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The two principal sources of the kabbalists are the Sefer Yezirah (tr. Book of Creation, 1894) and the Zohar (tr. 1949; The Book of Enlightenment, 1985; The Book of Splendor, 1995). The first develops, in a series of monologues supposedly delivered by Abraham, the doctrine of the Sefirot (the powers emanating from God, through which the world is created and its order sustained), using the primordial numbers of the later Pythagoreans in a system of numerical interpretation. It was probably written in the 3d cent. The Zohar consists of mystical commentaries and homilies on the Pentateuch. It was written by Moses de León (13th cent.) but attributed by him to Simon ben Yohai, the great scholar of the 2d cent. A.D. Following the expulsion (1492) of the Jews from Spain, kabbalah became more messianic in its emphasis, as developed by the Lurianic school of mystics at Safed, Palestine. Kabbalah in this form was widely adopted and created fertile gound for the movement of the pseudo-Messiah Sabbatai Zevi. It was also a major influence in the development of Hasidism. Kabbalah still has adherents, especially among Hasidic Jews.
See G. Scholem, On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism (1965) and Kabbalah (1974); H. Weiner, Nine and One Half Mystics: The Kabbalah Today (1969); J. Dan and F. Talmage, ed., Studies in Jewish Mysticism (1982); D. Rosenberg, Dreams of Being Eaten Alive: The Literary Core of the Kabbalah (2000).
Kabbalah is considered, by its followers, as a necessary part of the study of Torah -- the study of Torah (the Law of God) being an inherent duty of observant Jews. Kabbalah teaches doctrines that are accepted by some Jews as the true meaning of Judaism while other Jews have rejected these doctrines as heretical and antithetical to Judaism.
The origins of the actual term Kabbalah are unknown and disputed to belong either to Solomon ibn Gabirol (1021 - 1058) or else to the 13th century CE Spanish Kabbalist Bahya ben Asher. While other terms have been used in many religious documents from the 2nd century CE up to the present day, the term Kabbalah has become the main descriptive of Jewish esoteric knowledge and practices. The Kabbalistic literature, which served as the basis for most of the development of Kabbalistic thought, divides between early works such as Heichalot and Sefer Yetzirah (believed to be dated 1st or 2nd Century CE) and later works dated to the 13th century CE, of which the main book is the Zohar representing the main source for the Contemplative Kabbalah ("Kabbalah Iyunit").
According to Kabbalistic tradition, knowledge was transmitted orally by the Patriarchs, prophets, and sages (Hakhamim in Hebrew), eventually to be "interwoven" into Jewish religious writings and culture. According to this tradition, Kabbalah was, in around the 10th century BCE, an open knowledge practiced by over a million people in ancient Israel, although there is little objective historical evidence to support this thesis.
Foreign conquests drove the Jewish spiritual leadership of the time (the Sanhedrin) to hide the knowledge and make it secret, fearing that it might be misused if it fell into the wrong hands. The Sanhedrin leaders were also concerned that the practice of Kabbalah by Jews deported on conquest to other countries (the Diaspora), unsupervised and unguided by the masters, might lead them into wrong practice and forbidden ways. As a result, the Kabbalah became secretive, forbidden and esoteric to Judaism ("Torat Ha'Sod" תורת הסוד) for two and a half millennia.
It is hard to clarify with any degree of certainty the exact concepts within Kabbalah. There are several different schools of thought with very different outlooks; however, all are accepted as correct. Modern Halakhic authorities have tried to narrow the scope and diversity within Kabbalah, by restricting study to certain texts, notably Zohar and the teachings of the Isaac Luria as passed down through Haim Vital. However even this qualification does little to limit the scope of understanding and expression, as included in those works are commentaries on Abulafian writings, Sepher Yetzirah, Albotonian writings, and Brit Menuhah. It is therefore important to bear in mind when discussing things such as the Sephirot and their interactions that one is dealing with highly abstract concepts that at best can only be understood intuitively.
In Kabbalah every idea grows from the foundation of God, and the entire study is based on that central belief. The statement by Maimonides, from the Mishneh Torah is accepted by all traditional Kabbalists:
The foundation of all foundations, and the pillar of all wisdom is to know that there is God who brought into being all existence. All the beings of the heavens, and the earth, and what is between them came into existence only from the truth of God's being.
Kabbalah teaches that God is neither matter nor spirit. Rather God is the creator of both.
This question, "what is the nature of God?", prompted Kabbalists to envision two aspects of God, (a) God himself, who in the end is unknowable, and (b) the revealed aspect of God that created the universe, preserves the universe, and interacts with mankind. Kabbalists speak of the first aspect of God as Ein Sof (אין סוף); this is translated as "the infinite", "endless", or "that which has no limits". In this view, nothing can be said about this aspect of God. This aspect of God is impersonal. The second aspect of divine emanations, however, is at least partially accessible to human thought. Kabbalists believe that these two aspects are not contradictory but, through the mechanism of progressive emanation, complement one another. See Divine simplicity; Tzimtzum. The structure of these emanations have been characterized in various ways: Four "worlds" (Azilut, Yitzirah, Beriyah, and Asiyah), Sefirot, or Partzufim ("faces"). Later systems harmonize these models.
Some Kabbalistic scholars, such as Moses ben Jacob Cordovero, believe that all things are linked to God through these emanations, making us all part of one great chain of being. Others, such as Schneur Zalman of Liadi (founder of Lubavitch [Chabad] Hasidism), hold that God is all that really exists; all else is completely undifferentiated from God's perspective.
Such views can be defined as monistic panentheism. According to this philosophy, God's existence is higher than anything that this world can express, yet he includes all things of this world down to the finest detail in such a perfect unity that his creation of the world effected no change in him whatsoever. This paradox is dealt with at length in Chabad Chassidic texts.
The names of the ten Sephirot are:
"Righteous" humans (Tzadikim) ascend these ethical qualities of the Ten Sefirot by doing righteous actions. If there were no "Righteous" humans, the blessings of God would become completely hidden, and creation would cease to exist. While real human actions are the "Foundation" (Yesod) of this universe (Malchut), these actions must accompany the conscious intention of compassion. Compassionate actions are often impossible without "Faith" (Emunah), meaning to trust that God always supports compassionate actions even when God seems hidden. Ultimately, it is necessary to show compassion toward oneself too in order to share compassion toward others. This "selfish" enjoyment of God's blessings but only if in order to empower oneself to assist others, is an important aspect of "Restriction", and is considered a kind of golden mean in Kabbalah, corresponding to the Sefirah of "Adornment" (Tiferet) being part of the "Middle Column".
The Raaya Meheimna, a section of related teachings spread throughout the Zohar, discusses fourth and fifth parts of the human soul, the chayyah and yehidah (first mentioned in the Midrash Rabbah). Gershom Scholem writes that these "were considered to represent the sublimest levels of intuitive cognition, and to be within the grasp of only a few chosen individuals". The Chayyah and the Yechidah do not enter into the body like the other three - thus they received less attention in other sections of the Zohar.
Both rabbinic and kabbalistic works posit that there are a few additional, non-permanent states of the soul that people can develop on certain occasions. These extra souls, or extra states of the soul, play no part in any afterlife scheme, but are mentioned for completeness:
As early as the 1st Century BCE Jews believed that the Torah (first five books of the Hebrew Bible) contained encoded messages and hidden meanings. Gematria is one method for discovering its hidden meanings. Each letter in Hebrew also represents a number; Hebrew, unlike many other languages, never developed a separate numerical alphabet. By converting letters to numbers, Kabbalists were able to find a hidden meaning in each word. This method of interpretation was used extensively by various schools.
There is no one fixed way to "do" gematria. Some say there are up to 70 different methods. One simple procedure is as follows: each syllable and/or letter forming a word has a characteristic numeric value. The sum of these numeric tags is the word's "key", and that word may be replaced in the text by any other word having the same key. Through the application of many such procedures, alternative or hidden meanings of scripture may be derived. Similar procedures are used by Islamic mystics, as described by Idries Shah in his book, "The Sufis".
Like the rest of the Rabbinic literature, the texts of Kabbalah were once part of an ongoing oral tradition, though, over the centuries, much of the oral tradition has been written down.
Jewish forms of esotericism existed over 2,000 years ago. Ben Sira warns against it, saying: "You shall have no business with secret things". Nonetheless, mystical studies were undertaken and resulted in mystical literature, the first being the Apocalyptic literature of the second and first pre-Christian centuries and which contained elements that carried over to later Kabbalah.
Throughout the centuries since, many texts have been produced, among them the Heichalot literature, Sefer Yetzirah, Bahir, Sefer Raziel HaMalakh and the Zohar.
Another famous work, the Sefer Yetzirah, supposedly dates back to the patriarch Abraham. This tendency toward pseudepigraphy has its roots in Apocalyptic literature, which claims that esoteric knowledge such as magic, divination and astrology was transmitted to humans in the mythic past by the two angels, Aza and Azaz'el (in other places, Azaz'el and Uzaz'el) who 'fell' from heaven (see Genesis 6:4). In Islam, the angels 'Harut' and 'Marut' were sent to teach magic only as a test to mankind (see Qur'an, Ch. 2: 102).
According to Kabbalistic cosmology, the Ten Sefirot correspond to ten levels of creation. These levels of creation must not be understood as ten different "gods" but as ten different ways of revealing God, one per level. It is not God who changes but the ability to perceive God that changes.
