is a 1962 Japanese jidaigeki film directed by Masaki Kobayashi. The story takes place between 1619 and 1630 during the Edo period and the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate. It tells the story of the rōnin Hanshirō Tsugumo, who requests to commit seppuku (harakiri) within the manor of a local feudal lord, using the opportunity to explain the events that drove him to ask for death before an audience of samurai. The film continues to receive critical acclaim, often considered one of the best samurai pictures ever made.

Plot
The film takes place in Edo in the year 1630. A rōnin called Tsugumo Hanshirō arrives at the estate of the Iyi Clan and says that he wishes to commit seppuku within the courtyard of the palace. To deter him, Saitō Kageyu, the daimyō's senior counselor, tells Hanshirō the story of another rōnin, Chijiiwa Motome—formerly of the same clan as Hanshirō.

Saitō scornfully recalls the practice of rōnin requesting the chance to commit seppuku on the clan's land, but in fact  hoping to be turned away and given alms. Motome had arrived at the palace a few months earlier and made the same request as Hanshirō. Infuriated by the rising number of "suicide bluffs", the three most senior samurai of the clan—Yazaki Hayato, Kawabe Umenosuke, and Omodaka Hikokuro—persuaded Saitō to force Motome to follow through and kill himself, ignoring his request for a couple of days delay. Upon examining Motome's swords, his blades were found to be made of bamboo. Enraged that any samurai would "pawn his soul", the House of Iyi forced Motome to disembowel himself with his own bamboo blade, making his death slow, agonizingly painful, and deeply humiliating.

Despite this warning, Hanshirō insists that he has never heard of Motome and says that he is sincere in wanting to commit seppuku. Just as the ceremony is about to begin, Hanshirō is asked to name the samurai who shall behead him when the ritual is complete. To the shock of Saitō and the Iyi retainers, Hanshirō successively names Hayato, Umenosuke, and Hikokuro — the three samurai who coerced the suicide of Motome. When messengers are dispatched to summon them, all three decline to come, with each claiming to be too ill to attend.

While waiting for the messengers to return, Hanshirō recounts his life story to the assembled samurai, starting with the admission that he did know Motome. In 1619, his clan was abolished by the Shōgun. His lord decided to commit seppuku and, as his most senior samurai, Hanshirō planned to die alongside him. To prevent this, Hanshirō's closest friend took his place instead, leaving Hanshirō responsible for his teenage son, Motome. In order to support Motome and his own daughter Miho, Hanshirō rented a hovel in the slums of Edo, taking up work as a fan and umbrella craftsman while Motome became a teacher. Realizing the love between Motome and Miho, Hanshirō arranged for them to marry. Soon after, they had a son, Kingo.

When Miho became ill with tuberculosis, Motome could not bear the thought of losing her and did everything to raise money to hire a doctor. When Kingo also fell ill, Motome left one morning, saying he planned to take out a loan from a moneylender. Later that evening, Hayato, Umenosuke, and Hikokuro brought home Motome's mutilated body, and described and mocked his death before leaving. It is now clear that Motome had requested a delay so he could visit his family and put his affairs in order. A few days later, Kingo died, and Miho lost the will to live and died, leaving Hanshirō with nothing. Finishing his story, Hanshirō explains that his sole desire is to join Motome, Miho, and Kingo in death. He explains, however, that they have every right to ask him whether justice has been exacted for their deaths. Therefore, Hanshirō asks Saitō if he has any statement of regret to convey to Motome, Miho, and Kingo. He explains that, if Saitō does so, he will die without saying another word. Saitō refuses, calling Motome an "extortionist" who deserved to die.

After provoking Saitō's laughter by calling the samurai moral code bushido a facade, Hanshirō reveals the last part of his story. Before coming to the Iyi estate, he tracked down Hayato and Umenosuke and cut off their topknots. Hikokuro then visited Hanshirō's hovel and, with great respect, challenged him to a duel. After a brief but tense sword fight, Hikokuro suffers a double disgrace: his sword is broken and his topknot is taken as well. As proof, Hanshirō removes their labelled topknots from his kimono and casts them upon the palace courtyard. He mocks the Iyi clan, saying that if the men he humiliated were true samurai, they would not be hiding out of shame. He also questions the clan's honor and bushido itself, pointing out that they should not have ignored Motome's request for a delay to his seppuku without investigating the reason why he asked, but they were too preoccupied with their supposed honor to care.

Having badly lost face, an enraged Saitō calls Hanshirō a madman and orders the retainers to kill him. In a fierce battle, Hanshirō kills four samurai, wounds eight, and contemptuously smashes into pieces the antique suit of armor which symbolizes the glorious history of the House of Iyi. Finally, the clan corners Hanshirō and prepares to kill him not with swords, but with three matchlock guns. As Hanshirō commits seppuku, he is simultaneously shot by all three gunmen.

Terrified that the Iyi clan will be abolished if word gets out that "a half starved rōnin" killed so many of their retainers, Saitō announces that all deaths caused by Hanshirō shall be explained by "illness". At the same time, a messenger returns reporting that Hikokuro had killed himself the day before, while Hayato and Umenosuke are both faking illness. Saitō angrily orders that Hayato and Umenosuke are to be forced to commit seppuku as atonement for losing their topknots. Those three deaths shall be also attributed to "illness".

As the suit of armor is cleaned and re-erected, a new entry in the official records of the House of Iyi is read by a voiceover. Hanshirō is declared to have been mentally unstable, and he and Motome are both listed as having died through harakiri. The Shōgun is said to have issued a personal commendation to the lord of the Iyi clan for how his councilors handled the suicide bluffs of Motome and Hanshirō. At the end of his letter, the Shōgun praises the House of Iyi and their samurai as exemplars of bushido. As workers scrub the blood from the ground of the clan's estate, one of them finds a severed topknot and places it in his work bucket.

Cast
 Tatsuya Nakadai –
 Rentarō Mikuni –
 Akira Ishihama –
 Shima Iwashita –
 Tetsurō Tamba –
 Ichirō Nakatani –
 Masao Mishima –
 Kei Satō –
 Yoshio Inaba –
 Yoshiro Aoki –

Themes
When asked about the theme of his film, Kobayashi said: "All of my pictures ... are concerned with resisting an entrenched power. That's what Harakiri is about, of course, and Rebellion as well. I suppose I've always challenged authority".

Audie Bock describes the theme of Harakiri as "the inhumanity of this requirement for those who dutifully adhered to it, and the hypocrisy of those who enforced this practice". The movie doesn't so much challenge the practice of seppuku; rather, it highlights an instance when it occurred in a punitive and hypocritical environment. The notions of honor and bravery associated with it can be a false front, as the protagonist puts it, serving more as a means of preserving reputations than of actually atoning for a crime or misdeed.

The empty suit of armor, shown in the beginning, symbolizes the past glory of the Iyi clan, and is treated by them with reverence. However, the samurai of the Iyi house behave like cowards in the fight with Tsugumo, who mockingly tries to use the armor as a shield before smashing it on the ground. Kobayashi makes a point here that this symbol of military prowess turns out to be an empty one.

Kobayashi also attacks two other important attributes of the samurai rank: the sword and the topknot. Motome finds out that his swords are of no use to him if he cannot provide for his family and so he sells them to pay for his son's medical care. When Tsugumo takes his revenge on the three men complicit in Motome's death, he prefers divesting them of their topknots rather than killing them. At the time, losing one's topknot was the same as losing one's sword, and death would be preferable to such dishonor. However, only one of the three samurai, Omodaka, actually commits seppuku, with the other two being forced by the clan to take their own lives at sword point. Thus, the way Tsugumo takes revenge is very subtle: he makes the clan live by the rules they claim to uphold and which they used to punish Motome.

The daily record book of the clan that appears in the beginning and the end of the film "represents the recorded lies of history". Tsugumo's death is falsely labeled as suicide, the three samurai and the men he killed are said to have died of natural causes rather than violence, and the entire story of his challenge to the clan is swept under the rug to protect the façade of "the unjust power structure" that the Iyi clan represents.

Release
Harakiri was released in Japan in 1962. The film was released by Shochiku Film of America with English subtitles in the United States in December 1963.

Reception
In a contemporary review, the Monthly Film Bulletin stated that Masaki Kobayashi's "slow, measured cadence perfectly matches his subject" and that the "story itself is beautifully constructed". The review praised Tatsuya Nakadai's "brilliant, Mifune-like performance" and noted that the film was "on occasion brutal, particularly in the young samurai's terrible agony with his bamboo sword" and that although "some critics have remarked [...] that being gory is not the best way to deplore wanton bloodshed, Harakiri still looks splendid with its measured tracking shots, its slow zooms, its reflective overhead shots of the courtyard, and its frequent poised immobility". The New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther was unimpressed with "the tortured human drama in this film" but added that "Mr. Kobayashi does superb things with architectural compositions, moving forms and occasionally turbulent gyrations of struggling figures in the CinemaScope-size screen. He achieves a sort of visual mesmerization that is suitable to the curious nightmare mood". Cid Corman wrote in Film Quarterly that "the beauty of the film seems largely due to Kobayashi's underlying firmness of conception and prevailing spirit, by an unevasive concern for cinematic values".

Donald Richie called it the director's "single finest picture" and quoted Kobayashi's mentor Keisuke Kinoshita who named it among the top five greatest Japanese films of all time. Audie Bock wrote: "Harakiri avoids the sentimentality of some of his earlier films, such as The Human Condition, through a new emphasis on visual-auditory aesthetics with the cold formality of compositions and Takemitsu's electronic score. But none of Kobayashi's social protests is diminished in the film's construction – it's Mizoguchi-like circularity that bitterly denies any hope for human progress". More recently Roger Ebert added Harakiri to his list of "Great Movies", writing in his 2012 review: "Samurai films, like westerns, need not be familiar genre stories. They can expand to contain stories of ethical challenges and human tragedy. Harakiri, one of the best of them, is about an older wandering samurai who takes his time to create an unanswerable dilemma for the elder of a powerful clan. By playing strictly within the rules of Bushido Code which governs the conduct of all samurai, he lures the powerful leader into a situation where sheer naked logic leaves him humiliated before his retainers".

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 100% rating based on nine critic reviews, with an average rating of 8.01/10.

As of 19 June 2023, the film is the highest rated of all time on the online social networking service Letterboxd, with an average rating of 4.67/5.

Awards
The film was entered in the competition category at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival. It lost the Palme d'Or to The Leopard, but received the Special Jury Award.

