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The Renascence of Hebrew Literature

The Revival of Hebrew

Initially published in French in 1903 as the Nahum Slouschz’s doctorate thesis at the University of Paris, this book explores the resurrection of Hebrew as a literary language and presents an analysis of the literature it has contributed, by a “grievous spectacle of poets and writers who are constantly expressing their anxiety lest it disappear within them.” European in extent and encapsulating all the passion and discord of the writings of a nation trying to find its voice, this is a compassionate and encouraging work, one that anyone will find practical and entertaining.
The evolution from Medieval Hebrew to Israeli or Modern Hebrew developed over many years. Many scholars tell us that the language began to change by the early 16th century. Amongst the first appearances were the first Yiddish‑Hebrew dictionary by Elijah Levita (1468‑1549), A. dei Rossi’s Me’or Einayim (1574) and the first Hebrew play by J. Sommo (1527‑92). They adapted Hebrew to modern needs, and it remains in use in writing today.

The Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment)

The first Hebrew newspapers appeared in the 18th century. I. Lampronti (1679‑1756) at Ferrara and, from 1750, M. Mendelssohn at Dessau were the forerunners. A periodical, Ha‑Me’assef, ran quarterly from 1784 to 1829. The “Society of Friends of the Hebrew Language” edited it, and it contained many writings from prominent leaders of the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) movement. In 1856 they printed the first weekly newspaper, Ha‑Maggid, in Russia. The leaders of the Jewish Enlightenment sought to revive Hebrew as a thriving language, by working to purify the language and advocating its correct use.

They likewise strengthened its capacity for communicating by borrowing and translating words from German and other Western languages. Many of the group’s leaders wanted to preserve Rabbinic Hebrew as an authentic element of the modernized language, but the bulk of them agreed to adopt the unadulterated form of Biblical Hebrew for verse and on an Andalusian style for writing instead. The Andalusian style is comparable to that practiced in the 12th and 13th centuries by the well-known family of Jewish translators, the Ibn Tibbons.
Many writers in the latter part of the 19th century paved the way for modern Hebrew; especially the playwright D. Zamoscz, who composed the first contemporary play in 1851, and novelist like A. Mapu who wrote the first book in this new style, and Yiddish linguists such as S.J. Abramowitsch.
Many of the 19th‑century authors sought to adopt a biblical form of the language and usually established a framework contradictory to its essence and that typically contained many grammatical errors. Mendele, who penned in both Hebrew and Yiddish, adopted into his terminology from various sources, including Biblical Hebrew and Yiddish. He along with many other writers made significant strides towards making sure that Hebrew would again become a spoken language.

Hebrew in Palestine (Pre-State Israel)

The printing of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda’s editorial titled “A burning question” in 1879 spawned a new generation of the Hebrew language. It made spoken Hebrew one of the most significant facets of the new settlement in Palestine.

Many Palestinian Jews already used Hebrew as a language spoken by individuals who had differing primary languages. However; Hebrew was never implemented universally, and the different emigrant communities persisted in speaking their primary languages. A primary element that helped Ben‑Yehuda to reestablish the Hebrew language was the absence of an existing nationalized language in the country, an eagerness by eastern and central European Jews to restore their culture, and remembrances of the ancient nobility that the Jews had previously experienced in Palestine. While in Jerusalem in 1881, Ben‑Yehuda moved forward with his aspiration of transforming Hebrew into a language fit for everyday practice. Ben-Yehuda set out to advance a fitting terminology, in which he blended words from archaic and out-of-date literature to form original words incorporated into his Thesaurus. Ben‑Yehuda describes the processes utilized for tailoring the language daily use in his Thesaurus.
The biggest hindrance to establishing Hebrew as a widespread language was the origination of new words. Therefore, discovering new words became the primary task of Ben‑Yehuda and the Language Council. Mechanisms established to adapt Hebrew for everyday practice include the addition of words taken from Arabic, based on their linguistic closeness to Hebrew, and a return to the scientific and specialized Hebrew terminology of the Ibn Tibbons translations. Ben‑Yehuda adopted many effective Hebrew and Aramaic phrases, and Latin and Greek loanwords, from the Talmud and the Mishnah.
They applied Aramaic linguistic patterns and suffixes for infrequently used biblical words, and root words confirmed in Biblical Hebrew were manipulated to extract new words conforming to their historic morphological forms.

