The Chosen Few: How Education Shaped Jewish History.

this book review was spot on, a great book which has now gone on my wish list. Quoting the salient bits

Botticini and Eckstein state on the first page of their book that their goal is to answer some basic questions: “Why are there so few Jewish farmers? Why are the Jews an urban population of traders, entrepreneurs, bankers, financiers, lawyers, physicians and scholars? When and why did these occupational and residential patterns become the distinctive features of the Jews? Why did the Jewish population shrink from 5–5.5 million at the time of Jesus to 1–1.2 million in the days of Muhammad? ... When, how and why did the Jews become the ‘the chosen few’?”

(1). The authors identified three major patterns in Jewish history. First, literacy grew and spread among the predominantly rural Jewish population of antiquity and at the same time there was a slow but significant process of conversion from Judaism that caused a significant drop in the Jewish population during the first half of the first millennium. Second, literate Jews had a comparative advantage over nonliterate populations in urban skilled occupations (e.g., crafts, trade, and money lending): urbanization and the development of a commercial economy gave them the opportunity to earn pecuniary returns on their investment in literacy and education. Finally, the Jewish diaspora was to a large extent voluntary and the result of Jews’ search for new opportunities in crafts, trade, commerce, money lending, banking, finance, and medicine.

The basis for all (or most) of these conclusions, the authors claim, is actually quite simple. The destruction of the Temple by the Romans ultimately transformed Judaism from a temple cult based on ritual sacrifices to a religion whose main norm required every Jewish man to read and study the Torah in Hebrew and to send his sons from the age of six or seven to primary school or synagogue to learn to do so (2). Literacy gave Jews an advantage but it was not without a price. Tuition required a significant investment, and not all Jews could or did invest in education. Many of the offspring of Jews who were unable or unwilling to pay for education therefore converted. Those who received an education and remained in the Jewish fold became the “Chosen Few”—and the ancestors of the modern Jewish population. The educational advantage of the Jews together with their exceptionally well-developed system of contract law gave them a competitive advantage over non-Jews and enabled them to thrive in urban environments. To prove this thesis (and related points), the authors survey key elements of 1400 years of Jewish history in about 275 pages.

And then some stupid people want to construct temples again (Ayodhya) and some take pride in being the custodian of temples. Learn, you idiots, learn!

The Wandering Hat: Iterations of the Medieval Jewish Pointed Cap

this was an absolutely fascinating paper. The abstract

From the twelfth to the seventeenth century, a cone-shaped hat called a pileus cornutus served as a distinguishing sign for Jews in the German-speaking regions of the Holy Roman Empire. What did the hat signify previously, and how did its meaning change after it was imposed on Jews by decree in the thirteenth century? This study traces its history as far back as Greek antiquity, when a pointed “Phrygian” hat was used as a means of identifying barbarians. Traveling on to Rome, where it was known as a pileus, the hat rose to prominence as a symbol for emancipated slaves. Its imposition on Jews in the Middle Ages was a turning point. Thereafter, the hat began to appear in representations of an increasing variety of deceiving figures, real and mythical, including heretics, criminals, and dwarfs. Following the course of the pileus not only sheds light on an intriguing singular phenomenon; it also stands as a paradigmatic example of a “traveling concept” and helps to refine our understanding of cultural transfer—of culture as transfer.

the paper traces the evolution of this fascinating hat. Some examples from the paper

But when I saw this, I felt I had seen these hats before and my daughter helped identifying it..

War trophies: When Hindu kings raided temples and abducted idols

Kannu Diya

Here's a chapter from horrible histories. How Hindu King's nicked idols and destroyed temples properly. Of course one can say that the Hindu kings didn't destroy the idols but that's a quibble. The champions of idol destruction are of course the children of that very jealous God of Jews, Christians and Muslims. Very very jealous. Reading the scriptures will give you a shiver. He's pretty clear (or at least his scribes said so) that if you worship another God, you will be cast into hell and bad stuff will happen. 

Of course this is all utter rubbish. The idea that a God is all tied up in blocks of stone or is unique is complete and utter rubbish. At best, idols are focus objects. Objects of art. Objects of veneration. But to expect that they have some innate divinity is rubbish. But see how many wars have happened over idols. Mecca. Jerusalem. Ayodhya. Constantinople. Thebes. Mexico. You name it. 

Religion is a way of control kids. Don't mix with faith. 

