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Miura Jota
By Mark Smeyers on January 29. 2012 in Miura.
If you mention the name Miura among car enthusiasts, chances are most of them know exactly what you are talking about, the Lamborghini Miura is an icon in automotive history, so what happens when Chief Test driver Bob Wallace 'modifies' one of these exotic super cars into a race car ?
That is when the Jota comes into the picture, probably the most spectacular Lamborghini ever made and to date the most ambitious project Bob Wallace worked on during his days at Automobili Lamborghini … back in 1970 he wanted to build a pure bred racing machine based on the magnificent Miura. Hence the name as the syllable 'J' is pronounced Yota in Italian, and coincidence or not … appendix J was part of the International Auto Racing rulebook of that era.
But we all know the late Ferruccio didn't have much intention to race any of his cars, so while he did allow Bob to use the factory tools, a genuine chassis from the line (number 5084 to be exact) and even use one of the brand new engines (number 30744 in fact) as a basis for his 'toy' … but Bob did have a daytime job at the factory, so the Miura Jota had to developed during evenings and weekends.
From a distance the Jota still looked like a Miura, but up close a lot was different, just about the entire car was developed from the ground up … most of the bodywork was now made from Avional, a very light, composite alloy usually only found in the aircraft industry, but Bob also removed the floor of the steel chassis and replaced it with this much lighter alloy. Back to the outside, the Miura Jota looked like a race car on the outside using fixed headlights covered by plastic covers that could be quickly replaced during a race if needed. Up front a large chin spoiler was mounted to counteract any lift due to the high speeds this Bull could reach.
All over the new bodywork air intakes and outlets were cut into the alloy, allowing cool air to enter and hot air to leave the car as smoothly as possible, in the hood two large, open outlets were present, just behind them a quick fuel filler … it was to be a race car after all right. Behind the front wheels two massive vents were cut and both side windows had been replaced by plastic units with small sliding parts to allow a draft of air into the cockpit … which didn't have any air conditioning naturally, that's only extra weight … which means less performance.
The usual twin windshield wipers were removed and a single, parallelogram-action race wiper was mounted, on the roof two additional air intakes rammed air into the engine compartment while the louvers from the original Miura remain on the engine cover, however two more air outlets were cut in the rear panel and the entire lower grille was removed … instead a quartet of thundering exhaust pipes were visible now.
Campagnolo supplied some of the widest, magnesium wheels on the market in the Seventies, a massive 12 inch wide at the back and 9 inch up front, 15 inch tall rolling initially on Dunlop racing slicks which were replaced by Pirelli later on. Years later Bob Wallace would mention he based the design of the Jota wheels on those found on a Bizzarrini, but let's say this is part of the legend. Because of these ultra wide wheels the entire suspension also had to be redesigned, something Bob Wallace intended from the start naturally, he also created a near perfect weight distribution by putting a large spare wheel right at the back of the chassis and moving the single fuel tank into the side sills, 60 liter each … something that would be the downfall of the Jota later on unfortunately.
With all that weight saving and redesign it would be wrong to leave the interior alone, so Bob Wallace completely stripped away everything he could get rid of, the dashboard was replaced with a lightweight plate holding only the strictly necessary dials and switches, the central console was never to be seen again and the roof mounted switches were placed on the dashboard itself now. The seats were replaced with padded foam 'bags' hanging from the structure between the cockpit and the engine … perhaps not too comfortable, but it sure saved a lot of weight in the end.
As for the engine … no doubt another masterpiece by Bob Wallace, he boosted the compression ratio, installed modified cams and a completely electronic ignition system … add a dry sump lubrication to avoid having the engine oil all on one side during hard cornering and a somewhat louder exhaust with four megaphones … and a nice 440 horsepower rating is the result. Note Bob actually used Islero sourced oil radiators for this Jota and a gearbox with closer ratios … by the way, the pedals in the Jota hung from above, on the regular Miura the pedals actually stand up, another major modification only seen on the Jota.
Ferruccio still didn't want to have one of his cars on the track, but he did allow to have the Miura Jota rigorously field tested, so it covered over 20,000 Kms on Pirelli test tracks with a proud Bob behind the wheel … these test runs led to the development of the H60 VR15 tire that would be mounted on the 'street' Miura … so the Jota was used as a test bed for new suspension development and tire testing under heavy strain … but economic troubles would decide the Jota's faith.
On February 8. 1972 the Jota was sold to InterAuto in Brescia for an undisclosed amount of money, imagine owning a one of a kind Miura … that was more a race car than a road car to be honest, and it showed … a mechanic would become a little over enthusiast while showboating the car to his girlfriend … he hit the side of a bridge, ripping the side mounted fuel tanks causing the Jota to catch fire and burn down completely … the fire was so intense most of the bodywork was destroyed, but also the chassis was warped beyond repair.
The Lamborghini Miura Jota was no more … but at least it did get some attention in the automotive press which led to several inquiries by Miura owners who liked to have their own, standard Miura turned into a Jota edition. The factory never accepted building a second Jota, however several regular Miura were rebuilt to a certain level of Jota specifications … some sources call these the Miura SVJ model.
Most of these factory replicas only had some bodywork modifications that included the extra intakes and outlets, most of them also got the fuel filler seen on the Jota, only three did get a dry sump lubrication … none of them came even remotely close to the original Jota.
If we can rely on documentation of that time we can state the factory built these SVJ replicas on the following chassis numbers : 4860, 4990, 3781 and 5090, while the real Jota was built on chassis number 5084, with engine number 30744. As stated only the first three of these replicas had a dry-sump lubrication. The nr. 4860 was built for Hubert Hahne in Dusseldorf, Germany, the nr. 4990 was sold to Alberto Silvera in Port au Prince, Haiti, while a third one went to France.
But hold on … there are still dedicated people out there, that have the means to realize their dreams, no matter at what cost … so here comes Piet Pulford, a long time Lamborghini owner from the United Kingdom who invested 15 years and a massive amount of money to recreate the Lamborghini Miura Jota … and he succeeded !
Piet started with a beaten, old Miura (#3033) sourced in the United States, but that didn't matter as not much of the original car would remain in the end. The extensive bodywork and chassis modifications were entrusted to Chris Lawrence (Wymondham Engineering) in Norfolk … note the entire front and rear section were only held onto the Jota by locating pins and Dzus fasteners to allow easy and quick removal.
Final assembly over the modified chassis wasn't as easy as it might sound, once the engine, which was built by none other than Bob Wallace himself in Arizona to be as exact a replica of the original Jota engine and transmission as possible, oil tanks and auxiliaries required to run this car were fitted the massive lightweight sections were to be fitted very patiently. Don't forget there is a large, quick fuel filler up front, peaking up into the front hood while at the rear we have four massive exhausts sticking out. But Roger Constable (The Car Works), also from Norfolk, pulled it together perfectly … even Bob Wallace didn't think it would be possible to recreate the Jota … he even commented the workmanship on this second rendition of the Miura Jota could very well be better than his own back in the Seventies.
The Miura Jota used four massive exhaust pipes that looked very nice and purposeful on the car … for track use, unfortunately the recreation of these were done so good they were just too loud to be used on the road, so Mr Pulford had four restrictors made for his Jota, these would just slide over the pipes and bring the sound level down enough to avoid being pulled over by the police every few Miles.
Due to the efforts of Piet Pulford we can now admire the Miura Jota once more, and listen to it … when that free breathing 4 liter V12 engine comes to life you do not want to be standing at the rear of this car, the sound is deafening … just like a Le Mans race car, at idle the sound is raw … only touch the throttle mildly and an animal howl emits from the exhausts, put some more revs onto the engine and the sound goes beyond anything you might imagine.
Driving the Jota recreating proved surprisingly smooth, sure the front suspension transmits everything right up into the steering wheel, the sheet metal between the engine and the cockpit becomes way too hot to handle after a drive, there is no fuel gauge inside so you'll have to guess how much fuel in still underneath your elbow in the side sills. With that much tire touching the road, there is no doubt about the enormous grip you have on a dry road … once it gets wet you have to be a bit more careful I'm afraid.
So one of the most impressive cars ever made at Sant'Agata had been lost for years … but thanks to this UK based enthusiast the Miura Jota has been resurrected from the grave … the Bull rides again !
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Shelter in place order given at UNC Asheville
October 9, 2020 North State Journal Staff News
UNC Asheville logo
ASHEVILLE – UNC Asheville gave a shelter in place order this morning following what the university said was a credible threat at the campus.
The campus remains on lockdown and an email articulating a threat to the campus is under investigation by state and local authorities, according to an alert published by the school.
Anyone at the campus is asked to remain in place and no one should come to the university, the alert continued.
All classes, including virtual, are canceled for the day.
According to WLOS, several offices at the University received an email communicating a direct threat to members of the UNC Asheville community. The email demanded that the Black Lives Matter mural on University Heights on campus be painted over.
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College Basketball Roundup: Duke freshmen lead way in opener
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DURHAM — Freshman Jalen Johnson had 19 points, 19 rebounds and four blocks to help No. 9 Duke overcome a turnover-filled performance and beat Coppin State 81-71 in Saturday's delayed season opener for both teams. […]
The coffee is hot in Asheville
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ASHEVILLE — There is no question that Asheville is the epicenter of the craft beer movement in North Carolina, but beer is not thing only thing brewing across the mountain town these days. The third […]
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Home News Fort Worth Saving the Market
Saving the Market
by FWTX staff
Bob Simpson, founder and former CEO of XTO Energy, is quickly becoming known as a sort of hero of historic buildings in downtown Fort Worth.
Morning Star Capital LLC, co-owned by Simpson, recently purchased the Fort Worth Public Market Building, located at 1400 Henderson St. Noted for its Spanish Colonial-style architecture and tower containing stained-glass windows with panels that spell out "Public Market," the building was completed in 1930 and has appeared on the Historic Fort Worth's Most Endangered List three times.
The building was originally a market space for farmers, vendors and retail businesses. After many economic difficulties, the market closed in 1941 and was purchased by Fort Worth transportation pioneer R.C. Bowen in 1944. It was placed on the Texas Register and the National Register of Historic Buildings in 1980 and has since been waiting for someone who cares enough to bring it back to its former glory. -FWTX Staff
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Narine Khachatryan
Narine is a Yerevan-based journalist/translator who focuses on social, economic, human rights and political issues in Armenia and the South Caucasus. Prior to joining Bellingcat, she worked with a group of independent journalists, seeking to provide reliable and unbiased information to the public.
