Fight Club Essay -- essays research papers

The film Fight association follows, to some degree of accuracy, the archetypal paradigm of the apocalyptic guidelines discussed in English 3910. Specifically the movie mostly deals with the music genre of the personal apocalypse. Thus, following suit in relation to such works as Lancelot, The Violent Bear it away and Apocalypse Now. Fight Club, essentiality contains the basic premise of these works, that is the purging of ones identity through extreme measures and crisis to ultimately arrive at a personal divine revelation in the end. Like Apocalypse Now, the audience is lead by narration to give a reflecting insight into the apocalyptic journey of young skipper named Jack. Jack works a regular nine to five office job for an insurance company and suffers from insomnia. He finds his cure in attending retain groups for the mortally afflicted. One of the first groups he attends is a testicular cancer group and discovers, through an exercise referred to as pairing up (to share socia ble emotion with your fellow mortally afflicted), that crying with and hugging these people moulds him feel better. He, although he does not have testicular cancer, is spiritual impotent and this group allows him to exact that void in his life. He gets addicted to this, and begins attending different support groups everyday, his faking becomes his foma, he knows like the bokonist, that his new religion is lies. I didnt say anything, he explains as he forges a series of diseases. They always assumed the worst. Nonetheless, his search for tears and experiencing other peoples pain gave meaning to his identity. Live by the foma that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy (the books of Bokonon 15, Vonnegut, 1963). Jack has no trouble weeping in these strangers arms until he meets another phony, Marla, a support-group tourist and a reflection of himself that he finds objectionable. She claims to like the emotional utilization of being with these people, which is cheaper than a m ovie. However, when Marla abruptly begins to attend all the meetings he is attending. He becomes smashed by her presence because she is a fraud too and doesnt belong in his grandfallon. Her company reminds him that he is impostor and he doesnt like that. They workout a deal where they split the days up between them. She gets the breast cancer and emphysema group while he takes the testicu... ... side by side, aspect on as the national credit building explodes in flames. With their debt they owed to the material world purged to zero, they head off in a fresh direction as the new Adam and Eve. Like Willard in Apocalypse Now, Jacks revelation at the end of his hellish journey is left unreadable and complex. In the voice of his narration, perhaps there is a conclusion You are not your job. You are not how much you have in the bank. You are not the contents of your wallet. You are not your khakis. You are not a beautiful unique snowflake. What happens when you cant sleep? What happens then is theres a gun in your mouth. And what happens next is you meet Tyler Durden. Let me tell you about Tyler. He had a plan. In Tyler we trusted. Tyler says self-improvement is masturbation. Tyler says-self-destruction might be the answer. Conceivably, there is a Tyler Durden inside the soul of us all waiting to be called. Im simply what you needed and wanted, Durden said the moment Jack realized they were the alike(p) person. Director of Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppala said it best in an interview during the release of his movie, I believe that the end was always about choice.

Sears Holding Corp Essay -- Business Analysis Management Essays Papers

Sears retentiveness Corp.Kmart and Sears have been part of the retail industry of America for the last two centuries, and as of November, 2004, they will be go along due to their merger as Sears Holding Corp. This paper will first look at the history of the two companies to see how they started and what each company readiness out to achieve. This section will also include why the two companies failed. Secondly, a SWOT analysis will be performed on the new company, Sears Holding Corp, to try to identify where it stands in the present. Finally, a hypothesis of how the new company is likely to be accepted by consumers and whether it is likely to succeed will be discussed.Kmart HistoryS.S. Kresge Co., the predecessor of Kmart, was founded in 1889 by Sebastian J Kresge, in Detroit Michigan. The small store, which sold everything for five and ten cents, was an instant success. By 1912 S.S. Kresge Co. had expanded to 85 stores with one-year sales of more than $10 million. The 1920s saw a larger increase in merchandise variety and prices, Kresges first steps to suitable a discount store. This final leap to a discount store was made in the 1950s, when the company realized that they needed to make some changes in order to remain competitive. In 1962 S.S. Kresge Co. opened their first Kmart discount department store in a suburb of Detroit. During that corresponding year seventeen some other Kmart stores opened. Realizing that discount stores were the wave of the future S.S. Kresge changed its name to Kmart in 1977. In 1987 Kmart sold its remaining Kresge stores (kmartcorp.com).During the years of 1984 to 1992 Kmart bought several businesses, including Builders Square in 1984, the Sports Authority in 1990, a 90-percent stake in OfficeMax in 1991, and Borders bookstores in 1992. However, in 1995 with a close brush with bankruptcy, Kmart sold those businesses in which they had just invested and refocused its efforts back on the discount stores. During that same year K mart began converting its traditional stores to a new high frequency format designed to improve the customer shopping experience. A new name, Big Kmart, was depute to these stores (in April 1997) (kmartcorp.com). However, all the changes Kmart made throughout its long history to remain current with ideas of the times, were not enough to help Kmart maintain its competitive edge. Kmart also m... ...Levy, M. Kmart-Sears Merger derail Tribune 18 November 2004. Academic instauration Business. Lexis-Nexis. UNL Lib. 28 November 2004 .Retailindustry.about.com Retail Consolidations 30 November 2004 Schuman, E. Sears, Kmart Merger to Create Huge Retail IT Operation E-Week 17 November 2004. Academic Universe Business. Lexis-Nexis. UNL Lib. 28 November 2004 .Schuman, E. Where America Shops Meets Where America Shoplifts E-Week 19 November 2004. Academic Universe Business. Lexis-Nexis. UNL Lib. 28 November 2004 .Searsarchives.com 29 November 2004 Snavely, B. Grand Strategy Converting Kmart st ores will help get Sears Off the Mall Crains Detroit Business 22 November 2004. Academic Universe Business. Lexis-Nexis. UNL Lib. 28 November 2004 .Strasburg, J. Kmart to buy Sears, Create No. 3 Retail Giant The San Francisco Chronicle 18 November 2004. Academic Universe Business. Lexis-Nexis. UNL Lib. 28 November 2004 .Troy, M. Kmart Holding Corporation and Sears, Roebuck and Co. Agree to Merge Business Wire 17 November 2004. Academic Universe Business. Lexis-Nexis. UNL Lib. 28 November 2004 .Wikipedia.org Kmart Corporation 29 November 2004

Encounters in Enemies and Recognition :: Enemies Recognition Essays

Encounters in Enemies and RecognitionAn encounter is an unexpected meeting, and we see the leading characters in Enemies andRecognition having to answer to terms with their past and as their encounters occur we see their changing perspective about certain issues surrounding them and how their characters develop from what they are to what they become.In Enemies we see this existence exercised upon by the leading character Mrs Clara Hansen. The title of the story Enemies is in itself a description of what Mrs Hansen hasbecome to her true self, an enemy. A common translation or earlier characteristic associated with an enemy is one who hates and opposes and enemies usually in the habitual context fight a war or battle with a nonher. Mrs Hansen fulfills this description of what makes an enemy done her struggle deep down her confrontation between what she hasbecome and who she truly is.In the opening pages we are given a description of Mrs Hansen as keeping to herself when she tr avels and this is justify by her having money, been a baroness, a beauty, and has survived dramatic suffering. This description of her conveys a picture of her as a very proud woman who has suffered and worked firm to get where she is. She is too described as having The crushing presence of these states in her face and bearing is nearly always enough to stop loose mouths of the plenty who find themselves in her comp any(prenominal). This description of her conveys the amount of influence she has upon people and she may assume some level of control upon their behaviour. The people who do not impart in accordance in her presence, those who assail her face are referred to as eitherstupid, senile or self obsessed, hence, saying that one would not be normal not to do the latter in her presence. Withdrawn as a castle, this being a statement giving her a heights status specially when used as a simile against a castle, actually making her seem like a queen and very red carpet(prenom inal) unlike the run-of-the-mill man, and this is the perception that she has of herself.Her relationship with Alfred is that of master and servant with her being the dominant power. The fact that she was dominant over a male servant, even though there was general oppression against all blacks in the apartheid era, is an inverse upon the social norm of sexism, we actually do not see her beneath the authority of any male within the whole story.Encounters in Enemies and Recognition Enemies Recognition EssaysEncounters in Enemies and RecognitionAn encounter is an unexpected meeting, and we see the leading characters in Enemies andRecognition having to come to terms with their past and as their encounters occur we see their changing perspective about certain issues surrounding them and how their characters develop from what they are to what they become.In Enemies we see this being exercised upon by the leading character Mrs Clara Hansen. The title of the story Enemies is in itself a description of what Mrs Hansen hasbecome to her true self, an enemy. A common definition or rather characteristic associated with an enemy is one who hates and opposes and enemies usually in the general context fight a war or battle with another. Mrs Hansen fulfills this definition of what makes an enemy through her struggle within her confrontation between what she hasbecome and who she truly is.In the opening pages we are given a description of Mrs Hansen as keeping to herself when she travels and this is justified by her having money, been a baroness, a beauty, and has survived dramatic suffering. This description of her conveys a picture of her as a very proud woman who has suffered and worked hard to get where she is. She is also described as having The crushing presence of these states in her face and bearing is nearly always enough to stop loose mouths of the people who find themselves in her company. This description of her conveys the amount of influence she has upon peop le and she may assume some level of control upon their behaviour. The people who do not behave in accordance in her presence, those who assail her face are referred to as eitherstupid, senile or self obsessed, hence, saying that one would not be normal not to do the latter in her presence. Withdrawn as a castle, this being a statement giving her a high status especially when used as a simile against a castle, actually making her seem like a queen and very uncommon unlike the ordinary man, and this is the perception that she has of herself.Her relationship with Alfred is that of master and servant with her being the dominant power. The fact that she was dominant over a male servant, even though there was general oppression against all blacks in the apartheid era, is an inverse upon the social norm of sexism, we actually do not see her beneath the authority of any male within the whole story.

The Importance of Family in McCullers The Member of the Wedding Essay

The Importance of Family in McCullers The Member of the WeddingI dont need my fix or my father anymore. I am a teen eldr, who needs them? I can definitely live on my own. Carson McCullers wrote a novel, The Member of the Wedding (1946), which barf a twelve-year-old girl, Frankie, in the situation of leaving her family and hometown. aft(prenominal) last year, her best friend moved away and she was left alone. She used to be very hot and hung out in all of the clubhouses around town. Now, she was not invited to any of them. Frankie is also very jealous of her older brother and his fianc because they get to travel all everyplace the world. At their wedding, she plans to go off with them, and explore the world as three. Her fathers helper, Berenice Sadie Brown, who is an African-American, tries to explain why she needs to stay here with her father. Not listening, she packs her bags with all of her belongings, and waits for the wedding.The wedding is famous an hour away from her hom etown, so they are going to travel on a train. Every night, she would think about the long train ride over, barely knew in the end, she would be away from the awful town. John Henry, her six-year-old cousin, always follows her around everywhere that she goes. He told her that he was running away with her, where ever she decided to go. After realizing that her brother was not going to let her stay with them, she runs away into the night. J... ...d pretty much helped Frances change her mind as well. Now, all she wanted was to be with her father.Carson McCullers wrote an unusual novel called, The Member of the Wedding. This novel shows real life situations to a teenagers mind. Frankie hated the town she lived, and hated living with her father. She wanted to explore the world at the age of twelve. Finally, after all of the obstacles she went through, she realized that family is exactly what she needed in her life at that moment. Although some teenager may not understand, family is on e of the most weighty things that anyone will ever have in their life.McCullers, Carson. The Member of the Wedding. Boston Haughton Mifflin Company.1973.

bowling report Essay -- essays research papers

bowl ReportBowling has a long and rich history, and today is ace of the virtually popular sports in the world. A British anthropologist, Sir Flinders Petrie, discovered in the 1930s a collection of objects in a childs grave in Egypt that appe bed to him to be used for a crude form of bowling. If he was correct, then bowling traces its ancestry to 3200 BC. A German historian, William Pehle, asserted that bowling began in his country about 300 AD. at that place is substantial evidence that a form of bowling was in vogue in England in 1366, when King Edward III allegedly outlawed it to keep his parade focused on archery practice. And it is almost certain that bowling was popular during the reign of Henry VIII. By this time, too, there were some variations of "pin" games, and as well of games where a orchis was thrown at objects other than pins. This would seem to imply that the games had developed over time, from an earlier period. One of the most eccentric games is stil l found in Edinburgh. The histrion swings a fingerless ball between his legs and heaves it at the pins. In doing so, he "flops" onto the lane on his stomach. in that location were and still are many variations of ninepins in Western Europe. Likely related are the Italian bocce, the French petanque, and British lawn bowling. Undoubtedly, the English, Dutch and German settlers all imported their own variations of bowling to America. The early mention of it in serious American literature is by Washington Irving, when Rip Van Winkle awakens to the sound of "crashing ninepins". The first permanent American bowling location probably was for lawn bowling, in New Yorks Battery area. Now the heart of the financial district, New Yorkers still call the small plot Bowling Green. The game had its ups and downs in America. An 1841 Connecticut law made it illegal to maintain "any ninepin lanes", probably because bowling was the object of much gambling. But the problem, o f course, also evidenced its popularity. Also, many captains of industry chose to install a lane in their mansions. While it is uncertain where the tenpin game evolved, by the late 1800s it was prevalent in many states such as New York, Ohio and as far "west" as Illinois. However, details like ball weights and pin dimensions varied by region. But that changed when restauranteur Joe Thum fin... ...h (final) frame, they are allowed two more deliveries. If a player makes a spare in the tenth frame, they are allowed one more delivery.Generally, the scorecards are marked with symbols to say what happened.A strike is marked by XA spare is marked by /A miss (where no pins were scored from a ball) by a -A foul is marked by FA number states how many pins were scored. There are two boxes per frame for each ball, except the final frame, which has lead boxes, to allow for a strike or spare in the final frame.The score adds up throughout the ten frames to provide the finishing score.Car eer opportunitiesThere are many careers directly or indirectly connected to bowling.Being a professional Bowler is the most obvious career opportunity, and probably the one with the best chance to get rich. Another way to work with bowling would be as a bowling coach or trainer. As a member of the ABA or ABC you can get involved in national bowling issues without actually practicing the sport. Strike Ten offers many job indirectly related to bowling. Strike Ten is the centralized marketing, management, television and licensing company for the bowling industry in the United States.