Nahum Slouschz

Nahum Slouschz was born on November 1872 in Smarhon, Vilna district, Byelorussia and died in Tel Aviv, Israel on December 23, 1966. Slouschz was a Russian-born Israeli archaeologist, writer and linguist recognized for his research of the “secret” Hebrew communities in North Africa, particularly, Ethiopia, South Africa, Tunisia and Libya, but also in many secluded territories of Africa, and also in Portugal.
When he was 10 years old, the family moved to Odessa where his father, R. Dovid-Shloyme, became the rabbi at a temple on the outskirts of Moldavanka. Besides being a rabbi, Nahum’s father was a member of the Lovers of Zion and a Hebrew writer.
Nahum frequently studied the Talmud and the Tanakh with his father, in addition to learning foreign languages and worldly studies from his private tutors.
At nineteen, the Hovevei Zion Society of Odessa sent him to Palestine to research the possibility of settling a territory in the Holy Land. He was not unsuccessful and returned home, but did return to Palestine in 1919 and became a permanent resident of the country. In 1896 he traveled to Austria and Lithuania and Egypt before going back to Palestine.

Slouschz graduated from the Rabbinical Seminary in Odessa, and afterward taught Hebrew literature at Sorbonne University in Paris, and then in America. He was an associate of Theodor Herzl, the founder of the Zionist Organization, and was known as the father of the State of Israel. Slouschz headed archeological expeditions in Tiberias and Jerusalem.
He studied philosophy and belles-lettres at the University of Geneva in 1898. During this period, Nahum assisted in the set-up of the Swiss Federation of Zionists. He travelled to Paris in 1900, where he learned Oriental languages. He worked as a journalist at several newspapers, including Ha-Melitz and Ha-Tsefirah. In 1902, he taught school in Auteuil. In 1903, he finished his doctorate at the University of Paris and wrote his thesis on the topic of the renaissance of Hebrew literature. His thesis was initially published in French and a later revision in Hebrew under the title “Korot ha-Sifrut ha-Ìvrit ha-Hadasha.” The English version was released in 1909 incorporating new material, and was published under the title The Renascence of Hebrew Literature (1743-1885). In 1904, he taught on Neo-Hebraic composition at the University of Paris.

Publicated Wroks

Among his best works were books entitled “Across Unknown Jewish Africa,” and “The Renaissance of Hebrew Literature.”
His first article was written in 1887 called Haeshkol (The Cluster), and he later wrote articles for: Hamelits (The Advocate), Hatsfira (The Siren), Hapisga (The summit), Haḥavatselet (The Daffodil), and Voskhod (Sunrise), among others. At that time, he published in book form: Kat hamityahadim berusya (A group of converts to Judaism in Russia) (Vienna, 1889); Ma yaase haadam velo yeḥele (What a person needs to do so as not to get sick) (Jerusalem, 1891), 46 pp.; Haosher meain yimatse (Where is happiness to be found?) (Jerusalem, 1894); and Mnemotekhnik (The art of memory), in Russian.
In 1903 he obtained his doctoral degree for his treatise, La Renaissance de la littérature hébraique, 1734-1885, and it was later published in book form in French (Paris, 1903) and in Hebrew as Korot hasifrut haivrit haḥadasha (Warsaw, 1906), and in English as Renascence of Hebrew Literature (1909).

Awards

Nahum Slouschz won the Bialik Prize for Jewish thought in 1942. The Bialik Prize is a yearly literary award presented by the city of Tel Aviv, for notable achievements in Hebrew literature.

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The Religion of Samurai

The Samurai began as provincial warriors before rising to power during the 12th century as members of a powerful military caste in feudal Japan. The samurai started Japan’s first military dictatorship, known as the shogunate. As servants of the daimyos (great lords), the samurai helped the shogun gain power over the mikado (emperor) and dominate Japanese government and society until the Meiji Restoration of 1868 when the country abolished the feudal system.
After the Meiji Restoration many of the samurai entered the elite ranks of politics and industry and made the traditional samurai code of honor, discipline and morality known as bushido or “the way of the warrior” the basic code of conduct for Japanese society. They made the Shinto the state religion of Japan and, unlike Confucianism, Buddhism and Christianity, it was Japanese and adopted bushido as its ruling moral code. Japan signed an alliance agreement with Britain in 1902 and defeated the Russians in Manchuria two years later. By 1912, Japan had built up its military strength and by the end of World War I, was recognized at the Versailles peace conference as one of the “Big Five” powers alongside Britain, the U.S., France and Italy.
The liberal, cosmopolitan 1920s gave way to a revival of Japan’s military traditions in the 1930s, leading to imperial aggression and Japan’s entrance into World War II. During that conflict, Japanese soldiers brought antique samurai swords into battle and made suicidal “banzai” attacks according to the bushido principle of death before dishonor or defeat. By the end the war Japan had to draw on its strong sense of honor, discipline and devotion to a common cause again, but not with the daimyos and shoguns of the past, but with the emperor and the country. This allowed Japan to rebuild itself and reemerge as one of the world’s greatest economic and industrial powers of the 20th century.

Kaiten Nukariya

“It is the divine light, the inner heaven, the key to all moral treasures, the centre of thought and consciousness, the source of all influence and power, the seat of kindness, justice, sympathy,impartial love, humanity, and mercy, the measure of all things.”

