"The Invention of the Jewish People" by Shlomo Sand

“Thus Israel became the first country in the world to officially recognize the Catalan nationality.”

When the professor Shlomo Sand questioned the ethnic origin of the Jews, the most reluctant critics saw an “anti-Semitic Semite”, an Israeli who hates himself and his nation, while other malicious critics took advantage of this controversy to bolster their own obtuse racial ideology. It's hard for us to understand the real origin of the “errant race“ just because is not possible to question these  “historical  dogmas”.  Sand’s travel across the Jewish history is exciting and revealing.

We have learnt through history (and maybe Hollywood) how some troubled and anguish people ran away because of the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem by the Romans in the first century AD. We know that these fugitives became millions and populated several areas of Europe. Theodor Herzl, a visionary man, was the architect of the Zionist dream: the long- awaited return of the "Eretz Israel", the Promised Land for the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, etc. Therefore, any attempt at recovering this territories and expelling its current residents might be the most exciting and fair human epic, but, what if not? What would happen if the fiercest Zionists were not descendants of the biblical race? Why did Sand get in so much troubles investigating the origins and expansion of the Semitic races through Asia, Africa and Europe? When we entered the forest of history, its thickness deprives us of the light and we tend to lose orientation.

The fall of the temple of Jerusalem was just the impetus for Jews to conquer the world not with arms but ideas. We must recognize the great labor of the Jewish proselytism which began in the first centuries of our era. It is impressive how the teachings and the beliefs were inculcated in the most diverse people: Arabs, Turks, Mongols met a new God. The birth of the Talmud gave a new dimension of the cosmogony of the Jews, new laws, new behavior and a new raison d'etre. Their creed made them stronger and braver. What does it matter if they are different from others? They would die before becoming “marranos” (Jews converted to Christianity, on several occasions against their will). Of course, this religious revolution was not focused on the love to neighbor and so, some ideological courses were more focused on a kind of bewitchment; a typical case was the Shabbetaian Movement, a religious activity based on the hope of a new Messiah capable of changing this state of things. But these movements were ephemeral, just the essential things remained, the Jewish religion was widely accepted.

 Thus, thousands of people of Arab origin adopted the new faith and diffused it. Hence many Jews who came to Spain were “Jewish” just for their religion. On the other hand, in Central Asia, Khazards adopted the new faith as an opposition to the Arab regimes they fought with. The descendants of these Khazard Jews will be the ones who immigrate to East Europe and populate this continent for the next centuries.  Now we can understand that most of the Jews from Europe and America (because of the subsequent immigration) do not have a Semitic origin, but Khazard, and curiously, these people are the ones who support the Zionist politics: the return to a land where their ancestors were never from. Here is when we can get confused:  where are the real Jews? Did they get lost forever in the Diaspora?  In most cases, they remained in Palestine. Sand denies the existence of a Jewish nation in the Old Testament, therefore, this could be a chance for the Palestinian people to preserve their territories.

Unfortunately, as we expected, this book tends to be misunderstood by the people who hypocritically advocate respect for different races and democracy and end up being more racist than a Nazi. In the worst of the cases, the fanatics of the “conspiracy theories” find fertile ground to plot their more twisted ideologies.  I recommend the reader not to fall into the trap of the hatred and resentment.   I understand Sand is not making a mockery of the Jews with his book like it was a new version of the German Magazine “Simplissimus” which delighted anti-Semites a century ago.  This is not an apology for terrorism this is not a justification for the violence provoked by the “nationalist Palestinians”. Shlomo Sand leaves the open door to debate and confrontation of ideas, if anyone wants to get involved they must search for more works of the author in order to becoming a scholar, or  simply censor Sand.

This book is not recommendable for anyone but experts in history. This is not a reason to hate the Jewish people regardless of whether or not they are Khazards, and certainly, we must respect those who are comfortable with the Zionist propaganda (Hasbara).  Sand certainly has had great success with this work, and even with Jews who respect and admire him.  Finally, I still believe that Sand begun with a big error of perception, because Mexico is the Promised Land, simply the Zionists brought the broken compass.