Computer-Mediated Versus Face To Face Communication :: Essays Papers

Computer-Mediated Versus Face To Face confabulationThe invention of the computer changed the bet of interpersonal talk forever. The Internet has contributed even further to this change. Through the Internet we can transcend with others online, through text, in almost whatsoever part of the being at any time. This is called computer-mediated communication and has become a major part of our lives. In many cases, flock communicate by computer more than submit to face or by phone. Is this a good thing and is communication in our society heading in the rightly direction via computer? Researchers charter different views on this matter because there has been research done to indicate that computer-mediated communication can be both good and bad. The question then arises, who is right? A nestled look at the two sides of the matter should help shed light on a more concrete conclusion. There argon many people who attribute worry to face-to-face communication. These same people mu ch find it much easier to communicate by computer. According to research produce in Communication Research Reports, through computer-mediated communication, apprehensive communicators have an advantage in that it may nullify certain features of communication contexts that tend to heighten anxiety (Patterson). Research shows that computer-mediated communication acts as a mitigating variable with regard to status differentials and it reduces evaluation fears that lead to communication avoidance and withdrawal (Gojdycz). This means that CMC, computer-mediated communication, allows us to communicate with one some other with discover placing specific labels on the people we are communicating with such as race, age, physique, or even the sound of their voice. Why is this important? These labels often act as barriers to our communication. Many people find it difficult to communicate with others unlike themselves and this barrier is removed during CMC. In CMC, people have the choice of wh at to declare closely their fashion and they are not bound to it as they often are in face-to-face communication. Others tend to feel very differently about computer-mediated communication. In an article in Communication Education, researchers came to very different conclusions about computer-mediated communication and its effects. These researchers point out that when using CMC we lose a lot of fond interaction. For example, when chatting or e-mailing someone you do not get the benefit of seeing their body language or hearing their tone of voice. This is a concept know as cues filtered out and it plays a major role in the opposition of CMC.Computer-Mediated Versus Face To Face Communication Essays PapersComputer-Mediated Versus Face To Face CommunicationThe invention of the computer changed the face of interpersonal communication forever. The Internet has contributed even further to this change. Through the Internet we can communicate with others online, through tex t, in almost any part of the world at any time. This is called computer-mediated communication and has become a major part of our lives. In many cases, people communicate by computer more than face to face or by phone. Is this a good thing and is communication in our society heading in the right direction via computer? Researchers have different views on this matter because there has been research done to indicate that computer-mediated communication can be both good and bad. The question then arises, who is right? A closer look at the two sides of the matter should help shed light on a more concrete conclusion. There are many people who attribute anxiety to face-to-face communication. These same people often find it much easier to communicate by computer. According to research published in Communication Research Reports, through computer-mediated communication, apprehensive communicators have an advantage in that it may nullify certain features of communication contexts that tend t o heighten anxiety (Patterson). Research shows that computer-mediated communication acts as a mitigating variable with regard to status differentials and it reduces evaluation fears that lead to communication avoidance and withdrawal (Gojdycz). This means that CMC, computer-mediated communication, allows us to communicate with one another without placing specific labels on the people we are communicating with such as race, age, physique, or even the sound of their voice. Why is this important? These labels often act as barriers to our communication. Many people find it difficult to communicate with others unlike themselves and this barrier is removed during CMC. In CMC, people have the choice of what to reveal about their appearance and they are not bound to it as they often are in face-to-face communication. Others tend to feel very differently about computer-mediated communication. In an article in Communication Education, researchers came to very different conclusions abou t computer-mediated communication and its effects. These researchers point out that when using CMC we lose a lot of social interaction. For example, when chatting or e-mailing someone you do not get the benefit of seeing their body language or hearing their tone of voice. This is a concept known as cues filtered out and it plays a major role in the opposition of CMC.

European Union Relations with the Russian Federations Essay

The EU ( europiuman sum) is an economic and governmental union form by 28 fellow fraction states and the countries argon primarily located in Europe. The union has actual differently and varying traffic with its different members. Russia is one of the countries that make the union. Russia-European affairs are the intercontinental affinitys surrounded by the Russian federation and the European Union, which is the largest bordering state to the east. The EU is the largest trading partner of the Russians. The Russian Federation and the European Union are major partners in a number of key spheres, including economy, energy, internal and external aspects of security. However, the relation amid the two parties has been found wanting. The cooperation and Partnership union between Russia and EU has been the framework of the EU-Russia relations since 1997 and regulates the political and economicrelations between the two parties (Ross, 2004).Despite there being a long history of the r elationship between the Russian Federation and European Union members, the current state of the relations put up raised eyes on the future of the cooperation between the two parties. In the yr 201, the then Swedish prime minister invited the Russian president and one of the discussions was the possibilities of the Russia nation joining the EU governance. However, this looks to be a too far away reality as Russia, is not ready to follow the specific rules that are set by the EU for its members. Russias economy is on a rapid growth and they do not want to take on the EU laws and set of rules they use. Their social and political status is not exactly favorable either (The U.S. and Europe deviate on the Crimea Crisis, 2014).In recent times, the relationship between the two parties has been brought into a sour one as the 2013 Vilnius Summit connecting the European union establishment with the countries to its east neighbors saw whatThe Economist termed as raw geopolitical contest and wasnt seen in Europe since coming to an conclusion of the Cold War. Russia tried to incline its near abroad nations to unite into its newly established Eurasian Unioninstead of signing any contract with the European countries. The Russian administration under leadership of President Putin achieved a lot in persuading Armenia and Ukraine to stop their discussions with the EU and in its place commences talks with themselves (Ross, 2004).Nonetheless, the EU pinnacle leadership went forward with Moldova and gallium discussions and in tear resulted to agreement with the EU community in spite of Russias resistance. Conversely, these divisions lead to extensive remonstrations of the Ukraine that finally brought down the Ukrainian president this year (Lavrov, 2013).Subsequent to the fall down of the famed pro-Russian regime in Ukraine, Crimea 2014 the Russian Federation commenced on a military intervention by putting up its military which was in Crimea, in addition to the ones on the U krainian boundaries. This action has greatly been faced with condemnation as EU leaders have viewed it as a raid. The current divisions between the two parties are believed to have a story and commenced sometimes back. The current hype of the crises is believed to have grown over time. The developed has brought along a strained relationship between Russia and EU. After accomplishing a number of victories within the arena, a lot(prenominal) as pacifying Chechnya, dealing with the oligarchs, and the avoiding of Russian breakdown, President Putin has focused attention during his 2nd term to foreign policy matters. The president engaged in a more and more revisionist strategy, with the main aim of rebuilding the country as well as its immediate neighborhood. These increments included standing up to Western dominance and pressure wherever possible (Ross, 2004).Not unexpectedly, the Russian revisionism has led an ever more opposed relationship with Europe and the United States. The E U and United States are believed to develop their own interest and strategies in Russias geo-strategically significant neighborhood, ranging from Eastern Europe to the Caucasus and Central Asia. Indeed, from a western point of view, the list of Russian treacheries is now legion on Kosovo, Russian support for Serbia is seen as a major obstacle to peace in the Balkans in the Caucasus and Central Asia, Russia has checked Western oil interests and reversed Western attempts to promote political reform and in Moldova and the Ukraine, Russia has acted as a counter- symmetry to European influence. Moreover, all of this has been paired with Russias tendency to ignore existing treaties, revise its economic contracts and repudiate internationally respected norms (Shevtsova, 2010). in that respect are numerous areas that have resulted to the strained relation between the EU and the Russians. For example, politically, the Russians has repudiated the OSCE and Helsinki Norms, disrespect of Counci l of Europe commitment and also breaching of Vienna Convention. Economically, the Russians failed to respect contacts, argufy of Energy Charter Treaty and disregard for WTO Norms. This in turn has led to the rise of opposition from the European members and the United States hence straining their relationship. The much create hype of the European frustration with Russian policies has been predominantly noticeable in three areas (a) the Russian effort to carve up the European Union by utilizing divide and rule strategies, (b) Russias move in setting itself up as an option to the EU in the familiar neighborhood and, (c) Russias own turn away from democracy and domestic reforms (Lavrov, 2013).In its relation with the Europe, the Russians have off late looked to undermine the unity between themselves and the European Union through benignant into bilateral relations which are meant to play to its natural mightiness merit. This means that, the Russians have dismissed the European com mission and in turn sidelining it terming it as unyielding and very little importance. Moderately, the Russians have been trying to build relationships with specific European powers such as Germany, France, and Italy. The Russian president has tried and regularly made it in building close and pleasant relations with the leaders of these nations and Russias state-controlled energy industry has build up some of its more important partnerships with German, French, Lusitanian and Italian businesses (Lavrov, 2013).However, at the same time, Russia has variably overlooked or punished some European nations, mainly amongst the latest member state, that have shown them to be overtly critical of Russian policies (Shevtsova, 2010). Amongst others, Russia has interrupted its oil supplies to Latvia in 2003 and Lithuanian in 2006 for technical reasons boycotted Polish meat exports levied export tariffs on the sale of timber to Sweden and Finland and it has sour a blind-eye to the harassment of Estonian and British diplomats, in 2007 and 2008 respectively, after high-profile disputes with these countries. The history of these developments has in turn resulted to the EU viewing the Russian as a menace to the unity of the EU members. This has in turn acted as catalyst to sour relations that have developed between the two parties. In addition, the current development has been seen as to have gone beyond repair as the two parties have been destined for eternal conflict (Ross, 2004).Internal DivisionsConcerted Russian attempts to clear up European separation and the lack of European Union unity, have split the EU into two schools of reflection on the correct way to be adopted in reference to how the relationships with Russia should advance. On one side, one school of thought has regarded Russia as a prospective partner. The group known as confederate of Russia which has countries such as Germany, France, Italy, Greece. Spain among others has held to a policy that favors a c lose dialogue connecting the Russians and the EU as well as supporting economic cooperation as they have supported that this will and is the only chance for influencing Russians foreign policy behavior (Lavrov, 2013).On the other side of the Russian-EU relation, there is the Russia realist group. This contains nations such as, UK and numerous of the fresh member states of Eastern and Central Europe. These nations, have argued for a more forceful foreign policy approach, arguing that they know Russia pause and that Moscow only understands the language of power and force, and in turn have turned to be the Russian opposes and hence redefining the EU Russia relations. The increasing pressure of this group is reflected in the escalating criticism of Russia from formerly pro-Russian countries such as Germany. Indeed, Germany is currently split between the more overtly anti-Russian Angela Merkel and her more pro-Russian coalition partner. Should Germany shift more pronounced towards the R ussia realist camp, this might well tip the balance of power within Europe towards this group (Shevtsova, 2010). The inability of the EU to pursue a unified line towards Russia undermines its ability to develop a pragmatic relationship with this important country and over the last 15 years, the different elements of the EU have acknowledged this problem. The diversity of interests within the EU continues to undermine its ability to uprise coherent and practical solutions. There is a greater urgency for some states (those with common borders or who depend significantly on Russia for energy imports) to develop relations with Russia, while other states simply have different priorities. This makes real progress in EU-Russia relations to a certain extent dependent on which member governments presides over the European Council at a given time (Europes Risky Russian Energy Habit, 2014).Moving into new relationship between the Russian and European UnionLooking into imminent elimination of the immediate obstacle into the negotiation of a new partnership between the two parties, the road has to better relations has looked once again promising. Officials have vowed for more punitive international actions aimed at Russia economy. United States President at a news meeting in Asian country (South Korea) believed he and other leaders from the European nations would consider sanctions against the Russian country especially at this time the Ukraine crisis are worsening (The U.S. and Europe Diverge on the Crimea Crisis, 2014). One of the measures that have been taken by the EU and the west is the introduction of sanctions, and implementing financial and visa limitations on almost 30 Russians and Ukrainian officials (Europes Risky Russian Energy Habit, 2014). Ukraineamplified its bank ratesin an effort to guard its economy from the chaos generated by aggressive objections and Russias forces inter-group communication in Crimea (Shevtsova, 2010). The economic relation connecting the US, European Union, and the Russia is unbalanced the approach from the United States and US towards the Russian county is different. The main reason behind the disparity has been laid to the incident that, the euro-zone has only just come out from its own catastrophe, and observers say it may wary of hastily ending connections with such a influential financially practicable associate. Its dependence on gas out of Russia would also feed concern. In contrast, the United States, is weaning itself off Russias power supply and its trade connections is much less entangled (Europes Risky Russian Energy Habit, 2014).ConclusionIn summary, the relationship between the Russian federation and the European Union cannot be said to good or healthy. However, it cant be said to be have ended despite the growing animosity and unrest between the two parties. With the current state the relationship between the two can be said to be headed to forever conflict. Despite Russia being more into the E U than the Asia, the country has embarked on establishing itself in the economic front as well as in terms of political aspects. EU consent against individuals and Russian officials, introduced in March, may have accelerated this trend or widening the gap between the two parties. But real financial endorsements against Russia the so-called phase three have not been triggered yet meaning there is still a lot that remains when the relation between the comes into the play.ReferencesGreat Britain., & Great Britain. (2008).The European Union and Russia Report with evidence14th report of session 2007-08. London The Stationery Office.Ross, C. (2004).Russian politics under Putin. Manchester u.a. Manchester Univ. Press.Shevtsova, L. (2010).Putins Russia. Washington DC Carnegie Endowment for transnationalPeace.Lavrov, S. (2013). State of the Union Russia- EU Prospects for Partnership in the ChangingWorld.Journal Of Common Market Studies,516-12. doi10.1111/jcms.12047US, EU impose sanctions af ter Crimea moves to join Russia. (2014).regional Today, 3-4.The U.S. and Europe Diverge on the Crimea Crisis. (2014).Stratfor Geopolitical Diary, 13.Europes Risky Russian Energy Habit. (2014).Bloomberg Businessweek, (4372), 16.Source document

