Iran Makes Inroads in the Cradle of Iraqi Christianity
The Babylon Brigade.
December 28, 2017
For the Talmud, the Translation of the Bible into Greek Was a National Tragedy. Azariah de Rossi Disagreed
The eighth, and the tenth, of Tevet.
Today, the fast of the Tenth of Tevet primarily commemorates the start of the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 588 BCE, which culminated with the city’s destruction. But it is also associated with a handful of other anniversaries, including that of the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, completed, according to medieval Jewish sources, on the eighth day of Tevet. As this linkage with the fast day suggests, rabbinic tradition took a dim view of the Septuagint, as the Greek translation—legendarily executed by 72 Jewish sages on commission from King Ptolemy of Egypt in the 3rd century BCE—is known. In the early 1570s, the Italian rabbi and humanist Azariah de Rossi undertook to change that, for reasons summarized by Elli Fischer:
December 28, 2017
The Longstanding American Appreciation of Jerusalem’s Uniqueness
William Seward and “the builders and founders of the city.”
How Israel Should Approach Austria’s Right-Wing Populist Government
Jerusalem must deal with the Freedom party pragmatically.
For the Talmud, the Translation of the Bible into Greek Was a National Tragedy. Azariah de Rossi Disagreed
The eighth, and the tenth, of Tevet.
A Century-Old Archive of Lost Klezmer Recordings from Russia
Untouched for decades in England.