Interesting Quotes from the Author

“Zen is completely free from the fetters of old dogmas, dead creeds, and conventions of stereotyped past, that check the development of a religious faith and prevent the discovery of a new truth. Zen needs no Inquisition. It never compelled nor will compel the compromise of a Galileo or a Descartes. No excommunication of a Spinoza or the burning of a Bruno is possible for Zen.”
— Kaiten Nukariya, The Religion of the Samurai A Study of Zen Philosophy and Discipline in China and Japan
“It is the divine light, the inner heaven, the key to all moral treasures, the centre of thought and consciousness, the source of all influence and power, the seat of kindness, justice, sympathy, impartial love, humanity, and mercy, the measure of all things.”
— Kaiten Nukariya, The Religion of the Samurai A Study of Zen Philosophy and Discipline in China and Japan
“The golden age is not passed. It is yet to come. There are not a few who think that the world is in completion, and the Creator has finished His work. We witness, however, that He is still working and working, for actually we hear His hammer-strokes resounding through heaven above and earth beneath. Does He not show us new materials for His building? Does He not give new forms to His design? Does He not surprise us with novelties, extraordinaries, and mysteries? In a word, the world is in progress, not in retrogression.”
— Kaiten Nukariya, The Religion of the Samurai A Study of Zen Philosophy and Discipline in China and Japan
“We should always bear in mind that the world is alive, and changing, and moving. It goes on to disclose a new phase, or to add a new truth.”
— Kaiten Nukariya, The Religion of the Samurai A Study of Zen Philosophy and Discipline in China and Japan

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The Prophecy of Daniel 8 and 9

Africanus Quotations Explaining the 2300 Day Prophecy of Daniel

“In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar, Daniel 8:1 where he prophesies of the subversion of the Persian power by the Greeks, which empires are symbolized in the prophecy under the figures of the ram and the he goat respectively.”
“Daniel 8:13-14 the sacrifice, he says, shall be abolished, and the holy places shall he made desolate, so as to be trodden under foot; which things shall be determined within 2300 days.
For if we take the day as a month, just as elsewhere in prophecy days are taken as years, and in different places are used in different ways, reducing the period in the same way as has been done above to Hebrew months, we shall find the period fully made out to the 20th year of the reign of Artaxerxes, from the capture of Jerusalem. For there are given thus 185 years, and one-year falls to be added to these — the year in which Nehemiah built the wall of the city. In 186 years, therefore, we find 2300 Hebrew months.”
“The angel instructs us to take from the going forth of the commandment to answer and to build Jerusalem. And this happened in the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia. For Nehemyah (Nehemiah) his cup-bearer besought him and received the answer that Jerusalem should be built.”

Summarization of Africanus’ Explanation Regarding the 2300 Days:

The “Ram” and the “He Goat” symbolized Persia and Greece.
We take each of the 2300 days as a lunar month (2300 days of new moons) which converts to 186 solar years.
The start of the 2300-days (186 years) was the start of the Hebrews captivity by the Babylonian’s in the Hebrew Year 4870 (630 BC).
The end of the 2300-days (186 years) is when Nehemyah returned from Babylon to the destroyed city of Jerusalem to start the rebuild in Hebrew Year 5056 (444 BC).
Starting at Hebrew Year 4870 plus 186 years puts us at Hebrew Year 5056 (444 BC) as the start date for the 70 weeks count.

Convert 2300 Days of New Moons (Months) to Solar Years

The average duration of a new moon cycle is 29.53058917 days, so a year of 12 lunar moon cycles (months) would be 354.36707 days long; and the calendar year is a solar year, which is 365.242199 days long.

Summarization of Africanus’ Explanation Regarding the 70 Weeks:

We take each of day of the 70 weeks as a lunar year, making it 70 weeks of lunar years, which equates to 490 lunar years, which is equivalent to 475 solar years
The start of the 70 weeks (475 years) is when Nehemyah returned from Babylon to the destroyed city of Jerusalem to start the rebuild in Hebrew Year 5056 (444 BC).
The end of the 70 weeks (475 years) marks the crucifixion of the Messiah in Hebrew Year 5531 (32 AD).
From Hebrew Year 5056 plus 475 years puts us at Hebrew Year 5531 (32 AD) as the resurrection date.