Have a lovely Week. Best of luck with the interviews son. 

Love

Baba

War trophies: When Hindu kings raided temples and abducted idols
http://scroll.in/article/767065/war-trophies-when-hindu-kings-desecrated-temples-and-abducted-idols
(via Instapaper)

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Temple desecration under the Muslim rule in India was a continuation of the policy the ruling dynasties pursued in the pre-Islamic period. Hindu kings victorious in battles plundered the temples their vanquished rivals patronised, ferreted away the deities installed there, and in extreme cases, even broke them. Such instances are documented and known to historians.

But this phenomenon has failed to inform the public discourse on Islamic iconoclasm. This has enabled the proponents of Hindutva to project the destruction of temples under Muslim rulers as an assault on the Hindu religion, and as an example of the tyranny perpetrated on its followers.

I

One of earliest known copies of Ten Commandments sees the light of day

Spending much time in Israel is one of my dreams kids. It's a country with so much history that you breathe it in, you weigh it and stumble over it with every step. We have so many books and manuscripts relating to this area and I haven't spent time here. 

But I love this idea of this exhibition. Can you imagine keeping the oldest copy of the Ten Commandments along with a more recent handwritten copy of Einsteins work? That itself is mind boggling. 

Not that many people know all the 10 commandments but most know some. How many do you know and remember? 

I'm reminded of what the Dalai Lama said. My religion is simple. Be kind. Simple no? People make life much more difficult by putting in rules and regulations. Just be kind. Don't be an idiot. 

Anyway. We will plan to go here one day :) 

Love

Baba

One of earliest known copies of Ten Commandments sees the light of day
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/one-of-earliest-known-copies-of-ten-commandments-sees-the-light-of-day/2015/05/21/fdd001bb-7d43-4777-aa46-931a18a51798_story.html
(via Instapaper)

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(null)

How the Middle East gave religion to the world

this was a fascinating map, showing how the Middle East gave rise to religions which spread across the world. Curious. And note this is before Islam, so before you start whining about how Islam was spread by the sword, the previous religions weren't really all about flowers and singing kumbaya either.

Why isn't Pastafarianism being shown?

The Criminalization of Abortion in the West

this was an interesting book review that I read today…

I quote

The argument of this book is that abortion, including miscarriage by assault and infanticide (p. 5), came to be treated as a “crime” in the modern sense — “wrongdoing requiring lawful retribution from the hands of publicly appointed officials” (p. 4) — in the period 1140–1250 (pp. 1–2). The introduction sets out this thesis and the crucial problematic: when do the sources for law and society in the West first conceptualise a clear distinction between crime on the one hand and wrongdoing that is not criminal, such as “tort” or sin, on the other? It is a debate that has long engaged scholars of medieval canon and English common law.

a fascinating argument. the author talks about abortion being criminalised in the mid 12th century with the rise in the emergence of universities and jurisprudence studies.

As for myself, i am firmly of the belief that its the choice of the mother whether or not to abort. And yes, whilst you can quibble over whether or not at which time period the baby becomes viable, the fact remains that the mother is responsible and accountable. So end of. But curious how this is all religiously mandated. For example, you wouldn't find any of these issues relating to non Judeo Christian backgrounds, at least not that I have read about it. If you believe in the cycle of life and rebirth, then when you die is merely a waystation…fascinating…

this book goes on my to be read pile :)

Leni Riefenstahl

This is the story of a remarkable woman. German. Very highly qualified and amazingly talented. Perhaps one of the best directors and a wonderful photographer. But as the downside and the book, hitlers willing executioner and loads of other researchers have pointed out, the common German was as complicit in the holocaust as the nazis, the SS etc etc. As the article shows, she wriggled around trying to explain her actions. 

This is why you have to be courageously strong in standing up for what's right and saying it so. Whether its due to religion or ideology or politics son, stand up for what's right. And most importantly be very suspicious of people promising the moon. Whether its hitler or a religious guru, prophet or pandit. 

But learn to distinguish art or speech from the artist son. You can admire Wagner or Leni and their work without letting their association with nazism bother you. Will you hate the Pieta because it was made by Michelangelo as he was gay? No. 