While God may seem to exhibit dual natures (masculine-feminine, compassionate-judgmental, creator-creation), all adherents of Kabbalah have consistently stressed the ultimate unity of God. For example, in all discussions of Male and Female, the hidden nature of God exists above it all without limit, being called the Infinite or the "No End" (Ein Sof) - neither one nor the other, transcending any definition. The ability of God to become hidden from perception is called "Restriction" (Tzimtzum). Hiddenness makes creation possible because God can become "revealed" in a diversity of limited ways, which then form the building blocks of creation.
Later Kabbalistic works, including the Zohar, appear to more strongly affirm dualism, as they ascribe all evil to a supernatural force known as the Sitra Achra ("the other side") that emanates from God. The "left side" of divine emanation is a negative mirror image of the "side of holiness" with which it was locked in combat. [Encyclopaedia Judaica, Volume 6, "Dualism", p.244]. While this evil aspect exists within the divine structure of the Sefirot, the Zohar indicates that the Sitra Ahra has no power over Ein Sof, and only exists as a necessary aspect of the creation of God to give man free choice, and that evil is the consequence of this choice. It is not a supernatural force opposed to God, but a reflection of the inner moral combat within mankind between the dictates of morality and the surrender to one's basic instincts.
Rabbi Dr. David Gottlieb notes that many Kabbalists hold that the concepts of, e.g., a Heavenly Court or the Sitra Ahra are only given to humanity by God as a working model to understand His ways within our own epistemological limits. They reject the notion that a Satan or angels actually exist. Others hold that non-divine spiritual entities were indeed created by God as a means for exacting his will.
According to Kabbalists, humans cannot yet understand the infinity of God. Rather, there is God as revealed to humans (corresponding to Zeir Anpin), and the rest of the infinity of God as remaining hidden from human experience (corresponding to Arich Anpin). One reading of this theology is monotheistic, similar to panentheism; another a reading of the same theology is that it is dualistic. Gershom Scholem writes:
It is clear that with this postulate of an impersonal basic reality in God, which becomes a person - or appears as a person - only in the process of Creation and Revelation, Kabbalism abandons the personalistic basis of the Biblical conception of God....It will not surprise us to find that speculation has run the whole gamut - from attempts to re-transform the impersonal En-Sof into the personal God of the Bible to the downright heretical doctrine of a genuine dualism between the hidden Ein Sof and the personal Demiurge of Scripture. (Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism Shocken Books p.11-12)
Theologically framed hostility may be a response to the demonization of Jews which developed in Western and Christian society and thought, starting with the Patristic writings. This view can be compared with the Christian doctrine that baptized Christians form part of the Body of Christ while (at least according to Augustine of Hippo) all others remain in the massa perditionis.
According to Isaac Luria and other commentators of the Zohar, righteous Gentiles don't have this demonic aspect and in many ways similar to Jewish souls. A number of proniment Kabbalists, e.g. Rabbi Pinchas Eliyahu of Vilna, the author of Sefer ha-Brit, held that only some marginal elements in the humanity represent these demonic forces. On the other hand, the souls of Jewish heretics have much more satanic energy, than the worst of idolworshipers; this view is popular in some Hasidic circles, especially Satmar Hasidim.
Later Kabbalistic works build and elaborate on this ideas. The Hasidic work Tanya stresses the uniqueness of the Jewish soul, in order to argue that Jews have an additional level of soul that other humans do not possess. While a non-Jew, according to Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, can achieve a high level of spiritually, similar to an angel, his soul is still fundamentally different from a Jewish one. A similar view is found in Yehuda Halevi's medieval philosophical book Kuzari.
However, many prominent Kabbalists rejected this idea and believed in essential equality of all human souls. Menahem Azariah da Fano, in his book Reincarnations of souls, provides many examples of non-Jewish Biblical figures being reincarnated into Jews, and visa versa; the contemporary Habad Rabbi and mystic Dov Ber Pinson teaches that seemingly discriminatory statements in the Tanya and other Kabbalistic works are not to be understood literally.
Another prominent Habad Rabbi, Abraham Yehudah Khein, believed that spiritually elevated Gentiles have essentially Jewish souls, "who just lack the formal conversion to Judaism", and that unspiritual Jews are "Jewish merely by their birth documents". The great 20th century Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag viewed the terms "Jews" and "Gentile" as different levels of perception, available to every human soul.
David Halperintheorizes that the collapse of Kabbalah's influence among Western European Jews over the course of the 17th and 18th Century was a result of the cognitive dissonance they experienced between Kabbalah's very negative perception of gentiles and their own dealings with non-Jews, which were rapidly expanding and improving during this period due to the influence of the Enlightenment.
For a different perspective, see Wolfson. He provides extensive documentation to illustrate the prevalence of the distinction between the souls of Jews and non-Jews in kabbalistic literature. He provides numerous examples from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, which would challenge the view of Halperin cited above as well as the notion that "modern Judaism" has rejected or dismissed this "outdated aspect" of the kabbalah. There are still kabbalists today, and many influenced by them, who harbor this view. It is accurate to say that many Jews do and would find this distinction offensive, but it is inaccurate to say that the idea has been totally rejected. As Wolfson has argued, it is an ethical demand on the part of scholars to be vigilant with regard this matter and in this way the tradition can be refined from within.
However, as explained above, many well known Kabbalists rejected the literal interpretation of these seemingly discriminatory views, added a chain of intermediary states between Jews and idolworshipers, or spiritualized the very definition of "Jews" and "non-Jews", thus solving the gap between traditional Kabbalistic literature and modern egalitarian worldview.
Rabbi Saadia Gaon teaches in his book Emunot v'Deot that Jews who believe in reincarnation have adopted a non-Jewish belief.
Nachmanides (12th Century) provides background to many Kabbalistic ideas. His works, especially those in the Five books of Moses (Pentateuch) offer in-depth of various concepts.
Maimonides (12th Century) did not consider many of the texts of the Hekalot, particularly in the work Shiur Komah with its starkly anthropomorphic vision of God.
Rabbi Abraham ben Moses ben Maimon, in the spirit of his father Maimonides, Rabbi Saadiah Gaon, and other predecessors, explains at length in his book Milhhamot HaShem that the Almighty is in no way literally within time or space nor physically outside time or space, since time and space simply do not apply to His Being whatsoever. This is in contrast to certain popular understandings of modern Kabbalah which teach a form of panentheism, that His 'essence' is within everything.
Around the 1230s, Rabbi Meir ben Simon of Narbonne wrote an epistle (included in his Milhhemet Mitzvah) against his contemporaries, the early Kabbalists, characterizing them as blasphemers who even approach heresy. He particularly singled out the Sefer Bahir, rejecting the attribution of its authorship to the tanna R. Nehhunya ben ha-Kanah and describing some of its content as truly heretical.
Rabbi Yitzchak ben Sheshet Perfet, (The Rivash), 1326-1408. Although as is evident from his responsa on the topic (157) the Rivash was skeptical of certain interpretations of Kabbalah popular in his time, it is equally evident that overall he did accept Kabbalah as received Jewish wisdom, and attempted to defend it from attackers. To this end he cited and rejected a certain philosopher who claimed that Kabbalah was "worse than Christianity", as it made God into 10, not just into three. Most followers of Kabbalah have never followed this interpretation of Kabbalah, on the grounds that the concept of the Christian Trinity posits that there are three persons existing within the Godhead, one of whom became a human being. In contrast, the mainstream understanding of the Kabbalistic Sefirot holds that they have no mind or intelligence; further, they are not addressed in prayer and they cannot become a human being. They are conduits for interaction, not persons or beings. Nonetheless, many important poskim, such as Maimonidies in his work Mishneh Torah, prohibit any use of mediators between oneself and the Creator as a form of idolatry.
Rabbi Leone di Modena, a 17th century Venetian critic of Kabbalah, wrote that if we were to accept the Kabbalah, then the Christian trinity would indeed be compatible with Judaism, as the Trinity closely resembles the Kabbalistic doctrine of the Sefirot. This critique was in response to the knowledge that some European Jews of the period addressed individual Sefirot in some of their prayers, although the practise was apparently uncommon. Apologists explain that Jews may have been praying for and not necessarily to the aspects of Godliness represented by the Sefirot.
Rabbi Yaakov Emden, 1697-1776, wrote the book Mitpahhath Sfarim (Veil of the Books), a detailed critique of the Zohar in which he concludes that certain parts of the Zohar contain heretical teaching and therefore could not have been written by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Opponents of his work claim that he wrote the book in a drunken stupor. Emden's rationalistic approach to this work, however, makes neither intoxication nor stupor seem plausible.
Rabbi Yihhyah Qafahh, an early 20th century Yemenite Jewish leader and grandfather of Rabbi Yosef Qafih, also wrote a book entitled Milhhamoth HaShem, (Wars of the L-RD) against what he perceived as the false teachings of the Zohar and the false kabbalah of Isaac Luria. He is credited with spearheading the Dor Daim who continue in R. Yihhyah Qafahh's view of Kabbalah into modern times.
