Hello everyone! I have very good news. Some of you must  have read the work the great talmudic and biblical scholar, Professor Henry J.,  who is the author of several books that combine impeccable scholarship and a  remarkably innovative approach. So much so, that some conservative rabbis say  the professor’s views border on iconoclastic blasphemy! However,  this is far from the truth. Professor Henry J. also has a doctorate in psychology, and his  hobby is to analyze ancient personalities and their behavior, based on his deep  knowledge of human nature and of the ancient sources. Incidentally, his name is  a pseudonym -- the professor is too modest to reveal his real name. 

I had the honor of receiving an e-mail from the  professor, who had read some of this blog. He feels that there is much I should  be enlightened about regarding the character of Hillel the Elder. He likes  Hillel (who wouldn’t?) but he feels that the views about him are more  hagiography and blind admiration than need be, and the truth is that he was a very different  person from what he appears to be in the legends about him. Here is the  professor’s remark about the famous snowy roof legend; I sincerely hope to have  more remarks in the future. I quote Professor Henry  J.:

One day Hillel wanted to enter the Academy and study.  Since he had no money, the guard did not allow him to go inside. Hillel climbed  on the roof and leaned over the opening of the chimney. The official, and  utterly wrong version, claims that Hillel was willing to lie on the roof in the  snow so that he could listen to the sages. The truth is completely different.  Hillel went on the roof to block the sunlight so the people inside the Academy  could not study. "If I am not studying," he later said to his friend, the  student Chavtaliahu Gazit, "no one else is  studying."

Even though I truly respect Professor Henry J., I personally find this version very difficult to believe. The wording, indeed, sound exactly like a quote from Hillel, but still... it is complex. So I sincerely hope to hear from readers! Any comment about this subject is welcome, and please feel free to accept or object. The professor and I will both welcome your views. Incidentally, does anyone know anything about the other student, Chavtaliahu Gazit? I could not find a source about him.


 

Hi everyone. This week there is a new posting on Personal Histories instead of the usual posting for The Golden Rule. It's a wonderful story -- but I must warn you it is  strong and perhaps even frightening... Here is the direct link, or just click on the Personal Histories tab. http://ililarbel.weebly.com/4/post/2013/03/the-mother-of-the-dreams.html

The relative  peace, fragile as it was, did not last. The trouble began in Rome, and spread to  Syria, and from there, to Judea. Julius Caesar was murdered. The event is so  well known, there is hardly a need to describe it here, but one of the men  involved, Cassius, became extremely important to the affairs in Judea, since  unfortunately he did not share Caesar’s good opinion of the country.   

The disturbance in Syria was also threatening to Judea. A man named Bassus Caecilius formed a plot against Sextus Caesar, Herod’s great friend, and unfortunately, succeeded in murdering him. He took over some of the Sextus’ army and made himself the ruler of the country. Sextus generals of both infantry and cavalry marched against him, and a terrible war broke over a large part of Syria.

As we are now  entering an exciting time in Judea, with such players as Julius Caesar, Marc  Antony, Cleopatra, and Herod on the scene, it is important to stop and pay  attention to an interesting phenomenon. Most of us, when we read history, tend  to divide the characters into good guys and bad guys. Who is good and who is bad  depends on your own background, but no matter how you feel about the actors on  the stage of history, good versus evil is a simplistic way of looking at it. For  example, being raised in Israel, my take as a young student was “Rome bad, Judea  good.”You might extend it to “Rebels against Rome good, Rome squashing rebellion  bad.” Now, after many years of reading history, I can smile at the silliness of  this approach and acknowledge that the level of sophistication it shows  resembles a video game where you must shoot all the bad aliens. Rebellions in  Judea were often extremely stupid and conducted by deranged religious fanatics  or power-hungry egomaniacs. The Romans were often extremely harsh and  unreasonable, as conquerors often are, but on the other hand, they did not  spend their entire time figuring new ways to torment the Jews. Life is complex,  and sometimes the Romans were quite reasonable and even friendly. 

This has nothing to do with the current Book in Progress, The Golden Rule, but I simply have to post it and this is a good spot for it since it's in a blog form. Someone took one of my books VERY seriously and he is calling me The Devil!!!!! I can't stop laughing. Here it is in its entirety.  
 
 
Anunnaki  Ultimatum: End Of Time: Autobiography And Explosive
Revelations Of A Human  Anunnaki Hybrid 
 
  
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 Fair Warning to Christians, October  16,  2012
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Anunnaki  Ultimatum: End Of Time: Autobiography And Explosive
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She equates Ba'al to the supreme  lord of the universe and blatantly  denies the resurrection of Christ. If the  devil were ever to write a  disinformation book, this would be it. Don't be  fooled. Since the time before  the flood the fallen have tried in vain to create  the "perfect man" in which to
incarnate, and have not had success. Almost as a  "rub your nose" in it event,  the True Lord creates the Perfect Man in a barn,  while Nibiru hung in the sky  as the Star of Bethlehem; a nightlight for his  crib. You have to love the  irony. :)