Vampire Hunter

 

Title: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter.

Author: Seth Grahame-Smith, 2010.

Genre: Fantasy/ Horror.

Rate: 4.5 / 5

By Cesar Aurelio Morales Perez, October 28^th 2013.

The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say the one ends, and the other begins? -Edgar Allan Poe.

Synopsis

After graduating, Seth Graham-Smith has a debt to Jan and Al, the owners of a five-and-dime store located in the town of Rhinebeck, New york. They  have supported Seth with money since he was 15 years old, and now for paying of he decided to stay working at the store during some time, which simultaneously he will use for working on his masterpieces as a writer. After that he plans to go out the town and become famous, but… “Life is what happens  while you're busy making other plans…” the  years had passed and  he  founds himself stuck in the routine of a daily life. The promise of become a famous artist of the pen has been frustrated, until a strange gives him the opportunity to fulfill it; the task is very simple: unveil the untold American history of the 19^th century.

This is the Journal of Abraham Lincoln

Throughout the pages of this book we find the life of the 16th United States president. Born in 1809, Abe (Abraham Lincoln) was raised in a family whose members are contrasting: a tender  loving mother , and a father who only makes the necessary for them not to starve.

 At the age of nine our young character knows a truth about the world, there are two races “that have existed side by side since Adam and Eve were expelled from paradise, one gifted with superior ability and length of life; the other more fragile and fleeting, but gifted with superior number (Vampires and humans); this fact,  and the confession about the responsible of his grandparent murder, and later the perpetrator of his mothers death, makes him swear that every vampire in America will perish in his arms. From this moment, Abraham starts his quest to exorcise America’s devils, only with his axe in hand  his and physical capabilities.

Later, he will meet Henry, an ally and master who will guide him through the shadowy pathways where the non-living dwell.

As the quest continues and Abe travels along the Mississippi river seeking for revenge, he will find  moral support in his friend Edgar Allan Poe, and fond companion on Jack Amstrong and Joshua Speed, two humans who learned about vampire hunting and devoted to the true cause of war, America’s freedom.

Abe’s life as a politician will raise, his life and their relatives one will be in danger, every decision will have consequences, but the spirit of a man will burn from ashes and a liberty pathway will be forged.

Discussion

I have chosen this book because I really like the horror genre and also motivated by the fact that I couldn’t watch the movie based on this story last year, and for me it represented an opportunity to approach the original work in the original language.

In spite of the fact that the title might evoke a strange association between a myth of the pop culture such as  vampires, and a notable of the American history, on the end is  a delicious mixture for those who love fiction. This combination is delivered in the form of a crossover between reality and fantasy. Well documented on Abraham Lincoln’s life, this alternative story  suited to the 19^th century make the reader to think on it as something feasible.

The character depicted her, carry throughout the pages his essence. Vampires, entities blessed with eternal life but condemned to suffering are similar to the ones shown through Ann Rice`s literature, while humans  are just a reflections of the virtues and defects, product of a society in which they are immerse; the love, happiness, grieve, pain, excitement, will and fear are depicted so close to reality

Also a book full of action,  bloody battles bringing men to excel himself or to be subdued in the struggle for freedom,  for life, for survive.

On turning the last page, a patriotic feeling will be beating inside the reader’s chest.

Finally, the idea vampires and presidents altogether will be formerly senseless, for now the only  logic lacking thought would be to go outside unarmed in the middle of the night, considering the fact that the nonliving  had been vanished from America to creep in the shadows of virtually any country, and probably they would have been thriving in force and numbers.

Grab your axe and join Seth Gaham-Smith as the untold history is brought to the spotlight, or wait until the sharp fangs of the worst human enemies feast upon your neck.

 

A star on my forehead

I was so confused, I thought that it was a mathematical challenge: to determinate what color I had according to logic. I thought I had a green star but I was wrong.

Funny transfer pics

As promised, here is just a sample of the fun artwork you did in depicting how a native English speaker might interpret or picture in their mind what you say, when in the end it was just a problem of native language transfer ... Hopefully the next time you are on the verge of saying (or writing) something like "the movie liked me", you'll remember the humorous image and correct yourself before the words come out!