Cataloging Violence Targeting Journalists in Armenia's 2017 Elections
The numerous cases of violence targeting journalists in Armenia during its April 2, 2017, parliamentary elections highlight the failure of the state's authorities to keep their promise of ensuring that elections would be held on the highest level possible. At least ten journalists of local media outlets were reported to have been subjected to obstruction and physical violence while covering the April 2 elections. A number of Armenian and international media advocacy groups and media organizations have since condemned the attacks, calling on the Armenian authorities to take measures to ensure that those responsible parties were identified and subjected to liability. Despite these calls, impunity continues to prevail, and only a few perpetrators have officially been charged for their actions.
RFE/RL's Armenian Service was the first to report that their correspondent Sisak Gabrielyan had been attacked by ruling Republican Party (RPA) activists at the election headquarters of RPA candidate Hakob Beglaryan in Yerevan's Kond district. Gabrielyan was reportedly hit in the face by RPA office workers after having noticed and starting filming them distributing cash among voters. A large number of people, the journalist claimed, would go into the RPA office, located on 15 Rustaveli St., before heading to a nearby polling station to cast ballots. Most of them, he said, would leave the premises with money in their hands.
In the video published by Azatutyun.am, office workers insist they are paying the staffers' wages, and when Gabrielyan manages to film a list of dozens of voters' names with addresses, passport numbers and signatures, they force him out of the office. The RPA campagn activists continue quarreling with Gabrielyan outside of the office, and at some point they attack the journalist and try to seize the smartphone he is using to film the incident.
The video filmed by Gabrielyan also shows Araratnews.am correspondent Shoghik Galstyan and her cameraman Hayk Petrosyan being attacked by a group of women as she is trying to film the commotion. A visibly agitated woman snatches Galstyan's camera, pushes the reporter, and even pulls her hair.
Other Cases of Obstruction in Yerevan
Armtimes.com correspondent Tirayr Muradyan's professional activities were hindered at the 9/29 precinct, also located in Kond. According to a police report filed by Muradyan, an unknown woman insulted him and hit his camera.
Newsbook.am reporter Armine Avetisyan was subjected to pressure, had stones thrown at her, and was threatened with stabbing at another Hakob Beglaryan campaign office in Noragyugh, a neighborhood in Yerevan's Kentron administrative district.
Another Newsbook.am correspondent, Kristine Poghosyan, was threatened and sworn at in the 10/3 precinct in Yerevan's Sari Tagh neighborhood.
News.am correspondent Lusine Shahbazyan was prevented from properly carrying out her professional activities at the 6/01 precinct in Yerevan's Ajapnyak administrative district.
Other Reporters' Activities Hindered at Polling Stations Outside of Yerevan
Hetq.am correspondent Grisha Balasanyan was pressured and obstructed at the 14/20 precinct in Echmiadzin;
Tert.am correspondent Ani Gevorgyan faced challenges at the 12/35 precinct in the Ararat province village of Shahumyan;
RFE/RL Armenian Service correspondent Narine Ghalechyan's activities were hindered at the 20/24 precinct in the Gekharkunik village of Tchambarak;
Armtimes.com correspondent Narek Kirakosyan was subjected to pressure at the 32/31 precinct in Gyumri.
Below, each incident is included in a map, with a higher concentration of incidents in and near the capital, Yerevan.
Liability for Perpetrators
A few days following the elections, the office of Armenia's General Prosecutor released a statement, saying that all the reports of violence against journalists were being looked into and that two criminal cases had already been initiated in connection with the incidents involving Sisak Gabrielyan and Shoghik Galstyan. Three weeks later, Armenia's Special Investigative Service said that a Yerevan man had been officially charged with assaulting Gabrielyan and obstructing his professional activities. If found guilty, the accused faces up to 5 years in prison. A Yerevan woman, the officials also said, was charged with using violence against Shoghik Galstyan.
Future and Previous Cases
Gabrielyan was caught in a similar incident during the May 14 municipal elections in Yerevan, fewer than two months after the parliamentary elections. He was again attacked by ruling Republican Party loyalists after witnessing them distributing cash to voters outside a RPA campaign headquarters. The video filmed by Gabrielyan shows the staff members of the office insulting and shoving the reporter as the latter tries to find out whether the headquarters had been paying bribes to voters.
Shoghik Galstyan is not a stranger to election violence and hindrance herself; during the municipal elections in October 2016, a woman snatched the reporter's smartphone and smashed it on the ground at the 30/47 polling station in Vanadzor. The woman was subsequently fined AMD 700,000 ($1,442) and barred from taking part in any election-related processes for a year.
According to the 2016 Annual Report on the Situation with Freedom of Expression and Violations of Rights of Journalists and Media in Armenia by the Yerevan-based Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression, Armenian media representatives worked in extremely unfavorable conditions in 2016. They were subjected to mass violations and hindrance while covering the July 2016 demonstrations in support of an Anti-government armed group occupying a police station in Yerevan's Erebuni district.
During the July events, the CPFE report says, 27 journalists and cameramen suffered from police actions, with 19 of them having been subjected to physical violence.
During the coverage of the municipal elections in September–October 2016, as well as during the relatively calm periods, the CPFE recorded 10 cases of physical violence against 26 journalists and cameramen, 52 cases of other types of pressure against mass media representatives, as well as 33 violations of journalists' right to receive and disseminate information.
For more information on obstructions to journalists during the April 2017 elections, please see this reference list.
Republic of Armenia Parliamentary Elections 2017 Report, Helsinki Committee of Armenia [English]
Statement regarding the cases of violence and obstruction of professional activities of journalists on the day of parliamentary elections of April 2, 2017 [English]
RFE/RL Reporter Attacked In Yerevan After Investigating Possible Vote-Buying, rferl.org, 2 April 2017 [English]
"Preliminary Investigation Into the Obstruction of Professional Activities of Radio Liberty and Araratnews.am Reporters Over," Investigative Committee of Armenia, 27 April 2017 [Armenian]
RFE/RL Reporter Assaulted During Yerevan Vote, Azatutyun.am, 14 May 2017 [English]
Republican Trustee's Sister Fined for Obstructing Journalist at Local Elections, Epress.am, 15 March 2017 [English]
Annual Report on the Situation with Freedom of Expression and Violations of Rights of Journalists and Media in Armenia, Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression, 26 January 2017 [English]
An Execution in Hadrut
Wagner-Affiliated Telegram Channel Trolls Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Analysts
Amulsar
Protests and Tensions Escalate Around Amulsar Gold Project in Armenia


Confronting Antisemitism through the Ages – A Historical Perspective
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Sara Offenberg: "All the World's a Stage": Imagined Jewish Rituals in Medieval Christian Art and Drama (0)
Thomas L. Gertzen: Should the "Lagarde House" be renamed? 'Germanic Ideology' in the History of Egyptology* (0)
Robert Chazan: The Evolution of Anti-Jewish Imagery in Medieval Christian Europe (0)
Richard S. Levy: The Defense against Antisemitism: Minor Victories, Major Defeats, 1890– (0)
Dan Michman: The Jews as a Problem for Modern European Political Logic (0)
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Thomas L. Gertzen: Should the "Lagarde House" be renamed? 'Germanic Ideology' in the History of Egyptology*
Sara Offenberg: "All the World's a Stage": Imagined Jewish Rituals in Medieval Christian Art and Drama
¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 In many written and artistic Christian sources, we find an anti-Jewish portrayal of an alleged Jewish costume of desecrating the Host or blood libels. The stories and images are so common that we find for example the story of Simon of Trent being used as a joke in a Facebook post from April 3rd 2015 wishing "Happy Passover" (fig. 1). Following Miri Rubin's methodology,[1] whom literary wrote the books, where she ties together blood libels and accusations of host desecration in texts, images and drama, in this paper I wish to further discuss the issue of "staging" or the public sphere of the accusations, with a focus on images and texts written in the vernacular language. First, the Castilian thirteenth century Cántigas de Santa Maria and the Jewish response to it, and after the fifteenth century English play: the Croxton Play of the Sacrament, and briefly analyze a contemporary demonstration of the play
¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 The reign of Alfonso X was characterized by cultural and political developments.[2] He was renowned as a learned king, and thus received the title: "El Sabio", the wise.[3] Hundreds of poems are ascribed to him, mainly those dedicated to the Virgin Mary entitled the Cántigas de Santa María; Alfonso X compiled this book of stories and songs, accompanied by illuminations, over a period of three decades, completing it in the year 1284,[4] and we shall refer mainly to the performance aspect of the Cántigas.[5] Two history books bear his name as the author: Estoria de Espanna, on the history of Spain,[6] and General Estoria, a world history intended to reach his own era, but actually ending at the period of Jesus.[7]
¶ 3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 0 The non-Christian residents of Castile, i.e. the Muslims and the Jews, enjoyed religious freedom but were also legally discriminated against; the ban on Muslims and Jews ruling over Christians prohibited them from serving in governmental institutions. According to Yitzhak Baer, some Jews ranked as high key officers in the kingdom, but not in the army or in the high courts.[8] In keeping with the decision of the fourth Lateran council in 1215, although Jews were not obligated to wear an identifying badge,[9] they were made to wear special clothes separating them from the Christians. In Alfonso X's extensive seven-part book of Law entitled: Las Siete Partidas, it states that the Jews had to wear special headgear in order to be distinguished from the Christians.[10]
¶ 4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 0 The Cántigas de Santa Maria appeared in some illuminated manuscripts in the last quarter of the thirteenth century (around 1283), and some of the manuscripts that were written and illuminated under the supervision of Alfonso X still remain.[11] We have four original manuscripts, two of them illustrated with over two thousand miniatures: Códice Rico, El Escorial, Biblioteca de San Lorenzo, Ms. T.I.1,[12] made in 1283 and entirely decorated and Biblioteca Nazionale at Florence, Banco Rari 20, which was also decorated, but whose illuminations were not all completed; Códice de Toledo, Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid 10069, which contains one hundred poems; and the fourth manuscript, J.B.2 (Escorial E), which contains over four hundred poems, including all of those that appear in the other three manuscripts as well as unique poems that appear only here. It was made in the years 1281–1282, with decorated initials, and on every tenth poem an illustration of a musician appears.[13] The Cántigas de Santa Maria is written in the vernacular Galician-Portuguese common in Castile,[14] and some of the poems in it were designed to be read and sung aloud, as they are accompanied by musical notes, thus the performative aspect is clear.
