the final battle between Primus and Unicron, Megatronus fell victim to the fate as his master, sucked through a black hole into another dimension. However, while Unicron emerged in another universe, the Fallen was not so fortunate, another being addressed simply as Megatron is an apocalyptic figure said to bring about death and destruction through alteration of the time stream. Possible interpretations in the book of him are Alpha and Omega, the Fallen made his first appearance in the second volume of Transformers, The War Within. The character appears as the main antagonist in the live action film, Transformers, Revenge of the Fallen. Director Michael Bay described him as apocalyptic and he has the ability to teleport and generate a shockwave upon reappearance. He wields a spear as his weapon and has the ability of telekinesis, Megatronus is also mentioned as one of Thirteen in Transformers, Exodus and later appeared as the main antagonist in the first-season finale of Transformers, Robots in Disguise, voiced by Gil Gerard. Megatronuss history would be retconned in Transformers, The Covenant of Primus, Megatronus was one of the original thirteen Primes. Megatronus commissioned Solus Prime to create the Requiem Blaster, following the War of the Primes, he exiled himself from Cybertron after unintentionally murdering Solus Prime. Megatron is the founder of the Decepticon uprising and their most feared leader, bob Budiansky, the writer for the Marvel Comics series, stated that originally Hasbro took issue with the name, saying it sounded too frightening. Budiansky responded that as the villain, that was the point. Hasbro later agreed with his reasoning, and approved the name Megatron, the name itself probably comes from the Greek word megas, although in one of his interviews Budiansky claimed that it is in fact a portmanteau of electronic and megaton
2.
Cavity magnetron
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The cavity magnetron is a high-powered vacuum tube that generates microwaves using the interaction of a stream of electrons with a magnetic field while moving past a series of open metal cavities. Electrons pass by the openings to these cavities and cause radio waves to oscillate within, the frequency of the microwaves produced, the resonant frequency, is determined by the cavities physical dimensions. An early form of magnetron was invented by H. Gerdien in 1910, another form of magnetron tube, the split-anode magnetron, was invented by Albert Hull in 1920, but it wasnt capable of high frequencies and was of little use. Similar devices were experimented with by many teams through the 1920s and 1930s, the cavity magnetron tube was later improved by John Randall and Harry Boot in 1940 at the University of Birmingham, England. The compact cavity magnetron tube drastically reduced the size of radar sets so that they could be easily installed in night-fighter aircraft, anti-submarine aircraft. In the post-war era the magnetron became less used in the radar role. This was because the output changes from pulse to pulse. This makes the signal unsuitable for pulse-to-pulse comparisons, which is used for detecting and removing clutter from the radar display. The magnetron remains in use in some radars, but has much more common as a low-cost microwave source for microwave ovens. In this form, approximately one billion magnetrons are in use today, in a conventional electron tube, electrons are emitted from a negatively charged, heated component called the cathode and are attracted to a positively charged component called the anode. The idea of using a grid for control was patented by Lee de Forest, one concept used a magnetic field instead of an electrical charge to control current flow, leading to the development of the magnetron tube. In this design, the tube was made with two electrodes, typically with the cathode in the form of a rod in the center. The tube was placed between the poles of a horseshoe magnet arranged such that the field was aligned parallel to the axis of the electrodes. With no magnetic field present, the tube operates as a diode, in the presence of the magnetic field, the electrons will experience a force at right angles to their direction of motion, according to the left-hand rule. In this case, the electrons follow a path between the cathode and anode. The curvature of the path can be controlled by varying either the field, using an electromagnet. At very high magnetic field settings the electrons are forced back onto the cathode, at the opposite extreme, with no field, the electrons are free to flow straight from the cathode to the anode. There is a point between the two extremes, the value or Hull cut-off magnetic field, where the electrons just reach the anode
3.
Hebrew language
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Hebrew is a language native to Israel, spoken by over 9 million people worldwide, of whom over 5 million are in Israel. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their ancestors, the earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE. Hebrew belongs to the West Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, Hebrew is the only living Canaanite language left, and the only truly successful example of a revived dead language. Hebrew had ceased to be a spoken language somewhere between 200 and 400 CE, declining since the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Aramaic and to a lesser extent Greek were already in use as international languages, especially among elites and it survived into the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy, rabbinic literature, intra-Jewish commerce, and poetry. Then, in the 19th century, it was revived as a spoken and literary language, and, according to Ethnologue, had become, as of 1998, the language of 5 million people worldwide. After Israel, the United States has the second largest Hebrew-speaking population, with 220,000 fluent speakers, Modern Hebrew is one of the two official languages of the State of Israel, while premodern Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world today. Ancient Hebrew is also the tongue of the Samaritans, while modern Hebrew or Arabic is their vernacular. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Leshon Hakodesh, the modern word Hebrew is derived from the word Ivri, one of several names for the Israelite people. It is traditionally understood to be a based on the name of Abrahams ancestor, Eber. This name is based upon the root ʕ-b-r meaning to cross over. Interpretations of the term ʕibrim link it to this verb, cross over, in the Bible, the Hebrew language is called Yәhudit because Judah was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation. In Isaiah 19,18 it is called the Language of Canaan, Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of languages. In turn, the Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages, according to Avraham ben-Yosef, Hebrew flourished as a spoken language in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah during about 1200 to 586 BCE. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew was a vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile. In July 2008 Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa which he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating around 3000 years ago. The Gezer calendar also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the Monarchic Period, classified as Archaic Biblical Hebrew, the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that through the Greeks, the Gezer calendar is written without any vowels, and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places where later Hebrew spelling requires it
4.
Archangel
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An archangel /ˌɑːrkˈeɪndʒəl/ is an angel of high rank. The word archangel itself is associated with the Abrahamic religions. The word archangel is derived from the Greek ἀρχάγγελος, Michael and Gabriel are recognized as archangels in Judaism, Islam and by most Christians. Protestants recognize Gabriel as an angel but consider Michael to be the only archangel, raphael—mentioned in the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit—is also recognized in the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael are venerated in the Roman Catholic Church with a feast on September 29, the named archangels in Islam are Gabriel, Michael, Israfil and Azrael. Jewish literature, such as the Book of Enoch, mentions Metatron as an archangel, called the highest of the angels, some branches of the faiths mentioned have identified a group of seven Archangels, but the actual angels vary, depending on the source. Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael are always mentioned, the other archangels vary, but most commonly include Uriel, in Zoroastrianism, sacred texts allude to the six great Amesha Spenta of Ahura Mazda. An increasing number of experts in anthropology, theology and philosophy, the Amesha Spentas of Zoroastrianism are likened to archangels. They individually inhabit immortal bodies that operate in the world to protect, guide, and inspire humanity. The Avesta explains the origin and nature of archangels or Amesha Spentas, to maintain equilibrium, Ahura Mazda engaged in the first act of creation, distinguishing his Holy Spirit Spenta Mainyu, the Archangel of righteousness. Ahura Mazda also distinguished from himself six more Amesha Spentas, who, along with Spenta Mainyu, then he oversaw the development of sixteen lands, each imbued with a unique cultural catalyst calculated to encourage the formation of distinct human populations. The Amesha Spentas were charged with protecting these holy lands and through their emanation, the Amesha Spentas as attributes of God are, Spenta Mainyu, lit. Immortality The Hebrew Bible uses the ter. מלאכי אלוהים, The Hebrew word for angel is malach, מלאכי י י, בני אלוהים and הקדושים to refer to beings traditionally interpreted as angelic messengers. Other terms are used in texts, such as העליונים. References to angels are uncommon in Jewish literature except in works such as the Book of Daniel, though they are mentioned briefly in the stories of Jacob. Daniel is the first biblical figure to refer to individual angels by name and it is therefore widely speculated that Jewish interest in angels developed during the Babylonian captivity. According to Rabbi Simeon ben Lakish of Tiberias, specific names for the angels were brought back by the Jews from Babylon, there are no explicit references to archangels in the canonical texts of the Hebrew Bible. In post-Biblical Judaism, certain angels came to take on a particular significance, though these archangels were believed to have rank amongst the heavenly host, no systematic hierarchy ever developed
5.