Black People and Birdie Essay

In her novel Caucasia, Danzy Senna paints the image of a young bi-racial girl, wench, growing up in the 70s and 80s. Her mother is a white, blueblood Bostonian woman turned political activist, and her father is a downcast Boston University professor with radical ideas about race. wench and her sure- decent(a) sister Cole are both bi-racial children, but Cole looks more corrosive and Birdie looks more white. The two sisters are separated early in the novel and then the rest of the story focuses on Birdie and how she needs to pass as white.Passing is the ability of a person to be regarded as a member of social groups other than his or her own, such as a different race, ethnicity, social class, or gender, generally with the purpose of gaining social acceptance. Birdies existence is the ultimate experiment on how to pass. She is first asked to pass as black at Nkrumah, even though she doesnt barrack the compose of a black child. Then she is taken to New Hampshire and asked to be the opposite of what shed been before- a white Jewish girl.Senna introduces Birdie to all different versions of the races she is lacerate between, and none of them seem to fit quite right. Through Birdie, Senna is making the point we see that there is no one size fits all version of some(prenominal) race. Birdie is exposed to many different ideas of what it means to be black while shes younger, even though the general idea of the time was very specific. All of the adults around her are busy preaching this idea of The Black Person, but they are showing her all different versions of what that really means.The first intuitive feeling she gets of a black person is her father who in the past year had discovered Black Pride and was trying to purge himself of his honkified past(10). Deck is an cerebral he studied at Harvard and is a professor at Boston University. However by the time his daughters are old enough to really alternate understanding things, he has gotten caught up in the idea of The Black Person, saying things about his sister like she sleeps with these white boys, then acts surprised when they dont take her home for dinner.I told her, these ofays just want their thirty minutes of difference(10). Hes relation back his daughters that the way to truly be black is to have no association with white people, which is a direct contradiction of his own life and something that is impossible for them to do given their genealogy. Hes telling them theres no way for them to be the ideological black person. Then the girls go to Nkrumah, a black power school. This school is supposed to be about owning your race and being proud of being black, but Birdie isnt initially accepted well because shes not black enough.The way she becomes more accepted is through her sister, but also because she assimilates to the idea of black culture that her school has. She reads Ebony magazine, speaks in a specific slang, dresses otherwise and does her hair in a braid to hide its s moothness. At Nkrumah, she tries to live as though she doesnt have a white mother. However, thats not who she is. She says that she learned the art of changing at Nkrumah, a skill that would later become second nature(62). Shes acknowledging here that this all black persona isnt who she is.Shes simply changing, pretending. Pretending is what Birdie has to do for most of this book, but as she gets older instead of needing to pass as black, she needs to instead adopt a new identity as Jesse Goldman, a Jewish white girl. She maintains in her mind that she is black, and is just pretending with her white half(prenominal). time using this persona, and having the mindset that she is just gathering information on whiteness, Birdie gets painted a picture of different types of white people.In an authoritative sense, Birdie gets ideas about being white from her mother and her mothers boyfriend Jim. Jim is the type of white man who likes to act like hes spare until it comes down to real worl d circumstances. After causing a scene with some young black men, Jim says I swear, I try to be liberal. I try really, really hard. But when you meet fucking punks like that, you start to wonder. I mean, Jesus, what did we do to deserve that? Were on their side and they dont even know it (265).Jim is the white man who sees his liberality as a gift instead of a belief. Birdie says about this that it scared me a short. how easily they could become cowering white folks, nothing more, nothing less (264). To contrast these this very negative views of what it means to be white, Birdie also has her mother as a model. Despite coming from an upper class, white family and the struggles that she has with that, Sandy is a white person who firmly believes in equality, even if she may take it to extremes.She tells her daughters that government werent complicated. They were simple. People, she said, deserved four basic things food, love, shelter, and a good education (22). This is the opposite fr om what Birdie has seen in other white people. Her mother doesnt take back to racism or abandon her views when it comes time for her to uphold them. Finally, Birdie befriends the most racist girls in school saying its because there was a safeguard in this pantomime. The less she behaved like herself, the more she could believe that this was still a game(233).However, as much as shed like to say shes acting, she assimilates to this culture just like she did the black culture at Nkrumah I was a New Hampshire girl nowwe dressed identically cutoff blue jean short, halter tops that exposed our tan bellies, and jelly shoes on our feet (244-245). This version of being white was a skin Birdie could slide on easily, even if she didnt really want to. The only thing that shocks her out of the comfort shes fallen into in this identity is the fact that another half black girl recognizes that shes not fully white Im black, like you (286).None of these ideas about race fit Birdie. She cannot ex actly fit into a version of what it means to be white because thats not the only part of who she is. She also cannot be fully black, not only because she has inflame skin but also because thats not the only part of her heritage that exists. Birdie is the perfect example of how multidimensional race is. There is no one way to be black and there is no one way to be white. Race isnt one size fits all.

Tuck Everlasting Book Reveiw

Tuck unceasing Winifred promote Winifred (Winnie) Foster was born into an affluent family. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Foster owned the nearby forest. One day while she was undercover work lightning bugs Winnie was visited by a peculiar man in a yellow suit, he was looking for someone, but he didnt say who. The next day Winnie ran remote after getting annoyed by her parents The Tucks The Tucks had a secret. In the forest owned by the fosters there is a fresh water spring if you imbibing this water you will stay the way you are forever and never die.Without knowing about the defect the Tucks drunk some of the water out of the spring. in a flash in the 1880s, 85 years later from when they drunk from the spring they were still alive without their secret being discovered yet Both Worlds Collide Until Winnie Foster sees Jesse Tuck drinking from the spring. To keep her from telling the secret the Tucks temporarily kidnap her promising to take her back home once she understood the reaso n why she could not tell anyone about the spring.Soon rouble rises when the peculiar man in the yellow suit hears Mae Tuck telling Winnie about the spring. What will happen to the Tucks and Winnie? show up this book to find out. My Opinion This book was not one of my favorites because I like books that have more mystery and romance in them and Tuck Everlasting is a little more historical fiction. Movie vs. Book People always say the book is always better than the movie but in my opinion this was not the case with Tuck Everlasting. After watching the movie I was a bit isappointed that the book was not better.I actually liked the movies bandage better than the books because of the following reasons. 1. In the book Winnie is 10 turning 11 but, in the movie Winnie was 14 going on 15. 1 think that 15 was a good age for Winnie to because of the events that happened it seemed more likely for a girl who is 15 to experience all these things rather than a girl who was 11 . 2. In the book al l the main events happened in a span of 3 days while in the movie he events happened in a quantify span of weeks.

The Destructive Cross-Examination of Socrates

Socrates spent most of his life in Athens. During his life he witnessed the rise and glory of Athens and the quick decline of Athens during the Peloponnesian war. Socrates met and talked with a variety of people such as politicians, statesmen, sophists, poets, architects, and ordinary citizens. He taught philosophy to the call stimulateess of Athens, devoted friends, and pupils like Crito. Plato was genius of Socrates students, and he is considered to be most brilliant student of Socrates. In fact, Plato is the major source of knowledge about Socrates life.Socrates questioned and cross-examined Athenians about their moral, religious, and political beliefs. People found it elusive to understand him. His habits were strange, and his arguments were hard to understand. Socrates created a revolution in Greek philosophy. Plato portrayed this revolution in Defence of Socrates, Euthyphro, and Crito. Socratic mode is characterized by asking questions. When Socrates talks, he asks the que stions all the time. He teaches and refutes with questions. He talks to people with questions.The central element that upset the Athenians was the destructive cross- inquiry of the principles and beliefs that Athenians lived by, which consequently led to Socrates death because his contemporaries did not indispensableness to concur their own ignorance. Socrates was searching for the meaning of things he wanted proof of what was defined which would give logical reason for itself. The fact that really hurt Athenians was the eruption of the most fundamental principles of Athenian life. Socrates did not recruit people to marry him rather he went out and asked them their views.His lectures were not characterized by forcing his ideas onto separate people. The individuals brought their point of views on particular subject in intercourses set up by Socrates. Socrates way of testing or challenging a belief is by seeing what believer is committed to. A man, who makes a statement, especi ally in debate with Socrates, must be careful what he pick outs to know. One of the examples is a dialogue between Euthyphro and Socrates. They both get down pending lawsuits. Socrates is accused of impiety, and Euthyphro is going to prosecute his own father.Euthyphros father is charged with killing a day-laborer. According to Euthyphro his actions to prosecute his father is a model for piety. It doesnt matter if the guilty one is a relative or a stranger, murder is murder. Euthyphro justified his actions by saying that he knows what hallowed or un consecrate is. Socrates wants to know what is holy or unholy since he was accused of impiety, and it seems that Euthyphro has exact knowledge of religion. The discussion between Socrates and Euthyphro illustrate an alternative nest to answer.Euthyphros answer to what is holy is in a form that lists individual actions. Socrates presents the questions that are mutually exclusive. For example,is the holy loved by the gods because it is h oly? Or is it holy because it is loved? He asks plenty of questions like that. Euthyphro (the respondent) has to make a choice between the alternatives presented. Socrates accepts what is a false answer to his question. The dialogue between Socrates and Euthyphro demonstrated the untruth. The comment of holy was not discovered. This cross examination made Euthyphro very uncomfortable.As Socrates demonstrated, Euthyphro did not have exact knowledge of religion and what holy or unholy is. If Euthyphro, who is professionally devoted to religion, cannot produce an adequate answer or some valid criterion of holy, it is hardly to be expected that Athenian citizens will provide expert answers to such questions. Socrates was charged with irreligion, impiety, and corruption of youth. The Defence of Socrates is divided into three speeches. The opening is the criticism of the peroration in the court, and Socrates is carried away by the speeches of his accusers. His defense is based on the cry truth. At the beginning of the speech he makes it clear that he is interested nevertheless in truth my accusers have said little or zip true whereas from me you shall hear the whole truth The speeches in court generally have no relation to truth. The verbalisers aim to persuade others in believing what the speaker is saying. Socrates is compelled to make speech in court to defend himself. Socrates replaces the speech that is common in Athenian courts and exercises his own kind of cross-examination, whenever law permits him to do so. He counter according to his method of examining by questions and answers.Also, he wishes to converse with judges for more than one day and perhaps convince them that his accusers are wrong. Socrates acquired a bad personality because he has some special wisdom as his accusers are saying. This is based on the account of Chaerephon, Socrates friend. Chaerephon asked the Delphic oracle who is the wisest. The oracles answer was that Socrates is the wisest. When Socrates comprehend the story, he was perplexed how this possibly could be the truth. Socrates went and questioned poets, craftsman, and politicians. He made enemies for himself during his quest for wisdom. Socrates realized and formed opinion that, although the man thought to be wise by many other people, and especially himself, yet in reality he was not. Through this process Socrates came to conclusion that only god is truly wise, and Socrates wisdom is worth(predicate) nothing. With this confession Socrates sets up tension against the absurd charge of impiety. For Socrates, piety refers to his mission based on the conviction that he and others are ignorant. Socrates exposed by dint of examination the ignorance of others. They claimed they knew something, when in fact they did not know anything. Socrates made people think and pay off the truth.Once they were exposed to Socrates questioning, they realized they were ignorant and no truth was found. Because Athenia ns had a account to protect, they brought absurd charges against him. Next, the whole populations of Athens, the judges, the members of the Assembly are claiming to be educators, except Socrates. This absurd exaggeration expresses the sophistic relativism and is ironic, since Socrates is accused of being a sophist. We must make a clear distinction between the two. First, sophists charged fees for their services, next sophists in Athens were not citizens and they traveled throughout the Greek world.Finally, the sophist would use or find the argument that worked the best and did not care whether they uncovered the truth. Socrates did not charge fees, was an Athenian citizen, and believed in uncovering the truth. Additionally, there is another absurdity concealed in Socrates indictment. Socrates asks Meletos if he is corrupting youth intentionally or unintentionally. Meletos replies without hesitation-intentionally. Socrates said that his wrongdoing is im feasible. If Socrates is so s tupid that he does not realize that he harms other, then he must do it unintentionally.Also, Socrates makes a clever remark towards Meletus Are you so much smarter at your age than mine as to realize that the bad have a harmful impact upon their closest companions at any given time, whereas the good have a beneficial effect? Socrates beg offs that if he is corrupting youth he must do it unintentionally, and according to the law he should not be brought to court based on such a mistake. To add, he explains other reasons why alleged corruption of youth might be happening. Since all others are teachers of the youth, they should teach the youth justice and what is right.Evidently, they failed to do so, since Socrates has so many patriotic followers. Finally, there is Socrates defense against the charge that he does not honor gods. According to Socrates, this charge is too vague. He asked his accuser to make the point more precisely and explain it. Socrates begins to ask Meletos a ser ies of questions. One of the Meletus charges is that Socrates does not acknowledge gods and claims that the sun and the moon are made of rocks. Socrates exclaims that this is mistaken identity. It is Anaxagoras of Clazomenae who made such a claim in his books which you can get anywhere for a cheap price.Socrates makes another clever remark that he does not believe that members of jury are unknowledgeable and therefore they should know that Meletus charge is absurd. Furthermore, Socrates questioned Meletus and came to conclusion that according to Meletus, Socrates believes in some sort of spiritual being. Socrates ends with the question How could you possibly persuade anyone with even slightest intelligence that psyche who accepts spiritual beings does not also accepts divine ones, and again that the same person also accepts neither spirits nor gods nor heroes? Socrates refuted the charge of impiety by showing through questioning, that he could not be a despiser of gods since he b elieves in spiritual beings and descendants of gods. Socrates exposed Meletos self-contradiction, ignorance, and ignorance of the judges and jury, since they allowed charges to be brought to the court. In addition, Socrates takes unmistakable delight in the process of uncovering ones ignorance. Following the custom, Socrates must propose the proper penalty for himself. Socrates considers a variety of punishments. He examined his own life.He believed that he carry out the duty towards the whole community by examining others and himself and did not wrong anybody. The exile would not be appropriate punishment. Socrates proposes that his penalty should be free meals, since he is doing a good thing in Athens. Socrates stands his ground as is portrayed in the third part of his speech. He accepts his death penalty, but also he warns his executioners that putt people to death will not prevent anyone from living unjustly and in ignorance. Socrates is convinced that his philosophical life of examining his own and other Athenians beliefs and actions is his duty.He does not affright death. He does not know if death is good or bad. Socrates warns Athenians not to value wealth, power, and prestige more than moral excellence. The moral excellence is the best possible state of ones soul. Socrates commitment to level-headed argument is evident in Crito. There, in conversation with Crito, Socrates justifies his decision to remain in prison. Crito listed the reasons why Socrates should escape. First, Crito does not want to lose a friend, next what will other think that Crito doesnt want to make sacrifice for his friend.Socrates begins with the reply that he must follow the logic I cannot reject the very principle that I previously adopted, just because this fate has overtaken me rather they appeared to me much the same as ever, and I valuate and honor the same ones that I did before. This principle is within him and appears to be the best, regardless of situation. Additiona lly, Socrates examined his own morality. For Socrates, the greatest good is to be prudent and evil is to be imprudent. management is the ability to act by use of reason and allows to distinguish when acts are reckless, cowardly or courageous.Socrates, also examined other of his principles such as not to do injustice, not to do bad things to other human beings, obey the laws of Athens, which he voluntary accepted. Yet again through the questioning of his own principles and in dialogue with Crito, Socrates comes to conclusion, that one shouldnt care what other people think, but think what is just or unjust. If Socrates would escape, he would violate the sacred laws of Athens. The escape would be unjust. Socrates reasoned that if he would escape, the life time of his work would be destroyed.He dedicated his life to justice, to the state, and the law. Socrates must confirm his teachings trough his actions. On the whole, Socrates during his lifetime pursued the truth. For Socrates, the truth was the only moral anchor in uncertain world. His method was direct. He asked questions in dialogues with anyone who would engage in conversation. This dialectic process was a purifying process. Similar to irrigate filter, removing all the scum and sediment until results were pure. Socrates revealed through this process what is untruth.For Socrates, the inner truth is covered by the layers of untruth, and he tried to peel them away. This method is also cognize as negative method-eliminate what leads to contradiction. Socrates forced his contemporaries to re-evaluate, reflect and reconsider their beliefs. He did this in the ways that left people with uncertainty, in the state of unease, and realization of their own ignorance (but not admitting to it) as Plato portrayed in Euthyphro, Crito and Defence of Socrates. Furthermore, the Oracle of Delphi response to Chaerephon, who is the wisest man, provided Socrates with insights to education.The most powerful motivation to learnin g is acknowledgment of own ignorance. Next, Socratic Method seeks to find universal definition. Socrates believed that all things have something essential within them which can be uncovered by reason. The essential properties can be summarized in definition. For example, he seeks to find the definition what is holy or unholy in Euthyphro. The results of Socrates enquires in search for truth, knowledge, and wisdom through cross-examination, led to his death, because his contemporaries did not to want admit their own ignorance.