¶ 5 Leave a comment on paragraph 5 0 The book's anti-Jewish illustrations and stories have been discussed in previous research. Louise Mirrer addressed the portrayal of the bodies of Jews in the book's text and illuminations.[15] Albert Bagby characterized five main subjects regarding the Jews in this text: the Jew as the enemy of Christianity; the Jew as the devil's disciple; the Jew as a symbol of avarice; the traitorous Jew; and the converted Jew.[16] Bagby studied Alfonso X's attitude toward the Jews by comparing the songs that refer to Jews in the Cántigas de Santa Maria with other contemporary popular songs that also referred to the Jews that were circulating in Europe. According to Bagby, of thirty songs in Alfonso X's book, only eight are familiar in other collections of stories. Thus, according to him, the rest of the songs must have been composed by Alfonso X. Bagby claims that even in the only three songs in which the Jew does not receive malicious characteristics, the only positive aspect of the Jew's behavior consists of his pleas for Mary's help. Vikki Hatton and Angus Mackay suggest that the attitude towards the Jews in the Cántigas de Santa Maria was ambivalent, as the anti-Jewish phrases balance the more neutral phrases regarding the Jews, especially in comparison to other anti-Jewish stories of the time.[17]
¶ 6 Leave a comment on paragraph 6 0 Dwayne E. Carpenter offered five categories different from those proposed by Bagby regarding the Jews in the Cántigas de Santa Maria: Jewish culpability for the death of Jesus; Jewish disparagement of the Virgin, Jesus and Christianity; Jews as allies of the Devil; Jews as avaricious; and the rescue and salvation of Jews. Carpenter studied the amount of hostility against the Jews in the Cántigas de Santa Maria by researching the poems that mention the Jews. He relates not only to stories where the Jews are mentioned as main characters, but also to incidental references where, he claims, the true nature of the attitude towards the Jews is more clearly revealed.[18]
¶ 7 Leave a comment on paragraph 7 0 Pamela Patton suggests studying the image of the Jew in Alfonso X's book not as a measure of the King's hostility towards the Jews, but rather in order to learn about the anti-Jewish attitude of Christian Castilian society.[19] This notion is apparent in the poems, whether it is the King's position or not. Therefore, the illustrations are less representative of Alfonso X's attitude toward the Jews, and more reflective of the social atmosphere around him, so although the manuscripts were produced in his court, they represent ideas prevalent in society at the time. The illuminations in Alfonso's book not only illustrate the text, but also interpret it; in some instances, the artists added information to the poem, so even if the Jew did not participate as a main character in a story, the artist portrayed him in most scenes and emphasized his grotesque nature.
¶ 8 Leave a comment on paragraph 8 0 Patton points to an example of this phenomenon in the illuminations of Cántiga 3, which tell the story of Theophilus. Although the Jew in the song is mentioned in only a single verse, the illustrations nonetheless portray the Jew in two scenes out of six. The text states that Theophilus acted on the advice of a Jew: "per conssello dun judeu,"[20] and the scenes portray the Jew as associated with and resembling the Devil in his grotesque appearance.[21] Hatton and Mackay, on the other hand, claim that in comparison to the story Milagros de Nustra Señora, written by Gonzalo de Berceo (c. 1198–after 1252), the Jew's presence is minor, and he is mentioned as merely a consultant.[22] However, the negligible mention of the Jew implies the anti-Jewish nature of the text in the Cántigas de Santa Maria, for the audience needed no further information to understand the close relationship and supposed alliance between the Jew and the Devil. It seems that there was a public demand for such depictions, since most of the stories in the book were already familiar in Western Europe, and only a few of them were original.
¶ 9 Leave a comment on paragraph 9 0 I would like to focus on Cántiga 34 of the Cántigas de Santa Maria (fig. 2), where we read the story of a Jew desecrating an icon of the Virgin Mary. The story takes place on the streets of Constantinople, the location of an unusual, beautiful wooden panel painting of Mary and Child. One night a Jew steals the icon and hides it under his mantle. He brings the icon to his house, throws it into the lavatory and contaminates it. Mary allows the Devil to kill the Jew as punishment for his crime, and nothing remains of the Jew. Meanwhile, a good Christian finds and rescues the icon from the impure place and carefully cleans it. Afterwards, he places the icon in a worthy location in his home, offering it a tribute as a means of securing his salvation, and the icon emits a pleasant scent.[23]
¶ 10 Leave a comment on paragraph 10 0 Like most of the illustrated poems in the Cántigas de Santa Maria, the story is portrayed in six scenes, and the Jew occupies three of them. In the first scene on the left, the Jew appears in grotesque profile,[24] walking by the city's buildings, dressed in a red garment and a pointed hat as he raises the icon in his right hand. In the next scene, we notice that the garment reaches his knees and thus shows his pointed red shoes, part of the distinguishing mark required in the Siete Partidas 7.24.11.[25] In this scene, we notice the Jew throwing the icon into the lavatory, while a devil stands next to the door behind him. In the third scene, we observe two demons carrying the Jew's body. All three characters are portrayed in profile, showing their grotesque noses and pointed chins. The next three scenes portray the good Christian's acts. In all but one of the scenes, the viewer can clearly see the icon of the Virgin and child, so viewing the Jew's theft and contamination of the icon must have had a shocking impact on Christian audiences.
¶ 11 Leave a comment on paragraph 11 0 The similarities between Alfonso X and some of the characters in Rabbi Isaac Ibn Sahula's Meshal Haqadmoni written in 1281 Castile,[26] have already been pointed out by Yitzhak Baer and Raphael Loewe.[27] Thus, let us now turn to a discussion of Meshal Haqadmoni and connect it to the Cántigas. The book is divided into five main chapters (On Wisdom, On Penitence, On Sound Counsel, On Humility, On Reverence), each opening with the vices of a given character and ending with the author's praise of the virtues of the respective trait. Every chapter opens with a polemic dialog between the cynic and the author, with both of them referring to scientific knowledge of nature, medicine, and philosophy, all disguised in fables.[28] The stories all begin with the perspective of the cynic, whose goal is to undermine the author's faith through fables which seem to prove that virtues are not beneficial, but rather, harmful. All of the chapters contain fables, mainly about animals. Some of these begin in the middle of a given story, when one of the characters (usually an animal) starts to tell the fable. Only following a long discussion does the plot return to the original tale, which is outside the main frame of the story. This literary motif is characteristic of the structure of the maqama and books such as Kalila wa-Dimna.[29] Both the humans and the animals in the fables can be characterized as Jewish on account of their words and customs; furthermore, they use biblical verses, the Talmud, and the Midrash to deliver moral messages, even when they are not identified as Jewish, but as members of other religions.[30]
¶ 12 Leave a comment on paragraph 12 0 None of the original manuscripts of Meshal ha-Qadmoni remain, nor any that were produced during the author's lifetime or in his homeland; however, we do have five fully illuminated manuscripts from Germany and Italy, all from the fifteenth century: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Opp. 154, produced in 1450, Germany;[31] Munich, Bavarian State Library, MS Heb. 10, produced in 1458, Germany;[32] Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Can. 59, produced in 1470-1480, Italy;[33] Rothschild Miscellany, Jerusalem, Israel Museum, Ms. 180/51, produced in 1470-1480, Italy, fols. 298 v-371 r;[34] Milano, Ambrosian Library, MS X 112 sup, produced in 1483, Italy. The book was first printed in Brescia by Gershom Soncino ca. 1491 and wood cuts replaced the manuscripts' illuminations.[35]
¶ 13 Leave a comment on paragraph 13 0 I would like to focus on one of Meshal Haqadmoni's fables, from the first chapter: "The Lion upon whom attend Companions".[36] In the story we find a connection to the Jewish-Christian polemic, so we shall examine the fable's text from this perspective. The fable tells the story of a kingdom ruled by a lion, who has two companions and advisors: the hart and the fox, who are facing a serious problem in the kingdom. At the beginning, we learn that the animals are complaining that the lion eats them, so they decide to unite and rebel against the king.[37] The author's approach is to emphasize the notion that there should be no rebalance against the kingdom.[38]
¶ 14 Leave a comment on paragraph 14 0 After the animals leave the kingdom, the lion has no more animals to eat, so the fox, in a cunning gesture of flattery, offers him his own flesh, but and immediately informs him that his flesh is not as tasty as that of the hart (his rival courtier). Thus, the fox ostensibly offers his own flesh to be eaten by the lion, yet at the same time makes it clear that it is not good enough for the king. The scene appears in the same way in all the manuscripts: the fox and hart are standing in front of the lion. Despite the fox's words, the lion refuses to harm the hart, since doing so would be a violation of the alliance between them. The fox speaks badly of the hart and claims that the hart has no noble genealogy, unlike the fox. This claim leads the lion to call upon all his ministers and investigate the hart's pedigree. The fox represents the anti-Jewish stance in King Alfonso X's court, when, according to Loewe, he demands to inspect the hart's limpieza de sangre (purity of blood), while the hart represents the Jewish courtiers.[39]
¶ 15 Leave a comment on paragraph 15 0 I would like to examine another historical aspect of the story that mainly concerns the Jewish-Christian polemic as it is reflected in the hart's sermon delivered before the lion. The hart begins to clarify the vices of the wicked soul that speaks against the Talmud and insults it: "On scholarship [Talmud][40] she loads insults obscene/ Her hart full of contempt; precepts she spurns/ And from their highway into byways turns/ To roam, her outrages past numbering/ All the commandments from her back to fling/ The holy law of God dishonoring." It seems that here we find criticism against the Jews who have drifted from the Holy Scriptures, prefer foreign literature, and even convert to Christianity. The hart declares that the penalty of the wicked is that they will not have a part in the afterlife, and goes on to explain: "I catalogue here those who, by their sin/ Have forfeited all claim to share therein/ Ones who, unorthodox, affirm a lie/ All unbelievers; those who would deny/ The law, the resurrection of the dead/ Or the Messiah's coming; all these, led/ Into apostasy, with those who lead/ Astray the public; those, too, that secede/ From laws which the community maintained/ Insurgents; those who trespass in disdain/ Defiant: all informers; those whose lies/ Spread slander, or by surgery disguise/ Their covenantal seal."[41] We hear in these words an echo of the blessing of the apostates (Birkat Haminim), part of the Amidah prayer.[42]
¶ 16 Leave a comment on paragraph 16 0 The hart elaborates on the punishment of the wicked, noting that in addition to being deprived of an afterlife, they are doomed to "excrement that seethes." This phrase is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud, Gittin 57a: "He then went and raised Balaam by incantations. He asked him: Who is in repute in the other world? He replied: Israel. … He said: What is your punishment? They replied: With boiling hot excrement, since a Master has said: Whoever mocks at the words of the Sages is punished with boiling hot excrement." Furthermore, in the hart's words we may find an utterance regarding the public polemics, such as the Paris Talmud Trial in 1240 between Rabbi Yehiel of Paris and the converted Nicolas Donin.[43] The Paris Talmud Trial of 1240 was the first of three public disputes initiated by converted Jews, where the Talmud was the main focus of discussion. The aftermath of the 1240 trail was the burning of the Talmud in 1242. In 1263 Barcelona R. Moses ben Nahman (Nahmanides) defended the Talmud against the converted Pablo Christiani, who also disputed with R. Abraham in the second Paris trial in 1271/1273.[44]
¶ 17 Leave a comment on paragraph 17 0 According to the Hebrew account of the 1240 Talmud trial, the punishment of the wicked to be doomed to "excrement that seethes" is also mentioned. Nicolas Donin claimed that the Jews wrote in the Talmud that Jesus was condemned to boiling hot excrement, and on the basis of the Talmud, Balaam's punishment is ascribed to Jesus.[45] In the Jewish tradition, Balaam is sometimes replaced with Bela ben Beor, the first king of Edom. Therefore, Balaam is identified both with Esau and Jesus. Hence, when the Talmud mentions the punishment of Balaam and the criminals of Israel as being punished "with boiling hot excrement," it refers to Jesus.[46]
¶ 18 Leave a comment on paragraph 18 0 Therefore, we can see in this statement in Meshal Haqadmoni a reference to the Paris Talmud Trial and to the punishment of Balaam/Jesus. Even if this notion was not actually raised in the Talmud Trial itself and is recorded only in the later written text, there is important value to its inclusion in the Hebrew account. While it may have been written some decades after 1240,[47] nonetheless it had been written (and probably widespread) by 1280s, when Ibn Sahula wrote Meshal Haqadmoni. Hence, whether or not these exact words were mentioned in the actual Talmud Trial is of less importance to our discussion than the fact that they appear in the account written before Ibn Sahula wrote his book.