Remake
The film was remade by Japanese director Takashi Miike as a 3D film titled Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai. It premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

References

Sources

External links

Harakiri: Kobayashi and History an essay by Joan Mellen at the Criterion Collection

1962 films
Japanese black-and-white films
Films directed by Masaki Kobayashi
1960s Japanese-language films
Jidaigeki films
Samurai films
Shochiku films
Films with screenplays by Shinobu Hashimoto
Films set in the 17th century
Films scored by Toru Takemitsu
1960s historical drama films
Japanese historical drama films
Japanese films about revenge
Japanese vigilante films
1960s Japanese films

Harakiri (1962 film)


A hardiness zone is an area where some plants can grow. The zones are categories based on the average coldest temperature in a given year. Plants in that category or one with a lower number can grown in that area.

Agriculture

Hardiness zone


iWantTFC is a Filipino over-the-top content platform and production company owned and operated by ABS-CBN Digital Media, a division of ABS-CBN Corporation, formed in 2020 through the merger of two streaming services iWant and TFC Online. In addition to offering on-demand contents of ABS-CBN, iWantTFC also live streams linear channels such as Kapamilya Channel, DWPM, TeleRadyo Serbisyo, Knowledge Channel, FashionTV, A8 ESports, and Black Belt.

The service is available worldwide, primarily catering to a Filipino audience. The service is also a replacement for Sky On Demand of Sky Cable on September 1, 2020.

History

ABS-CBNnow! (2003–2010)
Launched in 2003 as ABS-CBNnow!, a service primarily focusing to the overseas Filipino workers where they can watch ABS-CBN programs such as MTB, The Buzz and Magandang Gabi Bayan anywhere in the world using a PC with high-speed Internet or broadband connection. Users can stream directly or download files and are required to install Windows Media Player in order to view contents which are DRM protected. It is one of the first Filipino owned OTT platform. As of October 2005, there are approximately 23,000 subscribers worldwide. The biggest share of its subscribers comes from the United States with 8,000, another 6,000 in the United Kingdom, 4,000 in Canada, and the rest in Korea, Japan, the Philippines and other Asian countries.

iWant TV (2010–2018)
From its launch until 2015, iWant TV had foreign contents from many pan-regional television channels such as NatGeo, the Food Network, E!, CNN, and Cartoon Network. These particular contents are now diverted into a new service called Sky On Demand which is exclusive to Sky subscribers.
In August 2015, iWant TV, together with StarFlix (a division of Star Cinema) and Wattpad, released Must Date the Playboy, starring Kim Chiu, Xian Lim and directed by Mae Cruz Alviar, the first movie to be released exclusively through iWant TV and ABS-CBN Mobile service.

On September 26, 2016, a partnership with PLDT and its subsidiary Smart Communications was announced during a signing ceremony attended by Eugenio Lopez III (Chairman of ABS-CBN), Carlo Katigbak (President and CEO of ABS-CBN), Manny Pangilinan (Chairman of PLDT) and other ABS-CBN, PLDT and Smart executives. The partnership will enable PLDT and Smart customers to access the iWant TV website and mobile apps.

In 2018, iWant TV began streaming Filipino-dubbed Japanese anime series and movies that aired on ABS-CBN's original channel, starting with the hit anime film Your Name.

As iWant (2018–2020)

On November 16, 2018, the service officially relaunched as iWant, which now emphasizes on adding original content similar to Netflix and Iflix, featuring Spirits: Reawaken (a reboot version of the original 2004–2005 TV series), Quezon's Game, and Alamat ng Ano. Glorious and MA were the first two iWant original movies.
In May 2019, the service adds the 2005 version of the Japanese animé series Doraemon (which airs on Yey!, an exclusive channel of ABS-CBN TV Plus), becoming the second animé title to be streamed on iWant.

A television special called iWant Originals premiered on ABS-CBN's Yes Weekend! Sunday evening block on August 11, 2019, replacing the 14-year-old comedy gag show Goin' Bulilit. Some scenes were edited for the TV version due to strict guidelines of the MTRCB. On August 18, Call Me Tita was the first original series to premiere simultaneously on both iWant and ABS-CBN. iWant Originals was cancelled on September 22, 2019, to give way for the Kapamilya Super Blockbusters movie block.

On March 16, 2020, iWant Originals returned on ABS-CBN's Primetime Bida as part of the special TV programming due to the Enhanced community quarantine in Luzon caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines. iWant Originals showcased some of their fresh, most-watched programs. In the list are; Julia Barretto's mystery-thriller I Am U, making it the lead miniseries, followed by Jodi Sta. Maria's My Single Lady and Joseph Marco's Uncoupling.

Various iWant Originals series airs weekdays on The Filipino Channel, a global subscription television network owned and operated by ABS-CBN. Each series or part of a mini-series will be replaced by another iWant Originals series. Beginning with Past, Present, Perfect? which aired on May 4, 2020; followed by Taiwan That You Love on May 12; My Single Lady on May 20; Uncoupling on May 28; The End: Balikbayan on June 5; Spirits: Reawaken on June 8; The End: Accidental Friend on June 26; Bagman on June 29; Touchscreen:Wittyrella; Touchscreen:It's A Match; Bagman: New Season; The End: Third Wheel on July 30; Alamat ng Ano on August 3; HIGH on August 17; Ang Babae sa Septic Tank 3: The Real Untold Story of Josephine Bracken on August 27; Jhon en Martian on September 7, as part of the special TV programming due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On the weekends, TNT Boys: Journey to the World Stage, a documentary series airing on June 6, 2020. Also, another documentary series Unlisted, airing in July 2020. iWant Originals ended on September 25, 2020.

iWant also streamed Pantawid ng Pag-ibig: At Home Together Concert on March 22, 2020, together with ABS-CBN, S+A, ANC, Jeepney TV, DZMM Radyo Patrol 630, DZMM Teleradyo, Metro Channel, Myx, Asianovela Channel, and TFC. The concert was aimed to help the people who were in need because of the community quarantine in Luzon and the COVID-19 pandemic.

As iWantTFC (2020–present)
On September 1, 2020, iWant merged with TFC Online and was soft launched as iWantTFC. The service inherited the worldwide accessibility of the latter service. TFC IPTV and TFC Direct via cable and satellite subscribers have instant online access to iWantTFC with TFC Everywhere (TVE) feature. They also made iWantTFC's full library accessible for free for users in the Philippines.

On April 26, 2023, ABS-CBN and GMA Network announced its collaboration to offer GMA's international channels namely GMA Pinoy TV, GMA Life TV, and GMA News TV as well as selected GMA programs on iWantTFC starting May 1 for users outside of the Philippines and North America (particularly Canada and the United States).

On October 30 2023, was soft launched as iWantTFC World is a international streaming platform for Filipino Overseas.

Content

iWantTFC stores over 10,000 hours of content and programs, over 1,000 films, and several live on-demand channels and video-on-demand. Most of its content and films are produced by ABS-CBN Corporation's divisions such as ABS-CBN Entertainment and ABS-CBN Films. In addition, there are over 20 original films and over 50 original series produced by iWantTFC.

The platform also provides live streams of several of ABS-CBN's broadcast properties, some operated by ABS-CBN's subsidiaries Creative Programs, Inc. and ABS-CBN International. Kapamilya Channel, TeleRadyo Serbisyo (formerly known as ABS-CBN TeleRadyo), and Knowledge Channel are exclusively available in the Philippines; while The Filipino Channel, ANC Global, ABS-CBN TeleRadyo, Cinema One Global, Cine Mo! Global, MOR Entertainment and Myx America (North America Only) are available outside of the Philippines.

On April 26, 2023, ABS-CBN and GMA Network announced that GMA Pinoy TV and select GMA programs will be available on ABS-CBN's iWantTFC for viewers outside of the Philippines and North America. Effective May 1, 2023 the streaming channels of GMA Pinoy TV, GMA News TV and GMA Life TV are available on iWant TFC in Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific.

Notes

References

External links

ABS-CBN Digital Media
Philippine entertainment websites
Video on demand services
Streaming television
2003 establishments in the Philippines
Internet properties established in 2003
ABS-CBN subsidiaries

IWantTFC


The  history of the Jews in Belarus begins as early as the 8th century. Jews lived in all parts of the lands of modern Belarus. In 1897, the Jewish population of Belarus reached 910,900, or 14.2% of the total population.  Following the Polish-Soviet War (1919-1920), under the terms of the Treaty of Riga, Belarus was split into Eastern Belorussia (under Soviet occupation) and Western Belorussia (under Polish occupation),  and causing 350,000-450,000 of the Jews to be governed by Poland.  Prior to World War II, Jews were the third largest ethnic group in Belarus and comprised more than 40% of urban population. The population of cities such as Minsk, Pinsk, Mahiliou, Babrujsk, Viciebsk, and Homiel was more than 50% Jewish. In 1926 and 1939 there were between 375,000 and 407,000 Jews in Belarus (Eastern Belorussia) or 6.7-8.2% of the total population.  Following the Soviet annexation of Eastern Poland in 1939, including Western Belorussia, Belarus would again have 1,175,000 Jews within its borders, including 275,000 Jews from Poland, Ukraine, and elsewhere. It is estimated 800,000 of 900,000 — 90% of the Jews of Belarus —were killed during the Holocaust.  According to the 2019 Belarusian census, there were 13,705 self-identifying Jews in Belarus, of which most are of Ashkenazi origin.  However, the Israeli embassy in Belarus claims to know about 30-50 thousand Belarusians with Jewish descent (as of 2017).

Early history

Throughout several centuries the lands of modern Belarus and the Republic of Lithuania were both parts of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Therefore, the history of Belarusian Jews is closely related to the history of Jews in Lithuania and historically they could be seen as a subset of Lithuanian Jews.

As early as the 8th century Jews lived in parts of the lands of modern Belarus. Beginning with that period they conducted the trade between Ruthenia, Lithuania, and the Baltic, especially with Danzig, Julin (Vineta or Wollin, in Pomerania), and other cities on the Vistula, Oder, and Elbe.

The origin of Belarusian Jews has been the subject of much speculation. It is believed that they were made up of two distinct streams of Jewish immigration. The older and significantly smaller of the two entered the territory that would later become the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the east. These early immigrants spoke Judeo-Slavic dialects which distinguished them from the later Jewish immigrants who entered the region from the Germanic lands.

