Tree is granted membership in Manitoba Buddhist Temple

Spiritual buffoonery isn't restricted to New Agers, charismaniacs, or liberal "Christians." As reported by John Longhurst of the Winnipeg Free Press, September 26, 2022 (photo in original):

There’s a new member of the Manitoba Buddhist Temple: a tree.

The large tree, which stands in front of the Winnipeg temple, was made a member of the sangha, or congregation, at a ceremony Saturday.

“It’s a way to make a point about what’s happening to the environment today,” said Tanis Moore, sensei of the temple.

“Trees are vital for our survival, and they provide beauty and shade.”

Moore was inspired to hold the ceremony by what Buddhists in Thailand are doing to preserve their forests.

In the Southeast Asian country, monks have been ordaining trees in order to protect them from being cut down for environmentally destructive cash crops.

The Winnipeg ceremony, which was led by Moore and Fredrich Ulrich, former sensei at the temple, began with the ringing of a bell. It was followed by a chant beside the tree, which had an orange saffron coloured cloth wrapped around its trunk.

The tree was then given the name as Dharma Phala, or “Fruit of the Dharma,” along with the title “honoured one” and thanked for joining the congregation.

The ceremony included the playing of a shakuhachi bamboo flute by Eric Napier Strong, who attends the temple.

It concluded with a prayer: “We gently caress you, our planet and home… make us aware of the harm we have done to the life network upon which we ourselves depend.”

“It’s like baptizing someone into a Christian community,” said Ulrich, explaining the meaning behind the ceremony.

“It’s representative of all trees,” added Moore. “It’s a symbol of our desire to care for the planet.”

Fredrich Ulrich, former sensei at the temple, says the ceremony inviting the tree into the congregation is akin to baptizing someone into a Christian community.

Fred Ulrich has been around for a long time; he was a priest in Edmonton in the 1980s. On March 5, 1987, during Christian Awareness Week at the University of Alberta, he debated Jeff Amano (author of The Reincarnation Sensation) of Probe Ministries on the subject of reincarnation vs. resurrection.

1,200-year-old rural estate discovered in Israel's Negev Desert

As reported by Israel365 News, August 23, 2022 (photos in original, link inserted by blogger):

A 1,200-year-old luxurious rural estate, the first of its kind in the Negev, was exposed in the archaeological excavations carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority and funded by the government through the Authority for the Development and Settlement of the Bedouin, prior to the expansion of the town of Rahat. A surprise awaited the archaeologists in the building courtyard: a unique vaulted complex overlying a three-meter-deep rock-hewn water cistern.

Aerial view of the rural estate uncovered in Rahat, with the vaulted complex in the centre. The estate is the first of its kind discovered in the Negev. Aerial photographs: Emil Aladjem Israel Antiquities Authority

The building, dated to the Early Islamic period (8th-9th centuries CE), was constructed around a central courtyard, and it comprised four wings with rooms to serve the needs of the residents. In one wing, there was a hall paved with a marble and stone floor and walls decorated with frescoes (wall paintings on damp plaster). The extant small fresco fragments were finely colored in red, yellow, blue and black. Other rooms in the building had plaster floors, and in other rooms, very large ovens—probably for cooking—were uncovered. Amongst the small finds were fragments of delicate decorated glass serving dishes.

The hall paved with marble and stone floor. Photograph: Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority

According to Oren Shmueli, Dr. Elena Kogan-Zehavi and Dr. Noé D. Michael, the directors of the Israel Antiquities Authority excavations: “This is a unique discovery unknown until today. We were surprised to discover a complex of stone-built vaults at a depth of 5.5 m below the courtyard, standing to a height of 2.5 m. The vaults were carefully constructed, and they probably led into additional underground complexes that have not yet been uncovered. Our biggest surprise was the discovery of an opening below the vaulted rooms, that led into a deep rock-hewn cistern. It seems that the stone-built underground vaults were built as storerooms to store foodstuffs at fairly cool temperatures, and the supporting vaulted structures enabled the residents to move around underground safely and comfortably, to protect themselves from the scorching summer heat, and to drink cool water from the adjacent cistern. The clay oil lamp sherds retrieved on the vault floors were used for lighting the dark rooms, providing evidence for the residents’ activity here.

