B"H
Web Site Redone
REFUTING PSEUDO-MYSTICISM
http://tinyurl.com/5jtrx
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Monday, July 26, 2004
B"H
New Blog
THE IMPERATIVE OF MORAL MATHEMATICS
http://www.geocities.com/dordot2001/ImperativeOfMoralMaths.html?1090818328430
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
New Blog
THE IMPERATIVE OF MORAL MATHEMATICS
http://www.geocities.com/dordot2001/ImperativeOfMoralMaths.html?1090818328430
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Sunday, July 25, 2004
B”H
GENIUS IS AS GENIUS DOES
[A Post I Wrote Shortly Before Resigning from Mensa (I Find Soi-Dissant "Geniuses" Obnoxious)]
A member of Mensa wrote: "Corporate boards aren't usually looking for 'geniuses,' even ones with good ideas."
To which I responded:
I'm glad you wrote the word geniuses in single quotation marks. I think we can clear up a lot of confusion in Mensa if we clear up this particular point of confusion.
Genius, by definition, is a preternatural phenomenon. A preternatural phenomenon, by definition, does not occur in 1 in 50 individuals in a species that numbers in the billions; neither does it occur in 1 in 100, or 1 in 10,000. Perhaps one in a million approaches the preternatural in a species whose number is now approximately six billion (I'm feel myself overextending to be generous here).
Every genius is unique unto himself or herself. No genius is like any other who ever lived, even if they work in the same field. Why do I say this? A genius is someone who will bring something that has never been in creation into creation. How can that possibly be predicted? Genius, therefore, cannot possibly be determined, or predicted, on the basis of standardized tests, certainly not on the basis of standardized tests that were developed by people who were normal enough not to be shunted aside by the academic establishment, and even convinced the establishment to grant them a PhD, thus giving them a "consider yourself one of us" certificate. This is true even of the tests considered to be the hardest, those that test for the extreme IQ ranges. The supposedly most difficult tests administered by the highest IQ of the high IQ societies are merely more of the same fallacious thinking.
Genius does not concern itself with itself overmuch. Genius is something that concerns itself with the task it will accomplish. I have never encountered Stephen Hawkings or Noam Chomsky on a Mensa board chatting late into the night about how bright they are.
I can't remember whether it is James Watson or Francis Crick who it is said has an IQ of 125. Nevertheless, they discovered the double helix structure of DNA. Genius is as genius does.
I have often wondered what sort of a test of genius Einstein, Picasso, Isaac Stern, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Erich Fromm, Helen Keller, Henry David Thoreau, Confucius, and Rabindranath Tagore might send us from heaven if they were to take time out from eternity and devise one for us. I suspect it would be very different than the types of tests now being administered to test for intelligence and predict genius which, again, is an exercise in futility because there cannot possibly be a predictor of someone who will come into the world and create a way of thinking that has not been heretofore known.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
GENIUS IS AS GENIUS DOES
[A Post I Wrote Shortly Before Resigning from Mensa (I Find Soi-Dissant "Geniuses" Obnoxious)]
A member of Mensa wrote: "Corporate boards aren't usually looking for 'geniuses,' even ones with good ideas."
To which I responded:
I'm glad you wrote the word geniuses in single quotation marks. I think we can clear up a lot of confusion in Mensa if we clear up this particular point of confusion.
Genius, by definition, is a preternatural phenomenon. A preternatural phenomenon, by definition, does not occur in 1 in 50 individuals in a species that numbers in the billions; neither does it occur in 1 in 100, or 1 in 10,000. Perhaps one in a million approaches the preternatural in a species whose number is now approximately six billion (I'm feel myself overextending to be generous here).
Every genius is unique unto himself or herself. No genius is like any other who ever lived, even if they work in the same field. Why do I say this? A genius is someone who will bring something that has never been in creation into creation. How can that possibly be predicted? Genius, therefore, cannot possibly be determined, or predicted, on the basis of standardized tests, certainly not on the basis of standardized tests that were developed by people who were normal enough not to be shunted aside by the academic establishment, and even convinced the establishment to grant them a PhD, thus giving them a "consider yourself one of us" certificate. This is true even of the tests considered to be the hardest, those that test for the extreme IQ ranges. The supposedly most difficult tests administered by the highest IQ of the high IQ societies are merely more of the same fallacious thinking.
Genius does not concern itself with itself overmuch. Genius is something that concerns itself with the task it will accomplish. I have never encountered Stephen Hawkings or Noam Chomsky on a Mensa board chatting late into the night about how bright they are.
I can't remember whether it is James Watson or Francis Crick who it is said has an IQ of 125. Nevertheless, they discovered the double helix structure of DNA. Genius is as genius does.
I have often wondered what sort of a test of genius Einstein, Picasso, Isaac Stern, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Erich Fromm, Helen Keller, Henry David Thoreau, Confucius, and Rabindranath Tagore might send us from heaven if they were to take time out from eternity and devise one for us. I suspect it would be very different than the types of tests now being administered to test for intelligence and predict genius which, again, is an exercise in futility because there cannot possibly be a predictor of someone who will come into the world and create a way of thinking that has not been heretofore known.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
B"H
Abstract of
Hidden Theophoric Names and Angelology in the "War Scroll"
The "War Scroll", 1Q33 (1QM[ilhamah] = 1QWar Scroll [Rule]), is perhaps the most ignominious, and certainly the least understood, of the Dead Sea Scrolls .The "War Scroll" is a mistitling foisted upon the scroll by those who edited and attempted to translate it, despite their ignorance of the depths of the Holy Language. This author takes exception with the Gentile and Jewish researchers alike who are not initiates in the depths of the Hebrew language in their assuming that they know what they do not and who irresponsibly go to press with their conclusions, to much fanfare, leaving immeasurable moral/spiritual and Jewish cultural damage in their wake. It will require decades for Jewish researchers who are truly fluent in Hebrew and familiar with Jewish sources to repair the damage that has been done to the correct understanding of the scrolls. Needing funds as they do, Jewish researchers cannot exclude Gentile interests from the enormous and enormously costly enterprise of editing and researching the Scrolls, some Jewish researchers are not of a mind to do so, and so the damage is ongoing.
Not knowing that the word מלחמה is an anagram/perfect permutation* for the word מחמלה, the expression חמלה לי and the word חלפה (see Col. XVI, Verse 12), the Gentile researchers were led astray by the little of the Holy Tongue that their eyes can see and arrived at spurious conclusions about that which is written in the scrolls. They yclept the scroll, so lovingly and painstakingly composed and constructed for the sake of bringing peace to the world, סרך המלחמה. This work comes to redeem the honor of the scroll and ransom it from those who keep it imprisoned in Gentile mind-set.
*( By perfect permutation the author intends a result of the performance of a חלוף or חלופים that is an anagram the value of which is exactly equal to the original letter, word, expression, sentence etc. that the חלוף or חלופים was/were performed on. If the חלוף or חלופים was/were performed on letters, words, phrases, etc., that are not themselves nor do they contain any letters that have a סופית form, the anagram will always be a perfect permutation. If however, we perform a חלוף or חלופים on letters that do have a סופית form, or on words, phrases etc., that contain a letter or letters that have a סופית form, and thus the value of the letter or letters may change if it/they is/are placed at the end of a word (and sometimes elsewhere in a word, as we find in the hapax legomenon the word לםרבה, which begins Chapter 9, Verse 6 of the Book of ישעיהו, and is found quite often in the Dead Sea scrolls), the resulting anagram will be either a perfect or an imperfect permutation. An imperfect permutation is the result of performing a חלוף or חלופים in which a regular letter or regular letters have become a סופית or סופיות or a סופית or סופיות have become a regular letter or regular letters after the חלוף or חלופים was/were performed, and thus the value of the resulting value of the anagram is not that of the original letter, word, expression, sentence, etc.)
There are Names of Angels that are written quite explicitly, and repeatedly mentioned in the "War Scroll". What, then, is the intent of the author of a work which posits that there are also hidden theophoric Names and Names of Angels in the War Scroll?
בע"ה, we will prove that not only are there hidden Holy Names in the War Scroll, we will demonstrate a more accurate understanding of what the appellation מלאך means than the definition proposed by the Ramba"m and other Pharisaic/Rabbinic commentators.
Most importantly, we will demonstrate that far from being a call to an eschatological war and a description of that war, the "War Scroll" is, in fact, a meditation on Holy Names for the purpose of protectingכנסת ישראל from the impending disaster that they had brought upon themselves as a result of interpreting תורה in a compromising manner and contaminating בית המקדש השני.