Judaism
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Judaism encompasses the religion, philosophy, culture and way of life of the Jewish people. Judaism is an ancient monotheistic Abrahamic religion, with the Torah as its text, and supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Midrash. Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the relationship that God established with the Children of Israel. With between 14.5 and 17.4 million adherents worldwide, Judaism is the tenth-largest religion in the world, Judaism includes a wide corpus of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization. Modern branches of Judaism such as Humanistic Judaism may be nontheistic, today, the largest Jewish religious movements are Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism. Major sources of difference between groups are their approaches to Jewish law, the authority of the Rabbinic tradition. Orthodox Judaism maintains that the Torah and Jewish law are divine in origin, eternal and unalterable, Conservative and Reform Judaism are more liberal, with Conservative Judaism generally promoting a more traditional interpretation of Judaisms requirements than Reform Judaism. A typical Reform position is that Jewish law should be viewed as a set of guidelines rather than as a set of restrictions and obligations whose observance is required of all Jews. Historically, special courts enforced Jewish law, today, these still exist. Authority on theological and legal matters is not vested in any one person or organization, the history of Judaism spans more than 3,000 years. Judaism has its roots as a religion in the Middle East during the Bronze Age. Judaism is considered one of the oldest monotheistic religions, the Hebrews and Israelites were already referred to as Jews in later books of the Tanakh such as the Book of Esther, with the term Jews replacing the title Children of Israel. Judaisms texts, traditions and values strongly influenced later Abrahamic religions, including Christianity, Islam, many aspects of Judaism have also directly or indirectly influenced secular Western ethics and civil law. Jews are a group and include those born Jewish and converts to Judaism. In 2015, the world Jewish population was estimated at about 14.3 million, Judaism thus begins with ethical monotheism, the belief that God is one and is concerned with the actions of humankind. According to the Tanakh, God promised Abraham to make of his offspring a great nation, many generations later, he commanded the nation of Israel to love and worship only one God, that is, the Jewish nation is to reciprocate Gods concern for the world. He also commanded the Jewish people to one another, that is. These commandments are but two of a corpus of commandments and laws that constitute this covenant, which is the substance of Judaism
6.
Adramelech
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Adramelech, also called Adrammelech, Adramelek or Adar-malik, was a form of sun god related to Moloch. The centre of his worship was the Mesopotamian town of Sippar, according to the cult was brought by the Sepharvite colonists into Samaria, the Sepharvites burnt their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim—like Moloch. The melech element means King in Hebrew, in later times, he is associated with the Moloch of Phoenicia and Carthage. Like many pagan gods, Adramelech is considered a demon in some Judeo-Christian traditions, so he appears in Miltons Paradise Lost, where Adramelech is a fallen angel who, along with Asmodeus, is vanquished by Uriel and Raphael. According to Collin de Plancys book on demonology, Infernal Dictionary and he is also the Chancellor of Hell and supervisor of Satans wardrobe. Adramelech is generally depicted with a torso, a mules head, a peacock tail. A poets description of Adramelech can be found in Robert Silverbergs short story Basileus, Adramelech is described as The enemy of God, greater in ambition, guile and mischief than Satan. A fiend more curst—a deeper hypocrite, christian demons in popular culture This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Easton, Matthew George
7.
Enoch (ancestor of Noah)
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Enoch is a figure in Biblical literature. In the seventh generation from Adam, he was considered the author of the Book of Enoch, in addition to an appearance in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible, Enoch is the subject of many Jewish and Christian writings. Enoch was the son of Jared, the father of Methuselah, at 65 years old, he begot Methuselah. Regim and Gaidad are also mentioned as his sons according to 2 Enoch, the Bible says that Enoch lived 365 years before he was taken by God. The text reads that Enoch walked with God, and he was no more, for God took him and this Enoch is not to be confused with Cains son Enoch. The Christian New Testament has three references to Enoch from the lineage of Seth, Enoch appears in the Book of Genesis of the Pentateuch as the seventh of the ten pre-Deluge Patriarchs. Genesis recounts that each of the pre-Flood Patriarchs lived for several centuries, Genesis 5 provides a genealogy of these ten figures, providing the age at which each fathered the next, and the age of each figure at death. Enoch is considered by many to be the exception, who is said to not see death. Furthermore, Genesis 5, 22–29 states that Enoch lived 365 years which is short in the context of his peers. The brief account of Enoch in Genesis 5 ends with the note that he not, 3rd Book of Enoch, a Rabbinic text in Hebrew usually dated to the fifth century AD. These recount how Enoch was taken up to Heaven and was appointed guardian of all the treasures, chief of the archangels. He was subsequently taught all secrets and mysteries and, with all the angels at his back, fulfils of his own accord whatever comes out of the mouth of God, executing His decrees. Much esoteric literature like the 3rd Book of Enoch identifies Enoch as the Metatron, the Book of Giants resembles the Book of Enoch, a pseudepigraphical Jewish work from the 3rd century BC. At least six and as many as eleven copies were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls collections, the third-century BC translators who produced the Greek Septuagint rendered the phrase God took him with the Greek verb metatithemi meaning moving from one place to another. Sirach 44,16, from about the period, states that Enoch pleased God and was translated into paradise that he may give repentance to the nations. The Greek word used here for paradise, paradeisos, was derived from an ancient Persian word meaning enclosed garden, later, however, the term became synonymous for heaven, as is the case here. In classical Rabbinical literature, there are views of Enoch. One view regarding Enoch was that found in the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, which thought of Enoch as a man, taken to Heaven
8.
Talmud
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The Talmud is a central text of Rabbinic Judaism. It is also referred to as Shas, a Hebrew abbreviation of shisha sedarim, the six orders. Talmud translates literally as instruction in Hebrew, and the term may refer to either the Gemara alone, or the Mishnah, the entire Talmud consists of 63 tractates, and in standard print is over 6,200 pages long. The Talmud is the basis for all codes of Jewish law, Rabbis expounded and debated the Torah and discussed the Tanakh without the benefit of written works, though some may have made private notes, for example of court decisions. It is during this period that rabbinic discourse began to be recorded in writing, the earliest recorded oral Torah may have been of the midrashic form, in which halakhic discussion is structured as exegetical commentary on the Pentateuch. But an alternative form, organized by subject matter instead of by biblical verse, became dominant about the year 200 CE, the Oral Torah was far from monolithic, rather, it varied among various schools. The most famous two were the School of Shammai and the School of Hillel, in general, all valid opinions, even the non-normative ones, were recorded in the Talmud. The oldest full manuscript of the Talmud, known as the Munich Talmud, each tractate is divided into chapters,517 in total, that are both numbered according to the Hebrew alphabet and given names, usually using the first one or two words in the first mishnah. A perek may continue over several pages, each perek will contain several mishnayot with their accompanying exchanges that form the building-blocks of the Gemara, the name for a passage of gemara is a sugya. A sugya, including baraita or tosefta, will comprise a detailed proof-based elaboration of a Mishnaic statement. A sugya may, and often does, range widely off the subject of the mishnah, in a given sugya, scriptural, Tannaic and Amoraic statements are cited to support the various opinions. In so doing, the Gemara will highlight semantic disagreements between Tannaim and Amoraim, and compare the Mishnaic views with passages from the Baraita. Rarely are debates formally closed, in instances, the final word determines the practical law. There is a literature on the procedural principles to be used in settling the practical law when disagreements exist, see under #Logic. The Mishnah is a compilation of legal opinions and debates, statements in the Mishnah are typically terse, recording brief opinions of the rabbis debating a subject, or recording only an unattributed ruling, apparently representing a consensus view. The rabbis recorded in the Mishnah are known as the Tannaim, the Mishnahs topical organization thus became the framework of the Talmud as a whole. But not every tractate in the Mishnah has a corresponding Gemara, also, the order of the tractates in the Talmud differs in some cases from that in the Mishnah. In addition to the Mishnah, other tannaitic teachings were current at about the time or shortly thereafter
9.
Kabbalah
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Kabbalah is an esoteric method, discipline, and school of thought that originated in Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist in Judaism is called a Mekubbal, Kabbalah is a set of esoteric teachings meant to explain the relationship between an unchanging, eternal, and mysterious Ein Sof and the mortal and finite universe. While it is used by some denominations, it is not a religious denomination in itself. It forms the foundations of religious interpretation. Kabbalah seeks to define the nature of the universe and the human being, the nature and purpose of existence and it also presents methods to aid understanding of the concepts and thereby attain spiritual realisation. Kabbalah originally developed within the realm of Jewish tradition, and kabbalists often use classical Jewish sources to explain, traditional practitioners believe its earliest origins pre-date world religions, forming the primordial blueprint for Creations philosophies, religions, sciences, arts, and political systems. Safed Rabbi Isaac Luria is considered the father of contemporary Kabbalah and it was popularised in the form of Hasidic Judaism from the 18th century onwards. According to the Zohar, a text for kabbalistic thought. These four levels are called pardes from their initial letters, peshat, the direct interpretations of meaning. Derash, midrashic meanings, often with imaginative comparisons with similar words or verses, sod, the inner, esoteric meanings, expressed in kabbalah. Kabbalah is considered by its followers as a part of the study of Torah – the study of Torah being an inherent duty of observant Jews. A third tradition, related but more shunned, involves the magical aims of Practical Kabbalah and they can be readily distinguished by their basic intent with respect to God, The Theosophical tradition of Theoretical Kabbalah seeks to understand and describe the divine realm. Consequently, it formed a minor tradition shunned from Kabbalah. According to traditional belief, early kabbalistic knowledge was transmitted orally by the Patriarchs, prophets, According to this view, early kabbalah was, in around the 10th century BC, an open knowledge practiced by over a million people in ancient Israel. Foreign conquests drove the Jewish spiritual leadership of the time to hide the knowledge and make it secret and it is hard to clarify with any degree of certainty the exact concepts within kabbalah. There are several different schools of thought with different outlooks, however. From the Renaissance onwards Jewish Kabbalah texts entered non-Jewish culture, where they were studied and translated by Christian Hebraists, syncretic traditions of Christian Kabbalah and Hermetic Qabalah developed independently of Jewish Kabbalah, reading the Jewish texts as universal ancient wisdom. Both adapted the Jewish concepts freely from their Judaic understanding, to merge with other theologies, religious traditions, with the decline of Christian Cabala in the Age of Reason, Hermetic Qabalah continued as a central underground tradition in Western esotericism
10.
