weekend stuff
Dec. 12th, 2004 10:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cellioTorah readers are assigned through mid-March. This is the farthest ahead we've been scheduled for a while! I don't know when I'll next read there; I'm probably reading for a women's service in February, but that's a different group. (They asked for volunteers to read torah or lead parts of the service; I said I could do either but have Opinions about content of the latter that I'd like to discuss before committing. So it looks like I get torah reading, which is fine.)
Something I wonder about in this week's portion: after Yosef interprets Paro's dreams, Paro elevates him to second-in-command of all Egypt. One of the things he gives Yosef is the "chariot of the second in command". This makes it sound like the position already exists, which leads me to wonder what happened to the previous holder of that job. Did he misinterpret Paro's dreams?
As long as I'm doing minutiae... during Chanukah and on Purim there's an insertion into the Amidah (central prayer). In the Shabbat service, the siddur includes the Chanukah one but not the Purim one. (The Purim one is included for weekdays, though, so it's not a general oversight.) I wonder if that means that Purim can never fall on Shabbat. (Chanukah, being eight days, is guaranteed to hit at least one Shabbat. I wonder if it can hit two, or if it never starts on Shabbat either.)
Saturday night was my company's holiday party. It was huge! We've been growing a lot, but when people are spread out it's not as obvious. Put us all in one room with significant others and... wow. We missed the party last year, and this was much bigger than two years ago.
The party was fun; the organizers did a good job with it. This year, unlike last year (I'm told), we did not run out of food. Dani found a wine that was sweet enough for him (a Riesling, but I failed to get specifics). Some people brought instruments and were jamming in the front room; I didn't bring any on the theory that it would be Christmas music, but it turns out that would have been ok (they were improvising, mostly). On the other hand, for expedience I would have brought drums, not the hammer dulcimer -- and one of my coworkers is really good on drums, so there wouldn't have been much I could contribute. But I enjoyed listening, so that was fine.
Today the washer and dryer rebelled. (What did we ever do to them?) The washer has decided that it doesn't like the rinse cycle, so it just stops there. We can drain the water and reset it to get it to fill and agitate again, hacking a rinse, but it won't spin. Bah. And then the dryer decided that heat was optional, though once we took the front panel off to look for a fuse (unsuccessfully) and took the vent stack apart looking for a lint clog (nope), it began to give us lackluster heat. I guess we just needed to speak sternly to it -- for now.
The appliances came with the house (five years ago) and weren't new then. I wonder what the usual life-expectancy is on these things. I guess we should find out what a service call costs, and whether he'll give us a break for two appliances in one visit.
So, hours after I expected to be done, my shirts are slowly drying, jeans are queued up behind them, and Dani has a load queued up behind that. Whee.
purim & shabbat
Date: 2004-12-13 03:51 am (UTC)Basically, "yup". Except for in cities that were walled way-back-when (i.e. Yerushalayim, Shushan, and maybe a few others, but I don't know of any offhand) where Purim is celebrated a day later than everyone else ("Shushan Purim"), Purim can't fall on Shabbat now that we're using a predictive calendar rather than waiting for witnesses to arrive at the main court so they can declare the new month. The advantage of this is that no one (outside of the walled cities) has to worry about about carrying a megliah on Shabbat to shul (or elsewhere) for reading (and inside walled cities carrying on Shabbat isn't a problem).
Other holidays that get scheduled with respect to Shabbat are Yom Kippur, which cannot be the day before or the day after but may be on Shabbat (iirc, the main reason is that the rabbis of the time felt that fasting right before or after feasting on Shabbat would not be healthy, plus if Yom Kippur was the day before Shabbat it would be hard to prepare for Shabbat), and Hoshana Rabbah (the last day of Chol Hamoed of Sukkot - iirc, the reason here was that the extra ceremony of the day involves Aravot and the rabbis didn't want people to be tempted to carry them on Shabbat).
(Chanukah, being eight days, is guaranteed to hit at least one Shabbat. I wonder if it can hit two, or if it never starts on Shabbat either.)
