"Brit-Am Now"-306


October 10, 2003

1. Questions about the Talmud, etc
2. The use of "we" and "us".
3. Theo Vennemann
4. Wedding of Brit-Am Friend
5. Extra Virus Protection


1. Questions about the Talmud, etc

Shalom,
I  help manage Brit-Am and do research etc and that is my task. I am not an expert in Judaism nor amI qualified to answer questions about a great many aspects of it, neither would I want to. There are some things I do or come across in general learning etc and when these are pertinent to Brit-Am I go into them as well as I can. At the moment I am hoping to concentrate more on Biblical subjects which seems to be the most promising for Brit-Am and where I personally feel a lack in some areas. Concerning questions about the Talmud etc sites like the one we mentioned previously are excellent.  See below:

In  Brit-Am Now"-250we sent out the following message:

2. Accusations Against the Talmud Answered

Sometimes people write in asking me concerning the truth or lack of truth in anti-Semitic accusations against the Jewish people.

Those who ask the questions are usually (but not always) genuine people who have been fed wrong information and want to know the truth of the matter. Some of these accusations concern the Talmud which I study regularly but am very very far from being  an authority in.

The following site mentioned by Betty is very good and should answer adequately any questions of the said nature.

From: Betty Rhodes

Subject: explaining the truth

Yair,

I have found a good website that explains the truth about the accusations on the Talmud.

http://www.angelfire.com/mt/talmud/

 2. The use of "we" and "us".
Question you use the expression "we" and "us" when It appears that you mean yourself, why is this?

Answer: Brit-Am is a group. Nearly everything I do is due to the participation of others. People give us offerings and buy our publications and help us out and this enables us to function. The web-sites, running the e-mail list, etc is due to others. Information and our direction of research  and the emphasis we place on certain matters are all the results of input from others. Rabbi  Feld helps, Betty helps, my sons help, people who write to us and speak with us help, people who ensure that our message gets to ceretain forums, etc, everyone helps. When I express something in the name of Brit-Am I am giving voice to a kind of joint consensus and therefore it is proper to use the plural first person of "we" etc.

3. Theo Vennemann
Theo Vennemann is a professor at Munich University. He heads a school of thought that says that in western Europe there once existed speakers of a Semitic Hebrew-like tongue who were absorbed by Celtic and Germanic speakers. Remains of the original Semitic language can still be discerned. These Semitic speakers were responsible for the dolmens and related monuments. Members of this school are presumably secular and may not necessarily agree with the explanations of Brit-Am or with our dating. Nevertheless their explanations are consistent with Brit-Am beliefs. We have received literature from Theo Vennemann that we are going through: A few lines I just opened up to by chance are worth quoting: <<English among all the non-Celtic Indo-European languages looks most  similar to the Semitic languages precisely because English is the only one of them that was substantially Semiticized, namely by transitive loaning of Semitic structure, with Insular Celtic as mediator>>

4. Wedding of Brit-Am Friend
We at Brit-Am usually try to keep personal issues at a very low key. Today is an exception. Chaim Hyman a strong supporter of Brit-Am and a personal friend of  Rabbi Avraham Feld and of Yair Davidy. Chaim was married two nights ago, We at Brit-Am thank him for his support and friendship and wish him the very very best. Chaim is a student of the Torah, conducts research in water conservation, and a scholar in general, as well as being an athlete and an all-round good person.

5. Extra Virus Protection
We have been using an automatically up-dated Norton anti-virus system which is effective. From now on this system will be supplemented by additional protection provided by our server. Nothing is certain but we are endeavoring to make our system as virus-proof as possible and can be reasonably sure of success in this regard.
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