Month: March 2021

Archaeologists in Israel Have Discovered a New Dead Sea Scroll

They also discovered a partially mummified 6,000-year-old skeleton of a child.

Sarah Cascone  March 16, 2021

For the first time in 60 years, archaeologists have discovered a new fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a cache of ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts uncovered in the Qumran Caves on the northern shore of the Dead Sea.

The Israel Antiquities Authority, which carried out the excavations, believes the new scroll, written in Greek, is actually a missing part of the “Book of the 12 Minor Prophets” scroll, first discovered in 1961. It contains verses from Zechariah 8:16-17 and Nahum 1:5-6. The minor differences in the wording compared to other known manuscripts are important in helping shape our understanding of the evolution of the standardized Hebrew Bible.

“When we think about the biblical text, we think about something very static. It wasn’t static. There are slight differences and some of those differences are important,” Joe Uziel, head of the antiquities authority’s Dead Sea Scrolls unit, told the Associated Press.

Read full article:

https://news-artnet-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/news.artnet.com/art-world/new-dead-sea-scroll-discovery-cave-horrors-1952209/amp-page?amp_js_v=a6&amp_gsa=1&

 

https://www.euronews.com/2021/03/06/pope-francis-meets-with-influential-shia-cleric-in-iraq

By Euronews with AP 06/03/2021

Pope Francis led a mass in Iraq on Saturday as part of his historic visit to the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Francis celebrated Mass in a packed Chaldean Catholic Cathedral in Baghdad that featured chanted Scripture readings and a maskless choir singing hymns.

“Love is our strength, the source of strength for those of our brothers and sisters who here too have suffered prejudice, indignities, mistreatment and persecutions for the name of Jesus,” Francis told the faithful.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi declared March 6 a National Day of Tolerance and Coexistence in Iraq after Francis met with a top Shia cleric in Iraq and held a landmark inter-religious gathering.

The pontiff’s earlier meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, one of the most influential clerics in Shia Islam, took place in the holy city of Najaf and was meant to deliver a message of cooperation and friendship between religious communities.

Al-Sistani affirmed that Iraq’s Christians should live in peace and enjoy the same rights as other Iraqis. Pope Francis said the ayatollah’s message of peace affirmed “the sacredness of human life and the importance of the unity of the Iraqi people.”

The papal visit is in support of Iraq’s Christian minority that has faced years of war and persecution.

The meeting took place at al-Sistani’s home in Najaf and was months in the making with details negotiated between the ayatollah’s office and the Vatican.

The 84-year-old pontiff’s convoy was led by a bullet-proof vehicle and when he arrived at the home on Saturday, a few doves were released in a sign of peace.

The closed-door meeting was to touch on issues plaguing Iraq’s Christian minority including years of displacement. A show of solidarity from the deeply revered al-Sistani could help them secure their place in Iraq.

The visit was being carried live on Iraqi television, and residents cheered the meeting of two respected faith leaders.

Pope Francis arrived in Iraq on Friday for his first-ever papal visit to the country. It also marked his first international trip since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. His meeting on Saturday was the first-ever between a pope and a grand ayatollah.

On the few occasions where he has made his opinion known, the notoriously reclusive al-Sistani has shifted the course of Iraq’s modern history.

He preached calm and restraint after the 2003 US-led invasion as the Shiite majority came under attack by al-Qaida and other Sunni extremists. The country was nevertheless plunged into years of sectarian violence.

His 2014 fatwa, or religious edict, calling on able-bodied men to join the security forces in fighting the Islamic State group swelled the ranks of Shiite militias, many closely tied to Iran. In 2019, as anti-government demonstrations gripped the country, his sermon lead to the resignation of then-prime minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi.

Iraqis have welcomed the visit as the country struggles to recover from decades of war and unrest. Iraq declared victory over the Islamic State group in 2017 but still sees sporadic attacks including recent rocket attacks by Iran-backed militias against US military and diplomatic facilities.