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The Myths of the New World

Myths as depictions of historical events

Myths of the New World, A Treatise on the Symbolism and Mythology of the Red Race of America. By Daniel G. Brinton (1868. Revised Edition, 1876).
A work designed more as a study of natural religion than as a contribution to science. It is offered to the general reader rather than to the inquirer into the antiquities of the Red Race of America. It discusses the Red man’s ideas of God; of the origin of man; of the nature of the soul and its destiny; of sacred numbers; and of symbols of the bird and the serpent: also, the Red Indian myths of creation, of the Deluge, of the last day, of water, fire, and the thunder-storm. The Indian usage of priesthood is explained, and the Indian contribution to universal religion pointed out. The book is, as it was designed to be, a thoughtful study of an interesting problem.
Mythology (from the Greek μῦθος (mythos), meaning a narrative, and logos, meaning speech or argument) refers to a body of stories that attempt to explain the origins and fundamental values of a given culture and the nature of the universe and humanity. In modern usage, the term can also mean stories that a particular culture believes to be true and that use the supernatural to interpret natural events. Ancient myths are generally founded by imagination and intuition rather than objective evidence.
Myths identify and help explain human propensities and natural phenomena with the actions and attributes of gods in a primordial past. The truths inherent in myths thus are not reducible to their historical veracity; rather, like imaginative literature, myths present abstract, often archetypical insights into human experience. In modern usage, myth is often used pejoratively to dismiss a belief or opinion as false or unsupported by any evidence. Nevertheless, myths may tap into dimensions of human experience, often religious, that science cannot access.
Mythology reflects humankind’s quest for meaning. Most myths are in narrative form, and stories such as Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, or Enkidu and Shiva reveal deep spiritual insights that endure for millenniums and speak to different ages through the filter of different cultures. Anthropologists also speak of the myths of modern society, enduring beliefs that re-present traditional myth in modern dress.
Some myths are based on historical events. These myths can over time become imbued with symbolic meaning, transformed, shifted in time or place, or even reversed. Over time, such “myths” make the transition from “legendary occurrence” to “mythical status,” as the event takes on progressively greater symbolic resonance while the facts become less important. By the time it reaches the status of myth, the story has taken on a life of its own and the facts of the original event have become almost irrelevant. A classic example of this process is the Trojan War, an historical event that is now a part of Greek mythology.

This method or technique of interpreting myths as accounts of actual events, euhemerist exegesis, dates from antiquity and can be traced back (from Spencer) to Evhémère’s Histoire sacrée (300 B.C.E.) which describes the inhabitants of the island of Panchaia, Everything-Good, in the Indian Ocean as normal people deified by popular naivety. As Roland Barthes affirms, “Myth is a word chosen by history. It could not come from the nature of things.”
This process occurs in part because the events described become detached from their original context and new context is substituted, often through analogy with current or recent events. Some Greek myths originated in Classical times to provide explanations for inexplicable features of local cult practices, to account for the local epithet of one of the Olympian gods, to interpret depictions of half-remembered figures, events, or to account for the deities’ attributes or entheogens, the origins of which have become arcane with the passing of time.
Mâche argues that euhemerist exegesis “was applied to capture and seize by force of reason qualities of thought, which eluded it on every side.” This process, he argues, often leads to interpretation of myths as “disguised propaganda in the service of powerful individuals,” and that the purpose of myths in this view is to allow the “social order” to establish “its permanence on the illusion of a natural order.” He argues against this interpretation, saying that “what puts an end to this caricature of certain speeches from May 1968 is, among other things, precisely the fact that roles are not distributed once and for all in myths, as would be the case if they were a variant of the idea of an ‘opium of the people.'”
Contra Barthes, Mâche argues that, “myth therefore seems to choose history, rather than be chosen by it”, “beyond words and stories, myth seems more like a psychic content from which words, gestures, and musics radiate. History only chooses for it more or less becoming clothes. And these contents surge forth all the more vigorously from the nature of things when reason tries to repress them. Whatever the roles and commentaries with which such and such a socio-historic movement decks out the mythic image, the latter lives a largely autonomous life which continually fascinates humanity. To denounce archaism only makes sense as a function of a ‘progressive’ ideology, which itself begins to show a certain archaism and an obvious naivety.”
Once the historical event becomes firmly ensconced in mythology, the mythology becomes the basis for understanding and interpreting even contemporary historical events. Descriptions of recent events are re-emphasized to make them seem to be analogous with the commonly known story. This technique is used by some adherents to Judaism and Christianity, who read books of prophecy in the Bible, notably the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation, as “historical” accounts of future events. It was also used in Russian Communist-era propaganda to interpret the direction of history and guide decisions about political decisions. Until World War II the fitness of the Emperor of Japan was linked to his mythical descent from the Shinto sun goddess, Amaterasu.

Daniel Garrison Brinton

“All the earth is a grave, and nought escapes it; nothing is so perfect that it does not fall and disappear. The rivers, brooks, fountains and waters flow on, and never return to their joyous beginnings; they hasten on to the vast realms of Tlaloc, and the wider they spread between their marges the more rapidly do they mould their own sepulchral urns. That which was yesterday is not to-day; and let not that which is to-day trust to live to-morrow.”