Chanukah can start & end on Shabbat - a quick check in my 200-year calendar book shows 2002, 2003, and 2006 as examples.
Re: purim & shabbat
Date: 2004-12-13 04:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-13 04:10 am (UTC)The Plaut commentary about this seems to suggest (reading between the lines) that that position existed to be given, but wasn't always filled.
Re: purim & shabbat
Date: 2004-12-13 04:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-13 04:22 am (UTC)I heard some great news about Plaut recently -- they're coming out with a new edition next year, with bigger Hebrew print, aliya markings, text divided into parshiyot instead of the little chunks in the current edition, haftorah with each parsha instead of at the end of each book, and thicker paper. I don't know what it will weigh, but that set of changes could get me to start using it again. :-) (I find the book so physically challenging that I haven't been able to give his commentary much attention.)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-13 04:46 am (UTC)Can't help you with vintners, of course, seeing as I wasn't there... but as I recall, there is a generic dryness scale for Rieslings; starts with plain Riesling on the dryish end, then comes Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese, Beerauslese, and the syrupiest of them all, Trockenbeerauslese.
Sounds like Dani and
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-13 05:07 am (UTC)Dani has been known to comment that the nice thing about Manishevitz is that you don't need to add sugar to it. However, even he admitted that ice wine is "pretty sweet". :-)
(I tend to prefer sweeter wines to drier ones, and whites to reds, but I am not nearly as extreme as he is -- and there are lots of things I'd rather drink than Manishevitz! Ice wine is good, though...)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-13 05:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-13 01:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-13 02:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-13 04:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-13 05:22 pm (UTC)Good question. I don't know. Our shul has both; they have different colored binding.
I'm just guessing here, obviously, but I think a lot of people will be cranky if they do all that work to put out a more usable edition and then mess that up!
Well, it depends upon who they think their target audience is. If they're hoping to sell to significant numbers of non-Jews, the reverse pagination might be a turn-off. (And, to be fair, even some Jews might find it a turn-off -- there was a version of The Gates of Prayer that I was using in the late '80s which didn't use the Hebrew-opening style.)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-13 05:28 pm (UTC)While I'm thinking about translations, it's interesting to note that the translation the Hertz uses (which I think is the "old" JPS?) translates that as P's second-best chariot, which is my excuse for not having thought of that.
As an aside, I wonder if Joy picked up on all my hints about the new Alter translation (The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary ISBN 0393019551) :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-13 06:03 pm (UTC)We use the Hebrew-opening style almost exclusively (blue binding), but I've seen one mutant floating around that opens the other way and has a red binding. Grabbed it once when I was aiming for Eitz Chayim. :-)
If they're hoping to sell to significant numbers of non-Jews, the reverse pagination might be a turn-off.
If, however, they put the needs of non-Jews ahead of the needs of Jews (who, except for very old "Classic Reform" folks expect the conventional format), we're going to have to smack 'em. I hope they aren't that short-sighted. Their primary market is going to be synagogues and members of synagogues.
I've seen Gates of Prayer (and the machzor, Gates of Repentance) with the English-style opening. It's disconcerting. I think it would be worse in a two-column format, which is what Plaut currently uses for the Hebrew and commentaries. (That is, two columns of Hebrew text, one wide column underneath for English translation, and two columns on the pages that are fully commentary.) I'd worry about going to the wrong column after a page turn if I was following the Hebrew. If they do Hebrew and English side by side (one column of each) that'd be less of a concern.
Oh well -- we'll find out soon enough, I assume.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-13 06:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-14 06:47 am (UTC)(Another is that Beerenauslese and up are pretty well always sweet. But, well, I can't afford that.)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-14 01:27 pm (UTC)That's the "old" JPS translation. Eitz Chayim and Plaut use the "new" JPS translation (they started it in 1955, and finished in 1982[1]). The "new" JPS translation is: "He had him ride in the chariot of his second-in-command". Fox translates it, "he had him mount the chariot of his second-in-rank".