It should always be borne in mind that היחד was founded and led byבני צדוק and that they lived in accordance with the understanding of תורה of בית צדוק as passed down generation to generation since the time of the first כהן ראש אהרן. The task of כהנים in this world, most especially that of הכהן הראש, is to love peace and pursue peace. How can it be said that היחד were warmongers or that they, G-d forbid, relished the idea of their brethren being slain en masse? Truly, such interpretation of the scroll is in the eye of the interpreter, not in what the Holy Language says. It was, moreover, the task of הכהנים to bring about expiation for עם ישראל and for the Nations. היחד never desisted from this task, even when they could not touch the Temple physically, they called to the Jewish Soul relentlessly and with much personal exertion.
Having had to separate themselves from המקדש because of the impurities that were introduced into המקדש by the Pharisees and the Hellenized Sadducees in Yerushalayim, both of whom colluded with the Gentile government each to their own extent to the detriment of the Jewish People and who monopolized the Temple Service by brute force and bribery; the כהנים who founded היחד, and continued to serve as the moral and spiritual mentors of the society, were unable to perform the physical aspects of העבודה. However, they were able to perform the חלופים, i.e., the internal, moral/spiritual aspect of העבודה, and they did - masterfully.
Far from being an eschatological document written by a group that had become increasingly separatist, disenfranchised and extreme, as is commonly thought, ר"ל, the "War Scroll" is actually a last-ditch effort on the part of היחד to save the Jewish People from disaster. Beneath what appears to be the text to those who merely skim the surface of the text are profound prayers and invocations of Divine Names for the sake of trying to protect the Jewish People.
For instance: in Column XIV, Verse 14 we find the contiguous words:
כיא גדולה מ[חשבת כבו]דכה ורזי נפלאותיכה במרומי[כה
Before discovering the theophoric Names in the above words, let it be understood that the praises of ישראל to ה יתברך in their prayers are mirrored by the praises of ה יתברך of ישראל. The above passage is not only a praise of HaShem, it is meant to remind ישראל of her greatness as a People. The Jews had forgotten that they are an aspect of HaShem in creation and to what purpose they, as a People, had come into creation. The words above were meant to arouse them from their slumber and delusions and bring them back.
Within the words above we find the overlapping theophoric Names:
אהיה, י-ה, הויה, א-ל, א-לה, א-לוה, א-להימ, א-דני, מיכאל, גדליהו, רפאל, רזיאל, אוריאל, פניאל, פנואל, דניאל, נוריאל
If we accept the reconstruction of the text, we can add the Names:
שד-י, גבריאל, ומישאל
to the list of theophoric Names to be found in the passage above as well.
Lest it be thought that the passage above was chosen because it alone contains many theophoric Names, but that this is atypical of the "War Scroll" as a whole, I invite the reader to reread the scroll with an open mind and heart.
The theophoric names in the "War Scroll" are written into the text on various levels of conspicuity. In Column III, Verse 9 the name רזיאל is quite apparent in the form of the expression רזי אל. Discovering the name רזיאל in the passage from Column XIV, Verse 14 shown above requires greater attention and ability to discern names woven into the text. Still greater attention to the internal structure of the text and knowledge of גימטריאות is required to see that the name רזיאל is equal to the Name א-ל taken eight times. The value 248, the value of the name רזיאל, equals the value of the Name א-ל, which is 31, times 8.
If it is true that the name רזיאל is equal to the Name א-ל taken eight times, then it is necessarily true that the word רזי, equaling 217, is equal to the Name א-ל, which equals 31 x 7. The word רזי is equal to the following:
רזי = 217 = מכפר על עון = 1216 = 217 = ישראל מכפרים על הגוים 2215 = 217 = הזהר = יוצא מההיכל = אטהר אתם = שמחת בנותי = ברירתם החפשית = יכפרו על עצמם
Among the infinity of חלופים for the Name א-ל one is particularly significant in regard to the "War Scroll":
א-ל = 31 = תחית עם ישראל = 2029 = 31
Saying the word רזי and invoking the name רזיאל is praying forתחית עם ישראל seven (שבע) and eight
(שמנה) times respectively.
It should be noted that the name of the number שבע is itself equal to31 x 12, or the Name א-ל taken 12 times. The name of the number שמֹנה is an anagram/perfect permutation of the word נשמה. The words שמנה and נשמה are equal to the expression יודע כפרה.
We see from the חלופים demonstrated that the matter of כפרה figures prominently in the "War Scroll". We see that in addition to the many times that the Name א-ל is written apparently in the scroll, there are many times that the Name א-ל appears in the form of words the values of which are multiples of the value of the Name א-ל. We have seen that a חלוף for the Name א-ל is תחית עם ישראל.
Truly, it was the intention of the author/s of the "War Scroll" to bring about expiation for ישראל and to protect their lives, not to bring war upon them.
My work elucidating many more examples will be ready for public viewing sometime next year, אי"ה.
I will have accomplished my task when this majestic scroll is renamedסרכ השלום.
סרכ = 280 = עיר
שלום = 936 = שם א-לה = עולם צדק א-לה לב כל בית ישראל עולם צדק = 1935 = 936 = א-לה כל כ"ז אותיות =א-לה יחודים כל עם ישראל = א-לה יחוד כל האדם עם ישראל
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
קיץ ה'תשס"ד
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Abstract of
Hidden Theophoric Names and Angelology in the "War Scroll"
The "War Scroll", 1Q33 (1QM[ilhamah] = 1QWar Scroll [Rule]), is perhaps the most ignominious, and certainly the least understood, of the Dead Sea Scrolls .The "War Scroll" is a mistitling foisted upon the scroll by those who edited and attempted to translate it, despite their ignorance of the depths of the Holy Language. This author takes exception with the Gentile and Jewish researchers alike who are not initiates in the depths of the Hebrew language in their assuming that they know what they do not and who irresponsibly go to press with their conclusions, to much fanfare, leaving immeasurable moral/spiritual and Jewish cultural damage in their wake. It will require decades for Jewish researchers who are truly fluent in Hebrew and familiar with Jewish sources to repair the damage that has been done to the correct understanding of the scrolls. Needing funds as they do, Jewish researchers cannot exclude Gentile interests from the enormous and enormously costly enterprise of editing and researching the Scrolls, some Jewish researchers are not of a mind to do so, and so the damage is ongoing.
Not knowing that the word מלחמה is an anagram/perfect permutation* for the word מחמלה, the expression חמלה לי and the word חלפה (see Col. XVI, Verse 12), the Gentile researchers were led astray by the little of the Holy Tongue that their eyes can see and arrived at spurious conclusions about that which is written in the scrolls. They yclept the scroll, so lovingly and painstakingly composed and constructed for the sake of bringing peace to the world, סרך המלחמה. This work comes to redeem the honor of the scroll and ransom it from those who keep it imprisoned in Gentile mind-set.
*( By perfect permutation the author intends a result of the performance of a חלוף or חלופים that is an anagram the value of which is exactly equal to the original letter, word, expression, sentence etc. that the חלוף or חלופים was/were performed on. If the חלוף or חלופים was/were performed on letters, words, phrases, etc., that are not themselves nor do they contain any letters that have a סופית form, the anagram will always be a perfect permutation. If however, we perform a חלוף or חלופים on letters that do have a סופית form, or on words, phrases etc., that contain a letter or letters that have a סופית form, and thus the value of the letter or letters may change if it/they is/are placed at the end of a word (and sometimes elsewhere in a word, as we find in the hapax legomenon the word לםרבה, which begins Chapter 9, Verse 6 of the Book of ישעיהו, and is found quite often in the Dead Sea scrolls), the resulting anagram will be either a perfect or an imperfect permutation. An imperfect permutation is the result of performing a חלוף or חלופים in which a regular letter or regular letters have become a סופית or סופיות or a סופית or סופיות have become a regular letter or regular letters after the חלוף or חלופים was/were performed, and thus the value of the resulting value of the anagram is not that of the original letter, word, expression, sentence, etc.)
There are Names of Angels that are written quite explicitly, and repeatedly mentioned in the "War Scroll". What, then, is the intent of the author of a work which posits that there are also hidden theophoric Names and Names of Angels in the War Scroll?
בע"ה, we will prove that not only are there hidden Holy Names in the War Scroll, we will demonstrate a more accurate understanding of what the appellation מלאך means than the definition proposed by the Ramba"m and other Pharisaic/Rabbinic commentators.
Most importantly, we will demonstrate that far from being a call to an eschatological war and a description of that war, the "War Scroll" is, in fact, a meditation on Holy Names for the purpose of protectingכנסת ישראל from the impending disaster that they had brought upon themselves as a result of interpreting תורה in a compromising manner and contaminating בית המקדש השני.
It should always be borne in mind that היחד was founded and led byבני צדוק and that they lived in accordance with the understanding of תורה of בית צדוק as passed down generation to generation since the time of the first כהן ראש אהרן. The task of כהנים in this world, most especially that of הכהן הראש, is to love peace and pursue peace. How can it be said that היחד were warmongers or that they, G-d forbid, relished the idea of their brethren being slain en masse? Truly, such interpretation of the scroll is in the eye of the interpreter, not in what the Holy Language says. It was, moreover, the task of הכהנים to bring about expiation for עם ישראל and for the Nations. היחד never desisted from this task, even when they could not touch the Temple physically, they called to the Jewish Soul relentlessly and with much personal exertion.