Daniel Garrison Brinton was born in Thornbury Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania was an American surgeon who served the Union Army during the American Civil War from 1862 to 1865. Apart from that, he was also a prominent archaeologist and historian. Brinton continued his education at Jefferson Medical College for two years after graduating from Yale University in 1858. Then spent the following year exploring Europe.
Brinton gained a lot of experience after the war. He was the editor of the Medical and Surgical Reporter (a weekly magazine), in Philadelphia between 1874 and 1887.
He also practiced medicine in West Chester, Pennsylvania for many years and worked at the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia as an archaeology and ethnology professor in 1884. Until he died, he served the University of Pennsylvania as an archaeology American linguistics professor from 1886.
Brinton delivered a speech on “What the Anarchists Want” in April 1896 at the Ethical Fellowship of Philadelphia. Acclaimed anarchist Peter Kropotkin had dinner with Brinton, which was his only speaking engagement at Philadelphia, in October 1897, after having rejected invitations from all other aristocracies in the city. So it can be said that Brinton followed the path of an anarchist during the last few years of his life.
On October 6, 1900, a memorial meeting was held for Brinton where the keynote speaker Albert H. Smyth said that Brinton looked for societies of anarchists in Europe and America and intermingled with some radicals in the world that he might consider their hardships and analyze their approaches for improvements and modifications.

Works

From 1868 to 1899, Brinton wrote many books, and a large number of pamphlets, brochures, addresses and magazine articles. His works include:

American Hero-Myths: A Study in the Native Religions of the Western Continent.
Library of Aboriginal American Literature. No. VIII
Aboriginal American authors and their productions
Notes on the Floridian Peninsula (1859)
The Myths of the New World (1868), an attempt to analyse and correlate, scientifically, the mythology of the American Indians
A Guide-Book of Florida and the South (1869)
The Religious Sentiment: its Sources and Aim: A Contribution to the Science and Philosophy of Religion (1876)
American Hero Myths (1882)
The Annals of the Cakchiquels (1885)

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The Mormon Doctrine of Deity

Christianity and Mormon Culture

This work is well written and simply organized to deal with this complex and often controversial topic. In many ways, this presentation attempts to explore the nature of God In a larger context than traditionally expressed by the field of philosophy. As such, many accepted explanations and constructs are examined, while allowing for Roberts, as the principal author, to create a more coherent structure for Latter-day Saint doctrinal beliefs.
Understanding God’s nature is important because it helps us to better understand our potential. Heavenly Father is the all-powerful Creator and Ruler of the universe, but He is also patient, paternal, merciful, and devoted to our eternal progression. “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). God is not abstract or incomprehensible; indeed, we should all strive to come to know Him and His Son in this life.
Mormonism and Christianity have a complex theological, historical, and sociological relationship. Mormons express the doctrines of Mormonism using standard biblical terminology and have similar views about the nature of Jesus’ atonement, bodily resurrection, and Second Coming as traditional Christianity. Nevertheless, most Mormons do not accept the Trinitarian views of orthodox Nicene Christianity, codified In the Nicene and Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creeds of 325 and 381. Although Mormons consider the Protestant Bible as scripture, they do not believe in biblical inerrancy. They have also adopted additional scriptures, including the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. Mormons practice baptism and celebrate the Sacrament, but they also participate in religious rituals not practiced by traditional Christianity. Mormons self-identify as Christian. Focusing on differences, some Christians consider Mormonism “non-Christian”; Mormons, focusing on similarities, are sometimes offended at being so characterized. Mormons do not accept non-Mormon baptism nor do non-Mormon Christians usually accept Mormon baptism. Mormons regularly proselytize individuals actually or nominally within the Christian tradition, and some Christians, especially evangelicals, proselytize Mormons. Some view Mormonism as a form of Christianity, but distinct enough from traditional Christianity so as to form a new religious tradition, much as Christianity is more than just a sect of Judaism.

The Mormonism that originated with Joseph Smith in the 1820s shared strong similarities with some elements of nineteenth-century Protestant Christianity. Mormons believe that God, through Smith and his successors, restored various doctrines and practices that were lost from the original Christianity taught by Jesus. For example, Smith, as a result of his “First Vision”, primarily rejected the Nicene doctrine of the Trinity and instead taught that God the Father, his son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three distinct “personages”.
While the largest Mormon denomination, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), acknowledges its differences with mainstream Christianity, it also focuses on its commonalities such as its focus on faith in Christ, following the teachings of Jesus Christ, the miracle of the atonement, and many other doctrines.