The violence is linked to the standoff between the US and Iran following Washington’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear accord and its imposition of crippling sanctions on Iran.

(see more) https://www.euronews.com/2021/03/06/pope-francis-meets-with-influential-shia-cleric-in-iraq

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by: Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine

https://news.yahoo.com/jewish-community-saves-muslim-restaurant-163813747.html

Justin Huggler Fri, March 5, 2021

The German Jewish community has intervened to save a Muslim-owned kebab restaurant targeted in a far-Right terror attack from going out of business because of the coronavirus pandemic.

With its slowly rotating kebab spits and stainless steel salad counter, Kiez-Döner in the eastern city of Halle is typical of countless Turkish fast food joints scattered across Germany.

In 2019 it made headlines around the world after it was caught up in a far-Right terror attack that also targeted a synagogue packed with worshippers marking Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

A bloodbath was averted when the lone gunman couldn’t force his way into the synagogue, but he turned his gun on a woman in the street making his way to Kiez-Döner, where he murdered a customer. Since then, the restaurant has become something of a shrine to the two victims, Jana Lange and Kevin Schwarze.

But Kiez-Döner has fallen on hard times. With Germany in lockdown since November and restaurants only allowed to sell takeaways, it was facing bankruptcy when the Jewish community stepped in.

The German Jewish Student Union launched an international fundraising drive around the world that brought in more than €30,000 (£26,000) to save the restaurant.

And a local Jewish leader paid for €1,000 (£1,000) of kebabs in advance, handing out coupons for members of the community to collect them.

“It’s really amazing what they did,” says Ismet Tekin, the restaurant’s Turkish-born owner. “They did it out of solidarity, to show that we are together, that we can get through these times when we stand together.”

Mr Tekin says he isn’t interested in historic tensions and distrust between Jews and Muslims in the Middle East. “For me there are no tensions,” he says. “Religion is a private thing. Everyone is entitled to his beliefs.”

Kiez-Döner didn’t have many Jewish customers before 2019, he says — the Jewish community in Halle is very small. But in the wake of the attack many

Of its members became regulars and were among the first to learn of the restaurant’s business woes …

(article continues)

https://www.yahoo.com/news/hidden-letters-reveal-desperation-now-120000051.html

Posted by: Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine

Carli Teproff February 7, 2021

Nov. 18, 1939: “…staying here is not an option because no one is staying here.”

Louise Frank’s words grew more frantic as she tried to get out of Germany and into the United States with her sister Jenny Bermann. She communicated with her daughter Matilde Lewis in handwritten letters sent by airmail as it became harder for Jews under the Nazi regime. Frank had chosen to remain in Germany, even though her daughter went to the United States.

Those letters are now part of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s collection, thanks to Frank’s granddaughter, Hilde Breitbart and great-grandson Steven Breitbart.

Steven Breitbart, who became involved with the museum in 2014, said he feels an obligation to keep the stories from the Holocaust alive so that history does not repeat itself.

To that end, the Cooper City man and his wife, Susan, are co-chairing the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s 2021 “What You Do Matters” Southeast Virtual Event, which will underscore why the choices we make matter.

“We have been very passionate about what the museum does about preserving the evidence of the Holocaust and education of the public in general,” he said. “The event is to raise awareness of the museum and the mission they have of eliminating hate in the world.”

This year’s annual museum fundraiser — which was moved online because of the pandemic — will feature Morgan Freeman, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jason Alexander and Ray Allen. It will be held at 7 p.m. Feb. 11.

The museum, located in Washington, D.C. ,is a living memorial to the Holocaust, with educational programs that confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity.

“Participants will see firsthand how the Museum has adjusted to these extraordinary times by bringing Holocaust education and awareness to audiences virtually, and how the critical lessons of the Holocaust — lessons about the fragility of freedom, the nature of hate and the consequences of indifference — remain vital,” Robert Tanen, the Museum’s Southeast regional director, said in a statement …

(story continues) https://www.yahoo.com/news/hidden-letters-reveal-desperation-now-120000051.html