Having had to separate themselves from המקדש because of the impurities that were introduced into המקדש by the Pharisees and the Hellenized Sadducees in Yerushalayim, both of whom colluded with the Gentile government each to their own extent to the detriment of the Jewish People and who monopolized the Temple Service by brute force and bribery; the כהנים who founded היחד, and continued to serve as the moral and spiritual mentors of the society, were unable to perform the physical aspects of העבודה. However, they were able to perform the חלופים, i.e., the internal, moral/spiritual aspect of העבודה, and they did - masterfully.
Far from being an eschatological document written by a group that had become increasingly separatist, disenfranchised and extreme, as is commonly thought, ר"ל, the "War Scroll" is actually a last-ditch effort on the part of היחד to save the Jewish People from disaster. Beneath what appears to be the text to those who merely skim the surface of the text are profound prayers and invocations of Divine Names for the sake of trying to protect the Jewish People.
For instance: in Column XIV, Verse 14 we find the contiguous words:
כיא גדולה מ[חשבת כבו]דכה ורזי נפלאותיכה במרומי[כה
Before discovering the theophoric Names in the above words, let it be understood that the praises of ישראל to ה יתברך in their prayers are mirrored by the praises of ה יתברך of ישראל. The above passage is not only a praise of HaShem, it is meant to remind ישראל of her greatness as a People. The Jews had forgotten that they are an aspect of HaShem in creation and to what purpose they, as a People, had come into creation. The words above were meant to arouse them from their slumber and delusions and bring them back.
Within the words above we find the overlapping theophoric Names:
אהיה, י-ה, הויה, א-ל, א-לה, א-לוה, א-להימ, א-דני, מיכאל, גדליהו, רפאל, רזיאל, אוריאל, פניאל, פנואל, דניאל, נוריאל
If we accept the reconstruction of the text, we can add the Names:
שד-י, גבריאל, ומישאל
to the list of theophoric Names to be found in the passage above as well.
Lest it be thought that the passage above was chosen because it alone contains many theophoric Names, but that this is atypical of the "War Scroll" as a whole, I invite the reader to reread the scroll with an open mind and heart.
The theophoric names in the "War Scroll" are written into the text on various levels of conspicuity. In Column III, Verse 9 the name רזיאל is quite apparent in the form of the expression רזי אל. Discovering the name רזיאל in the passage from Column XIV, Verse 14 shown above requires greater attention and ability to discern names woven into the text. Still greater attention to the internal structure of the text and knowledge of גימטריאות is required to see that the name רזיאל is equal to the Name א-ל taken eight times. The value 248, the value of the name רזיאל, equals the value of the Name א-ל, which is 31, times 8.
If it is true that the name רזיאל is equal to the Name א-ל taken eight times, then it is necessarily true that the word רזי, equaling 217, is equal to the Name א-ל, which equals 31 x 7. The word רזי is equal to the following:
רזי = 217 = מכפר על עון = 1216 = 217 = ישראל מכפרים על הגוים 2215 = 217 = הזהר = יוצא מההיכל = אטהר אתם = שמחת בנותי = ברירתם החפשית = יכפרו על עצמם
Among the infinity of חלופים for the Name א-ל one is particularly significant in regard to the "War Scroll":
א-ל = 31 = תחית עם ישראל = 2029 = 31
Saying the word רזי and invoking the name רזיאל is praying forתחית עם ישראל seven (שבע) and eight
(שמנה) times respectively.
It should be noted that the name of the number שבע is itself equal to31 x 12, or the Name א-ל taken 12 times. The name of the number שמֹנה is an anagram/perfect permutation of the word נשמה. The words שמנה and נשמה are equal to the expression יודע כפרה.
We see from the חלופים demonstrated that the matter of כפרה figures prominently in the "War Scroll". We see that in addition to the many times that the Name א-ל is written apparently in the scroll, there are many times that the Name א-ל appears in the form of words the values of which are multiples of the value of the Name א-ל. We have seen that a חלוף for the Name א-ל is תחית עם ישראל.
Truly, it was the intention of the author/s of the "War Scroll" to bring about expiation for ישראל and to protect their lives, not to bring war upon them.
My work elucidating many more examples will be ready for public viewing sometime next year, אי"ה.
I will have accomplished my task when this majestic scroll is renamedסרכ השלום.
סרכ = 280 = עיר
שלום = 936 = שם א-לה = עולם צדק א-לה לב כל בית ישראל עולם צדק = 1935 = 936 = א-לה כל כ"ז אותיות =א-לה יחודים כל עם ישראל = א-לה יחוד כל האדם עם ישראל
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
קיץ ה'תשס"ד
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Saturday, July 24, 2004
B”H
Consciousness and the Letters of the אלף-בית
The letters of the Hebrew alphabet are numerical values as well as symbols. Therefore, when reading a text in Hebrew one is calculating as well as reading. This means that there are an infinite number of possible readings of the text because there are an infinite number of substitution values for any value. All of the readings are, of course, identical according to the Identity Principle.In traditional Hebrew numerical analysis the letter aleph is equal to both one and to one thousand (the Hebrew word for 1000 is eleph).
Beit would therefore be two or two thousand or 1001.
Gimmel would therefore be three or three thousand or 1002 or 2001.
When reading a text we never know which is "the" value of the letter. We choose the value of the letters, and thus the meanings of what we are reading, both in the Text, and in our experiences once we have saturated our consciousness with Hebrew and the perceiving in the substitution values begins to come naturally.
Moreover, the numbers themselves have names. The name of the number one is 'echad' in Hebrew; it is written aleph, cheit, dalet and thus is numerically equal to 13, 1012, 4009, 8005 and so on.
Going further each of the letters have names and they too have numerical values and infinite substitution values. Words are punctuated in Hebrew with punctuation marks and diacritical points. The names of the punctuation marks and diacritical points have names, and thus they too have simple values and infinite substitution values. Again, we choose which values weassign to the letters proceeding from the fact that aleph equals oneand one thousand.This does not mean that interpretation of the Hebrew text is a free-for-all. As the Power that Is would have it, Hebrew is subject toits grammar and syntax. These rules are seen, as one progresses into the depths of the Hebrew language, to be identical with the moral laws that govern the creation of all phenomena at all levels,everywhere, in all possible times and even beyond these limitations.
Please note that I am not discussing any secret mystical orallegorical interpretations of the text. Actually one needs to beable to free oneself entirely from any and all meanings of the words, as they are usually understood, and concentrate entirely upon the play of the letter-numbers one with the other and amongst themselves.
The fact that there exists a language that is grammatical-mathematical has far-reaching consequences for the understanding of consciousness. Firstly, the "right-brain/left-brain" duality problem is resolved. An adept at the Hebrew language is performing calculations even as s/he thinks, reads, writes or speaks. It should be stressed here that I am not referring to the average speaker of Modern Hebrew on any street in Tel Aviv. To have the ability to make the deeper of levels of Hebrew become conscious - to be able to see creation occurring - requires years of great devotion to learning and the sincere desire to nullify one's ego into Consciousness. Slowly the mind ceases to be a run-away train and we become aware that it is we who are reading ourselves into existence.
We also see that the Laws of Retribution and Blessing are indeed very real because we live the world that we read (create) for ourselves whether we know it or not. It is far preferable to know this and be morally sensitive enough to create a benevolent reality for ourselves. One becomes able to create at will and, at higher levels to self-create at will; to call the Self from Nothing to Being. The ability to read the Hebrew Bible on a level deep enough to do this is never conferred before one is ready. So, I am able to reveal that this knowledge exists without revealing a secret weapon. There are no weapons or means of getting rich in any of what is written here.
