October 12 marks the penultimate day in the High Holy Days of 2005, and accordingly, the penultimate entry in the HHD series. Unfortunately, today was also the nadir of Autumn, 2005. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, and thus there isn't much about which to blog.
Tomorrow is Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement for Jews. "Since Yom Kippur is the day to ask forgiveness for promises broken to God, the day before is reserved for asking forgiveness for broken promises between people, as God cannot forgive broken promises between people." (http://www.holidays.net/highholydays/yom.htm)
So if you have broken any promises since last Yom Kippur, today is the day to ask forgiveness.
Surprise Jews of the Day: Leonard Nimoy & William Shatner--both Ashkenazi Jews. Mr. Spock AND Captain Kirk!
Not-so-Surprising Jewess of the Day: Debra Messing, Bette Midler, Fran Drescher, Monica Geller
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Ashkenazi Jews are Jews from Poland, Austria, Germany, eastern Europe (as opposed to Sephardic Jews, who are from the Iberian Penninsula--Spain and Portugal).
Why do these Jews get a special name, and the other Jews - e.g. the Jews from Western Europe or (let's say) China - do not?
More than you probably wanted to know about Jews (but since you asked...)
The word "Ashkenaz" first appears in the genealogy in Genesis 10; he was a son of Gomer and grandson of Japheth. The term was originally applied to the Scythians, (who I surmize could be identified as descendents of Ashkenaz). By the 12th Century, the term became used more or less exclusively with Jews of what is today Germany, and then became more broadly applied to Jews of eastern Europe.
Sephardim are Jews from the Iberian Penninsula. The name comes from a city known as "Sepharad", mentioned in the book of Obadiah. Jews later identified this city as belonging somewhere between Spain and France (hence the reference to Spanish/Portugese Jews as Sephardim).
[There are other groups of Jews, including Mizrahi Jews of N. Africa/Middle East. Created after the creation of the nation-state of Israel, the term is a less common designation for Arab Jews.]
There are, in fact, "China Jews". Connie Chung is a convert to Judaishm (after marrying Maury). Sun Yat-Sen had a Jewish bodyguard; Misha Dicter is a Chinese-born Jewish pianist; Edmond Fischer is a Chinese-born Jewish biochemist (who won the Nobel Prize in 1992).
Wikipedia notes: Jews and Judaism in China have had a long and often enigmatic history. Jewish settlers are documented in China as early as the 7th or 8th century, but may have arrived long before this date. Relatively isolated and insulated communities developed through the Tang and Song Dynasties (7-12th cent. CE) all the way through the Qing Dynasty (19th cent.), most notably in the city of Kaifeng. ("Chinese Jews" is often used in a restricted sense to refer to these communities.)
Ashkenazi Jews are also notorious for having a lot of congenital diseases because they were heavily persecuted in Eastern Europe (thus reducing their gene pool) and then intermarried.
The other interesting thing about all of these different Jews is the cultures that they bring with them. When Sephardic Jews celebrate Passover, the food that they have is very different from that of the Ashkenazi.
Also, my last factoid on this topic is that the Big Mac (John MacArthur) has an awesome message in Genesis 10 that touches on this topic. Who knew that a geneaology could be so fascinating?
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