Date: Sun Aug 11, 2002 5:26 am
Contents:
1. William Rasmussen: Puritan "Yom
Kippur or Succoth"?
2.archaeological web-site
3. Descendant of Levi?
4. A Christian site about Islam,
1. William Rasmussen: Puritan "Yom Kippur
or Succoth"?
From: William Rasmussen <brasshalom@y...>
Subject: Re: "Brit-Am Now"-70
Shalom Yair: Todah rabah for all the
excellent and
informative material that you send
to those of us on
the Brit-Am mailing list. I would like
to comment on
the posting by David Klinghoffer regarding
the
Pilgrims: The posting is informative
in many respects,
but has one glaring error: David says
that the
Pilgrims imagined Thanksgiving as a
kind of Yom
Kippur, a day of repentance, prayer
and fasting. With
all due respect to David, how could
a Feast with
harvest bounties shared with the Wampanogs
be
"fasting"? A cursory look on the internet
produced
countless Jewish and Christian sources
that said
Thanksgiving was based on Sukkot. Sukkot
is a Mo'ed
with multiple themes. Several relevant
to
Thanksgiving are "Feast of the Ingathering",
"Feast of
Thanksgiving", "Season of our Joy".
While it is true
that the Pilgrims participated in a
solemn manner, in
no way can it be construed as a type
of Yom Kippur.
Any Jewish person knows that rejoicing
and feasting
come "after" Yom Kippur, not on the
day of Yom Kippur.
It is essential that one see the connection
of
Thanksgiving to Sukkot because in one
sense, America
was being "dedicated" by the Pilgrims
perhaps
unwittingly, as an Israelite nation
to HaShem. If
America is indeed a repository of Manasseh,
Ephraim
and the bulk of the other tribes, then
it stands to
reason that the separist Pilgrims were
indeed
Israelites and Hebrews who came to
dwell in this land
as members of the commonweatlth of
Israel. Dwelling,
dedicating, thanking, harvesting are
all themes of
Sukkot. I am sending you three postings
found on the
internet that link Thanksgiving to
Sukkot. Shalom
v'b'richot, Bill Rasmussen
> 1. The early USA and Israel
> From: Moonhorse2@a...
> Subject: Excerpts from Enemies or
Allies by David
> Klinghoffer ( Toward
> Tradition )
> In North America where Puritans established
their
> commonwealth as an
> experiment in radical Protestantism,
there arose a
> culture of
> philo-Semitism. American has seen
in its own history
> a replaying of the
> sacred history of the people Israel.
This was
> evident even before the
> country was founded. Just as Israel
fled from Egypt
> to establish a godly
> society in Canaan, the first Americans
fled from
> England to establish a
> godly society in Massachusetts. Both
groups were
> called " separatists" as
> the word "Hebrews" ( Ivrim) can fairly
be
> translated. When they celebrated
> Thanksgiving for the first time,
in 1621, the
> Pilgrims imagined it as a
> kind of Yom Kippur, a day of repentance,
prayer, and
> fasting. The legal
> codes of colonial Massachusetts and
Connecticut were
> based explicitly on
> the legal framework of the Five Books
of Moses. Sir
> William Bradford,
> second governor of the Plymouth colony,
observing
> that Hebrew was the
> Lord'..........
> In the 18th century the great preacher
and
> revivalist Jonathan Edward
> declared that God, true to His word,
would return
> the Jews to the Land of
> Israel.
>
> By 1891 the evangelist William Blackstone
was
> seeking a way to persuade the
> American government to make such
a state a reality.
>
>
2.archaeological web-site
A good site run about archaeology in
Israel and the Temple, has plenty of
features only part of which I was able
to utilize but it was worth it:
http://www.archpark.org.il/
3. Descendant of Levi?
>My name is Donald Levesque, I believe
that this name is derived from the
>name of Levi, In Canada across from
Quebec there is a city called
>Levi, There are many French Canadians
like the name of Begin, who I
>believe their ancestory were forced
to change their faith years ago. Do
>you have anything concerning this
matter?
I always felt that my name was connected
to Israel.
Todah,
Don Levesque
4. A Christian site about Islam,
worth visiting:
http://www.salemthesoldier.us/omega_on_islam.html