Angel
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An angel, especially according to Abrahamic religions and Zoroastrianism, is a spiritual being superior to humans in power and intelligence. Most of them either as intermediaries between Heaven and Earth, or as guardian spirits. They are studied in the doctrine of angelology. In Christian Science, the angel is used to refer to an inspiration from God. In fine art, angels are depicted as having the shape of human beings of extraordinary beauty, they are often identified using the symbols of bird wings, halos. The word angel in English is a blend of Old English engel, both derive from Late Latin angelus messenger, which in turn was borrowed from Late Greek ἄγγελος ángelos. According to R. S. P. Beekes, ángelos itself may be an Oriental loan, the words earliest form is Mycenaean a-ke-ro attested in Linear B syllabic script. The ángelos is the default Septuagints translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mal’ākh denoting simply messenger without specifying its nature. In the Latin Vulgate, however, the meaning becomes bifurcated, if the word refers to some supernatural being, the word angelus appears. Such differentiation has been taken over by later vernacular translations of the Bible, early Christian and Jewish exegetes, in Zoroastrianism there are different angel-like figures. For example, each person has one guardian angel, called Fravashi and they patronize human beings and other creatures, and also manifest Gods energy. In the commentaries of Proclus on the Timaeus of Plato, Proclus uses the terminology of angelic, according to Aristotle, just as there is a First Mover, so, too, must there be spiritual secondary movers. The Torah uses the terms מלאך אלהים, מלאך יהוה, בני אלהים and הקודשים to refer to beings traditionally interpreted as angels, later texts use other terms, such as העליונים. The term מלאך is also used in books of the Tanakh. Depending on the context, the Hebrew word may refer to a messenger or to a supernatural messenger. Daniel is the first biblical figure to refer to individual angels by name, mentioning Gabriel in Daniel 9,21 and these angels are part of Daniels apocalyptic visions and are an important part of all apocalyptic literature. One of these is hāšāṭān, a figure depicted in the Book of Job, philo of Alexandria identifies the angel with the Logos inasmuch as the angel is the immaterial voice of God. The angel is something different from God himself, but is conceived as Gods instrument, in post-Biblical Judaism, certain angels took on particular significance and developed unique personalities and roles
11.
Book of Genesis
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The Book of Genesis is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. The basic narrative expresses the theme, God creates the world and appoints man as his regent. The new post-Flood world is also corrupt, God does not destroy it, instead calling one man, Abraham, to be the seed of its salvation. At Gods command Abraham descends from his home into the land of Canaan, given to him by God, Genesis ends with Israel in Egypt, ready for the coming of Moses and the Exodus. The narrative is punctuated by a series of covenants with God, the books author or authors appear to have structured it around ten toledot sections, but modern commentators see it in terms of a primeval history followed by the cycle of Patriarchal stories. In Judaism, the importance of Genesis centers on the covenants linking God to his chosen people. It is not clear, however, what this meant to the original authors, while the first is far shorter than the second, it sets out the basic themes and provides an interpretive key for understanding the entire book. The primeval history has a symmetrical structure hinging on chapters 6–9, God creates the world in six days and consecrates the seventh as a day of rest. God creates the first humans Adam and Eve and all the animals in the Garden of Eden but instructs them not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. A talking serpent portrayed as a creature or trickster, entices Eve into eating it anyway. Eve bears two sons, Cain and Abel, Cain kills Abel after God accepts Abels offering but not Cains. Eve bears another son, Seth, to take Abels place, after many generations of Adam have passed from the lines of Cain and Seth, the world becomes corrupted by the sin of man and Nephilim, and God determines to wipe out mankind. First, he instructs the righteous Noah and his family to build a huge boat, then God sends a great flood to wipe out the rest of the world. When the waters recede, God promises that he not destroy the world a second time with water with the rainbow as the symbol of his promise. But upon seeing mankind cooperating to build a great tower city, God instructs Abram to travel from his home in Mesopotamia to the land of Canaan. Abrams name is changed to Abraham and that of his wife Sarai to Sarah, because Sarah is old, she tells Abraham to take her Egyptian handmaiden, Hagar, as a second wife. God resolves to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for the sins of their people, Abraham protests and gets God to agree not to destroy the cities if 10 righteous men can be found. Angels save Abrahams nephew Lot and his family, but his wife back on the destruction against their command and is turned into a pillar of salt
12.
Entering Heaven alive
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Entering Heaven alive is a belief held to be true by multiple religions. Unlike the other entries in this article, this paragraph does not, in the view of most Christians, Jesus is considered by the vast majority of Christians to have died before being resurrected and ascending to heaven. The minority views that Jesus didnt die are known as the Swoon hypothesis, in the Roman Catholic Church, the Ascension of the Lord is a Holy Day of Obligation. In the Eastern Orthodox Church the Ascension is one of twelve Great Feasts, in the Reformed churches tradition of Calvinism, belief in the ascension of Christ is included in the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Heidelberg Catechism and the Second Helvetic Confession. The Rapture is a reference to being caught up as found in 1 Thessalonians 4,17, when the dead in Christ and we who are alive and remain will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord. The Roman Catholic Church distinguishes between The Ascension, in which Christ rose to heaven by his own power, and The Assumption in which Mary, mother of Jesus, was raised to heaven by Gods power. On November 1,1950, Pope Pius XII, acting ex cathedra, issued Munificentissimus Deus, the doctrine is based on Sacred Tradition that Mary, mother of Jesus, was bodily assumed into heaven. For centuries before that, the assumption was celebrated in art, the proclamation leaves open whether or not Mary died before assumption into heaven. Some theologians have argued that Mary didnt die, but the dogma itself doesnt say this, the Eastern Orthodox Church teaches that three other persons were taken bodily into heaven, Enoch, Elijah and the Theotokos. Similar to the Western Assumption of Mary, the Orthodox celebrate the Dormition of the Theotokos on August 15. The church teaches that the Apostles received a revelation during which the Theotokos appeared to them and told them she had been resurrected by Jesus and taken body and soul into heaven. The Orthodox teach that Mary already enjoys the fullness of heavenly bliss that the saints will experience only after the Last Judgment. According to Revelation, they will be resurrected and ascend again to heaven, simon Magus, a first-century Gnostic who claimed to be an incarnation of God reportedly had the ability to levitate, along with many other magical powers. As a dissenter from the Proto-orthodox Christianity of the time, this was branded by Christians as evil magic and he is said to have attempted to levitate to the heavens from the Roman Forum, but fell back to earth and injured himself. Apollonius of Tyana was said to have been assumed into Elysium by Philostratus, yudhishthira of the Mahabharata is believed to be the only human to cross the plane between mortals and heaven in his mortal body. Sant Tukaram was taken to Vaikunta on Garuda Vahan which was witnessed by all the village people, chaitanya Mahaprabhu disappeared after entering the temple deity room of Lord Jagannath. Ramalinga Swamigal, a great Sage revered by his teaching, ramalinga supposedly attained the Supreme Body of the Godhead when Divinity itself merged with him. He was reported to have disappeared after deciding to de-materialize his immortal body by his own free will and she believed that she could create for herself a new kind of “light body”
13.