The Bible reads as a compendium of stories and commandments to the untrained mind. However as one peers deeper unexpected levels of reading become apparent. The Hebrew Bible comes to be seen as a lattice of the grammatical-mathematical structures it contains. On deeper levels still the Hebrew Bible instructs us how, according the rules of grammar-morality to combine and permute the letters-numbers of the text, their factors, exponents and so on, and instructs us which phenomena will present themselves to consciousness as a result of doing so. At the highest levels that I know of one is absorbed into the level at which the Godhead transcribes Itself into existence. The levels beyond this are unknowable so long as we are in our bodies. However, one can reach the level of experiencing the body itself as it is being created, and participate in this at will. This means that I determine how my Soul appears in space-time. There's no magic here either. I'm talking about a level of consciousness far removed from such nonsense-not requiring or desiring these things at all.It should be stated most emphatically that more than the physically beautiful are vain about and attached to their beauty, the intellectually gifted are vain about and attached to theirintelligence. The unconsciousness mind is far greater, and faster,than the conscious mind and loves "head games". It is that level ofthought that needs to be brought under control. Meantime, itpresents all sorts of delights to the conscious mind and distracts usfrom our goal. To reach the level where thought can be observed we need to reign the unconscious in. That requires overcoming the "ego trip" of being intelligent and not allowing ourselves to beentertained by all sorts of fancies and delights the mind creates forus, thereby throwing us off our course. This takes decades ofdedicated work.The truth is essentially simple and evades those who busy themselves with sophisticated hermeneutics completely.This is the truth of the Hebrew language that our sages passed down from antiquity. The greatest modern exponent of this knowledge is Rabbi Avraham Abulafiah who lived in 13th Century Spain. His works were systematically scattered among various libraries and archives in Europe. Rabbi Abulafia's words were censored by The Vatican and leading Jews for about 800 years. In the last few years five of Rabbi Abulafia's books have been published in Israel.It is noteworthy that our sages advised their students to read theempty spaces within and around the letters in a text-to read theblank areas too. Some of the letters of the Hebrew language describe other letters within themselves when printed and around themselves as well.Mathematics appears to be so set to a set mind, when the mind isfreed to think more flexibly it conceives of mathematics differently. Some people who "can't do math" actually sense this instinctively and don't bend to the rules. Although it is true that at the beginning levels of using the various values of the letters of the Hebrew aleph-beit in hermeneutic exegesis it would appear that we are adhering to the rules of a kind of arithmetic, albeit far more flexible arithmetic than the system we are familiar with, this level is transcended by the adept and the "meanings" of the values are shed.
We arrive at a level which is beyond either mathematics or grammar, a level from which all possible systems of mathematics and grammars may be derived, i.e., from which all worlds may be constructed and deconstructed. It is not our intention, however, to create and destroy for the sake of being able to do so. Our intention is to be able to create justice and truth and all that may proceed from them. Actually, the way to this level is blocked as a matter of course, except to those who approach it with the purest of intentions. There is no danger of someone "stumbling" upon this knowledge, or it being revealed by one who has it, except by the will of very "high" orders of Godliness.Though it is certainly never too late to begin learning Hebrew asdescribed here, it would be preferable for the linguistic-mathematical-moral properties of the Hebrew language be taught to children right from the very beginning of their learning the aleph-beit. Children are indeed taught that each letter is also a number, but they are not taught the significance of this fact, nor are they instructed to read Hebrew and calculate at once. They are not asked what moral lessons are built into the letters, words, sentences and so on. The result is that children are taught to read in such a way that only a one-dimensional text appears before their eyes, rather than an ever-changing kaleidoscope of levels of meaning. The most unfortunate result is that the reality in which we live as adults seems to be a fixed given. As readers and interpreters of the Bible we encounter a text in which the commandments seem harsh; the stories quaint if not inane. The Bible is mirroring back the harshness in our own character and our own inability to connect time frames into timelessness. Smugly, we think ourselves too sophisticated for such nonsense. But it is we who have not learned how to confer sense upon senselessness.
Hebrew is the substrate of all consciousness and all of the other languages are combinations and permutations of Hebrew. Only Hebrew letters are at once linguistic/mathematical/moral phonemes. Though the Greeks attempted "numerology", only the Hebrew letters are linguistic/mathematical/moral phonemes. Only in Hebrew can the first letter of the alphabet equal both one and one thousand, with all of the ramifications that fact contains. The laws of the universe are governed by the very same laws that are the grammatical laws of Hebrew. A master of the Hebrew language not only calculates as s/he reads and perceives countless other possible ways of thinking of/perceiving any given phenomenon, matters of ethics and morality are clearly understood corollaries of any given thought.
I hope this very brief overview has whetted your curiosity to learnmore. Of course becoming proficient in the Hebrew language is the sine qua non necessary to begin these inquiries. It is not enough to merely know about Hebrew. The sincere desire to acquire this knowledge is the true key. Each soul that attains this knowledge rectifies an entire reality - the reality s/he is the Creator of. G-d is not the Creator, just as G-d does not exist. G-d confers upon Wo/Man the blessing of existence so that we may create Heaven for one another and ourselves.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat
Consciousness and the Letters of the אלף-בית
The letters of the Hebrew alphabet are numerical values as well as symbols. Therefore, when reading a text in Hebrew one is calculating as well as reading. This means that there are an infinite number of possible readings of the text because there are an infinite number of substitution values for any value. All of the readings are, of course, identical according to the Identity Principle.In traditional Hebrew numerical analysis the letter aleph is equal to both one and to one thousand (the Hebrew word for 1000 is eleph).
Beit would therefore be two or two thousand or 1001.
Gimmel would therefore be three or three thousand or 1002 or 2001.
When reading a text we never know which is "the" value of the letter. We choose the value of the letters, and thus the meanings of what we are reading, both in the Text, and in our experiences once we have saturated our consciousness with Hebrew and the perceiving in the substitution values begins to come naturally.
Moreover, the numbers themselves have names. The name of the number one is 'echad' in Hebrew; it is written aleph, cheit, dalet and thus is numerically equal to 13, 1012, 4009, 8005 and so on.
Going further each of the letters have names and they too have numerical values and infinite substitution values. Words are punctuated in Hebrew with punctuation marks and diacritical points. The names of the punctuation marks and diacritical points have names, and thus they too have simple values and infinite substitution values. Again, we choose which values weassign to the letters proceeding from the fact that aleph equals oneand one thousand.This does not mean that interpretation of the Hebrew text is a free-for-all. As the Power that Is would have it, Hebrew is subject toits grammar and syntax. These rules are seen, as one progresses into the depths of the Hebrew language, to be identical with the moral laws that govern the creation of all phenomena at all levels,everywhere, in all possible times and even beyond these limitations.
Please note that I am not discussing any secret mystical orallegorical interpretations of the text. Actually one needs to beable to free oneself entirely from any and all meanings of the words, as they are usually understood, and concentrate entirely upon the play of the letter-numbers one with the other and amongst themselves.
The fact that there exists a language that is grammatical-mathematical has far-reaching consequences for the understanding of consciousness. Firstly, the "right-brain/left-brain" duality problem is resolved. An adept at the Hebrew language is performing calculations even as s/he thinks, reads, writes or speaks. It should be stressed here that I am not referring to the average speaker of Modern Hebrew on any street in Tel Aviv. To have the ability to make the deeper of levels of Hebrew become conscious - to be able to see creation occurring - requires years of great devotion to learning and the sincere desire to nullify one's ego into Consciousness. Slowly the mind ceases to be a run-away train and we become aware that it is we who are reading ourselves into existence.
We also see that the Laws of Retribution and Blessing are indeed very real because we live the world that we read (create) for ourselves whether we know it or not. It is far preferable to know this and be morally sensitive enough to create a benevolent reality for ourselves. One becomes able to create at will and, at higher levels to self-create at will; to call the Self from Nothing to Being. The ability to read the Hebrew Bible on a level deep enough to do this is never conferred before one is ready. So, I am able to reveal that this knowledge exists without revealing a secret weapon. There are no weapons or means of getting rich in any of what is written here.
The Bible reads as a compendium of stories and commandments to the untrained mind. However as one peers deeper unexpected levels of reading become apparent. The Hebrew Bible comes to be seen as a lattice of the grammatical-mathematical structures it contains. On deeper levels still the Hebrew Bible instructs us how, according the rules of grammar-morality to combine and permute the letters-numbers of the text, their factors, exponents and so on, and instructs us which phenomena will present themselves to consciousness as a result of doing so. At the highest levels that I know of one is absorbed into the level at which the Godhead transcribes Itself into existence. The levels beyond this are unknowable so long as we are in our bodies. However, one can reach the level of experiencing the body itself as it is being created, and participate in this at will. This means that I determine how my Soul appears in space-time. There's no magic here either. I'm talking about a level of consciousness far removed from such nonsense-not requiring or desiring these things at all.It should be stated most emphatically that more than the physically beautiful are vain about and attached to their beauty, the intellectually gifted are vain about and attached to theirintelligence. The unconsciousness mind is far greater, and faster,than the conscious mind and loves "head games". It is that level ofthought that needs to be brought under control. Meantime, itpresents all sorts of delights to the conscious mind and distracts usfrom our goal. To reach the level where thought can be observed we need to reign the unconscious in. That requires overcoming the "ego trip" of being intelligent and not allowing ourselves to beentertained by all sorts of fancies and delights the mind creates forus, thereby throwing us off our course. This takes decades ofdedicated work.The truth is essentially simple and evades those who busy themselves with sophisticated hermeneutics completely.This is the truth of the Hebrew language that our sages passed down from antiquity. The greatest modern exponent of this knowledge is Rabbi Avraham Abulafiah who lived in 13th Century Spain. His works were systematically scattered among various libraries and archives in Europe. Rabbi Abulafia's words were censored by The Vatican and leading Jews for about 800 years. In the last few years five of Rabbi Abulafia's books have been published in Israel.It is noteworthy that our sages advised their students to read theempty spaces within and around the letters in a text-to read theblank areas too. Some of the letters of the Hebrew language describe other letters within themselves when printed and around themselves as well.Mathematics appears to be so set to a set mind, when the mind isfreed to think more flexibly it conceives of mathematics differently. Some people who "can't do math" actually sense this instinctively and don't bend to the rules. Although it is true that at the beginning levels of using the various values of the letters of the Hebrew aleph-beit in hermeneutic exegesis it would appear that we are adhering to the rules of a kind of arithmetic, albeit far more flexible arithmetic than the system we are familiar with, this level is transcended by the adept and the "meanings" of the values are shed.
