Thursday, March 15, 2018

Questions to ponder if you are young at heart and today is the ides of March

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Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor

The desire that a man has for women is placed in him by G-d

As I have previously written the Torah consists of two parts. The written Torah in the five books of Moses and the Oral Torah which explains and amplifies the Torah.

On Tractate Shabbat on page 152a there is a story regarding man's natural desire for woman. Rav Kahnan said, "What isthe meaning of that which is written:? "For G-d spoke and it came to be" (Psalms 33:9) This is a reference to woman (in the note to explain-i.e. man's carnal desire for woman. As a Baraisa proceeds to explain, a woman's body is not something that one should objectively find attractive. If man nevertheless lusts for it, it must be becasue it is a result of how G-d created man (this is from Rashi).)

He commaned and it took form-these are one's children (from the note -logically one ought not to have children, for they require much expenditure of time, energy and resources which could otherwise be devoted to one's own life. If people nevertheless want to have children it must be something ordained by G-d.

A part of the Talmud teaches that a woman in her body is like a leather jug full of excretions, whose opening is full of blood-Yet in spite of this not so appealing reality, everyone chases after her!

Love Yehuda Lave

Pence: If Iran Nuclear Deal Not Fixed, US Would Withdraw Immediately

Speaking at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington, DC on Monday, Vice President Mike Pence reminded his audience that "President Trump has called on the Congress and our European allies to enact real and lasting restraints on Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile ambitions." Noting that "earlier this year the president waived sanctions to give our lawmakers and our allies time to act," the VP warned, "make no mistake about it, this is their last chance."

"Unless the Iran nuclear deal is fixed in the coming months, the United States of America will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal immediately," Pence vowed. "Whatever the outcome of those discussions today, I have a solemn promise to you, to Israel and to the wider world, the United States of America will never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon."

The vice president's points about Iran matched perfectly visiting Prime Minister Netanyahu's statement following his meeting at the White House with President Trump:

"If I had to say what is our greatest challenge in the Middle East to both our countries, to our Arab neighbors, it's encapsulated in one word: Iran," Netanyahu said. "Iran has not given up its nuclear ambitions. It came out of this nuclear deal emboldened, enriched. It's practicing aggression everywhere, including on our own borders. And I think we have to stop this country that chants, 'Death to Israel, death to America.'"

"Iran must be stopped," Netanyahu reiterated. "That is our common challenge."

Pence also touched on Iran's nefarious designs: "Iran hopes to recreate the ancient Persian Empire under the modern dictatorship of the Ayatollahs," he said, explaining, "As we speak, that regime seeks to carve out a corridor of influence running through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon creating an unbroken passage for its armies and its ideology. Last year alone, Iran spent more than $4 billion to achieve its ends, and at this very hour, it aids and abets terrorist groups that sit on Israel's doorstep and fire rockets at our people."

"In just the past month, the mounting Iranian menace has been laid bare for all to see," the VP continued, reminding the AIPAC audience of "The Iranian drone that breeched Israel's borders in February was a brazen act of aggression, but Israel's swift and strong response sent a warning to Iran across the region that dangerous provocations will not go unchecked by Israel, America or our allies."

Apropos the Persian Empire, PM Netanyahu also referred to it during his meeting with Trump, but in the most positive terms. Thanking the president for his official recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of his Israel and his plan to move the US embassy there this spring, Netanyahu said, "I want to tell you that the Jewish people have a long memory, so we remember the proclamation of the great king, Cyrus the Great, Persian king 2,500 years ago. He proclaimed that the Jewish exiles in Babylon could come back and rebuild our Temple in Jerusalem."

Of course, rebuilding the Temple would have been an even bigger deal than moving the US embassy, but it isn't anything President Trump can do for the Jews. That one would require a decision by Benjamin Netanyahu.

Vice President Mike Pence addresses the AIPAC Policy Conference

Vice President Mike Pence addresses the AIPAC Policy Conference, "the largest gathering of the pro-Israel movement."