Book of Enoch
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It is not part of the biblical canon as used by Jews, apart from Beta Israel. It is regarded as canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church and it is wholly extant only in the Geez language, with Aramaic fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls and a few Greek and Latin fragments. No Hebrew version is known to have survived and it is asserted in the book itself that its author was Enoch, before the Biblical Flood. The text was also utilised by the community that originally collected the Dead Sea Scrolls, the first part of the Book of Enoch describes the fall of the Watchers, the angels who fathered the Nephilim. The remainder of the book describes Enochs visits to heaven in the form of travels, visions and dreams, and his revelations. By the 4th century, the Book of Enoch was mostly excluded from Christian canons, and it is now regarded as scripture by only the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, compare this with Enoch 1,9, translated from the Ethiopic, And behold. Under the heading of canonicity, it is not enough to demonstrate that something is quoted. Instead, it is necessary to demonstrate the nature of the quotation. In the case of the Jude 1,14 quotation of 1 Enoch 1,9, it would be difficult to argue that Jude does not quote Enoch as an historical prophet since he cites Enoch by name. However, there remains a question as to whether the author of Jude attributed the quotation believing the source to be the historical Enoch before the flood or a midrash of Deut 33, certainly he did consider it authoritative, a true word from God. We cannot tell whether he ranked it alongside other books such as Isaiah and Jeremiah. What we do know is, first, that other Jewish groups, most notably those living in Qumran near the Dead Sea, also used and valued 1 Enoch, but we do not find it grouped with the scriptural scrolls. The attribution Enoch the Seventh from Adam is apparently itself a section heading taken from 1 Enoch, also, it has been alleged that 1 Peter, and 2 Peter make reference to some Enochian material. However, later Fathers denied the canonicity of the book, the traditional belief of the Ethiopic Orthodox Church, which sees 1 Enoch as an inspired document, is that the Ethiopic text is the original one, written by Enoch himself. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not consider 1 Enoch to be part of its standard canon, the most extensive witnesses to the Book of Enoch exist in the Geez language. Robert Henry Charless critical edition of 1906 subdivides the Ethiopic manuscripts into two families, Family α, thought to be ancient and more similar to the Greek versions. 485 of the British Museum, 16th century, with Jubilees B – ms. orient,491 of the British Museum, 18th century, with other biblical writings C – ms. of Berlin orient. 531 of the Bodleian Library of Oxford, 18th century I – ms, brace 74 of the Bodleian Library of Oxford, 16th century J – ms. orient
14.
Son of man
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Son of man is a phrase used in the Hebrew Bible, various apocalyptic works of the intertestamental period, and in the Greek New Testament. The New Testament uses the earlier indefinite form while introducing a novel definite form, the Hebrew expression son of man appears 107 times in the Hebrew Bible, the majority in the Book of Ezekiel. Daniel 7 tells of a given to the prophet Daniel in which four beasts, representing pagan nations. Whether these messianic Son of Man references are genuinely Jewish or the result of Christian interpolation is disputed, the Enochic messianic figure is an individual representing a group, but in 4 Ezra 13 he becomes an individual man. The New Testament features the indefinite a son of man in Hebrews 2,6, the four gospels introduce a new definite form, ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, literally the mans son. It is awkward and ambiguous in Greek, in all four it is used only by Jesus, and functions as an emphatic equivalent of the first-person pronoun, I/me/my. Liberal German theologian Rudolf Bultmann sees the phrase not as one used by Jesus. More recently, theologian C. F. D, the Son of Man, René Magritte painting,1964 Bromiley, Geoffrey W. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. iv, Q-Z. In Dunn, James D. G. Rogerson, John William, an Introduction to the New Testament and the Origins of Christianity. The Son of Man Debate, A History and Evaluation, collins, John J. Daniel, With an Introduction to Apocalyptic Literature. Jesus and the Son of Man, hurtado, Larry W. Lord Jesus Christ, Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity. McGrath, Alister E. Christian Theology, An Introduction, Christ and Community, A Socio-Historical Study of the Christology of Revelation. Jewish Encyclopedia, Son of Man Catholic Encyclopedia, Son of Man
15.
Prayer of Joseph
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The Prayer of Joseph is a pseudepigraphic writing of the Old Testament. It was composed either in Aramaic or in Greek in the 1st century AD, the text is almost lost and only a few fragments have survived in ancient quotations concerning the Biblical patriarch Jacob. The Prayer of Joseph narrates that Jacob was the incarnation of the angel Israel who competed with Uriel over their rank in heaven. The Prayer of Joseph was well known in the early 3rd century by Origen who speaks of it as a not to be despised. The Prayer of Joseph is usually considered to be part of the Apocalyptic literature, only three fragments have survived of the Prayer of Joseph, Fragment A, which is the longest, was preserved in Origens Commentary on the Gospel of John - Book 2.31. 186-192. Fragment C, also found in Philokalia, paraphrases the other fragments, the title itself Prayer of Joseph is found in many ancient documents. The Stichometry of Nicephorus shows that the Prayer of Joseph had a length of eleven hundred lines, due to the shortness of the extant text, it is almost impossible to determine the provenance. The text of Fragment B is only one line, where Jacob says, For I read in the tablets of heaven all things that happen to you. The context could be an elaboration of Jacobs blessing of his sons found in chapter 48 and 49 of Genesis and this could explain the reference to Joseph in the title of this writing even if the main character is Jacob. And he adds, When I was coming from Mesopotamia of Syria, Uriel, the angel of God, came forth, and said, I have come down to the earth and made my dwelling among men, and I am called Jacob by name. He was angry with me and fought with me and wrestled against me, saying that his name, am not I Israel, the first minister in the sight of God, and I invoked my God by the inextinguishable name. These titles, that can be found in ancient Jewish writings, the presence of angelic rivalry can be found in other apocryphal texts as the Apocalypse of Abraham and are related to Job 25,2
16.
Ancient of Days
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Ancient of Days, or Head of Days, is a name for God in the Book of Daniel, in the original Aramaic Atik Yomin, in the Greek Septuagint Palaios Hemeron, and in the Vulgate Antiquus Dierum. The title Ancient of Days has been used as a source of inspiration in art and music, william Blakes watercolour and relief etching entitled The Ancient of Days is one such example. Daniel 7,9 Whenever Judgment looms and the forehead of the Impatient One is revealed, idra Rabba, Zohar 3, 136b This term appears three times in the Book of Daniel, and is used in the sense of God being eternal. The most powerful effect of this particular Name of God stems from the Jewish mystical book the Zohar, the seminal document of Kabbalah that emerged in 13th century Spain. In the Kabbalah there is mention of the Ancient of Ancients, and the Holy Ancient One – Atika Kadisha, variably interpreted as synonymous with the En Sof, the Ancient of Days is the manifestation of the Ancient of Ancients within Creation. It refers to the most primary source of Creation in the Divine Will Keter, in 16th century Lurianic Kabbalah, Atik Yomin is systemised as the uppermost Partzuf in the rectification of the World of Atzilut after the Shattering of the sephirot Vessels. Keter of Atzilut acts as the guiding Divine motivation in Creation, Atik Yomin is the inner partzuf of Keter, synonymous with Divine Delight, that enclothes within and motivates Arich Anpin, the outer partzuf of Keter, synonymous with Divine Will. Arich Anpin is said to extend down all levels of Creation in ever more concealed mode as the Divine substratum of everything, the Zohar goes into great detail describing the White Head of God and ultimately the emanation of its anthropomorphic personality or attributes. The Dikna of Arich Anpin constricts the infinite light originating from Atik Yomin in 13 channels of rectification to lower, the Merkabah text Re’ uyot Yehezkel identifies the Ancient of Days as Metatron. Most of the church fathers who comment on the passage in Daniel interpreted the elderly figure as a prophetic revelation of the Son before his physical Incarnation. This iconography emerged in the 6th century, mostly in the Eastern Empire with elderly images, the first images of the Ancient of Days, so named with an inscription, were developed by iconographers in different manuscripts, the earliest of which are dated to the eleventh century. The images in these included the inscription Jesus Christ, Ancient of Days. Indeed, later, it was declared by the Russian Orthodox Church at the Great Synod of Moscow in 1667 that the Ancient of Days was the Son, in the Western Church similar figures usually represent only God the Father. In the hymn Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise, the last two lines of the first verse read, Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days, Almighty, victorious, Thy great Name we praise. Daniel 7, 13-14 says, “I kept on beholding in the visions of the night, and, see there. With the clouds of the heavens someone like a son of man happened to be coming, and to the Ancient of Days he gained access, and they brought him up close even before that One. And to him there were given rulership and dignity and kingdom and his rulership is an indefinitely lasting rulership that will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not be brought to ruin. The Ancient of Days bestowing upon the Son of Man a kingdom, further these doctrines form the basis of the original Adam-God doctrine as taught in the 19th century in the church, and as still accepted by Mormon Fundamentalism
17.