We arrive at a level which is beyond either mathematics or grammar, a level from which all possible systems of mathematics and grammars may be derived, i.e., from which all worlds may be constructed and deconstructed. It is not our intention, however, to create and destroy for the sake of being able to do so. Our intention is to be able to create justice and truth and all that may proceed from them. Actually, the way to this level is blocked as a matter of course, except to those who approach it with the purest of intentions. There is no danger of someone "stumbling" upon this knowledge, or it being revealed by one who has it, except by the will of very "high" orders of Godliness.Though it is certainly never too late to begin learning Hebrew asdescribed here, it would be preferable for the linguistic-mathematical-moral properties of the Hebrew language be taught to children right from the very beginning of their learning the aleph-beit. Children are indeed taught that each letter is also a number, but they are not taught the significance of this fact, nor are they instructed to read Hebrew and calculate at once. They are not asked what moral lessons are built into the letters, words, sentences and so on. The result is that children are taught to read in such a way that only a one-dimensional text appears before their eyes, rather than an ever-changing kaleidoscope of levels of meaning. The most unfortunate result is that the reality in which we live as adults seems to be a fixed given. As readers and interpreters of the Bible we encounter a text in which the commandments seem harsh; the stories quaint if not inane. The Bible is mirroring back the harshness in our own character and our own inability to connect time frames into timelessness. Smugly, we think ourselves too sophisticated for such nonsense. But it is we who have not learned how to confer sense upon senselessness.
Hebrew is the substrate of all consciousness and all of the other languages are combinations and permutations of Hebrew. Only Hebrew letters are at once linguistic/mathematical/moral phonemes. Though the Greeks attempted "numerology", only the Hebrew letters are linguistic/mathematical/moral phonemes. Only in Hebrew can the first letter of the alphabet equal both one and one thousand, with all of the ramifications that fact contains. The laws of the universe are governed by the very same laws that are the grammatical laws of Hebrew. A master of the Hebrew language not only calculates as s/he reads and perceives countless other possible ways of thinking of/perceiving any given phenomenon, matters of ethics and morality are clearly understood corollaries of any given thought.
I hope this very brief overview has whetted your curiosity to learnmore. Of course becoming proficient in the Hebrew language is the sine qua non necessary to begin these inquiries. It is not enough to merely know about Hebrew. The sincere desire to acquire this knowledge is the true key. Each soul that attains this knowledge rectifies an entire reality - the reality s/he is the Creator of. G-d is not the Creator, just as G-d does not exist. G-d confers upon Wo/Man the blessing of existence so that we may create Heaven for one another and ourselves.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
B"H
The Owner of the Tzfat Forum to Doreen Dotan:
Doreen
"You are permanently banned from taking part in the Safed.co.il forum. THIS IS FINAL AND IRREVERSIBLE. "
Roni (Roni Yeshurun, the Owner of www.safed.co.il)
Here's what I wrote to get finally and irreversibly banned:
Israel:
Israel is quoted exactly. Then my responses follow.
I think most Tzfatim would agree with every word that Avinoam wrote. You tell him in your characteristically insulting manner that his arguments are illogical, yet yours are are a collection of bitter and contradictory statements.
You, Israel, are in a state of advanced alpha decay. You are emitting vituperative particles at a prodigious rate. You're not very original, however. Can't you come up with a new insult. "Bitter" is worn out. I am not easily dismissed with epithets such as "bitter" or spurious accusations such as "contradictory". According to the laws of which school of logic have I contradicted myself, sir? Proofs please.
After 4 centuries of abject poverty and misery for the Jews of Tzfat who survived on charity, the first 3 decades after the establishment of the State saw a tremendous economic revival. It became a thriving little town with a booming tourist trade. Hotels, night-clubs, theaters, concerts and a world-renowned Artists' Colony made this the favorite destination for Israelis and many foreign tourists.
This is not Las Vegas and Tzfat did not pretend to offer the attractions of Vegas. The bait used to attract tourists here was the "mystic" flavor of Tzfat. Torah was used to attract people to night clubs. Do you have any idea of the extent of the spiritual/moral havoc wreaked by so doing? There is a pall over this city - a curse. Even a secular journalist had to ask publicly in one of his articles if Tzfat has been cursed. The answer, to my dismay, is "Yes!".
Even the tiny Orthodox community profited from the prosperity and they certainly didn't voice any objections to commercial establishments being open on Shabbat since none of them were in the Jewish Quarter (this is a fact -- I was here and you weren't).
I have spoken about the fact that Tzfat has been the center of the pseudo-Kabbalistic trade for 500 years. The Ar"I baffled his students with BS and Cha'im Vital claimed to fly here. The greatest admixture of truth and lies since the New Testament, to wit: the "Shulchan Arukh" was redacted right here. On the street where you live perhaps? Bad energy.
When the artists started growing older and Israelis started taking holidays abroad, the tourist trade started dwindling and Haredim started moving in and the tourists came even less. Since the 80's Carmiel and Rosh Pinna and even Hatzor have really taken off while Tzfat has regressed economically, the only growth industry being new Yeshivot and housing for young Haredi couples.I'm glad you mention those other towns. Add Katzrin to the list of lovely places to live. It would be a big mitzvah for religious immigrants to bolster the small religious communities in those settlement.
You, Doreen, obviously approve of this trend. So how can you possibly complain that highly respected mathematical linguists and poets and numismatic experts are not embraced by the municipality and instantly employed in their fields. How do you expect a little provincial outpost like Tzfat, where half its citizens are exempt from local taxes to provide these obviously talented people with a fitting job? Can you think of a single town of 27,000 inhabitants in the U.S. whose municipality would see it as their responsibility to find appropriate employment for all the thinkers and intellectuals in the community, particularly when most of them would rather study Torah than work ?
Is it a sine qua non, then, that one has to be average and wholly undistinguished in character or in aptitude in order to be able to tolerate living in Tzfat? Jews have always supported prodigies of Torah. That support was extended to the highly gifted in other areas. Do you think that it is preferable that today the economy of Tzfat is structured so that the working class keeps about 7 families living in the lap of luxury and the third generation of Amidar kids are languishing in my building and others like it? People who get support to learn Torah are ensuring Israel's future. People who convolute the economy for their own interests are parasites. Buzzzz. Swat.
If you are not of the opinion that Talmud Torah is the greatest Human achievement and that all and any resources should be made available to those who sacrifice their entire lives for that endeavor, then I am not in the wrong town, sir. You are in the wrong religion. You sound a whole lot more Wicca-dik than Jewish, actually :0).
If you can, perhaps Tzfat is really not the place for you.
Wrong. Tzfat is not the place for *you*. It is people like you who are contaminating the rarified spiritual nature of Tzfat. Tzfat is a special place, it was probably an Ir Miklat in ancient times, and reacts by becoming violently ill to folks like you. You, and those like you, are responsible for the present state of affairs in Tzfat, not the religious who are trying desperately to go G-d's Will, even as the Rabbinical establishment leads them astray with the superstitious nonsense that was homegrown here in Tzfat 500 years ago. Thankfully, most Tzfatim have a more positive outlook and they really love their town. I know a lot of haves who give as much as they can, and I know a lot of have-nots who are not in the least bitter because it was their choice to live here and to lead a life of Torah and studies. And there are also a lot of secular people here who also love their town because it is pluralistic and not polarized and despite its problems, it is still one of the most beautiful places in Israel.