English as Lingua Franca Essay

Do you know that of all the languages in the world, side is the most socialize and pleasurable language? The amusement of position expounds why we park our car on the driveway and drive our car on the parkway. When we explore in much detail of its paradoxes, we may later discover that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings atomic number 18 square and guinea pig is incomplete from Guinea nor it is a pig. If we hurled back, English has been widely dispersed around the world when British Isle began with the growth of the British Empire. In Malaya, English is mandatory for each and every citizen during the colonial of British.Due to the colonization, it left a profound impact in Malaya as English became the second language among Malaysians. In spite of obvious influence of English to our daily life, Malaysians still find it difficult to converse in proper English. The standards of English deteriorate rapidly in our country. We often hear Malaysians speak the so called rojak langua ge for instance, they say You eat already ah? instead of saying Did you have your meal? Therefore, we as Malaysians need to take up English dustup as it is the cornerstone of success in lifeIn the era of consolidation and trying to unify various aspects of life, English is needed economically as it is the world(a) language of mercantile. The headline, Japanese Firms say no English, no strain, adapted from The Star on ninth of July 2010 clearly portrays the vitally importance of English for job seekers. The world of business today requires only employees with the excellent command of English. From email to presentation, marketing and exportation of information, English is essential as it is the dominant language.Let me prosecute you, how would you survive without English during travelling business especially to English speaking countries? Could you communicate with the native speakers? Obviously not Therefore, it is crystal clear that English is of extent importance in the glob alization of world trade. When we take command of this language, we open new doors for commerce. Besides, English Language operates as the lingua franca of this new millennium. It is a of import element to foster bridges gap and connects people around the globe.With English acting as an international language, it enables people who do not share a common native language to interact. This can be seen as English is well known as the medium of communication among travellers. It would catch your imagination if you ask the absence of English to the world.For instance, while youre having a stroll in the street, a Spanish guy approaches you and enquires about the route to the closest bank. He would say, rationalize me, may I know where the nearest bank? and you will definitely answer Its located behind the Grand Hotel. What if he said perdone, donde se encuentra el banco mas cercano? It is akin to communicate with an alien from Neptune because you do not really understand what they inq uire. Hence, it is needed socially in linking the world together. Apart from communication, English Language is being placed steadfastly within the academic domain. By taking up English, it broadens our horizons because almost 60% of books in worldwide are written in English. A high level of proficiency in this language has lead our quotidian life filled with knowledge. Moreover, it enables professors and scientists around the globe to share their studies.It is convenient as professors from different countries can interact with each other without the need of a translator, which is a total waste of time. By sharing all the theories and discoveries, it becomes possible for us to gain further achievement in technology. Have you ever contemplated the possibility for us to for us to enjoy a luxury life of science without English as a medium of interaction between academicians? It is totally out of question Thus, the role of English is vital as it makes our life more roaring and continue s to ameliorate the standard of living today.After carefully dissecting the importance of English Language, the verdict is clear English plays a crucial role in our life. Paolo Coelho resplendently said When you want something, the entire universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. On a similar vein, when you earnestly desire to take up English, chances are usually you will succeed. The importance of English cannot be undermined as it is the determining factor in our ultimate quest success. After all, there is no land why learning English cant be fun. Before I end this, let us have a brainteaser. There is neither pine nor apple in pineapple, but why do we called it pineapple?

Enron Case Study Summary

Enron Case Study The case of Enron is a fascinating one. United States is a country where auditing and accounting principles are so strong. How discharge some affaire take place on such high level in the United States? The Enron case demonstrates the need to reform the accounting and somatic governance practices in the United States. Moreover, the Enron case made government officials to pay close attention to deregulated energy market. Some of the aspects that struck me are discussed below. One of the aspects that struck me was the vision of the transgress prudence.Enron was in the business of energy, but Kenneth Lay built management team of MBAs, not individuals specialized in gas and energy field. My view is that top management has to have a clear vision. It seemed that Kenneth Lay vision of the come with was distorted. Enron transformed from an energy company into an investment company. Hence, the management team was comprised of traders and investment bankers who had very b antam knowledge of the energy business. As the business model of Enron changed so did the corporate culture. The culture was Get it done. Get it done now. Reap the rewards. The new business was the purchasing and selling of commodities. The employees were rewarded for business deals regardless of long- line consequences. I feel this kind of reward system is not beneficial to companies it is very short-term view of business. Moreover, analysts were derided when they asked questions most the earnings-report. These actions points that the corporate culture was of Enron was disruptive. This wage increases the questions on the role of boards of directors. It seems like the boards of directors of Enron had very little knowledge about the activities of Fastow and Lay.Its interesting that the boards of directors had so little knowledge of thing happening in the company. The takea personal manner from this is that boards of directors should pay close attention to the management behavior a nd money generating strategies. The boards of directors need to take active participation in company not only when things are bad, but also when things are good. Another aspect was the business practices of the Arthur Andersen firm. Its shocking to see one of the most prestigiousness firms to engage in such a big fraud. The firm played a role of not only as an auditor, but also as a consultant for Enron.The conflict of interest was sure to take place. The firm saw the opportunity to make money by hiding Enrons monetary information. Basically, the firm helped Enron to cook books. I believe that some executives of Andersen firm were driven by greed and lack of ethical sense that made them act in a fraudulent activities. Moreover, it seems that Andersen had weak internal control in terms of auditing. The practices of this firm raised questions about the accounting and auditing system of the United States. The congress was pronto to repond by adopting set of reforms.For example, the Sarbanes-Oxley bill was passed to reform the accounting and auditing industries. The important part of the bill was the separation of roles the separation of consulting and audit business. Yet, another aspect was the impact on the economy, particularly the energy industry. This was interesting because it shows how Enron impacted the economy and business environment. The funding for energy companies dried up because of Enron scandal. As a result of limited financing options, many companies went bankrupt. The confidence of investors was shaken. Many investors hesitated to invest in energy corporations.I believe that the Enron incident encouraged many analysts and investors to question the fiscal reporting and long term money making strategies of companies. Furthermore, the professional corruption also struck me. The management used financial cleverness as a financial strategy. The recording of assets and kale that were inflated or non-existent showed professional corruption. Additio nally, the involvement in dishonest accounting practices was just too much. Moreover, the interviews for recruitment took place in strip clubs. The whole corporate culture was somewhat corrupted.The aspect that jumped out from the case was the relentless pursuit of profits. Yes, the main goal of any business is to make profit, but social determine should be kept in mind. I believe that the compensation system at Enron was also to blame. People involved in the scandal were making immense sum of money. The intriguing aspect in this case was how Fastow was able to create special purpose entities (SPE). Fastow was creating these SPEs to segregate financial activities from Enrons balance sheet. The SPEs provided Enron a way to move debt from the balance sheet so the credit rating could remain high.The commodities swapping mechanism required high credit rating. The SPEs allowed Enron to disguise debt and loss as revenue. Enron deceived investor and creditors. Furthermore, Enron invested in other companies. Once the investments began to show losses, they were transferred to SPEs. This method allowed the sale of investment to SPEs. Hence, the sale of investment was shown as gain to Enron. Another interesting fact was that analysts didnt raise red any flags. I am sure that many analysts recommended the buying of Enron stocks. This scandal made investors and analysts more cautious.Analysts and investors began to ask questions 1) how does company make money? 2) bum company sustain strategy over the long term? Basically, the laws got strict and analysts were more observant. These are some of the aspects that were intriguing to me or struck me. The case of Enron impart continue to be a lesson in ethics and corporate responsibility. The government agencies should not relax and should make sure that industries are regulated when it comes to reporting financial information. The incident of Arthur Andersen serves as an example for other accounting firms.