¶ 19 Leave a comment on paragraph 19 0 Returning to the illumination of Cántiga 34, the fact that the icon of Virgin and Child is desecrated by being thrown into the lavatory seems to indicate a Jewish intention to punish Jesus and Mary with "excrement that seethes." This kind of abuse could show the punishment that the Virgin and Child deserve in the eyes of the Jews, when at the end of the story the Jew is condemned to hell. The story in Cántiga 34 is not the only one in the Cántigas de Santa Maria to display Jewish mockery of Christian symbols. The Christian notion in this book is that the Jews are allegedly already trying to implement the Talmud's ideas about the punishment of the wicked.
¶ 20 Leave a comment on paragraph 20 0 In Cántiga 12 we are told that the Jews of Toledo were caught by the Archbishop and his congregation as they were spitting at and cursing a wax image of Jesus and later placing him on an improvised cross.[48] The idea of Jews mocking a wax crucifix appears also in Alfonso X's book of law, Las Siete Partidas, 7.24.2,[49] where the King wrote that he had heard that in some places the Jews abduct Christian children on Good Friday and place them on a cross, but if they do not find such children, they create a wax image and crucify it. Alfonso X mentions that if these incidents turned out to be true in his kingdom, the Jews who carried them out would be executed. He also orders the Jews to stay behind close doors on Good Friday (In 408 Theodosius II forbade the Jews from burning a figure like Haman on Purim, as it was understood to be mockery on the Crucifixion). Elliot Horowitz discusses at length cases in which Jews were accused of mocking the cross, and testimonies of such actions appear in Jewish texts.[50]
¶ 21 Leave a comment on paragraph 21 0 The King's reference to this issue in his law book and in the Cántigas de Santa Maria indicates the prevalence of such stories. The fact that these incidents appear both in a popular illuminated book of poetry and in a book of law reinforces the notion that it is not merely a legend or rumor, and suggests that they are true. Although Alfonso X wrote that he had heard rumors of such accusations, and did not report actual incidents in his kingdom, the fact that he enacted a law to be used in case such events occurred strongly suggests that the story represents a situation that could conceivably be faced.
¶ 22 Leave a comment on paragraph 22 0 Now let us turn to an altarpiece image from Catalonia, c. 1400 (fig. 3), where we find an illustration to the well-known Paris Tale of 1290, where a Christian woman stole the host and gave it to the Jewish pawn-man, who is seen here stabbing the host and after throwing it into a boiling cauldron the image of Christ appears.[51] The image here portrays simultaneous phases of the story and notice how the Jewish boy resembles Jesus, as opposed to his dark skin father. At the end, the mother and son convert and the father is executed. A similar story is found in a fifteenth century liturgical drama; the Croxton Play of the Sacrament was written in the East Midland dialect of Middle English not long after 1461, the year in which the event that is the central topic of the play is supposed to have taken place. The Play of the Sacrament is set in Aragon and tells the story of a miracle in which a rich Jewish merchant named Jonathas and his companions purchase the consecrated Host from a Christian merchant called Aristorius, and subject it to a series of tests in order to determine the truth of the Christian claim that Christ is present in it, then the Jews convert.[52]
¶ 23 Leave a comment on paragraph 23 0 The local priest dines with Aristorius, suggestively on red wine and light bread, then retires to bed, leaving the church key with Aristorius, who promptly enters, steals the Host, and hands it over to Jonathas and his men. Jonathas and his colleagues rehearse the articles of Christian belief—Christ at the Last Supper, the establishment of the Church, the virgin birth, the kingship and resurrection of Jesus, the apostolic mission. Then they stab the Host as it lies on a table and inflict the five wounds of Christ—reenacting the torture of Jesus. As Jonathas gives the fifth wound, in the center, the Host begins to bleed. Jonathas calls for help. He tries to throw the Host into a cauldron of boiling oil; it will not leave his hand, so they nail it to a board (thus mocking the cross). When they pull Jonathas away, his hand is torn off and left hanging with the crucified Host. Then enters a quack doctor, Magister Phisicus with his company and offers their services to the Jews, who beat them away.
¶ 24 Leave a comment on paragraph 24 0 The Jews then pluck out the nails, and throw both hand and Host, now coalesced, into the boiling oil. Jonathas, asked for his advice, Jonathas kneels before him, as do the others, and they address Jesus in the language of poetic penance. He accepts their conversion, and restores Jonathas's hand to his arm. Afterwards Jonathas and his men go to the Bishop and proclaim the miracle and the Bishop goes to their house and sees the image of Christ change back into bread, the Host. The merchant Aristorius confesses his unlawful bargain to the Priest. All go to church with the Bishop, who lays the Host on the altar. He then baptizes the Jews, and all sing the Te Deum.[53]
¶ 25 Leave a comment on paragraph 25 0 According to David Bevington the play was probably performed during the Feast of Corpus Christi and that the last scene takes place in church, thus the audience could have felt like experiencing an actual liturgical ceremony instead of a merely a play. He even mentions a demonstration of the Mass at the medieval conference in Kalamazoo, where "the many members of religious orders who were there all stood or knelt at the appropriate times as the Mass was sung, so that one could never be sure whether one was beholding a Mass or a theatrical event."[54] He compares the modern experience to that of the medieval audience.
¶ 26 Leave a comment on paragraph 26 0 Now let us move beyond the medieval period to the 21st century. As part of the production of the Blood Project, the play was staged in Oxford on Jenuary 10th 2004: http://www.thebloodproject.net/performance/. Here we start with an opening of a puppet show, where the Jew wears a yellow star and the players performing the role of the Jew all wear black with yellow gloves (figs. 4-5). This stereotypical color to portray the Jews reveals more on the modern audience rather than the medieval past. According to the director in the program: "Our aim in staging the Croxton Play of the Sacrament is not to endorse its objectionable and fantastical images of Jews, but to expose them. In order to expose the Jewish caricature we have followed its exaggeration in the Croxton Play. We have adopted a self-consciously theatrical style in acting and costumes, which also play on medieval Christian symbolism: yellow, the colour of perfidy, was frequently used in portrayals of Jews." The play was reviewed by Angie Johnson in The Oxford Times: "It's a curious piece. In this apparently anti-Semitic play the secular Christian characters are, in my opinion, much more wicked, and when this was written the Jews had long been expelled from England. This leads to some dubious characterisations — at one point the Jews thank Mohammed!".[55]
¶ 27 Leave a comment on paragraph 27 0 Both in Alfonso X's book and in the play, the actual story happens in a city or a country far from the origin of the place where the story/play was written. This could hint at a larger understanding of the so called "Jewish conspiracy" to harm the body of Jesus and to desecrate the host in a reenacting a ritual similar to the crucifixion and the church Mass. We need to point at an important difference between the two, and that is that while in Castile the Jews were very much present in Alfonso X's court, the Jews of England were expelled in 1290 and there was no single Jew living in England during the time the play was written. Hence, in the English play the imagined rituals of the Jews are received as facts known from outer sources and the "hermeneutical Jew", to use Jeremey Cohen's term,[56] is intended to better reinforce the stance of the "Real Presence of Christ in the Mass" at the time and place where it was written. A similar understanding of the play is articulated in Anthony Bale's comments on it, in his summery of the play's modern production. In both cases, the performance is intended towards a Christian audience with a clear agenda and it may teach us nothing about actual Jewish rituals, but we do realize how they were perceived.
¶ 28 Leave a comment on paragraph 28 0 [1] Miri Rubin, Corpus Christi: The Eucharist in Late Medieval Culture, Cambridge University Press 1991; idem, Gentile Tales, New Haven and London 1999.
¶ 29 Leave a comment on paragraph 29 0 [2] The World of Alfonso the Learned and James the Conqueror: Intellect and Force in the Middle Ages, Robert I. Burns, ed., Princeton 1985; Joseph F. O'Callaghan, A History of Medieval Spain, Ithaca 1975, pp. 538-581.
¶ 30 Leave a comment on paragraph 30 0 [3] Robert I. Burns, 'Stupor Mundi: Alfonso X of Castile, the Learned', in Emperor of Culture: Alfonso X the Learned of Castile and his Thirteenth-Century Renaissance, Robert I. Burns, ed., Pennsylvania 1990, pp. 1-13. According to Burns, it is doubtful that he actually wrote the entire corpus ascribed to him.
