Jeff Jacoby (doesn't sound like an Episcopalian name to me) has a moving column about a Christmas message from when we were younger.
It occurs to me once again that often (not always, but often) when a public speaker must make the most important statement of their careers, they reach for the words of the Old Testament. Or perhaps it works the other way around: if at a time of great turmoil a speaker uses the right choice of words from the Old Testament, his words are likelier to be etched in the common memory.
Believe in it or not, and even if the closest you can come to it is through a translation, it's still the single most important book in history.
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FROM CAROL HERMAN
Oddly enough, here in Los Angeles, Christmas is just "different" this year. You don't see the spirit. You don't see the lights. Stores are struggling. And, best of all, you don't see Chabad out there, running around with their giant menorahs, to plant in public parks.
So, what's the difference about? MONEY.
The money's gone.
The bubble burst.
What "sound" does a bubble bursting make? So light, you'd need to amplify it thousands of times, just to hear it. Though you can entertain babies and small animals, with bubbles. They float. And, you can watch tiny hands, or kittens' paws, reaching and trying to grab onto something so ellusive.
THE PARTY'S OVER, FOLKS.
The FRAUDSTER stole it all! And, it just proves it doesn't pay to ever turn over what you have, to someone who promises you MORE CASH FLOW than you can honestly earn. Anymore than it pays to believe a priest that "he can guarantee you" a spot by God's side up in heaven, somewhere. (Those these painted pictures become very real to minds that have been brainwashed into believing "they're so special" there's something out there for them, no one else can get by just doing ordinary hard work. And, developing EHTICS.)
So let that be a lesson to ya. From lots of popes, to lots of kings, and worse: King makers. There's been very little in the world of ETHICS that shows up ... when the real reach is for power.
As to Jeff Jacoby, you can "Americanize his name," but it sure sounds Jewish to me! Old habits. Give people enough room and they'll tell you how to live; as they look to belong to some sort of "majority." Well, tickle his whiskers; he still ain't santa claus. Hint: Mr. Klaus doesn't exist. And, doesn't deliver gifts to small children. And, to boot, there's no tooth fairy, either.
As to the Old Testament; the ONLY REASON it became such a popular book, has to do WITH THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. With Tindale, you was murdered by being burnt at the stake; who is still given credit for the Geneva Bible HE WROTE! Which is a pretty good translation of the Hebrew. (And, then? The Greek, Hebrew and Latin, all fell by the wayside. No credit given to any of the "original" scribes.)
And, why did King James do this? Elizabeth the First was dead. Her father, Henry VIII really did divorce the pope, along with divorcing seven of his eight wives. Still left a minority, in England, who "preferred" being Catholic.
To ease the strain, James (son of MARY, the first daughter to Henry VIII) comes to England, from Scotland, where he had already been King James the Sixth ... to become King James the First ...
And, he sanctions a whole parade of scholars to develop "his version" of the English Bible. So that the English people can be exposed to this every single Sunday; when they go to Church. To hear the stories!
And, to spite the pope, this is put into circulation ... just as a Middle-Class begins emerging in England, with real money to spend. Because "Rule Britanica! Rule the waves.)
If it wasn't for this anchor in both Shakespeare and this King James version of the Bible, Western Civilization wouldn't be what it is, today.
And, there wouldn't be any "hooks" to Jadism; because the pope's powers have been diminishing in the Western World. (Not so, Africa, Asia, or South America!) But that's a whole other story.
Where, among the gifts that came to Westerners has been the ENLIGHTENMENT. And, a rush to discover truth through science.
A slow process? By whose wrist watch?
As to this particular year, it may be marking a turning point? In a world where there are many such things, happening.
In other words? Just going back to the 1940's and 1950's, in America, the most celebrated annual Jewish event WAS Passover! Did we go on some health kick to outlaw chicken fat? Jewish cooking isn't what it used to be. And, Israeli coooking is a conglomeration of Mideast influences.
Which means? There really are links, now, on the table, that short circuit "mere" ethnic foods; to encompass the world!
And, it's not the Talmud that led the race. But both SHakespeare, and King James, who can't be faulted for literature. And, how this is so important to every single culture out there!
What's so different about the turn of the 21st Century from the last one?
Well, in the last one, Irving Berlin, such a nice Jewish boy, wrote "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas." As well as wonderful songs about America.
While for 2009, you know have the unraveling of the world's economy, by a whole bunch of sheisters.
Wait. You can't imagine whose gonna tell the story? I've already got the title: SWINDLER'S LIST.
And, if nothing else, Livni's chances at the ballot box, improves with each passing day.
But it's the future. Remains to be seen.
Not to worry about the4 Bible, though. Ripped from the hands of "exclusivity" once held by the pope; people, today, still read the book. Some? Idiots take it literally. Others? Will always cherish its value as super-duper story telling.
Don't confuse reality with myth.
Expect the future to be different than anything you can dream of, though.
Tough I am secular, it is the first on the list of books I would take on an island. It offers plenty of stuff to think about, written in powerful and beautiful words.
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