Aramaic
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Aramaic is a language or group of languages belonging to the Semitic subfamily of the Afroasiatic language family. More specifically, it is part of the Northwest Semitic group, the Aramaic alphabet was widely adopted for other languages and is ancestral to the Hebrew, Syriac and Arabic alphabets. During its approximately 3000 years of history, Aramaic has served variously as a language of administration of empires, therefore, there is not one singular, static Aramaic language, each time and place rather has had its own variation. The Aramaic languages are now considered endangered, Aram is used as a proper name of several people in the Torah including descendants of Shem, Nahor, and Jacob. Ancient Aram, bordering northern Israel and now called Syria, is considered the epicenter of Aramaic. The language is often considered to have originated within Assyria. Interestingly, the Christian New Testament, for which the constituent texts are written in Koine Greek. The Hellenized Jewish community of Alexandria instead translated Aramaic to the Syrian tongue, a related language, Mlahsô, has recently become extinct. Mandaeans living in the Khuzestan Province of Iran and scattered throughout Iraq and it is quite distinct from any other Aramaic variety. Central Neo-Aramaic consists of Turoyo and the recently extinct Mlahsô, very little remains of Western Aramaic. All these speakers of Modern Western Aramaic are fluent in Arabic, Jewish Palestinian Aramaic and Samaritan Aramaic are preserved in liturgical and literary usage. Each dialect of Aramaic has its own pronunciation, and it would not be feasible here to go into all these properties. Aramaic has a palette of 25 to 40 distinct phonemes. The open vowel is an open near-front unrounded vowel and it usually has a back counterpart, and a front counterpart. There is much correspondence between these vowels between dialects, there is some evidence that Middle Babylonian dialects did not distinguish between the short a and short e. In West Syriac dialects, and possibly Middle Galilean, the long a became the o sound, the open e and back a are often indicated in writing by the use of the letters א alaph or ה he. The close front vowel is the long i and it has a slightly more open counterpart, the long e, as in the final vowel of café. Both of these have shorter counterparts, which tend to be pronounced more open
18.
Septuagint
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The Septuagint is a Koine Greek translation of an Hebraic textual tradition that included certain texts which were later included in the canonical Hebrew Bible and other related texts which were not. As the primary Greek translation of the Old Testament, it is called the Greek Old Testament. This translation is quoted a number of times in the New Testament, particularly in Pauline epistles, the title and its Roman numeral LXX refer to the legendary seventy Jewish scholars who solely translated the Five Books of Moses into Koine Greek as early as the 3rd century BCE. Separated from the Hebrew canon of the Jewish Bible in Rabbinic Judaism, the traditional story is that Ptolemy II sponsored the translation of the Torah. The Septuagint should not be confused with the seven or more other Greek versions of the Old Testament, of these, the most important are those by Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion. However, it was not until the time of Augustine of Hippo that the Greek translation of the Jewish scriptures came to be called by the Latin term Septuaginta. This narrative is found in the pseudepigraphic Letter of Aristeas to his brother Philocrates, the story is also found in the Tractate Megillah of the Babylonian Talmud, King Ptolemy once gathered 72 Elders. He placed them in 72 chambers, each of them in a separate one and he entered each ones room and said, Write for me the Torah of Moshe, your teacher. God put it in the heart of one to translate identically as all the others did. Philo of Alexandria, who relied extensively on the Septuagint, says that the number of scholars was chosen by selecting six scholars from each of the tribes of Israel. After the Torah, other books were translated over the two to three centuries. It is not altogether clear which was translated when, or where, some may even have been translated twice, into different versions, the quality and style of the different translators also varied considerably from book to book, from the literal to paraphrasing to interpretative. The translation of the Septuagint itself began in the 3rd century BCE and was completed by 132 BCE, initially in Alexandria, the Septuagint is the basis for the Old Latin, Slavonic, Syriac, Old Armenian, Old Georgian and Coptic versions of the Christian Old Testament. Some sections of the Septuagint may show Semiticisms, or idioms and phrases based on Semitic languages like Hebrew, other books, such as Daniel and Proverbs, show Greek influence more strongly. The Septuagint may also elucidate pronunciation of pre-Masoretic Hebrew, many nouns are spelled out with Greek vowels in the LXX. However, it is unlikely that all ancient Hebrew sounds had precise Greek equivalents. As the work of translation progressed, the canon of the Greek Bible expanded, the Torah always maintained its pre-eminence as the basis of the canon, but the collection of prophetic writings, based on the Jewish Neviim, had various hagiographical works incorporated into it. In addition, some books were included in the Septuagint
19.
Sefirot
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The term is alternatively transliterated into English as Sefirot/Sefiroth, singular Sephirah/Sefirah etc. Alternative configurations of the sephirot are given by different schools in the development of Kabbalah. The tradition of enumerating 10 is stated in the Sefer Yetzirah, Ten sephirot of nothingness, ten and not nine, ten and not eleven. As altogether 11 sephirot are listed across the different schemes, two are seen as unconscious and conscious manifestations of the principle, conserving the ten categories. In Kabbalah the functional structure of the sephirot in channeling Divine creative life force, the first sephirah describes the Divine Will above intellect. The next sephirot describe conscious Divine Intellect, and the latter sephirot describe the primary and secondary conscious Divine Emotions, two sephirot are feminine, as the female principle in Kabbalah describes a vessel that receives the outward male light, then inwardly nurtures and gives birth to lower sephirot. Corresponding to this is the Female Divine Presence, Kabbalah sees the human soul as mirroring the Divine, and more widely, all creations as reflections of their life source in the sephirot. Therefore, the sephirot also describe the life of man. This relationship between the soul of man and the Divine, gives Kabbalah one of its two central metaphors in describing Divinity, alongside the other Ohr metaphor, however, Kabbalah repeatedly stresses the need to avoid all corporeal interpretation. Through this, the sephirot are related to the structure of the body and are reformed into Partsufim, underlying the structural purpose of each sephirah is a hidden motivational force which is understood best by comparison with a corresponding psychological state in human spiritual experience. The term sefirah thus has complex connotations within Kabbalah, the Sephirot are considered revelations of the Creators Will, and they should not be understood as ten different gods but as ten different ways the one God reveals his Will through the Emanations. While in Cordoveran Kabbalah, Keter is listed as the first Sephirah, the Sephirot are emanated from the Divine Will, because Kabbalah sees different levels within Keter, reflecting Gods inner Will and outer Will. The innermost, hidden levels of Keter, also in some contexts called The head/beginning that is not known, are united above the Sephirot with the Ein Sof and it is not God who changes but the ability to perceive God that changes. This difference between the MaOhr and the Ohr He emanates is stressed in Kabbalah, so as to avoid notions of any plurality in the Godhead. In its early 12th-century dissemination, Kabbalah received criticism from some Rabbis, the multiplicity of revealed emanations only applies from the perspective of the Creation, and not from the perspective of the infinite Divine essence. The ten Sephirot are a step-by-step process illuminating the Divine plan as it unfolds itself in Creation and they are fully found in the Medieval Kabbalah texts, such as the central work in Kabbalah, the Zohar. The Hebrew etymology of their names in Kabbalah is understood to refer to the aspects of meaning of each Sephirah. Kabbalah expounds on the terms of the Sephirot and this difference of opinion reflects earlier Medieval debate on whether Keter can be identified with the Ohr Ein Sof itself, or as the first revealed Sephirah
20.
Shekhinah
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Shekinah, Shechinah, or Schechinah, is the English transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning dwelling or settling and denotes the dwelling or settling of the divine presence of God. This term does not occur in the Bible, and is from rabbinic literature, ‹See Tfd› Shekinah is derived from the Hebrew verb שכן. The Semitic root means to settle, inhabit, or dwell and this abstract noun is not present in the Bible, and is first encountered in rabbinic literature. The word for the Tabernacle, mishkan, is a derivative of the root and is used in the sense of dwelling-place in the Bible, e. g. Psalms 132,5. The concept is similar to that in the Gospel of Matthew 18,20, some Christian theologians have connected the concept of Shekhinah to the Greek term Parousia, presence or arrival, which is used in the New Testament in a similar way for divine presence. The Shekinah is held by some to represent the attributes of the presence of God. The Shekinah is referred to as manifest in the Tabernacle and the Temple in Jerusalem throughout Rabbinic literature and it is also reported as being present in the acts of public prayer. So too in the Talmud Sanhedrin 39a, we read, Whenever ten are gathered for prayer, there the Shekinah rests, it also connotes righteous judgment, and personal need. The word shekina does not occur in the Bible, although the similar word shakan, there is also no occurrence of the word in pre-rabbinic literature such as the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is only afterwards in the targums and rabbinic literature that the Hebrew term shekinah, or Aramaic equivalent shekinta, is found, and then becomes extremely common. In the Targum the addition of the noun term Shekinah paraphases Hebrew verb phrases such as Exodus 34,9 let the Lord go among us which Targum paraphrases with Gods shekinah. In the post-temple era usage of the term Shekinah may provide a solution to the problem of God being omnipresent, and it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him. And the spirit of the LORD will come mightily upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, isaiah wrote I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his train filled the Temple. Jeremiah implored Do not dishonor the throne of glory and referred to Thy throne of glory, on high from the beginning. The Book of Ezekiel speaks of the glory of the God of Israel was there and this recurrent theme is best known from the writings and songs of the legendary mystic of the 16th century, Rabbi Isaac Luria. For the Shabbat is a queen and a bride and this is why the masters of the Mishna used to go out on the eve of Shabbat to receive her on the road, and used to say, Come, O bride, come, O bride. And one must sing and rejoice at the table in her honor, one must receive the Lady with many lighted candles, many enjoyments, beautiful clothes, and a house embellished with many fine appointments. The tradition of the Shekinah as the Shabbat Bride, the Shabbat Kallah, the 17th blessing of the daily Amidah prayer said in Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform services is Blessed are You, God, who returns His Presence to Zion
21.
