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Tu B'av
Tu B'Av () is a minor Jewish holiday. In modern-day Israel, it is celebrated as a holiday of love ( ). It has been said to be an auspicious day for weddings. Historical significance According to the Mishna, Tu B'Av was a joyous holiday in the days of the Temple in Jerusalem, marking the beginning of the grape harvest. On Yom Kippur and Tu B'Av, the unmarried girls of Jerusalem dressed in white garments and went out to dance in the vineyards. The Talmud states that there were no holy days as happy for the Jews as Tu B'Av and Yom Kippur. The holiday celebrated the wood-offering brought in the Temple (see Nehemiah 13:31). Josephus refers to it as the Feast of Xylophory ("Wood-bearing"). Various reasons for celebrating on Tu B'Av are cited by the Talmud and Talmudic commentators: * While the Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years, female orphans without brothers could only marry within their tribe to prevent their father's inherited territory in the Land of Israel from pass ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the island of Great Britain. Existing on a dialect continuum with Scots, and then closest related to the Low Saxon and Frisian languages, English is genealogically West Germanic. However, its vocabulary is also distinctively influenced by dialects of France (about 29% of Modern English words) and Latin (also about 29%), plus some grammar and a small amount of core vocabulary influenced by Old Norse (a North Germanic language). Speakers of English are called Anglophones. The earliest forms of English, collectively known as Old English, evolved from a group of West Germanic (Ingvaeonic) dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the 5th century and further mutated by Norse-speaking Viking settlers starting in the 8th and 9th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Gibeah
The episode of the Levite's concubine, also known as the Benjamite War, is a biblical narrative in Judges 19–21 (chapters 19, 20 and 21 of the Book of Judges). It concerns a Levite from Ephraim and his concubine, who travel through the Benjamite city of Gibeah and are assailed by a mob, who wish to gang-rape the Levite. He turns his concubine over to the crowd, and they rape her until she collapses. The Levite dismembers her and presents the remains to the other tribes of Israel. Outraged by the incident, the tribes swear that none shall give his daughter to the Benjamites (or Benjaminites) for marriage, and launch a war which nearly wipes out the clan, leaving only 600 surviving men. However, the punitive expedition is overcome by remorse, fearing that it will cause the extinction of an entire tribe. They circumvent the oath by pillaging and massacring the city of Jabesh-Gilead, none of whose residents partook in the war or in the vow, and capturing its 400 maidens for the Benj ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, through later folk traditions, has become a significant cultural, religious, and commercial celebration of Romance (love), romance and love in many regions of the world. There are a number of martyrdom stories associated with various Valentines connected to February 14, including an account of the imprisonment of Saint Valentine of Rome for ministering to Christians Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, persecuted under the Roman Empire in the third century. According to an early tradition, Saint Valentine restored sight to the blind daughter of his jailer. Numerous later additions to the legend have better related it to the theme of love: an 18th-century embellishment to the legend claims he wrote the jailer's daughter a letter signed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mincha
Mincha ( he, מִנחַה, pronounced as ; sometimes spelled ''Minchah'' or ''Minḥa'') is the afternoon prayer service in Judaism. Etymology The name ''Mincha'', meaning "present", is derived from the meal offering that accompanied each sacrifice offered in the Temple (Beit HaMikdash). Origin The Hebrew noun ''minḥah'' () is used 211 times in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible, with the first uses referring to vegetable and animal offerings brought by Cain and Abel to God. Most other uses refer to a gift offering, made of grain, which could be offered at any time in the day. However, occasionally the Bible uses "mincha" to specifically refer to the afternoon Temple sacrifice. Rabbis in the Talmud debate whether the daily prayers have their origin in the behavior of the biblical Patriarchs, or in the Temple sacrifices. According to the first opinion, the Mincha prayer was originated by Isaac, who "went out to converse in the field", (according to this view) with God. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tisha B'Av
Tisha B'Av ( he, תִּשְׁעָה בְּאָב ''Tīšʿā Bəʾāv''; , ) is an annual fast day in Judaism, on which a number of disasters in Jewish history occurred, primarily the destruction of both Solomon's Temple by the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the Second Temple by the Roman Empire in Jerusalem. Tisha B'Av marks the end of the three weeks between dire straits and is regarded as the saddest day in the Jewish calendar, and it is thus believed to be a day which is destined for tragedy. ''Tisha B'Av'' falls in July or August in the Gregorian calendar. The observance of the day includes five prohibitions, most notable of which is a 25-hour fast. The Book of Lamentations, which mourns the destruction of Jerusalem, is read in the synagogue, followed by the recitation of ''kinnot'', liturgical dirges that lament the loss of the Temples and Jerusalem. As the day has become associated with remembrance of other major calamities which have befallen the Jewish people, some ''kin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Incorruptibility
Incorruptibility is a Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox belief that divine intervention allows some human bodies (specifically saints and beati) to completely or partially avoid the normal process of decomposition after death as a sign of their holiness. Incorruptibility is thought to occur even in the presence of factors which normally hasten decomposition, as in the cases of saints Catherine of Genoa, Julie Billiart and Francis Xavier. Roman Catholicism In Roman Catholicism, if a body is judged as incorruptible after death, this is most often seen as a sign that the individual is a saint. Canon law allows inspection of the body so that relics can be taken and sent to Rome. The relics must be sealed with wax and the body must be replaced after inspection. These ritual inspections are performed very rarely and can only be performed by a bishop according to the requirements of canon law. A pontifical commission can authorize inspection of the relics and demand a written report. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bar Kochba Rebellion