While the origin of these eastern Jews is not certain, historical evidence places Jewish refugees from Babylonia, Palestine, the Byzantine Empire and other Jewish refugees and settlers in the lands between the Baltic and Black Seas that would become part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The later and much larger stream of immigration originated in the 12th century and received an impetus from the persecution of the German Jews by the Crusaders. The traditional language of the vast majority of Lithuanian Jews, Yiddish, is based largely upon the Medieval German and Hebrew spoken by the western Germanic Jewish immigrants.

The peculiar conditions that prevailed in Belarus compelled the first Jewish settlers to adopt a different mode of life from that followed by their western ethnic brethren. At that time there were no cities in the western sense of the word in Belarus, no Magdeburg Rights or close guilds at that time.

Increasing prosperity and the great charter (1320–1432)

With the campaign of Gediminas and his subjection of Kiev and Volhynia (1320–1321) the Jewish inhabitants of these territories were induced to spread throughout the northern provinces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The probable importance of the southern Jews in the development of Belarus and Lithuania is indicated by their numerical prominence in Volhynia in the 13th century. According to an annalist who describes the funeral of the grand duke Vladimir Vasilkovich in the city of Vladimir (Volhynia), "the Jews wept at his funeral as at the fall of Jerusalem, or when being led into the Babylonian captivity." This sympathy and the record thereof would seem to indicate that long before the event in question the Jews had enjoyed considerable prosperity and influence, and this gave them a certain standing under the new régime. They took an active part in the development of the new cities under the tolerant rule of duke Gediminas.

Little is known of the fortunes of the Belarusian Jews during the troublous times that followed the death of Gediminas and the accession of his grandson Vitaut (1341). To the latter, the Jews owed a charter of privileges which was momentous in the subsequent history of the Jews of Belarus and Lithuania. The documents granting privileges first to the Jews of Brest (July 1, 1388) and later to those of Hrodna, Troki (1389), Lutsk, Vladimir, and other large towns are the earliest documents to recognize the Jews of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as possessing a distinct organization.

The gathering together of the scattered Jewish settlers in sufficient numbers and with enough power to form such an organization and to obtain privileges from their Lithuanian rulers implies the lapse of considerable time. The Jews who dwelt in smaller towns and villages were not in need of such privileges at this time, and the mode of life, as Abraham Harkavy suggests, "the comparative poverty, and the ignorance of Jewish learning among the Lithuanian Jews retarded their intercommunal organization." But powerful forces hastened this organization toward the close of the 14th century. The chief of these was probably the cooperation of the Jews of Poland with their brethren in the GDL. After the death of Casimir III (1370), the condition of the Polish Jews changed for the worse. The influence of the Roman Catholic clergy at the Polish court grew; Louis of Anjou was indifferent to the welfare of his subjects, and his eagerness to convert the Jews to Christianity, together with the increased Jewish immigration from Germany, caused the Polish Jews to become apprehensive for their future.

The Charter of 1388

On this account it seems more than likely that influential Polish Jews cooperated with the leading Belarusian and Lithuanian communities in securing a special charter from Vitaut (Witold). The preamble of the charter reads as follows:

In the name of God, Amen. All deeds of men, when they are not made known by the testimony of witnesses or in writing, pass away and vanish and are forgotten. Therefore, we, Alexander, also called Vitovt, by the grace of God Grand Duke of Lithuania and ruler of Brest, Dorogicz, Lutsk, Vladimir, and other places, make known by this charter to the present and future generations, or to whomever it may concern to know or hear of it, that, after due deliberation with our nobles we have decided to grant to all the Jews living in our domains the rights and liberties mentioned in the following charter.

The charter itself was modeled upon similar documents granted by Casimir the Great, and earlier by Boleslaw of Kalisz, to the Jews in Poland in 1084. Under the charter, the Jews of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania formed a class of freemen subject in all criminal cases directly to the jurisdiction of the grand duke and his official representatives, and in petty suits to the jurisdiction of local officials on an equal footing with the lesser nobles (szlachta), boyars, and other free citizens. The official representatives of the grand duke were the elder (starosta), known as the "Jewish judge" (judex Judæorum), and his deputy. The Jewish judge decided all cases between Christians and Jews and all criminal suits in which Jews were concerned; in civil suits, however, he acted only on the application of the interested parties. Either party who failed to obey the judge's summons had to pay him a fine. To him also belonged all fines collected from Jews for minor offenses. His duties included the guardianship of the persons, property, and freedom of worship of the Jews. He had no right to summon any one to his court except upon the complaint of an interested party. In matters of religion the Jews were given extensive autonomy.

Under these equitable laws the Jews of Belarus and Lithuania reached a degree of prosperity unknown to their Polish and German co-religionists at that time. The communities of Brest, Hrodna, Minsk, Troki and Lutsk rapidly grew in wealth and influence. Every community had at its head a Jewish elder. These elders represented the communities in all external relations, in securing new privileges, and in the regulation of taxes. Such officials are not, however, referred to by the title "elder" before the end of the 16th century. Up to that time the documents merely state, for instance, that the "Jews of Brest humbly apply," etc. On assuming office the elders declared under oath that they would discharge the duties of the position faithfully, and would relinquish the office at the expiration of the appointed term. The elder acted in conjunction with the rabbi, whose jurisdiction included all Jewish affairs with the exception of judicial cases assigned to the court of the deputy, and by the latter to the king. In religious affairs, however, an appeal from the decision of the rabbi and the elder was permitted only to a council consisting of the chief rabbis of the king's cities. The cantor, sexton, and shochet were subject to the orders of the rabbi and elder.

The goodwill and tolerance of Vitaut endeared him to his Jewish subjects, and for a long time traditions concerning his generosity and nobility of character were current among them. His cousin, the king of Poland Jagiello, did not interfere with his administration during Vitaut's lifetime.

Jagiellon rule
In 1569 Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were united. It was generally a time of prosperity and relative safety for the Jews of both countries (with the exception of the Chmielnicki Uprising in the 17th century). However, a few events, such as the expulsion of the Jews from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania between 1495 and 1503 occurred just within the Grand Duchy.

Expulsion of the Jews in 1495 and return in 1503

Casimir was succeeded as king of Poland by his son John Albert, and on the Lithuanian throne by his younger son, Alexander Jagellon. The latter confirmed the charter of privileges granted to the Jews by his predecessors, and even gave them additional rights. His father's Jewish creditors received part of the sums due to them, the rest being withheld under various pretexts. The attitude toward the Jews which had characterized the Lithuanian rulers for generations was unexpectedly and radically changed by a decree promulgated by Alexander in April, 1495. By this decree all Jews living in Lithuania proper and the adjacent territories were summarily ordered to leave the country.

The expulsion was evidently not accompanied by the usual cruelties; for there was no popular animosity toward the Jews, and the decree was regarded as an act of mere willfulness on the part of an absolute ruler. Some of the nobility, however, approved Alexander's decree, expecting to profit by the departure of their Jewish creditors, as is indicated by numerous lawsuits on the return of the exiles to Lithuania in 1503. It is known from the Hebrew sources that some of the exiles migrated to the Crimea, and that by far the greater number settled in Poland, where, by permission of King John Albert, they established themselves in the towns situated near the boundary of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. This permission, given at first for a period of two years, was extended "because of the extreme poverty of the Jews on account of the great losses sustained by them." The extension, which applied to all the towns of the kingdom, accorded the enjoyment of all the liberties that had been granted to their Polish brethren (Kraków, June 29, 1498). The expelled Karaites settled in the Polish town of Ratno.

The causes of the unexpected expulsion were probably many, including religious reasons, the need to fill a depleted treasury by confiscating the Jews' money, personal animosity, and other causes.

Soon after Alexander's accession to the throne of Poland he permitted the Jewish exiles to return to Lithuania. Beginning in March, 1503, as is shown by documents still extant, their houses, lands, synagogues, and cemeteries were returned to them, and permission was granted them to collect their old debts. The new charter of privileges permitted them to live throughout Lithuania as before. The return of the Jews and their attempt to regain their old possessions led to many difficulties and lawsuits. Alexander found it necessary to issue an additional decree (April, 1503), directing his vice-regent to enforce the law. In spite of this some of the property was not recovered by the Jews for years.

The Act of 1566

The middle of the 16th century witnessed a growing antagonism between the lesser nobility and the Jews. Their relations became strained, and the enmity of the Christians began to disturb the life of the Litvak Jews. The anti-Jewish feeling, due at first to economic causes engendered by competition, was fostered by the clergy, who were then engaged in a crusade against "heretics," notably the Lutherans, Calvinists, and Jews. The Reformation, which had spread from Germany, tended to weaken the allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church. Frequent instances occurred of the marriage of Catholic women to Jews, Turks, or Tatars. The Bishop of Wilno (Vilnius) complained to Sigismund August (Dec., 1548) of the frequency of such mixed marriages and of the education of the offspring in their fathers' faiths. The szlachta also saw in the Jews dangerous competitors in commercial and financial undertakings. In their dealings with the agricultural classes the lords preferred the Jews as middlemen, thus creating a feeling of injury on the part of the szlachta. The exemption of the Jews from military service and the power and wealth of the Jewish tax-farmers intensified the resentment of the szlachta. Members of the nobility attempted to compete with the Jews as leaseholders of customs revenues, but were never successful. Since the Jews lived in the towns and on the lands of the king, the nobility could not wield any authority over them nor derive profit from them. They had not even the right to settle Jews on their estates without the permission of the king; but, on the other hand, they were often annoyed by the erection on their estates of the tollhouses of the Jewish tax-collectors.

Hence when the strategic moment arrived, the Lithuanian nobility endeavored to secure greater power over the Jews. At the Diet of Vilna in 1551 the nobility urged the imposition of a special polltax of one ducat per head, and the Volhynian nobles demanded that the Jewish tax-collectors be forbidden to erect tollhouses or place guards at the taverns on their estates.

The opposition to the Jews was finally crystallized and found definite expression in the repressive Lithuanian statute of 1566, when the nobles of Belarus and Lithuania were first allowed to take part in the national legislation. Paragraph Twelve of this statute contains the following articles:

"The Jews shall not wear costly clothing, nor gold chains, nor shall their wives wear gold or silver ornaments. The Jews shall not have silver mountings on their sabers and daggers; they shall be distinguished by characteristic clothes; they shall wear yellow caps, and their wives kerchiefs of yellow linen, in order that all may be enabled to distinguish Jews from Christians."