Asserting Ethnic Identity and Power Through Language Essay

Week-1 The linguistic ideology at work here is founded some(prenominal) on the conceit of the mother tongue as well as on the ace nation, one vocabulary principle. Communities on the western side of the border argon not interested in learning the voice communication of their easterly neighbors. Eastern communities, on the other hand, argon strongly motivated to learn western verbiages. The importance attributed to side as the speech of globalization is common to both sides.We can actu all toldy say that language is a very hot and recurrent issue for some communities namely the German-speaking fraternity in Bernstein (D), the Czech-speaking community in Vejprty (CS), the German-speaking and S distinguishnian-speaking communities in Eisenkappel/Z? elezna Kapla (A),etc. The term mother tongue is often lend oneselfd forms the room of thinking of its speakers, and thus the different mentalities and national characters are connected with the use of different languages. Many info rmants are convinced that it is the mother tongue which determines thought, social behavior, and exhibition or control of affection and emotions.Thus the encounter between languages automatically becomes a clash of mentalities. For example, the German-speaking community in Ba? renstein finds there is a relation between the insurmountable difficulty in pronouncing and learning the Czech language and the incomprehensibility of the words Czech-speaking bulk produce. People in western communities explain this widespread hold upledge by saying that the otherwises need to turn in my language, because my language is the superior One.We can also find indices of implicit prestige in more consultation quotes, like my language is useful to find a job, my language is more international than theirs, it represents a symbol of up contendd social mobility the importance of my language twitchs them to learn it, and in this way they show practical sense, intelligence and cleverness, because they well know that the knowledge of the languages spoken on both sides of the border offers more overlord and economic opportunities.People are not generally interested in learning the language of the Other, and the reason is, as we have already seen, its uselessness, or its low value on the language market. They only learn what they need in their commercial transactions. Europe is a multilingual unstained in which the tension between linguistic pluralism and assimilation is quite evident at present. Week-2 The topic for this week was Creation of a Sense of Belonging through Language, which we found very much kindle as we have to present our own explanation, views and thoughts.The topic is about Finland, Iceland and Latvia. Firstly we discussed about Finland that Swedish-speaking people along the coastlines, spoke a non-Scandinavian language, namely Finnish. The Finnish language was to become the most effective medium in the nation-building process as well as the most important criterion in creating an awareness of a collective individuation. Language became a defining characteristic towards the outside and a communicative driving force on the inside within the great diversity of local and regional cultures.We could say that for the process of nation-building in Finland during the 19th century two main deficits had to be overcome sovereign state structures had to be veritable and an individual Finnish national consciousness had to be formed. In the process of spreading a Finnish national consciousness a development often associated with the term awakening as in a religious experience the main focus was directed towards the common people, their language and culture. Finlands modest pagan vitality, Finnish had gained the status of a modern cultural and scientific language.The civil servants, scholars, and many artists, continued to use Swedish as their language of communication and cosmosation. But Finnish steadily gained ground. Many people were al ready, or became, bilingual. The accusation that Finnish was too primitive was defeated by generating new damage, which proved that the language was in advance(p) and possessed the potential for development. In the discussion about Iceland by Halfdanarson. The text tells a story of Icelandic nationalism and the struggle for independence of Iceland under Danish rule.Halfdanarson points out the rare case of Icelandic nationalism, and its non-violent nature. In fact, according to the article, both Icelands struggle for independence and the Danish reactions to it were both surprisingly pacific in nature, partly because of the idea of divided up past and cultural heritage between the two countries. at that place are certain elements in common with the case study of Iceland and Herders text, such as the idea of mystic, shared past of a nation, the role of the single language of a social crowd forming the nation and so on.I think especially in cases like Iceland, language and linguisti c identity have essential role in formation of national identity. Iceland is isolated, both in geographical terms as an island in the middle of Atlantic ocean and in terms of language. Although Icelandic is a language related to scandinavian languages, it still differes from them quite a lot. And lastly There was a question that is it attainable to have a single language in whole Europe? We think its not come-at-able to have a single langage in the whole Europe as there are many different countries with their own languages from last hundreds of years.In Europe, People communicate with each other using the shared language of their group. The group might be as small as a couple (married or unmarried partners, twins, mother and daughter etc. who share a private language where only they know the meaning of some words) or as large as a nation, where everyone understands the allusions in their shared language (often allusions to shared history, to contemporary events, to media people of fact or fiction etc). The secret language of the smallest group and the public language of the national group are two varieties of the same language.Every social group, large or small, has its own language variety, (regional groups have varieties of the national language (as opposed to regional or minority languages) which are usually called dialects) and there is overlap among all the varieties. However there is a possibility to use side of meat as a second language as use of English gives a considerable service to the 13 % of EU citizens who are native English speakers, and to speakers of closely related languages (German, Dutch, Danish and Swedish), over all other Europeans. Week-3 In the week 3, we learned about Language and subjective identity.The two articles were on Franz Kafka and Simone de Beauvoir. Franz Kafka was German though he never lived among the Germans. He was then living in Prague, Czech. Hence Kafka knew both Czech & German languages. But, he preferred Czech L anguage as he was of the view that one could express his/her feeling in a better way in a particular language. In this case, he thought that Czech was a better language than German to express his feelings. Franz Kafka was in love with Czech translator Milena Jesenka. He used to demand Milena to write him letters in Czech language than German. He belived in a approach belongs to a language.When Milena replied his letters in Czech, he believed that Czech was much more affectionate, which removes all the uncertainties, he could see his lover more clearly, the movements of her body, her hands quickly which or so resembled as they both are meeting. This shows how Kafka prefered Czech more than German. Kafka encouraged his favourite sister Ottla in her sum to Josef David, a Czech Catholic, against the opposition of parents and relatives, and wrote affectionately to his new brother-in-law in fluent Czech. For Prague Jews of Kafkas generation, language and identity could be painfully diss onant.In Kafkas case, this dissonance reached deep into his own family, conferring an alien quality on the most intimate of human relationships. Franz Kafka died of tuberculosis in 1924. He is buried beside his parents in the family plot in Pragues New Jewish Cemetery. Simone de Beauvoir is a French Women. She was French writer, political activist, feminist, and social theorist. She gave her whole life for feminine rights and equality with men in Society. Beauvoir was an outstanding student. She did her graduate(prenominal) work at the Ecole Normale Superieure, the top postgraduate program in France, where she met Jean Paul Sartre.When World War II broke out in September 1939, Sartre was called for military service. He became a prisoner of war when the French army surrendered, but he was released and both Beauvoir and Sartre participated in the resistance, and after the Vichy Regime dismissed Beauvoir from her teaching position, she began a novel about the resistance. When the war ended, Beauvoir and Sartre became part of a group of leading French intellectuals, who concerned themselves with the perceived failures of modern French society. they founded Les Temps modernes as a means to explain their social and cultural views.At the same time, Sartre suggested to Beauvoir that she undertake a appropriate on the status of women, and she published, La deuxieme sexe (The Second Sex). This was her most famous, and influential book. It became a sourcebook of modern feminism, particularly in the United States for later feminist thinkers such as Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem. De Beauvoir used very specific and effective and omnipotent words to underline her matter. She is willing to deploy language and words towards others, because she knows about a manner in which her body and her relation to the world are modified through the action of others than herself.