Yeshayahu Leibowitz 1903-1994, brother of Nechama Leibowitz, though Modern Orthodox in his world view, publicly shared the views expressed in R. Yihhyah Qafahh's book Milhhamoth HaShem and elaborated upon these views in his many writings.
There is dispute among modern Haredim as to the status of Isaac Luria's, the Arizal's kabbalistic teachings. While a portion of Modern Orthodox Rabbis, Dor Daim and many students of the Rambam, Maimonides, completely reject Arizal's kabbalistic teachings, as well as deny that the Zohar is authoritative, or from Shimon bar Yohai, all three of these groups completely accept the existence and validity of Ma'aseh Merkavah and Ma'aseh B'resheet mysticism. Their only disagreement concerns whether the Kabbalistic teachings promulgated today are accurate representations of those esoteric teachings to which the Talmud refers. Within the Haredi Jewish community one can find both rabbis who sympathize with such a view, while not necessarily agreeing with it, as well as rabbis who consider such a view absolute heresy.
According to Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson (Dean of the Conservative Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in the American Jewish University), "many western Jews insisted that their future and their freedom required shedding what they perceived as parochial orientalism. They fashioned a Judaism that was decorous and strictly rational (according to 19th-century European standards), denigrating Kabbalah as backward, superstitious, and marginal."
However, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries there has been a revival in interest in Kabbalah in all branches of liberal Judaism. The Kabbalistic 12th century prayer Anim Zemirot was restored to the new Conservative Sim Shalom siddur, as was the B'rikh Shmeh passage from the Zohar, and the mystical Ushpizin service welcoming to the Sukkah the spirits of Jewish forbearers. Anim Zemirot and the 16th Century mystical poem Lekhah Dodi reappeared in the Reform Siddur Gates of Prayer in 1975. All Rabbinical seminaries now teach several courses in Kabbalah, and both the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Ziegler School of Rabbinical Studies of the University of Judaism in Los Angeles have fulltime instructors in Kabbalah and Hasidut, Eitan Fishbane and Pinchas Geller, respectively. Reform Rabbis like Herbert Weiner and Lawrence Kushner have renewed interest in Kabbalah among Reform Jews.
According to Artson "Ours is an age hungry for meaning, for a sense of belonging, for holiness. In that search, we have returned to the very Kabbalah our predecessors scorned. The stone that the builders rejected has become the head cornerstone (Psalm 118:22)... Kabbalah was the last universal theology adopted by the entire Jewish people, hence faithfulness to our commitment to positive-historical Judaism mandates a reverent receptivity to Kabbalah".
According to the traditional understanding, Kabbalah dates from Eden. It came down from a remote past as a revelation to elect Tzadikim (righteous people), and, for the most part, was preserved only by a privileged few. Talmudic Judaism records its view of the proper protocol for teaching this wisdom, as well as many of its concepts, in the Talmud, Tractate Hagigah, Ch.2.
Contemporary scholarship suggests that various schools of Jewish esotericism arose at different periods of Jewish history, each reflecting not only prior forms of mysticism, but also the intellectual and cultural milieu of that historical period. Answers to questions of transmission, lineage, influence, and innovation vary greatly and cannot be easily summarized.
When the Israelites arrived at their destination and settled in Canaan, for a few centuries the esoteric knowledge was referred to by its aspect practice - meditation Hitbonenut (התבוננות), Rebbe Nachman of Breslov's Hitbodedut (התבודדות), translated as "being alone" or "isolating oneself", or by a different term describing the actual, desired goal of the practice - prophecy ("NeVu'a" נבואה).
During the 5th century BCE, when the works of the Tanakh were edited and canonized and the secret knowledge encrypted within the various writings and scrolls ("MeGilot"), the knowledge was referred to as Ma'aseh Merkavah (מעשה מרכבה) and Ma'aseh B'reshit (מעשה בראשית), respectively "the act of the Chariot" and "the act of Creation". Merkavah mysticism alluded to the encrypted knowledge within the book of the prophet Ezekiel describing his vision of the "Divine Chariot". B'reshit mysticism referred to the first chapter of Genesis (בראשית) in the Torah that is believed to contain secrets of the creation of the universe and forces of nature. These terms are also mentioned in the second chapter of the Talmudic tractate Haggigah.
The Bible provides ample additional material for mythic and mystical speculation. The prophet Ezekiel's visions in particular attracted much mystical speculation, as did Isaiah's Temple vision - Isaiah, Ch.6. Jacob's vision of the ladder to heaven provided another example of esoteric experience. Moses' encounters with the Burning bush and God on Mount Sinai are evidence of mystical events in the Tanakh that form the origin of Jewish mystical beliefs.
The 72 letter name of God which is used in Jewish mysticism for meditation purposes is derived from the Hebrew verbal utterance Moses spoke in the presence of an angel, while the Sea of Reeds parted, allowing the Hebrews to escape their approaching attackers. The miracle of the Exodus, which led to Moses receiving the Ten Commandments and the Jewish Orthodox view of the acceptance of the Torah at Mount Sinai, preceded the creation of the first Jewish nation approximately three hundred years before King Saul.
Talmudic doctrine forbade the public teaching of esoteric doctrines and warned of their dangers. In the Mishnah (Hagigah 2:1), rabbis were warned to teach the mystical creation doctrines only to one student at a time. To highlight the danger, in one Jewish aggadic ("legendary") anecdote, four prominent rabbis of the Mishnaic period (first century CE) are said to have visited the Orchard (that is, Paradise, pardes, Hebrew: פרדס lit., orchard):
Four men entered pardes — Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Acher (Elisha ben Abuyah), and Akiba. Ben Azzai looked and died; Ben Zoma looked and went mad; Acher destroyed the plants; Akiba entered in peace and departed in peace.
In notable readings of this legend, only Rabbi Akiba was fit to handle the study of mystical doctrines. The Tosafot, medieval commentaries on the Talmud, say that the four sages "did not go up literally, but it appeared to them as if they went up. On the other hand, Rabbi Louis Ginzberg, writes in the Jewish Encyclopedia (1901-1906) that the journey to paradise "is to be taken literally and not allegorically". (For further analysis, see The Four Who Entered Paradise.)
Eminent rabbinic teachers in the Land of Israel held the doctrine of the preexistence of matter (Midrash Genesis Rabbah i. 5; iv. 6), in spite of the protest of Gamaliel II. (ib. i. 9).
In dwelling upon the nature of God and the universe, the mystics of the Talmudic period asserted, in contrast to the transcendentalism evident in some parts of the Bible, that "God is the dwelling-place of the universe; but the universe is not the dwelling-place of God". Possibly the designation ("place") for God, so frequently found in Talmudic-Midrashic literature, is due to this conception, just as Philo, in commenting on Genesis 28:11 says, "God is called ha makom (המקום "the place") because God encloses the universe, but is Himself not enclosed by anything" (De Somniis, i. 11). This type of theology, in modern terms, is known as either pantheism or panentheism. Whether a text is truly pantheistic or panentheistic is often hard to understand; mainstream Judaism generally rejects pantheistic interpretations of Kabbalah, and instead accepts panentheistic interpretations.
Even in very early times in the Land of Israel, Jewish, as well as Jewish Alexandrian theology recognized the two attributes of God, middat hadin, the attribute of justice, and middat ha-rahamim, the attribute of mercy (see: Midrash Sifre, Deuteronomy 27); and so is the contrast between justice and mercy became a fundamental doctrine of the Kabbalah. Other hypostasizations are represented by the ten "agencies", (the Sephiroth) through which God created the world, namely: wisdom, insight, cognition, strength, power, inexorableness, justice, right, love, and mercy.
While the Sefirot are based on these ten creative "potentialities", it is especially the personification of wisdom which, in Philo, represents the totality of these primal ideas; and the Targ. Jerusalem Talmud i., agreeing with him, translates the first verse of the Bible as follows: "By wisdom God created the heaven and the earth." Genesis Rabbah equates "Wisdom" with "Torah."
So, also, the figure of the Sar Metatron passed into mystical texts from the Talmud. In the Heichalot literature Metatron sometimes approximates the role of the demiurgos (see Gnosticism), being expressly mentioned as a "lesser" God. One text, however, identifies Metatron as Enoch transubstantiated (see: Enoch, III). Mention may also be made of other pre-existent states enumerated in an old baraita (an extra-mishnaic teaching); namely, the Torah, repentance, paradise and hell, the throne of God, the Heavenly Temple, and the name of the Messiah (Talmud Pesahim 54a). Although the origin of this doctrine must be sought probably in certain mythological ideas, the Platonic doctrine of pre-existence has modified the older, simpler conception, and the pre-existence of the seven must therefore be understood as an "ideal" pre-existence, a conception that was later more fully developed in the Kabbalah.
The attempts of the mystics to bridge the gulf between God and the world are evident in the doctrine of the preexistence of the soul, and of its close relation to God before it enters the human body — a doctrine taught by the Hellenistic sages (Wisdom viii. 19) as well as by the Palestinian rabbis. The mystics also employ the phrase from (Isaiah 6:3), as expounded by the Rabbinic Sages, "The whole world is filled with His glory," to justify a panentheistic understanding of the universe.
From the 8th-11th Century Sefer Yetzirah and Hekalot texts made their way into European Jewish circles. Modern scholars have identified several mystical brotherhoods that functioned in Europe starting in the 12th Century. Some, such as the "Iyyun Circle" and the "Unique Cherub Circle," were truly esoteric, remaining largely anonymous.
One well-known group was the "Hasidei Ashkenaz," (חסידי אשכנז) or German Pietists. This 13th Century movement arose mostly among a single scholarly family, the Kalonymus family of the French and German Rhineland.