Other restrictions of a similar nature are contained in the same paragraph. However, the king checked the desire of the nobility to modify essentially the old charters of the Jews.

Effect of the Cossacks' Uprising in Belarus

The fury of the 1648–1657 Cossack rebellion in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth destroyed the organization of the Jewish communities in Belarus. The survivors who returned to their old homes in the latter half of the 17th century were practically destitute. John Casimir (1648–1668) sought to ameliorate their condition by granting various concessions to the Jewish communities of Lithuania. Attempts to return to the old order in the communal organization were not wanting, as is evident from contemporary documents. Thus in 1672, Jewish elders from various towns and villages in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania secured a charter from King Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki (1669–1673), decreeing "that on account of the increasing number of Jews guilty of offenses against the Szlachta and other Christians, which result in the enmity of the Christians toward the Jews, and because of the inability of the Jewish elders to punish such offenders, who are protected by the lords, the king permits the kahals to summon the criminals before the Jewish courts for punishment and exclusion from the community when necessary." The efforts to resurrect the old power of the kahals were not successful.

Jewish culture in Belarus

The founding of the yeshivas in Belarus was due to the Lithuanian-Polish Jews who studied in the west, and to the German Jews who migrated about that time to Belarus, Lithuania and Poland. Very little is known of these early yeshivas. No mention is made of them or of prominent Lithuanian rabbis in Jewish writings until the 16th century. The first known rabbinical authority and head of a yeshiva was Isaac Bezaleel of Vladimir, Volhynia, who was already an old man when Solomon Luria went to Ostrog in the fourth decade of the 16th century. Another rabbinical authority, Kalman Haberkaster, rabbi of Ostrog and predecessor of Luria, died in 1559. Occasional references to the yeshiva of Brest are found in the writings of the contemporary rabbis Solomon Luria (d. 1585), Moses Isserles (d. 1572), and David Gans (d. 1589), who speak of its activity. Of the yeshiva of Ostrog and Vladimir in Volhynia it is known that they were in a flourishing condition at the middle of the 16th century, and that their heads vied with one another in Talmudic scholarship. Mention is also made by Gans of the head of the Kremenetz yeshiva, Isaac Cohen (d. 1573), of whom but little is known otherwise.

At the time of the Lublin Union, Solomon Luria was rabbi of Ostrog, and was regarded as one of the greatest Talmudic authorities in Poland and the GDL. In 1568 King Sigismund ordered that the suits between Isaac Borodavka and Mendel Isakovich, who were partners in the farming of certain customs taxes in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, be carried for decision to Rabbi Solomon Luria and two auxiliary rabbis from Pinsk and Tiktin.

The far-reaching authority of the leading rabbis of Poland and Lithuania, and their wide knowledge of practical life, are apparent from numerous decisions cited in the responsa. They were always the champions of justice and morality. In the Eitan ha-Ezrachi (Ostrog, 1796) of Abraham Rapoport (known also as Abraham Schrenzel; d. 1650), Rabbi Meïr Sack is cited as follows: "I emphatically protest against the custom of our communal leaders of purchasing the freedom of Jewish criminals. Such a policy encourages crime among our people. I am especially troubled by the fact that, thanks to the clergy, such criminals may escape punishment by adopting Christianity. Mistaken piety impels our leaders to bribe the officials, in order to prevent such conversions. We should endeavor to deprive criminals of opportunities to escape justice." The same sentiment was expressed in the 16th century by Maharam Lublin (Responsa, § 138). Another instance, cited by Katz from the same responsa, likewise shows that Jewish criminals invoked the aid of priests against the authority of Jewish courts by promising to become converts to Christianity.

The decisions of the Polish-Lithuanian rabbis are frequently marked by breadth of view also, as is instanced by a decision of Joel Sirkes (Bayis Hadash, § 127) to the effect that Jews may employ in their religious services the melodies used in Christian churches, "since music is neither Jewish nor Christian, and is governed by universal laws."

Decisions by Luria, Meïr Katz, and Mordecai Jaffe show that the rabbis were acquainted with the Russian language and its philology. Jaffe, for instance, in a divorce case where the spelling of the woman's name as Lupka or Lubka was in question, decided that the word is correctly spelled with a "b," and not with a "p," since the origin of the name was the Russian verb  = "to love," and not  = "to beat" (Levush ha-Butz we-Argaman, § 129). Meïr Katz (Geburat Anashim, § 1) explains that the name of Brest-Litovsk is written in divorce cases "Brest" and not "Brisk," "because the majority of the Lithuanian Jews use the Russian language." It is not so with Brisk, in the district of Kujawa, the name of that town being always spelled "Brisk." Katz (a German) at the conclusion of his responsum expresses the hope that when Lithuania shall have become more enlightened, the people will speak one language only—German—and that also Brest-Litovsk will be written "Brisk."

Items from the Responsa
The responsa shed an interesting light also on the life of the Lithuanian Jews and on their relations to their Christian neighbors.  states in his Mas'at Binyamin (end of sixteenth and beginning of 17th century) that "the Christians borrow clothes and jewelry from the Jews when they go to church." Joel Sirkis (l.c. § 79) relates that a Christian woman came to the rabbi and expressed her regret at having been unable to save the Jew Shlioma from drowning. A number of Christians had looked on indifferently while the drowning Jew was struggling in the water. They were upbraided and beaten severely by the priest, who appeared a few minutes later, for having failed to rescue the Jew.

Solomon Luria gives an account (Responsa, § 20) of a quarrel that occurred in a Lithuanian community concerning a cantor whom some of the members wished to dismiss. The synagogue was closed in order to prevent him from exercising his functions, and religious services were thus discontinued for several days. The matter was thereupon carried to the local lord, who ordered the reopening of the building, saying that the house of God might not be closed, and that the cantor's claims should be decided by the learned rabbis of Lithuania. Joseph Katz mentions (She'erit Yosef, § 70) a Jewish community which was forbidden by the local authorities to kill cattle and to sell meat—an occupation which provided a livelihood for a large portion of the Lithuanian Jews. For the period of a year following this prohibition the Jewish community was on several occasions assessed at the rate of three gulden per head of cattle in order to furnish funds with which to induce the officials to grant a hearing of the case. The Jews finally reached an agreement with the town magistrates under which they were to pay forty gulden annually for the right to slaughter cattle. According to Hillel ben Naphtali Herz (Bet Hillel, Yoreh De'ah, § 157), Naphtali says the Jews of Vilna had been compelled to uncover when taking an oath in court, but later purchased from the tribunal the privilege to swear with covered head, a practise subsequently made unnecessary by a decision of one of their rabbis to the effect that an oath might be taken with uncovered head.

The responsa of Meir Lublin show (§ 40) that the Lithuanian communities frequently aided the German and the Austrian Jews. On the expulsion of the Jews from Silesia, when the Jewish inhabitants of Silz had the privilege of remaining on condition that they would pay the sum of 2,000 gulden, the Lithuanian communities contributed one-fifth of the amount.

Belarusian Jews under the Russian Empire

Upon annexation of Belarusian lands, Russian czars included the territory into the so-called Pale of Settlement, a western border region of Imperial Russia in which the permanent residence of Jews was allowed. Though comprising only 20% of the territory of European Russia, the Pale corresponded to the historical borders of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and included much of present-day Belarus, Republic of Lithuania, Poland, Moldova, Ukraine, and parts of western Russia.

By the end of the 19th century, many Belarusian Jews were part of the general flight of Jews from Eastern Europe to the New World due to conflicts and pogroms engulfing the Russian Empire and the anti-Semitism of the Russian czars.  Millions of Jews, including tens of thousands of Jews from Belarus, emigrated to the United States of America and South Africa. A small number also emigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine.

After the October Revolution
Jewish political organizations, including the General Jewish Labour Bund, participated in the creation of the Belarusian People's Republic in 1918.

During the first years of Soviet power in Belarus, in the 1920s, Yiddish was an official language in East Belarus along with Belarusian, Polish and Russian. Yakov Gamarnik, a Ukrainian Jew, was First Secretary of the Communist Party of Belorussia (i.e. the de facto head of state) from December 1928 to October 1929. However, the Soviet policy later turned against the Jews (see Stalin's antisemitism).

World War II

Atrocities against the Jewish population in the German-conquered areas began almost immediately, with the dispatch of Einsatzgruppen (task groups) to round up Jews and shoot them. Local anti-semites were encouraged to carry out their own pogroms. By the end of 1941, there were more than 5,000 troops devoted to rounding up and killing Jews. The gradual industrialization of killing led to adoption of the Final Solution and the establishment of the Operation Reinhard extermination camps: the machinery of the Holocaust. Of the Soviet Jews who were killed in the Holocaust, 246,000 Jews were Belarusian: some 66% of the total number of Belarusian Jews.

Late 20th century to modern days

In 1968, several thousand Jewish youths were arrested for Zionist activity. In the second half of the 20th century, there was a large wave of Belarusian Jews immigrating to Israel (see Aliyah from the Soviet Union in the 1970s), as well as to the United States. In 1979, there were 135,400 Jews in Belarus; a decade later, 112,000 were left. The collapse of the Soviet Union and Belarusian independence saw most of the community, along with the majority of the former Soviet Union's Jewish population, leave for Israel (see Russian immigration to Israel in the 1990s).

The 1999 census estimated that there were only 27,798 Jews left in the country, which further declined to 12,926 in 2009 and marginally rose to 13,705 in 2019, although oddly in that year, 10,269 men but only 3,436 women identified as Jewish. However, local Jewish organizations put the number at 50,000 in 2006. About half of the country's Jews live in Minsk. National Jewish organizations, local cultural groups, religious schools, charitable organizations, and organizations for war veterans and Holocaust survivors have been formed.

Since the mass immigration of the 1990s, there has been some continuous immigration to Israel. In 2002, 974 Belarusians moved to Israel, and between 2003 and 2005, 4,854 followed suit.

In October 2007, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, known for his authoritarian rule, was accused of making antisemitic comments; addressing the "miserable state of the city of Babruysk" on a live broadcast on state radio, he stated: "This is a Jewish city, and the Jews are not concerned for the place they live in. They have turned Babruysk into a pigsty. Look at Israel — I was there and saw it myself... I call on Jews who have money to come back to Babruysk." Members of the US House of Representatives sent a letter to the Belarusian ambassador to the US, Mikhail Khvostov, addressing Lukashenko's comments with a strong request to retract them, and the comments also caused a negative reaction from Israel. From having made up about half of the city's population in 1939, in 1999 there were only about 1,000 Jews left in Babruysk.