¶ 31 Leave a comment on paragraph 31 0 [4] Alfonso X, Cantigas de Santa María, Walter Mettmann, ed., 3 vols, Madrid 1986-1989; Songs of Holy Mary of Alfonso X, The Wise: Translation of the 'Cantigas de Santa Maria', trans. Kathleen Kulp-Hill with an introduction by Connie L. Scarborough, Tempta 2000. See also Pamela Patton, Art of Estrangement: Redefining Jews in Reconquest Spain, Pennsylvania 2012, esp. chap. 5.
¶ 32 Leave a comment on paragraph 32 0 [5] John E. Keller, "Drama, Ritual, and Incipient Opera in Alfonso's Cantigas," in Emperor of Culture: Alfonso X the Learned of Castile and His Thirteenth-Century Renaissance, ed. Robert I. Burns, Pennsylvania 1990, pp. 72-89.
¶ 33 Leave a comment on paragraph 33 0 [6] Diego Catalán, La Estoria de España de Alfonso X. Creación y evolución, 5 vols. Madrid 1992.
¶ 34 Leave a comment on paragraph 34 0 [7] Alfonso X el Sabio, General Estoria, Pedro Sánchez-Prieto Borja, ed., Madrid 2001.
¶ 35 Leave a comment on paragraph 35 0 [8] Yitzhak Baer, A History of the Jews, vol. I, pp. 111-130; Thomas F. Glick, 'Introduction', in Convivencia: Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Medieval Spain, Vivian B. Mann, Thomas F. Glick and Jerrilynn D. Dodds eds., New York 1992, pp. 1-9; Dwayne E. Carpenter, Alfonso X and the Jews: An Edition of and Commentary on Siete Partidas 7.24 'De los Judíos', Berkeley 1986, sign. 7.24.11, pp. 30, 36, 67-69, 99-101; O'Callaghan, The Learned King, pp. 102, 108-113.
¶ 36 Leave a comment on paragraph 36 0 [9] Simon Grayzel, The Church and the Jews in the XIIth. Century, 2 vols., New York 1966, vol. I, pp. 61, 307-311; Guido Kisch, 'The Yellow Badge in History', Historia Judaica 19 (1957), pp. 89-146; R. Straus, 'The "Jewish Hat" as an Aspect of Social History', Jewish Social Studies 4 (1942), pp. 59-72.
¶ 37 Leave a comment on paragraph 37 0 [10] D.E. Carpenter, Alfonso X and the Jews, pp. 99-101.
¶ 38 Leave a comment on paragraph 38 0 [11] Alfonso X, Cantigas de Santa Maria, ed. Walter Mettmann, Madrid 1986-1989, 3 vols; Songs of Holy Mary of Alfonso X, The Wise: Translation of the `Cantiga de Santa Maria`, trans. Kathleen Kulp-Hill, Tempta 2000.
¶ 39 Leave a comment on paragraph 39 0 [12] See the facsimile edition: Alfonso X El Sabio, Las Cantigas de Santa María: Códice Rico, Ms. T-I-1 Real Biblioteca del Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Prólogo Inés Fernández Ordóňez, 2 vols. Madrid 2011.
¶ 40 Leave a comment on paragraph 40 0 [13] Walter Mettmann discusses the differences between the manuscripts: Cantigas de Santa Maria, vol. 1, pp. 25-40; J. E. Keller and A. G. Cash, Daily Life Depicted in the "Cantigas de Santa Maria", Kentucky 1998, pp. 1-2; Connie L. Scarborough, "Introduction", in: Songs of Holy Mary, pp. xix-xxxvi.
¶ 41 Leave a comment on paragraph 41 0 [14] Aviva Doron, "On the Affinity between the Hebrew Creation in Toledo and its Literature Environment: The Prolog of Alfonso el Sabio's Cántigas de Santa Maria and the Personal Poems of Todros Ha-Levi Abulafia," Biqoret U-parshanut 32 (1998), pp. 81-94, esp. 82-83 (Hebrew).
¶ 42 Leave a comment on paragraph 42 0 [15] Louise Mirrer, "The Jew's Body in Medieval Iberian Literary Portraits and Miniatures: Examples from the Cantigas de Santa Maria and the Cantar de mio Cid", Shofar 12/3 (1994), pp. 26-27.
¶ 43 Leave a comment on paragraph 43 0 [16] Albert I. Bagby, "The Jews in the Cántigas of Alfonso X, El Sabio," Speculum 46/4 (1971), pp. 673-674.
¶ 44 Leave a comment on paragraph 44 0 [17] Vikki Hatton and Angus Mackay, "Anti-Semitism in the Cantigas de Santa Maria," Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 60/3 (1986), pp. 189-190; 191-192.
¶ 45 Leave a comment on paragraph 45 0 [18] Dweyne E. Carpenter, "The Portrayal of the Jew in Alfonso the Learned's Cantigas de Santa Maria," in: In Iberia and Beyond: Hispanic Jews between Cultures, ed. Bernard Dov Cooperman, London and Newark 1998, pp. 16-18; 31-34.
¶ 46 Leave a comment on paragraph 46 0 [19] Pamela Patton, Art of Estrangement: Redefining Jews in Reconquest Spain, Pennsylvania 2012; idem, "Constructing the Inimical Jew in the Cantigas de Santa Maria: Theophilus's Magician in Text and Image," in: Beyond the Yellow Badge: Anti-Judaism and Antisemitism in Medieval and Early Modern Visual Culture, ed. Mitchell B. Merback, Leiden and Boston 2008, pp. 234-235.
¶ 47 Leave a comment on paragraph 47 0 [20] Cántiga 3, l. 19, Mettmann, Cantigas de Santa Maria, vol. I, p. 62.
¶ 48 Leave a comment on paragraph 48 0 [21] Patton, "Constructing the Inimical Jew," pp. 241-252. See also D. Jackson, "The Influence of the Theophilus Legend: An Overlooked Miniature in Alfonso X's Cantigas de Santa Maria and its Wider Context", in: Under the Influence: The Concept of Influence and the Study of Illuminated Manuscripts, eds. John Lowden and Alixe Bovey, Turnhout 2007, pp. 75-87.
¶ 49 Leave a comment on paragraph 49 0 [22] Hatton and Mackay, "Anti-Semitism in the Cantigas," pp. 189-192.
¶ 50 Leave a comment on paragraph 50 0 [23] Bagby, "The Jews in the Cántigas", p. 676; Keller and Cash, Daily Life Depicted, p. 15; Kulp-Hil, Songs of Holy Mary, p. 45; Mettmann, Cantigas de Santa Maria, vol. 1, pp. 143-144; Patton, Art of Estrangement, pp. 88-89, 160. We find a similar story in the book De Locis Sanctis, written around 683-686 by Adamnan (ca. 625-704) the abbot of Iona. Peter Schäfer, Mirror of His Beauty, Princeton and Oxford 2002, pp. 191-195. Similar stories are found also in twelfth and thirteenth century France and Germany and see: Ivan G. Marcus, "A Jewish-Christian Symbiosis: The Culture of Early Ashkenaz", in: Cultures of the Jews: A New History, ed. David Biale, New York 2002, vol 2, pp. 147-214, esp. 176-182; Michael Camille, The Gothic Idol, Cambridge 1989, p. 186.
¶ 51 Leave a comment on paragraph 51 0 [24] On the Jewish nose and appearance in Christian art see Sara Lipton, Dark Mirror: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Semitic Iconography, New York 2014.
¶ 52 Leave a comment on paragraph 52 0 [25] On the distinguishing mark see: Carpenter, Alfonso X and the Jews, pp. 99-101.
¶ 53 Leave a comment on paragraph 53 0 [26] On the text and images of Meshal ha-Qadmoni see Yael Ayalon, 'The Illustrations to Meshal ha-Qadmoni of Ishaq ibn Sholomo ibn Sahulah', M.A. Thesis, Tel Aviv University, 2002 (Hebrew); Simona Gronemann, 'Extant 15th Century Ashkenazi Illuminated Manuscripts of Meshal hakadmoni by Isaac ibn Sahula', Ph.D. dissertation, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2006 (Hebrew). Gronemann's research offers an in depth comparison between the illuminations in all five manuscripts and the earliest printed copy of Meshal ha-Qadmoni, and all the illustrations are reproduced in the dissertation's second volume; Ursula and Kurt Schubert, Jüdische Buchkunst, Graz 1983, pp. 108-109; Ayelet Oettinger-Salama, '"I Place with Texts the Illustrate, Should Point/ The Moral": Exploring the Connection Between the Verbal art and the Visual Art in the Book Meshal Haqadmoni by Isaac ibn Sahula', Dapim le-Mehkar be-Sifrut 13 (2001-2002), pp. 229-256 (Hebrew); Sara Offenberg, 'Expressions of Meeting the Challenges of the Christian Milieu in Medieval Jewish Art and Literature', Ph.D. Dissertation, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 2008, chap. 5 (Hebrew); Refael-Vivante, Revital, Treasury of Fables: Isaac ibn Sahula's Meshal Haqadmoni (Castile, 1281) – Text and Subtext, Ramat Gan 2017 (in Hebrew).
¶ 54 Leave a comment on paragraph 54 0 [27] Two of the characters in the fables are a lion and an eagle, both rulers of the animal kingdom. Scholars have agreed that the lion and the eagle are allegorical figures of King Alfonso X, therefore we find a direct connection between Meshal Haqadmoni and Alfonso's book. Baer, A History of the Jews, I, pp. 199-200; Loewe, Meshal Haqadmoni, pp. xv-xvii, xci-xcii; idem, "Who Was the Fox in the Court of Alfonso X?", Donaire 6 (April 1996), pp. 49-53, esp. 50. See also: Joseph F. O'Callaghan, Alfonso X and the Cantigas de Santa Maria: A poetic Biography, Leiden 1998, pp. 162-165; idem, The Learned King: The Reign of Alfonso X of Castile, Philadelphia 1993, pp. 215-229.