Wrong again (you're on a roll). Most people in Tzfat eat s--t and grin. Hey, I'm not the only one who says so. Don't you read the local papers? There is an inordinately high percentage of masochists in Tzfat. I'm not one of them, so you think I'm "bitter". I'm not bitter. You've eaten so much s--t it tastes like honey to you. Have you every read what the Ramba"m says about the spiritually sick calling the sweet bitter and the bitter sweet? Your taste buds have been distorted. Someone caring enough to tell the truth about this town is sweet, not bitter, fool.And there are also a lot of secular people here who also love their town because it is pluralistic and not polarized and despite its problems, it is still one of the most beautiful places in Israel. Yeah, right. I especially like the ground-in grunge on Yerushalayim Street. It's fun on the cheap in the winter rains for those of us who can't afford ice-skating. Ah, there's nothing like the aroma of garbage on a fine summer's morn'. And the squishshshsh of the "landmines" the horses and cows leave on the sidewalks. Wiggle your toes boys and girls. This may be the closest you'll ever come to going to sleep-away camp. I suppose that if one is among the approximately 30% of Tzfat residents that are on toke most of the time things do look a whole lot prettier.You know, it was a gift from G-d that I wound up in Ofer. I could be living in the Old City and making the same compromises with my conscience that you are, living in denial. Nifla'ot darkei HaShem.
I also wrote:
A Sad Example of My Points:
When I first moved to Tzfat a singularly intelligent and kind young woman, originally from England, lived here. As the story progresses many of you will know to whom I am referring and will know the story I tell is true to the last detail.
Our heroine was a self-taught computer whiz kid at a time when the internet was not commonplace in Tzfat. Being the kind, concerned and gentle person that she is, she sought every means to help others with the benefit of her knowledge. During wartime she used the net to help people who were in dangerous areas find homes to stay in until the danger passed. She also helped those who needed psycho-social services to find the help they needed via the net.
She came up with a marvelous idea. Her idea was to create a guild of people who would create cottage industries using the net at home. She advertised get-togethers and brought her friends and associates, computer savvy young people all, to come to Tzfat and explain that in the age of the internet the fact that we are far from the center of the country is of no matter at all. Using the computer at home we could reach out and find clients and customers for our various talents, skills and businesses. Forming a guild we could protect one another's interests and aid one another's businesses referring people one to another. People came to her meetings from various walks of life: guesthouse owners from Tzfat and Amirim, my husband Dani'el and I were there as were people who worked in a number of fields. The young, talented, enterprising woman explained that the cost of the start-up businesses would be minimal - the price of a computer and the internet. She would use the benefit of the respect she had in her field and her connections to get the project off the ground.
She went to the Municipality with a very definite plan of how to launch the project. She told them that she had met with people who were very enthused about the idea. She told them that it would cost them next to zilch to help. She told them that she wasn't asking for favors, that she would bear the weight of the project herself. All she wanted was for them to fund a Tzfat web site that would advertise the businesses as they began, and hopefully, became established and flourished. Those were the days of the pillars of Tzfat society Moshe Henia and Meir Amar. All of her plans fell on deaf ears because the people running Tzfat realized her plans were beyond their ken and couldn't figure out how to get control of it. Yet another brilliant, talented and kind-hearted person in Tzfat was ignored and made to feel worthless.
The upshot of the story is that, being single and unencumbered, she left Tzfat and is now working freelance for computer companies who consider it a privilege to fly her all over the world, at their expense, as a consultant.
If any of you imagine that the people sitting in the municipality have Tzfat's interests at heart, think again. If you think that life is fit for human habitation in a town wherein the municipality actively torpedoes initiative you are living in La La Land.
Enough said on my part. I promised myself I wouldn't waste my energies on Tzfat so long as the townspeople will not help themselves. I have bigger and better investments for my talents and energies.
You lost her talent. You've lost mine too - and the procession out of here of the best and the brightest continues.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
The Owner of the Tzfat Forum to Doreen Dotan:
Doreen
"You are permanently banned from taking part in the Safed.co.il forum. THIS IS FINAL AND IRREVERSIBLE. "
Roni (Roni Yeshurun, the Owner of www.safed.co.il)
Here's what I wrote to get finally and irreversibly banned:
Israel:
Israel is quoted exactly. Then my responses follow.
I think most Tzfatim would agree with every word that Avinoam wrote. You tell him in your characteristically insulting manner that his arguments are illogical, yet yours are are a collection of bitter and contradictory statements.
You, Israel, are in a state of advanced alpha decay. You are emitting vituperative particles at a prodigious rate. You're not very original, however. Can't you come up with a new insult. "Bitter" is worn out. I am not easily dismissed with epithets such as "bitter" or spurious accusations such as "contradictory". According to the laws of which school of logic have I contradicted myself, sir? Proofs please.
After 4 centuries of abject poverty and misery for the Jews of Tzfat who survived on charity, the first 3 decades after the establishment of the State saw a tremendous economic revival. It became a thriving little town with a booming tourist trade. Hotels, night-clubs, theaters, concerts and a world-renowned Artists' Colony made this the favorite destination for Israelis and many foreign tourists.
This is not Las Vegas and Tzfat did not pretend to offer the attractions of Vegas. The bait used to attract tourists here was the "mystic" flavor of Tzfat. Torah was used to attract people to night clubs. Do you have any idea of the extent of the spiritual/moral havoc wreaked by so doing? There is a pall over this city - a curse. Even a secular journalist had to ask publicly in one of his articles if Tzfat has been cursed. The answer, to my dismay, is "Yes!".
Even the tiny Orthodox community profited from the prosperity and they certainly didn't voice any objections to commercial establishments being open on Shabbat since none of them were in the Jewish Quarter (this is a fact -- I was here and you weren't).
I have spoken about the fact that Tzfat has been the center of the pseudo-Kabbalistic trade for 500 years. The Ar"I baffled his students with BS and Cha'im Vital claimed to fly here. The greatest admixture of truth and lies since the New Testament, to wit: the "Shulchan Arukh" was redacted right here. On the street where you live perhaps? Bad energy.
When the artists started growing older and Israelis started taking holidays abroad, the tourist trade started dwindling and Haredim started moving in and the tourists came even less. Since the 80's Carmiel and Rosh Pinna and even Hatzor have really taken off while Tzfat has regressed economically, the only growth industry being new Yeshivot and housing for young Haredi couples.I'm glad you mention those other towns. Add Katzrin to the list of lovely places to live. It would be a big mitzvah for religious immigrants to bolster the small religious communities in those settlement.
You, Doreen, obviously approve of this trend. So how can you possibly complain that highly respected mathematical linguists and poets and numismatic experts are not embraced by the municipality and instantly employed in their fields. How do you expect a little provincial outpost like Tzfat, where half its citizens are exempt from local taxes to provide these obviously talented people with a fitting job? Can you think of a single town of 27,000 inhabitants in the U.S. whose municipality would see it as their responsibility to find appropriate employment for all the thinkers and intellectuals in the community, particularly when most of them would rather study Torah than work ?
Is it a sine qua non, then, that one has to be average and wholly undistinguished in character or in aptitude in order to be able to tolerate living in Tzfat? Jews have always supported prodigies of Torah. That support was extended to the highly gifted in other areas. Do you think that it is preferable that today the economy of Tzfat is structured so that the working class keeps about 7 families living in the lap of luxury and the third generation of Amidar kids are languishing in my building and others like it? People who get support to learn Torah are ensuring Israel's future. People who convolute the economy for their own interests are parasites. Buzzzz. Swat.
If you are not of the opinion that Talmud Torah is the greatest Human achievement and that all and any resources should be made available to those who sacrifice their entire lives for that endeavor, then I am not in the wrong town, sir. You are in the wrong religion. You sound a whole lot more Wicca-dik than Jewish, actually :0).
If you can, perhaps Tzfat is really not the place for you.
Wrong. Tzfat is not the place for *you*. It is people like you who are contaminating the rarified spiritual nature of Tzfat. Tzfat is a special place, it was probably an Ir Miklat in ancient times, and reacts by becoming violently ill to folks like you. You, and those like you, are responsible for the present state of affairs in Tzfat, not the religious who are trying desperately to go G-d's Will, even as the Rabbinical establishment leads them astray with the superstitious nonsense that was homegrown here in Tzfat 500 years ago. Thankfully, most Tzfatim have a more positive outlook and they really love their town. I know a lot of haves who give as much as they can, and I know a lot of have-nots who are not in the least bitter because it was their choice to live here and to lead a life of Torah and studies. And there are also a lot of secular people here who also love their town because it is pluralistic and not polarized and despite its problems, it is still one of the most beautiful places in Israel.