Brigham Henry Roberts

Historian, Politician, and Leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Brigham Roberts was born on March 13, 1857, in Warrington, Lancashire, England, and died on September 27, 1933, in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. He characterized his childhood as horror and his adolescence as a catastrophe in one of his later published works. His father, Benjamin Roberts, was an alcoholic ship plater and blacksmith, and his mother, Ann Everington, was a seamstress. Just after he was born, his father and mother converted to the Latter-Day Saints Church.
He left England in April 1866 aided by the Perpetual Emigrating Fund along with his sister, where they joined a wagon train in Nebraska and walked most of the way to Salt Lake City, Utah to meet their mother.
In 1867, Seth Dustin baptized Roberts into the LDS Church, and in 1869 he wed Roberts’ mother, Ann. Ann was granted a divorce in 1884 because Dustin had long since deserted the family. Roberts liked Utah and settled in a town called Bountiful, which he considered home.
As a young adult, he worked as a laborer in the mines. He, like most of the young men In Bountiful, took a liking to drinking and gambling. Later on, he learned to read and got an apprenticeship as a blacksmith while he was in school. After a life of only menial jobs, he had found his calling. He became especially zealous about reading and voraciously read many publications Including the Book of Mormon and other Mormon theological texts and publications on philosophy, history, and science. He graduated at the top of his class from the University of Deseret in 1878. Soon afterward he wed Sarah Louisa Smith, and they had 7 children.

Published Works

Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry), 1857.1933: Corianton: A Nephite Story
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry), 1857-1933: Defense of the Faith and the Saints (Volume 1 of 2)
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry), 1857-1933: Defense of the Faith and the Saints (Volume 2 of 2)
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry), 1857-1933: The gospel. an exposition of Its first principles, (Salt Lake City, George Q. Cannon & Sons Co., 1893)
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry), 1857-1933: The gospel. An exposition of its first principles, (Salt Lake City, The Contributor Company, 1888)
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry), 1857-1933: The Gospel: an exposition of its first principles; and man’s relationship to Deity / (Salt Lake City, Utah: The Deseret news, 1901)
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry), 1857-1933: The Gospel: An Exposition of its First Principles: Revised and Enlarged Edition
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry), 1857-1933: History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. (Salt Lake City, Utah, Deseret News, 1902-1932), also by Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry), 1857-1933: The Mormon Doctrine of Deity: The Roberts-Van Der Donckt Discussion

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The Masoretic Texts

The modern Hebrew text of the Old Testament is called the Masoretic Text because it is based upon the Masora—the Hebrew textual tradition of scholars known as the Masoretes (or Masorites).
The Masoretes were the first to separate what we now refer to as apocryphal books from the canonical books. They were likewise the first to divide the Torah into the twenty-two books, 22 being the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, which has subsequently morphed into what is now the 27 books of the Old Testament. After the division into books, the books were further subdivided into chapters and verses. Like the Septuagint, the Masoretic Texts were translated directly from the Ancient Hebrew Scriptures.
The Masoretic Text has become a modern Hebrew translation of the Scriptures and is the basis of the present-day Old Testament materials. Likewise, earlier English Bible translations like the Wycliffe Bible in 1382 AD and the King James Authorized Version in 1611 used the Masoretic Texts for the 27 Books in today’s Bibles, but these Bibles also included the Septuagint books that are now referred to as apocryphal. When the popular King James Version removed the apocryphal books in 1885 AD, the Masoretic Text became universally accepted as the authentic Hebrew Bible. This text is the only text quoted in rabbinic writings and the only text used by organized Judaism since the 10th century AD. The oldest complete version of the Masoretic Text is the Leningrad Codex produced in 1009 AD. In comparison to the Septuagint the Masoretic Text are a very late manuscript.

Septuagint vs. Masoretic Texts Begotten Ages Table

Who Were the Masoretes?

The Masoretes were groups of Hebrew scribes from the latter part of the 5th through 10th centuries AD. They primarily lived in early medieval Palestine in the cities of Tiberias and Yerushalayim(Jerusalem) and in Babylonia (Iraq). Each group devised a system of diction and grammatical keys in the construct of diacritical signs on the external form of the Scriptural content in order to standardize the pronunciation, chapter and verse sections, and cantillation of the Hebrew Bible for the global Hebrew society.
The Masoretes developed the vowel notation system for Hebrew that is still universally practiced, as well as the trope symbols adopted for the diacritics used in texts that are to be chanted in liturgy.
The ben Asher family of Masoretes were primarily responsible for the preservation and production of the Masoretic Text, although there was an alternative Masoretic text of the ben Naphtali family. There are around 875 differences between the two texts. The halachic authority Maimonides preferred the ben Asher version, and the Egyptian Hebrew scholar, Saadya Gaon al-Fayyumi, endorsed the ben Naphtali system. It is believed that most of the Masoretes were Karaites.

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The Masoretic Recension

The impetus to contrive a new Hebrew Scriptural Text stems from the growing dissatisfaction with the Septuagint amongst the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Sanhedrin Council, who denied that the Messiah had come. Not only did the Septuagint have the 5500-year Genesis timeline, and the apocryphal books which support that timeline, it had also added the works of the Apostles.
By 135 AD, the Septuagint had fallen out of favor and the Rabbi’s needed to come up with an alternative. They initiated the concept of a new Hebrew Text around 70 AD and it developed over many years and gained wide acceptance by the 6th century as the Masoretic Text was published. In his book “Seder Olam Rabbah” Rabbi Yose ben Halafta, declares that the year in which many proclaimed that Yahusha (Jesus) the Messiah had come, in 1 AD, was only 3760 years after the creation of Adam; therefore, he couldn’t possibly have been the King of the Hebrews from prophecy.