Unfortunately, there  is no proof for what I am about to tell you about the man who fearlessly spoke  to Herod and the Sanhedrin. (See previous segment). From all accounts it seems that  the man could have been one of Hillel’s great teachers, Shemaya or Avtalion.  However, the time frame is not entirely in order, because judging from the  sources, at this date both of them very likely had already passed away. The other  option is that it was one of their disciples. The description From Josephus is: “…there was silence and doubt about what was to be done. While they were in this  state, someone named Samaias, an upright man and for that reason superior  to fear, arose and said...” Variants on the name are Sameas, Samaeus, and  Samaios. The name is speculated to be a variant on Shemaya, and indeed it is  very similar. To further complicate the issue, he is mentioned elsewhere in  Josephus as a disciple of the Pharisee Pollion, and that name is almost  certainly a variant of Avtalion. Later, Josephus describes additional  encounters between Samaias, Pollion, and Herod, who seemed to have a great  respect for them – perhaps, Josephus thought, because of Samaias fearlessness  during the trial. If the man was one of Shemaya’s and Avtalion’s   deciples, could it have been Hillel himself? Hillel was known as totally  fearless in all his doings, and from later events, it is clear that Herod  respected and perhaps was even in awe of Hillel. I personally think it was  Hillel, but I am not sure; much research is needed on this ancient mystery. If I  ever find more evidence, I will certainly reveal it in this book.

Even two thousand  years ago, you had to belong to the old boys' club if you wanted to rise to a  really high position. The leading Jews in Jerusalem were part of a tight, closed  society, and they could not abide Antipater. “That Idumean,” as they called him,  considered himself a Jew with every justification, because as mentioned before,  the entire population of his country had undergone forced conversion to Judaism  around 130 BCE. Considering the fact that the conversion was forced upon the  Idumeans by John Hyrcanus, a Hasmonean, it seems most unfair that the  pro-Hasmonean Jews would look upon the Idumeans as outsiders, particularly one
like Antipater who seemed to embrace Judaism. But they did. They justified it by  stressing that “pious” Jews did not recognize forced conversions as binding. The  "old boys" found it expedient to be pious regarding such matters, at least when it  served their purpose. But let’s face it, even if Antipater could produce  ancestors who came to Judea (then Canaan) with Moses the Law Giver during the  Exodus, he would still not be a Hasmonean, and the leading Jews of that period  would despise him. For reasons that only they could figure out, only a Hasmonean  would be accepted as a ruler, which makes very little sense since tradition  dictated that true rulers had to be descendants of the House of David. In truth,  they simply were insufferable snobs, using religion as a tool to justify their  prejudices. The entire population of Judea, though, liked Antipater and his sons. The fact that they amassed huge revenues for themselves did not bother the  common people, probably because unlike the Hasmoneans, Antipater, Phasael, and  during his youth, even Herod, did not abuse their power against the population  and did not steal their possessions or overtaxed them. And they seemed sane,  practical, and down-to-earth, a huge improvement over the Hasmoneans with their  streak of madness that would come up every so often to wreak havoc on the  population.

Herod as a young man.

This picture was taken from a site claiming to be copyright free. If anyone objects, please let me know and I will remove it at once.




Antipater found himself at a  point where he could change history – and he set about to do it. As long as  Hyrcanus could be persuaded to believe that he was in charge, that everyone  respected him as the noble Hasmonean who deserved the highest position in the  land, all was well. Hyrcanus would never dream of actively interfering with anything Antipater, his dear friend and protector, wanted to do. Hyrcanus  believed in Antipater’s friendship and even love, and could now relax and tend  to his own peaceful business in Jerusalem and the Temple as Ethnarch[i]and High  Priest.
 
Antipater, as  mentioned in the previous segment, persuaded most of the population to behave  reasonably and avoid further revolts. In this relatively peaceful moment, he  could attempt to establish the dynasty that would once and for all terminate the  rule of the Hasmoneans – his own family. For himself, Antipater might have been  happy to work as the eminence grise, but his sons, he determined, would be the real rulers. 

This image was taken from a site that claimed it was copyright free. If anyone objects, please let me know and I will remove it immedately.





Julius Caesar


At this point,  Pompey was assassinated, and Caesar was fighting in Egypt. This proved a good  time for Antipater to ingratiate himself with Caesar. With Hyrcanus (who was  really Antipater’s puppet) supposedly giving the orders, Antipater took three  thousand men and went to help Mithridates of Pergamum, who was on his way to  join Caesar and was delayed in Ascalon. Antipater not only delivered these three  thousand heavy-armed Jewish soldiers, but also persuaded several influential  Arab chiefs to help Caesar. Antipater and Mithridates proceeded to the city of  Pelusium, and as the inhabitants would not admit them, they put the city under  siege. Antipater showed his bravery by pulling down a part of the wall, and  Mithridates got in and conquered Pelusium. They continued toward  Egypt.
 
As they marched  through the district of Onias, the Jews who were the inhabitants there tried to  prevent them from advancing. Antipater persuaded Mithridates to avoid fighting  them. Instead, he used subtle diplomacy. He appealed to the Jews to side with  him because of their shared nationality, and he showed them a letter from  Hyrcanus, who was most influential with any Jew because of his position as High  Priest. Hyrcanus’ letter asked them to help Caesar and show him hospitality.  Naturally, the Jews complied. The same happened in Memphis. Even better, many  men joined Mithridates’ army.

Hi everyone! I will not be placing a new segment of The Golden Rule this week. Instead, I recieved a wonderful story for the Personal History segment in this site, and I hope you will enjoy it as a change of pace. Please leave comments, both the author of the piece and I would love to know what you think about it! Here is the direct link:
 http://ililarbel.weebly.com/4/post/2013/01/yudale.html