Following the Belarusian protests in 2020 and 2021, Jewish immigration from Belarus increased by 69 percent.

After Belarus joined the Russo-Ukrainian war in 2022, Jewish immigration from Belarus increased by 229 percent.

See also

List of Belarusian Jews
Timeline of Jewish history in Lithuania and Belarus
History of the Jews in Poland
Lithuanian Jews
History of the Jews during World War II
Gavriil of Belostok, case of blood libel in Belarusian lands
Hasidic Judaism
Belarus–Israel relations

References

Further reading

External links
 Андрэй Шуман. Ашкеназскія габрэі як адзін з карэнных народаў Беларусі (Andrew Schumann. Ashkenazi Jews as one of the indigenous people of Belarus)
 Иудейская Беларусь: из прошлого в настоящее, Interview with Jakau Hutman (Yakov Gutman) chairman of the World Association of Belarusian Jewry; English Translation
Union of Belarusian expatriates to Israel
Antisemitism in Twenty-First Century Europe
Belarusian Cemetery Index
Holocaust of the Soviet Jewry
A Demographic Profile of the Jews in Belorussia, 1939–1959
Shtetlinks
Brit Hadasha - Messianic Jewish Congregation in Minsk.
Jewish Outreach in Belarus. Travel Services and Record Searches
Chabad-Lubavitch Centers in Belarus
Recollections of Those Rescued by the Bielski Partisans and Survived the Holocaust from Lida, Belarus Lida Memorial Society Homepage Stories and Pictures
Jewish Belarus
 Belarus SIG at JewishGen

History of the Jews in Belarus


Benjamin William Hilfenhaus  (born 15 March 1983) is an Australian former professional cricketer who played for Tasmania in Australian domestic cricket and for the Australia national cricket team. He is right-arm fast-medium bowler known for his ability to swing the ball. Hilfenhaus plays club cricket for Tasmania University Cricket Club. He made his first-class cricket debut in the 2005/06 season and his haul of 39 wickets was a record for someone playing their first season for Tasmania. Before he was given a full-time contract for 2006/07, he worked as a bricklayer as well as playing cricket. He has best bowling figures of 7/58 in first-class cricket, achieved in his first season for Tasmania. During his time with Australia, Hilfenhaus won the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy.

In January 2007 Hilfenhaus made his One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) debuts for Australia. The following month he was named the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year. The 2006/07 season saw Hilfenhaus named Tasmania's Player of the Year as the club won the Pura Cup for the first time. Due to injury setbacks he had to wait until 2009 before making his Test debut.

In February 2016 Hilfenhaus announced his retirement from first-class cricket, due to ongoing injuries.

Career

Early career: 2002–2008

The 19-year-old Hilfenhaus was one of 25 young players given scholarships to go to the Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy in May 2002, and later that year he was given a rookie contract with Tasmania for the 2002/03 season. In 2003 Hilfenhaus was again included in the 25-man intake to the CB Cricket Academy. It was not until 17 October 2005 that he made his senior debut aged 22, playing for Tasmania in the Pura Cup, Australia's first-class competition. The match ended in a draw and Hilfenhaus took a single wicket, that of Mitchell Johnson bowled, while conceding 126 runs. For the 2005/06 season Hilfenhaus still had a rookie contract and also worked as a bricklayer. That season he claimed 39 wickets in the Pura Cup at an average of 30.82, breaking the record set by West Indian Michael Holding for most first-class wickets in their first season for Tasmania. Hilfenhaus was rewarded with a full contract with Tasmania for the first time and he was given a place in the Australia "A" squad for the winter Top End series. He had previously represented Australia at under-19 level.

The 2006/07 was even more successful for Hilfenhaus who won the Ricky Ponting Medal, awarded to Tasmania's Player of the Year. In eleven Pura Cup matches he took 60 wickets, including seven wickets in the final to help his team win the cup for the first time. Hilfenhaus made his International début in a Twenty20 international for Australia against England at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 9 January 2007. He bowled four overs and took two wickets for 16 runs. This was followed up by selection in the one-day team for the One Day International on 14 January against New Zealand at Bellerive Oval, his state team's home ground. He took his first ODI wicket (Brendon McCullum) in his second over. Hilfenhaus quickly became a local favourite, with the crowd cheering "Hilfy" whenever he was involved in play. In February Hilfenhaus was named the Bradman Young Cricket of the Year.

Cricket Australia announced its 25 contracted players in May 2007 and Hilfenhaus was included in on the list for the first time. He was included in Australia's squad for the 2007 Twenty20 World Championship, his first tour with the senior national side, as a replacement for Shaun Tait. and the One Day International tour of India. He also received a call up to the Test squad to take on Sri Lanka when South Australian fast bowler Shaun Tait was ruled out with injury. However, he did not get to add to his international appearances on any of the above occasions.

Hilfenhaus was chosen in Australia's 15-man Test squad to tour the West Indies in May 2008. A stress fracture of the back prevented him from departing with the touring party and ruled him out of playing; instead fellow fast bowler Doug Bollinger was selected in his place.

Test debut and 2009 Ashes

After losing the home Test series against South Africa in December 2008, Australia embarked on a tour of South Africa in February 2009 needing to avoid losing the series to retain the top spot in the ICC's Test rankings. Hilfenhaus debuted in the first Test, one of three frontline fast bowlers alongside Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle. Between them they had experience of 22 Tests compared to the 144 South Africa's quicks had played in. Australia won the series 2–1 and Hilfenhaus played in all three matches, taking 7 wickets while conceding 366 runs.

Hilfenhaus was given a chance in the 2009 Ashes after a solid performance in South Africa and an injury to Brett Lee. He grabbed his chance, swinging the new and old ball, along with bowling an accurate length. Though Australia lost the series 2–1, Hilfenhaus was the leading wicket-taker for either side with 22 dismissals from all five Tests at an average of 27.45.

In November 2009, the West Indies toured for three Tests. His performance in the first Test, with match figures of 5/70, earned Hilfenhaus a Man-of-the-Match award as Australia won by an innings. Experiencing knee soreness after the match, Hilfenhaus was unable to play in the second Test despite hopes the injury was not serious. The injury, which turned out to be tendonitis in the knee and prevented him from playing a further part in the series, worsened when Hilfenhaus returned to playing in grade cricket.

Hilfenhaus returned to the Test side when it travelled to England where they would face Pakistan in two Tests in July. His knee was still painful, but Hilfenhaus played regardless. The series was drawn 1–1 and Australia's fast bowlers were often inconsistent. Hilfenhaus was Australia's second highest wicket-taker in the series, with eight at an average of 23.75. In October Australia toured India for two Tests and Hilfenhaus was included in the 15-man squad. At this point, India were the number one ranked Test team in the world and Australia had dropped to fourth. India won both Tests and Hilfenhaus' six wickets for 261 runs made him Australia's second highest wicket-taker in the series.

2011 Ashes onwards
Australia lost the 2010–11 Ashes series 3–1. Across the five Tests, Australia used four front-line fast bowlers: Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Ryan Harris, and Hilfenhaus with support from all-rounder Shane Watson. Though he missed a match, Hilfenhaus bowled the most out of all Australia's bowlers in the series, sending down 947 deliveries. However, on average his seven wickets cost 59.28 runs each.

Though Hilfenhaus was bought by Chennai Super Kings for a price of $100,000, he did not play in the 2011 Indian Premier League (IPL) held in April due to injury. He recovered in time to be included in the Australia A squad to tour Zimbabwe in June. The intention was to give him the opportunity to find some form before the full Australia team toured Sri Lanka and South Africa later that year. The squad also contained Mitchell Starc, James Faulkner, and Trent Copeland, and it was hoped that Hilfenhaus' experience would benefit the younger fast bowlers, particularly as Starc and Faulkner had the ability to swing the ball. When the squad to tour Sri Lanka was announced in July, Hilfenhaus was omitted, according to selector Greg Chappell this was because he was not fit enough.

By the time New Zealand toured for two Tests in December, Hilfenhaus was back in contention for a place in the national squad. However, the selectors opted to give younger, less experienced bowlers an opportunity. When India toured later that month Hilfenhaus was included in the 13-man squad for the first Test. National selector John Inverarity explained that "I think [Hilfenhaus] had a few body concerns and his action deteriorated a little bit last year and he seems to have got it back and been playing in very good form. He is a strong, durable, experienced bowler." He was selected for the first Test—the Boxing Day Test—and took 5/75 in India's first innings, his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket. In the following match Hilfenhaus claimed a second five-wicket haul to help Australia take a 2–0 lead in the series. Australia won the third Test by an innings to claim the Border–Gavaskar Trophy. Hilfenhaus took four wickets in each of India's innings and as a result broke into the top 10 of the ICC's ranking for Test bowlers for the first time. He was the leading wicket-taker in the series, with 27 at an average of 17.22.

An injury to Brett Lee and Hilfenhaus' form in the Test series against India meant the latter was included in the ODI squad for a tri-nation tournament in February. At the time, Hilfenhaus had not played an ODI since 2009. In his first match back in the side he took career best ODI figures of 5/33 against India. This effort won him the Man of the match award. Australia won the tournament and Hilfenhaus played in five of Australia's eleven matches, taking a further four wickets to finish with a series average of 23.22. In April 2012, Australia toured the West Indies. Hilfenhaus took ten wickets from three Test, and was Australia's second highest wicket-taker in the series behind off-spinner Nathan Lyon. The 2012 Indian Premier League was held in April and May. Having missed the previous year through injury, it was Hilfenhaus' first tournament for the Chennai Super Kings. He picked up 12 wickets at an average of 17.33 and was one of the team's main bowlers.

Bowling style

Hilfenhaus is primarily a swing bowler, relying on moving the ball away from right-handed batsmen. During an interview in 2010, he explained that he is able to bowl when conditions do not suit him: "When the ball's not swinging for me the role does change a little bit ... I see myself more as a dot bowler than a wicket-taker like Mitch [Johnson] when the ball stops swinging for me. I've just got to build pressure and do the team thing."

The onset of tendonitis in Hilfenhaus' knee in late 2009 led to a change in his bowling action. As a result, he was bowling slower and the ball was swinging earlier, and therefore easier for batsmen to face. This predictability resulted in an expensive 2010 Ashes series for Hilfenhaus. After being dropped from the Test side, Hilfenhaus was encouraged by his captain at Tasmania, George Bailey, to use more variation in angle and length. On his return to the national side in later 2011, his pace had increased to around . There have been several comparisons made between Hilfenhaus and Glenn McGrath and McGrath himself described him as "very impressive".