There were certain rishonim ("Elder Sages") of exoteric Judaism who are known to have been experts in Kabbalah. One of the best known is Nahmanides (the Ramban) (1194-1270) whose commentary on the Torah is considered to be based on Kabbalistic knowledge. Bahya ben Asher (the Rabbeinu Behaye) (d. 1340) also combined Torah commentary and Kabbalah. Another was Isaac the Blind (1160-1235), the teacher of Nahmanides, who is widely argued to have written the first work of classic Kabbalah, the Bahir.
Sefer Bahir and another work, the "Treatise of the Left Emanation", probably composed in Spain by Isaac ben Isaac ha-Kohen, laid the groundwork for the composition of Sefer Zohar, written by Moses de Leon and his mystical circle at the end of the 13th Century, but credited to the Talmudic sage Shimon bar Yochai, cf. Zohar. The Zohar proved to be the first truly "popular" work of Kabbalah, and the most influential. From the thirteenth century onward, Kabbalah began to be widely disseminated and it branched out into an extensive literature. Historians in the nineteenth century, for example, Heinrich Graetz, argued that the emergence into public view of Jewish esotericism at this time coincides with, and represents a response to, the rising influence of the rationalist philosophy of Maimonides and his followers. Gershom Scholem sought to undermine this view as part of his resistance to seeing kabbalah as merely a response to medieval Jewish rationalism. Arguing for a gnostic influence has to be seen as part of this strategy. More recently, Moshe Idel and Elliot Wolfson have independently argued that the impact of Maimonides can be seen in the change from orality to writing in the thirteenth century. That is, kabbalists committed to writing many of their oral traditions in part as a response to the attempt of Maimonides to explain the older esoteric subjects philosophically.
Most Orthodox Jews reject the idea that Kabbalah underwent significant historical development or change such as has been proposed above. After the composition known as the Zohar was presented to the public in the 13th century, the term "Kabbalah" began to refer more specifically to teachings derived from, or related, to the Zohar. At an even later time, the term began to generally be applied to Zoharic teachings as elaborated upon by Isaac Luria Arizal. Historians generally date the start of Kabbalah as a major influence in Jewish thought and practice with the publication of the Zohar and climaxing with the spread of the Arizal's teachings. The majority of Haredi Jews accept the Zohar as the representative of the Ma'aseh Merkavah and Ma'aseh B'reshit that are referred to in Talmudic texts.
Following the upheavals and dislocations in the Jewish world as a result of the Spanish Inquisition, the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, and the trauma of Anti-Semitism during the Middle Ages, Jews began to search for signs of when the long-awaited Jewish Messiah would come to comfort them in their painful exiles. Moses Cordovero and his immediate circle popularized the teachings of the Zohar which had until then been only a modestly influential work. The author of the Shulkhan Arukh (the Jewish "Code of Law"), Rabbi Yosef Karo (1488-1575), was also a great scholar of Kabbalah and spread its teachings during this era.
As part of that "search for meaning" in their lives, Kabbalah received its biggest boost in the Jewish world with the explication of the Kabbalistic teachings of Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534-1572) by his disciples Rabbi Hayim Vital and Rabbi Israel Sarug, both of whom published Luria's teachings (in variant forms) gaining them wide-spread popularity. Luria's teachings came to rival the influence of the Zohar and Luria stands, alongside Moses de Leon, as the most influential mystic in Jewish history.
The ban against studying Kabbalah was lifted by the efforts of the sixteenth century Kabbalist Rabbi Avraham Azulai (1570-1643).
I have found it written that all that has been decreed Above forbidding open involvement in the Wisdom of Truth [Kabbalah] was [only meant for] the limited time period until the year 5,250 (1490 C.E). From then on after is called the "Last Generation", and what was forbidden is [now] allowed. And permission is granted to occupy ourselves in the [study of] Zohar. And from the year 5,300 (1540 C.E.) it is most desirable that the masses both those great and small [in Torah], should occupy themselves [in the study of Kabbalah], as it says in the Raya M'hemna [a section of the Zohar]. And because in this merit King Mashiach will come in the future – and not in any other merit – it is not proper to be discouraged [from the study of Kabbalah]. (Rabbi Avraham Azulai)The question however is whether the ban ever existed in the first place. Concerning the above quote by Avraham Azulai, it has found many versions in english, another is this
From the year 1540 and onward, the basic levels of Kabbalah must be taught publicly to everyone, young and old. Only through Kabbalah will we forever eliminate war, destruction, and man's inhumanity to his fellow man.The lines concerning 1490 are also missing from the Hebrew edition of Hesed L'Avraham, the source work that both of these quote from. Furthermore by Azulai's view the ban was lifted thirty years before his birth. A time that would have corresponded with Rabbi Haim Vital's publication of the teaching of Isaac Luria. Furthermore Rabbi Moshe Isserles only understood there to be a minor restriction, in his words"One's belly must be full of meat and wine, discerning between the prohibited and the permitted. He is supported by the Bier Hetiv, the Pithei Teshuva as well as the Vilna Gaon. The Vilna Gaon says,
There was never any ban or enactment restricting the study of the wisdom of Kabbalah. Any who says there is has never studied Kabblah, has never seen PaRDeS, and speaks as an ignoramous.Thus leaving the existence of a ban to be highly debated.
His disciple Moses ben Jacob Cordovero authored Sefer Pardes Rimonim, an organized, exhaustive compilation of kabbalistic teachings on a variety of subjects up to that point. Rabbi Cordovero headed the Academy of Tzfat until his death, when Isaac Luria, also known as the Ari, rose to prominence. Rabbi Moshe's disciple Eliyahu De Vidas authored the classic work, Reishit Chochma, combining kabbalistic and mussar (moral) teachings. Chaim Vital also studied under Rabbi Cordovero, but with the arrival of Rabbi Luria became his main disciple. Vital claimed to be the only one authorized to transmit the Ari's teachings, though other disciples also published books presenting Luria's teachings.
His charisma, mystical teachings that included repeated pronunciations of the holy Tetragrammaton in public, tied to an unstable personality, and with the help of his own "prophet" Nathan of Gaza, convinced the Jewish masses that the "Jewish Messiah" had finally come. It seemed that the esoteric teachings of Kabbalah had found their "champion" and had triumphed, but this era of Jewish history unravelled when Zevi became an apostate to Judaism by converting to Islam after he was arrested by the Ottoman Sultan and threatened with execution for attempting a plan to conquer the world and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.
Many of his followers, known as Sabbateans, continued to worship him in secret, explaining his conversion not as an effort to save his life but to recover the sparks of the holy in each religion, and most leading rabbis were always on guard to root them out. The Donmeh movement in modern Turkey is a surviving remnant of the Sabbatian schism.
Due to the chaos caused in the Jewish world, the Rabbinic prohibition against studying Kabbalah was well intact again, and established itself firmly within the Jewish religion. One of the conditions allowing a man to study and engage himself in the Kabbalah, was to be of age forty. This age requirement came about during this period and is not Talmudic in origin. Many Jews are familiar with this ruling, but are not aware of its origins. Moreover, the prohibition is not halakhic in nature. According to Moses Cordovero, halakhically, one must be of age twenty to engage in the Kabbalah. Many famous Kabbalists, including the ARI, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag, were younger than twenty when they began.
The Sabbatian movement was followed by that of the "Frankists" who were disciples of another pseudo-mystic Jacob Frank (1726-1791) who eventually became an apostate to Judaism by apparently converting to Catholicism. This era of disappointment did not stem the Jewish masses' yearnings for "mystical" leadership.
Rabbi Shmuel Schneersohn of Lubavitch urged the study of kabbala as prerequisite for one's humanity:
A person who is capable of comprehending the Seder hishtalshelus (kabbalistic secrets concerning the higher spiritual spheres) - and fails to do so - cannot be considered a human being. At every moment and time one must know where his soul stands. It is a mitzvah (commandment) and an obligation to know the seder hishtalshelus.
The writings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1864-1935) also stress Kabbalistic themes:
Due to the alienation from the "secret of God" [i.e. Kabbalah], the higher qualities of the depths of Godly life are reduced to trivia that do not penetrate the depth of the soul. When this happens, the most mighty force is missing from the soul of nation and individual, and Exile finds favor essentially... We should not negate any conception based on rectitude and awe of Heaven of any form - only the aspect of such an approach that desires to negate the mysteries and their great influence on the spirit of the nation. This is a tragedy that we must combat with counsel and understanding, with holiness and courage. (Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook Orot 2 )
Another influential and important Kabbalah character is Rabbi Yehuda Leib Ashlag 1884-1954 (also known as the Baal HaSulam — a title that he was given after the completion of one of his masterworks, The Sulam). Ashlag is considered by many to be one of the greatest Kabbalists of all time.
He developed a study method that he considered most fitting for the future generations of Kabbalists. He is also notable for his other masterwork Talmud Eser HaSfirot — The Study of the Ten Emanations — a commentary on all the writings of the ARI. Some today consider this work as the core of the entire teaching of Kabbalah. Baal Hasulam's goal was to make the study of Kabbalah understandable and accessible to every human being with the desire to know the meaning of life. There are several organizations that are actualizing his ideas today.
Renewed interest in Kabbalah has appeared among non-traditional Jews, and even among non-Jews. Neo-Hasidism and Jewish Renewal have been the most influential groups in this trend.