My Hebrew is pretty weak; looking at the verse, the relevant hebrew is (if I'm transliterating this correctly) "vayarchev oto b'mircevet hamishneh asher lo", which might help someone else untangle this, or probably not since the actual hebrew letters would be more helpful.
It's interesting that the new translations are just following in the footsteps of Rashi, who explains the verse as "The second to his (Pharaoh's) chariot, that goes next to his." (which seems, to me, to indicate that this is a position, not a second-best chariot.)
[1] Yes, of course I looked that up. And everything else in this comment. Well, except for the existence of the old/new JPS translations, and who uses 'em.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-14 01:56 pm (UTC)Well, if the primary market really is synagogues and members of synagogues, then, sure, they should do the Hebrew pagination. But you can't blame the publishers for thinking, "Gee, 96% of the U.S. population is non-Jewish, and what with the increased visibility of religion nowadays, maybe we should publish something that non-Jews will buy also..."
As far as synagogues go, a new version of the Plaut might end up being a harder sell than if they'd come out with it before the Eitz Chayim. Synagogues which already switched to EC aren't going to switch back to Plaut, but ones which already are using Plaut 1.0 might be hesitant to switch over to Plaut 2.0, because of the cost of replacing all the books (and the probable page incompatibility in the different versions). I suppose places which were procrastinating because they didn't like the Conservative slant to EC but found Plaut 1.0 to be impossible to use during services will jump on 2.0, and other shuls might wait until a significant number of their 1.0s are in need of replacement and then just jump to 2.0... Mind you, I think it's a good idea.
Whoops, hold the phone. I actually took a minute to do some research: it's published by URJ press, formerly UAHC press, which I'm guessing is intimately connected to the Reform movement. In that case, their goal should be producing something that Reform congregations can use, and if they use the English pagination, I'll be dissapointed. But, at least from the preview PDFs they have at their webpage, I don't think I will be.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-14 02:04 pm (UTC)OK, I goofed. I looked at the JPS translation, not the Eitz Chayim. EC uses "...the most recent JPS translation, as corrected in the 2000 edition of its Hebrew-English Tanakh..." (based on the "new" JPS translation). In addition they, "...retranslated a few of the terms related to sacrifices. Thus for 'sin offering' we have substituted 'purification offering'..."
It looks like Plaut 2.0 is going to use the NJPS2K, possibly with added gender-neutral G-d language, for Exodus-Deuteronomy, and another translation for Genesis.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-14 03:35 pm (UTC)Oh, sure -- I wouldn't blame a publisher for trying for the maximal market. It didn't occur to me that the larger market might be the non-Jewish world. And, as you point out, it would be bad form for URJ to disenfranchise its members. :-)
I don't know what our congregation will do. We didn't jump to Eitz Chayim. We could move to Plaut 2.0 in phases -- I'd suggest starting with enough copies for the Shabbat-morning study group and going from there -- but I don't know if we will. We might decide to save those dollars for upgrading siddurim instead, as more person-time is spent there than in the chumash. And I expect there'll be a new machzor along several years after Mishkan T'filah, and we definitely have a machzor problem now. So hmm. I'll have input, but it's not my decision.
Thanks for the pointer to the sample pages! I didn't realize those were up. Yes, that looks like it will be much better than 1.0. I wonder what the page count will be. (They don't seem to say.)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-14 05:48 pm (UTC)I think I was thinking of the Fox. I like that translation, but it isn't really usable in shul as a chumash because there's no Hebrew in the current edition. The pagination is also "English". When Dr. Fox came to talk at my shul a few years ago, someone asked about that: I seem to recall that there were a couple of problems. One was that the publisher didn't feel that there would be enough demand for a version with the Hebrew for it to be worthwhile. Another has to do with the format of his translation: it is in lines, like poetry. If you cut the page in half vertically, you'll lose the impact. I guess you could do something like have English on one page, Hebrew + commentaries on the facing page... but that would greatly increase the page count (already around 1000 pages). Anyhow, that's what the publishers decided. So, if it's not selling as a chumash, then who's buying it? Obviously Jews are, but presumably a large number of Christians are, as well.
