@AdlerYonatan The mourning practice even makes a cameo in the original source linking RSBY to the day! Do you have a source that specifically links the mourning to the earthquake though? I’ve pointed out the coincidence in the past and speculated about the connection but I’ve never seen one.
@jewishhistoryst The meeting took place in Begin's suite at the Waldorf Astoria(acc. to R. Julius Berman z"l who was present). Apparently Begin offered to come to WH & the Rav said it wasn't appropriate for the PM of Israel to come to him.& it's unlikely RJBS's apt in WH had a crystal chandelier.
@AdlerYonatan K’darko,Dr. Berger wanted to convey the need for humility in making conclusions from historical evidence,understanding just how limited our evidence truly is and, maybe above all,recognizing that our natural biases inescapably become part of our interpretation.Chag Sameah Yonatan
@AdlerYonatan Mv”r Prof. David Berger once asked us to present examples of settled historical claims that turned out to be completely wrong (mine was the researched conclusion that Abner Doubleday invented baseball)…
@realajedelman@AriObanMD@israelbobsled@NBCOlympics And no one has a red convertible to sell or a catchy song to sing on a street corner??
Congrats and Mazal Tov AJ to you and the whole crew. This story is amazing. Can’t wait to watch you guys do us all proud.
@AdlerYonatan Yonatan, I have (what I think at least) is a legitimate (albeit minor) critique of the way you chose to teach us about an interesting and timely passage. But I don’t seem to be succeeding in tweet length responses. If you’d like to discuss further, please DM. חג שמח
@AdlerYonatan I realize the textual/historical analysis in question is not so simple. Regardless, my (respectful) critique was about the public airing of dirty laundry about someone critiquing you and the (in)sensitivity to a great many people that came along with that(again, I'd prefer a DM).
@AdlerYonatan Understood. But what we're discussing isn't strict historical argument as much as it is textual interpretation. Interestingly, the citation you gave of Neh8:17 left out the final words -"and there was very great joy"-which happen to be what the comms hinge their understanding on.
@AdlerYonatan To be sure, I most certainly agree no one should be critiquing anything you write without reading it thoroughly, but as your rabbi friend might say:
מה ענין שמיטה אצל הר סיני?
(FYI, I wanted to DM this but was unable to)
Wishing you a חג שמח whether you observe or not 😉
@AdlerYonatan To get into a spat w/ a rabbi whose worldview sees these interpretations as canonical & then to dismiss reliance on them as “fundamentalist” is not only a real mischaracterization, but also I expect quite an insult to many observers of the holiday to whom you wished a חג שמח.