Merkabah mysticism
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For the modern Israeli main battle tank see Merkava. Merkabah/Merkavah mysticism is a school of early Jewish mysticism, c, a major text in this tradition is the Maaseh Merkabah. The noun merkabah thing to ride in, cart is derived from the consonantal root r-k-b with the meaning to ride. However, when left untranslated, in English the Hebrew term merkabah relates to the throne-chariot of God in prophetic visions. It is most closely associated with the vision in Ezekiel chapter 1 of the vehicle driven by four hayyot, each of which has four wings and the four faces of a man, lion, ox. According to the verses in Ezekiel and its attendant commentaries, his vision consists of a made of many heavenly beings driven by the Likeness of a Man. The base structure of the chariot is composed of four beings and these beings are called the living creatures. The bodies of the creatures are like that of a human being, the faces are that of a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle. Since there are four angels and each has four faces, there are a total of sixteen faces, each Hayyot angel also has four wings. Two of these wings spread across the length of the chariot and this creates a sort of box of wings that forms the perimeter of the chariot. With the remaining two wings, each angel covers its own body, below, but not attached to, the feet of the Hayyot angels are other angels that are shaped like wheels. These wheel angels, which are described as a wheel inside of a wheel, are called Ophanim אופנים and these wheels are not directly under the chariot but are nearby and along its perimeter. The angel with the face of the man is always on the east side, the Likeness of a Man sits on a throne made of sapphire. The Bible later makes mention of a type of angel found in the Merkabah called Seraphim angels. These angels appear like flashes of fire continuously ascending and descending and these Seraphim angels power the movement of the chariot. In the hierarchy of angels, Seraphim are the highest, that is, closest to God, followed by the Hayyot. The chariot is in a constant state of motion, and the energy behind this movement runs according to this hierarchy, the movement of the Ophanim is controlled by the Living creatures, or Hayyot, while the movement of the Hayyot is controlled by the Seraphim. The movement of all the angels of the chariot is controlled by the Likeness of a Man on the Throne
22.
Book of Daniel
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The Book of Daniel is a biblical apocalypse, combining a prophecy of history with an eschatology which is both cosmic in scope and political in its focus. In more mundane language, it is an account of the activities and visions of Daniel, in the Hebrew Bible it is found in the Ketuvim, while in Christian Bibles it is grouped with the Major Prophets. Its message is that just as the God of Israel saved Daniel and his friends from their enemies, the book divides into two parts, a set of six court tales in chapters 1–6 followed by four apocalyptic visions in chapters 7–12. The literary structure of the book of Daniel is marked by three prominent features, the most fundamental is a genre division between the court tales of chapters 1–6 and the apocalyptic visions of 7–12. The second is a division between the Hebrew of chapters 1 and 8–12, and the Aramaic of chapters 2–7. This language division is reinforced by the arrangement of the Aramaic chapters. Various suggestions have been made by scholars to explain the fact that the division does not coincide with the other two. It should also be noted that the settings of chapters 1–6 show a progression from Babylonian to Median times. Among them are Daniel and his three companions, who refuse to touch the food and wine for fear of defilement. They are allowed to continue to refrain from eating the kings food, in the second year of his reign Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. When he wakes up, he realizes that he forgot the content of the dream and he then demands that his wise men tell him its content. When the wise men protest that this is beyond the power of any man, he sentences all, including Daniel and his friends, to death. Daniel explains the dream to the king, the statue symbolized four successive kingdoms, starting with Nebuchadnezzar, all of which would be crushed by Gods kingdom, which would endure forever. Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges the supremacy of Daniels god, raises him over all his wise men, Daniels companions Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to bow to King Nebuchadnezzars golden statue and are thrown into a fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar is astonished to see a figure in the furnace with the three, one with the appearance like a son of the gods. So the king called the three to come out of the fire, and blessed the God of Israel, and decreed that any who blasphemed against him should be torn limb from limb. Nebuchadnezzar recounts a dream of a tree that is suddenly cut down at the command of a heavenly messenger. Daniel is summoned and interprets the dream, the tree is Nebuchadnezzar himself, who for seven years will lose his mind and live like a wild beast
23.
Michael (archangel)
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Michael is an archangel in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran traditions, he is called Saint Michael the Archangel, in the Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox traditions, he is called Taxiarch Archangel Michael or simply Archangel Michael. Michael is mentioned three times in the Book of Daniel, in the New Testament Michael leads Gods armies against Satans forces in the Book of Revelation, where during the war in heaven he defeats Satan. In the Epistle of Jude Michael is specifically referred to as the archangel Michael, by the 6th century, devotions to Archangel Michael were widespread both in the Eastern and Western Churches. Over time, teachings on Michael began to vary among Christian denominations, Michael is mentioned three times in the Hebrew Scriptures, all in the book of Daniel. The prophet Daniel experiences a vision after having undergone a period of fasting, Daniel 10, 13-21 describes Daniels vision of an angel who identifies Michael as the protector of Israel. At Daniel 12,1, Daniel is informed that Michael will arise during the time of the end, the Book of Revelation describes a war in heaven in which Michael, being stronger, defeats Satan. After the conflict, Satan is thrown to earth along with the fallen angels, in the Epistle of Jude 1,9, Michael is referred to as an archangel when he again confronts Satan. A reference to an archangel also appears in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians 4,16 and this archangel who heralds the second coming of Christ is not named, but is often associated with Michael. Michael, is one of the two mentioned in the Quran, alongside Jibreel. In the Quran, Michael is mentioned only, in Sura 2,98, Whoever is an enemy to God, and His angels and His messengers. Then, God is an enemy to the disbelievers, some Muslims believe that the reference in Sura 11,69 is Michael, one of the three angels who visited Abraham. Michaels enmity with Samael dates from the time when the latter was thrown down from heaven, Samael took hold of the wings of Michael, whom he wished to bring down with him in his fall, but Michael was saved by God. But appeal to Michael seems to have more common in ancient times. Thus Jeremiah is said to have addressed a prayer to him, the rabbis declare that Michael entered upon his role of defender at the time of the biblical patriarchs. Thus, according to Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob, it was Michael who rescued Abraham from the furnace into which he had been thrown by Nimrod. It was Michael, the one that had escaped, who told Abraham that Lot had been taken captive, and he announced to Sarah that she would bear a son and he rescued Lot at the destruction of Sodom. It is said that Michael prevented Isaac from being sacrificed by his father by substituting a ram in his place, later Michael prevented Laban from harming Jacob
24.
Melchizedek
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Melchizedek, Melkisetek, or Malki Tzedek, is the king of Salem and priest of El Elyon mentioned in the 14th chapter of the Book of Genesis. He brings out bread and wine and blesses Abram and El Elyon, chazalic literature – specifically Targum Jonathan, Targum Yerushalmi, and the Babylonian Talmud – presents the name as a nickname title for Shem, the son of Noah. In Christianity, according to the Epistle to the Hebrews, Jesus Christ is identified as a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek, and so Jesus assumes the role of High Priest once and for all. In the majority of Masoretic Hebrew texts the name is written as two words, Meleḵi-ṣedeq מלכי־צדק, rendered in one word in both the Septuagint and Vulgate. The Authorised King James Version of 1611 renders the name Melchizedek when translating from the Hebrew, the name is composed from the two elements melek king and ṣedeq righteous. With the addition of the possessive pronoun, malk-ī means my king. By the Hellenistic era it appears the name came to be associated with the messiah and my King is Righteousness is interpreted as a theophoric name associating Melchizedeks god, El Elyon with the epithet Ṣedeq, which is otherwise attested as the name of Canaanite deities. The theonym is also preserved in Phoenician, a deity identified with Roman Jupiter, the name is formed in parallel with Adoni-ṣedeq אדני־צדק, also a king of Salem, mentioned in the Book of Joshua, where the element malik king is replaced by adon lord. Parallel theophoric names, with Sedeq replaced by Yahu, are those of Malchijah and Adonijah, Psalm 110 alludes to Melchizedek as a prototype of the messiah. This led to the re-interpretation of the name as king of righteousness in Hellenistic Judaism, Melchizedek is mentioned twice in the Hebrew Bible, the first in Genesis and the second in Psalms. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram to the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth, And blessed be the most high God, and he gave him tithe from all. Some textual critics classify the narration as not being derived from any of the usual pentateuchal sources and it has been speculated that verses 18–20 are an informal insertion into the narration, as they interrupt the account of the meeting of Abraham with the king of Sodom. Genesis 14,18 introduces Melchizedek a Priest of the Most High God, the term Most High is used another twenty times of the God of the Israel in the Psalms. Remi Lack considers that the Genesis verses were taken over by Jewish redactor, for whom El was already identified with YHWH, El-Elyon became an epithet for the God of Israel. Due to an ambiguity in the Hebrew text, it is unclear who gave tithe to whom, Abram to Melchizedek, or Melchizedek to Abram, the verse in question states simply, And gave him tithe from all. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, the Book of Jubilees, Josephus, Philo of Alexandria, the Samaritans allocate Gerizim as the site intended for the Temple, and thus the שלמו text serves an obvious sectarian purpose. Yet, it is not solely associated with the Samaritans, being also in the 3rd- or 2nd-century BC Book of Jubilees. The second and final Hebrew Bible mention of Melchizedek is in Psalm 110,4, the many translations that follow the Septuagint translate such, The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the manner of Melchizedek
25.
