Sunday, March 21, 2010

The Rose-Colored World

Mood:MSN Onion Icon


By Pierrot. (It's Barairo No Sekai in Japanese.) Kind of a cool driving rock song. I heard that it was in the Get Backers' soundtrack too. (Still haven't watched that one. :P) Yesterday, we went to our Rabbi's talk on the Cairo Genizah. He's been researching it, and finally got to see it. We went to his talk before he left, so this was about what he saw there. According to Jewish law, you can't just throw away sacred texts, so they would throw them in a, sort of, storage pit. MSN Onion Emoticon SetWhen this 'storage pit' was found there were 1000's upon 1000's of manuscript fragments. MSN Onion IconsIn fact, it was filled up, and it was a very deep 'pit'. Most of these date back to Medieval times. One piece was the oldest recorded document of Jewish sheet music. Interesting to actually hear it. MSN Onion IconAnother was a beginner's Hebrew primer. There were Maimonides' manuscripts. (A very famous philosopher.) Texts first written in Greek, then Hebrew was written over it. (Paper was not as easy to make, so they 're-used' what ever paper was around. MSN Onion Emoticon) The Greek resurfaced over time. Plus, there were many other languages written on them, since it was such a big trading capital. There was an Indian language written on a few, but they can't identify what type it is. Onion IconsThey could also get an idea of what Jewish life was like living in Egypt at this time. Also, they found a large amount of 'dust' at the bottom of it. The fragments were compacted so much they turned into a powder. The synagogue's cemetery had been trashed. Wild dogs were living there, gravestones were smashed, people's left over food (mainly pitas) were strewn about, and lots of actual trash. It was rather sad. Onion IconNot only is our Rabbi writing a book on this, but also doing a documentary. It's all very interesting. The Egyptian government was very cooperative. Kind of cool to see. (Although, this puts them in a good light, so that might be why. :D) 


Also, there was a lot of good food at the talk. Cheeses, crackers, fruit, chocolate cake, Twix and M&M's, mini Eclair's, cream puffs, 2 or 3 different kinds of brownies, and more. I was very full by the time we got home. Onion IconBut, it was so good. 


We also started with a quick Havdalah service. I almost forget about Havdalah, it's kind of horrible. It marks the end of Shabbat. There's lots of singing, smelling spices, and lighting a large candle. Some people pass around the wine, and everyone takes a sip. Others like our group, have the leader sip it. Then, at the end, you dip the candle in the wine to extinguish it.


Also, I found a couple more Japanese songs for my Zen Stone. And I started searching for Israeli songs. Found a couple. Now if I find more of those, Jewish, and Celtic music, my worlds will collide!Onion IconIf anyone were to listen to it randomly after I get those, they'd probably think I was crazy or something.Onion Emoticons


Today, I started writing a letter back to one of my penpals. I want to put as much Japanese as I can into it, so it's taking a bit longer than I would normally take. I'm also writing the English meaning, so maybe she can correct me or something. My handwriting in Japanese is probably just as bad as my normal handwriting.Onion IconLet's hope she can actually read it. Although, I haven't actually had anybody say my handwriting is bad. They just say it's 'different'. Someone told me they thought it looked pretty and it was like a hybrid of Middle Eastern handwriting and normal. Interesting.MSN Onion Icon


We went out shopping too. Got a bunch of stuff for my dad. And we got a few things for Mom. We had dinner at Burger King. We barely eat there, but they had a special on double cheeseburgers. I think it was my first time having one. Very good stuff! Meaty and cheesy, best of both worlds.Onion Icons


Youtube:
Hetalia Ipod party. Kind of cool to see a lot the flags:

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