Love

Baba

 

 

Leni Riefenstahl - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leni_Riefenstahl

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Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (German: [ˈʁiːfənʃtaːl]; 22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, photographer, actress and dancer widely known for directing the Nazi Party propaganda film Triumph of the Will. Riefenstahl’s prominence in the Third Reich, along with her personal association with Adolf Hitler, destroyed her film career following Germany's defeat in World War II, after which she was arrested but released without any charges.^[2]

Triumph of the Will gave Riefenstahl instant and lasting international fame, as well as infamy. She directed eight films, two of which received significant coverage outside Germany. The propaganda value of her films made during the 1930s repels most modern commentators, but many film histories cite the aesthetics as outstanding.^[3][4][5][6] The Economist wrote that Triumph of the Will "sealed her reputation as the greatest female filmmaker of the 20th century".^[7]

In the 1970s, Riefenstahl published her still photography of the Nuba tribes in Sudan in several books such as The Last of the Nuba. Active until her death at age 101, she published marine life stills and released the marine-based film Impressionen unter Wasserin 2002.

After her death, the Associated Press described Riefenstahl as an “acclaimed pioneer of film and photographic techniques”.^[8] Der Tagesspiegel newspaper in Berlin noted, “Leni Riefenstahl conquered new ground in the cinema”.^[9] The BBC said her documentaries “were hailed as groundbreaking film-making, pioneering techniques involving cranes, tracking rails, and many cameras working at the same time”.^[10]

King João II of Portugal “O Príncipe Perfeito” and the Jews (1481-1495)

A paper that i was sent was quite interesting. King Joao II of Portugal is quite an interesting chap. I was interested in him not just because of what he did in Portugal but of his funding of expeditions to India (people who think that the Portuguese were fun chaps should really read up on what these guys did in the Indian Ocean, they were true barbarians, unbelievable savages).

Second was the fact that this chap was responsible (during the time of Columbus), to divide up the world between Spain and Portugal.

Third was that this king was supposed to be the personification of Machiavelli’s work..Very interesting indeed.

But I digress, as is usual with Europe for a very long time, the Jews got it in the neck. This paper, Sefarad (Sef)
Vol. 69:1, enero-junio 2009, págs. 75-99, ISSN 0037-0894 by Francois Soyer of the University of Southampton tells all about how this fellow was an absolute infamous horrible man with the Jews. I quote:

 

A central element of this reputation has been João II’s treatment of the thousands of Jews who were expelled from the neighbouring kingdoms of Castile and Aragón in 1492 and who came to Portugal. King João has become particularly notorious because of his enslavement of a
number of these Castilian Jews as well as his decision to deport Jewish children seized from their parents to the inhospitable island of São Tomé in the Gulf of Guinea. Somewhat unsurprisingly, the Portuguese sovereign gained the reputation –both in contemporary Jewish accounts and in the work of modern historians– of a callous tyrant who pitilessly persecuted the Jews;
resorting to cruel methods in order to extort funds from the Castilian Jews and coercing many of them to convert to Christianity. By way of illustration, Isaac Abravanel (1437-1508), one of the foremost Jews at the Portuguese Court until his exile in 1483, used the epithets “tyrannical,” “deceitful” and “iniquitous” to describe João II in his work.
Likewise, the Cretan Rabbi Elijah
Capsali (c. 1490-1549), who interviewed many Iberian Jews, presents João II
in his famous chronicle as an inveterate enemy of the Jews and describes the
monarch as a “repulsive” and “wicked” king. In his work, Capsali went to the
extreme of including an extraordinary paragraph in which God punished João
II for his cruelty towards the Jews by sending an avenging angel to slay him
and thus avenge his Jewish victims.

The paper is just amazing to read. Here’s one more quote:

the episode recorded by Solomon Ibn Verga, who himself
came to Portugal in 1492 with his family, is particularly moving:

There was a [Jewish] woman from whom they had taken six children.
When the unfortunate woman heard that the King was leaving the church
[where he had just attended mass], this woman [started to] implore his mercy and threw herself at the feet of his horse, pleading with him to return her
youngest child to her but the King would not listen to her.
The King ordered his servants: “take her out of my sight!”
[The woman] continued to plead her case with yet louder screams and
[the servants] abused her.
The King then exclaimed: “Let her be, she is like a bitch whose pups
have been taken away from her!”

Europe, your history is full of ill-treatment towards minorities. Why just blame the Nazi’s? there is good form for anti-Semitic attacks in pretty much every country.

Saudi moral committee threatens to cover “tempting” women’s eyes

First the story:

Women with sexy eyes in Saudi Arabia may be forced to cover them up, according to the spokesperson of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV) in the conservative Gulf kingdom.