text:
From August 3rd – 12th, 911truth.org will join a coalition of organizations
to help host "Answers For 9/11 Families" week. Hundreds
of Americans will come together at house parties across the country to screen
the acclaimed film featuring the September 11th families, 9/11 Press For
This stunning movie exposes the government's and the media's failure to answer
the many important questions of the 9/11 Family Steering Committee, a group
of twelve victim's relatives who tenaciously fought the White House to force
the creation of the 9/11 Commission. Six of them tell their story first-hand
in the movie, revealing for the first time that "70% of our questions"
were not answered by the Final Report. The movie stitches together rare overlooked
news clips, buried stories, and government press conferences to clearly detail
a pattern of deception by U.S. officials.
Now, Congressman Dennis Kucinich
has announced plans for a new 9/11 investigation beginning in September
because "the 9/11 Commission… never resolved some conflicting facts."
Recently, Please join the effort to encourage Congress to support investigations
until all remaining Family Steering Committee questions are answered.
Send a "Press
For Truth Pack" to your Congressman and sign up today to host
or attend a 9/11 Press For Truth house party in your community.
(NOTE: Simple instructions on how to make your house party film screening a
success will be emailed to everyone who signs up to host a party. Please order
your DVD immediately after signing up in order to ensure it arrives in time
for your house party.)
"We thought the country was at risk from terrorists and from incompetence,"
says Jersey widow Lorie Van Auken in the movie, "and maybe worse."
Fellow 'Jersey Girl' Patty Casazza puts it more succinctly: "They lied.…
While the morning rain and the threat of afternoon rain prevented "Annie and the Vets" from providing music at the 4/11/2007 Impeach Bush/Cheney rally, a substantial crowd gathered in the last-minute sunshine on Lytton Plaza in downtown Palo Alto, amidst a giant replica of the flawed 9/11 Commission Report, two smoking towers labeled Constitution and Bill of Rights, many colorful banners calling for impeachment, and a huge "Deception Dollar" banner.
The first marches demanding a Congressional Investigation into 9/11 were held in Palo Alto in January 2002, followed by further marches in January of 2003 demanding "Pre-Emptive Impeachment." Marches for impeachment are now a monthly occurrence and converged yesterday with a monthly 9/11 Truth action. The rally began with a bit of history and Congresswoman Eshoo's response to the previous rally on March 14th. Eshoo wrote:
"I've lived through an impeachment process and witnessed firsthand how it tears the country apart. The election in November was a resounding rejection of the President's policies and the policies of his party. I think it's time to bring the country together and move forward. In my view, impeachment will heavily distract from the important work of reversing the disastrous course this Administration has set and will virtually bring to a halt progress on important issues including healthcare and global warming."
The primary organizer of the rally, Carol Brouillet, read her response to Eshoo:
There is a tremendous difference between the charges leveled against Bill Clinton and those that are being directed towards Bush… Continue reading
by Joseph Murtagh
February 12, 2007 — When it comes to 9/11, America right now is divided between two camps, those who trust the official account of the attacks, and those who, well, have questions. It's occasionally the case that the first camp will publicly denounce the second camp as a bunch of nutcases, and when this happens, it's usually the rowdier section of Camp Two, the Loose Change , bullhorn-wielding, "death to the New World Order" crowd, that takes the most heat.
What tends to get ignored, however, is the quieter section of Camp Two, and especially a group of widowed mothers from New Jersey and New York who over the last six years have worked harder than just about anyone to protect the country from terrorism. Few people realize that had it not been for the tireless efforts of the "Jersey girls" — Mindy Kleinberg, Kristen Breitweiser, Lorie Van Auken, Patty Casazza, and Monica Gabrielle — not only would the 9/11 Commission never have happened, but there most likely never would have been any investigation into what was the worst loss of life on American soil since the Civil War. No inquiry into our failed military defenses, or the collapse of the towers, or just why it was that President Bush sat in that Florida classroom for a full seven minutes after the second plane struck. No scientific reports, no effort to discover what went wrong, no hearings of any kind. No attempt to figure out the details… Continue reading
by 9.11 Blogger
WNY Media Network
Bob Woodward's State of Denial provides evidence of the politicization of the 9/11 Commission's investigative process, conclusions, and certain omissions from its report, as well as then national security advisor Condoleezza Rice's likely role in burying unflattering, damning evidence through the appointment of Bush/Rice loyalist Philip Zelikow as the Commissions' chief investigator and Zelikow's reward (perhaps) of a top senior-level position in the State Department, which Rice now heads. First, some background.
One of the burning questions in newspapers, cable TV news, and blogs is why the 9/11 Commission report did not mention the July 10, 2001 meeting called by then-CIA Director George J. Tenet and his counterterrorism chief, J. Cofer Black, with then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. Tenet and Black hoped to impress on Rice the compelling need to act immediately against bin Laden because there was "a huge volume of data" suggesting strongly that a major attack was imminent.
"But both men came away from the meeting feeling that Ms. Rice had not taken the warnings seriously," writes Woodward.
The July 10 meeting between Tenet, Black and Rice went unmentioned in the various reports of investigations into the Sept. 11 attacks, but it stood out in the minds of Tenet and Black as the starkest warning they had given the White House on bin Laden and al-Qaeda. Though the investigators had access to all the paperwork on the meeting, Black felt there were things the commissions wanted to know about and things they didn't want to know about.…Continue reading
– A National Grassroots Campaign to Illuminate the 2006 Electoral Stage with 9/11 Truth.
Fine Motives, Means & Opportunities
To commemorate the great 9/11 Commission cover-up released on July 22, 2004, 9/11truth.org and MUJCA-Net are proud to announce the launch of "Politics 911″ — a focused 4-month campaign to enlighten the 2006 electoral debate with a nationwide spotlight on 9/11 truth.
As the name implies "Politics 911″ is an emergency campaign to help return democratic control, self-respect and political adulthood to the American electorate. To that end we plan to gratefully exploit:
in order to saturate pre-election events with substantive 9/11 truth questions and their implications for revolutionary reform.
Course of Action
The campaign's initial goal is to require every candidate running for the US House or Senate in 2006 to publicly declare whether he/she will support a truly independent re-investigation* of the events surrounding 9/11 including evidence of US government foreknowledge, facilitation and/or complicity. This will be accomplished and augmented with the following steps:
May 16, 2006
911Truth.org Steering Committee
911Truth.org is disappointed that the Pentagon has released another video which
does not clearly show a Boeing hitting the Pentagon. Despite the hyping of this
release as offering 'definitive proof', we are surprised that this inconclusive
video remained hidden to the American people for nearly five years.
Recall that www.Flight77.info documents two years of FOIA requests for 85
videotapes in the possession of the FBI that pertain to the Pentagon
strike. The site's proprietor, like the steering committee of 9/11truth.org,
is hopeful that a release of this footage will show definitively that a plane
hit the Pentagon so that distracting speculation about the Pentagon attack can
cease. But today's video does nothing of the sort.
If the Pentagon and the Bush administration truly sought to offer clear evidence
for the official story of the Pentagon strike, why would they choose to release
images that resemble the previously released stills rather than the footage
from the Sheraton, the Citgo gas station, or the Virginia D.O.T that presumably
would show the events more clearly?
We will continue to relentlessly pursue a full investigation of the events surrounding
9/11 and seek justice for the victims, as clearly defined in our mission statement.
The 9/11 families were told by the 9/11 Commission that the Family Steering Committee's questions would be used as a roadmap for the Commission, and that
their questions would be answered in the final report. Yet upon publication
of the final report, it became clear… Continue reading
Sept. 11 Widows Demand Answers
By Annie Reuter/Senior Writer Nearly five years after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, many families continue Mindy Kleinberg and Lori van Auken are two such people. The pair said the attacks of Sept. 11, made them widows. They spoke to journalism and media studies students Tuesday at the Scholarly "Those words were very hard to utter. The first time I had to say those These two women have not stopped in their pursuit to find the truth about their Kleinberg, van Auken and two other Sept. 11 widows formed the Family Steering It all started when van Auken received the phone call from her husband after "In his voice you could hear panic," she said. "I couldn't reach Several media outlets… Continue reading
The Daily Targum
(Rutgers Student Newspaper)
Published: 4/12/06
to wonder what happened to loved ones who died.
Communication Center of the Alexander Library on the College Avenue campus.
words gave me the shakes," van Auken said. "Before September 11 we
were typical suburban housewives. September 11, our whole world turned upside
husbands, who were killed in the attack, while also wondering how safe America
Committee to put pressure on the federal government to force an investigation
of the unsolved murder of those involved in the attacks.
the planes hit the World Trade Center to tell her he loved her and hopefully
would see her later that day.
him. From his message I knew he survived the impact of the plane [crash]."
By Annie Reuter/Senior Writer
Nearly five years after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, many families continue
Mindy Kleinberg and Lori van Auken are two such people.
The pair said the attacks of Sept. 11, made them widows.
They spoke to journalism and media studies students Tuesday at the Scholarly
"Those words were very hard to utter. The first time I had to say those
These two women have not stopped in their pursuit to find the truth about their
Kleinberg, van Auken and two other Sept. 11 widows formed the Family Steering
It all started when van Auken received the phone call from her husband after
"In his voice you could hear panic," she said. "I couldn't reach
Several media outlets… Continue reading
The ABC News website has finally acknowledged the existence of alternative research and popular doubts about what really happened on September 11, how and why. We welcome this breakthrough.
We are very pleased that the article by Dean Schabner, published today on the front page of the ABC News website, seems to have fairly quoted two persons among the many citizens pursuing alternative research and actions for justice and full disclosure around 9/11.
We hope that ABC News will follow up with televised broadcasts on this subject, and give a fair hearing to all points of view.
Even as we thank ABC News, we must unfortunately also note that its article adopts a dismissive tone toward doubts about September 11, in advance of full inquiry. The headline is mildly misleading; the unanswered questions about September 11 did not merely "surface" on the eve of Election Day, but have been the subject of untiring work by hundreds of researchers for more than three years and the subject of such best-selling books as The New Pearl Harbor by David Ray Griffin and the recent Crossing the Rubicon by Michael C. Ruppert.
No basis whatsoever is given for the assessment of the ABC Polling Unit that the Zogby International survey of New York residents cited in the article (co-commissioned by 911Truth.org) is "not credible."
Using the same established methodologies as in other surveys regularly cited by ABC News and other major media, Zogby polled a representative sampling of 808 adult New York… Continue reading
A Comprehensive Chronicle of the Road to 9/11–and America's Response
by Paul Thompson
Reviews of the book
"THE TERROR TIMELINE is a tremendous resource that will give readers a truly independent means of judging our government in its errant conduct of the war on terror."
— PETER LANCE, author of Cover Up and 1000 Years for Revenge
"A spectacular resource that is an essential tool for anyone who is truly interested in understanding the events leading up to 9/11."
— CRAIG UNGER, author of the House of Bush, House of Saud
"This is the basic book on 9/11. Paul Thompson's work tells what happened that day, tracing the events leading up to the attack, and what has transpired since. After years of self-serving reports by ineffectual politicians in Washington, there is at last an independent report, based entirely on publicly known facts, that is thorough and reliable. Read it and decide for yourself whether there was a cover-up. It is truly remarkable. Thank God there are people like Thompson."
–JAMES RIDGEWAY, author of The March to War
"Paul Thompson's Timeline has served as the definitive source for any researcher attempting to penetrate the mysteries of 9/11. This book [could] effect a major change in the course of U.S. history."
— PETER DALE SCOTT, author of Drugs, Oil, and War: The United States in Afghanistan, Columbia, and Indochina
"Paul Thompson's exhaustive and richly detailed research has now provided the world with a veritable treasure trove of 9/11 information. If you want… Continue reading
Editor's Note:
New Zogby poll finds 50 percent of New York City residents and 41 percent of New York state overall think high officials knew about 9/11 in advance and "consciously" failed to take action…
|Zogby InternationalPolling/Market Research Public Relations Services Marketing Strategies
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Monday, Aug. 30, 2004
Half of New Yorkers Believe U.S. Leaders Had Foreknowledge of Impending 9/11 Attacks and "Consciously Failed" To Act;
66% Call For New Probe of Unanswered Questions by Congress or New York's Attorney General, New Zogby International Poll Reveals
(Utica, NY) – On the eve of a Republican National Convention invoking 9/11 symbols, sound bytes and imagery, half (49.3%) of New York City residents and 41% of New York citizens overall say that some of our leaders "knew in advance that attacks were planned on or around September 11, 2001, and that they consciously failed to act," according to the poll conducted by Zogby International. The poll of New York residents was conducted from Tuesday August 24 through Thursday August 26, 2004. Overall results have a margin of sampling error of +/-3.5.
The poll is the first of its kind conducted in America that surveys attitudes regarding US government complicity in the 9/11 tragedy. Despite the acute legal and political implications of this accusation, nearly 30% of registered Republicans and over 38% of those who described themselves as "very conservative" supported the claim.
The charge found very high support among adults under 30… Continue reading
Dear Peace & Justice Organizers,
There are many ways to promote peace & justice in our world, but when we face an immediate conflict, indeed a promised "war without end," it first helps to step back and look at how it all began. Our current "War on (some) Terror" was birthed, if not conceived, on September 11, 2001. That day was a terrible funeral pyre for many, but a golden opportunity for some.
Only a year before, the Project for a New American Century, a think tank for the neocon crowd that now controls the White House and the Pentagon, published a martial wish list entitled "Rebuilding America's Defenses." Their report outlined our "urgent need" to inflate defense spending, control Mideast oil, deploy exotic new weapons, and reorganize our forces to fight and win several simultaneous wars. Their stated goal was full spectrum global dominance, a "Pax Americana," but they grudged that such a transformation would take forever "absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event, like a new Pearl Harbor."
Consider then all the ignored warnings, quashed investigations and missing air defenses that preceded 9/11 and gave them this golden opportunity. And post-9/11 consider Condi Rice's chilling remarks: "Now, we have an opportunity and an obligation to move forward together. Bold and comprehensive changes are sometimes only possible in the wake of catastrophic events… Just as World War II led to a fundamental reorganization of our national defense structure, so has September 11th made possible sweeping changes in the ways we… Continue reading
Condoleezza Rice is a household name. But most Americans still have never heard of the man who wrote a book with her, Philip Zelikow.
As the executive director of the Kean Commission, Zelikow is responsible for framing the agenda. He leads the research staff. He decides what evidence the commission sees.
In April, the world media focused on Rice's appearance before the commission. She claimed, not for the first time, that no one could have imagined terrorists would use hijacked planes as weapons against buildings. This is a demonstrable falsehood, which Bush himself inadvertently exposed a week later. (See "Bush, Rice and the Genoa Warning")
Rice's testimony received mostly bad reviews. The commission was credited with investigative fervor. Few reports bothered to note that in the late 1980s, Rice and Zelikow worked closely together on George H.W. Bush's national security staff.
Zelikow and Rice co-authored a 1999 book about their experiences in the first Bush White House, "Germany Unified and Europe Transformed: A Study in Statecraft." The book presents "a detailed and fascinating account of behind-the-scenes discussions and deliberations" during the fall of the Soviet empire, according to Library Journal.
Zelikow again served alongside Rice as a member of the Bush transition team in 2000- 2001, when he took part in White House meetings on the terror threat. Since this was of interest to the 9/11 investigation, the Kean Commission recently called Zelikow as a witness, in a closed-door session.
Now imagine if the judge in a trial was a close associate of the star witness.…Continue reading