Rabbi
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In Judaism, a rabbi /ˈræbaɪ/ is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רַבִּי rabi, meaning My Master, the word master רב rav literally means great one. The basic form of the rabbi developed in the Pharisaic and Talmudic era, the first sage for whom the Mishnah uses the title of rabbi was Yohanan ben Zakkai, active in the early to mid first century CE. Within the various Jewish denominations there are different requirements for rabbinic ordination, for example, Orthodox Judaism does not ordain women as rabbis, but other movements have chosen to do so for halakhic reasons as well as ethical reasons. Although the usage rabbim many the majority, the multitude occurs for the assembly of the community in the Dead Sea scrolls there is no evidence to support an association with the later title Rabbi, the root is cognate to Arabic ربّ rabb, meaning lord. As a sign of respect, some great rabbis are simply called The Rav. The titles Rabban and Rabbi are first mentioned in the Mishnah, the term was first used for Rabban Gamaliel the elder, Rabban Simeon his son, and Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai, all of whom were patriarchs or presidents of the Sanhedrin. The title Rabbi occurs in the books of Matthew, Mark, and John in the New Testament, other variants are rəvī and, in Yiddish, rebbə. The word could be compared to the Syriac word ܪܒܝ rabi, in ancient Hebrew, rabbi was a proper term of address while speaking to a superior, in the second person, similar to a vocative case. While speaking about a superior, in the person one could say ha-rav or rabbo. Later, the term evolved into a title for members of the Patriarchate. Thus, the title gained an irregular form, רַבָּנִים rabbanim. Rabbi as a title does not appear in the Hebrew Bible. All of the above personalities would have expected to be steeped in the wisdom of the Torah and the commandments. And honor is due only for Torah, as it is said, The wise shall inherit honor, and only Torah is truly good, as it is said, I have given you a good teaching, do not forsake My Torah. This was eventually encoded and codified within the Mishnah and Talmud and subsequent rabbinical scholarship, the title Rabbi was borne by the sages of ancient Israel, who were ordained by the Sanhedrin in accordance with the custom handed down by the elders. They were titled Ribbi and received authority to judge penal cases, Rab was the title of the Babylonian sages who taught in the Babylonian academies. After the suppression of the Patriarchate and Sanhedrin by Theodosius II in 425, a recognised scholar could be called Rab or Hacham, like the Babylonian sages
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Jerusalem
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Jerusalem is a city located on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is considered a city in the three major Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, the part of Jerusalem called the City of David was settled in the 4th millennium BCE. In 1538, walls were built around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent, today those walls define the Old City, which has been traditionally divided into four quarters—known since the early 19th century as the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters. The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger, Modern Jerusalem has grown far beyond the Old Citys boundaries. These foundational events, straddling the dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, the sobriquet of holy city was probably attached to Jerusalem in post-exilic times. The holiness of Jerusalem in Christianity, conserved in the Septuagint which Christians adopted as their own authority, was reinforced by the New Testament account of Jesuss crucifixion there, in Sunni Islam, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city, after Mecca and Medina. As a result, despite having an area of only 0, outside the Old City stands the Garden Tomb. Today, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, West Jerusalem was among the captured and later annexed by Israel while East Jerusalem, including the Old City, was captured. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently annexed it into Jerusalem, one of Israels Basic Laws, the 1980 Jerusalem Law, refers to Jerusalem as the countrys undivided capital. All branches of the Israeli government are located in Jerusalem, including the Knesset, the residences of the Prime Minister and President, the international community does not recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital, and the city hosts no foreign embassies. Jerusalem is also home to some non-governmental Israeli institutions of importance, such as the Hebrew University. In 2011, Jerusalem had a population of 801,000, of which Jews comprised 497,000, Muslims 281,000, a city called Rušalim in the Execration texts of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt is widely, but not universally, identified as Jerusalem. Jerusalem is called Urušalim in the Amarna letters of Abdi-Heba, the name Jerusalem is variously etymologized to mean foundation of the god Shalem, the god Shalem was thus the original tutelary deity of the Bronze Age city. The form Yerushalem or Yerushalayim first appears in the Bible, in the Book of Joshua, according to a Midrash, the name is a combination of Yhwh Yireh and the town Shalem. The earliest extra-biblical Hebrew writing of the word Jerusalem is dated to the sixth or seventh century BCE and was discovered in Khirbet Beit Lei near Beit Guvrin in 1961. The inscription states, I am Yahweh thy God, I will accept the cities of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem, or as other scholars suggest, the mountains of Judah belong to him, to the God of Jerusalem
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Karaite Judaism
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Karaite Judaism or Karaism, is a Jewish religious movement characterized by the recognition of the Tanakh alone as its supreme authority in Halakha and theology. It is distinct from mainstream Rabbinic Judaism, which considers the Oral Torah, as codified in the Talmud and subsequent works, Karaites maintain that all of the divine commandments handed down to Moses by God were recorded in the written Torah without additional Oral Law or explanation. As a result, Karaite Jews do not accept as binding the written collections of the tradition in the Midrash or Talmud. By contrast, Rabbinic Judaism relies on the rulings of the Sanhedrin as they are codified in the Midrash, Talmud. Karaites may consider arguments made in the Talmud and other works without exalting them above other viewpoints, According to Rabbi Abraham ibn Daud, in his Sefer HaQabbalah, the Karaite movement crystallized in Baghdad in the Gaonic period under the Abbasid Caliphate in what is present-day Iraq. This is the universally accepted among Rabbinic Jews. It was said to have been stamped by the palm of Amr ibn al-As, the first Islamic governor of Egypt, and was reportedly dated 20 AH. Karaites have always maintained that, while there are similarities to the Sadducees, due to the rejection of Rabbinical authority. The ancestors of the Karaites were a group called Benei Ṣedeq during the Second Temple period, Karaites at one time made up a significant proportion of the Jewish population. Estimates of the Karaite population are difficult to make because they believe on the basis of Genesis 32 that counting Jews is forbidden, some 30–50,000 are thought to reside in the 21st century in Israel, with smaller communities in Turkey, Europe and the United States. Another estimate holds that, of the 50,000 world-wide, more than 40,000 descend from those who made aliyah from Egypt, arguments among Jewish sects regarding the validity of the Oral Law can be dated back to the 1st and 2nd centuries BCE. Accordingly, some trace the origin of Karaism to those who rejected the Talmudic tradition as an innovation. Shētaḥ, with the friends of both, at this period arose the doctrine of the Karaites in consequence of an incident between the Sages and King Jannai who was a priest. His mother was under suspicion of being a profane woman, one of the Sages alluded to this, saying to him, Be satisfied, O king Jannai, with the royal crown, but leave the priestly crown to the seed of Aaron. His friends prejudiced him against the Sages, advising him to browbeat, expel and he replied, If I destroy the Sages what will become of our Law. There is the law, they replied, whoever wishes to study it may come and do so. He followed their advice and expelled the Sages and among them Simon b, rabbinism was laid low for some time. The other party tried to establish a law built on their own conception, shētaḥ returned with his disciples from Alexandria, and restored tradition to its former condition
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Gershom Scholem
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Gerhard Scholem who, after his immigration from Germany to Israel, changed his name to Gershom Scholem, was a German-born Israeli philosopher and historian. He is widely regarded as the founder of the modern, academic study of Kabbalah and his close friends included Walter Benjamin and Leo Strauss, and selected letters from his correspondence with those philosophers have been published. Scholem is best known for his collection of lectures, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism and for his biography Sabbatai Zevi and his collected speeches and essays, published as On Kabbalah and its Symbolism, helped to spread knowledge of Jewish mysticism among both Jews and non-Jews. Gerhard Scholem was born in Berlin to Arthur Scholem and Betty Hirsch Scholem and his interest in Judaica was strongly opposed by his father, a printer, but, thanks to his mothers intervention, he was allowed to study Hebrew and the Talmud with an Orthodox rabbi. Gerhard Scholem met Walter Benjamin in Munich in 1915, when the former was seventeen years old and they began a lifelong friendship that ended only with Benjamins suicide, committed while fleeing Nazi persecution in 1940. Scholem dedicated his book Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, based on lectures 1938–1957, in Berlin, Scholem first befriended and became an admirer of Leo Strauss. He subsequently studied mathematical logic at the University of Jena under Gottlob Frege and he was in Bern in 1918 with Benjamin when he met Elsa Burchhard, who became his first wife. Scholem returned to Germany in 1919, where he received a degree in languages at the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich. Less notable in his career was his establishment of the fictive University of Muri with Benjamin. Scholem wrote his thesis on the oldest known kabbalistic text. He later became a lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in 1936, he married his second wife, Fania Freud. Scholems brother Werner was a member of the ultra-left Fischer-Maslow Group and he was expelled from the party and later murdered by the Nazis during the Third Reich. Gershom Scholem, unlike his brother, was opposed to both Communism and Marxism. Scholem died in Jerusalem, where he is buried next to his wife in Sanhedria, in 1958, Scholem was awarded the Israel Prize in Jewish studies. In 1968, he was elected president of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, in 1969, he received the Yakir Yerushalayim award. In 1977, he was awarded the Bialik Prize for Jewish thought, according to Jeremy Adler, Scholems thinking was both recognizably Jewish and deeply German, and changed the course of twentieth-century European thought. Jewish mysticism was seen as Judaisms weakest scholarly link, Scholem told the story of his early research when he was directed to a prominent rabbi who was an expert on Kabbalah. Seeing the rabbis many books on the subject, Scholem asked about them, only to be told, why would I waste my time reading nonsense like this