The underground vaults. Photograph: Oren Shmueli, Israel Antiquities Authority

The water cistern. Photograph: Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority

Fragments of luxurious decorated delicate glass vessels are evidence for the wealth of the estate owners. Photograph: Yoli Schwartz, Israel Antiquities Authority

“The luxurious estate and the unique impressive underground vaults are evidence of the owners’ means. Their high status and wealth allowed them to build a luxurious mansion that served as a residence and for entertaining; we can study the construction methods and architectural styles, as well as learn about daily life in the Negev at the beginning of Islamic rule”, say the excavation directors.

According to Eli Eskosido, Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, “ The excavation in Rahat is the result of close cooperation between the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Authority for the Development and Settlement of the Bedouin. In the excavation, the luxurious estate was uncovered in an area located between two ancient mosques, perhaps among the earliest ever discovered. By good chance, and much to the local population’s interest and excitement, the Islamic building remains have been discovered in the area planned for expanding the town of Rahat. The Israel Antiquities Authority and the Authority for the Development and Settlement of the Bedouin are planning together to conserve and exhibit the finds to the general public.”

On Thursday, 25/8/2022 the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Authority for the Development and Settlement of the Bedouin are opening the site to the public for free tours of the site, and for family digging and sieving activities. For details and registration, see the Israel Antiquities Authority Facebook Page.

Second Temple-era fortified village discovered in southern Samaria

As reported by All Israel News, August 20, 2022 (bold, photo, in original, link inserted by blogger):

Ruins of the Khirbet el-Qutt village (Photo: Screenshot)

The Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology department at Bar-Ilan University has turned its focus to uncovering a fortified village believed to have existed at the time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt in 132-135 A.D.

Ruins of the Khirbet el-Qutt village can be seen near the “Lebonah Ascent” in southern Samaria, overlooking the route to Jerusalem from Samaria and Shechem (where the modern Arab town of Nablus sits). The Lebonah Ascent is surrounded by steep slopes, except where it connected to hilltops toward the south.

The village has been called “Kfar Lakitia,” named after one of the three Roman garrisons Emperor Hadrian stationed at the end of the revolt. Khirbet el-Qutt features a subterranean wine cellar that was converted into a hiding place, according to BibleWalks.com.

Dr. Dvir Raviv is leading the current excavation of Khirbet el-Qutt, whose area extends across about five acres. The late Professor Zecharia Kallai of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute of Archaeology first surveyed the site at the end of the 1960s. Kallai reported finding remains of walls, cisterns, caves and pottery from the Early Bronze Age, as well as Iron Age II, and the Roman and Byzantine periods.

A late-1990s survey by the archaeology department of the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria unearthed a miqveh, or Jewish ritual bath, 500 meters south-southeast of the ruins.

Another survey in late 2014 recorded a second miqveh, along with the remains of buildings, cisterns, caves, quarries, agricultural installations and burial caves.

The Ritual Miqveh

Raviv’s latest survey uncovered the remains of three ritual baths, though one miqveh was exposed recently during illegal looting of the area. The miqveh features an entrance-way with six steps leading to the small, oval-shaped immersion chamber. The walls are lined with gray plaster, typical for the Early Roman period.

The Hiding Complex

A small double-chamber subterranean complex, strewn with sherds of storage and cooking vessels – dating back to the period between the Great Revolt against the Romans and the Bar-Kokhba Revolt – indicate the former wine cellar had been used for hiding.

It is difficult to identify this complex as a hiding place due to the absence of tunnels, except for the presence of the ceramic remains. It is possible that the hardness of the surrounding stone prevented tunnels and additional rooms from being formed.

Dozens of hiding complexes found in recent years in the northern Judean Hills indicate the nature of the stone in the area often forced masons to maximally exploit pre-existing subterranean spaces, and to create short tunnels or a small, simple passage system.

Water Cisterns

Excavators uncovered six water cisterns whose walls were covered with numerous layers of plaster – a nod toward the Early Roman period, inlaid with sherds that might date to the Byzantine period. They are quite similar to the water cisterns of the Royal Hasmonean and Herodian fortresses, built throughout the Hasmonean kingdom.