subset: commoncrawl


text:
By STEVEN NALLEY
email@example.com [2]
For Lisa Sollie, it's worth a 198-mile round trip to Starkville to provide Mississippi State University's ice cream for the right kind of party.
Sollie, project coordinator in recruiting and marketing for MSU-Meridian, said the MSU Student Association in Meridian makes a point of securing MSU's ice cream for a "Welcome Back" week.
"We do that all the time," Sollie said. "We drive up there, get the ice cream and bring it back. Why get another kind of ice cream when Mississippi State has its own?"
It's not every day, however, that MSU-Meridian gets MSU ice cream for its own birthday party.
Mississippi State University in Meridian will celebrate its 40th anniversary Friday, with a party open to the public at its College Park campus from 1-3 p.m.
Sollie said there will also be a celebration dinner closed to the public Thursday evening, where Meridian Mayor Cheri M. Barry will issue a proclamation declaring Friday MSU-Meridian Day. At Friday's celebration, Sollie said, there will be two cakes and door prizes, including tickets to shows at the MSU Riley Center.
"We (will also) have scrapbooks set up starting from 1972 to 2007," Sollie said. "It's basically trying to show a pictorial history as well as articles. It's really a time for people to visit and celebrate."
Steven Brown, MSU-Meridian dean, said MSU first built a presence in Meridian through the leadership of its first dean, Charles Moffett, who became the campus's first dean in 1972 and did not retire until 1998.
Brown said Moffett will speak at the dinner celebration Thursday evening.
"Really, (MSU-Meridian) was a result of a lot of determination over a long period of time by a number of education and business interests in this region," Brown said. "The primary thrust of the campus as it was first envisioned was to work closely with four community colleges."
MSU-Meridian started in what is today Meridian Community College's Hardin Hall, and it has since not only established a College Park campus across the street from MCC, but also a downtown campus adjacent to the MSU Riley Center. Brown said MSU-Meridian maintains strong ties to area community colleges.
"We've always had a large preponderance of non-traditional students here," Brown said. "In the last five years, we've begun to see sort of a shift, and we're enrolling more and more students who are traditional college age, some of whom are coming from community colleges.
"Generally speaking, when we first began, probably 80 percent of our student body would be above the age of 35, people in established careers who had started families and were returning to complete degrees," Brown added. "At this point, we are more 50-50, (with) almost an equivalent number now who are completing community college or junior college work and are transitioning to MSU to complete an undergraduate degree."
Brown said MSU-Meridian would not be where it is today without the Riley Foundation, established by two brothers in Meridian's medical community. Their most publicized contribution is the restoration of Meridian's former Grand Opera House that created the MSU Riley Center, he said, but he considers the foundation's Next Step Scholarship, established in 2010, to be equally important.
"It permits students from our four community colleges ... (with competitive GPAs) ... to attend MSU-Meridian at no cost," Brown said. "As a result of that ... the overall GPA has increased, and we are seeing more of our students named to the dean's and president's list. It has really improved the academic achievement levels of our students."
Future plans for MSU-Meridian include two libraries, Brown said, including a 2,200-square-foot library at the College Park campus and a 4,500-square-foot library downtown. Construction on the College Park library is scheduled to start in four to six weeks, he said, and both are made possible by another major supporter, the Phil Hardin Foundation.
"We received, about a year ago, an award of a little over $1 million from the Phil Hardin Foundation to actually create two libraries," Brown said. "We're blessed in a lot of ways."
[1] http://starkvilledailynews.com/sites/default/files/SDN Logo_12.jpg
[2] mailto:email@example.com


text:
Discussion in 'Fly Fishing Forum' started by Rob Allen, Jan 21, 2013.
This has gone way past what Rob originally mentioned. I think Rob is correct! We don't need to use foul language, if we choose too it's our choice and it does say something about us. If vulgar language is your trip go for it but I'll always consider you someone to ignore.
Ignoring everyone who ever uses a curse word is certainly your right. Be prepared to live in a pretty lonely world if that's the route you choose.
huhuh.... ROD. Grip the ROD.... huhuhuh..... casting STROKE..... huhuhuh..... STRIP the line huhuhuh... Lift the TIP.... huhuhuh
Truth is most fellow flyfishers would not be interested in this thread. It's like "can we be assholes" and get away with it.
This shitty thread turned out to be a good read. It's fucking Hilarius!
What kind of music do you all listen to? I hope I like it, because, if I don't we'll have to have a serious discussion here!!!
I don't listen to music. You do know that Hitler liked music, don't you?
Who are you to dictate what a civil society does? Do you live in a civil society? Do people use vulgarity there?
Perhaps a civil society doesn't use drugs, alcohol, or nicotine either? Perhaps it's not civil to gamble? Perhaps it's not civil to hook fish in the lip for sport?
I was fishing with a mentor and good friend who is a decade and a half or so older then me this past weekend.
I've never seen him lose his cool on the river, he's a great guide and teacher and has a ton of patience.
He's got no problem rolling his eyes at my outbursts and sometimes I even feel guilty over it. I'll be more "adult" next time.
Anyway, this past weekend my friend farmed a monster mint coastal chrome steelhead,
fish of the year, fish of a lifetime for some and he just flipped and lost it.
Stomping on his hat, kicking and stomping and the most endless stream of profanity I've ever heard in my life.
I had to slink off back to my spot in case he decided it was my fault for not finding a way to land the fish from a hundred yards downstream. I could see the scenario brewing.
Anyway, point is, I was totally thrilled. Skunked and gloating. "Human factor buddy, you'll get him next time" as I muster up the stones to walk back up the run.
After all, what are friends for?
I've never been as interested in the mindless stupidity and choose my friends accordingly. With the exception of having to occasionally take a second choice fishing spot or pack out some extra left behind garbage, I try not to let any group affect the outcome of my day dramatically.
Whoa, what a long thread. Too much air stagnation for heavens sake.
Society calibrates itself over time. Now the trend may be more crude. Tomorrow more pristine. Bottom line, we all can contribute, or not, to its calibration to our preferences.
We are a diverse community, country, world. Embrace it. Getting your feelings hurt because of open conversation in no way directed at you is, in my opinion, overly sensitive. Now you direct it at one person, different story to me.
I believe in civility. I believe in my choices. Feel free to make yours.
This year I'm fishing and drinking with Roper and I'm gonna hope to hear him drop some F bombs. Why? Because he is a calming and grounded presence and if he can let a few fly from time to time that's f'ing okay by me.
Now you all know why I like to fish alone. I can do anything I want to by my lonesome. I can cuss, fart, belch out loud, scratch my ass, rub my balls. Drink my whiskey, beer or whine. And I can have fun while I'm doing all that.
And I do like to cuss because I'm an old man and this is what old men do.
Scotish Bagpipes, come on with a name like mine what else would I listen to? Hawaian music, well oh ya that to, my mom taught it for many years in Burien and out of the house growing up.
So if ya ever here bag pipes get out of the way FREEDOMMMMMM is coming
I find an irony in that those of us in this thread ignorant enough to use vulgar language also seem to be the ones with the best grasp on spelling, grammar and punctuation.
Come to think of it Steve, so do I! Ahhhh... Kids these days
"The idea that no gentleman ever swears is all wrong. He can swear and still be a gentleman if he does it in a nice and benevolent and affectionate way." - Mark Twain
I also find people who use foul language, to be in general, more trust worthy. They're not putting on a front to impress, they are who they are. Generally speaking that is.
Wow, Sounds like I better practice up on my swearing! Other than that I'm
not touching this one with a 10' "pole" of which I have several.
James Joyce? Lets move it up a notch. Pat Conroy.
"Profanity is the common crutch of the conversational cripple." David Keuck
While I don`t necessarily agree with this , as i use profanity daily , and respect and speak the language of the company I keep , and believe a well-placed F-bomb can enhance a conversation , I do believe that excess profanity serves no valid purpose .
There is no excuse for steel-face though . No matter who , when , where , or why it was said .


