Book Review: Prophecy of the Sword: From the Dawn of Islam to October 7th by Dr. Michael Ben-Ari

I'd like to make something clear. Unlike most books I've reviewed, this one wasn't sent to me by an author or agent. Nobody expects a review as payment. And no, I didn't buy it. The book was a gift from someone who thought I'd want to read it. Yes, good guess. It came with another translation of Dr. Ben-Ari, The Many Lies of Josephus Flavius, which I haven't read yet. I like to take breaks between books of the same genres.

Prophecy of the Sword: From the Dawn of Islam to October 7th by Dr. Michael Ben-Ari is the best and most important history-theology book I have ever read. To say that it's a "must read" doesn't give it enough credit. Yes, it's that good in terms of the facts Ben-Ari writes, and the icing on the cake is that it's very readable and not full of highfalutin super academic words. Plus, considering that that it was originally written in Hebrew, the translation should be praised as the best imaginable. The translators are Robert Berman, Naphtali Greenwood and Shlomo Kirschner. 

There are two parts to the book, yes, hinted at in the title, Prophecy of the Sword: From the Dawn of Islam to October 7th. The Dawn of Islam is a clear explanation of the history of Islam, the invention of the second religion to designed to replace Judaism. Yes, the second after Christianity. Both of those religions have human history, people who created them. No godly messages. The history is very clear. A main part of the genius of Dr. Ben-Ari is that he doesn't waste words. He gives the maximum information with the minimum syllables. 

Islam's history, as explained by Dr. Ben-Ari doesn't seem all that complicated, and it was certainly invented to supplant Judaism. Read the book for details... It's not only just 190 pages, but print is comfortable to read and space between lines.

The second part of the book, less than 70 pages and tells what few people know about Hamas, its history, ideology, aims and more. Ben-Ari explains how predicting the multiple attacks against Israel on Israel October 7, 2023 should have been predicted. 

Hamas is more than a terrorist organization which attack Israel; it is planning on taking over the world. This answers some of the questions I asked in Gaza War Musings #79 STRANGE Timing-- Very Suspicious-- Follow The Money 

Prophecy of the Sword: From the Dawn of Islam to October 7th by Dr. Michael Ben-Ari is highly recommended. I'm looking forward to reading his other book, The Many Lies of Josephus Flavius. Have you read any of Michael Ben-Ari's other books? Which and what did you think?

Parshat Shavua Mishpatim, עבד "Evved," Slave or Just Employee?

 

פרשת משפטים Parshat Shavua Mishpatim

Shmot Chapter 21:1

"And these ae the laws..."

Parshat Shavua Mishpatim begins with laws about employment, the rights of the employee. OK, I know that everybody else translates עֶ֣בֶד as "slave." But last week as I read over the chapters before attending our local zoom parsha class, the meaning seemed very clear. The avaddim aren't slaves like the Africans who had been brought to America to work for the Europeans were until Abraham Lincoln had them freed. 

What's called the evved Ivri, Jewish/Hebrew slave wasn't a slave "imported" from another location bought at an auction or from some agent. He/She was someone who was poverty stricken and couldn't live off of his land. Remember that the Land of Israel had just been divided among the tribes, and each tribe had gotten its portion and each portion was to be divided among the clans. The laws here had been designed by Gd for the Jewish People in their Holy Land. I like to try to understand the Tanach and Hebrew according to how life was at the time.

Some of us have worked at jobs with difficult conditions. Many Sabbath observers who made it to America had to start new jobs every week, since they were automatically fired when they left early on Friday after announcing that they wouldn't be showing up on Saturday. I don't now about you, but employment conditions at some of my old jobs gave me a choice of very difficult hours/conditions or being fired. 

Few jobs allow employees to take vacation whenever they want and for however long they want. Keep that in your head when Moshe and Aharon demand that all the workers should leave at the same time.

And changing work conditions... I remember when the high school where I had been teaching English suddenly gave us fewer hours per week to teach the same material to the same number of students. After that they gave two double lessons on consecutive days instead of spreading out the teaching hours to give the students, especially my weak ones, a chance to really absorb the curriculum. Yes, that's like how Pharaoh told them to make bricks without providing the necessary straw.

Here Gd is demanding humane working conditions for employees. Proof that there's nothing slave-like in being an "evved" is that their employment contract is mandated by Gd to end after a maximum of six years. 

Think about it. That's not slavery!

Parshat Noach: Confusing/Distorting English Translation...

Chabad online Tanach

Yesterday when I was preparing for a Parshat Shavua, Torah Portion of the week class my neighbor teaches, I got "confused," sort of. 

First I must admit that I read it in English, even though we study in Hebrew. That's not usually a problem. When it comes to reading, my English is far superior to my Hebrew, but when I find something "peculiar," I check the Hebrew.

Please read the two circles sections. Concerning the descendants of Noach/Noah, Chapter 10, it says that they spoke multiple languages, blue circle. The sin/story of Migdal Bavel, the Tower of Babel ends with the builders punished by their speaking multiple languages instead of one. Look at what's in the red circle.

Both circled sections use the word language. It makes no sense.

So I decided to check out the Hebrew. Chapter 10 uses the word לשון lashon, tongue, while Chapter 11 uses שפה saffa, lip.

Translation isn't Mathematics. 1 is one, uno, achad etc. But as in one of my linguistic pet peeves, the Hebrew סרוג\סרוגה sarug/srugah can mean either knitting or crocheting which are not the same.

So my question is:

What's the difference between לשון lashon and שפה saffa when it comes to language? Not as parts of the mouth, which are obvious.