Fortress or Monastery

The remains of a monumental 900-square-meter building, built of large dressed stones, was uncovered on the eastern slopes. The building style and limited pottery found at the site suggest the remains of a monastery or fort from the Late Roman or Byzantine periods.

The Necropolis

A cemetery extends to the south, consisting of at least 18 tombs. One contains ossuary fragments and a few Early Roman sherds. The number and types of tombs suggest that the site reached its maximum size during the Second Temple period.

Site History

Close to the main road and to the fertile Lebonah valley, Khirbet el-Qutt would have drawn inhabitants throughout history. Findings show evidence of occupation almost continuously from the Iron Age I until the early Muslim period, including during the Hellenistic and Roman periods.

The present survey showed that Khirbet el-Qutt’s settlement peaked during the Early Roman period, at the end of the Second Temple period. During the Byzantine period, the village’s occupants seem to have concentrated at the top of the hill and along its eastern slope, suggesting that a monastery might have stood there.

The development of settlement at the site, and its transition into a large fortified Jewish village, appear to have occurred during the late Hellenistic period, accompanied by the invasion and conquest of the area by the Hasmoneans – also known as the Maccabees. Other excavations in the area offer proof that the Hasmonean dynasty was marked by intensive settlement activity, from about 140 B.C. to 37 A.D.

Oldest extant printed pages are Hebrew liturgical poems from the mid-15th century

As reported by Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz of Israel365 News, August 17, 2022 (link, photos in original):

Hebrew piyutim printed in 1444 (Photo courtesy of Moshe Rosenfeld)

In March 2015, a Jerusalem book merchant took apart the cover of an old book and found inside it two old printed sheets in excellent condition. According to the merchant’s testimony, while he was drying the pages, an expert in ancient books entered his house and offered a large sum of money for the pages. The merchant did not agree and decided to pass the pages to the experts of the National Library of Israel for examination. He gave the pages to Yitzhak Yudlov, Institute for Hebrew Bibliography, located at the Jewish and National University Library in Jerusalem and a recognized expert.

The Jewish and National University Library kept possession of the pages for about a month and a half for the purposes of carrying out a thorough inspection. At the end of that period of time, Yudlov called the owner, who was abroad at the time. Yudlov told him that the pages were authentic and an especially rare find. The merchant arrived at the Jewish and National University Library, and Yitzhak Yudlov informed him that he thought these were sheets printed in Avignon, France in 1444-6, when an attempt was made to print a Hebrew book there. According to Yudlov, there are two documents located in the district archives in Avignon that relate details of this attempt at printing a Hebrew book.

On one of the sheets, a watermark depicting three hills inside two circles can be found. It is a very rare watermark, identified by Yudlov and Ephraim West as a being created in the first half of the 15th century.

In April 2015, Yitzhak Yudlov wrote his scholarly attestation regarding the sheets on a letterhead of the Institute for Hebrew Bibliography. In the attestation, he referred to the endeavor of printing a Hebrew book in 1444 that predated the printing of the Gutenberg Bible in 1455.

“In our opinion, these pages are remnants of that printing,” Yudlov wrote.

The merchant thought it would be good if Dr. Benjamin Richler, the Emeritus Director of the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts (IMHM) in the Jewish and National University Library, would also write his opinion and translated the words of Yitzhak Yudlov. Yudlov had shown him the pages and even consulted with him on the matter. Dr. Benjamin Richler agreed to attach his description in English. Below is Dr. Richler’s letter:

(Photo courtesy Moshe Rosenfeld)

(Photo courtesy Moshe Rosenfeld)

It is worth noting that Prof. Malachi Beit Aryeh was also one of the people with whom Yudlov consulted. Prof. Malachi, who was a former director of the Jewish and National University Library, recommended performing a beta-radiography of the watermark which allows getting a picture of the watermark unobscured by the printed text. He put the merchant in touch with Mr. Hominer, the operator of the machine. The merchant paid for the service, and after the merchant took two copies of the beta-radiography of the watermarks, Prof. Malachi Beit Aryeh was given an additional copy.

Prof. Beit Aryeh also asked the merchant to leave the sheets for him for several days, and he agreed, though the professor did not return the sheets for several weeks.