Spokesman of the Ha’eal district, Sheikh Motlab al-Nabet said the committee has the right to stop a women whose eyes seem “tempting” and order her to cover them immediately.

Saudi women are already forced to wear a loose black dress and to cover their hair and in some areas, their face, while in public or face fines or sometimes worse, including public lashings.

The announcement came days after the Saudi newspaper al-Watan reported that a Saudi man was admitted to a hospital after a fight with a member of the committee when he ordered his wife to cover her eyes. The husband was then stabbed twice in the hand.

/facepalm

While in Israel, this is what’s being pushed around.

That Orthodox Judaism forbids a man from hearing a woman sing. These soldiers adhere to the strict interpretation of the expression “Kol B’Isha Erva.” This might translate as, “the voice of a woman is like nakedness.” Or as, “the voice of a woman is like her vagina.”

And these are men? MEN? They are barbarians, molluscs would hesitate to associate with them, the morons. Truly frightening idiocy of the first order, that they read something in some medieval book, park their brains in the basement, and go forth to do this kind of Neanderthal crap.

No wonder all the prophets had to be born in the middle east, look what they had to work with, God has had to work overtime on these muppets.

Dutch doctors urge end to male circumcision

Quite right too, this is a barbaric custom to snip off the foreskin. And no, just because it has been shown to help avoid AIDS is not a good reason. Nor is it a good reason that its culturally or religiously mandated. In Hinduism, people argued that women need to jump into the funeral pyre of their husbands. Same old same old. Muppets. I quote:

AMSTERDAM: Dutch doctors want politicians and human rights groups to speak out and discourage the practice of male circumcision in the Netherlands because they say it is a “painful and harmful ritual,” and a violation of children’s rights.

Between 10,000 and 15,000 boys are circumcized in the Netherlands each year, mostly for religious reasons and not always with an anesthetic, according to the Royal Dutch Medical Association (KNMG) which represents surgeons, pediatricians, general practitioners and urologists.

“We want to discourage male circumcision, because it is an unnecessary procedure with complications, which violates the integrity of the child,” Lode Wigersma, a spokesman for the association, told Reuters on Friday.

“This is not an innocent procedure, we see complications in about 5 percent of the cases, as well as some long-term and psychological implications,” he said.

Male circumcision involves the removal of all or part of the foreskin of the penis. It is a ritual obligation for infant Jewish boys, and is also a common rite among Muslims, who account for the largest share of circumcised men worldwide.

The Dutch medical association has urged religious leaders to find alternative rites of passage that are not irreversible and which are not painful for the child.

The practice of female genital mutation has been prohibited by law in the Netherlands since 1993 for all ages.

Kosher or Animal Cruelty?

Well, i am afraid I am on the side of the animal cruelty people. Yes, we have spoken about this many times, at end of the day, we are killing the animal so drawing the line on how you kill the animal is hypocrisy, but then the idea is that you do need protein and please do not get me started on the vegetarian argument, but you do not need to needlessly torture or cause pain to the animals. And yes, many animal farms are bad but that’s not what the usual laws state. The law states, in countries like UK and USA and EU and and and that you are not to do cruelty to animals and there is a pretty good state of history and precedent in defining what cruelty is.

See what the Dutch are doing. I quote:

The bill sponsored by the tiny Animal Rights Party, the first such group in Europe to win seats in a national parliament, passed the lower house of parliament and must be approved by the upper house before becoming law. It stipulates that livestock must be stunned before being slaughtered, contrary to the Jewish kashrut laws and Muslim halal laws that specify that animals killed for their meat must be unwounded at the time of slaughtering. Stunning damages the nervous system.
“This way of killing causes unnecessary pain to animals. Religious freedom cannot be unlimited,” Marianne Thieme, head of Animal Rights Party, said before the vote. “For us religious freedom stops where human or animal suffering begins.”

So what are the Jews saying?

“Has the freedom of religion already been ritually slaughtered?” wondered a tweeter named ‘Bozoc.’ The Netherlands’ Muslim and Jewish communities – about 1 million and 40,000, respectively, in a total population of 16 million – have condemned the proposed ban as a violation of their religious freedom. But as Jacobs pointed out on Tuesday, “only the most observant Muslims – some 30 percent of the total – are against stunning animals.”