Hebrew Ehe Eternal Language

Hebraical THE ETERNAL LANGUAGE WILLIAM CHOMSKY Hebraical THE ETERNAL LANGUAGE Varda Books 5761 / 2001 skokie, illinois, usa Copyright 2001 by Varda Books Original copyright 1957 by THE JEWISH publishing SOCIETY OF AMERICA All Rights Re allotd Second Printing, 1958 New ISBN 1-59045-441-3 Library PDFNo incite of this publication whitethorn be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any heart, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage retrieval system, except for brief passages in company with a critical review, with erupt permission in written material from the publisher Varda Books, 9001 Keating Avenue, Skokie, Illinois, USA Prep ard as an ebook by Varda Graphics, Inc. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 57? 8140 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA To My Children radical TOC list PREFACE There has long been need for a book on the origin of the Hebraic verbiage, its difference for survival in the administration of al close to insurmountcapable obstacles, and its survival as a intercommunicate linguistic process in our get solar day. I confess to having for hu umteen an(prenominal) years cherished the hope that it would rough day be given me to write this story. At the same time, I shrank from underta ability a task so vast and important, so basic to the Judaic cultural heritage, and involving so more aspects of Judaic sustenance and history.When, thence, the Zionist Organization of America approached me several years ago with the request that I prep be a nerve tract on the subject, Hebraic, The Story of a Living delivery, I exclusivelyowed myself to be persuaded for the very reason that the discussion would be brief and tentative. that some of my friends at once began urging me to expand that pamphlet into a full-sized book, and this is the extend. The theme is far from exhaustive. It is designed primarily for the intelligent reader rather than for the scholar. In the pro cess of popularization practic completelyy had to be diluted, omitted or condensed.In many aras the presentation is very sketchy, though, I hope, au and sotic and accu array. A more citywide account will surrender to await more auspicious circumstances. In the writing of this book I had to resort to various sources of information and to the help of whizz-on- cardinals who argon expert in certain specific aras, and I herewith wish to pay grateful acknowledgment. I am, of course, primarily indebted to Dr. Solomon Grayzel for his stimulation and encouragement, criticism and advice, in the preparation of this book.My thanks atomic number 18 due to the following individuals for helpful counsel and information Judah Lapson, Chairman of Hebraic Culture Service Committee for Ameri terminate High Schools and Colleges A. Leo Oppenheim, Oriental Institute, University of lettuce Cecil Roth, Oxford vii syndicate TOC business leader viii Preface University, Eng kill E. A. Speiser, Chairman, De take offment of Oriental Studies, University of Pennsylvania. I overly wish to make appreciative acknowledgment of the following publications from which illustrative materials were taken The Hebraical Scripts, S. A.Birnbaum Millon ha-Lashon ha-Ibrit, Eliezer Ben Yehudah The Field of Yiddish, edited by Uriel Weinreich, Linguistic move of New York Semitic Writing, G. R. Driver, Oxford University Press A Study of Writing, I. J. Gelb, University of kale Press. Recognition is also due to Historische Grammatik der Hebraischen Sprache, Hans Bauer and Pontus Leander, Verlag von grievous bodily harm Niemeyer, which provided a model for the illustration of Branches of the Semitic terminologys, on page 22. It is my hope that this volume will micturate new(a) interest in the Hebraical linguistic communication communication among those who know it as closely as those who do non.May the story of the ancient tongue prove as fascinating to my readers as it has always been to me. W. C . expose 1, 1957 groundwork TOC office CONTENTS INTRODUCTIONThe division of Hebraic in Judaic vitality, 1 sectionalization IHow the verbalize diction Began to Be Spoken CHAPTER 1Hebraic and the expressions of earthly concern, 17 CHAPTER 2How the Hebraic verbiage Began, 32 CHAPTER 3The Early Non-Biblical Sources of Hebrew, 50 PART IIHow the Written speech Took Form CHAPTER 4How the Hebrew Alphabet Originated, 73 CHAPTER 5How Did the Vowel-System Evolve? 3 CHAPTER 6How the Study of Hebrew Grammar Began and Developed, 117 CHAPTER 7How Was the Text of the Hebrew word of honor Preserved? 139 PART IIIHow the address Was Preserved CHAPTER 8How Did the Hebrew Language Grow? 157 CHAPTER 9How the Hebrew Language Has Kept Abreast of Changing Needs, 172 CHAPTER 10How Hebrew Evolved as a Modern Vernacular, 184 CHAPTER 11Did Hebrew evenr Die? 206 PART IVHow the Language Meets Modern Needs CHAPTER 12The Struggle for Revival, 231 CHAPTER 13Hebrew in America, 245 EPI LOGUEHebrew for American Jews, 270 Notes and Bibliography, 281 humanity power, 313 ix gt property TOC Index spot TOC Index LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS pageboy 1. Hittite Hieroglyphic Writing. courtesy of I. J. Gelb, A Study of Writing (University of Chicago Press), 1952, page 83 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Branches of the Semitic Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . geographical diffusion of the Semitic Languages . . 21 22 23 2. 3. 4. Tran account bookion of the Mesha Stone. Courtesy of I. J. Gelb, A Study of Writing (University of Chicago Press), 1952, page 134 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. Hieroglyphic Inscriptions found in Sinai. Courtesy of G. R. Driver, Semitic Writing (British Academy, London), 1954, page 94 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hittite Hieroglyphic Writing. Courtesy of I. J. Gelb, A Study of Writing (University of Chicago Press), 1952, page 82 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 75 6. 77 81 7. The Contents of a Mezuzah. An standard of hand-written Hebrew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8. Inscriptions from the Sinaitic Peninsula.Courtesy of G. R. Driver, Semitic Writing (British Academy, London), 1954, page 94 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . From Hebrew to the Latin Alphabets . . . . . . . . . . 83 87 9. 10. Three Vowel Systems 1. Babylonian 2. Palestinian 3. Tiberian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 11. The Masoretic Text as prep ard by the Ben Asher School. Courtesy of S. A. Birnbaum, The Hebrew Scripts, Fasc. 2, page 92 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 12. A Page from the Rabbinic password . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 xi family line TOC Index xii List of Illustrations Between pp. 242 and 243 13. Hebrew calendar from Gezer. Courtesy of S. A. Birnbaum, The Hebrew Scripts, no. 2 14. Sinaitic Writing. Courtesy of G. R. Driver, Semitic Writing (British Academy, London), 1954, pl. 38 15. The Siloam Inscription. Courtesy of S. A. Birnbaum, The Hebrew Scripts, no. 14 16. The Mesha Stone. Courtesy of The Louvre, Paris 17. Lachish Ostraca. Courtesy of S. A. Birnbaum, The Hebrew Scripts, nos. 23, 24 18. Coins of the Second Commonwealth.Courtesy of S. A. Birnbaum, The Hebrew Scripts, nos. 56, 58, 61 19. Stamps of Modern Israel 20. The Nash Papyrus. Courtesy of Cambridge University Library 21. An Aramaic and Yiddish Version of Had Gadya. Courtesy of The Field of Yiddish Studies in Yiddish Language, Folklore and Literature create on the Occasion of the Bicentennial of Columbia University, ed. by Uriel Weinreich, Linguistic Circle of New York, 1954 22. Eliezer Ben Yehudah. Courtesy of Millon ha-Lashon ha-lbrit base of operations TOC Index HEBREW THE ETERNAL LANGUAGE Home TOC Index Home TOC Index INTRODUCTION THE ROLE OF HEBREW IN JEWISH LIFE Hebrew as a Modern Vernacular Barely a decade or two ago at that place were great deal who well-kept that Hebrew was not a living phrase. Now, the sacred language of the past is the daily chamfer of hundreds of gigabytes of Jews in Israel. There the language lives in the m push throughhs of school children, bootblacks, busmen, cab drivers, cabaret singers, lawyers, doctors and officials, of the sacred, irreligious and anti-religiousindeed, of everyone.The thick horizontal strokes and thin verticals of the Hebrew alphabet are blazoned all over the sphere on posters, advertising signs, stamps and coins on highways, shops, stores and hotels. Hebrew slang, colloquialisms and even curses are freely coined man the Hebrew Language Academy (formerly, Vaad haLashon), self-possessed of outstanding scholars and writers and sponsored by the Israel government, is vigilantly on restrain against the infraction of any solecisms or barbarisms that might impair the purity of the language.From time to time, moreover, this Academy publish es lists of technical equipment casualty covering every branch and aspect of science, industry, technology and the like some ten thousand new phrases realize gained currency since the establishment of the State of Israel. At least four theatrical companies carry regular performancesall, of course, in Hebrew. Thou1 Home TOC Index 2 Hebrew The Eternal Language sands of books, magazines, newspapers and brochures on every conceivable topic are in daily circulation.Close to two hundred peakicals are print there in Hebrew, including fifteen dailies and the rest weeklies, monthlies, quarterlies and annuals. Hebrew books are published in Israel at the rate of more than three a day. The air waves of Israel vibrate to the rhythm of the associationical tongue. Outside of Israel, the most world-shattering center of Hebrew culture is America. The language is read, understood and spoken by thousands of American Jews. There are Hebrew periodicals of popular as well as scholarly characte r Hebrew books, fictional and scientific Hebrew language instruction on elementary and college level.Schools, camps and clubs encourage the blabing of Hebrew. Can there be any question as to the vitality of the Hebrew language? None of the modern attempts to revive senile languages, much(prenominal) as Gaelic, chisel and Indi, can boast of anything approximating the progress made by Hebrew. Yet the Irish, Welsh and Indians save been rooted on their own soil and are free from political, physical and economic difficulties with which the recent struggling Judaic community in Israel has had to cope.Sources of Vitality of the Hebrew Language How was the Hebrew language able to exist and go bad as an effective instrument of creative self-expression and intercommunication for slightly two thousand years, without such an essential ingredient for survival as a state or district? How could Hebrew retain its vitality and elasticity over such a long period of time in the face of suc h adverse conditions? The answer to these questions may be discovered by considering the unique character of Judaism and its comparison to the Hebrew language.Hebrew has not been a denationalized universal tongue, the medium of a specific devotion, in the sense that Latin has been the official language of the Roman Catholic Church. Nor has it been entirely a folk tongue like separatewise living languages. As a matter of fact, it has persisted as a living lan- Home TOC Index The occasion of Hebrew in Jewish Life 3 guage for many centuries aft(prenominal) it had ceased to be a spoken vernacular in the accepted sense of the term, as will be demonstrated in a later chapter in this volume.Hebrew has been the sacred language of the Jewish concoursethe language of its religion, culture and civilization. It has been, in sum, the language of Judaism and intimately identified with the national and religious implements of the Jewish people throughout the generations. The Jewish peo ple can no more be dissociated from Hebrew than they can be dissociated from their own spiritual identityJudaism. alliance amidst Language and Culture An analysis of the nature of language and of Judaism may help to clarify this propose.Language is not solely a means of expression and communication it is an instrument of experiencing, thinking and feeling, as well as a means of self-expression and personal growth. In investigating the origin of language and by and by tracing nates its history as far as we can, we see that the early language was anything that able, that it was indeed a sort of one-half-way house between singing and speech with long almost conglomerations of sounds, which served rather as an turn up for intense feelings than for an intelligible expression of them . . 1 Indeed, even in modern days language is employ by children (and often by grown people), not so much to formulate and express thoughts as to give vent to feelings . . . 2 Our ideas and experie nces are not independent of language they are all integral split of the same conventionalism, the warping and woof of the same texture. We do not front study thoughts, ideas, feelings and then put them into a verbal framework. We think in phrases, by means of haggle. Language and experience are inextricably interwoven, and the awareness of one awakens the former(a).Words and idioms are as indispensable to our thoughts and experiences as are colors and tints to a painting. Our personality matures and develops through language and by our use of it. Defective linguistic growth is know to go hand in Home TOC Index 4 Hebrew The Eternal Language hand with impede intellectual and emotional development. Deaf and dumb people are, as a rule, intellectually retarded and, in some degree, even callous, unless given means of becoming communication.What is true of language in relation to individual growth is equally true in the drive of the cultural growth and development of a people . Indeed, students of language be possessed of come to recognize that the experiences of a theme, its mental and emotional habits, its modes of thoughts and attitudes are registered and reflected in the words and idioms of the groups language. Thus, for example, the word shalom, usually rendered by peace, has in effect little in common with its incline equivalent. Shalom does not have the passive, even negative, intension of the word peace. It does not mean uncorruptedly the absence of strife. It is great(predicate) with positive, active and energetic meaning and association. It connotes totality, health, wholesomeness, harmony, success, the completeness and richness of living in an integrated social milieu. When people go steady or part they wish each other shalom, or they inquire about each others shalom. Similarly, the Hebrew words ruah (spirit) and nefesh (soul) do not have the implications of a disembodiment, such as are indicated by their incline equivalents. There is no dichotomy in the Hebrew mind between dust and spirit or soul.One is not the antithesis of the other. These Hebrew words have dynamic, life-giving and motor-urgent connotations. Every living macrocosm has a ruah, even the beast possesses a ruah (Ecclesiastes 3. 21). The same is true of the synonym nefesh, which is generally rendered by soul. merely nefesh, too, is the square-toedty of all living beings (Job 12. 10), including the beast (Proverbs 12. 10). Even the netherworld has a nefesh (Isaiah 5. 14). Furthermore, every living creature, man as well as animal, is designated as nefesh (Genesis 1. 0, 21, 24, 12. 5, 14. 21, etc. ). Both nefesh and ruah often signify strength and vigor, twain in a material and a spiritual sense. Voracious dogs are said to possess a sinewy nefesh (Isaiah 56. 11) and the horses of Egypt, the prophet warns, are weak they are flesh and no ruah (ibid. , 31. 3). Home TOC Index The procedure of Hebrew in Jewish Life 5 There is likewise a far wat chword between the Hebrew word tzedakah (from the stem tzadak, to be just or righteous), with its implications of social justice, and the position word charity. In the case of charity the recipient sees himself beholden to the donor, whose action is voluntary. Tzedakah, on the other hand, has to be performed as a matter of obligation and the recipient is in no way indebted to the donor. The needy have a right to tzedakah, while those possessing means have a duty to give it. Indeed, even a poor person who receives tzedakah must in turn give tzedakah (Gittin 7b). There is, likewise, a wide semantic gulf between the Hebrew rahamim or rahmanut and the face equivalent pity or mercy. The Hebrew word connotes love, family feeling (see Genesis 43. 30, etc. ), even motherliness, since it is related to rehem (mothers womb) of the same stem. None of these connotations is implied in the English equivalents. Similarly, the richly meaningful and historically hallowed implications of the Hebrew torah are all told absent in the English equivalent law. The Hebrew term torah emb executes the totality of Jewish creative labor throughout the ages. Just as inadequate is the English translation commandment for the Hebrew mitsvah.In one of his hasidic3 stories, the Hebrew writer Yehudah Steinberg depicts a hasid expressing surprise at the ignorance and stupidity of the reshaim (the wicked or the disbelievers ). The main motive for committing wicked deeds, reasons the hasid, is the search and pursuit of frolic and en happinessment. merely is any greater pleasure or joy conceivable than that of performing a mitzvah? Hence, he continues, if the reshaim were sufficiently wise to realize this, they would abandon their wickedness and would all rick tzaddikim (righteous or strictly observant Jews), just for their pleasures sake.This type of reasoning was not unique among tralatitiousistic Jews. Simhah shel mitzvah, the joy of performing a mitzvah, constituted an integral elemen t in the pattern of the Jewish way of life. To be sure, the word mitzvah accreditedly meant no more than a command in the accepted sense. and the specific reli- Home TOC Index 6 Hebrew The Eternal Language gious experiences of the Jewish people, their feeling of exultation in the performance of religious responsibilities, invested this word with a ball of associations and connotations not originally inherent in it.Is it conceivable that one could get a thrill out of performing a mitzvah if it were merely a commandment? Every language, including English, has a stock of words which are charged with the emotional and intellectual experiences of the people employing it. To illustrate, within our own experiences, the English word fireside came to assume a new connotation as a lead of listening to the fireside chats inaugurated by the late president, Franklin D. Roosevelt.Similarly, the word filibuster, originally signifying a freebooter or pirate, is now employ in the United Stat es in the sense of hindering lawmaking by means of long speeches or other parliamentary tricks. One may also add, as examples, such expressions as go to bat, strike out and the like. The richer and the more intense the historical experiences of a people, the greater is the number of such words in its language and the more emotionally charged they are. When translated into another language, they become devitalized and almost meaningless.Such words are not mere linguistic units they are cultural deposits. But they cannot be transmitted in closing off. They take on their meaning and gain in richness of association and connotation notwithstanding through the context of experience. In the past some Hebrew words and expressions survived in the vernacular of the people long after the Hebrew language had ceased to be popularly spoken. They were kept alive by the intimate contact which the majority of the people continued to maintain with the Hebrew literary sources and by the assiduity o f Jewish forms of living and habits of thinking.Furthermore, one can readily quote a host of expressions and idioms which, though composed of words in the vernacular, encase, in effect, Hebraic thought-patterns. It would seem that as long as the Jews were rooted in their customsal patterns of life, they were sensitive to the inadequacy of the vernacular in expressing and conveying the emotionally charged meaning Home TOC Index The Role of Hebrew in Jewish Life 7 of certain Hebrew words. They therefore persisted either in retaining the original words and expressions, or in investing the Hebraic mental pattern or idiom with the garb of the vernacular.In this manner a great many words and expressions, as well as idioms, found their way into the various vernaculars busy by the Jews throughout the history of their