Stuck Between Its Two Sponsors Iran and Qatar, Hamas Loses Influence at Home
Most likely, only those on its payroll show up for its rallies.
February 5, 2019
What Ordinary Bibles Looked Like in Medieval Egypt
Written from memory.
Between the 6th and 10th centuries CE, a group of scribes in and around the city of Tiberias—known as the Masoretes—worked to standardize the text of the Hebrew Bible, devising a system of diacritics (or “vocalizations”) and cantillation marks to convey the proper pronunciation and melody. By the early Middle Ages, their system won out over those of their competitors in the central part of the land of Israel and in Babylonia. The Masoretes produced complete manuscripts of the Bible not only with all necessary markings, but also with extensive marginal notes for scribes and scholars. While the Cairo Genizah has yielded fragments of these masoretic Bibles, it also contains numerous fragments of what scholars call “common Bibles,” used by ordinary Jews. Ben Outhwaite describes one such fragment:
February 5, 2019
A Papal Visit to the United Arab Emirates Bodes Well for the Region, and for Israel
A model for tolerance in a sea of radicalism.
How Human Rights Watch Became a Pawn of Terrorists
From protesting Soviet crimes to inventing Israeli ones.
How Lenin’s Great-Grandfather Shaped Tsarist Jewish Policies
A Jewish convert to Christianity who became an informer.
What Ordinary Bibles Looked Like in Medieval Egypt
Written from memory.