But this isnt a question of freedom of religion. You have the right to practise whatever religion you wish as long as your rights do not interfere with other people’s rights. And as it turns out, animals have a right not to have a cruel death. Mind you, the animals do not have a right to life (that’s an interesting conundrum) but there you go.

Incidentally, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland ban ritual slaughter already. So there is precedent. And yes, male circumcision is as bad as FGM. Let the kid grow up, when he is an adult, he can make the decision to lop off the tip of his todger or to put in a ring.

Incidentally, check this situation out about dogs who get their tails docked.

"MPs have rightly signalled that it is unacceptable in a civilised society to amputate a puppy's tail purely because some people think that it is aesthetically pleasing to disable a dog in this way," he said.

Well said, the idea that for cosmetic or silly sod religions reasons you will go about inflicting cruelty to animals is frankly Neanderthal.

Male Circumcision is as heinous as female genital mutilation

When a male baby gets its foreskin snipped off by a rabbi or a mullah, just how and why is it different from a woman whose clitoris or labia are removed? There is no choice, there is religious or tradition sanction and at end of the day, the child loses some of its bits. Just how is this freedom of religion? Would you allow a parent to keep their child in filth or not give them medicine just because some medieval obscurantist religion demands it? It is just bizarre. And for people saying that it does not actually change the sexual feeling, that’s not the point, the point is that you are actually removing a bit from your child just because a culture or religion says so. That’s conceptually the same as that of FGM, they offer up the same excuse, its part of religion or its part of culture. Go figure. Bah!

The Indian Schindler

We all have heard about the Schindler List, a movie which talks about Oskar Schindler who saves thousands of Jews from the concentration camps. But not many people know the history of India taking in refugees. The land has a very long history of welcoming persecuted people from other lands and giving them succour. Think back about the Parsi’s or the Zoroastrians who fled the fanatical Muslim invaders who had invaded Iran. They settled in India and are now one of the most advanced components of Indian society. The second example are the Tibetans who with Dalai Lama, escaped from Tibet and settled in India. The next example is that of the Sri Lankan Tamils who escaped the civil war in Sri Lanka and then settled back in Tamil Nadu. Another example are the Bengalis who escaped the genocide and persecution of the Pakistani’s and settled in India. India also offered Palestinian and Afghanistan leaders a safe place and many leaders and their family know India as a safe place to live and raise their kids. Hamid Karzai, the current Afghan President studied and lives in India for a long period of time.

But I did not know about Sassoons. The Sassoon family and the Prime Minister of Cochin state (now Kerala) offered to harbour Jewish Refugees. So at a time that USA and UK were actively stopping the relief of Jews who were desperately trying to escape the Nazi’s, a small corner of India was welcoming them with open arms. Here are some references. Incidentally, some Indian Jews in North East India are claiming to be Jews and are emigrating to Israel. Now that the Church, bloody hypocritically, is whining about losing adherents. When the shoe is on the other foot and all that.

Anyway, found this quite interesting about how India welcomed refugees.

A revolt over Halal & Kosher Food

I came back home and found that somebody had handed over this crumpled up pamphlet to Diya outside her school.

This says:

To Parents

Did you know that your school is going to supply Muslim Halal meat for school dinners not just for Muslims but for all children. You dont know this because your Head Teacher, Katrina Mildner the Chair of Governors Ted Sturdy and Harrow Council choose not to tell you because you are of no importance. They are putting the Muslims beliefs before yours, the reason is they have no respect for you or your children or your beliefs.

English meat is slaughtered humanely so the animal doesn’t not suffer unlike the Halal method. The Bird of Animal have verses read from the Karan as part of the preparation before they slit it’s throat and let it bleed to death. This can take up to 370 seconds for a Calf to die. All the blood then has to be drained out. It is cruel and inhumane by our Western standards. Don’t let the Muslims force their barbaric ways on us, let’s stick to our principles and our way of life or we will lose them forever. This is our England.

You can tell the school you don’t want your child eating Halal. You can complain to the council. Or you can get other mothers and fathers to sign a petition and send this in.

Leave aside the painful grammar and strange punctuation, this made me wonder. What on earth is going on? This sounds ridiculous, but not for the stated reasons. Why haven't we been asked about this? They ask about everything ranging from temperature in the school rooms to colour of the damn school balls, but not about this. Curiously, this came just a few days after I read about the hoo haa about Kosher meat preparation in New Zealand. Here is one report on this issue. I quote:

On 28 May 2010, New Zealand became the fourth country in the world to outlaw shechita, the slaughtering of animals according to Jewish law to produce kosher meat and poultry.