Joshua:

Susana:

César: (I love the confused face on the person.)

Susana: (again!)

Edwin:

Susana (yet again!):

Sandra:

 Benjamin: (Grumpy or very serious people sometimes think songs can be too funny)

Beatriz:

Verónica: 

The wireless chalenge

Technology is part of our daylife, whoever we are; and of course, a life apart from the devices which make our life easier is mentally unbearable. As part of the Amish challenge I decided to give up internet, that means no Wi-Fi connection on my electronic devices. Maybe some might drive crazy trying it, but my impression after the couple of days I took internet out of my life was satisfactory. By the end I noticed that the main use for that tool is searching for academic information, so Facebook, mail,etc. resulted on a way of spending time that will be valuable for other activities in the'real life'. It is a fact that you may not know things happening with your friends, or even you will not be aware of things happening around the wor,but is it really more important to know what happens to the world instead of knowing what is happening to your self? For me it wasn't dificult to give up internet, I was completely stunning to realize how many things, being before us, we ignore to not being ignored by technology.

My Amish Challenge

When I read about the Amish challenge we had to do, first of all I thought: what technology could I leave for a while? I don't have a smartphone, or an iPod, iPad, a MP3 player or a cute celular phone.
I didn't spent too much time on internet, or checking out facebook or twitter... So I decided to give up my PC game Minecraft. And I suffered a lot.

The first day, I was thinking "ok, now I have more time to do my homework, my school projects or anything else I need", and I did. I remember that I finished all the things I had to do, and then I discovered that I was anxious, like when you know that you shouldn't do something, but you really want to do it. I wanted to play Minecraft.

I dreamed about that game, or me playing the game, and when I woke up in the morning of the second day I was decided to end with the challenge or change it for another thing, but that was the main reason I didn't give up.

The final days of the challenge I find other ways to entertain myself: things like studying my notes, listening to music, even reading my old comics or watching videos in my computer; talking more with my sister or with my friends.
I really felt free and more enthusiastic about life.

I think that this challenge helped us to see that we're free to choose if we become slaves of technology, or we learn how to use it without abusing.

My Facebook fast

Well, I "fasted" from Facebook for three days. I chose Facebook because I've found it to be the most immediate and wide-reaching way of keeping in touch with the greatest number of people around the world, including my family and friends in Australia. In my (ahem) 42 years of life I currently have 766 friends. I think it is too many ...

I have struggled with taking a looooong time to "check" Facebook during the day as so many people post so many things. I've managed to block a lot of silly updates like "Joe Bloggs changed his profile picture" and "Mary Jane invited you to play Diamond Pet-ville" by using F.B. Purity, and by limiting status updates of everyone to "only important" so that I don't get 58 pictures of kittens every day. But it still takes a long time to check things and I feel a certain anxiety that something important will happen and I won't know about it. This is why I decided to give up Facebook.

I don't have any funny stories of singing along to Jose Jose or listening to other people's weird conversations during my fast, but I must say that for all my thinking that I didn't have enough time to do everything I need to do in these days, I managed to concentrate more on my work and get things done faster. I realised too that the world goes on, and important things have other ways of being communicated.

I also realised, after reading the Amish article, that the telephone does tend to make us jump to attention over anything else happening. I had some important people round to lunch a few days ago and we were just about to sit down to eat, when the phone rang. Everyone looked at me to see if I'd answer it. I was tempted to, but decided that it was for this specific purpose that we'd bought a phone with an answering machine. If it was important, they'd leave a message. And we enjoyed a lovely hot lunch with our guests.

I think it was a useful experiment and a way of measuring whether the technology we use is a tool in our hands, or if we have become tools of it. It helps us realise that we can decide the limits that we place on the technology we use, and that there are other things that we can do in life that perhaps we'd forgotten about. If everyone did this, perhaps we would, in a way, "wake up" from our technology-induced dream while sitting on a bus or in the subway and see people, listen to them, and even begin caring more for them.