Showing posts with label Religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Religion. Show all posts

Friday, March 25, 2011

Reb

Reb (Yiddish: רעב) is a Yiddish honorific traditionally used for Orthodox Jewish men. It is not a rabbinic title; it is the equivalent of the English "mister". In writing it is abbreviated as 'ר.


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Friday, January 22, 2010

Moloch

Moloch, Molech, Molekh, Molek, or Moloc, representing Semitic מולך m-l-k, (a root which occurs in various Hebrew and Arabic words related to kings) is either the name of a god or the name of a particular kind of sacrifice associated with fire. Moloch was historically affiliated with cultures throughout the Middle East, including the Ammonite, Hebrew, Canaanite, Phoenician and related cultures in North Africa and the Levant.

In modern English usage, "Moloch" can refer derivatively to any person or thing which demands or requires costly sacrifices.


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Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Cargo cult

A cargo cult appears in tribal societies in the wake of interaction with technologically advanced, non-native cultures. Focused on obtaining the material wealth of the advanced culture through magical thinking, religious rituals and practices, the cargo cult believes the wealth was intended for them by their deities and ancestors.

Following contact with people from more technically advanced societies through exploration, colonization, missionary efforts, and international warfare, the cultures of New Guinea and other Micronesian and Melanesian countries in the southwest Pacific Ocean are locations where these religious movements were initially documented.


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Sunday, May 4, 2008

Half-Way Covenant

from wikipedia:

The Halfway Covenant was a form of partial church membership created by New England Puritans in 1662. It was promoted in particular by the Reverend Solomon Stoddard, who felt that the people of the English colonies were drifting away from their original religious purpose. First-generation settlers were beginning to die out, while their children and grandchildren often expressed less religious piety, and more desire for material wealth.


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Thursday, April 24, 2008

Priestly Blessing

from wikipedia:

The Priestly Blessing, (Hebrew: ברכת כהנים; translit. Birkat Kohanim), also known in Hebrew as Nesiat Kapayim, (lit. Raising of the Hands), is a Jewish prayer recited by Kohanim during certain Jewish services. It is based on a scriptual verse: "They shall place My name upon the children of Israel, and I Myself shall bless them."

In the mid-1960s, actor Leonard Nimoy, who was raised in a traditional Jewish home, used a single-handed version of this gesture to create the Vulcan Hand Salute for his character, Mr. Spock, on Star Trek. He has explained that while attending Orthodox services as a child, he peeked from under his father's tallit and saw the gesture; many years later, when introducing the character of Mr. Spock, he and series creator Gene Roddenberry thought a physical component should accompany the verbal "Live long and prosper" greeting.


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