New Zealand’s ban on kosher slaughter isn’t the first - it follows a position first adopted during the 1920s in Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, and most infamously by Nazi Germany during the early 1930s.

The New Zealand ban comes about as a direct consequence, apparently deliberate, not to consider kosher slaughter under the new Animal Welfare Commercial Slaughter Code as a humane method, and to disregard the scientific consensus supporting the humaneness of the method. New Zealand’s position not only runs counter to preexisting New Zealand laws, but is also contrary to the legal position in Australia and the United States.

The new Code, announced by New Zealand Agriculture Minister David Carter and prepared by the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC), mandates that commercially killed animals must be stunned before slaughter to “ensure that the animals are treated humanely and in accordance with good practice and scientific knowledge”. The Code took effect immediately following his announcement on 27 May.

So, what do we have here? We have a situation that the current standards of humanity and avoidance of senseless pain and cruelty is considered to be at variance with religious practise. And not just that, here in Harrow, because of somebody wanting to follow THEIR religion which leads to senseless pain and cruelty to animals, gets my daughter involved who doesnt even belong to that religion. Freedom of religion to freedom from cruelty to animals to freedom of choice, etc. etc. seem to have gotten into a right little tangle.

I hate cruelty to animals but then I love eating meat. So I would find it hypocritical to complain about animals being killed for meat anyway. But the question isnt about killing animals or not, its HOW they are killed. The fact that animals and plants do feel pain and have responses to it mean that that argument is not part of the equation, whether you are vegan or not, you will inflict pain on living creatures, both animals and plants.

But then, just because you have a donkey to carry your goods around does not mean that you can beat it mercilessly. Is that what the argument is with kosher or halal meat? There have been quite a lot of online and newspaper arguments about this. Here are some examples here, here, here. The Harrow Council has released a statement recently waffling around on this. The Jewish Chronicle is also worried about this.

Well, after due consideration, this is what I think. The fact that its religiously mandated is neither here nor there, there are many things in Islam and Judaism which are religiously mandated like slavery but we dont allow that, so the idea that everything that any odd sod religion says is fine has nothing to do with freedom of religion. There are rules and modern concepts about cruel and unjustified punishment and treatment towards animals. Here is a good overview of the laws in various countries. Here is a nice overview from the BBC on this. So you can take your halal and kosher food and shove it.

Second, no, I am not happy that my daughter is now a party to this inhumane and cruel practise without even consulting us. So Harrow Council, you can shove it too.

Veiling doesnt seem to stop harassment

One of the most frequent reasons given by Muslim women who are veiled or want to veil is that it allows them to affirm their faith, follow the strictures of Islam and basically stop themselves being looked as objects of lust. Dress modestly so to say, dont allow your hair to be seen and and and. So when I read this, I was a bit bewildered. I quote:

The Egyptian media reported that about 300 cases of sexual harassment against women occurred over the recent Adha holiday. The cases, which the Interior Ministry would not confirm or deny, varied from verbal taunts to assaults. Al Destour newspaper said the number of incidents was higher than what was reported during the Fitr feast in September.

Sexual harassment in Egyptian cities has become an disturbing phenomenon of late. It recently became associated with feast holidays, where thousands enjoy spending their free time outdoors. Younger generations face less-strict scrutiny from their parents, who tend to allow their daughters to go out without parental supervision during feasts. Police security is usually softer than it is throughout the rest of the year.

The biggest incident came during last year's Fitr, when 150 men and boys were arrested for going on a harassing spree in the streets of Mohandeseen in Cairo. A few of the defendants, who assaulted girls and cut their clothes, were taken to court and one was sentenced to a year in jail.

The number of harassment cases during the feasts echoes a study carried out by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights (ECWR) last July, showing that 83% of Egyptian women and 98% of foreign females residing in the country reported being harassed.

Egypt's penal code sets imprisonment punishments for anyone who sexually assaults minors, but many assaulted women have seen their cases blocked as judges and prosecutors blamed similar incidents on the "provocative" way some girls are dressed. But the ECWR's study refutes such allegations, saying that 71.5% of women who reported sexual harassment were wearing veils (head scarves) and non-revealing clothes, and 19.6% of them were even wearing niqabs (face veils).