The writers of the Masoretic Texts made the following denials of accepted beliefs held by the followers of Yahusha (Jesus):

They denied that many of the existing Scriptural books in the Ancient Hebrew Texts and the Septuagint were legitimate.
They denied the Creation Timeline in the Ancient Hebrew Texts and the Septuagint.
They denied the legitimacy of the writings of the Apostles.
The denied that Yahusha (Jesus) was the Messiah and that the “Prophecy” had been fulfilled.

Septuagint vs. Masoretic Texts Begotten Ages Table

Matthew 23:13
“But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.”
Matthew 23:27
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.”

Africanus asserted that “the Hebrew scribes and rabbis purposely hid from the knowledge of the people as many of the passages which contained any scandal against the elders, rulers, and judges, as they could, some of which have been preserved in the canonical writings.” He backs up his theory by recounting the Hebrews violence against their own Prophets, and atrocities against Yahusha (Jesus) and the Apostles, as recorded in the New Testament.

Matthew 12:14
“Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.”
Matthew 23:34
” Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:”

The rabbinic world chronology in the Seder Olam Rabbah (ca. 1 AD.40–160), based on the Masoretic Text, dates Creation to 3761 BC. The Seder Olam was developed and written by the very same rabbis who deflated the Masoretic Texts numbers in the Book of Genesis Chapters 5 and 11 to discredit the idea that the Messiah had already arrived. Simply stated, the rabbinic date of Creation derived from the authoritative Seder Olam places Yahusha’s (Jesus’) life too soon for him to have been the Messiah. This reduction was done in conjunction with their reinterpretation of Daniel 9, which they associated with the Temple’s destruction instead of the coming of the Messiah. Reinterpreting Daniel 9, adopting the Seder Olam as authoritative, and reducing the primeval chronology in their Hebrew texts worked together as rationales for rejecting him as the Messiah.
The deliberate chronological deflation of over 1500 years in the proto–Masoretic Hebrew text arose around 70 AD. In his book, the Chronicle, (AD 260/265–340) Eusebius became the first historian to explain that the rabbis deliberately deflated the proto–Masoretic Text chronology. Many other ancient writers including, Jacob of Edessa (AD 640–708), Armenian annalist Bar Hebraeus (1 AD.226–1286), Byzantine chronologist George Syncellus (d. AD 813) and Julian of Toledo (AD 642–690) also made this claim.

From Septuagint to the Masoretic Text Table

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The Life of Flavius Josephus

Yosef ben Matityahu

The Development of Flavius Josephus, or Vita, is an autobiography written by Josephus in approximately 94-99 CE, where Josephus rehashes the details of the Hebrew-Roman War, in retort to accusations made against him by Justus of Tiberias.
Affixed to the Antiquities was a Vita (Life), which is more of an apology for Josephus’ conduct in Galilee during the revolution, than it is an autobiography. He wrote it as a retort against the attacks of his adversary Justus of Tiberias, who alleged that Josephus was liable for the revolution. In his defense, he countered the explanation offered in his more candid Jewish War, representing himself as a dependable devotee of Rome and a deserter to the rebellion from the outset.
Josephus came across as more trustworthy in his text the Contra Apionem (Against Apion), even though his prior works Concerning the Antiquity of the Jews and Against the Greeks are more significant. Of its 2 volumes, the first responds to different anti-Semitic verbal attacks hurled at the Hebrews by Hellenistic authors, and the second declares the moral supremacy of the Hebrew religion over Hellenism and shows Josephus’ devotion to his culture and religion.

Because Josephus’ first-hand narrative of the life of Jesus is the most credible present-day account that endured to the present, he is the most fascinating historian of the Roman emperor.
He related many of the affairs of the Eastern Roman empire, initially as a patriotic Roman, and thereafter in a more sovereign tone.
Flavius Josephus is famous for his first-hand narration of Hebrew history, together with a first-person narrative of the revolution against the Romans (66-73 AD), and factual affirmation of the life and teachings of Yahushua (Jesus of Nazareth to the Greeks).
A Hebrew of priestly and noble lineage, Yosef ben Matityahu (Joseph ben Matthias), was appointed leader of Galilee and fought in the 66 AD revolution against Rome. The Roman Vespasian crushed his forces, and after a 7-week blockade, Matityahu surrendered. He eventually won the support of Vespasian, who became emperor after Nero killed himself. Matityahu assumed the Roman name Titus Flavius Josephus and finished his career with the endorsement of Vespasian and his successors (Titus and Domitian). Josephus penned the History of the Jewish War, in Aramaic and later in Greek.