Frank Sinatra - "Young At Heart"

Chic comedy--Mrs. Hughes

Ides of March

Ides of March From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the day in the Roman calendar. For events that occurred on March 15, see March 15.For other uses, see Ides of March (disambiguation). The Death of Caesar (1798) by Vincenzo Camuccini

The Ides of March (Latin: Idus Martiae, Late Latin: Idus Martii)[1] is a day on the Roman calendar that corresponds to March 15. It was marked by several religious observances and was notable for the Romans as a deadline for settling debts[2]. In 44 BC, it became notorious as the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar. The death of Caesar made the Ides of March a turning point in Roman history, as one of the events that marked the transition from the historical period known as the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire.[3]

Although March (Martius) was the third month of the Julian calendar, in the oldest Roman calendar it was the first month of the year. The holidays observed by the Romans from the first of the month to the Ides often reflect their origin as new-year celebrations.[citation needed]

 

Ides

The Romans did not number days of a month sequentially from the first through the last day. Instead, they counted back from three fixed points of the month: the Nones (5th or 7th, depending on the length of the month), the Ides (13th or 15th), and the Kalends (1st of the following month). The Ides occurred near the midpoint, on the 13th for most months, but on the 15th for March, May, July, and October. The Ides were supposed to be determined by the full moon, reflecting the lunar origin of the Roman calendar. On the earliest calendar, the Ides of March would have been the first full moon of the new year.[4]

Religious observances Panel thought to depict the Mamuralia, from a mosaic of the months in which March is positioned at the beginning of the year (first half of the 3rd century AD, from El Djem, Tunisia, in Roman Africa)

The Ides of each month were sacred to Jupiter, the Romans' supreme deity. The Flamen Dialis, Jupiter's high priest, led the "Ides sheep" (ovis Idulius) in procession along the Via Sacra to the arx, where it was sacrificed.[5]

In addition to the monthly sacrifice, the Ides of March was also the occasion of the Feast of Anna Perenna, a goddess of the year (Latin annus) whose festival originally concluded the ceremonies of the new year. The day was enthusiastically celebrated among the common people with picnics, drinking, and revelry.[6] One source from late antiquity also places the Mamuralia on the Ides of March.[7] This observance, which has aspects of scapegoat or ancient Greek pharmakos ritual, involved beating an old man dressed in animal skins and perhaps driving him from the city. The ritual may have been a new year festival representing the expulsion of the old year.[8][9]

In the later Imperial period, the Ides began a "holy week" of festivals celebrating Cybele and Attis,[10][11][12] being the day Canna intrat ("The Reed enters"), when Attis was born and found among the reeds of a Phrygian river.[13] He was discovered by shepherds or the goddess Cybele, who was also known as the Magna Mater ("Great Mother") (narratives differ).[14] A week later, on 22 March, the solemn commemmoration of Arbor intrat ("The Tree enters") commemorated the death of Attis under a pine tree. A college of priests, the dendrophoroi ("tree bearers") annually cut down a tree,[15] hung from it an image of Attis,[16] and carried it to the temple of the Magna Mater with lamentations. The day was formalized as part of the official Roman calendar under Claudius (d. 54 AD).[17] A three-day period of mourning followed,[18] culminating with celebrating the rebirth of Attis on 25 March, the date of the vernal equinox on the Julian calendar.[19]

Assassination of CaesarMain article: Assassination of Julius Caesar Reverse side of a coin issued by Caesar's assassin Brutus in the autumn of 42 BC, with the abbreviation EID MAR (Eidibus Martiis – on the Ides of March) under a "cap of freedom" between two daggers

In modern times, the Ides of March is best known as the date on which Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC. Caesar was stabbed to death at a meeting of the Senate. As many as 60 conspirators, led by Brutus and Cassius, were involved. According to Plutarch,[20] a seer had warned that harm would come to Caesar no later than the Ides of March. On his way to the Theatre of Pompey, where he would be assassinated, Caesar passed the seer and joked, "The Ides of March are come", implying that the prophecy had not been fulfilled, to which the seer replied "Aye, Caesar; but not gone."[20] This meeting is famously dramatised in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, when Caesar is warned by the soothsayer to "beware the Ides of March."[21][22] The Roman biographer Suetonius[23] identifies the "seer" as a haruspex named Spurinna.

Caesar's death was a closing event in the crisis of the Roman Republic, and triggered the civil war that would result in the rise to sole power of his adopted heir Octavian (later known as Augustus).[24] Writing under Augustus, Ovid portrays the murder as a sacrilege, since Caesar was also the Pontifex Maximus of Rome and a priest of Vesta.[25] On the fourth anniversary of Caesar's death in 40 BC, after achieving a victory at the siege of Perugia, Octavian executed 300 senators and knights who had fought against him under Lucius Antonius, the brother of Mark Antony.[26] The executions were one of a series of actions taken by Octavian to avenge Caesar's death. Suetonius and the historian Cassius Dio characterised the slaughter as a religious sacrifice,[27][28] noting that it occurred on the Ides of March at the new altar to the deified Julius.

See you tomorrow

Love Yehuda Lave

Rabbi Yehuda Lave

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