¶ 55 Leave a comment on paragraph 55 0 [28] In addition to being a doctor, Ibn Sahula was also a Kabbalist; on possible kabbalistic ideas in Meshal ha-Qadmoni see: Hartley Lachter, 'Spreading Secrets: Kabbalah and Esotericism in Isaac ibn Sahula's "Meshal ha-kadmoni"', Jewish Quarterly Review 100, 1 (2010), pp. 111-138. For more on Ibn Sahula's kabbalistic writings see: Baer, A History of the Jews, vol. I, p. 422 n. 12a, and see also the bibliography in the Hebrew translation published in Tel Aviv 1986, pp. 508-509, n. 61a; Arthur Green, 'Rabbi Isaac ibn Sahola's Commentary on the Song of Songs', Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought 6, 3-4 (1987), pp. 393-491 (Hebrew); Idem, 'The Song of Songs in Early Jewish Mysticism', Orim 2, 2 (1987), pp. 57-58; Boaz Huss, Like the Radiance of the Sky: Chapters in the Reception History of the Zohar and the Construction of its Symbolic Value, Jerusalem 2008, pp. 46-47 (Hebrew); Gershom Scholem, 'The First Citation from ha-Midrash ha-Ne'elam', Tarbiz 3 (1932), pp. 181–183 (Hebrew); S.M. Stern, 'Rationalists and Kabbalists in Medieval Allegory', Journal of Jewish Studies 6, 2 (1956), pp. 73-86.
¶ 56 Leave a comment on paragraph 56 0 [29] On the relations with this genre of literature and its connection to Meshal ha-Qadmoni see Y. Ayalon, 'The illustrations to Meshal ha-Qadmoni', pp. 8-32; Dan Pagis, Change and Tradition in the Secular Poetry: Spain and Italy, Jerusalem 1976, pp. 225-230 (Hebrew); J. Schirmann, The History of Hebrew Poetry, pp. 244-250, 347-350; R. Yeffet, 'Meshal ha-Qadmoni', pp. 2-6.
¶ 57 Leave a comment on paragraph 57 0 [30] J. Schirmann, The History of Hebrew Poetry, pp. 351-358.
¶ 58 Leave a comment on paragraph 58 0 [31] See the entire manuscript online on the Oxford, Bodleian Library web site: www2.odl.ox.ac.uk/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?e=d-000-00—0orient02–00-0-0-0prompt-10—4—-dtt–0-1l–1-en-50—20-about-meshal–00001-001-1-1isoZz-8859Zz-1-0&a=d&cl=search&d=orient002-aav.1.1.
¶ 59 Leave a comment on paragraph 59 0 [32] See the entire manuscript online on the Munich, Bavarian State Library web site: daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/0003/bsb00034081/images/.
¶ 60 Leave a comment on paragraph 60 0 [33] See the entire manuscript online on the Oxford, Bodleian Library web site: viewer.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/icv/thumbs.php?book=ms._canon._or._59&page=1.
¶ 61 Leave a comment on paragraph 61 0 [34] See the facsimile edition: The Rothschild Miscellany, Iris Fishof, ed., London 1989; Israel Ta-Shma, 'The Literary Content of the Manuscript', in Ibid, pp. 39-88, esp. pp. 80-82; Loisella Mortara-Ottolenghi, 'The Illuminations and the Artists', in Ibid, pp. 127-241, esp. pp. 220-241.
¶ 62 Leave a comment on paragraph 62 0 [35] See a scan of the printed book online on the Jerusalem National Library web site aleph.nli.org.il/nnl/dig/books/bk001021249.html. This is the first printed Hebrew book with a full cycle of illustrations, and it seems that Soncino ordered these illustrations specifically for this book. E. Beinenfeld, 'Meshal Ha-Kadmoni by Isaac b. Solomon ibn Sahula [Brescia: Gershom Soncino, ca. 1491]: The Book and its Illustrations', M.A. Thesis, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1991, p. 79.
¶ 63 Leave a comment on paragraph 63 0 [36] Ayalon, "The illustrations to Meshal ha-Kadmoni", pp. 128-142; Loewe, Meshal Haqadmoni, pp. 55-114; Offenberg, "Expressions of Meeting the Challenges," pp. 166-174.
¶ 64 Leave a comment on paragraph 64 0 [37] Scholars have already pointed that this story reflects the actual historical event in which the nobles in Alfonso X's court rebelled against him in 1271. Loewe, Meshal Haqadmoni, pp. lxxviii-lxxx; O'Callaghan, A History of Medieval Spain, pp. 371-375; idem, The Learned King, pp. 215-229.
¶ 65 Leave a comment on paragraph 65 0 [38] On the notion that it is prohibit to rebel against the kingdom see: Shalom Albeck, "'Dinno D'malchuso Dinno' in the Jewish Communities of Medieval Spain," in: The Abraham Weiss Jubilee Volume, ed. Samuel Belkin, New York 1964, pp. 109-125.
¶ 66 Leave a comment on paragraph 66 0 [39] Loewe, Meshal Haqadmoni, pp. ci-cvii; idem, "Who Was the Fox", p. 52.
¶ 67 Leave a comment on paragraph 67 0 [40] Loewe translated the word Talmud as scholarship, however as we shall see later on, it is important to follow the accurate meaning of the word, which here refers to the rabbinic writings.
¶ 68 Leave a comment on paragraph 68 0 [41] Loewe, Meshal Haqadmoni, pp. 104-106, and see Loewe's notes there.
¶ 69 Leave a comment on paragraph 69 0 [42] Ibid, pp. 106-107, n. 47. On Birkat Haminim see: Ruth Langer, Cursing the Christians?: A History of the Birkat Haminim, New York 2012, pp. 66-101, esp. 83-101; 217-220.
¶ 70 Leave a comment on paragraph 70 0 [43] We have Hebrew accounts of the "Talmud Trial" and a Latin text. Judah D. Galinsky, "The Different Hebrew Versions of the 'Talmud Trial' of 1240 in Paris," in: New Perspectives on Jewish-Christian Relations: In Honor of David Berger, eds. Elisheva Carlebach and Jacob J. Schacter, Leiden and Boston 2012, pp. 109-140, esp. 132-137. The Latin text was originally published by Isadore Loeb, "La controverse de 1240 sur le Talmud," Revue des études juives 3 (1881), pp. 39–57. For an English translation of the Latin text see: Hyam Maccoby, Judaism on Trial: Jewish-Christian Disputations in the Middle Ages, Rutherford 1982, pp. 163–167.
¶ 71 Leave a comment on paragraph 71 0 [44] Susan L. Einbinder, Beautiful Death: Jewish Poetry and Martyrdom in Medieval France, Princeton and Oxford 2002, pp. 70-99; Samuel Grünbaum, Sefer Vikkuah R. Yehi'el, Thorn 1873 [Hebrew]; Paul Lawrence Rose, "When Was the Talmud Burned at Paris? A Critical Examination of the Christian and Jewish sources and a new dating: June 1241," Journal of Jewish Studies 62 (2011), pp. 324-339; R. Yehiel of Paris' Dispute, ed. Reuben Margaliot, Leviv 1910 [Hebrew]; Le brûlement du Talmud à Paris, 1242-1244, eds. Gilbert Dahan avec Élie Nicolas, postface de René-Samuel Sirat, Paris 1999; Robert Chazan, Barcelona and Beyond: The Disputation of 1263 and its Aftermath, Berkeley 1992; idem, "Christian Condemnation, Censorship, and Exploitation of the Talmud," in: Printing the Talmud: From Bomberg to Schottenstein, eds. Sharon Liberman Mintz and Gabriel M. Goldstein, New York 2005, pp. 53-59; idem, "From Friar Paul to Friar Raymond: The Development of Innovative Missionizing Argumentation," Harvard Theological Review 76 (1983), pp. 289-306; Jeremy Cohen, Living Letters of the Law: Ideas of the Jews in Medieval Christianity, Berkeley 1999, pp. 319-342; idem, "The Second Paris Dispute and the Jewish Christian Polemic in the Thirteenth Century," Tarbiz 68 (1999), pp. 557-579 [Hebrew]; Saadiah Eisenberg, "Reading Medieval Religious Disputation: The 1240 'Debate' between Rabbi Yehiel of Paris and Friar Nicholas Donin," Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 2008; Harvey J. Hames, "Reason and Faith: Inter-Religious Polemic and Christian Identity in the Thirteenth Century," in: Religious Apologetics – Philosophical Argumentation, eds. Yossef Schwartz and Volkhard Krech, Tübingen 2004, pp. 267-284; William Chester Jordan, "Marian Devotion and the Talmud Trial of 1240," in: idem, Ideology and Royal Power in Medieval France: Kingship, Crusades and the Jews, Vermont 2001, XI pp. 61-76; David Malkiel, Reconstructing Ashkenaz: The Human Face of Franco-German Jewry, 1000-1250, Stanford 2009; Daniela Müller, "Die Pariser Verfahren gegen den Talmud von 1240 und 1248 im Kontext von Papsttum und französischem Königtum," in: Interaction Between Judaism and Christianity in History, Religion, Art and Literature, eds. Marcel Poorthuis, Joshua Schwartz, and Joseph Turner, Leiden 2009, pp. 181-199; Ursula Ragacs, Die zweite Talmuddisputation von Paris 1269, Frankfurt am Main 2001; Joseph Shatzmiller, La deuxième controverse de Paris, Paris 1994; Haym Soloveitchik, "Catastrophe and Halakhic Creativity: Ashkenaz-1096, 1242, 1306 and 1298," Jewish History 12 (1998), pp. 71-85. On Birkat Haminim and the Talmud Trial see Langer, Cursing the Christians?, pp. 85-88.
¶ 72 Leave a comment on paragraph 72 0 [45] Dalman, Jesus Christ in the Talmud, pp. 10, 12, esp. 17-18; Eisenberg, "Reading Medieval Religious Disputation", pp. 84-88; Galinsky, "The Different Hebrew Versions", p. 122; Ivan G. Marcus, "A Jewish-Christian Symbiosis: The Culture of Early Ashkenaz," in: Cultures of the Jews: A New History, ed. David Biale, 3 vols., New York 2002, vol. II, pp. 147-214, esp. 176-182; Schäfer, Jesus in the Talmud, pp. 82-94.
¶ 73 Leave a comment on paragraph 73 0 [46] Gerson Cohen, "Esau as Symbol in Early Medieval Thought," in: Jewish Medieval and Renaissance Studies, ed. Alexander Altmann, Cambridge, Mass 1967, pp. 19-48.
¶ 74 Leave a comment on paragraph 74 0 [47] Eisenberg, "Reading Medieval Religious Disputation", pp. 38-40; Hames, "Reason and Faith," pp. 276-277, 281 n. 39.
¶ 75 Leave a comment on paragraph 75 0 [48] Carpenter, "The Portrayal of the Jew," pp. 19-20; Kulp-Hil, Songs of Holy Mary, p. 19; Mettmann, Cantigas de Santa Maria, vol. 1, pp. 88-89; O'Callaghan, The Learned King, p. 111; Patton, Art of Estrangement, pp. 88-91.