text:
The following is an archive of a post made to our
'vox mailing list'
by one of its subscribers.
Hi all, just a quick 'FYI'. LUGOD will be meeting
at the Davis public library again (Blanchard meeting room)
at our March 21st meeting.
We can't reserve for our Feb. 21st meeting because, as
with this month's meeting date, it's a holiday, and they
currently don't have a security system set up to allow
groups to meet after hours.
I'm not sure whether the projector will be usable by then
(access issues, again), but we've got our trusty 'sparky',
which we'll use in lieu of the built-in one at the library.
Early next week, we should find out whether we can also
meet there again in April. (Cannot reserve more than 3mo in
advance, and April's meeting is on the 18th.)
Sent from my computer
vox mailing list
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LUGOD: Linux Users' Group of Davis
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Contact Us
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based in Davis, California
and serving the Sacramento area.
"Linux" is a trademark of Linus Torvalds.


text:
Thanks for this tutorial! However why did you not elaborate on Symposium and Mingle? Are there aspects of Buddypress that make it better than both of those?
Its great thanks for this tutorials .. we must keep these points in mind while we going to do this in all the way towards our social media. As it is important to work on with social media with all these tools. Thanks for sharing this helpful post.
very easy to do and nicely explained process hoping for some video link on if anyone have…on how to create social networking website through cms
Oh, now I see that is easy as ABC. Thanks for tutorial, I'll put it in favorites so I'll have a chance to read it in any moment.
which is the best plugin among them ???
Wow! These are cool combination. Buddy Press and WP Symposium, I will grab a chance to use these both for a dynamic social media network site. Thank you for sharing this.
thank easy explainer
Great ,
You told lot of thing thanks.
i tried to make but having problem to making pages could you please help for this
Great tutorial and I would know as we built dogsuniverse.dk based on WordPress/Buddypress and I think you covered the basics very well.
very nice , awsm
hello sir if u dont mind who to social networking sait base knowledge please tell me saport for networking sait…………
Hi, thanks for the directions. I'm having difficulty finding the template pack – I find some for specific themes, but not "BuddyPress Template Pack". Can you point me in the right direction? Thanks!
Thank you so much for this.


text:
Mesa Fire, medical volunteers gave over 18,000 hours in 2013
PHOENIX -- Mesa Fire and medical volunteers gave more than 18,000 hours of their time last year, a firefighter said.
"It's an opportunity to serve the citizens of your community," said former volunteer and current Mesa firefighter Chris Black. "I grew up in Mesa. It's important for me to kind of give back and volunteer my time for those who really need it. It makes me feel good when I'm able to go out there and help out people."
Black said the program is always on the lookout for those who are willing to help.
"The economy is definitely having an impact on us," said Volunteer Coordinator Warren Sprecher. "We've lost a lot of good volunteers -- people that have had to go back to school to get retrained, people that have to take second jobs. For me, there is no dollar value."


text:
…possible turn your little princess into any more of a doll, how about trying this Yarn Doll Baby Costume on her for size? Pink, black, and white patterned dress, ruffled bloomers with attached striped leggings, and yarn wig with bonnet will patch her to be the cutest little baby doll of the bunch.
Yeah baby, Yeah! Now you can be Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery in this very official, very funky groovy, secret agent outfit. Right out of the movies and approved by MI5, this special ensemble includes signature glasses, shaggy wig, bad Britsh teeth and sexy medallion. Oh, Behave!
Bring the magic of Oz to your home – no tornados needed! This Wizard of Oz Yarn Babies toddler costume includes a blue-and-white checkered dress and a yarn wig topped with a blue satin bow. Just don't forget Toto!
His name is Carlos! You'll get lots of laughs out of everyone you cross when you play daddy using this officially licensed The Hangover Alan Kit complete with classic wig, beard, sunglasses, and baby carrier with baby. Just try not to spike anyone's drink this time.
Look as perfect as a doll with zero effort when you wear this Baby Doll Black Wig with Bangs. Dark ringlets look beautiful against porcelain skin. Add some white face powder and a little blush for an even better effect!
…dirty dancing, drink more than what's acceptable, and smoke too many cigarettes on Halloween, at least you'll look classy doing it in this Jazz Baby Blonde Adult Womens Wig! Pair this classic hairdo with a fringed dress, a set of pearls, and a pair of heels to look straight out of the roaring 20's.
Even if you were broke, surely someone out there will still play with you when you wear this Broken Doll Blue Curly Adult Wig. Blue hair features black bows along with tight blue and purple curls.
Complete your evil rag doll costume when you add this Gothic Doll Red and Black Curls Adult Wig to your wardrobe. Gorgeous red hair features black bows and tight red and black curls.
Patch up your little one in this Rag Dolly Toddler Costume. At least your rascal will be looking adorable on Halloween wearing this pink dress, polka dot bloomers with attached striped leggings, and bonnet with attached yarn wig.


text:
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And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.
(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
About the parade
I am writing to express my opinion on the cancellation of the Christmas Parade. As how good or bad the parade would have been, I have been going as long as I can recall as I am almost 61 years young.
I know that there is a lot of work put into the floats and etc. and to just cancel altogether is a joke.
What in the world would have been wrong with the next day or next week? You can have a parade any night or day, can't you?
As this year winds to a close, I continue to focus on economic recovery and the fiscal discipline to bring our deficit under control.
First, I have once again signed on as co-sponsor of a measure to block members of Congress from receiving automatic pay increases, this time for the 2011 fiscal year. On January 7, 2009 — the day after being sworn into office — I co-sponsored H.R. 156, which blocked the automatic pay increase for FY2010. The measure was successfully adopted by congressional leaders over the summer.
This is a blessed season marked by the company of family and friends, a child-like anticipation of presents under the tree, and perhaps even the hope of a midnight snowfall. It is a season rooted in traditions and celebrations of all kinds.
Like all of my colleagues in the Democratic Party, I voted in favor of proceeding to debate the proposed health- care reform legislation. I have yet to decide whether I will support final passage of the bill.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has advised claims for reimbursement of out-of-pocket medical expenses incurred during 2009 will be accepted beginning January 1, 2010.
There are only days now before we all find out what's under the Christmas tree for us. I thought it might be fun to speculate about what gifts certain politicians - if this were a just world - should receive for Christmas.
For U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, there is one gift that would certainly warm his heart: Large, gold-framed photos of all the CEOs of the major insurance companies that run his state of Connecticut, and run him.
Apparently some colleges and universities seem to think that students leave their First Amendment rights at the gate when they enroll.
According to a report by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, seven out of 10 American colleges and universities censor students' speech. The report was cited in a story posted on WorldNetDaily earlier this month.
Robert "Bob" Latane Forgie, Jr., 42, of Montvale, died Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009. Bob was born in Montvale on Oct. 16, 1967. He was the son of the late Robert Latane Forgie, Sr. and Hattie S. Forgie.
He was a member of Walnut Grove Baptist Church. Bob was a graduate of Liberty High School and VMI class of 1990.
If you're a fan of high school sports, you'll have to find something else to do this weekend. That's because the entire slate of activities for Liberty, Jefferson Forest and Staunton River have been scrapped.
The reason: expected heavy snows that might make travel to and from the games less safe than desired.
Athletic directors have already started setting up make-up dates. Here's what we know so far:
-The Bedford Brawl, Liberty's premier wrestling event, will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 22.
Copyright © 2015
The Bedford Bulletin is your source for local news, sports, events, and information in Bedford County and Bedford, VA and the surrounding area.


text:
WTF? Movie Bites: Owen Wilson will voice comic-strip dog for 'Marmaduke'
In "Marley & Me," Owen Wilson played second fiddle to a dog. For his next film, he's voicing a dog that doesn't talk. WTF?
Wilson has signed on for the title role in "Marmaduke," according to The Hollywood Reporter. The movie will mix CGI and live action (much like the comedy classic "Garfield") to bring to life the comic-strip about a great dane and his slobbery antics.
Unlike Garfield, Marmaduke does not talk in the comics, other than the odd bark. That makes us wonder whether the movie will take great liberties with its source material, or whether Wilson will merely be asked to woof every now and then.
Seriously, Owen, fire your agent.
"Marmaduke" has a tentative June 2010 release date.
Follow Zap2it on Twitter for the latest TV, movie and celebrity news updates.
WTF? Movie Bites: Robert DeNiro, Jude Law reportedly join 'Thor' cast
WTF? Movie Bites: Adrien Brody will fight 'Predators'
WTF? Movie Bites: Get ready for new 'Ghost Rider,' 'The Fly'


text:
Denna inspelning är gömd av ägaren.
Users who has favourited this
iHarmony skrev:
Well .. I will not judge ... But I will give my opinion ok? You do not sing so bad compared to many people I've seen much worse singing, with singing lessons, you would improve a lot! thousand Hugs 8)
2012-01-10 12:43:30
QueenXx skrev:
You did it nice but you can do it even better
2012-01-04 12:20:44
JessieRocket skrev:
People, the punctuation in this song is 5995...
2011-12-21 20:26:39
JessieRocket skrev:
Good... Hmm... I think you should recording more songs... Maybe that resolves the misunderstandings!
2011-12-21 20:22:51
DukeOfFlesh skrev:
2011-12-21 12:22:11
Vänligen logga logga in eller registrera dig för att kunna skriva kommentarer.


text:
Engineer's Guide to Cats: You don't want to miss this video!
By Gary Bogue
Friday, November 21st, 2008 at 6:36 am in Cats, Video.
This is a You-Tube link to a video called, "An Engineer's Guide to Cats." Reader Mike Shatto e-mailed this to me and says "It is a subtle riot. Enjoy."
** I'm taking my annual Thanksgiving Week vacation from Nov. 24-28 and I hope this hilarious video will help keep you amused until I return on Monday, Dec. 1. You have a Happy Thanksgiving yourself! /Gary
As Mike Shatto said, enjoy!
[You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.]