Personal
Hilfenhaus, of German ancestry, is an avid golfer with an eight handicap and was Mr September in the McGrath Foundation's 2009 Men of Cricket calendar. Hilfenhaus has been nicknamed Gentle Ben by his Australian teammates in reference to his gentle personality and the popular bear from the 1970s TV series.

References

External links

1983 births
Living people
Tasmania cricketers
Australia Test cricketers
Australia One Day International cricketers
Australia Twenty20 International cricketers
People from Ulverstone, Tasmania
Australian cricketers
Australian bricklayers
Canterbury cricketers
Chennai Super Kings cricketers
Hobart Hurricanes cricketers
Mumbai Indians cricketers
Cricketers from Tasmania
Nottinghamshire cricketers
Melbourne Stars cricketers
Australian people of German descent

Ben Hilfenhaus


Caladenia richardsiorum, commonly known as the little dip spider orchid, Richards' spider orchid or robe spider orchid, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to South Australia. It is a ground orchid with a single erect, hairy leaf and usually only one yellowish-green flower. It is similar to the endangered Mellblom's spider orchid (Caladenia hastata) but has a much larger leaf and the petals lack glandular tips.

Description
Caladenia richardsiorum is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a single, erect, hairy leaf. The leaf is  long,  wide and has reddish-purple blotches near its base. Usually only a single yellowish-green flower about  across is borne on a spike  tall. The sepals, but not the petals, have blackish, club-like glandular tips  long. The dorsal sepal is erect,  long,  wide and the lateral sepals are  long and  wide, spread apart and curve stiffly downwards. The petals are  long,  wide and curve stiffly downwards. The labellum is  long and  wide, and greenish cream-coloured. The sides of the labellum turn upwards and have dark red, linear teeth up to  long, and the tip curves downwards. There are six rows of reddish calli with cream-coloured tips along the labellum mid-line. Flowering occurs from late September to early November.

Taxonomy and naming
Caladenia richardsiorum  was first formally described in 1991 by David Jones and the description was published in Australian Orchid Research. The specific epithet (richardsiorum) honours Helen and Barry Richards for their assistance to Jones.

Distribution and habitat
The little dip spider orchid occurs in coastal areas mainly between Southend and the Coorong growing in heath and woodland.

Conservation
Caladenia richardsiorum is classified as "endangered" under the Australian Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and the South Australian Government National Parks and Wildlife Act (1972). The main threats to the species include land clearance, weed invasion and grazing by rabbits.

References

richardsiorum
Plants described in 1991
Endemic orchids of Australia
Orchids of South Australia
Taxa named by David L. Jones (botanist)

Caladenia richardsiorum


"Mercy" is a song written and performed by French duo Madame Monsieur. The song was released as a digital download on 20 January 2018 through Low Wood and Play Two as the lead single from their second studio album Vu d'ici (2018). It represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal.

2018 songs

Mercy (Madame Monsieur song)


Antti Markus Miettinen (born July 3, 1980) is a Finnish ice hockey coach and former professional forward, who last played professionally with HPK of the Liiga. He had previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild and Winnipeg Jets.

Playing career

Miettinen was drafted by the Dallas Stars as their seventh-round pick, 224th overall, in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft. Prior to playing in the NHL, he played for five years in the SM-Liiga with HPK Hämeenlinna picking up the Kultainen kypärä and the Lasse Oksanen trophy in his final year in Finland.

Miettinen spent two-years in the American Hockey League (AHL) before playing his first full season in the NHL in the 2005–06 season with the Stars. He was chosen to play for Finland in the 2006 Winter Olympics but was unable to participate due to an upper body injury. He was replaced on the team by Stars teammate Niklas Hagman.

On July 3, 2008, Miettinen signed a 3-year $7 million contract with the Minnesota Wild. When that contract ended, he moved to the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). On December 12, 2011, Miettinen agreed on a two-year deal to return to the NHL with the Tampa Bay Lightning. However, the following day he was claimed off re-entry waivers by the Winnipeg Jets.

A free agent at the conclusion of his two-year contract with the Jets, Miettinen once again left the NHL and signed a one-year contract with Swiss club HC Fribourg-Gottéron of the National League A on July 22, 2013. In the 2013–14 season, Miettinen was hampered again by injury but posted a credible 7 goals and 22 points in 34 games with Fribourg. After one season in Germany, he returned to HPK for one final season before retiring and becoming an assistant coach with the club.

Personal life
Miettinen is currently in a band named Cement, formed by Miettinen and a few friends. He plays the guitar and has written a few songs with the band. Although not very widely known, they did get one gig—at his wedding.

He has a son, Noel, who was born in December 2009 and a daughter named Olivia, who was born in 2011.

Awards
2002–03 SM-Liiga Kultainen kypärä
2002–03 SM-Liiga Lasse Oksanen trophy

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

1980 births
Living people
Dallas Stars draft picks
Dallas Stars players
Eisbären Berlin players
Finnish ice hockey right wingers
HC Fribourg-Gottéron players
Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL) players
HPK players
Ice hockey players at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Minnesota Wild players
Olympic bronze medalists for Finland
Olympic ice hockey players for Finland
Olympic medalists in ice hockey
Ice hockey people from Hämeenlinna
Utah Grizzlies (AHL) players
Winnipeg Jets players

Antti Miettinen


Portrait of a Man, probably a Member of the Van Beresteyn Family is an oil-on-canvas 1632 portrait painting by Rembrandt. It shows a man with a lace collar, which was a new fashion in the 1630s replacing older-styled millstone collars. It is pendant to Portrait of a Woman, probably a Member of the Van Beresteyn Family, and both are in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Description
Rembrandt created this painting as a pendant to the MET's portrait of a man, probably as a wedding pendant. Only a few pairs of pendant portraits by Rembrandt have survived. This pair came into the collection via the Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer bequest in 1929.

This painting was documented by Hofstede de Groot in 1914, who wrote:624. A MAN OF THE VAN BERESTEYN -VUCHT FAMILY.  Dut. 248; Wb. 344; B.-HdG. 82. Three-quarter length; life size. About fifty. He stands, inclined a little to the right, and looks straight before him. He is bare-headed; he has grey hair, combed up high, and a pointed beard. He lays his right hand on his breast; his gloved left hand, grasping the other glove, peeps out of the cloak. He wears a silk coat, striped grey and black, under a black cloak, a close-fitting pleated collar trimmed with lace, and narrow cuffs. Bright light falls from the left at top. Dark grey background, illumined to the right. The picture has suffered from heavy pressure in its transference to a new canvas. Nothing is known as to the identity of the sitter. He may just as well have belonged to some family related through a female line as to the Beresteyn family proper. [Pendant to 625.] Signed on the right in a line with the elbow, "RH L van Ryn 1632"; canvas, 44 1/2 inches by 35 1/2 inches.
Mentioned by Dutuit, p. 53; Michel, p. 119 [91, 443] ; Moes, 512.
In the collection of the Beresteyn family, Chateau Maurik, Vucht, 1884.
In the collection of the late H. O. Havemeyer, New York.

The painting was included in most Rembrandt catalogs of the 20th century along with its pendant, Portrait of a Woman, probably a Member of the Van Beresteyn Family, which has recently been disputed as autograph. The pendant is, however, still connected with Rembrandt's workshop and time period and is still considered a pendant to this painting. Despite numerous attempts, the provenance does not reach further back than the Havemeyer purchase from Maurick Castle (Chateau Maurik), and as Hofstede de Groot states, the pendants could just as easily have descended in the female line as the male line, and therefore the portrayed couple might not be related to the Beresteyn family at all.

See also
 List of paintings by Rembrandt

References

Cat. no. 143 in Dutch Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Volume I, by Walter Liedtke, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007

External links
Portrait of a Man, 1632 gedateerd in the RKD
 Portrait of a Man, in the Rembrandt Research Project

Man, probably a Member of the Van Beresteyn Family
1632 paintings
Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Portraits of men


Willibald Kirfel (29 January 1885 – 16 October 1964) was a German Indologist. He is known for his scholarly work on Indian cosmography, medicine and religion.

Biography

Kirfel studied Indology in Bonn from 1904 – 1908 and worked as a librarian at the University library, before becoming a full professor, acceding to the Chair of his teacher Hermann Jacobi.

Even at an early stage he dedicated himself to his most important field of research, i.e. the cosmography of the Brahmins, Jainas and Buddhists. In 1920 he published his postdoctoral thesis titled The Cosmography of the Indians, which was published as a reprint in 1967.

Kirfel also studied intensively the Puranas, especially focussing on those passages which appear in numerous texts in different variants. The result of his research was published in his title Das Purânapancalakshana. Versuch einer Textgeschichte (The Puranapancalakshana. Attempt at a textual history.). He wrote many more articles on Puranic subjects as well as books on the symbolism of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Together with H. Hilgenburg, he also translated the Ashtângahridayasamhitâ, an important treatise on medicine.

Literature
 Valentina Stache-Rosen: German Indologists. Biographies of scholars in Indian studies written in German. Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi 1981.

Works
 Die Kosmographie der Inder, nach den Quellen dargestellt (1920)
 Die Religion der Jaina's (1928)
   Bhâratavarsa (Indien) (1931)
 Der Hinduismus (1934)
 Kultur der orientalischen Völker (1936) with Erich Schmitt, Oskar Kressler and others
 Ashtanga Hridaya Samhita (1941), translator with Luise Hilgenberg
 Die dreikopfige Gottheit. Archaeologisch-ethnologischer Streifzug durch die Ikonographie der Religionen (1948)
 Der Rosenkranz (1949)
 Symbolik des Buddhismus (1959)
 Symbolik des Hinduismus und des Jinismus (1959)
 Zur Eschatologie von Welt und Leben. Ein puranischer Text nebst Übertragung in textgeschichtlicher Darstellung (1959)

References

External links
 The Bonn School of German Indology

1885 births
1964 deaths
German Indologists
German male non-fiction writers

Willibald Kirfel


The Nigerian Chieftaincy is the chieftaincy system that is native to Nigeria. Consisting of everything from the country's monarchs to its titled family elders, the chieftaincy as a whole is one of the oldest continuously existing institutions in Nigeria and is legally recognized by its government.