¶ 76 Leave a comment on paragraph 76 0 [49] Carpenter, Alfonso X and the Jews, pp. 63-66.
¶ 77 Leave a comment on paragraph 77 0 [50] Abraham M. Haberman, Sefer Gezerot Ashkenaz ve-Zarfat, Jerusalem 1945, pp. 13-15; Elliot S. Horowitz, Reckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence, Princeton and Oxford 2006, pp. 149-185. See also: Robert Chazan, European Jewry and the First Crusade, Berkeley 1987, p. 18.
¶ 78 Leave a comment on paragraph 78 0 [51] Rubin, Corpus Christi, pp. 95-96.
¶ 79 Leave a comment on paragraph 79 0 [52] Anthony Bale, The Jew in the Medieval Book: English Antisemitisms 1350-1500, Cambridge 2010.
¶ 80 Leave a comment on paragraph 80 0 [53] David A. Lawton, "Sacrilege and Theatricality: The Croxton Play of the Sacrament," Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 33 (2003), pp. 281-309, esp. 287-288.
¶ 81 Leave a comment on paragraph 81 0 [54] David Bevington, "Staging Liturgy in The Croxton Play of the Sacrament," in: Staging Scripture: Biblical Drama 1350-1600, eds. Peter Happé and Win Hüsken, Leiden 2016, pp. 235-252, esp. 241.
¶ 82 Leave a comment on paragraph 82 0 [55]http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/leisure/theatre/theatre/reviews/10941353.Miracle_play_proves_a_curious_piece___Croxton_Play_of_the_Sacrament/?ref=rl
¶ 83 Leave a comment on paragraph 83 0 [56] Cohen, Living Letters of the Law.
Source: https://opr.degruyter.com/confronting-antisemitism-through-the-ages-a-historical-perspective/sara-offenberg-all-the-worlds-a-stage-imagined-jewish-rituals-in-medieval-christian-art-and-drama/


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'These are not our promised resurrections'
Unearthing the uncanny in Alan Moore's A Small Killing, From Hell and A Disease of Language
Christopher Murray
Alan Moore's early work in the 1980s earned him a reputation as a clever innovator, producing reinventions of old characters, subverting their histories, remoulding them as 'realistic' or adding shades of characterisation uncommon in comics. With these characters Moore rehearsed the elements that would mark his mature work, texts such as Watchmen, A Small Killing and From Hell, and the spoken performance pieces The Birth Caul and Snakes and Ladders. These were adapted into comics by Eddie Campbell and later collected as A Disease of Language. In Moore's stories the kinds of sensation and excess traditionally seen in superhero comics becomes inverted into the kind usually seen in Gothic literature. There are certainly Gothic elements in The Birth Caul, but they are in tension with the autobiographical elements, and overall the effect is more towards the uncanny than horror.
in Alan Moore and the Gothic Tradition
Matthew J. A. Green
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First Snow! » « In Honor of COP26
Inside the Sausage Factory
The old saying is that one should not watch how politics are done, or sausage is made. I've seen the latter and it wasn't too bad, but a visit to the cheese caves in Roquefort, France, put me off cheese for a long time. The smell was unforgettable. I imagine that I'd feel the same way about politics if I sat in on some meetings.
"Gamesmanship" is what they are describing, here: wait until you know that everyone has committed to getting something done by a certain date, then threaten to implode all their efforts unless you get what you want. I know that's how politics is done, but I think gamesmanship is dishonest because, in principle, you're negotiating openly for what you believe, but suddenly you reveal that you're willing to play tricks to 'win' – obviously, if you need to play tricks, your ideas can't stand on their own merits. It works, of course, which is why it's done that way. Over at Politico there is a description of how the COP26 statement was sand-bagged at the last minute. [pol]
GLASGOW, Scotland — In a room behind the plenary hall at COP26 in Glasgow, the four biggest greenhouse gas emitters on the planet sat in a circle on Saturday evening and brokered a last minute deal to weaken a global pact to phase out coal power.
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry, his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua, EU Green Deal chief Frans Timmermans and Indian Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav sat on chairs facing one another, with Alok Sharma, the U.K. minister in charge of the U.N. climate talks.
At issue was a last minute demand from China and India: Water down language in the Glasgow Climate Pact that called for a "phase out" of coal power. Instead, Beijing wanted the wording to be "phase down" and New Delhi only wanted it to cover "inefficient" coal, according to an EU official who was in the room.
The atmosphere was tense. The Chinese were willing to put the whole conference was on the line. "We will break the whole thing down," said one Chinese delegate, according to the EU official.
What the fuck is "phase down" anyhow? It hardly matters – the biggest polluters, including the USA, have already said that they intend to continue to increase emissions until at least 2050. The best that we can hope for is that they will slow down the rate of increase – hardly a "phase out" or even a "phase down"; in other words the entire premise of the meeting is a lie. The entire system is conspiring to defend the status quo, which happens to be inimical to life on Earth. If there are humans still around in 2200, they'll be asking "why didn't the people of the time rebel, and hang those bastards while they still had a chance?" Good question.
I know I've been referring to Amitav Ghosh a lot, lately, but there's a whole section in The Great Derangement in which he describes how the intelligence/police state has oriented itself toward suppressing protesters – especially climate protests – a sort of tacit admission that they knew this was coming all along and it was all, always, about keeping order more than anything else. Preserve the government means you can preserve the status quo and preserve the status quo means you can keep burning the coal until your clock runs out.
The public politics of climate change is, itself, an illustration of the ways in which the moral/political can produce paralysis. Of late many activists and concerned people have begun to frame climate change as a moral issue. This has become almost a plea of last resort, appeals of many other kinds having failed to produce concerted action on climate change. So, in an ironic twist, the individual conscience is now increasingly seen as the battleground of choice that is self-evidently a problem of the global commons, requiring collective action. It is as if every other resource of democratic governance had been exhausted, leaving only this residue, the moral.
This framing of the issue certainly has one great virtue in that it breaks decisively with the economistic cost/benefit language that the international climate change bureaucracy has imposed on it but, at the same time, this approach also invokes a politics of sincerity that may ultimately work to the advantage of those on the opposite side, for if the crisis of climate change is to be principally seen in terms of the questions it poses to the individual conscience, then sincerity and consistency will inevitably become the touchstones by which political positions will be judged. This, in turn, will enable deniers to accuse activists of personal hypocrisy by pointing to their individual lifestyle choices. When framed in this way authenticity and sacrifice become central to the issue, which then comes to rest on matters like the number of light bulbs in Al Gore's home and the forms of transport that demonstrators use to get to a march.
I saw a particularly telling example of this in a TV interview with a prominent activist after the New York climate change march of September 2014. The interviewer's posture was like that of a priest, interrogating a wayward parishioner. The questions were along the lines of "what have you given up for climate change?" "What are your sacrifices?" The activist in question was quickly reduced to indignant incoherence. So paralyzing is the effect of the fusion of the political and the moral that he could not bring himself to state the obvious: that the scale of climate change is such that individual choices will make little difference unless certain collective decisions are taken and acted upon.
Sincerity has nothing to do with rationing water during a drought, as in today's California. This is not a measure that can be left to the individual conscience. To think in those terms is to accept neoliberal premises. Second, yardsticks of morality are not the same everywhere. In many parts of the world, and especially in English-speaking countries, canons of judgement on many issues still rest on that distinctive fusion of economic, religious, and philosophical conceptions that was brought about by the Scottish enlightenment. The central tenet of this set of ideas, as John Maynard Keynes once put it, is that by the working of natural laws individuals pursuing their own interests with enlightenment in condition of freedom always tend to promote the general interest at the same time. The everyday political philosophy of the 19th century, as Keynes described it, remains an immensely powerful force in the United States and elsewhere. For those on the right of the political spectrum this set of ideas retains something of its millenarian character with individualism, free trade, and god constituting parts of a whole but, by no means is it only the religiously-minded whose ideas are shaped by this philosophy: it is worth noting that the dominant secular paradigms of ethics in the United States, for example, as in John Rawls' theory of justice, are also founded upon assumptions about individual rationality that are borrowed from neo-classical economics.
If you recall some of the things I said BG ("Before Ghosh") I saw nationalism as the problem we needed to overcome in order to survive the climate crisis. Now, I'm afraid that I agree with Ghosh – nationalism is a manifestation of global power structures and the nation-state is simply a convenient unit of measurement for imperialists. The problem is not the existence of nation-states but rather the system of control behind them, for which they exist.
As I wrote the word "parishioner" above (Ghosh's language, not mine) I realized with complete clarity that I had never written that word before. How odd that I've had a particular piece of language sitting in my brain, unused, for so long. I guess it says something about the limits of my engagement with the mechanisms of religious practice.
Marcus Ranum
Climate Change, We are Fucked
dangerousbeans says
the entire climate change strategy of the ruling class seems to be to mitigate the personal consequences for the next 30 years, then die. i hope their children are giving them a hard time
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by Devin Colson November 21, 2020, 8:58 am
When you're lost in the darkness, look for the light. Believe in the Fireflies. As one of the last PlayStation games to be released in the PS3 era, The Last of Us is considered one of the best video games ever made! Like with PlayStation's other iconic IP franchises, The Last of Us is beloved for its story, characters, and gut-punching emotional moments. Having launched in 2013, the series has released the long-awaited sequel earlier this summer and was met with critical acclaim. Unfortunately, The Last of Us Part 2 has been met with some controversy. Still, it's been nominated for 10 Game of the Year awards.
News for a TV adaptation hit the web a few months back and we finally get some confirmation on that from Deadline! HBO has given a full series order on the upcoming adaptation! The show will be done by Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin along with Game of Thrones executive producer, Carolyn Strauss. Neil Druckmann whose the game's creator will also be involved with the project. The Last of Us is set to be a co-production with Sony Pictures Television in association with PlayStation Productions, Word Games, and Naughty Dog. No word on how many episodes will be in the series.
In a statement from Francesca Orsi, EVP HBO Programming, she mentions her excitement for the project by saying:
"Craig and Neil are visionaries in a league of their own. With them at the helm alongside the incomparable Carolyn Strauss, this series is sure to resonate with both die-hard fans of The Last of Us games and newcomers to this genre-defining saga. We're delighted to partner with Naughty Dog, Word Games, Sony and PlayStation to adapt this epic, powerfully immersive story."