I wonder what the page count will be. (They don't seem to say.)
Yeah. The FAQ page says, unsurprisingly, that the pagination will be different than 1.0. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the page count will be less than 1.0. The reason? The pages will be thicker, and if they keep the same page count, they'll end up with a huge tome that nobody will be able to use easily. How they'll do that is a good question...
Hmm, not sure if the pagination in the sample is correct, but the Haftorah for Va-yiggash ends on page 303 in the sample, as opposed to pg. 292 in Etz Chayim. So over the first 11 parshiot, Plaut 2.0 is 11 pages longer. If we extrapolate that, we get 1269 pages, not including haftorot for special occasions and holidays, or matter at the back of the book. EC is about 1560 pages all told (lots of essays at the end).
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-14 06:09 pm (UTC)A lot of Christians like to say that "we have the same (subset of) bible" or "we worship the same god". Ain't true, but folks who believe that are probably interested in accessible Jewish translations.
The pages will be thicker, and if they keep the same page count, they'll end up with a huge tome that nobody will be able to use easily. How they'll do that is a good question...
I agree that they really need to drop the page count given the other changes. The only way I think they could do that, though, is to drop some of the commentary and gleanings. Are they willing to do that? (This is kind of a mixed bag; I'm sure I could find 50% of this by page count to cut, but I'm probably more ruthless than they are.)
Oh, and apropos of page count -- an index? A well-made chumash doesn't need an index, because you know the layout. The only thing I can think of is that they're indexing the commentary ("where was that passage about ancient worship of Murdak?"), but I'm not sure it's a good idea if page count is a factor.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-15 07:25 am (UTC)Speaking of can't afford, Wegmans had a SIX liter bottle of Sauternes in their locked display case today. It's for sale. If anyone is willing to pay twenty-three hundred clams for it. At a *grocery store*. Sheesh...
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-15 02:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-16 01:00 pm (UTC)The point I wasn't making very well was that the fact that it can't be used as a chumash is due, at least in part, to a conscious decision on the part of the publisher.
I agree that they really need to drop the page count given the other changes. The only way I think they could do that, though, is to drop some of the commentary and gleanings.
I suspect that's what they're going to do. They can probably get rid of some of the gleanings without it being so obvious - there were something like 3 pages of gleanings for the sample parsha; while that's a lot, I'm pretty sure it's less than the number of pages scattered about in 1.0.
Oh, and apropos of page count -- an index? A well-made chumash doesn't need an index, because you know the layout.
Oh, I disagree. I mean, let's say we're talking about the law of shooing a mother bird away from the nest before taking the eggs. You and I both know that it's in the Torah, and you probably could even say which parsha it's in, and then page through it and find the verse. I'd guess it would either be in the parsha o' laws in Exodus (after they're in the desert), or in the chunk o' laws in Deuteronomy. So I'd go off to Exodus, flip around until I found, oh, yeah, it's Mishpatim that has all those laws, then read through. Nope, doesn't seem to be there. On to Deuteronomy. Now, where is it there? R'eih? Hmm... It talks about Kashrut, but that's not it. Shoftim? Yeah, that sounds right. No, it's not there. Ki Tetzei? Yeah, that's it. And, hey, my Chumash opens to the right page: it's Deuteronomy 22:6, page 1116/7. Now, if I had gone right to the Index of the Eitz Chayim, I'd have looked up "Birds" and gone to the one entry, which gives the list of Kosher birds in Leviticus. Whoops. Back to the index, looking up "nest". No entry. Um, "mother"? Yes, that's it: "mother and young of birds, 1116-1117". Much faster for me, let alone someone who isn't familiar enough with Torah to narrow it down as much as I did. And you can have a smaller font and narrower columns in an index than in the rest of the book.
index
Date: 2004-12-16 02:34 pm (UTC)