I am not really sure that veiling is really helping out here. And as usual, the problem is with the men. Without veils, you are accused of dressing provocatively and acting whorishly. Seriously, so many debates that i have followed in mailing lists or newspapers or elsewhere, the women who are veiled (and the men who support them) talk about bikini clad women, scantily clad women and how that doesnt give rise to dignity of the women. But seems like if you veil, you are in bigger danger of being groped and harassed. When I spoke to somebody who was Egyptian, their response was that the men think that veiled women are easy, they would not complain, they will simply take the harassment and walk on. Once a woman finds that her body is shameful and has to be hidden away, well, there you go, if you cover the meat, you will get handled, if you uncover the meat, you will be called as uncovered meat.

The problem is not going to be resolved by wearing burqa’s or the veil, the problem is that men are defining what women are and aren't. Look at what happened in New York. I quote:

Scantily clad hipster cyclists attracted to the Brooklyn neighborhood made it difficult, the Hasids said, to obey religious laws forbidding them from staring at members of the opposite sex in various states of undress. These riders also were disobeying the traffic laws, they complained

See? the men are the weak lot, they cannot control their lust and emotions. While I am fully in favour of what you wear and what not to wear, these internal contradictions need to be thought through a bit more. Given that Europe is moving towards banning the veil, does this mean that women’s harassment in Europe will be lessened?

What defines your religion?

What indeed? But first the story. I quote:

Is being a Jew a matter of bloodline or religious practice? The UK's new Supreme Court is debating the subject this week, in a case that could have a wider impact on faith schools

As it so happens, the public government run schooling system is frankly at the bottom of the pile, the top of the pile belong to the independent fee paid private schools, followed by the faith schools. It is a damning indictment of the same. But then, because going for better education for your children is a peculiarly middle class sentiment, parents do all kinds of strange things to get their kids into a good school.

The middle school where my kids go to was in the news recently when the local council decided to prosecute a parent for effectively lying to get her son into that school. See this story about how the local council trying to check (as usual, when you have a constrained supply then all these kinds of shenanigans will happen) parental fraud.

Anyway, lets get back to the religious schools. That’s where you had an issue with parents suddenly becoming religious and trying to enter into religious grant maintained schools. This particular case hinges on an interesting situation and raises questions like:

how do you define faith? Is religion a matter of who you are? What you believe? Or what you do?

Pretty tough questions, eh? Previously the Jewish school would give admission to any child born to Jewish mothers. So far so good, but what about if the father is Jewish and the mother is not but the child practises Jewish rituals and stuff? According to the Race Relations Act, the child is Jewish, but not according to the rules of the school which uses traditional Jewish Law.

Go to the BBC site, they have some very interesting comments, but if these religious schools are being funded out of my tax money, then by heck, they better be consistent. If I had my way, i would shut them down and open them as charter schools. Then there is no problem. You cannot resolve this problem when you have the other problem of a state run horrible schooling system.

British kids believe Auschwitz is a type of beer

Good heavens!!! I knew things were bad in the school but THIS?

A new study shows that around 10 percent British schoolchildren could not identify Auschwitz as a Nazi death camp, and 2 percent believe it is a kind of beer. The poll of 1,000 pupils between the ages of 11 to 16 was conducted by the London Jewish Cultural Center and Miramax film company, to mark the launch of the DVD edition of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
According to the survey, 60 percent of pupils did not know what the Final Solution was, and 20 percent defined the phrase as the talks that brought an end to World War II. Just 37 percent of the children polled knew that six million Jews perished in the Holocaust. "We are not surprised by the results, although we are disappointed," said Stephanie Rose of the London Jewish Cultural Center.

While I know 10% sounds a bit tolerable, but still…

What’s in a name? Quite a lot if you are God

My Dad used to tell this joke. A Sikh was on the bus and he finds that his 10p coin has slipped out of his pocket and into a deep crack in the side panel. So he starts praying, “Ya Allah, please help me get the 10p out, please please please”. A Mullah was sitting next to him and after some time of hearing his prayers, gets a bit irritated and then pokes the Sardar. “Oiy, Sardar, you are a Sikh, why are you taking the name of Allah?” Pat comes the answer, “Do you think i am going to send Guru Gobind Singh into that crack for just 10p?”