Antiquities of the Jews is a historical account from creation to 66 AD that acknowledges Yahushua (Jesus), Yohanan (John the Baptist) and Ya’aqov (James), the martyred brother of Yahushua (Jesus).
Although his original works were modified over the generations, most academicians recognize him as the main source of extra-biblical material from early Christian times.
Josephus shined in his studies on Hebrew law. He studied with the Essenes, Pharisees and the Sadducees, prior to joining the Pharisees. Josephus was a witness to these historical events, and his written accounts are deemed factual.

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The Life of Buddha and Its Lessons

The Value of Suffering

The Life of Buddha and its Lessons

Is Buddhism relevant in our modern world? The better question is, how Buddhism is relevant to life. Is there anything special about our modern life?
Cell phones and other technology differentiate modern life, compared to earlier periods of history. Only fifteen years ago there were no mobile phones. The human condition is no different today than before cell phones existed. The human condition has been the same throughout time. People have always had arguments with each other, been unhappy with each other, protected each other and loved each other. Ancient people’s lives had worries like ours do today; whether it’s economic difficulties of the present age, or about a drought causing crop failure. Buddhism has something to offer and is relevant in all times.

True Suffering: Unhappiness, Happiness, and Compulsion

The first true truth is suffering. What is true suffering? What are the problems that we all face?
Unhappiness is the first major problem we face. There can be many gradations of unhappiness; even when we are in pleasurable situations, in pleasant company, eating delicious food, we can still be unhappy. Oppositely, if we are in pain, we can still be happy and at peace and accepting of our situation without complaining, and without becoming upset and self-preoccupied.
The second problem is unusual and most people would not recognize this as a problem; this suffering is our ordinary happiness.
What is the problem with our ordinary happiness? The problem is that it does not last; it is never satisfying, we never get enough, and then it changes. We’re happy for a while, then our mood changes and we’re unhappy. If our ordinary happiness was a true ultimate happiness, the more we had of something that made us happy, the happier we would become.

In theory, the more of your favorite food that you eat at one time, the happier we should become. Once we’re satiated, we are no longer happy eating our favorite food, so this ordinary happiness that we strive for is problematic. I often think: How much of my favorite food do I need to eat to enjoy it? Would one little taste be enough?
The third problematic situation is our compulsive existence. Compulsive means that we are not in control over our minds or our behavior.
We could be compulsively singing a song in our head and cannot stop, have uncontrollable jealous thoughts about a partner, we can’t stop having very negative thoughts or worrying. You can’t satisfy a compulsive, even the compulsion to be perfect in fact is stressful and unpleasant.
This whole aspect of compulsion is what karma is referring to in Buddhism; karma forces us repeated uncontrollable behaviors that are problematic whether they’re destructive or constructive.

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The Koranns’ Summary

The Qur’an (al-Qur’an), likewise called Qur’an or Koran, is the most significant religious text of Islam, and Muslims consider it a revelation from God (Allah). Scholars consider it to be the neatest work of Arabic literature. It comprises 114 chapters, with each chapter consisting of many verses, and it can only be spoken in Arabic during prayers. Many stories in the Koran are similar to those recounted in the Biblical and apocryphal scriptures.
The primary focuses of the Koran are of Allah (or God) and Muhammad the prophet Spiritual Importance is attributed to the name of The Prophet Muhammad, contending that although he was human, he was not born but was willed into existence to fulfill his spiritual role.
The Koran denies the Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ is equal to God, accepting that he was an enlightened prophet, analogous to Muhammad, and that his story paramount to the study of Islam and mankind’s relationship with Allah.

Muslims accept that Allah orally declared the Koran to Muhammad, through the archangel Gabriel. They believe the scriptures were given to him incrementally over 23 years, boning in the month of Ramadan, when Muhammad was 40; and ending in 632 upon his death. Muslims consider the Koran as Muhammad’s most important miracle; as validation of his prophethood; and the apex of an array of spiritual directives commencing with those declared to Adam, including the Torah (Tawrah), the Psalms (Zabur) and the Gospel (Injil).
Muslims do not regard the Koran as being divinely Inspired, but the actual word of God. According to tradition, several of Muhammad’s associates worked as scribes, writing the revelations, and assembled the written down and memorized parts of the Koran soon after his death. Caliph Ullmancreated a standard version, now identified as the Uthmanic codex, which is widely recognized as the archetype of the Quran today.

They hall a person who memorizes the entire Koran a hafiz (‘memorize’). During Ramadan, Muslims generally recite the entire Koran during tarawih prayers. To deduce what a specific Koranic verse means, most Muslims rely on exegesis, or interpretations. Many Muslim scholars on the Koran have asserted that the Koran can be relevant in any language and for any society, but acknowledges that it loses much of its substance when translated to a language other than Arabic.

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