Wrong again (you're on a roll). Most people in Tzfat eat s--t and grin. Hey, I'm not the only one who says so. Don't you read the local papers? There is an inordinately high percentage of masochists in Tzfat. I'm not one of them, so you think I'm "bitter". I'm not bitter. You've eaten so much s--t it tastes like honey to you. Have you every read what the Ramba"m says about the spiritually sick calling the sweet bitter and the bitter sweet? Your taste buds have been distorted. Someone caring enough to tell the truth about this town is sweet, not bitter, fool.And there are also a lot of secular people here who also love their town because it is pluralistic and not polarized and despite its problems, it is still one of the most beautiful places in Israel. Yeah, right. I especially like the ground-in grunge on Yerushalayim Street. It's fun on the cheap in the winter rains for those of us who can't afford ice-skating. Ah, there's nothing like the aroma of garbage on a fine summer's morn'. And the squishshshsh of the "landmines" the horses and cows leave on the sidewalks. Wiggle your toes boys and girls. This may be the closest you'll ever come to going to sleep-away camp. I suppose that if one is among the approximately 30% of Tzfat residents that are on toke most of the time things do look a whole lot prettier.You know, it was a gift from G-d that I wound up in Ofer. I could be living in the Old City and making the same compromises with my conscience that you are, living in denial. Nifla'ot darkei HaShem.
I also wrote:
A Sad Example of My Points:
When I first moved to Tzfat a singularly intelligent and kind young woman, originally from England, lived here. As the story progresses many of you will know to whom I am referring and will know the story I tell is true to the last detail.
Our heroine was a self-taught computer whiz kid at a time when the internet was not commonplace in Tzfat. Being the kind, concerned and gentle person that she is, she sought every means to help others with the benefit of her knowledge. During wartime she used the net to help people who were in dangerous areas find homes to stay in until the danger passed. She also helped those who needed psycho-social services to find the help they needed via the net.
She came up with a marvelous idea. Her idea was to create a guild of people who would create cottage industries using the net at home. She advertised get-togethers and brought her friends and associates, computer savvy young people all, to come to Tzfat and explain that in the age of the internet the fact that we are far from the center of the country is of no matter at all. Using the computer at home we could reach out and find clients and customers for our various talents, skills and businesses. Forming a guild we could protect one another's interests and aid one another's businesses referring people one to another. People came to her meetings from various walks of life: guesthouse owners from Tzfat and Amirim, my husband Dani'el and I were there as were people who worked in a number of fields. The young, talented, enterprising woman explained that the cost of the start-up businesses would be minimal - the price of a computer and the internet. She would use the benefit of the respect she had in her field and her connections to get the project off the ground.
She went to the Municipality with a very definite plan of how to launch the project. She told them that she had met with people who were very enthused about the idea. She told them that it would cost them next to zilch to help. She told them that she wasn't asking for favors, that she would bear the weight of the project herself. All she wanted was for them to fund a Tzfat web site that would advertise the businesses as they began, and hopefully, became established and flourished. Those were the days of the pillars of Tzfat society Moshe Henia and Meir Amar. All of her plans fell on deaf ears because the people running Tzfat realized her plans were beyond their ken and couldn't figure out how to get control of it. Yet another brilliant, talented and kind-hearted person in Tzfat was ignored and made to feel worthless.
The upshot of the story is that, being single and unencumbered, she left Tzfat and is now working freelance for computer companies who consider it a privilege to fly her all over the world, at their expense, as a consultant.
If any of you imagine that the people sitting in the municipality have Tzfat's interests at heart, think again. If you think that life is fit for human habitation in a town wherein the municipality actively torpedoes initiative you are living in La La Land.
Enough said on my part. I promised myself I wouldn't waste my energies on Tzfat so long as the townspeople will not help themselves. I have bigger and better investments for my talents and energies.
You lost her talent. You've lost mine too - and the procession out of here of the best and the brightest continues.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
B"H
DOREEN VS. TZFAT (AGAIN)
I've got 'em on the ropes.
See: "Safed Municipality TV Expose"
http://www.safed.co.il/forum/viewtopic.php?fid=1&tid=1000045&pid=938
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DOREEN VS. TZFAT (AGAIN)
I've got 'em on the ropes.
See: "Safed Municipality TV Expose"
http://www.safed.co.il/forum/viewtopic.php?fid=1&tid=1000045&pid=938
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
B"H
REFUTATION OF CHRISTIANITY IN LIGHT OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
I have begun work on the third of a series of six books. The third work will be entitled REFUTATION OF CHRISTIANITY IN LIGHT OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS.
The hope that that which is written in the Dead Sea Scrolls somehow supports Christian tenets still resides in the hearts of many. My work comes to unburden those belabored by those vain hopes. It is ironic, but true, that the very texts that many modern Christian believed support the tenets of their faith are the texts that best refute them.
By employing the חלופים, which היחד were Masters of , in the analysis of the fragments found in the Judean Desert, we will demonstrate, and elucidate, the true meanings of the central concepts that Christianity that they arrogated from תורה in general and the teachings of היחד in particular.
We will see the centrality of עם ישראל, particularly בני צדוק, in such concepts as: משיח and כפרה. We will see the true meanings of such concepts as בתולה and צלב and Trinity, with special emphasis placed on the analysis of the radical י-ש-ע, that serves as the basis of the name ישוע, the concept of ישועה and the inflection ישועות. We will shed new light on the meaning of all of those concepts for Christians and Jews alike.
We will not merely engage in speculation. By employing the חלופים, and justifying the employing of the חלופים, we will prove our points beyond a shadow of a doubt.
בע"ה, the work will be completed in a few months. Of course, notification will be posted as to when the work is available to the readership.
In the meantime, please feel free to peruse the works that I have already published on the net. There are links to other sites on the site the URL of which is shown here.
http://www.geocities.com/dordot2001/essenes_my_writings.html
With blessings,
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
REFUTATION OF CHRISTIANITY IN LIGHT OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
I have begun work on the third of a series of six books. The third work will be entitled REFUTATION OF CHRISTIANITY IN LIGHT OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS.
The hope that that which is written in the Dead Sea Scrolls somehow supports Christian tenets still resides in the hearts of many. My work comes to unburden those belabored by those vain hopes. It is ironic, but true, that the very texts that many modern Christian believed support the tenets of their faith are the texts that best refute them.
By employing the חלופים, which היחד were Masters of , in the analysis of the fragments found in the Judean Desert, we will demonstrate, and elucidate, the true meanings of the central concepts that Christianity that they arrogated from תורה in general and the teachings of היחד in particular.
We will see the centrality of עם ישראל, particularly בני צדוק, in such concepts as: משיח and כפרה. We will see the true meanings of such concepts as בתולה and צלב and Trinity, with special emphasis placed on the analysis of the radical י-ש-ע, that serves as the basis of the name ישוע, the concept of ישועה and the inflection ישועות. We will shed new light on the meaning of all of those concepts for Christians and Jews alike.
We will not merely engage in speculation. By employing the חלופים, and justifying the employing of the חלופים, we will prove our points beyond a shadow of a doubt.
בע"ה, the work will be completed in a few months. Of course, notification will be posted as to when the work is available to the readership.
In the meantime, please feel free to peruse the works that I have already published on the net. There are links to other sites on the site the URL of which is shown here.
http://www.geocities.com/dordot2001/essenes_my_writings.html
With blessings,
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
B"H
מאוצר אור הנקדות: פרשת מקץ
I have just uploaded the first chapter of a two-part book that will, upon completion, demonstrate the presence of the names of the נקדות and the טעמים in המקרא.
The first chapter, entitled מאוצר אור הנקדות: פרשת מקץ, demonstrates the presence of the names of all of the נקדות in
פרשת מקץ, thus proving that the מסורה טברינית was not an invention of the בעלי מסורה, but rather a discovery of that which is to be found in המקרא.
This and more: Not only are the names of the נקדות found in
פרשת מקץ we see that the גימטריאות of the names of the vowels instruct us as to how to use the vowels, where to place them in relation to the letters they punctuation and even show the Biblical basis for the other systems of vocalizations that were developed but which were not widely adopted, namely the Palestinian and Babylonian systems of vocalization.
We will see that the גימטריאות of the names of the vowels teach us about the graphic form of the vowels, that is to say, we will learn why the vowels are constructed of points and lines and how to place them in relation to one another to form the vowel, as well as where to place them in relation to the letter that the vowel punctuates.
Finally, we will see that the גימטריאות of the names of the vowels are the bases of arithmetic, mathematics, astronomy, biology and more. In fact, all of these disciplines, and more, are various aspects of one and the same endeavor - תלמוד תורה באור החלופים.
The second part of the book will be a far more prodigious undertaking, בע"ה. In the second part of the book we will discover and discuss the names of the טעמים in פרשת ואתחנן. As there are many more טעמים than נקדות the second part of the book will be longer, more extensive in scope and more complex than the first part of the work.
However, before undertaking the second part of the book, this author feels morally compelled to take on an assignment that is morally imperative and immediate - the refutation of the tenets of Christianity in light of the חלופים. It will be seen that all of the central concepts of Christianity are erroneous and the correct understanding will be demonstrated.
מאוצר אור החלופים: פרשת מקץ can be accessed from the following URL:
http://www.geocities.com/dordot2001/HaNekudot_VeHaTeamim.html
Unfortunately, the uploading did not proceed perfectly, but the work is completely legible and intelligible as it appears.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat
מאוצר אור הנקדות: פרשת מקץ
I have just uploaded the first chapter of a two-part book that will, upon completion, demonstrate the presence of the names of the נקדות and the טעמים in המקרא.