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Polytheism
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Polytheism is the worship of or belief in multiple deities, which are usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religions and rituals. Polytheism is a type of theism, within theism, it contrasts with monotheism, the belief in a singular God, in most cases transcendent. Polytheists do not always worship all the gods equally, but they can be henotheists, other polytheists can be kathenotheists, worshiping different deities at different times. Polytheism was the form of religion during the Bronze Age and Iron Age up to the Axial Age and the development of Abrahamic religions. Important polytheistic religions practiced today include Chinese traditional religion, Hinduism, Japanese Shinto, the term comes from the Greek πολύ poly and θεός theos and was first invented by the Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria to argue with the Greeks. When Christianity spread throughout Europe and the Mediterranean, non-Christians were just called Gentiles or pagans or by the pejorative term idolaters. The modern usage of the term is first revived in French through Jean Bodin in 1580, a central, main division in polytheism is between soft polytheism and hard polytheism. Hard polytheism is the belief that gods are distinct, separate, real divine beings, hard polytheists reject the idea that all gods are one god. Hard polytheists do not necessarily consider the gods of all cultures as being equally real, Polytheism cannot be cleanly separated from the animist beliefs prevalent in most folk religions. The gods of polytheism are in cases the highest order of a continuum of supernatural beings or spirits. In some cases these spirits are divided into celestial or chthonic classes, since divinity is intellectual, and all intellect returns into itself, this myth expresses in allegory the essence of divinity. Myths may be regarded physically when they express the activities of gods in the world, the psychological way is to regard the activities of the soul itself and or the souls acts of thought. The material is to regard material objects to actually be gods, for example, to call the earth Gaia, ocean Okeanos, Some well-known historical polytheistic pantheons include the Sumerian gods and the Egyptian gods, and the classical-attested pantheon which includes the ancient Greek religion and Roman religion. Post-classical polytheistic religions include Norse Æsir and Vanir, the Yoruba Orisha, the Aztec gods, an example of a religious notion from this shared past is the concept of *dyēus, which is attested in several distinct religious systems. In many civilizations, pantheons tended to grow over time, deities first worshipped as the patrons of cities or places came to be collected together as empires extended over larger territories. Conquests could lead to the subordination of the elder cultures pantheon to a one, as in the Greek Titanomachia. Most ancient belief systems held that gods influenced human lives, epicurus believed that these gods were material, human-like, and that they inhabited the empty spaces between worlds. Though it is suggested that Hestia stepped down when Dionysus was invited to Mount Olympus, robert Graves The Greek Myths cites two sources that obviously do not suggest Hestia surrendered her seat, though he suggests she did
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Noah
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In the Abrahamic religions, Noah was the tenth and last of the pre-flood Patriarchs. The story of Noahs Ark is told in the Bibles Genesis flood narrative, the biblical account is followed by the story of the Curse of Canaan. Noah was the subject of much elaboration in the literature of later Abrahamic religions, the primary account of Noah in the Bible is in the Book of Genesis. Noah was the tenth of the pre-flood Patriarchs and his father was Lamech and his mother is unknown. When Noah was five hundred years old, he begat Shem, Ham, the Genesis flood narrative makes up chapters 6–9 in the Book of Genesis, in the Bible. Thus, the flood was no ordinary overflow but a reversal of creation, and God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. They were also told that all fowls, land animals, furthermore, as well as green plants, every moving thing would be their food with the exception that the blood was not to be eaten. Mans life blood would be required from the beasts and from man, whoso sheddeth mans blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man. Noah died 350 years after the flood, at the age of 950, the maximum human lifespan, as depicted by the Bible, diminishes rapidly thereafter, from almost 1,000 years to the 120 years of Moses. After the flood, Noah became a husbandman and he planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine, and was drunken, and was uncovered within his tent. Noahs son Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his brethren, in Jewish tradition and rabbinic literature, rabbis blame Satan for the intoxicating properties of the wine. In the field of biblical criticism, J. H. Ellens and W. G. Rollins address the narrative of Genesis 9. Because of its brevity and textual inconsistencies, it has suggested that this narrative is a splinter from a more substantial tale. A fuller account would explain what exactly Ham had done to his father, or why Noah directed a curse at Canaan for Hams misdeed, or how Noah came to know what occurred. The narrator relates two facts, Noah became drunken and he was uncovered within his tent, and Ham saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. Thus, these passages revolve around sexuality and the exposure of genitalia as compared with other Hebrew Bible texts, such as Habakkuk 2,15 and Lamentations 4,21. Genesis 10 sets forth the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, among Japheth’s descendants were the maritime nations. Ham’s son Cush had a son named Nimrod, who became the first man of might on earth, a mighty hunter, king in Babylon, from there Asshur went and built Nineveh
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Tetragrammaton
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The tetragrammaton is the four Hebrew letters יהוה, commonly transliterated into Latin letters as YHWH. It is one of the names of God used in the Hebrew Bible, the name may be derived from a verb that means to be, to exist, to cause to become, or to come to pass. The books of the Torah and the rest of the Hebrew Bible contain the Hebrew word יהוה, common substitutions for Hebrew forms are hakadosh baruch hu, Adonai, or HaShem. The letters, properly read from right to left, are, in unpointed Biblical Hebrew, most vowels are not written and the rest are written only ambiguously, as certain consonants can double as vowel markers. These are referred to as matres lectionis, for similar reasons, an appearance of the Tetragrammaton in ancient Egyptian records of the 13th century BCE sheds no light on the original pronunciation. Thus the first-century Jewish historian and philosopher Josephus said that the name of God consists of four vowels. The original consonantal text of the Hebrew Bible was, several centuries later, in places that the consonants of the text to be read differed from the consonants of the written text, they wrote the qere in the margin as a note showing what was to be read. In such a case the vowels of the qere were written on the ketiv, for a few frequent words, the marginal note was omitted, these are called qere perpetuum. The combination produces יְהֹוָה and יֱהֹוִה respectively, non-words that would spell Yehovah, the vocalisations of יְהֹוָה and אֲדֹנָי are not identical. The shva in YHWH and the hataf patakh in DNY appear different, the vocalisation can be attributed to Biblical Hebrew phonology, where the hataf patakh is grammatically identical to a shva, always replacing every shva naḥ under a guttural letter. Since the first letter of אֲדֹנָי is a letter while the first letter of יְהֹוָה is not. The table below considers the vowel points for יְהֹוָה and אֲדֹנָי, respectively, In the table directly above, the simple shewa in Yehovah and the hatef patah in Adonai are not the same vowel. The difference being, the simple shewa is an a sound as in alone and his proposal to read YHWH as יַהְוֶה was based in large part on various Greek transcriptions, such as ιαβε, dating from the first centuries CE but also on the forms of theophoric names. Gesenius proposal to read YHWH as יַהְוֶה is accepted as the best scholarly reconstructed vocalised Hebrew spelling of the tetragrammaton, recently, as Yahweh is likely an imperfective verb form, Yahu is its corresponding preterite or jussive short form, compare yiŝtahaweh, yiŝtáhû = do obeisance. Jehovah is a late hybrid formed by combining the Latin letters JHVH with the vowels of Adonai, however, it is no longer used in most mainstream English translations, with Lord or LORD usually used instead, generally indicating that the corresponding Hebrew is YHWH or Yehowah. The oldest known inscription of the dates to 840 BCE. It bears the earliest certain reference to the Israelite God Yahweh. The most recent discovery of an inscription, dating to the 6th century BCE, was found written in Hebrew on two silver scrolls recovered from Jerusalem