But I was reminded of that joke when I read this:

the Roman Catholic Church has been banned by a Malaysian court from using the word "Allah", the word commonly used for God in the Malay language. A court upheld a government ban that has become a symbol of religious tensions in the Muslim-majority country. Christians in Malaysia are banned from using "Allah" in their literature, because the government says it would confuse Muslims.Christian groups say the ban is unconstitutional, arguing the word "Allah" predates Islam.

I am amused because I grew up respecting all religions. My grandma had a picture of the Kaaba inside her temple room. Here’s a song that I grew up listening.

It just means, Allah is your name, God is your name, you give sustenance to all.

Curious, no? how people are stupid enough to fight over a name for the God? And how patronising, Muslims will get confused because a Christian organisation calls God as Allah? And it also says that the court knows sweet sod all about theology because the God in Judaism, Christianity and Islam is considered to be the same. And I am sure God is looking down and digging his elbow into his friend’s ribs, pointing to that silly court and laughing their heads off. Clowns.

Fusion of Hinduism and Judaism by Kirtan Rabbi

This was amazing, Kirtan is obviously a Hindu way of singing religious hymns with instruments and the entire congregation sings along with the singers. But this is the first time I have seen a Rabbi do this. Good man. Fascinating. some of the Youtube videos showed almost Sufi like divine worship by some of the participants.

h/t Jewschool.

Technorati Tags: Judaism,Hinduism

Technorati Tags: Sufism

Yet another Jew good/Muslim bad article

I do not know about why this thesis is so prevalent amongst a certain class of Muslims. It goes something like this. Jews have come up with so many Nobel prizes, inventions and discoveries while the Muslims have not. So Muslims should do the same and hark back to some mythical golden age. I am sure you must have read this before. What these frankly silly people do not understand is that if they are identifying excellence with a particular religion, then they are also identifying mediocrity or failure with another religion. If just belonging to Judaism was sufficient to start punching out Nobel Prizes and inventions, then is belonging to Islam sufficient reason for not getting Nobel Prizes and inventions? What follows is that the Muslims should convert to Judaism and viola', Nobel Prizes and inventions galore will come tumbling out of the sky. Or else there is something wrong with the religion. See what I mean? This is why this argument is so fallacious and the worrying thing is that this argument is usually made by quite highly educated people. Frightening, if this is what the educated masses are thinking. Stop beating yourself up for a made up argument.

Here's the latest epistle which got me moaning and whining. See how the issue is confused between religion, public policy, education, innovation and the rest? I quote some rather interesting snippets from this article:

The attitude explained above speaks volumes about love and care Muslims have for knowledge and research. Even in the 21st Century, in Pakistan millions of people have no access to education, and where schools are built they are systematically burnt down or blown out by bombs. Muslims are fast losing interest in education and benefits it could provide because they think they can become rich by other means which might not be legal. Also value of our education is constantly declining; and our ability to provide quality training and produce knowledge is shrinking. As a result of this Muslims are becoming less competitive in every field.

There are 57 Muslim Countries in the world with enormous resources, and yet there are only 500 universities in the Muslim World; and none of the universities in the entire Islamic World rank in the top 500 universities of the world. On the other hand the USA alone has 5,758 universities. In Christian countries 40% of population attend university; and in Muslim countries only 2% make to universities.

Even Pakistan's neighbour and Third World country, India has 8,407 universities; and Indian scientists, doctors and engineers are performing crucial role in advanced societies of the world. It is on strength of this, after the Mumbai carnage one USA based Indian wrote to me that India has softwere engineers, scientists and doctors to 'export', and Pakistan can only 'export drugs and terrorists'.

So problem is lack of educational and high tech training facilities, our failure to learn new knowledge; and our wrong priorities and failure to provide resources for education and research has put us where we are today. And instead of learning from our past mistakes and sorting out our priorities we Muslims, especially Muslims of South Asia like to shift blame to others by saying that it is Jewish, Hindu or American conspiracy.

A prominent Kashmiri journalist, Sardar Zia Mahmood who has kindly provided me this data, while talking to me said, 'One cause of extremism and terrorism is our inability to educate our young people and provide adequate opportunities for those who worked hard to get qualifications'. He further said, 'If we want to combat terrorism and extremism then we have to divert resources to educate and train people and promote culture of tolerance and democratic values'.

Not good, Dr. Shabir Choudhry, if you do have a doctorate or a medical degree, this kind of pap was not expected from you. Science and innovation is not driven by God or religion, but by human beings.

Technorati Tags: innovation,religion,Islam,Judaism