The first chapter, entitled מאוצר אור הנקדות: פרשת מקץ, demonstrates the presence of the names of all of the נקדות in
פרשת מקץ, thus proving that the מסורה טברינית was not an invention of the בעלי מסורה, but rather a discovery of that which is to be found in המקרא.
This and more: Not only are the names of the נקדות found in
פרשת מקץ we see that the גימטריאות of the names of the vowels instruct us as to how to use the vowels, where to place them in relation to the letters they punctuation and even show the Biblical basis for the other systems of vocalizations that were developed but which were not widely adopted, namely the Palestinian and Babylonian systems of vocalization.
We will see that the גימטריאות of the names of the vowels teach us about the graphic form of the vowels, that is to say, we will learn why the vowels are constructed of points and lines and how to place them in relation to one another to form the vowel, as well as where to place them in relation to the letter that the vowel punctuates.
Finally, we will see that the גימטריאות of the names of the vowels are the bases of arithmetic, mathematics, astronomy, biology and more. In fact, all of these disciplines, and more, are various aspects of one and the same endeavor - תלמוד תורה באור החלופים.
The second part of the book will be a far more prodigious undertaking, בע"ה. In the second part of the book we will discover and discuss the names of the טעמים in פרשת ואתחנן. As there are many more טעמים than נקדות the second part of the book will be longer, more extensive in scope and more complex than the first part of the work.
However, before undertaking the second part of the book, this author feels morally compelled to take on an assignment that is morally imperative and immediate - the refutation of the tenets of Christianity in light of the חלופים. It will be seen that all of the central concepts of Christianity are erroneous and the correct understanding will be demonstrated.
מאוצר אור החלופים: פרשת מקץ can be accessed from the following URL:
http://www.geocities.com/dordot2001/HaNekudot_VeHaTeamim.html
Unfortunately, the uploading did not proceed perfectly, but the work is completely legible and intelligible as it appears.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat
Saturday, July 10, 2004
B"H
Summary of My Considerations of the Ethics of Vegetarianism and Animal Rights
The overriding lesson from considering this matter that I come away with can be summarized thus: The root of evil lies not in the committing of base acts, but rather in the attempt to apprehend the sublime on the part of those not morally prepared to do so.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
Summary of My Considerations of the Ethics of Vegetarianism and Animal Rights
The overriding lesson from considering this matter that I come away with can be summarized thus: The root of evil lies not in the committing of base acts, but rather in the attempt to apprehend the sublime on the part of those not morally prepared to do so.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
B"H
The Ethics of Vegetarianism and Animal Rights
My post decrying any analogy between the Holocaust and industrial farming drew a number of reactions on line and off (see my Blog: The Moral/Spiritual Substrate of Eating). I should say that, in the main, most people agreed with my critique. Empathy with my outrage was expressed by a number of people.
Quite naturally, I turned to Dani'el, my husband, a second-generation vegan and son of two Holocaust survivors asking his opinion on the matter. That is to say, my husband's vegan parents are Holocaust survivors. He found the analogy of cattle cars that carry cattle to the cattle cars that transported human beings to Treblinka repulsive, excessive and the product of obsessed minds or, perhaps, the disingenuous acting out on vested personal interests.
Dani'el then thought a minute and said: "I seem to remember that the Nazis, may their memory be blotted out, adopted ethical vegetarianism as a 'moral' principle (and, it transpires, a propagandistic expedient as well). Surprised, I searched Nazi+Vegetarianism. I came to the links below. I hope that you will read them carefully.
I am most certainly not touting eating meat. I am, however, seriously concerned with misguided ethics in whatever form it may take.
Just as many adjustments have to be made in the planned path to an object far from us in space, no matter how painstakingly we calculated the original trajectory, so painstaking moral calculation, and continuous rethinking in light of error, must be made if we are to arrive at an elusive moral target.
We are confronted with moral dilemmas when we attempt to be moral. As we scale the highest levels of human existence we encounter levels of being that are characterized by paradox. At the lower rungs of existence, the world is characterized by disjunction, i.e., this or that. At higher levels, as we approach ultimate resolution of contradictions, reality is characterized by conjunction, i.e., this and that. Boundaries blur as we approach infinity. It is for this reason that we must be solidly grounded in common sense. While our heads may be in the heavens, our feet must be firmly planted on the ground, lest we become confounded. The source of evil is not the base, but rather the sublime improperly apprehended.
Please read the following links and rethink very carefully about the ethics of vegetarianism and animal rights.
Please allow me to say that the following excerpts from the link directly below best describes, in part, my husband's approach to vegan vegetarianism. Another issue for him personally is the reigning in of appetites that, given free reign, not only impact negatively on one's physical health, but, allowed to take root in the personality and become habit, impinge upon one's self-control and character generally.
These are the excerpts from the excellent article:
"When the lines are blurred, when both human and animal life is considered equally sacred, this can trigger a dangerous philosophy that regards killing a human being as no more heinous than killing an animal."
"Vegetarianism based on the idea that we have no moral right to kill animals is not an acceptable Jewish view."
"Vegetarianism for aesthetic or health reasons is acceptable; indeed, the Torah's mandate to "guard yourselves carefully" (Deut. 4:15) requires that we pay attention to health issues related to a meat-centered diet. Some points to consider include the contemporary increase in sickness in animals created by factory farm conditions, and the administration of growth hormones, antibiotics and other drugs given to animals. All of these may be possible health risks to humans."
http://tinyurl.com/2er2z
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/englund4.html
http://www.ivu.org/history/europe20a/hitler.html
http://www.all-creatures.org/murti/pub-anscam.html
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
The Ethics of Vegetarianism and Animal Rights
My post decrying any analogy between the Holocaust and industrial farming drew a number of reactions on line and off (see my Blog: The Moral/Spiritual Substrate of Eating). I should say that, in the main, most people agreed with my critique. Empathy with my outrage was expressed by a number of people.
Quite naturally, I turned to Dani'el, my husband, a second-generation vegan and son of two Holocaust survivors asking his opinion on the matter. That is to say, my husband's vegan parents are Holocaust survivors. He found the analogy of cattle cars that carry cattle to the cattle cars that transported human beings to Treblinka repulsive, excessive and the product of obsessed minds or, perhaps, the disingenuous acting out on vested personal interests.
Dani'el then thought a minute and said: "I seem to remember that the Nazis, may their memory be blotted out, adopted ethical vegetarianism as a 'moral' principle (and, it transpires, a propagandistic expedient as well). Surprised, I searched Nazi+Vegetarianism. I came to the links below. I hope that you will read them carefully.
I am most certainly not touting eating meat. I am, however, seriously concerned with misguided ethics in whatever form it may take.
Just as many adjustments have to be made in the planned path to an object far from us in space, no matter how painstakingly we calculated the original trajectory, so painstaking moral calculation, and continuous rethinking in light of error, must be made if we are to arrive at an elusive moral target.
We are confronted with moral dilemmas when we attempt to be moral. As we scale the highest levels of human existence we encounter levels of being that are characterized by paradox. At the lower rungs of existence, the world is characterized by disjunction, i.e., this or that. At higher levels, as we approach ultimate resolution of contradictions, reality is characterized by conjunction, i.e., this and that. Boundaries blur as we approach infinity. It is for this reason that we must be solidly grounded in common sense. While our heads may be in the heavens, our feet must be firmly planted on the ground, lest we become confounded. The source of evil is not the base, but rather the sublime improperly apprehended.
Please read the following links and rethink very carefully about the ethics of vegetarianism and animal rights.
Please allow me to say that the following excerpts from the link directly below best describes, in part, my husband's approach to vegan vegetarianism. Another issue for him personally is the reigning in of appetites that, given free reign, not only impact negatively on one's physical health, but, allowed to take root in the personality and become habit, impinge upon one's self-control and character generally.
These are the excerpts from the excellent article:
"When the lines are blurred, when both human and animal life is considered equally sacred, this can trigger a dangerous philosophy that regards killing a human being as no more heinous than killing an animal."
"Vegetarianism based on the idea that we have no moral right to kill animals is not an acceptable Jewish view."
"Vegetarianism for aesthetic or health reasons is acceptable; indeed, the Torah's mandate to "guard yourselves carefully" (Deut. 4:15) requires that we pay attention to health issues related to a meat-centered diet. Some points to consider include the contemporary increase in sickness in animals created by factory farm conditions, and the administration of growth hormones, antibiotics and other drugs given to animals. All of these may be possible health risks to humans."
http://tinyurl.com/2er2z
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/englund4.html
http://www.ivu.org/history/europe20a/hitler.html
http://www.all-creatures.org/murti/pub-anscam.html
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
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