Later research discovered other examples of the watermark described as “three hills in two circles” in two manuscripts in the National Library in Vienna. The Three Hills watermark was used by a family of paper makers in Fabriano Italy. The other examples of the watermark were dated to 1418 and 1439. It is important to note that no examples of this watermark have been found to have been used anywhere after 1439. Other examples were found in Perpignan in the south of France from 1418, recorded by Briquet, as well as in Palermo in Sicily. Another example of the watermark was found at the Ambrosiana Library in Milan on a manuscript dating from 1431.

On August 6, 2018, the antique book dealer, Moshe Rossenfeld published an article signed by the late Yeshayahu Vinograd, concluding that according to all of the experts, the pages were from the oldest known mechanical printing press, produced in 1444-6.

The pages were subsequently sold and the buyer, who is the current owner, tried to sell it in the United States. He encountered difficulties as some people made anonymous claims that the pages were not authentic.

The pages were taken to the Forensic Institute in Jerusalem, under the management of Avner Rosengarten, a world-renowned expert in the field of forgery, and a former senior official in the Police Forensic Identification Laboratory. Rosengarten inspected the pages and determined that they were not forged.

Further research from archives dating to 1444 revealed that one Procopius Waldvogel, a silversmith by trade, arrived in Avignon at that period and borrowed money based on his invention of a mechanical printing press. His claim predates that of Johannes Gutenberg from Mainz, Germany who began printing on a mechanical press using movable type in 1450. It is widely recognized by historians that Gutenberg was not the first to do so and did not invent the process but he was, until now, believed to be the first European to do so.

According to the notarial archives in Avignon, Waldvogel and his partners produced “27 Hebrew letters from iron and steel” and also letters in Latin for the purposes of printing a Hebrew book. It is believed that the effort was unsuccessful for reasons that remain unclear but that some samples were produced. The book was to have been a collection of “piyutim”; Jewish liturgical poems sung during selichot, penitential prayers.

A document from the central archive in Avignon recorded the agreement between the partners leading to the preparation of metal moving Hebrew letters.

“This is neither a small affair nor a personal one,” Moshe Rosenfeld told Israel365. “Before us is a discovery that establishes a connection between Hebrew and the invention of the printing press.”

Agreement to print Hebrew piyutim 1444 (Photo courtesy Moshe Rosenfeld)

"Divination bones" discovered in southern Israel

As reported by Sarah Katz of Israel365 News, August 16, 2022 (link, photos in original):

Let no one be found among you who consigns his son or daughter to the fire, or who is an augur, a soothsayer, a diviner, a sorcerer,one who casts spells, or one who consults ghosts or familiar spirits, or one who inquires of the dead. Deuteronomy 18:9 (The Israel BibleTM)

The dice assemblage. Photo credit: Yoli Schwartz, Israel Antiquities Authority

A rare assemblage of “astragali”—animal knuckle bones used for gaming and divination—dating from the Hellenistic period (2300 years ago), was uncovered by Dr. Ian Stern in the Maresha-Bet Guvrin National Park in the Judean Shefelah in southern Israel. This exceptionally large assemblage, were published recently for the first time in the British archaeological journal LEVANT, was studied by Dr. Lee Perry-Gal of the Israel Antiquities Authority, Prof. Adi Erlich of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Dr. Avner Ecker of the Department of Land of Israel Studies in University of Bar Ilan, and Dr. Ian Stern of the Nelson Glueck School of Archaeology, Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem. The assemblage was discovered several years ago, in the huge underground cave complex below the ancient city of Maresha.

The “astragali”—knuckle bones of goats, sheep and cattle—were used similarly to dice for gaming and for ritual divination, mainly by women and children. Some of the knuckle bones were shaved down, or perforated, or filled with lead, to be thrown more effectively, as dice.

The dice bear god names and game instructions. Photo credit: Roi Shafir, University of Haifa

Tens of the dice bore Greek inscriptions: some were engraved with the names of gods associated in ancient times with human wishes and desires. Aphrodite, the goddess of fertility, love and beauty, Eros, the god of love, the god Hermes, the goddess Hera, and Nike, the goddess of victory, appear amongst other gods. On other knuckle bones, game instructions and various game-roles are engraved, such as “Robber”, “Stop!”, “You are burnt”, etc.