The Bar Kokhba revolt ( he, , links=yes, ''Mereḏ Bar Kōḵḇāʾ''), or the 'Jewish Expedition' as the Romans named it ( la, Expeditio Judaica), was a rebellion by the Jews of the Judea (Roman province), Roman province of Judea, led by Simon bar Kokhba, against the Roman Empire. Fought Common Era, CE, it was the last of three major Jewish–Roman wars, so it is also known as the Third Jewish–Roman War or, the Third Jewish Revolt. Some historians also refer to it as the Second Revolt of Judea, not counting the Kitos War (115–117 CE), which had only marginally been fought in Judea. The revolt erupted as a result of religious and political tensions in Judea following on the failed First Jewish–Roman War, First Revolt in 66–73 CE. These tensions were related to the establishment of a large Roman military presence in Judea, changes in administrative life and the economy, together with the outbreak and suppression of Jewish revolts from Mesopotamia to Ancient Libya, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Betar (fortress)
Betar (), also spelled Beitar or Bethar, was an ancient Jewish town in the Judean Mountains. Continuously inhabited since the Iron Age, it was the last standing stronghold of the Bar Kokhba revolt, and was destroyed by the Imperial Roman Army under Hadrian in 135 CE.D. Ussishkin, Archaeological Soundings at Betar, Bar-Kochba's Last Stronghold, Tel Aviv 20, 1993, pp. 66-97. Ancient Betar's ruins can be found at the archeological site of Khirbet al-Yahud ( ar, خربة اليهود, links=yes, translit=, lit=Ruin of the Jews), located about southwest of Jerusalem. It is located in the modern Palestinian village of Battir, which preserves its ancient name. It is situated on a declivity that rises to an elevation of about above sea-level. The Israeli settlement and city Beitar Illit, named after the ancient city, is also located nearby. Etymology ''Bet tar'' in ancient Hebrew might mean the ''place of the blade,'' based on the variant spelling found in the Jerusalem Talmud (Cod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solstice
A solstice is an event that occurs when the Sun appears to reach its most northerly or southerly excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around June 21 and December 21. In many countries, the seasons of the year are determined by the solstices and the equinoxes. The term ''solstice'' can also be used in a broader sense, as the day when this occurs. The day of a solstice in either hemisphere has either the most sunlight of the year ( summer solstice) or the least sunlight of the year (winter solstice) for any place other than the Equator. Alternative terms, with no ambiguity as to which hemisphere is the context, are " June solstice" and " December solstice", referring to the months in which they take place every year. The word ''solstice'' is derived from the Latin ''sol'' ("sun") and ''sistere'' ("to stand still"), because at the solstices, the Sun's declination appears to "stand still"; that is, the seasonal move ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torah Study
Torah study is the study of the Torah, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, responsa, rabbinic literature, and similar works, all of which are Judaism's Sifrei kodesh, religious texts. According to Rabbinic Judaism, the study is done for the purpose of the ''mitzvah'' ("commandment") of Torah study itself. This practice is present to an extent in all religious branches of Judaism, and is considered of paramount importance among religious Jews. Torah study has evolved over the generations, as lifestyles changed and also as new texts were written. Traditional view In rabbinic literature, a heavy emphasis is placed on Torah study for Jews, Jewish males, with women being exempt. This literature teaches an eagerness for such study and a thirst for knowledge that expands beyond the text of the Tanakh to the entire Oral Torah. Some examples of traditional religious teachings: * The study of Torah is "equal to all" of the ''Mitzvah, mitzvot'' of Honour thy father and thy mother, honouring one's pare ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solomon's Temple
Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple (, , ), was the Temple in Jerusalem between the 10th century BC and . According to the Hebrew Bible, it was commissioned by Solomon in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited by the Kingdom of Judah in . It stood for around four centuries until it was destroyed by the Neo-Babylonian Empire during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, which occurred under the reign of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II. Although most modern scholars agree that the First Temple existed on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem by the time of the Babylonian siege, there is significant debate over the date of its construction and the identity of its builder. The Hebrew Bible, specifically within the Book of Kings, includes a detailed narrative about the construction's ordering by Solomon, the penultimate ruler of amalgamated Israel and Judah. It further credits Solomon as the placer of the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies, a windowles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ten Tribes
The ten lost tribes were the ten of the Twelve Tribes of Israel that were said to have been exiled from the Kingdom of Israel after its conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire BCE. These are the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Manasseh, and Ephraim; all but Judah and Benjamin (as well as some members of Tribe of Levi, Levi, the priestly tribe, which did not have its own territory). The Jewish historian Josephus (37–100 Common Era, CE) wrote that "there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers". In the 7th and 8th centuries CE, the return of the lost tribes was associated with the concept of the coming of the Messiah in Judaism, messiah. Claims of descent from the "lost tribes" have been proposed in relation to many groups, and some religions espouse a Messianism, messianic view that the tribes will retu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