text:
Here you will be able to find and download or print forms needed for trips, such as Trip Info Sheets, Ten Essentials, Packing Lists for Trips, Permission Slips, Medical Forms, and more.
This form is used by the SPL to determine which scouts are interested in an attending an activity.
Needed for all outings
For day or weekend trip use only.
Forms A & B are used for outings lasting 72 hours or less; C must be completed for longer trips.
Updated for 2015.
This form is used to help plan meals for campouts
Mountain Man Rendevous for 2015 being held in Beatty, NV.
Check Calendar for Troop 7 information on attendance.


text:
(From left) City Councilman Jack Weiss, L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Councilman Dennis Zine join congregants at Beith David for their official move from their Reseda Boulevard synagogue to a new building on Clark Street on Sunday, July 9.
City Councilman Dennis Zine grabs a Torah to carry to Beith David¹s new building on Clark Street.
City Councilman Jack Weiss supports one of Beith David¹s Torah at the synagogues Reseda Boulevard location.
Congregants remove a covering from the Torah Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa carried to Beith David¹s new Clark Street building.
(From left) L.A. City Councilman Dennis Zine, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and Simon Wiesenthal Center associate dean Rabbi Abraham Cooper carry Beith David¹s Torahs down Reseda Boulevard to the synagogue¹s new Clark Street location.
L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa addresses congregants from the bimah at Beith David¹s new Clark Street building.
L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa inspects anti-Semitic graffiti scrawled onto a window of the Clark Street building. Beith David synagogue was the victim of an arson attack on Friday, July 7.
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text: Join WCLK Community Focus for a lively interview with Doug Shipman, CEO of Atlanta and the world's National Center for Civil and Human Rights. Our subject is the next edition of CNN Dialogues: Modern Marchers--Lessons From The Front Lines of Social Change. This panel discussion takes place Thursday, September 12 at the Carter Center from 7:00-8:30pm and is made possible by the James Weldon Johnson Institute of Emory University.


text:
I have been using Skype to connect to distant examiners (and myself, when I have been away) for about 5 years, with very few problems. The Dept of Biology has both laptops and a microphone that you can borrow, if needed. Here are a few things I have learned that make this process work well:
make sure you test your connection and software a day in advance of the meeting; both your computer and the remote computer should be using an up-to-date version of Skype, though I don't really like the new Skype 5.0 and am still using the previous Mac version (18.104.22.1681)
make sure both computers are connected to the web using ethernet rather than wifi if possible
in Biosciences, use a small room like 3108 if you can; it is sometimes hard to hear everyone in the larger rooms like 3012, even with a microphone
set Skype in the computer in the exam room to Auto-answer (under Preferences) so that if the connection is broken the remote examiner can reconnect automatically without disturbing the exam; also set the status to 'Do Not Disturb' so others don't call in accidentally
the remote examiner should use a headset with microphone and earphones if possible, as this reduces echoes
I find it best just to aim the camera at the student the whole time, rather than adjusting to point at each speaker
it's useful if the remote examiner can have the powerpoint presentation before the exam as they can then follow along during the seminar without having to point the camera at the screen, though that works OK too
set everything up in the exam room 15 min in advance and run a quick test call with the remote examiner
if you use the microphone, set it in the centre of the table, rather than moving it from examiner to examiner, so that the remote examiner can hear both the questions and the answers


text:
Your shopping cart is empty!
Our healthy air fryer is the perfect solution for healthier cooking. Now you can enjoy all the taste and crunch of fried foods without the fat. Two setting options: a manual option to allow you the freedom to select your time & temperature and a pre-programmed setting that takes the guesswork out of the frying process. It's easy to clean as the basket is dishwasher safe. Enclosed cooking means that there is no messy splatter. 2.5 Quart capacity.


text:
Releford loses homecoming 84-68 to No. 10 Missouri
Brown scored a career high 22 points on 7-for-11 overall shooting, three days after making only one of nine attempts in a two-point victory over Bucknell. The Oregon transfer has scored in double figures four of five games since becoming eligible at the semester break.
Earnest Ross added a season-best 19 points for Missouri and Oriakhi helped the Tigers pull away with 10 of his 16 points over the final 11 minutes, and he grabbed 11 rebounds. Oriakhi powered for two inside baskets in a 9-2 run that put the Tigers up 62-51 with 9 minutes to go and Alabama got no closer than six points the rest of the way.
Pressey had eight assists in the first half, largely negated by four turnovers including two giveaways in a span of just over a minute. One was so glaring he grabbed Levi Randolph for an intentional foul.
Missouri survived those mistakes behind 6-for-10 3-point shooting, with Brown going 3 for 4 and Ross 2 for 2.
The Associated Press


text:
While several major tech companies scrambled this weekend to save face following implications in the latest NSA revelations reported Thursday, several experts sounded the alarm over what they see as the greatest threat to internet privacy in all of the NSA revelations so far.
According to Thursday's reports, based on documents leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, the NSA (as well as the GCHQ) have used "covert measures" to control and manipulate international encryption standards, largely through building "industry relationships" with many technology companies and internet service providers, which in turn deploy 'backdoor' entry points into their email, online banking, and other such online databases and introduce weaknesses into their encryption standards to the benefit of NSA surveillance.
One document shows the GCHQ has been working to undermine encrypted traffic on the "big four" service providers, named as Hotmail, Google, Yahoo and Facebook.
Microsoft and Yahoo both released statements on Friday expressing "deep concern" about the revelations, and denied any "relationship building" with the NSA.
Google also said it was not aware of any covert attempts to compromise its systems and, in turn, has now accelerated its encryption services in order to prevent snooping by the NSA, according to the Washington Post.
However, for many experts, journalists, and technology analysts on the ground, whether or not the tech giants were complicit, the irreparable damage has already been done.
John Healey for the Lost Angeles Times explained Friday that the NSA is "planting weaknesses in the security technology that protects legitimate online communications for the sake of decrypting illegitimate ones," meaning the entirety of online security is compromised due to the NSA's actions.
"I'm looking forward to hearing the NSA's defenders explain why we should feel safer now," Healey writes. And also: "The latest Edward Snowden-powered exposé published by the New York Times, ProPublica and the Guardian is, to me, the most frightening."
"These revelations demonstrate a fundamental attack on the way the Internet works," senior staff technologist at the Center on Democracy and Technology Joseph Lorenzo Hall wrote in a statement.
Hall continues:
later wrote in an op-ed for the Guardian that the NSA and the implicated tech companies that work with them have "undermined a fundamental social contract." He continues:
told Democracy Now! on Friday. "Systematic efforts to ensure that there is no form of human commerce, human electronic communication, that is ever invulnerable to their prying eyes."
Schneier goes on his Guardian piece to list several things the engineering community "can – and should – do" to take back and rebuild internet safeguards.


text:
FIGURE 1 Examples of the contributions of federally supported fundamental research to the creation of IT sectors, firms, and products with large economic impact. Tracks added since the 2003 update of the figure are described in Appendix B. See also Box 1 and Appendix C.
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text:
About me
All about me. Me me me me me.
Birth date - October 24, 1973
Height - 6'1"
Eyes - brown
Hair - dark brown
Complexion - fair and freckly
Brain - wrinkly
Spouse - Laura Ann Katz (maiden name Toenjes)
Kids - 2 girls, Gwendolyn and Roseanna
Religion - unapologetically atheist
Damien Katz
12335 Panthersville dr.
Charlotte, NC 28269
home #: 704-547-0906
work #: 704-246-1724
I am the creator of CouchDB. I work on it full time at IBM.
My good points:
I am very devoted, loving and supportive of my wife and daughters. I have a very positive attitude and am energetic. I am smart and a fast learner, especially when it comes to math, science and engineering stuff. I love solving really hard problems. I am a hard worker, and I am very passionate about my work. I am very honest. I like to make lots of jokes, sometimes they are even funny. I take good care of myself and exercise regularly. I am athletic. I read constantly (always non-fiction). I have good eye for aesthetics. I am good with my hands and like to make things. I like to bake. I generally try not to take life too seriously.
My bad points:
I am egotistical, judgmental and sometimes have a bad temper (but I'm working on those things). I am vain and self conscious. I don't take very good care of my teeth (but I do floss regularly: once every 4 months, whether I need it or not). I am messy and disorganized. I have a short attention span in meetings and lectures. I take my work too seriously. I am brutally honest (but I'm convinced it's not really a bad point). My self-created list of bad points is oddly short, hmmmm.
My weird points:
While I am pretty athletic (strong, fast, can jump, etc), I'm physically uncoordinated and hence suck at nearly every sport (except basketball, I'm decent at that). I am somewhat shy around new people, sometimes it comes off as being as being a snob. I spend waaay too much time in front of the computer, but that's the way I like it. I drink lots of diet soda, lots. I can't whistle. Sometimes my feet smell like hot buttered popcorn. I once was the proprietor of liquidpoop.com -- the internet's largest repository of diarrhea-related poetry. Although I'm vain, my wardrobe mostly consists of stained, freebie t-shirts and a few pairs of jeans.


text:
The following is an archive of a post made to our
'vox mailing list'
by one of its subscribers.
P� l�rdag, 11 oktober 2003, skrev Henry House:
> P� fredag, 10 oktober 2003, skrev MB:
> > I am looking for a couple of 17, 19, or greater monitors for cheap.
> > Also a CDRW drive. If anyone can help out, please email off list. Is
> > there any leftover from the Geek Swap? When is the next one?
[snip: my reply, which should have been a private email]
Sorry, I should have sent my previous reply off-list.
But to make this post useful, I will also point out that the next geek swap
is not currently scheduled for lack of a volunteer to act as the coordinator.
Perhaps someone is interested in volunteering? It will be an all-day job but
LUGOD will buy your lunch. Please send me an email (off-list ;-) ) if you
want to volunteer.
Henry House
The unintelligible text that may follow is a digital signature.
See <http://hajhouse.org/pgp> for information. My OpenPGP key:
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