dispersion. Such dialects arose as Judaeo- Grecian, Judaeo-Arabic, JudaeoPersian and the like. The best known of these dialects, surviving to this day and incorporating a broad proportion of these Hebraic elements, are Ladino, a Judaeo-Spanish dialect employed by the Jews in the Balkan States and Morocco, and, peculiarly, Yiddish.At present, however, especially in this country, Jewish patterns of life no thirster provide a suitable functional context for these words and expressions. The distinctive features of the Jewish climate trace of traditional Jewish ghettos, especially those of Eastern Europe, have almost completely melt stilted. The specific vocabularies and idioms of Jewish life no longer function they have been translated into English equivalents. Yamim noraim are High Holy Days, a siddur is a prayerbook, a mahzor is a High Holy day or Festival prayerbook.Yom tov has been replaced by holiday. Such traditional Hebrew terms as hazzan (cantor), shammash (sexton),aron kodesh (holy ark), menorah (candelabrum), sefer torah (scroll of the Torah), gabbai (an elder in the synagogue), etc. , once comm precisely employed, have move into desuet ude. A good Jew is no longer mekayyem a mitzvah, or is a shomer shabbat. Instead, he is performing a command or good deed and is a Sabbath observer. He does not drink le-hayyim (to life or health) he drinks to happy days, and so on.The contact with the literary Hebraic sources remains, therefore, the only avenue to these cultural deposits. The message of Judaism The meaning of the terms Jews and Judaism has, likewise, been a source of conf apply thinking. Are the Jews a race, Home TOC Index 8 Hebrew The Eternal Language a nation, a religious group, or what? Is Judaism only a ashes of beliefs and practices, or of nationalistic symbols and slogans, or of cultural ideas and literary compilations, such as could be conveyed by one linguistic vehicle or another?Much futile argumentation relative to these matters may be found in our recent literature. The disputants seem to ignore the fact that a feeling of kinship exists among Jews of all races and colors, of all parts of the world, regardless of whether they are orthodox, reform or even atheistic. To be sure, some or all of the elements mentioned above may be found in the Jewish group or in Judaism, as the case may be, not in an additive sense, but rather in an unifying or chemical sense.Hence, the whole is not like any of the parts, just as common saltiness is not in the least like the sodium and chlorine of which it is compounded or just as water is nothing like its elements, oxygen and hydrogen, of which it is a compound. The compound ABC is larger than the sum of the parts and different in character from each of them as a result of their integration and reciprocal influence. In such a compound the individual component elements are changed and modified. Removing one of these elements or substituting one for another will destroy or change the whole compound.All this is equally true of the cultural, national and religious elements that make up Judaism. Jewish religion is, in effect, a distinctive, dynamic l ife-pattern, constantly and progressively adapting itself to changing needs and circumstances it is gibely intimately bound up with the Jewish people, their history, culture and civilization. It is in this venous blood vessel that Judah Halevi interprets the very first Commandment, where the Lord is referred to as thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and not as the God who created the worldly concern and gentlemans gentlemanity.This purports to emphasize, Halevi asserts, the close identification of the Torah with the Jewish people and their historical experiences. 4 It is momentous that neither scriptural nor Mishnaic Hebrew possesses a term for either religion or Judaism. To this day Home TOC Index The Role of Hebrew in Jewish Life 9 no specific term for religion is to be found in Hebrew, while the concept Judaism (Greek Judaismos) stems from alien soil. It was invented by the Jews of the Hellenistic Diaspora to indicate the contrast between their faith, o r way of life, and Hellenism (Hellenismos). The Hebrew term for this concept (yahadut) was probably coined by reticular activating systemhi (10401105). The traditional term for this concept, employed in the Bible and in the Talmud, is Torah. Now this term, as has been said, embraces the totality of Jewish beliefs and practices, ideals and ideas, in fact, all the products of the Jewish creative principal through the centuries. The Commandments, according to one source, imply all that is included in the Bible, the Mishnah, the Talmud, whether statutory or homiletic in character.In fact, any interpretation which at any time a plica student is likely to offer before his acquireer was already presented to Moses on Mount Sinai. 6 When the rabbis were in doubt about the legality of certain rituals and practices, they would say Go and see how the people conduct themselves. 7 The conduct of the people in a normal traditional environment served as a hand for establishing and codifying c ertain laws and rituals indeed a custom may nullify a law. 8 No religion in the accepted sense of this term would permit such latitude.Significantly, the Hebrew term for law, whether ritual, ethical, criminal, or civil, is halakhah, a word which signifies conduct. Peculiar historical circumstances, the analysis of which is outside our province, have bunkd in the case of the Jewish people in such a manner as to merge race, nationality, culture and religion into a conglomerate unit, which is readd in a distinctive language, with the result of modifying the individual characteristics of each of the components. Hence, the laws applying to each of them in isolation will not apply to any or all of them in integration.Thus, although Christianity may continue to function without a distinctive language, the Jewish religion cannot do so, because it is too intimately fused with elements of race, nationality and culture, all of which are in turn rooted in the Hebrew language. It is inconcei vable that any of the Home TOC Index 10 Hebrew The Eternal Language traditional Jewish prayers, in translation, could come alive the same historical associations, cultural allusions and national memories, as they do in the original Hebrew. Because Jews of old wanted those associations they continued to pray in Hebrew and study their literary sources in Hebrew.They continue the language and the language preserved them. Hebrew as the Language of Judaism In sum, Judaism may be defined as the ongoing historical experience of the Jewish people, in which are compounded religious, national and cultural elements. This unique historical experience has been articulated in distinctive words and idioms of the Hebrew language, with which it has become inextricably blended. Disassociate this historical experience from the Hebrew language, and the result is a pale, anemic reflection, a dilution and sometimes even an adulteration of the original experience.Indeed, some Jewish scholars maintaine d that the deviations of Christianity from Judaism may be impartly traceable to the translations of the Bible into Greek. The original Hebrew words took on, in the Greek translation, connotations which were not intended by the Hebrew authors, with the result that they suggested views and ideas entirely alien to the Jewish spirit. One of the many glaring examples is the origin of the virgin-birth dogma in Christianity, a concept which was associated with the mistranslation of the word almah (Isaiah 7. 14).In Hebrew the word merely means young womanhood in the Greek translation it was rendered by parthenos which means virgin. Another example is the word ruah, which in the Greek translation connoted the un-Jewish concept of spirit-versus-body. In the course of their long and rich history, the Jewish people have gone through intensive intellectual and emotional experiences. They have experimented with life and its problems problems of the family relationship of man to man, of man to God, problems of human destiny and of the impact of cosmic forces upon earth. They have known joys and suffering, hope and despair.They have given voice to all these experi- Home TOC Index The Role of Hebrew in Jewish Life 11 ences in their own distinctive Hebrew idiom. Language and experience have become intertwined so that one cannot be fully mastered without the other. Who can render in suitable translation the overtones, the cluster of associations and allusions attached to such expressions as shema yisrael, kiddush ha-shem, hillul ha-shem, mesirut nefesh, and a host of others? It cannot be done. Yet such expressions symbolize the warp and woof of our historical religious and national experiences.These expressions stir in every conscious Jew feelings and images such as could never be evoked in any other language. In the words of Shema Yisrael, for example, we hear echoes and reverberations of the agonised cries of our martyrs from the days of Akiba down to the rebels of th e Warsaw Ghetto. In comparison the English equivalent, Hear, O Israel, sounds flat and insipid. Similarly, the terms kiddush ha-Shem (sanctification of the Name) and hillul ha-Shem (profanation of the Name) are the obverse and reverse of a concept which epitomizes Jewish martyrology throughout the ages.This concept has been a mainspring of traditional Jewish conduct, by word or act, with the view of hallowing Gods name, even at the risk of death, through proper conduct and avoiding deeds which might profane the name of God. The term mesirut nefesh, likewise, connotes the idea of self-sacrifice and readiness to make ones life to an ideal. The English equivalents of these terms fail completely to convey even a shade of the meaning of these repositories of Jewish experiences. Language is, of course, the symbol of meaning, or the expression of ideas by means of articulate sounds or graphic representations of these sounds.Yet, meaning is not inherent in the sounds or the words, but rath er in our personal and group experiences which are fused with the particular words. In themselves words have no meanings it is our reactions to them or our experiences with them that lend them their meaning. What the words mean or convey to us depends on the nature, extent and intensity of our experiences, direct or vicarious, with Home TOC Index 12 Hebrew The Eternal Language them. The word democracy, for example, means one thing to an American, and something entirely different to a Russian communist.The term crusade awakens in the minds of Jews clusters of historical memories and associations totally at variance with those in the minds of Christian peoples. Words are set in the orbit of the experience of the people employing them. When transposed from one experiential orbit into another by means of translation or borrowing, the words change their meaning. Sometimes our experiences are blended and associated with specific forms of the word, with its particular orthoepy or confi guration, and only these forms will convey to us meaning to its fullest extent.A radical change in the form, even of the same word, such as a difference of pronunciation or spelling, may at the outset fail to evoke our experiences associated with the particular word. Hence there is often resistance to spelling reforms or to changes in pronunciation, as for example, in the case of Hebrew, from Ashkenazic to Sephardic, and vice versa. An attempt by Itamar Ben Avi and others, several years ago, to change the Hebrew to Latin script proved abortive in the face of serious opposition. It should therefore be clear that language cannot be taken as a sort of currency or medium of exchange.Words in one language cannot be rendered by their equivalents in another language without losing something vitally and essentially peculiar to the mentality and genius of the people employing the tongue. It is a delusion to assume that one can fully understand the essence of Judaism in any language but Hebre w. As indicated previously, one cannot get the pristine and genuine message of the Bible in a translation, however effectively executed. Our Sages likened the day on which the Bible was translated into Greek to the day when the well-heeled Calf was made, for the Torah does not lend itself to an adequate translation. Dr. Max L. Margolis, editor of the Jewish Publication Society Bible translation, asserted It frequently happens that the translator, vainly seeking an equivalent for a Hebrew word or phrase, Home TOC Index The Role of Hebrew in Jewish Life 13 realizes that translation deals not so much with words as with civilizations. Consequently, some of the most significant and indispensable sources of Judaism must remain in a certain sense sealed books to those who do not know Hebrew.The wisdom of the Sages, the poetry of Ibn Gabirol, Judah Halevi, Bialik and Chernichovski or the prose of Mendele, Peretz and Agnon can never be rendered adequately in English or any other languag e. approximately every word, every turn of expression or locution employed by these masters of Hebrew literature, springs from the bed-rock of Jewish experiences, literary sources and Jewish folklore, and stirs within us memories, associations and images, such as no translations, however artistically done, can duplicate. Home TOC Index Home TOC IndexART PART ONE How the Language Began to Be Spoken Home TOC Index Home TOC Index CHAPTER ONE HEBREW AND THE LANGUAGES OF MANKIND Ancient Attempts to Identify the Original Language How many languages are there in the world? How did these languages arise? Did they evolve from one primeval language, or are they to be traced to several basic languages? What was this primeval language, or which were the basic languages? These questions have attracted wide heed among the inquisitive minds of the ancients as well as of modern scholars.The Greek historian Herodotus reports an experiment conducted by Psammetichus, king of Egypt (sixth coke B. C. E. ), with the object of discovering what race of men was first created or evolved. He took two newborn babes, arbitrarily selected, and placed them in the charge of a goatherd with strict instructions to bring them up on goats milk and to isolate them from any human contacts, so that no word of human speech might reach their ears. In this manner, the king hoped, the children would eventually yield to the promptings of nature and break out into human speech representing the primeval language of the original human race.The experiment succeeded, according to Herodotus. One day, after two years had passed, as the 17 Home TOC Index 18 Hebrew The Eternal Language goatherd opened the door of the lonely hut to serve the children their daily portion of milk, they cried out Bekos and held out their hands. The goatherd reported this to the king, and upon investigation the king discovered that bekos was the Phrygian word for bread. He thereupon concluded that the Phrygians we re the first race of men.The story bears, of course, the earmarks of pure racial propaganda. It is calculated to demonstrate the superiority of the Grecian race, the kinsmen of the Phrygians according to Greek tradition, by attributing to them a higher rank in antiquity than that of the Egyptians. But this experiment was not unique. Similar experiments are said to have been conducted in later ages by the Mongol emperor Akbar Khan (sixteenth century), the German emperor Frederick the Second (thirteenth century), and King James IV of Scotland (fifteenth century).The last-named is reported to have shut two infants up with a dumb woman on the island of Inchkeith and ordered them kept there until they were old enough to speak perfectly. These children are said by some to have spoken a pure Hebrew, although the chronicler himself entertained some doubts on the subject. Hebrewthe Mother of Languages There was, indeed, a time when Jews as well as Christians believed that all the languages of mankind derived from Hebrew, the language spoken by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. This is, of course, to be inferred from the scriptural accounts.Thus Eve was called Hawwah because she was the mother of all living (hai, Genesis 3. 20). Similarly, the woman was called ishshah because she was taken out of man (ish, ibid. , 2. 23). 1 In no other language besides Hebrew, the rabbis argued, do we key the terms for man and woman derived from the same root. The Hebrew language, it is therefore to be assumed according to them, was created simultaneously with the world and was the language employed by God in his conversations with Adam and Eve. 2 When Abraham was born, all Home TOC Index Hebrew and the Languages of mankind 19 he dignitaries of Nimrods court wanted to destroy him, says an old midrashic account, and he was hidden in a cave for thirteen years. When he came out of the cave he spoke Hebrew. 3 It (Hebrew) is, according to tradition, the language in which God spoke to Adam and Eve and in which they spoke between themselves (Judah Halevi). This traditional view is reiterated time and again during the Middle Ages and later by both Jews and non-Jews. Among the theses offered by the first class of Harvard graduates in 1642 was one entitled Hebrea est Linguarum Mater (Hebrew is the mother of the languages).Non-Jewish sources resorted to all sorts of whimsical etymologies to prove that the origin of European languages is to be found in Hebrew. 4 In his introduction to the Pentateuch, Moses Mendelssohn restates the view of the primacy of Hebrew and attempts to adduce superfluous proof in its corroboration. It was only after the fiasco of the Tower of Babel, according to the biblical tradition, that the Lord did there confound the languages of the earth and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth (Genesis 11. ). Thus, says rabbinic tradition, evolved the languages of mankind, numbering seventy-two (or seventy), twent ytwo of which were spoken by the descendants of Japheth, twenty-four by the children of Ham, and twenty-six by the children of Shem. 5 Modern Studies of Indo-European Languages Toward the end of the eighteenth century the study of linguistic science was given strong impetus by the discovery of Sanskrit and the recognition of the relationship of this language to Greek and Latin. It was then and during the major part of the ineteenth century that the Aryan or Indo-European languages were identified and subjected to careful study and scrutiny. No one knows how many languages there are in the world. They certainly can be counted in the thousands. Many of them Home TOC Index 20 Hebrew The Eternal Language are unrecorded in writing and may disappear without leaving a trace, as many unrecorded languages have undoubtedly disappeared already, while others are known from very scanty records. The majority of the languages of the world are probably those which have never been committed to wr iting by any of their primordial speakers.The most thoroughly investigated language family is the IndoEuropean. This family includes such languages, and language groups, as Sanskrit, Latin, Greek, Armenian, Albanese, Celtic, Slavic, Baltic and Germanic. The Germanic group, to which English pop offs, is probably the most astray employed, and English is now the most widespread of all languages in the world. However, the language which is known to have retained the greatest number of original forms of the Germanic dialect is Icelandic, a language spoken today by about 100,000 persons.Similarly, Lithuanian, one of the two surviving languages of the Baltic branch, spoken by several million people who live on the borders of Prussia and Russia, is said to have preserved many of the forms of Indo-European speech in a less corrupted condition than any of its European cogeners, aye, than any dialect of the entire family which is not at least two thousand years former(a)6 All these languag e groups have been identified as divergent forms of a single prehistoric language, hypothetically named Primitive Indo-European.No records of this primitive language are available, but this may be a mere historic accident. The oldest known member, or near relation, of this family is an extinct language, spoken by the Hittites, a people widely mentioned in the Bible and even regarded by the prophet Ezekiel as among the ancestors of the Hebrew people (Ezekiel 16. 