The dice bear god names and game instructions. Photo credit: Roi Shafir, University of Haifa

According to Dr. Lee Perry-Gal, Israel Antiquities Authority zooarchaeologist and research fellow in the University of Haifa, “The assemblage of astragali from Maresha is very unique, specifically the large quantity and good quality, and the many inscriptions. The assemblage shows that in ancient times of distress, as today, people sought help from external factors, in magic and spells and in the world of the unknown. In the past, men, and especially women, struggled with an environment of uncertainty, death, childbirth, and health issues, and tried to protect themselves with the help of magic. In addition, we know that astragali were used for games. It is noteworthy that we have examples of children buried with similar gaming dice. The cubes, which were a popular gaming activity, had a role in accompanying children to the next world, to be used there”. Perry-Gal adds, “ Since the astragali symbolize good luck, it was customary to inter them under the house threshold, in the hope that they will bring good luck and prosperity.

Dr. Lee Perry-Gal holding the gaming dice. Photo credit: Yoli Schwartz, Israel Antiquities Authority.

“It is of interest that these knuckle bones are often found next to ostraca (pottery sherds with writing inscribed or written in ink), which bore Aramaic texts, such as, ‘Magical incantation’, or ‘If you do so, this will happen to you., which demonstrates their cultic role.

According to Dr. Perry-Gal, “The Hellenistic city of Maresha was one of the period’s melting-pots in the southern Levant. “Different populations and cultures lived side-by side here as neighbors, all subordinate to the Hellenistic rule. There lived here Edomites, Phoenicians, Nabateans and Jews, and the different peoples and cultures influenced each other.”

According to Eli Eskosido, Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, “This fascinating research sheds light on the life and customs in the ancient world and reminds us that people are regular people all over the world. They dream and hope, and notwithstanding the harshness of daily life, they find time for playing and leisure.”

See video.

Giant prehistoric elephant tusk discovered in southern Israel

As reported by Michael Horovitz of The Times of Israel, August 31, 2022 (photo in original):

Archaeologists, paleontologists and conservators surround the tusk of a straight-tusked elephant, discovered at Kibbutz Revadim, southern Israel, in August 2022. (Photo credit: Yoli Schwartz/Israel Antiquities Authority)

A complete tusk from a large prehistoric elephant was uncovered near Kibbutz Revadim in southern Israel, archaeologists revealed on Wednesday.

The find was made earlier in August during a two-week excavation by Tel Aviv University and the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev called Operation Elephant.

The 2.5-meter-long remnant of the huge straight-tusked elephant — which is now extinct — was discovered by Dr. Eitan Mor, a biologist from Jerusalem, who organized a trip to the area out of curiosity about the elephants, according to an Israel Antiquities Authority statement.

“To my surprise, I spotted something that looked like a large animal bone peeping out of the ground. When I looked closer, I realized that it was ‘the real thing,’ so I rushed to report it to the Israel Antiquities Authority,” he said.

Scientists believe the elephant species, which would tower over their present-day descendants, arrived on Israel’s coastal plain about 800,000 years ago and died out approximately half a million years ago. According to the IAA, findings from elephants are rare and the fossil is “of great scientific interest.”

The IAA explained that past archaeological work at Revadim, where stone and flint tools and other fossilized remains have been discovered, revealed that humans had settled the area and hunted the elephants that roamed the region.

The IAA’s director, Eli Eskozido, noted that the find was of “primary importance for the academic community, but also of great public interest.”

He added that the authority plans to publicly display the tusk after conservation efforts at the IAA’s permanent exhibition hall in Jerusalem.

Prof. Israel Hershkovitz from the Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory at Tel Aviv University said that the fossil, which was said to be in very good condition, is also “extremely fragile” and efforts were made to protect it after the initial find.

“Now we are excavating it within its archaeological context, before transferring it to the Israel Antiquities Authority Conservation Laboratory, where it will be studied and conserved,” Hershkovitz said.

The discovery of the tusk leads to questions over its presence at Revadim, according to Prof. Ofer Marder of Ben-Gurion University and Dr. Ianir Milevski of the IAA’s Prehistoric Branch.

“Is the tusk the remains of a hunted elephant, or was it collected by the local prehistoric inhabitants? Did the tusk have social or spiritual significance?” the academics asked.

The IAA said the joint study aims to resolve the debates surrounding the prehistoric elephant hunters and their culture.