History

Nigerian pre-colonial states tended to be organized as
city-states. The empires that did exist, like the Kanem-Borno empire, the Oyo empire, the Benin empire and the Sokoto caliphate, were essentially coalitions of these individual city-states. Due to this, a great deal of local power was concentrated in the hands of rulers that remained almost permanently in their capitals. These rulers had sacred functions - a number of them were even considered to be sacred themselves - and therefore often lived in seclusion as a result. Their nobles, both hereditary and otherwise, typically also had functions that were tied to the religious traditions of the kingdoms that they served.

In the South, the nobles ruled the states on a day-to-day basis on behalf of their monarchs by way of a series of initiatory secret societies. These bodies combined the aforementioned priestly functions with judicial ones, and also traditionally provided advisers to the monarchs in question. Some of these societies, like Ogboni and Nze na Ozo, have survived to the present day as aristocratic social clubs within their respective tribes. Meanwhile, in the North, the emirates of the old caliphate were usually divided into districts, and these districts were in turn ruled by nobles known as Hakimi (pl. Hakimai) that were subject to the monarchs.

As a general rule titles did not always pass from father to son; many royal and noble families did however provide a number of titleholders over several generations. In the south, the titles held by nobles were often not the same ones as those that had been held by others in their lineages. Some chiefs had even been untitled slaves, and therefore had had no titled forebears prior to their eventual ascension to the ranks of the aristocracy.

Although dominated by the titled men mentioned above, several kingdoms also had parallel traditions of exclusively-female title societies that operated in partnership with their male counterparts. Others would reserve specially created titles, such as the Yoruba Iyalode, for their womenfolk.

During the early European forays into Africa, Nigerian chiefs - both monarchs and nobles - came to be divided into two opposing camps: the anti-European chiefs on the one end (who wanted nothing to do with the Europeans and wanted them to leave, by war if necessary) and the pro-European chiefs (who favoured maintaining friendly relations with the Europeans, even if it meant sacrificing certain amounts of political power).

At the point of the increase in British influence in Nigeria during the 19th century, the anti-European chiefs used a variety of tactics to work against foreign influence, utilizing both direct and indirect forms. The colonial government responded by favouring the pro-European chiefs and supporting more amenable claimants to the Nigerian titles in an attempt to frustrate the anti-European chiefs. Minor wars were fought with the anti-European chiefs, while pro-European chiefs prospered through trade with Britain and so were politically safe as a result. During the Scramble for Africa, anti-European chiefs were slowly replaced with pro-European ones, and Colonial Nigeria came to be governed by a system known as indirect rule, which involved native chiefs becoming part of the administrative structure to ease administrative costs. Through this method, the colonial government was able to avoid any rebellions against its authority.

Following Nigeria's independence in 1960, each federated unit of the country had a House of Chiefs, which was part of its lawmaking system. These houses have since been replaced by the largely ceremonial Councils of Traditional Rulers. In addition, many of the founding fathers and mothers of the First Republic -  including the leading troika of Chief Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello - were all royals or nobles in the Nigerian chieftaincy system. This has continued to operate since their time as a locally controlled honours system alongside its nationally controlled counterpart, which is itself within the gift of the Federal Government.

Today

Today, many prominent Nigerians aspire to the holding of a title. Both Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, one-time presidents of Nigeria, have belonged to the noble stratum of the Nigerian chieftaincy. Nigerian traditional rulers and their titled subordinates currently derive their powers from various Chiefs' Laws, which are official parts of the body of contemporary Nigerian laws. As a result, the highly ranked amongst them typically receive staffs of office - and by way of them official recognition - from the governors of the states of the Federation as the culminations of their coronation and investiture rites. Thus installed, they then have the power to install inferior chiefs themselves.

Chieftaincy titles are often of differing grades, and are usually ranked according to a variety of diverse factors. Whether or not they are recognized by the government, whether they are traditionally powerful or purely honorary, what the relative positions of the title societies that they belong to (if any) are in the royal orders of precedence, their relative antiquity, how expensive they are to acquire, whether or not they are hereditary, and a number of other such customary determinants are commonly used to ascribe hierarchical positions. A number of kingdoms also make use of colour-coded regalia to denote either allegiance to particular title societies or individual rank within them. Examples of this phenomenon include the Red-Capped Chiefs of Igboland and the White-Capped Chiefs of Lagos, each the highest ranked group of noble chiefs in its respective sub-system.

Nigerian titleholders

Monarchs

Pre-colonial
 Nigerian sovereigns
 Lamido
 Oba
 Eze

Colonial
 Native Authorities

Post-colonial
 Nigerian traditional rulers
 Lamido
 Sultan of Sokoto
 Emir of Kano
 Etsu Nupe
 Oba
 Ooni of Ife
 Alaafin of Oyo
 Awujale of Ijebu
 Eze
 Eze Nri
 Obi of Onitsha
 Igwe of Nnewi

Other Chiefs
 Waziri
 Hakimi
 Eso Ikoyi
 Ogboni
 Nze na Ozo
 Ichie

See also
 Social class in Nigeria
 Nigerian heraldry
 Nigerian traditional rulers
 Nigerian traditional states

References and sources

Society of Nigeria

Nobility in Africa
Upper class

Nigerian Chieftaincy


John Patrick Loftus (October 13, 1895 – March 23, 1976) was an American thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Johnny Loftus was the first jockey to win the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. During his career, between 1909 and 1919, he won 580 races out of the 2,449 he competed in, for a very notable 23.7% success rate. In 1916 he won the Travers Stakes and Withers Stakes on "Spur" then captured the Kentucky Derby aboard George Smith. In 1917 he won the Kentucky Oaks with the filly Sunbonnet and the next year he rode War Cloud to victory in the Preakness Stakes. As well, Loftus rode Man o' War to victory in eight races, and to the only defeat in the horse's career, a second-place finish at the Sanford Memorial Stakes.

For trainer H. Guy Bedwell and Canadian owner J. K. L. Ross, who owned a farm in Maryland, in 1919 Johnny Loftus rode Sir Barton to victory in the Kentucky Derby then only four days later won the Preakness Stakes. They went on to win the Belmont Stakes becoming the first-ever American Triple Crown winner. Loftus ended up as 1919's top money-winning jockey in the US and retired at the end of the racing season to become a horse trainer. In 1938 and 1939, he enjoyed success as the trainer of Pompoon who was voted American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt in 1936. In 1959, he was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

Johnny Loftus died in Carlsbad, California in 1976.

Further reading
 Johnny Loftus at the United States' National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

References

1895 births
1976 deaths
American jockeys
American Champion jockeys
United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees
Sportspeople from Chicago

Johnny Loftus


The Ames Monument is a large pyramid in Albany County, Wyoming, designed by Henry Hobson Richardson and dedicated to brothers Oakes Ames and Oliver Ames Jr., Union Pacific Railroad financiers. It marked the highest point on the first transcontinental railroad, at .

The town of Sherman rose up around it, but then Union Pacific moved its tracks to the south, leaving Sherman to become a ghost town.

Oliver served as president of the Union Pacific Railroad from 1866 to 1871, while Oakes, a U.S. representative from Massachusetts, asserted near-total control of its construction.  In 1873, investigators implicated Oakes in fraud associated with financing of the railroad. Congress subsequently censured Oakes, who resigned in 1873 and died soon thereafter.

Richardsonian design
The Ames Monument is located about  east of Laramie, Wyoming, on a wind-blown, treeless summit south of Interstate 80 at the Vedauwoo exit. The monument is a four-sided, random ashlar pyramid,  square at the base and  high, constructed of light-colored native granite. The pyramid features an interior passage, now sealed, alongside the perimeter of the structure's base.

Noted American architect H. H. Richardson designed the pyramid, which includes two  tall bas-relief portraits of the Ames brothers by sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens on the east and west sides of the pyramid's top. Saint-Gaudens chiseled the bas-reliefs from Quincy, Massachusetts, granite. The north side, which at one time faced the railroad tracks, displays one-foot-high letters grouted in the granite noting: "In Memory of Oakes Ames and Oliver Ames". The monument is one of a half-dozen or more projects that Richardson did for the Ames family.

The pyramid is one of only two examples of Richardson's work west of the Mississippi River, the other being the Isaac H. Lionberger House in St. Louis less than two miles from the river. Richardson's monolithic structure employed rough-hewn granite boulders in its construction. The monument's stones at the base are five feet by eight feet and weigh thousands of pounds each. The pyramid narrows from the base to become progressively smaller towards the top at a ratio of four inches to the foot.

History
The audacity of building a transcontinental railroad in the 1860s was "today's equivalent of the mission to Mars: Big, expensive and impossible," wrote University of Wyoming historian Phil Roberts. President Abraham Lincoln reportedly told Oakes Ames that if he could get the transcontinental railroad built, he would be "the most remembered man of the century." Lincoln personally recruited Oakes after progress by and financial support for Credit Mobilier of America, the construction company charged with building the railroad, ground to a halt. The Ames brothers succeeded where others failed and completed the transcontinental railway. However, in 1873 charges of financial fraud were leveled at Oakes, tarnishing his reputation and that of the Union Pacific Railroad Company's .

Public outcry towards Oakes and other "Kings of Frauds" associated with scandal threatened the Ames family reputation and that of the Ames Company, founded in 1774 to make steel-edged shovels. The Ames Company later sold axes and shovels to miners during the California Gold Rush. The company supplied the government with shovels during the Civil War, for excavating the Panama Canal, for mining Pennsylvania coal fields, and for digging the New York City Subway.

In 1875, the Union Pacific Railroad board of directors voted to erect the grand Ames Monument, in part to burnish the company's tarnished reputation. Union Pacific stockholders subsequently authorized the construction at a meeting in Boston on March 10, 1875.

The Norcross Brothers of Worcester, Massachusetts, built the monument, employing some 85 workers who lived on site, "where reportedly no liquor or gambling was allowed." Workers cut the stone for the pyramid from a granite outcropping common in the area. They then used oxen teams to skid the stone a half-mile to the work site. Some of the rough-faced granite blocks weigh several tons.

Workers constructed the pyramid about 300 yards south of the tracks on a small knoll. When completed in 1882, the Ames Monument stood  south of, and  above, the highest elevation of the original tracks of Union Pacific transcontinental railroad at . President Rutherford B. Hayes underscored the importance of the transcontinental railroad and thereby the Ames brothers by attending the monument's dedication ceremony.