3, 45). The available documents in that language already deciphered are written in a form of the cuneiform syllabic scripta wedge-like form of characters having syllabic rather than alphabetic value. These documents date back to about the fifteenth century B.C. E. Other Hittite documents, written in hieroglyphic script, have already been virtually deciphered. Home TOC Index Hebrew and the Languages of humanity 21 Hittite Hieroglyphic Writing From I. J. Gelb, A Study of Writing (University of Chicago Press), 1952, page 83 . Semitic Languages The language family which concerns us most at this time is that designated since 1781 as Semitic. The origin of this grant is the genealogical record of Genesis 10. 2131, according to which the peoples employing these languages were descendants of Shem, son of Noah.These peoples occupied a territory extending from the Mediterranean to the other side of the Euphrates up to the Tigris, or Mesopotamia, and from the mountains of Armenia to the southern coast of Arabia. Through subjugations and migrations these languages spread also to parts of Africa and Europe. The Canaanites (Phoenicians, etc. , Genesis 10. 1520) are traced in the Bible back to Ham, probably on account of their being a mixed race and also because, owing to their paganism, they were regarded with contempt by the biblical writers. However, their language is clearly a branch of the Semitic family, and the prophet Isaiah (19. 8) refers to Home TOC Index 22 Hebrew The Eternal Language Branches of th e Semitic Language Home TOC Index Hebrew and the Languages of Mankind 23 Geographical Distribution of the Semitic Languages Home TOC Index 24 Hebrew The Eternal Language Hebrew as the language of Canaan (sefat Canaan). Most of these languages are now dead, some having left important literary legacies. The only languages of this family still spoken, besides Hebrew, are Arabic, Ethiopic, and, to a limited extent, Syriac or Aramaic.The Semitic languages are generally shared out into the following branches A. East Semitic Assyrian-Babylonian or Akkadian. This language is known now from inscriptions on stone and clay, in cuneiform writing, dating back to about 2500 B. C. E. In this language were written the Code of Hammurabi (around 1800 B. C. E. ), the Amarna letters (1400 B. C. E. ) and other important documents. It was at one time widely in vogue in the Orient in official circles. It was there a sort of lingua franca, an international language. Later, around the middle of the f irst half in the last millennium B.C. E. , it was superseded by Aramaic. B. Northwest Semitic 1. Aramaic Branch. a. Eastern Aramaic or Syriac, of which the language of the Babylonian Talmud is a Jewish modification. b. Palestinian or Western Aramaic, which is represented by portions of the Palestinian Gemara and the Targumim (Bible translations generally included in the traditional Jewish editions of the Bible). The Aramaic portions of the Bible may also belong in this category, although some modern scholars challenge the possibility of establishing the local identity of these portions.At that early period, when these documents were written, no trait between Eastern and Western Aramaic existed, according to these scholars. The oldest documents in the Aramaic language date from the one-eighth century B. C. E. A few centuries later, especially around Home TOC Index Hebrew and the Languages of Mankind 25 the beginning of the Christian Era, Aramaic gained wide currency over large t racts of Western Asia, superseding several languages, among them Assyrian, and to a considerable extent also Hebrew.The theory held by some Jewish and non-Jewish scholars that Aramaic had completely displaced Hebrew is without any foundation and has been effectively disproved. But Aramaic undoubtedly exercised a tremendous influence on the evolution of the Hebrew language, and left its impress upon it. For about a millennium (from about 700 B. C. E. to around 650 C. E. ) Aramaic was employed as the official language of the Near East, until it was replaced by Arabic as one result of the Mohammedan conquests (of the seventh century C. E. ). When Assyria conquered the Aramean states and incorporated them into its empire, it adopted the language of the anquished. The spread of this language was facilitated especially by the Persian Empire which flourished during the fifth to third centuries B. C. E. The imperial policy of Persia was generally favorable to the deliverance of the nationa l mores and culture of its subject peoples. The Persian chancery accordingly chose to correspond with the provinces of Western Asia in their own peculiar dialect, Aramaic. Aramaic is still spoken by a few thousand Syrian Christians and Jews in Kurdistan, and various other isolated localities in the Orient on the borders of Persia, Iraq, Turkey and in Syria near Damascus.A considerable number of the Aramaic-speaking Kurdish Jews have recently immigrated into Israel. 2. Middle Semitic or Canaanite Branch. a. Moabitic, known especially from the illustrious inscription of King Mesha, ninth century B. C. E. The character and significance of this inscription will be discussed in a subsequent chapter. b. Phoenician, the language spoken in Phoenicia, as well as in the Phoenician colony of Carthage in North Africa, close to the present site of Tunis. The Phoenicians continued to identify themselves as Canaanites down to the Roman period.Its oldest known inscriptions are of the Home TOC I ndex 26 Hebrew The Eternal Language 12th or fourteenth century before the Christian Era. Around the early part of the first millennium B. C. E. , Phoenician enjoyed the status of an international language in Syria and nearby coastal Asia Minor, until it was replaced by Aramaic by the end of the eighth century. It continued to flourish in Carthage until several centuries into the Christian Era, and was still spoken in the time of Augustine in the fifth century C. E. c.Hebrew. The oldest portions of the Hebrew Bible probably date back to about 1300 B. C. E. , and the language has never ceased to be employed in most Jewish localities as a literary medium, as well as for purposes of written (if not spoken) intercommunication. In oral use it has been restricted mostly to houses of worship and study, although there is ample evidence to prove that even for conversational purposes oral Hebrew has been employed, in a limited degree and in certain localities, throughout the history of the J ewish people.Furthermore, many words and expressions dealing with intimate personal and national experiences have been incorporated into the various languages spoken by the Jewish people in the lands of their dispersion. Similarly, many Hebrew idioms have infiltrated, in translated forms, into the various Jewish dialects, such as Yiddish and Ladino (a Judaeo-Spanish dialect), and have persisted there to this day. In modern times the vitality and adaptability of the Hebrew language have been demonstrated to a remarkable degree, as a spoken language in Israel, and in many Jewish communities outside of Israel. . Ugaritic. A vast and significant literature has been Home TOC Index Hebrew and the Languages of Mankind 27 unearthed since 1930, shedding much light on biblical literature and language, in modern Ras Shamra, on the coast of Syria, opposite Cyprus. This Canaanitic literature was written in an alphabetic cuneiform script, indicating consonants and even some vowels. It contains epic poems typical of ancient Canaanite religion and civilization during the Late Bronze Age, when Ras Shamra was the site of Ugarit, the wealthiest Canaanite city.In language and style, this literature resembles to a remarkable degree the poetic portions of the Bible. Biblical literature and language must have been influenced tremendously by the highly developed culture and civilization of Ugarit. 3. South Semitic. a. Arabic and its various dialects. The earliest records of Arabic are of the third century B. C. E. Since the seventh century C. E. the territory of the language has extended, as a result of the Mohammedan conquests, to embrace large tracts of Asia and Africa. It is now in oral and written use by nearly forty millions of eople, besides serving as the sacred and official language of Islam. b. Ethiopic and its dialects. This language is used on the east coast of Africa (Abyssinia). It emerged into the light of history towards the beginning of the fourth century C. E. , i mmediately after the conversion of the Abyssinian Kingdom to Christianity. The language is still used in Abyssinia in modern dialects. Uniformity vs. novelty in Languages Attempts were made by students of language to discern relationships between the Indo-European and the Semitic lan- gt Home TOC Index 28 Hebrew The Eternal Language guages. These attempts stem from the assumption that both these language families evolved from the same parental stock. In proof of this assumption scholars adduce the examples of the Hebrew banah (built) and the Latin pono (compare English exponent, expound) also baar and Greek pyr from which originate the English pyre, pyro-, and fire Hebrew yayin (wine), Greek oinos, Latin vinum, Arabic waynun Hebrew sheba, Sanskrit saptan, Latin septem, English seven. A medieval Jewish scholar collected over two thousand Hebrew words, which, in his opinion, were the basis of a similar number of words in Latin, Greek and Italian. 7 Such attempts are now largely di scredited. If there is a relationship between the two language families, and there may be, the available evidence is inadequate and inconclusive. Mutual borrowing and mere accident may account for these relationships. The division of languages is, according to biblical tradition, a curse or punishment inflicted upon mankind for the unfearing attempt of the people of Shinar to erect there a tower, with its top in heaven (Genesis 11).To this day the multiplicity of languages is viewed by some people as an affliction responsible for misunderstanding and dissension among individuals, groups and nations. If people spoke a common language, it is held, discords would disappear, wars would be eliminated, peace and good will would reign in the world. Unsuccessful attempts have accordingly been made to devise a universal language, or to urge the adoption of one of the most widespread languages as a common language. That the adoption of a common language will serve as an effective instrument ality of peace is highly questionable.History can record many wars among peoples employing the same language. But it is a matter of grave doubt whether the adoption of a common language is feasible. Even if the peoples of the world would consent to adopt such a language, it would in the course of time split up into various, inversely alien languages and dialects. We may note, as an illustration, the tendency of American English to deviate in its development, both Home TOC Index Hebrew and the Languages of Mankind 29 in idiom and vocabulary, from British English.Even in the same country the people of certain generations find it difficult or impossible to understand the language of their ancestors several generations back. It may, incidentally, be seriously questioned whether the adoption of a common language would be desirable from a cultural point of view, even if it were possible. A common language would impose, to a considerable degree, common cultural and literary patterns. project the influence of English culture and literature on early American life and literature. Such a language would certainly result in the impoverishment of world culture and civilization.The Trend in Language towards Diversity Language (Sprache in German, lashon or safah in Hebrew), as indicated by its etymology, is basically a speech experience. It is transmitted by word of mouth from parents to children. We speak and pronounce words as we hear them spoken and pronounced by our elders, who in turn learned them from generations preceding them. It seems quite obvious to us that we speak exactly as do our parents and elders, and they believe they do the like with reference to the generation which preceded them. Yet, over a period of several generations there have been evident linguistic changes and modifications.The language of Shakespeare is no longer the English we speak while the fourteenth century English of Chaucer, and far more so the English of Alfred the big of the ninth c entury, are to us virtually foreign tongues. When, for example, was the Latin senior reduced to the French amaze and the English sir? When did the Anglo-Saxon deofol (Latin diabolus) evolve into the modern English devil? How did these radical changes in form and pronunciation occur? When did they inject themselves into the language? Each generation of speakers would certainly disclaim responsibility.Evidently the process of language transmittal is imperfect. Both our hearing and our capacity for articulating or imitating Home TOC Index 30 Hebrew The Eternal Language the sounds which we hear are imperfect and inexact. Hence language is subject to modification and change. Both growth and decomposition reaction are characteristics of language development, as they are of biological development. Some phonic elements gradually disintegrate and disappear, while new ones sprout and emerge. Occasionally, the variations are so great as to produce an entirely new offshoot, a new dialect or a new member of the language family.Two main factors generally operate as controls in the process of linguistic change (1) isolation and (2) possession of written records. A people occupying a circumscribed territory and relatively unexposed to contacts with other races or peoples is more likely to preserve the original forms of its speech than a people bent on expansion, migration or clashing with other races and peoples. Similarly a common literature often exercises a strong conservative influence on the language and shields it from the intrusion of alien elements and from radical phonetic and dialectical divergencies.For this reason, the changes in English since Shakespeares time are not as pronounced as those during the interval between his period and that of Chaucer, and they are especially less significant than the changes during the quint centuries preceding Chaucer, when England was assimilating the Normans. 8 Reason for Relative Unity in the Hebrew Language The litera ry control on linguistic change is particularly marked when, as in the case of the Hebrew language, the common literature is integrated with the religious traditions and experiences of the people.The Hebrew people were thrown into contact and collision with other people. Its vocabulary was considerably enriched by the admission of numerous foreign words borrowed from the many peoples among whom they dwelt. Yet the original linguistic pattern of Hebrew remained more or less intact. Thus we speak of biblical Hebrew as a unitary phase of the language, distinguished by typical characteristics of grammar and style. Yet, the interval between the earliest biblical documents, such as the Song of Moses or the Home TOC Index Hebrew and the Languages of Mankind 1 Song of Deborah, on the one hand, and the books of Koheleth and Esther, on the other, is as long as the interval separating the period of Alfred the Great from our own day. Furthermore, the twenty-two centuries subsequent to the bi blical period failed to impair the pristine pattern of the language. The result is that modern Hebrew writers may choose to employ biblical Hebrew as the medium of their literary expression, without the need of apology and without fearing that their writings will be incomprehensible or even regarded as unduly archaic.What is the explanation, in the case of Hebrew, of this unique linguistic phenomenon? How did the Hebrew language escape the transmuting effects of time which are in evidence in other languages? To be sure, the fact that the ancient biblical texts lacked a laid system of vocalization and were very scantily supplied with vowel-signs is in large measure responsible for the seeming phonetic uniformity of the Hebrew language. But it cannot be doubted that the Bible and the esteem with which it has been cherished throughout the centuries, counteracted and prevented fundamental changes in the structure of the language.Unlike Latin, which has been the language of the Catholic church, that is, of the clergy, without becoming the language of the faithful or of the multitude, the study of biblical Hebrew has been pursued throughout the generations by young and old with more or less zeal and assiduity. A great many new wordcoinages, word-forms and idioms have indeed been added to the language since the days of the Bible. Yet the original constitutive(a) pattern of the language remains intact.To this day children in elementary grades are trained and grounded in the intricacies of biblical Hebrew, while in the writings of practically every Hebrew author one may find a goodly number of word-structures, phrases, and turns of expression typical of the Bible. As a matter of fact, modern Hebrew sometimes shows preference for biblical usages over mishnaic or medieval usages. The biblical phrases and expressions of thirty-five centuries ago pulsate with vitality and vigor almost on a par with the language spoken in Israel today. Home TOC Index CHAPTER TWO HOW THE HEBREW LANGUAGE BEGAN Aramaic Background of Hebrew Some forty centuries ago, during the first half of the second millennium B. C. E. , a family or clan led by a tribal chief named Terah, emigratedso the biblical tradition has itfrom UrKasdim, a city of immemorial antiquity in Babylonia, to Haran in northwestern Mesopotamia, with the intention of proceeding from there into the land of Canaan For unspecified reasons Terah and his clansmen settled in Haran and apparently addicted the idea of journeying on.It must have been a long time after settling in Haran that one of the sons of Terah, named Abram (later renamed Abraham), after his fathers death, received a call from God saying induce thee out of thy country . . . unto the land that I will show thee. Whereupon Abram, heeding the call, resumed the journey into Canaan, taking with him Sarai his wife, and Lot his blood brothers son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran . . . and into the land of Canaan they came. This clan, headed by Abram, was by no means a nomadic or bedouin band.It was made up of settled or semi-settled herdsmen, who migrated with their wives and children and with their servants, cattle and other belongings. Abram must, ac32 Home TOC Index How the Hebrew Language Began 33 cordingly, have achieved in Haran considerable status and authority. Jewish tradition explains his departure from there by attributing to him a revulsion from the idolatrous practices prevalent in his native land and by the call to go forth and establish a new and great nation in the land of Canaan. It was to be a rather peaceful venture.Yet, we find Abram capable of mustering fighting forces among his clansmen and allies adequate to attack and defeat the armies of four victorious kings, and thus retrieve his nephew Lot and all the booty that had been captured from five defeated kings headed by those of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 14). Furthermore, Abimelekh, the Philistine king of Gerar, was eager to conclude with him a treaty of peace the native Amorites, Mamre, Eshkol and Aner, were his confederates while the Hittites accorded him honor and referred to him as a mighty prince (ibid. 23. 6). In the traditions of the Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, and other peoples, Abram would undoubtedly have been describe as a mighty chieftain leading a victorious invasion. His heroic exploits and glorious feats of conquest would have constituted the theme of epic sagas and poems. But the Torah, as the etymology of the term implies, is primarily designed to teach moral and religious lessons, not to tell stories or report historical events.Hence, all these warlike exploits in the life of the fathers of the Jewish people are glossed over and mentioned only incidentally. During a period of famine, Abram and his clansmen traveled to Egypt, but only for a brief sojourn. As soon as conditions improved they returned to Canaan, where they were to make their per manent home. They were part of a wave of migration that gravitated from the north and the east during the first half of the second millennium B. C. E. toward the grasslands of the more full-bodied South, with the object of conquest and occupation.This desire to seek fresh woods and pastures new was undoubte