With a wonderful team like this, I cannot wait to see who they will cast for Joel and Ellie in HBO's adaptation! I'm also hoping that HBO finds some way to makethe different kinds of infected like the clickers send chills down my spine!
Are you hyped about HBO's The Last of Us? Do you think the show should take some different directions from the game? Let us know in the comments below!
Ashley JohnsonHBONaughty DogPlaystationPlaystation StudiosSonyThe Last Of UsTroy Baker
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Written by Devin Colson
I'm a huge geek when it comes to things like Marvel/DC, Star Wars, anime, etc. Bit of a movie buff. Disney kid at heart.
Uncharted Set Photos Reveal Mark Wahlberg Alongside Tom Holland
Venom 2: New Costume Hints At The MCU Spider-Man Crossover
The Mandalorian Spin-Off Casts Two New Supporting Roles


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Peterson Foundation Statement on Tax Cuts 2.0
"Tax Cuts 2.0 is a fitting name, because this bill would add more than $2.0 trillion to our national debt over 10 years once it kicks in," Michael A. Peterson, Chairman and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, said.
https://www.pgpf.org/press-release/2018/09/tax-cuts-20
Peterson Foundation Statement on New Round of Tax Cuts
"Another round of tax cuts financed with borrowed money is doubling down on fiscal irresponsibility," said Michael A. Peterson, Chairman and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.
https://www.pgpf.org/press-release/2018/09/peterson-foundation-statement-on-new-round-of-tax-cuts
Peterson Foundation: More Debt is the Last Thing America Needs
"Lawmakers should absolutely take a second look at tax policy, not to extend the irresponsibility, but to implement reforms that actually improve our fiscal situation," said Michael A. Peterson, Chairman and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.
https://www.pgpf.org/press-release/2018/07/peterson-foundation-more-debt-is-the-last-thing-america-needs
Peterson Foundation Statement on President's Budget
"Today's budget represents a dramatically worse outlook than what was released just last May," said Michael A. Peterson, President and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.
https://www.pgpf.org/press-release/2018/02/peterson-foundation-statement-on-presidents-budget
Peterson Foundation Statement on Budget Deal
"After adding trillions to our national debt in last year's irresponsible tax bill, our leaders are now adding another $300 billion in deficits over just the next two years," said Michael A. Peterson, President and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.
https://www.pgpf.org/press-release/2018/02/peterson-foundation-statement-on-budget-deal
Peterson Foundation Statement on State of the Union Address
"In order to truly help our economy, infrastructure investments must be paid for, because adding more debt hurts our economy," said Michael A. Peterson, President and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.
https://www.pgpf.org/press-release/2018/01/peterson-foundation-statement-on-state-of-the-union-address
Peterson Foundation Statement on End to Government Shutdown
"Piecemeal budgeting is a form of fiscal irresponsibility because it injects uncertainty and unpredictability into our economy," said Michael A. Peterson, President and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.
https://www.pgpf.org/press-release/2018/01/peterson-foundation-statement-on-end-to-government-shutdown
Peterson Foundation Statement on Tax Legislation
"Lawmakers have squandered a generational opportunity to reform our tax code in a responsible way," said Michael A. Peterson, President and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.
https://www.pgpf.org/press-release/2017/12/peterson-foundation-statement-on-tax-legislation
Peterson Foundation Statement on Tax Bill Conference Committee
"In just the next decade, this tax bill could add more than $2 trillion to our national debt, which is already $20 trillion and growing," said Michael A. Peterson, President and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.
https://www.pgpf.org/press-release/2017/12/peterson-statement-on-tax-bill-conference-committee
Peterson Foundation Statement on Passage of Senate Tax Bill
"The Senate has squandered an opportunity to pass fiscally responsible tax reform," said Michael A. Peterson, President and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.
https://www.pgpf.org/press-release/2017/12/peterson-foundation-statement-on-passage-of-senate-tax-bill


Culinary Arts class graduates 8
Donna Beth Weilenman | May 30, 2018	| 0 Comments
MARTINEZ, Calif. – A magician, a son following his parents' enthusiasm for cooking and a student who already has landed a job as a chef are among the eight graduates of the 10-week Loaves and Fishes Culinary Arts program that primarily offers training to Vicente High School.
This session, three adults also participated. Robert Aamodt discovered the program after the current session had started, but worked hard to qualify for his program diploma. Maria Picatoste came with a wealth of Filipino recipes, but now has a broader perspective. And René McHenry, who had been cooking for her church, has been hired as a chef for a major company in San Ramon.
Chris Arculeta not only earned his program diploma, he also was recognized for his perfect attendance. The other graduates are Brian Benitez, Auriana Wightman, Klayton Farmer, whose parents also enjoy cooking, and Bodhisattva Bowman, who is developing a stage magic show that involves hypnotism, but also likes close up illusions.
Chef Ted Elsner, who has taught classes as chef instructor for nine years at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts, has been the program director this year, and has plans for expanding it in the future.
He focused on basic skills, from how to slice a potato to dividing chicken into eight parts. Students learned to saute, braise and roast, and even made some sushi during class.
The students learned more than cooking, however, said Joleen R. Lafayette, executive director of Loaves and Fishes of Contra Costa. They were guided in writing resumes and participated in mock job interviews.
The day before Thursday's ceremony, they served meals to about 80 people at Loaves and Fishes, and did the same during their graduation, presenting meals and desserts to friends and relatives who came to witness the awarding of diplomas.
"To watch them grown in 10 weeks has been amazing," Elsner said.
Loaves and Fishes of Contra Costa County operates one of its dining rooms at 835 Ferry St., where anyone who is hungry can be fed a hot midday meal. It offers the basic culinary arts program free to those experiencing barriers to employment and who are interested in the food industry.
Those earning their diplomas may enter jobs upon graduation or may continue their education through Diablo Valley College's culinary arts program, Lafayette said.
The next culinary class will start Sept. 11.
Tags: cooking, Loaves and Fishes, Loaves and Fishes Culinary Arts program, Vicente Martinez High School
Category: Community Focus
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What are the Three Questions That Will clarify the Yankees-Astros ALCS
October 12, 2019 October 12, 2019 Mary Powell ALCS, ALD, National League Division Series Game 5s, WHIP, Yankees-Astros, Zack Greinke
How about we come down this heavyweight fight into three inquiries that will control the bearing the arrangement goes.
With disarray ejecting in the two National League Division Series Game 5s, the American League maintained a strategic distance from a comparative destiny when the Astros fought off the spunky Rays in Thursday night's victor take-all challenge. All is directly in the AL world with the alliance's two juggernauts, Houston and the Yankees, meeting in the Championship Series. It's a rematch of the exciting, seven-game record from 2017 that sent the inevitable World Series-winning Astros to the Fall Classic.
People should separate the three inquiries that will choose this version of Astros-Yankees.
Could the Yankees beat the Astros' Big 3 starters?
Everybody was prepared to give the Astros the Commissioner's Trophy when they gained Zack Greinke in the winding down minutes before the exchange cutoff time, giving them the best pivot trio in baseball. Greinke, an expert in his very own right, joining the main pair of colleagues to each arrive at 300 strikeouts since Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling? How might people beat them?
Obviously, people can beat them, and the Rays nearly did. They took Houston to five games, including winning Game 4 against Justin Verlander (though, on brief rest). New York took the Astros to seven games in 2017 notwithstanding hitting out multiple times with 11 strolls. The greatest thump on those Yankees was they were excessively dependent on the grand slam. This current season's Yanks definitely hit their homers (306, second most unequaled, behind the current year's Twins), yet they can win without the long ball since they can score without it. In the three-game ALDS against the Twins this week, the Yankees homered multiple times and scored 23 runs, with four of those being solo shots—the other was Didi Gregorius' fantastic hammer in Game 2—implying that 15 runs scored without a grand slam.
On the other side, a dependence on grand slams can be ideal for the Yankees versus the three-headed beast of Verlander, Cole and Greinke. Maybe the best way to beat Verlander this year is to go yard. He posted the fifth-best single-season WHIP in MLB history (0.803) however he surrendered more homers (36) than in some other season in his 15-year profession.
Main concern: The Yankees can beat the Big 3 on the off chance that they money in on the long ball—yet don't depend entirely on it—and this lineup is more prepared to do that than the 2017 gathering.
Will the Astros' bats best the Yankees' profound warm up area?
Truly. The Yankees' warm up area is a gauntlet of shutdown relievers, the two lefties and righties. What's more, a large portion of them are all around rested after a moderately light ALDS burden and four days rest between their arrangement clincher and ALCS Game 1. Be that as it may, if at any point there was a lineup to destroy New York's warm up area of closers, it's the Astros.
It's very nearly an inevitable end product that the Yanks will go to their 'pen before Houston; every one of the three of their ALDS starters were alleviated before the 6th inning. That methodology can work in a best-of-five arrangement that goes just three games, which were all chosen by in any event four runs. In any case, if the Yankees have a taken shots at winning, their relievers will be in more high-influence circumstances than not. In tight games, for the most part, more is asked of a warm up area. This season, the Astros positioned third in the NL with a .800 OPS and third in MLB with 436 runs scored against relievers.
Likewise, the Yankees' warm up area is worked around swing-and-miss pitchers with vainglorious strikeout rates, except for Zack Britton, a sinkerballer who gets this show on the road part of ground ball outs. Houston's hitters struck out not exactly some other group in baseball. Placing the ball in play is the Astros' claim to fame, and in the event that they can abstain from striking out against the Yankees' warm up area, they'll have a superior taken shots at scoring late in games.
Who has the edge in Game 4?
So this is the place the Yankees can thank the Rays for pushing the ALDS to five games and beating Verlander on brief rest. Presently, in Game 4 the Astros should either utilize lefty Wade Miley against the Yankees intensely righthanded lineup, toss Greinke on three days rest or go to new kid on the block righthander Jose Urquidy in an antagonistic Yankee Stadium postseason condition with potentially a World Series appearance on hold.
In the mean time, for all their pivot troubles this season, the Yankees can go to J.A. Happ—their ALDS Game 1 playoff starter a year ago—or they'll utilize Chad Green as an opener. They've fared well in warm up area games this season, and Green has been incredible as both an opener and a high-influence reliever since coming back to the major alliance list after an early-season downgrade.
Mary Powell
Mary Powell was first registered nurse in Utah and New Zealand temperance worker and suffragist
Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Fortune Tabloid journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.
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