However, when completed in 1882, the Ames Monument was visited by many persons who were allowed to momentarily leave their trains in order to view the monolithic curiosity. It was said that when the construction of the monument was almost completed, some people had the opportunity of being lifted to the top of the monument by a special rig and from their breezy perch could view the surrounding area for a hundred miles in all directions.

In 1885, after finding that the Union Pacific had accidentally built the monument not on one of the plots granted to the corporation by the government, but on one of the alternating plots available for purchase or claim by Homesteaders, local resident William Murphy purchased the land that contained the monument, intending to cover the pyramid with advertising. The Union Pacific Railroad Company contested the purchase, and eventually obtained a special deed to the property in 1889, both frustrating Murphy and bankrupting him through legal proceedings.

Sherman

The small town of Sherman arose at the site north of the tracks where trains stopped to change engines on their transcontinental journey. The stop provided a roundhouse with five stalls and a turntable, two section houses, and a windmill with water tank. Trains were inspected at Sherman before beginning the long descent from the Sherman Pass summit, either east towards Cheyenne or west across the  high Dale Creek Bridge to the Laramie Valley. The town's death knell came in 1918. The railroad company closed its station house and relocated the tracks about three miles (5 km) south. Residents soon abandoned Sherman, leaving behind a small cemetery that is still present today.

The monument today

Union Pacific donated the railroad monument to the state of Wyoming in 1983. The structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is maintained as a Wyoming state historic site. Time and possible vandalism have destroyed some of the features of the bas-relief portraits of the Ames brothers on the monument. The Ames Monument is open year-round, weather permitting.

Work took place in 2010 and 2011 to restore the monument.  On October 31, 2016, the site received National Historic Landmark status.  The designation was made in recognition of the unique collaboration between Richardson and Saint-Gaudens, two of the era's leading creative figures.

Notes

References

 Dell Upton, Architecture in the United States, Oxford University Press, 1998, pages 96–97. .
 Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)

External links

Ames Monument, Wyoming Division of State Parks and Historic Sites
Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office article
Save Outdoor Sculpture Survey for the Ames Monument
Ames Monument, Interstate 80, Laramie, Albany, WY at the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)

Buildings and structures completed in 1880
Buildings and structures in Albany County, Wyoming
Henry Hobson Richardson buildings
Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in Wyoming
Monuments and memorials on the National Register of Historic Places in Wyoming
Protected areas of Albany County, Wyoming
Pyramids in the United States
Granite sculptures in Wyoming
Union Pacific Railroad
Wyoming state historic sites
Historic American Buildings Survey in Wyoming
1880 establishments in Wyoming Territory
Butler–Ames family
National Register of Historic Places in Albany County, Wyoming
National Historic Landmarks in Wyoming

Ames Monument


Gaspar (or Gaşpar, Gasparo) Graziani (also credited as Grazziani, Gratiani and Graţiani; Kasper Gratiani in Polish; ca. 1575/1580–1620) was Voivode (Prince) of Moldavia between February 4OS/February 14 NS 1619 and September 19 OS/September 29 NS 1620 (see Adoption of the Gregorian calendar).

Early life
Gaspar Graziani is of Italian  or Croatian origin and is assumed that he originate from Bihać area. Word "Croatian" along with his name(Croat Gašpar Graziani) exist in European and Ottoman sources.
An polyglot born in Dalmatia, Graziani had been in service to several European powers: he was an interpreter for the English diplomatic mission in the Ottoman Empire, and then an envoy of both Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo II and the Spanish Viceroy of Naples to the Porte, negotiating the release of Christian sailors captured by Barbary pirates.

The sultan awarded Graziani the title of Duke of Paros and Naxos in 1616 ; he became a close ally of the Doges and, like his predecessor and rival Radu Mihnea, a self-declared admirer of the Serenissime system of government; Graziani also married into a family of Venetian patricians.

In Moldavia
Appointed Dragoman, he was charged by the Turks with missions in the Holy Roman Empire, and nevertheless acted as a spy in favour of the Habsburgs. These activities, along with bribery and promises of absolute loyalty to the Porte, gathered Graziani the support he needed in his bid for the Moldavian throne. In order to qualify for the customary requirements, he quickly converted from Roman Catholicism to Eastern Orthodoxy and accepted the sacraments. On his way to Moldavia, he was received in Adrianople by a delegation of 20 boyars, and is said to have been acclaimed by thousands upon his arrival on the shores of the Danube.

He organized an armed guard of 500 for his personal defence, and defied the Ottomans by starting negotiations for an alliance with Poland's King Sigismund III Vasa. The Sultan ordered him removed and a kapucu was sent for this purpose; Graziani had the envoy and his 300-strong retinue massacred. He managed to contribute with a minuscule number of his troops to hetman Stanisław Koniecpolski's effort and was present at the Battle of Cecora, but, as he was making his way to refuge in Poland, he was murdered in the village of Braniște (nowadays in Rîșcani, Republic of Moldova) by two of his boyars, Șeptilici and Goia, who were fearful of Ottoman reprisals.

His life was the subject of Ioan Slavici's 1888 tragedy, Gaspar Gratiani.

See also
Moldavian Magnate Wars

References

External links
Cristian  Luca, Influssi  occidentali  sull'atteggiamento  politico di  alcuni  principi  dei  Paesi  Romeni  nei  secoli  XVI  e  XVII
Cognome Graziani
L'origine del cognome Graziani

1620 deaths
16th-century births
Dalmatian Italians
Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Roman Catholicism
Dukes in Italy
Dragomans
Monarchs of Moldavia
17th-century spies
17th-century monarchs in Europe

Gaspar Graziani


Michael Edward Marks (born November 5, 1960) is an American author noted for his work in counterterrorism, special operations and counter illicit traffic, most recently including co-authorship of "Understanding Narrative: The Battle of the Narrative and the Operations Process" published by the U.S. Army Asymmetric Warfare Group in 2014, drawn from his work for US Special Operations throughout Afghanistan in 2011-2012.  Prior to this effort, Mr. Marks was responsible for mapping illicit traffic patterns across the Horn of Africa, Yemen, Central Asia and the Balkans in support of US Special Operations and the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO).

Books, interactive programs and simulators developed by Mr. Marks have been incorporated into state-mandatory certification programs in 27 states, with adoptions by such entities as the US Army/FBI Hazardous Devices School, the FBI National Academy and throughout numerous federal and state-level law enforcement and intelligence agencies. These titles include The Emergency Responder's Guide to Terrorism.  He is credited with design of "Task Force Marks", a USMC expeditionary unit sniper team exercise for the TacOps simulation created by Maj. I.L. Holdridge and subsequently licensed to USMC, Australian and New Zealand Armed Forces.

Mr. Marks served for twelve years as an Adjunct Professor on WMD at the George Washington University Department of Forensic Science  and developed the training/testing modules used by the American Board of Certification in Homeland Security for levels CHS I-III.

In addition to his technical work, Mr. Marks wrote the bestselling military science fiction novel Dominant Species (novel) which provides a depiction of Marines in powered armor. He is a critically acclaimed poet and songwriter best known for his patriotic writings in support of America's Armed Forces. Named the Poet Laureate of the Society of the 9th Infantry Division (United States) (SONID), Marks' work hangs in the Titan Missile Museum in Sahuarita, Arizona and has been featured in numerous books, magazines and newspapers around the world, to include Stars and Stripes (newspaper) and The Washington Times. and appears on the International War Veteran's Poetry Archive.

In 2007, Marks teamed with award-winning country music artist Michael Martin Murphey to create the hit country single adaptation of "A Soldier's Christmas" after the poem met with longstanding ovations in Murphey's national Cowboy Christmas tour, leading to a national release. Marks' works have been professionally produced by on-air personalities such as Thom Richards, WOKO Radio and air annually on radio stations across the United States.  In 2009, Chicago radio celebrity Paul Brian teamed with Joe Cantafio to produce a musical performance of "A Soldier's Christmas" to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project in their support of injured soldiers and their families. Several of these poems have been termed modern Christmas classics that have been incorporated into school plays and public presentations around the country.

References

External links
  International War Veteran's Poetry Archive
 Society of the 9th Infantry Division SONID

1960 births
Living people
American male poets
21st-century American poets
21st-century American male writers

Michael E. Marks


The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story is a children's book written by Lemony Snicket and illustrated by Lisa Brown. An irate latke at Hanukkah escapes from being cooked in a hot frying pan. He runs into various Christmas symbols (such as fairy lights, a candy cane and pine tree) who are all ignorant and uneducated about the customs of Hanukkah. The latke attempts to educate these characters about the history and culture surrounding the Jewish holiday, but his attempts are always in vain and he runs away from each encounter in a fit of frustration.

Plot summary
The story begins in a tiny village, where in a small undecorated cottage, a latke is born. The latke, suffering from its immersion in heated olive oil, begins to scream and jumps out the window. It encounters a string of flashing colored lights, which do not appreciate the latke's shrieks and wonder why it was thrown into a pan of boiling oil. The latke explains that the oil is a reminder of "the oil used to rededicate the temple following the defeat of Antiochus at the hands of the Maccabees". The lights compare the latke to hash browns, and suggest it be served with a Christmas ham. The latke exclaims that it is something completely different, and runs away screaming.

The latke then comes across a candy cane, which expresses distaste at the latke's mouthwatering smell. The latke points out that its smell is a reminder of greater modern religious freedom. In 175 BCE, the latke explains, in order to study the Torah, Hebrews needed to hide in caves, and pretended to play with dreidels when Greek soldiers approached. The candy cane equates this with Joseph and Mary hiding in the manger, but the latke insists that this is a totally different thing, and runs off screaming into the forest.

The latke stops to rest under a pine tree, which asks if the latke is a present. The latke tiredly explains that it is more important to light the candles eight nights in a row, "to commemorate the miracle in the temple and the miracle of victory even when you are thoroughly outnumbered". The tree mentions Santa Claus, and although the latke insists that Christmas and Hannukah are completely different, the tree explains that different things often blend together. The tree begins to tell a funny story about pagan rituals when it is interrupted by a family searching the forest for a holiday necessity. They scoop up the latke and take it home, where it is finally "welcomed into a home full of people who understood what a latke is, and how it fits into this particular holiday". Then they eat it.

Theatrical adaptation
The book was adapted for the stage by Tall Stories Theatre Company, touring from 2012 to 2015.

See also

Lemony Snicket bibliography
 Website of the theatrical adaptation

References

Works by Lemony Snicket
2007 American novels
Hanukkah children's books
Christmas children's books
2007 children's books
American picture books

The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming