#Bet Shean

[appuntisugerusalemme]

OnSite: Beth Shean

[david-goldrock]

Being an Israeli:

Me: yeah, so she has a boyfriend who lives near bet-shean, in <name of place>

My mom, half listening: your grandpa established <name of place> with his friends from the army when he was 18, you know that, right?

[the-marx-brothers-will-live-on]

Leonard Joseph "Chico" Marx (March 22, 1887 – October 11, 1961) was an American comedian, musician, actor and film star. He was a member of the Marx Brothers (with Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, and Zeppo Marx). His persona in the act was that of a charming, uneducated but crafty con artist, seemingly of rural Italian origin, who wore shabby clothes and sported a curly-haired wig and Tyrolean hat. On screen, Chico is often in alliance with Harpo, usually as partners in crime, and is also frequently seen trying to con or outfox Groucho. Leonard was the oldest of the Marx Brothers to live past early childhood (first-born Manfred Marx had died in infancy). In addition to his work as a performer, he played an important role in the management and development of the act in its early years.

Chico was born in Manhattan, New York City, on March 22, 1887. His parents were Sam Marx (called "Frenchie" throughout his life), and his wife, Minnie Schoenberg Marx. Minnie's brother was Al Shean. The Marx family was Franco-German Jewish. His father was a native of Alsace who worked as a tailor and his mother was from East Frisia in Germany.

Billing himself as Chico, he used an Italian persona for his onstage character; stereotyped ethnic characters were common with vaudevillians. His non-Italian-ness was specifically referred to twice on film. In their second feature, Animal Crackers, he recognizes someone he knows to be a fish peddler impersonating a respected art collector:

Ravelli (Chico): "How is it you got to be Roscoe W. Chandler?"

Chandler: "Say, how did you get to be an Italian?"

Ravelli: "Never mind—whose confession is this?"

In A Night at the Opera, which begins in Italy, his character, Fiorello, claims not to be Italian, eliciting a surprised look from Groucho:

Driftwood (Groucho): "Well, things seem to be getting better around the country."

Fiorello (Chico): "I don't know, I'm a stranger here myself."

A scene in the film Go West, in which Chico attempts to placate an Indian chief of whom Groucho has run afoul, has a line that plays a bit on Chico's lack of Italian nationality, but is more or less proper Marxian wordplay:

S. Quentin Quayle (Groucho): "Can you talk Indian?"

Joe Panello (Chico): "I was born in Indianapolis!"

There are moments, however, where Chico's characters appear to be genuinely Italian; examples include the film The Big Store, in which his character Ravelli runs into an old friend he worked with in Naples (after a brief misunderstanding due to his accent), the film Monkey Business, in which Chico claims his grandfather sailed with Christopher Columbus, and their very first outing The Cocoanuts, where Mr. Hammer (Groucho) asks him if he knew what an auction was, in which he responds "I come from Italy on the Atlantic Auction!" Chico's character is often assumed to be dim-witted, as he frequently misunderstands words spoken by other characters (particularly Groucho). However, he often gets the better of the same characters by extorting money from them, either by con or blackmail; again, Groucho is his most frequent target.

Chico was a talented pianist. He originally started playing with only his right hand and fake playing with his left, as his teacher did so herself. Chico eventually acquired a better teacher and learned to play the piano correctly. As a young boy, he gained jobs playing piano to earn money for the Marx family. Sometimes Chico even worked playing in two places at the same time. He would acquire the first job with his piano-playing skills, work for a few nights, and then substitute Harpo on one of the jobs. (During their boyhood, Chico and Harpo looked so much alike that they were often mistaken for each other.)

In the brothers' last film, Love Happy, Chico plays a piano and violin duet with 'Mr. Lyons' (Leon Belasco). Lyons plays some ornate riffs on the violin; Chico comments, "Look-a, Mister Lyons, I know you wanna make a good impression, but please don't-a play better than me!"

In a record album about the Marx Brothers, narrator Gary Owens stated that "although Chico's technique was limited, his repertoire was not." The opposite was true of Harpo, who reportedly could play only two tunes on the piano, which typically thwarted Chico's scam and resulted in both brothers being fired.

Groucho Marx once said that Chico never practiced the pieces he played. Instead, before performances he soaked his fingers in hot water. He was known for 'shooting' the keys of the piano. He played passages with his thumb up and index finger straight, like a gun, as part of the act. Other examples of his keyboard flamboyance are found in A Night at the Opera (1935), where he plays the piano for a group of delighted children, and A Night in Casablanca (1946), where he performs a rendition of "The Beer Barrel Polka".

Chico became the unofficial manager of the Marx Brothers after their mother, Minnie, died in 1929. As manager, he cut a deal to get the brothers a percentage of a film's gross receipts—the first of its kind in Hollywood. Furthermore, it was Chico's connection with Irving Thalberg of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that led to Thalberg's signing the Brothers when they were in a career slump after Duck Soup (1933), the last of their films for Paramount.

For a while in the 1930s and 1940s, Chico led a big band. Singer Mel Tormé began his professional career singing with the Chico Marx Orchestra. Through the 1950s, Chico occasionally appeared on a variety of television anthology shows and some television commercials, most memorably with Harpo in "The Incredible Jewelry Robbery", a pantomime episode of General Electric Theater in 1959.

His nickname (acquired during a card game in Chicago in 1915) was originally spelled Chicko. It was changed to Chico but still pronounced "Chick-oh" although those who were unaware of its origin tended to pronounce it "Cheek-oh". Numerous radio recordings from the 1940s exist where announcers and fellow actors mispronounce the nickname, but Chico apparently felt it was unnecessary to correct them. As late as the 1950s, Groucho was happy to use the wrong pronunciation for comedic effect. A guest on You Bet Your Life told the quizmaster she grew up around Chico (California) and Groucho responded, "I grew up around Chico myself. You aren't Gummo, are you?" Groucho is heard in videos pronouncing it "Chicko", as in a Dick Cavett episode with Groucho talking to Dan Rowan.

During Groucho's live performance at Carnegie Hall in 1972, he states that his brother got the name Chico because he was a "chicken-chaser" (early 20th century slang for womanizer).

As well as being a compulsive womanizer, Chico had a lifelong gambling habit. His favorite gambling pursuits were card games, horse racing, dog racing, and various sports betting. His addiction cost him millions of dollars by his own account. When an interviewer in the late 1930s asked him how much money he had lost from gambling, he answered, "Find out how much money Harpo's got. That's how much I've lost." Gummo Marx, in an interview years after Chico's death, said: "Chico's favorite people were actors who gambled, producers who gambled, and women who screwed." Referring to Chico's love life, George Jessel quipped, "Chico didn't button his fly until he was seventy."

Chico's lifelong gambling addiction compelled him to continue in show business long after his brothers had retired in comfort from their Hollywood income, and in the early 1940s he found himself playing in the same small, cheap halls in which he had begun his career 30 years earlier. The Marx Brothers' penultimate film, A Night in Casablanca (1946), was made for Chico's benefit since he had filed for bankruptcy a few years prior. Because of his out-of-control gambling, the brothers finally took the money as he earned it and put him on an allowance, on which he stayed until his death.

Chico had a reputation as a world-class pinochle player, a game he and Harpo learned from their father. Groucho said Chico would throw away good cards (with the knowledge of spectators) to make the play "more interesting". Chico's last public appearance was in 1960, playing cards on the television show Championship Bridge. He and his partner lost the game.

Chico was married twice. His first marriage was to Betty Karp in 1917. Their union produced one daughter named Maxine (1918–2009). His first marriage was plagued by his infidelity, ending in divorce in 1940; he was very close to his daughter Maxine and gave her acting lessons.

Chico's second marriage was to Mary De Vithas. They married in 1958, three years before his death.

In the 1974 Academy Awards telecast, Jack Lemmon presented Groucho with an honorary Academy Award to a standing ovation. The award was also for Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo, whom Lemmon mentioned by name. It was one of Groucho's final major public appearances. "I wish that Harpo and Chico could be here to share with me this great honor," he said, naming the two deceased brothers (Zeppo was still alive at the time and in the audience). Groucho also praised the late Margaret Dumont as a great straight woman who never understood any of his jokes.

Chico died of arteriosclerosis at age 74 on October 11, 1961, at his Hollywood home. He was the eldest brother and the first to die.

Chico is entombed in the mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Chico's younger brother Gummo is in a crypt across the hall from him.

[teamagee]

Israel 2022: Day 6 - Bet-Shean, Qumran, En-Gedi, Dead Sea (June 1, 2022)

Israel 2022: Day 6 – Bet-Shean, Qumran, En-Gedi, Dead Sea (June 1, 2022)

Kate and Sara looking out over the Sea of Galilee I woke up again at 6am this morning, just before Sara. We had to pack up our luggage since we are transitioning down to the Dead Sea area today. We met Olivia and Kate at 6:40am for a quick walk on the promenade by the Sea of Galilee before breakfast. (more…)

[thedoortoyesterday]

From the silent era onwards, Hollywood has been a rich breeding ground for comedy.  Solo clowns led by Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and W.C. Fields became giants in their field and their motion pictures are still entertaining worldwide audiences today.

Yet the comedic movie world wasn't dominated only by solo performers.

There were also remarkable double-acts and also formidable comedy teams 

and here are four of my favorites…

LAUREL AND HARDY

To begin with, there was Laurel & Hardy.

Recently and lovingly portrayed in the 2019 feature film "Stan And Ollie", the universally popular Laurel and Hardy duo captivated cinema audiences for decades and re-runs of their films on television reignited their acclaim. The combination of British-born Arthur Stanley Jefferson 

and Georgia-born Oliver Norvell Hardy made for the perfect pairing of two physically  different gentlemen whose humor has transcended time and fashion. Their comical relationship and style was created in silent movies and effortlessly translated into sound pictures. 

Here's a typical clip of Stan & Ollie's superb style of silent slapstick from one of their Hal Roach sound two-reelers "Busy Bodies" from 1933 where our two heroes were working at a sawmill. 

https://youtu.be/_NUGRbozY04 

In addition, here's a clip on YouTube from the film "County Hospital" (MGM: 1932) 

in which Stan visits Ollie whose injured leg is suspended in traction. 

The havoc that ensues involves the doctor played by Billy Gilbert. 

https://youtu.be/-Oyt1fdU1k8

Laurel & Hardy's theme tune was DANCE OF THE CUCKOOS aka THE KU-KU SONG and it opened virtually all of their memorable films. It was composed by T. Marvin Hatley who also dubbed music for the boys when, in certain scenes in their films, they appeared to be playing instruments. These included Stan playing organ and Ollie playing double bass in the IN THE GOOD OLD SUMMERTIME sequence in "Below Zero" (1930), Stan playing the tuba in "Swiss Miss" (1938) and Stan playing trombone in "Saps At Sea" in 1940.

Here's a YouTube link to Laurel & Hardy's famous musical performance of the 1913 ballad 

TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE 

(Ballard MacDonald/Harry Carroll)

from the 1937 film "Way Out West"

https://youtu.be/MTrGk5-oGkU 

Ollie & Stan sing the song accompanied by The Avalon Boys featuring off-camera bass singer 

Chill Wills (dubbing for Stan). At the close of the song, Stan's 'high voice' was dubbed by Rosina Lawrence who played Mary Roberts in the film. Released as a single for the first time in the UK

in late '75. It reached #2 on the local charts! 

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO

These two guys created the ultimate pairing of a straight man (Bud Abbott) and a bumbling but lovable clown, Lou Costello. Their first taste of real success was on the radio in the late 30's and then significantly when their were given their own show in 1940. Universal signed them up and 

put them in a series of hit movies and in the 50's, they starred in a half-hour comedy series on TV.  

Here's a YouTube link to a 1953 television performance by Bud & Lou of their famous 

"Who's On First" baseball routine: 

https://youtu.be/kTcRRaXV-fg 

In 1941, Abbott & Costello recorded "Laugh, Laugh, Laugh" (Abbott/Costello/Grant/Mills), 

a comedy disc featuring dialogue banter by Bud & Lou interspersed with a song performed by 

'The Sportsmen' Quartet.  It was issued in '42 in two parts on a Victor 78.  

 BURNS AND ALLEN

George Burns & Gracie Allen were a husband and wife comedy team of which George was the cigar-smoking straight man and Gracie was his scatterbrained partner whose illogical

 reasoning was the basis of her dialog. They appeared together in a number of films 

including the three Paramount “Big Broadcast” movies of 1932, '36 & '37, "College Humor" 

in 1933 and with Fred Astaire and Joan Fontaine in "A Damsel In Distress" in '37 but their 

major collaborative success was with their own radio series in the 30's & 40's and later 

with their own television sitcom in the 50's. 

Here's a clip from one of their TV shows which illustrates their comedic style:

 https://youtu.be/yDCjhLOaNZI

 (Incidentally, the 1920 composition THE LOVE NEST 

(Otto Harbach/Louis A. Hirsch) 

was used as the theme tune for their radio & TV series). 

 THE MARX BROTHERS

The magnificent team of Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo created mayhem and chaos, originally in vaudeville and most memorably in a series of motion pictures, primarily for Paramount and MGM.  Zeppo appeared in the first five Marx Brothers movies and then retired from the team. (Zeppo's second wife Barbara later married Frank Sinatra). 

One of my personal favorite Marx Brothers comedy routines is the Password sequence with Groucho & Chico from "Horse Feathers" (Paramount: 1932):

https://youtu.be/p0Gwe5gKgjo 

Now, watch this priceless scene from "The Big Store" (MGM: 1941) in which Wacky (Harpo) needs to suddenly hide his cooking of an elaborate breakfast as Martha Phelps (Magaret Dumont) arrives at the office of so-called detective Wolf J. Flywheel (Groucho): 

https://youtu.be/fTXot7cCe98

Music played a distinctive role in the Marx Brothers movies with both Chico and Harpo having their own tuneful segments. For example, in "A Night In Casablanca" (United Artists: 1946), Chico sat at the piano and played BEER BARREL POLKA and in "Love Happy" (United Artists: 1949), Harpo lived up to his name playing OLD FOLKS AT HOME(SWANEE RIVER). 

Groucho was graced with a number of outstanding comical songs including LYDIA, THE TATTOOED LADY (Harold Arlen/E.Y. Harburg) which he sang onboard a train in "At The Circus" (MGM:1939). Most significant of all Groucho's other musical moments were the two Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby compositions HELLO, I MUST BE GOING and HOORAY FOR CAPTAIN SPAULDING which were performed in a medley in "Animal Crackers" (Paramount: 1930) by Groucho along with Margaret Dumont, Zeppo Marx and the cast. 

Here is the clip of both songs from the movie: 

https://youtu.be/5BMtqqHRvB8

HOORAY FOR CAPTAIN SPAULDING went on to become Groucho's theme tune and, when he hosted the 1950's TV game show "You Bet Your Life", it opened every episode.  

Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby also wrote EV'RYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU for the the previously mentioned "Horse Feathers" (Paramount: 1932). I edited extracts from the soundtrack for a single release on MCA in the UK in 1982using Groucho & Chico’s versions for the A side. 

Here's a link to all four performances of the song by (in order of appearance)

 Zeppo, Harpo, Chico and Groucho:

https://youtu.be/N8hk9pUtVwA

Other comedy duos and teams from this side of the Atlantic included AMOS AND ANDY, THE KEYSTONE COPS, DEAN MARTIN & JERRY LEWIS, OLSEN AND JOHNSON, THE RITZ BROTHERS, ROWAN AND MARTIN, THE THREE STOOGES and WHEELER AND WOOLSEY.

GALLAGHER AND SHEAN

But let's close by harking back to the days of vaudeville and the comedy duo

GALLAGHER AND SHEAN… 

Ed Gallagher and Al Shean wrote their own theme song called MISTER GALLAGHER AND MISTER SHEAN which they introduced in "Ziegfeld Follies Of 1922". 

Here's their original Victor recording: 

https://youtu.be/6bBvYO5FigI

The song became an instant hit in '22 and was successfully revived on a recording in 1938 by Bing Crosby duetting with Johnny Mercer. In addition, Al Shean (who in real life was the Marx Brothers' uncle) performed the song with Charles Winninger in the 1941 MGM musical "Ziegfeld Girl" and with Jack Kenney in the 1944 Republic film “Atlantic City”.  

[judaiqual]

Recycler les déchets plastique

ALKEMY une percée technologique israélienne ‎importante pour recycler les déchets plastiques ‎

Avant-propos Dans notre livre « Le Défi Climatique, Catastrophe ou ‎Opportunité » 

(https://www.deficlimatique-catastrophe-ou-‎opportunite.com/),nous avons indiqué que la « pollution ‎plastique » est une des dix défis écologiques les plus graves ‎auxquels l’humanité doit faire face.‎ La masse des déchets plastiques atteint à l'échelle mondiale ‎‎310 Mt (millions de tonnes).Moins de 10% est recyclé à ‎l’échelle mondiale et 100 Mt échappent à tout traitement (mise ‎en décharge, incinération, recyclage) et partent  se perdre dans ‎la nature. 9Mt sont rejetés dans les océans.‎ ‎https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollution_plastique#:~:text=La%‎‎20pollution%20par%20le%20plastique,mati%C3%A8re%20pla‎stique%20dans%20l'environnement.&text=On%20estime%20que%201%2C1,en%20provenance%20des%20communaut%C3‎‎%A9s%20c%C3%B4ti%C3%A8res.‎ Il y deux approches pour résoudre le problème : celle qui ‎conçoit et développe des plastiques biodégradables pour ‎remplacer l’emploi des plastiques actuels et celle qui conçoit et ‎développe le recyclage de tous les plastiques collectés.‎ La société israélienne Tipa a développé une gamme de produits ‎variés en plastique biodégradable et compostable : emballages ‎de produits frais, de barres de céréales, de magazines, sachets ‎à fermeture zippée, emballages de tee-shirts… Ces produits se ‎décomposent rapidement au sein des déchets organiques. La ‎créatrice de mode Stella McCartney a décidé qu’elle ‎remplacerait désormais les films industriels par ceux de Tipa. ‎La chaine de distribution au détail hollandaise EkoPlaza a créé ‎un rayon spécialisé « sans plastique ». Ce rayon utilise, pour ‎‎40% des produits qu’on y trouve, les emballages Tipa. ‎ Une autre entreprise israélienne , Bram Industries, a développé ‎des produits plastiques biodégradables utilisés dans de ‎nombreux pays pour conditionner des produits alimentaires ou ‎pour fabriquer des couverts jetables. Les géants de la ‎distribution WALMART, AMAZON et HOME DEPOT les diffusent.  ‎ La difficulté de cette approche provient du cout quasiment nul ‎de la production des sacs en plastiques « jetables » actuels ; ‎aucun pays n’a eu l’audace d’en interdire l’emploi.‎ La société AKTEMIS a choisi une autre approche : le recyclage ‎des plastiques collectés dans les déchets domestiques des ‎collectivités locales, la production d’emballages compétitifs ‎avec les produits existants sur le marché et la ‎commercialisation de ces produits à des prix compétitifs.  ‎ Données sur ALKEMY ‎ ALKEMY est le nom actuel de la société israélienne KB Recycling ‎Industries http://kb-recycling.com/  qui intervient sur le marché ‎du recyclage des déchets plastiques urbains depuis 2008 à ‎partir de son une usine de BET SHEAN.‎ ALKEMY a développé un savoir-faire et une technologie ‎uniques, permettant de recycler les déchets plastiques pollués ‎‎(jusqu’à 50% de contamination), de manière immédiatement ‎circulaire, directement en produits finis de qualité. ‎ Ces produits sont aussi très économiques car fabriqués avec ‎une matière première qui ne vaut rien et coûtent aujourd’hui ‎pour s’en débarrasser, et qui sont le résultat d’un processus de ‎circularité très court et économique (et donc aussi écologique) ‎qui fait l’économie des phases, habituellement incontournables, ‎de production, conditionnement et logistique de granules de ‎plastiques.‎ Pour voir le processus, cliquer ici : ‎https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv8onIRAtX8‎ Les produits finis actuels sont ‎-‎ Des géomembranes ‎-‎ Un plastique doublé de feutre pour protéger les sols des ‎chocs et écoulements pendant des travaux ‎ ‎-‎ Des plastiques pour isoler les jardinières du béton dans ‎des jardins sur toit ou terrasse.‎ A terme, bien d’autres produits plastique sont envisageables, ‎comme des poubelles, des pelles, des plots, etc.‎ La solution de recyclage circulaire d’ALKEMY permet donc de ‎faire d’une pierre plusieurs coups :‎ ‎-‎ Elle permet de réduire grandement la pollution plastique.‎ ‎-‎ Elle rend le processus de circularité plus économique et ‎écologique.‎ ‎-‎ Elle apporte aux consommateurs des produits finis plus ‎compétitifs ‎-‎ Elle permet le développement d’une nouvelle filière ‎industrielle créatrice d’emploi.‎ ALKEMY cherche à implanter des usines à l’étranger et ‎développer des partenariats de R&D. Elle lève aussi des fonds ‎pour soutenir cet effort de Business Développement stratégique ‎et pour moderniser son outil de production actuel. ‎ Toutes ces solutions pour faire face à la pollution mondiale des ‎plastiques constituent des opportunités de développement pour ‎Israël pour l’après-pandémie. ‎ Pour tout information complémentaire à ce sujet, vous pouvez ‎contacter Nelly Soussan : nellysoussan@gmail.com Ezra Banoun Juillet 2020‎ https://youtu.be/0rWjvFvnvnw https://youtu.be/FH6qYCDAYwA https://youtu.be/ihnHk3qL6Y4‎

[starbuzzindia]

Old Railway StationOld Railway Station Restored railway station at Kfar Yehoshua on the legendary Jezereel Valley Railway, which, completed in 1912, connected the port of Haifa to the Hijaz Railway, via Damascus. Abandoned in 1951. the line was recently recommissioned along most of the historical right of way by Israel Railways and since 2015 the line provides passenger and freight services from Haifa to the town of Bet Shean in the Jordan Valley. The historic station building houses a museum commemorating the famous railway line. #transportation #corevestor #presssangharsh #starbuzz #mumbaikarshouse #mumbai #india Visit www.presssangharsh.com or www.starbuzz.in https://ift.tt/2XdxQmO

[findelsiglo-mateo24]

Este artículo apareció por primera vez en Christian Research Journal , volumen 27, número 2 (2004).

Los hallazgos arqueológicos contradicen las afirmaciones de los minimalistas bíblicos y otros revisionistas. Hay muchísimos descubrimientos más que corroboran la evidencia bíblica, la siguiente lista proporciona solo los descubrimientos más significativos:

Una historia de inundación común

No solo los hebreos (Gén. 6-8), sino que mesopotámicos, egipcios y griegos informan un diluvio en los tiempos primordiales. Una lista de reyes sumerios de c. 2100 aC se divide en dos categorías: los reyes que gobernaron antes de una gran inundación y los que la gobernaron. Uno de los primeros ejemplos de la literatura sumero-acadio-babilónica, la epopeya de Gilgamesh, describe una gran inundación enviada como castigo por los dioses, con la humanidad salvada solo cuando el piadoso Utnapishtim (también conocido como “el Noé de Mesopotamia”) construye un barco y salva el mundo animal al respecto. Un homólogo griego posterior, la historia de Deucalion y Phyrra, habla de una pareja que sobrevivió a una gran inundación enviada por un enojado Zeus. Tomando refugio encima del Monte Parnaso (AKA, “el Ararat griego”), supuestamente repoblaron la tierra arrojando piedras detrás de ellos que surgieron en los seres humanos.

Numerosas culturas cuentan sobre un gran diluvio universal, tal como lo documenta la Biblia

El Código de Hammurabi

 Esta estela de diorita negra de siete pies, descubierta en Susa y actualmente ubicada en el museo del Louvre, contiene 282 leyes grabadas del rey babilonio Hammurabi (1750 aC). La base común para este código de ley es la lex talionis (“la ley del diente”), que muestra que había una ley semítica común de retribución en el antiguo Oriente Próximo, que se refleja claramente en el Pentateuco. Éxodo 21: 23-25, por ejemplo, dice: “Mas si hubiere muerte, entonces pagarás vida por vida, ojo por ojo, diente por diente, mano por mano, pie por pie, quemadura por quemadura, herida por herida, golpe por golpe.”

Código de Hammurabi

Las tablillas de Nuzi

Las aproximadamente 20,000 tabletas de arcilla cuneiforme descubiertas en las ruinas de Nuzi, al este del río Tigris y datables a c. 1500 aC, revelan instituciones, prácticas y costumbres notablemente congruentes con las que se encuentran en Génesis. Estas tabletas incluyen tratados, arreglos matrimoniales, reglas sobre herencia, adopción y similares.

Tablillas de Nuzi

La existencia de los hititas

Génesis 23 informa que Abraham enterró a Sara en la cueva de Macpela, la cual compró a Efrón el hitita. En segunda Samuel 11 habla del adulterio de David con Betsabé, la esposa de Urías heteo. Hace un siglo los hititas eran desconocidos fuera del Antiguo Testamento, y los críticos afirmaban que eran un producto de la imaginación bíblica. En 1906, sin embargo, los arqueólogos excavando al este de Ankara, Turquía, descubrieron las ruinas de Hattusas, la antigua capital hitita en lo que hoy se llama Boghazkoy, así como su vasta colección de registros históricos hititas, que mostraban un imperio floreciente en el medio segundo milenio antes de Cristo. Este desafío crítico, entre muchos otros, se demostró inmediatamente que no valía nada, un patrón que a menudo se repetiría en las décadas venideras.

Descubrimientos arqueológicos del siglo XX comprueban la existencia de los hititas, mencionados en la Biblia

La estela Merneptah

Una losa de siete pies grabada con jeroglíficos, también llamada estela de Israel, se jacta de la conquista del faraón egipcio a los libios y pueblos en Palestina, incluidos los israelitas: “Israel, su simiente no es”. Esta es la primera referencia a Israel en una fuente no bíblica y demuestra que, a partir de c. 1230 aC, los hebreos ya vivían en la Tierra Prometida.

La estela Merneptah

Ciudades bíblicas atestiguadas arqueológicamente

Además de Jericó, lugares como Harán, Hazor, Dan, Meguido, Siquem, Samaria, Silo, Gezer, Gabaa, Bet Shemesh, Bet Shean, Beersheba, Laquis y muchos otros sitios urbanos han sido excavados, aparte de estos y lugares obvios como Jerusalén o Babilonia. Tales marcadores geográficos son extremadamente significativos para demostrar que el hecho, no la fantasía, está previsto en las narrativas históricas del Antiguo Testamento; de lo contrario, la especificidad con respecto a estos sitios urbanos habría sido reemplazada por narrativas “Érase una vez” con solo parámetros geográficos confusos, si los hubiera.

Ruinas de Jericó

Los enemigos de Israel en la Biblia hebrea tampoco son artificiales sino sólidamente históricos. Entre los más peligrosos de ellos estaban los filisteos, la gente después de la cual Palestina sería nombrada. Su primera representación está en el Templo de Ramsés III en Tebas, c. 1150 aC, como “pueblos del mar” que invadieron el área del Delta y más tarde la llanura costera de Canaán. Las Pentápolis (cinco ciudades) que establecieron, a saber, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gaza, Gath y Ekron, han sido excavadas, al menos en parte, y algunas siguen siendo ciudades hasta el día de hoy. Tal evidencia urbana precisa mide favorablemente cuando se compara con los sitios geográficos que se reivindican en los libros sagrados de otros sistemas religiosos, que a menudo no tienen ninguna base en la realidad. 10

Ruinas de Ashdod

La invasión de Judah por Shishak

1 Reyes 14 y 2 Crónicas 12 hablan de la conquista de Judá por Faraón Sisac en el quinto año del reinado del rey Roboam, el hijo sin cerebro de Salomón, y cómo el templo de Salomón en Jerusalén fue despojado de sus tesoros en esa ocasión. Esta victoria también se conmemora en jeroglíficos tallados en la pared del Templo de Amon en Tebas.

Templo de Amon en Tebas

La piedra moabita

2 Reyes 3 informa que Mesha, el rey de Moab, se rebeló contra el rey de Israel tras la muerte de Acab. Una losa de piedra de tres pies, también llamada Mesha Stele, confirma la revuelta al proclamar el triunfo sobre la familia de Acab, c. 850 aC, y que Israel había “perecido para siempre”.

La piedra moabita, también conocida como Mesha Stele

Obelisco de Salmanasar III

En 2 Reyes 9-10, se menciona a Jehú como el Rey de Israel (841-814 aC). Que el poder creciente de Asiria ya estaba invadiendo a los reyes del norte antes de su conquista final en 722 aC lo demuestra un obelisco negro de seis pies y medio descubierto en las ruinas del palacio de Nimrud en 1846. En él , Se muestra a Jehú arrodillado ante Salmanasar III y ofreciendo tributo al rey asirio, el único alivio que tenemos hasta la fecha de un monarca hebreo.

Placa de entierro del rey Uzías

 En Judá, el rey Uzías gobernó desde 792 hasta 740 aC, contemporáneo de Amós, Oseas e Isaías. Al igual que Salomón, comenzó bien y terminó mal. En 2 Crónicas 26 se registra su pecado, que resultó en que lo golpearan con lepra más tarde en la vida. Cuando Uzías murió, fue enterrado en un “campo de sepultura que pertenecía a los reyes”. Su placa de entierro de piedra fue descubierta en el Monte de los Olivos, y dice: “Aquí, los huesos de Uzías, rey de Judá, trajo. No abrir.”

Inscripción del Túnel de Siloé de Ezequías

El rey Ezequías de Judá gobernó del 721 al 686 aC. Teasiebirib, al asediar al rey asirio, preservó el suministro de agua de Jerusalén cortando un túnel a través de 1.750 pies de roca sólida desde el manantial Gihon hasta el estanque de Siloé dentro de las murallas de la ciudad (2 Reyes 20 y 2 Crónicas 32). En el extremo del túnel de Siloam, una inscripción, actualmente en el museo arqueológico de Estambul, Turquía, celebra este notable logro. El túnel es probablemente el único sitio bíblico que no ha cambiado su apariencia en 2,700 años.

El Prisma Sennacherib

Después de haber conquistado las 10 tribus del norte de Israel, los asirios se desplazaron hacia el sur para hacer lo mismo con Judá (2 Reyes 18-19). El profeta Isaías, sin embargo, le dijo a Ezequías que Dios protegería a Judá y Jerusalén contra Senaquerib (2 Crón 32; Isaías 36-37). Los registros asirios lo confirman virtualmente. La escritura cuneiforme sobre un prisma hexagonal de arcilla cocida de 15 pulgadas hallada en la capital asiria de Nínive describe la invasión de Senaquerib a Judá en 701 aC en la que afirma que el rey asirio cerró a Hezekiah dentro de Jerusalén “como un pájaro enjaulado”. Sin embargo, como el registro bíblico, no afirman que conquistó Jerusalén, lo que ciertamente estaría en el prisma si este hubiera sido el caso. Los asirios, de hecho, pasaron por alto a Jerusalén en su camino a Egipto, y la ciudad no cayó hasta el tiempo de Nabucodonosor y los neobabilonios en 586 aC. El mismo Senaquerib regresó a Nínive, donde sus propios hijos lo asesinaron.

El Prisma Sennacherib

El Cilindro de Ciro el Grande

Segunda de Crónicas 36:23 y Esdras 1 informan que Ciro el Grande de Persia, después de conquistar Babilonia, permitió que los judíos de la cautividad de Babilonia regresaran a su tierra natal. Isaías incluso había profetizado esto (Isaías 44:28). Esta política tolerante del fundador del Imperio Persa se confirma con el descubrimiento de un cilindro de arcilla de nueve pulgadas hallado en Babilonia desde el tiempo de su conquista, 539 aC, que informa la victoria de Ciro y su política posterior de permitir que los cautivos babilónicos regresen a sus hogares e incluso reconstruir sus templos.

El Cilindro de Ciro el Grande

Esta lista de correlaciones entre los textos del Antiguo Testamento y la evidencia sólida de la arqueología del Cercano Oriente podría fácilmente triplicarse en longitud. Cuando se trata de las eras intertestamentarias y del Nuevo Testamento.

Usar términos como “falso testamento” para la Biblia hebrea y vaporizar sus personalidades más tempranas en inexistencia por consiguiente no tiene ninguna justificación en términos de la masa de evidencia geográfica, arqueológica e histórica que se correlaciona tan admirablemente con la Escritura.

VAMOS A REVISAR EL REVISIONISMO

Es bastante típico la forma en que se informan los asuntos bíblicos en los medios de noticias de hoy, promocionandolos como falsos. Un extraordinario descubrimiento arqueológico que confirma el registro bíblico apenas recibe ningún aviso en la prensa, como atestiguan los huesos de la primera personalidad bíblica jamás descubierta en noviembre de 1990. En general, solo uno de cada cien sabe que los restos de Joseph Caiaphas, el alto el sacerdote que acusó a Jesús ante Poncio Pilato el Viernes Santo, fue encontrado en ese momento en un osario en el Bosque de la Paz de Jerusalén, al sur del área del Templo. Los escritores que buscan sensaciones afirman, sin embargo, que los patriarcas eran míticos, que David era un cacique pequeño si existía, que Jesús se casó con María Magdalena, o que Dios predijo el asesinato del primer ministro israelí Itzhaak Rabin a través de un código arcano de la Biblia (sin embargo, no hizo nada al respecto), y la prensa lo cubre comprensivo y completo. De ninguna manera esto es justo, ético o incluso lógico.

Tampoco la prensa está sola en este engaño. Los eruditos bíblicos revisionistas radicales y los pseudoscholars, como miembros del notorio Seminario de Jesús, son muy conscientes de esta triste fórmula sensacionalista para el éxito y la explotan regularmente. Esto, sin duda, puede estar impugnando los motivos de algunos en esa categoría que son impulsados ​​por un deseo de simplemente ser “políticamente correcto” cuando se trata de erudición bíblica; es decir, ser ultracrítico de cualquier cosa bíblica. En este sentido, tristemente, los historiadores seculares del mundo antiguo a menudo tienen una opinión mucho más alta de la confiabilidad de las fuentes bíblicas que algunos eruditos bíblicos.

Para que esta crítica no se considere como la charla sin sentido de algún cascarrabias conservador, debo señalar que, de hecho, representa la opinión mayoritaria en la erudición bíblica actual. William Dever, arqueólogo de la Universidad de Arizona, por ejemplo, es bien conocido por su objeción al término “arqueología bíblica”, ya que parece transmitir un sesgo probiblico; sin embargo, él asalta algunas de las conclusiones injustificadas de los minimalistas bíblicos en un artículo fuertemente redactado en BAR: “Sálvanos de la Malarkey posmoderna”. 11 Él no tiene palabras amables para los minimalistas en su libro, ¿Qué sabían los escritores bíblicos y cuándo? ¿Ellos lo saben?. “Sugiero”, escribe, “que los revisionistas son nihilistas no solo en el sentido histórico sino también en el sentido filosófico y moral” 12.

BAR, que proporciona la arena literaria para las batallas tradicionalista vs. minimalista e intenta mantener una postura neutral en el proceso, encontró similarmente el artículo de Harper como “solo un lado de un debate muy candente en el campo”. En ninguna parte [el autor] trata de evaluar los méritos del caso de la otra parte. De hecho, no da ninguna indicación de que esté consciente de que hay otro lado “. 13

Deje que el debate continúe, pero que todas las pruebas sean admitidas. Desde que la arqueología científica comenzó hace un siglo y medio, el patrón consistente ha sido el siguiente: la evidencia sólida del terreno ha confirmado el registro bíblico una y otra vez, y nuevamente. La Biblia no tiene nada que temer de la espada.

Notas 1. Israel Finkelstein y Neil Asher Silberman, The Bible Unearthed: La nueva visión arqueológica del antiguo Israel y el origen de sus textos sagrados (Nueva York: The Free Press, 2001). 2. Daniel Lazare, "Falso Testamento: La Arqueología Refuta el Reclamo de la Biblia a la Historia", Harper's , marzo de 2002, 39-47. 3. Ibid., 40. 4. Ver Kenneth Kitchen, "La Era Patriarcal: ¿mito o historia?" Revisión de Arqueología Bíblica(en adelante BAR ), marzo / abril de 1995, 48ff. 5. Existe un considerable y creciente cuerpo de literatura sobre los hebreos en Egipto, el papel de José, el faraón que se hizo amigo de él, los hicsos, el faraón de la opresión, el faraón del Éxodo y el Éxodo mismo. Vea los números recientes de Bible and Spade , especialmente no. 16 (invierno de 2003). Joseph P. Free y Howard F. Vos, Arqueología e Historia de la Biblia(Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), 69-105 también son útiles, como lo es Alfred J. Hoerth, Arqueología y el Antiguo Testamento (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1999). 6. Kathleen M. Kenyon, Desenterrando a Jericho (Londres: Ernest Benn, 1957); Excavaciones en Jericho , vol. 3 (Londres: Escuela Británica de Arqueología en Jerusalén, 1981). 7. Bryant G. Wood, "¿Los conquistadores conquistaron a Jericó?" BAR , marzo / abril de 1990, 44-58. 8. Lazare, 45-46. 9. Hershel Shanks, "Biran at Ninety" , BAR , septiembre / octubre de 1999, 44. 10. Por ejemplo, en El Libro de Mormón, los nombres propios de lugares y personas no tienen fundamento de fuentes externas. 11. William A. Dever, "Sálvanos de la Malarkey posmoderna" , BAR , marzo / abril de 2000, 28. 12. William A. Dever, citado en Gordon Govier, "Dusty Little Secret de la arqueología bíblica", Christianity Today , octubre de 2003, pág. 38. 13. Steven Feldman, "¿Es la Biblia un montón de Hooey histórico?" BAR , mayo / junio de 2002, 6. Nota traducida de http://www.equip.org/article/biblical-archaeology-factual-evidence-to-support-the-historicity-of-the-bible/

Arqueología bíblica: evidencia fáctica para apoyar la historicidad de la Biblia Este artículo apareció por primera vez en Christian Research Journal , volumen 27, número 2 (2004).

[hoshvilim]

Tel Beit She'an *

Tel Beit She’an *

Beit She’an is one of the oldest cities in Israel. The elevated mound of Tel Beit She’an (Tel el-Husn) contains the remains of the Canaanite and Egyptian cities. Classical Roman and Byzantine Beit She’an descended to the foot of the mound (tel). If only for the phenomenal panoramic view of the classical city below, it is worthy of the effort to climb the mound. Don’t forget to photograph the…

[newstfionline]

Are Avocados Toast?

Nathanael Johnson, Wired, May 24, 2018

Chris Sayer pushed his way through avocado branches and grasped a denuded limb. It was stained black, as if someone had ladled tar over its bark. In February, the temperature had dropped below freezing for three hours, killing the limb. The thick leaves had shriveled and fallen away, exposing the green avocados, which then burned in the sun. Sayer estimated he’d lost one out of every 20 avocados on his farm in Ventura, just 50 miles north of Los Angeles, but he counts himself lucky.

“If that freeze was one degree colder, or one hour longer, we would have had major damage,” he said.

Avocado trees start to die when the temperature falls below 28 degrees or rises above 100 degrees. If the weather turns cold and clammy during the short period in the spring when the flowers bloom, bees won’t take to the air and fruits won’t develop. The trees also die if water runs dry, or if too many salts accumulate in the soil, or if a new pest starts chewing on its leaves. “All of which is quite possible in the next few decades, as the climate shifts,” Sayer said.

The weather had been strange lately, Sayer told me. In the past year, Californians have lived through a historic drought, a massive wildfire that blotted out the sun, and a strangely warm winter followed by that unseasonable freeze. When I visited in April, his lemon trees were already loaded with ripe fruit--that usually doesn’t happen until June. “Things are screwy,” Sayer said.

From the vineyards of the north coast to the orange groves of Southern California, farmers like Sayer have been reeling from the weird weather.

“We are already suffering the effects of climate change,” said Russ Lester, who grows walnuts at Dixon Ridge Farms, east of Sacramento. “I can look out my window and see trees that don’t have a leaf on them and others that are completely leafed out.

It might feel like we’re peering into the distant future when we hear that by 2050, temperatures may very well climb 4 degrees, seas could rise a foot, and droughts and floods will become more common. But for farmers planting trees they hope will bear fruit 25 years from now, that seemingly distant future has to be reckoned with now.

A lot of the country’s tree crops grow in California, which produces two-thirds of the fruits and nuts for the United States. The same is true of grape vines, which bear abundant fruit for about 25 years (they slow down after that, but can keep going for hundreds of years). It’s in large part because so many farmers are making these long-term gambles on orchard crops that a recent scientific paper noted: “Agricultural production in California is highly sensitive to climate change.”

Jay Famiglietti, the senior water scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, goes even further: “It’s a virtual certainty that California will get drier. I don’t think it’s a climate that’s conducive to orchard crops anymore.”

In other words, for anyone trying to make money off long-lived crops, climate change is already here. And yet new saplings are pushing out of the ground all over the state.

IF THESE FARMERS were planting an annual crop, like cilantro, they’d be making a bet on the weather for the next 45 days. But they’re planting trees, which means making a bet on the next 40 years.

After years of putting it off, Sayer is about to place such a four-decade bet by planting a bunch of new avocado trees. There’s no way Sayer can foresee oncoming climate disaster, if that’s what’s hurtling toward the land his family has worked for the past 130 years in Ventura. He can see just a little bit of what might be coming--as if he’s straining to glimpse signs of danger while blinkered. When I asked him how it felt, he said: “Like I’m about to cross a very busy road with my hood pulled over my head.”

When Katherine Jarvis-Shean was a doctoral candidate researching the decline of cold winters a few years back, she thought more farmers should be freaking out. “I used to think, ‘Why aren’t you guys more worried about this? It’s going to be the end of the world.’”

After all, many fruit and nut trees require a good winter chill to bear fruit. But after spending a few years as an extension agent for the University of California--working directly with farmers and translating science into techniques they can apply on the land--she understands better. It comes down to this: Farmers have a ton of concerns, and the climate is just one of them.

“If you decide what to plant based on climate, but then can’t make the lease payment, that’s not sustainable,” Jarvis-Shean said.

If you are worried about water running out in 15 years, you might think it’s a good idea to cut down half the state’s almond groves--but if those almond trees are still putting money in your pockets, that wouldn’t make sense until the killer drought hits. That’s the crux of the matter for Sayer, and other farmers I interviewed. They’re concerned about the changing climate, but they always come up with ingenious plans to adapt to bad weather. It’s much harder for them to adapt to an overdrawn bank account.

Sayer grows mostly lemons right now, but they’re not long for this world. “You can see these lemon trees are getting a little rangy looking,” Sayer said, gesturing toward a leafless branch. “This is going to be their last harvest, then they’ve got a date with the chipper.”

Sayer knows lemons. He knows how to coddle them in old age, how to nudge them to produce more, how to keep them alive when rains fail, how to protect them from aphids and snails and scale insects and the nematodes in the ground. But this land has provided a home to a citrus orchard for 70 years, and each year more pests accumulate to suck the life from the trees. So Sayer needs to move on from lemons, and he’s settled on avocados.

From a climate perspective, the leather-skinned fruit are a risky choice. Avocado trees like their surroundings not too hot and not too cold, and they always need water. One study estimated that climate change would hurt California avocado trees so much that the state’s production could be cut in half by 2050.

As the sun burned off the marine layer of clouds over the orchard, Sayer patiently laid out the reasoning that led him to plant avocado trees. He explained that climate poses risks that are easy for outsiders to see--when you’re reading about historic droughts in the newspaper and driving past acres of withered crops, it seems crazy to plant orchards. But farmers often have to contend with other risks that outweigh the danger of bad weather. Sayers puts them into three categories: climate risk, market risk, and execution risk.

If he were only worried about climate risk, Sayer said, he’d plant prickly pear. “They would grow in any post-apocalyptic hellscape you could imagine,” he said. But who would buy them? Most Americans don’t put prickly pear on their shopping lists. So there’s a huge market risk.

Then there’s execution risk: the chance that Sayer screws things up. If he didn’t have to worry about that, Sayer might follow his neighbor’s lead and start growing annual crops. He pointed across the road from his farm, where orchards once stood, at a flat expanse of strawberries dotted with hustling pickers. There’s always an appetite for strawberries, and they’re cheap to plant, so they pose a low market risk. And because strawberries get planted every year, they’re not such a big gamble on the changing climate. If a freak storm kills everything growing in Ventura, for instance, Sayer’s neighbor would lose that year’s strawberry crop while Sayer would lose a 30-year avocado investment.

But the execution risk of switching to strawberries--figuring out how to grow them, buying the right equipment, and learning how to sell them--is too high for him. “We’re talking about years of learning,” Sayer said. “It would be like me deciding to go back to college to study medicine.” He’s 52, and not prepared to start fresh.

Sayer has one other option that would eliminate all the climate, market, and execution risks: Pave his farmland and build houses. When I visited in April, workers were constructing apartments on what used to be farmland at the end of his street. If more farmers start taking climate risks seriously, a surge of subdivisions could start sprawling across some of the most fertile farmland on the planet. But the thought of that saddens Sayer. He wants to farm.

After weighing all those risks, he decided to bet the farm on avocados. These trees are no climate savior--far from it. But Sayer been experimenting with them for decades and understands how they work. He knows he can sell avocados, because he’s tapped into a network that reserves spots for the fruit in every grocery store, and turns sunburned avocados into frozen guacamole. Also, you might have noticed the market is strong: Americans are chowing down so much avocado tonnage in new, creative ways--smoothies, toast, ice cream, you name it--that consumption has increased sevenfold since 2000.

ORCHARDS CAN ENDURE weird weather brought on by climate change, but if they don’t get any water, the trees will die. In the past, California farmers have always survived droughts by sticking deeper and deeper straws into the ground to suck up groundwater. But since 2014, the state has had a law against depleting aquifers, and farmers soon won’t be able to take out more water than goes in.

That policy alarms growers, especially since they can no longer depend on snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Mountains hold water--in the form of glaciers--through the colder months, then release it during the warmer months. But as the climate heats up, more of the precipitation that fell in California as snow will turn to rain. That means more floods in winter and more droughts in summer.

To adapt to this boom-and-bust cycle, a few farmers around California are letting swollen rivers spill into their orchards. If carried out on a large scale, this would slow down rushing flood waters and let them percolate into aquifers.

After four years of experimentation in almond groves, scientists have found that this inundation hasn’t hurt the trees. They’ve also identified nearly 700,000 acres under almond trees suitable for recharging groundwater, said Richard Waycott, president of the Almond Board of California. At the same time, growers continue to use less freshwater for irrigation and draw more water recycled from city drainpipes.

In another example of climate adaptation, farmers are developing a kind of hyper-local climate engineering, spraying clay dust over their trees to create shade and cool them down in unseasonably hot weather, according to David Zilberman, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley. Elsewhere, scientists have planted a pistachio orchard where no self-respecting pistachio farmer would ever put a tree: in the middle of the Southern California desert near Coachella.

Most pistachio trees grow 200 miles north, where colder winters allow them to settle into their natural cycles. But in a few decades, that traditional pistachio land could have the climate of Coachella. It’s a type of time travel; the idea is to find a version of the future that already exists.

The pistachio trees aren’t at all happy in the desert: “It’s just terrible out there,” said Craig Kallsen, another extension agent for the University of California. “It looked like someone had irradiated the place with toxic chemicals.”

All the same, a few pistachio trees are beginning to produce leaves. By growing this orchard in this analogue of the climate future, researchers like Kallsen can see which varieties stand up to heat, and then zero in on the genes that allow those trees to adapt. Using those genes, researchers hope to breed trees that can thrive in a hotter, drier world.

Sayer is also adapting by growing different varieties of avocados, but the most visible climate adaptation in the orchard was the knee-high carpet of grasses and turnip stems we waded through as we made our way among the trees.

“Back in the 1970s, bare dirt between the rows was considered clean and tidy,” Sayer said. “If you had a blade of grass sticking out, oh man, that wasn’t good.”

Letting plants grow beneath the trees seemed like a squalid, lazy, weed-spreading hazard. When he and his father first began planting between the rows in 2005, it felt taboo. Other farmers would sidle up to them at the coffee shop and ask in an undertone, “What’s going on with your orchard? Is that a cover crop?”

A cover crop protects the soil from heavy rains and helps turn it into a habitat for worms, beetles, and thousands of microbes. As we walked through the dappled sunlight, the ground beneath my feet was yielding like a giant sponge.

Sayer has calculated that, since first planting the cover crop, his lemon orchard can absorb 2.5 million gallons more water in a downpour. “Since every scenario I’ve seen involves water stress, better soil is going to put us in a better position, because it holds and absorbs more rain,” he said.

Lester, the Sacramento-area walnut grower, also plants cover crops. And he has an audacious justification for planting new trees: He hopes to reverse climate change.

Cover crops pull carbon from the air into the soil and--if we can figure it out--all of agriculture could become a giant carbon-dioxide sponge. Lester powers his operation with solar panels and a walnut-shell burning furnace (releasing carbon his walnut trees recently sucked out of the air), making his farm carbon negative.

“Call me optimistic, but I believe if all farmers adopted healthy soils technology, agriculture can play a huge role in stopping, slowing down, maybe even reversing climate change,” Lester said.

Not all farmers are as scientifically literate as Lester or Sayer; many shrug off climate change as just another shift in the weather. But even the ones who readily accept the science of climate change continue to plant trees. Perhaps they are overly optimistic. Perhaps they are just human: It’s not in our nature to ignore threats right in front of our face so we can focus on those in the seemingly far-off future.

After I’d spent the day with Sayer, his decision to plant more avocados made sense: It’s the choice that allows him to keep farming. He’s making preparations based on the best climate projections he can get, while also setting himself up to react to the unexpected. He can see a path to profitability, though he allows that his vision into the future--in terms of both climate and weather forecasting--is severely restricted.

If you recall, he likened planting a new round of avocado trees to crossing a busy road with a hood over his head. There was a second part to that analogy: “At least I know which way to look for the oncoming traffic.”

[fivesecondsofhoran]

World's Most Ancient Civilization

A visit to Megiddo is a section through time. The remains safeguarded there enable you to see how a few old human advancements lived, adored, went to war and kicked the bucket. In light of its key at the cross-streets of a few noteworthy Asian exchange courses, Megiddo and the encompassing region has seen numerous epic fights all through history and is booked to witness the last skirmish of Armageddon where the antichrist's armed forces will go head to head with Christ and His armed forces. All through its history Megiddo's doors and dividers saw the equipped battles of Assyrians, Canaanites, Egyptians, Greeks, Israelites, Persians, Philistines, Romans and endless different clashes. Megiddo is a vital intersection on the fundamental street interfacing the focal point of Israel with the lower Galilee and the northern .

Over a traverse of 6,000 years, from 7000 B.C. to 586 B.C., the site was occupied by different populaces including Israelites, Canaanites and different countries. Amid this time, the decimation of the First Israelite Temple in Jerusalem by the Babylonians, and the ensuing fall of both Israelite kingdoms and their outcast happened. One of Megiddo's cases of significance is the way that since the Israelite outcast to Babylon, the city has stayed uninhabited, in this way saving the vestiges of eras originating before 586 B.C. without more up to date settlements aggravating the ancient rarities. All through Israel and the center east there are 200 archeological "tels," including Bet Shean, Haxor, and Beer Sheba, that contain considerable stays of developments with Biblical importance. These old civic establishments were fabricated vertically when the tenants built another city over the remains of the past city. A sum of 20 urban commies were worked at Megiddo, one over the other, through the span of 6,000 years of consistent occupation; and the site is rich with huge chronicled antiques and data. Over the most recent couple of years, innovation has permitted Tel Megiddo to be safeguarded while as yet yielding much data about its occupants and times. Indeed, the early unearthings at Tel Megiddo established the framework for the teach of Biblical paleontology and future unearthings in Israel and around the globe. Antiquated Megiddo required a protected access to a water supply in view of the all fights in and around its territory. In the ninth century B.C., King Ahab built a monstrous water framework with a 30-meter profound shaft and a 70-meter long passage. This water framework proceeded being used until the finish of Megiddo's presence. This passage associated the base of Ahab's pole to the territory's spring. Prior to its development, Megiddo inhabitants needed to leave the city dividers keeping in mind the end goal to get water from the spring. Ahab's specialists hacked through the slopes and cut the passage from the two finishes in the meantime, utilizing a sonar-like pinging from above to let the men underneath know where they were, (similar to Hezekiah's Jerusalem Tunnel) and its developers were just a single foot off when Ancient Civilizations compromising. Ruler Ahab sublimely remade the city amid his rule of the northern kingdom, it at that point tumbled to Tiglath-Pileser III when the Assyrians abducted the northern kingdom, finishing the presence of the Northern Kingdom and scattering every one of its tenants all through the Assyrian Empire. Around then, Megiddo turned into the legislative hall of the Assyrian of Galilee until the fall of the Assyrian Empire. Megiddo is specified no less than 12 times in the Old Testament, additionally underlining its Biblical significance. In Joshua section 17, the Israelite clan of Manasseh is given the region that incorporates Megiddo for its property portion and the record of the Israelite prophetess Deborah directing the Canaanites "by the waters of Megiddo", after a century, is found in Judges 5:19-21. In second Kings 23:29, King Josiah, of the Southern Kingdom, supposedly met his downfall at Megiddo, when he drove his troops in a conflict with Pharaoh Necho II of Egypt. Likewise, the New Testament Book of Revelation, section 16 and verse 16, distinguishes the site of the climactic fight amongst great and malevolent as the valley that Megiddo disregards, the Jezreel Valley. Armageddon gets its name from Har Megiddo or Mount Megiddo. Megiddo's verifiable significance is additionally underscored by the way that the city is the main site in Israel specified by each incredible power in East Asia. The city of Megiddo achieved its crest amid the season of Solomon's rule when he fundamentally developed the city, raising various vast open structures and encompassing it with a casement divider, which incorporated an intricate entryway complex. It served him as a locale regulatory capital of Israel before the kingdom split into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms under Solomon's child Rehoboam. What's more, Megiddo was one of three noteworthy chariot urban s used to control development along the "Method for the Sea" or the Via Maris. The detailed strongholds, royal residences, and water frameworks of Megiddo are among the finest structural remains uncovered amid present day times. Among the remains unearthed are, a stone-lined grain stockpiling region allegedly ready to hold enough grain to sustain 330 steeds for 150 days, twofold doors sufficiently wide for chariots to go through and a Canaanite sacrificial table. What's more, one can see the remaining parts of Solomon's stallion stables, encouraging troughs, and stroll through the passage that carried water into the city nearby the antiquated advances that the occupants used to bring water from outside the city before the passage was constructed, and numerous different remnants revealed amid unearthings.

[coma-witch]

First Civilisation In World

A visit to Megiddo is a section through time. The remains safeguarded there enable you to see how a few old human advancements lived, adored, went to war and kicked the bucket. In light of its key at the cross-streets of a few noteworthy Asian exchange courses, Megiddo and the encompassing region has seen numerous epic fights all through history and is booked to witness the last skirmish of Armageddon where the antichrist's armed forces will go head to head with Christ and His armed forces. All through its history Megiddo's doors and dividers saw the equipped battles of Assyrians, Canaanites, Egyptians, Greeks, Israelites, Persians, Philistines, Romans and endless different clashes. Megiddo is a vital intersection on the fundamental street interfacing the focal point of Israel with the lower Galilee and the northern . Over a traverse of 6,000 years, from 7000 B.C. to 586 B.C., the site was occupied by different populaces including Israelites, Canaanites and different countries. Amid this time, the decimation of the First Israelite Temple in Jerusalem by the Babylonians, and the ensuing fall of both Israelite kingdoms and their outcast happened. One of Megiddo's cases of significance is the way that since the Israelite outcast to Babylon, the city has stayed uninhabited, in this way saving the vestiges of eras originating before 586 B.C. without more up to date settlements aggravating the ancient rarities. All through Israel and the center east there are 200 archeological "tels," including Bet Shean, Haxor, and Beer Sheba, that contain considerable stays of developments with Biblical importance. These old civic establishments were fabricated vertically when the tenants built another city over the remains of the past city. A sum of 20 urban commies were worked at Megiddo, one over the other, through the span of 6,000 years of consistent occupation; and the site is rich with huge chronicled antiques and data. Over the most recent couple of years, innovation has permitted Tel Megiddo to be safeguarded while as yet yielding much data about its occupants and times. Indeed, the early unearthings at Tel Megiddo established the framework for the teach of Biblical paleontology and future unearthings in Israel and around the globe. Antiquated Megiddo required a protected access to Ancient aliens a water supply in view of the all fights in and around its territory. In the ninth century B.C., King Ahab built a monstrous water framework with a 30-meter profound shaft and a 70-meter long passage. This water framework proceeded being used until the finish of Megiddo's presence. This passage associated the base of Ahab's pole to the territory's spring. Prior to its development, Megiddo inhabitants needed to leave the city dividers keeping in mind the end goal to get water from the spring. Ahab's specialists hacked through the slopes and cut the passage from the two finishes in the meantime, utilizing a sonar-like pinging from above to let the men underneath know where they were, (similar to Hezekiah's Jerusalem Tunnel) and its developers were just a single foot off when compromising. Ruler Ahab sublimely remade the city amid his rule of the northern kingdom, it at that point tumbled to Tiglath-Pileser III when the Assyrians abducted the northern kingdom, finishing the presence of the Northern Kingdom and scattering every one of its tenants all through the Assyrian Empire. Around then, Megiddo turned into the legislative hall of the Assyrian of Galilee until the fall of the Assyrian Empire.

Megiddo is specified no less than 12 times in the Old Testament, additionally underlining its Biblical significance. In Joshua section 17, the Israelite clan of Manasseh is given the region that incorporates Megiddo for its property portion and the record of the Israelite prophetess Deborah directing the Canaanites "by the waters of Megiddo", after a century, is found in Judges 5:19-21. In second Kings 23:29, King Josiah, of the Southern Kingdom, supposedly met his downfall at Megiddo, when he drove his troops in a conflict with Pharaoh Necho II of Egypt. Likewise, the New Testament Book of Revelation, section 16 and verse 16, distinguishes the site of the climactic fight amongst great and malevolent as the valley that Megiddo disregards, the Jezreel Valley. Armageddon gets its name from Har Megiddo or Mount Megiddo. Megiddo's verifiable significance is additionally underscored by the way that the city is the main site in Israel specified by each incredible power in East Asia. The city of Megiddo achieved its crest amid the season of Solomon's rule when he fundamentally developed the city, raising various vast open structures and encompassing it with a casement divider, which incorporated an intricate entryway complex. It served him as a locale regulatory capital of Israel before the kingdom split into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms under Solomon's child Rehoboam. What's more, Megiddo was one of three noteworthy chariot urban s used to control development along the "Method for the Sea" or the Via Maris. The detailed strongholds, royal residences, and water frameworks of Megiddo are among the finest structural remains uncovered amid present day times. Among the remains unearthed are, a stone-lined grain stockpiling region allegedly ready to hold enough grain to sustain 330 steeds for 150 days, twofold doors sufficiently wide for chariots to go through and a Canaanite sacrificial table. What's more, one can see the remaining parts of Solomon's stallion stables, encouraging troughs, and stroll through the passage that carried water into the city nearby the antiquated advances that the occupants used to bring water from outside the city before the passage was constructed, and numerous different remnants revealed amid unearthings.

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Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, stage, film, radio, and television star. A master of quick wit, he is generally considered to be one of America's greatest comedians.

Julius Henry Marx was born on October 2, 1890, in Manhattan, New York. Marx stated that he was born in a room above a butcher's shop on East 78th Street, "Between Lexington & 3rd", as he told Dick Cavett in a 1969 television interview. The Marx children grew up in a turn-of-the-century building on East 93rd Street off Lexington Avenue in a neighborhood now known as Carnegie Hill on the Upper East Side of the borough of Manhattan. His brother Harpo, in his memoir Harpo Speaks, called the building "the first real home they ever knew". It was populated with European immigrants, mostly artisans. Just across the street were the oldest brownstones in the area, owned by people such as the well-connected Loew Brothers and William Orth. The Marx family lived there "for about 14 years," Groucho also told Cavett.

Marx's family was Jewish.[7] His mother was Miene "Minnie" Schoenberg, whose family came from Dornum in northern Germany when she was 16 years old. His father was Simon "Sam" Marx, who changed his name from Marrix, and was called "Frenchie" by his sons throughout his life, because he and his family came from Alsace in France.[8] Minnie's brother was Al Schoenberg, who shortened his name to Al Shean when he went into show business as half of Gallagher and Shean, a noted vaudeville act of the early 20th century. According to Marx, when Shean visited, he would throw the local waifs a few coins so that when he knocked at the door he would be surrounded by adoring fans. Marx and his brothers respected his opinions and asked him on several occasions to write some material for them.

Minnie Marx did not have an entertainment industry career but had intense ambition for her sons to go on the stage like their uncle. While pushing her eldest son Leonard (Chico Marx) in piano lessons, she found that Julius had a pleasant soprano voice and the ability to remain on key. Julius's early career goal was to become a doctor, but the family's need for income forced him out of school at the age of twelve. By that time, young Julius had become a voracious reader, particularly fond of Horatio Alger. Marx would continue to overcome his lack of formal education by becoming well-read.

After a few stabs at entry-level office work and jobs suitable for adolescents, Julius took to the stage as a boy singer with the Gene Leroy Trio, debuting at the Ramona Theatre in Grand Rapids, MI, on July 16, 1905.[9] Marx reputedly claimed that he was "hopelessly average" as a vaudevillian, but this was typical Marx, wisecracking in his true form. By 1909, Minnie Marx had assembled her sons into an undistinguished vaudeville singing group billed as "The Four Nightingales". The brothers Julius, Milton (Gummo Marx) and Arthur (originally Adolph, but Harpo Marx from 1911) and another boy singer, Lou Levy, traveled the U.S. vaudeville circuits to little fanfare. After exhausting their prospects in the East, the family moved to La Grange, Illinois, to play the Midwest.

After a particularly dispiriting performance in Nacogdoches, Texas, Julius, Milton, and Arthur began cracking jokes onstage for their own amusement. Much to their surprise, the audience liked them better as comedians than as singers. They modified the then-popular Gus Edwards comedy skit "School Days" and renamed it "Fun In Hi Skule". The Marx Brothers would perform variations on this routine for the next seven years.

For a time in vaudeville, all the brothers performed using ethnic accents. Leonard, the oldest, developed the Italian accent he used as Chico Marx to convince some roving bullies that he was Italian, not Jewish. Arthur, the next oldest, donned a curly red wig and became "Patsy Brannigan", a stereotypical Irish character. His discomfort when speaking on stage led to his uncle Al Shean's suggestion that he stop speaking altogether and play the role in mime. Julius Marx's character from "Fun In Hi Skule" was an ethnic German, so Julius played him with a German accent. After the sinking of the RMS Lusitania in 1915, public anti-German sentiment was widespread, and Marx's German character was booed, so he quickly dropped the accent and developed the fast-talking wise-guy character that became his trademark.

The Marx Brothers became the biggest comedic stars of the Palace Theatre in New York, which billed itself as the "Valhalla of Vaudeville". Brother Chico's deal-making skills resulted in three hit plays on Broadway. No other comedy routine had ever so infected the Broadway circuit. All of this stage work predated their Hollywood career. By the time the Marxes made their first movie, they were already major stars with sharply honed skills; and by the time Groucho was relaunched to stardom on You Bet Your Life, he had been performing successfully for half a century.

Marx started his career in vaudeville in 1905 when he joined up with an act called The Leroy Trio. He was asked by a man named Robin Leroy to join the group as a singer, along with fellow vaudeville actor Johnny Morris. Through this act, Marx got his first taste of life as a vaudeville performer. In 1909, Marx and his brothers had become a group act, at first called The Three Nightingales and later The Four Nightingales. The brothers' mother, Minnie Marx, was the group's manager, putting them together and booking their shows. The group had a rocky start, performing in less than adequate venues and rarely, if ever, being paid for their performances. Eventually one of the brothers would leave to serve in World War I and was replaced by Herbert (Zeppo), and the group became known as the Marx Brothers. Their first successful show was Fun In Hi Skule (1910).

Marx made 26 movies, 13 of them with his brothers Chico and Harpo. Marx developed a routine as a wisecracking hustler with a distinctive chicken-walking lope, an exaggerated greasepaint mustache and eyebrows, and an ever-present cigar, improvising insults to stuffy dowagers (usually played by Margaret Dumont) and anyone else who stood in his way. As the Marx Brothers, he and his brothers starred in a series of popular stage shows and movies.

Their first movie was a silent film made in 1921 that was never released, and is believed to have been destroyed at the time. A decade later, the team made two of their Broadway hits—The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers—into movies. Other successful films were Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, Duck Soup, and A Night at the Opera.[11] One quip from Marx concerned his response to Sam Wood, the director of A Night at the Opera. Furious with the Marx Brothers' ad-libs and antics on the set, Wood yelled in disgust: "You can't make an actor out of clay." Marx responded, "Nor a director out of Wood."

Marx also worked as a radio comedian and show host. One of his earliest stints was a short-lived series in 1932, Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel, costarring Chico. Though most of the scripts and discs were thought to have been destroyed, all but one of the scripts were found in 1988 in the Library of Congress. In 1947, Marx was asked to host a radio quiz program You Bet Your Life. It was broadcast by ABC and then CBS before moving to NBC. It moved from radio to television on October 5, 1950, and ran for eleven years. Filmed before an audience, the show consisted of Marx bantering with the contestants and ad-libbing jokes before briefly quizzing them. The show was responsible for popularizing the phrases "Say the secret word and the duck will come down and give you fifty dollars," "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?" and "What color is the White House?" (asked to reward a losing contestant a consolation prize).

Throughout his career, Marx introduced a number of memorable songs in films, including "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" and "Hello, I Must Be Going", in Animal Crackers, "Whatever It Is, I'm Against It", "Everyone Says I Love You" and "Lydia the Tattooed Lady". Frank Sinatra, who once quipped that the only thing he could do better than Marx was sing, made a film with Marx and Jane Russell in 1951 entitled Double Dynamite.

In public and off-camera, Harpo and Chico were hard to recognize, without their wigs and costumes, and it was almost impossible for fans to recognize Groucho without his trademark eyeglasses, fake eyebrows, and mustache.

The greasepaint mustache and eyebrows originated spontaneously prior to a vaudeville performance in the early 1920s when he did not have time to apply the pasted-on mustache he had been using (or, according to his autobiography, simply did not enjoy the removal of the mustache because of the effects of tearing an adhesive bandage off the same patch of skin every night). After applying the greasepaint mustache, a quick glance in the mirror revealed his natural hair eyebrows were too undertoned and did not match the rest of his face, so Marx added the greasepaint to his eyebrows and headed for the stage. The absurdity of the greasepaint was never discussed on-screen, but in a famous scene in Duck Soup, where both Chicolini (Chico) and Pinky (Harpo) disguise themselves as Groucho, they are briefly seen applying the greasepaint, implicitly answering any question a viewer might have had about where he got his mustache and eyebrows.

Marx was asked to apply the greasepaint mustache once more for You Bet Your Life when it came to television, but he refused, opting instead to grow a real one, which he wore for the rest of his life. By this time, his eyesight had weakened enough for him to actually need corrective lenses; before then, his eyeglasses had merely been a stage prop. He debuted this new, and now much-older, appearance in Love Happy, the Marx Brothers's last film as a comedy team.

He did paint the old character mustache over his real one on a few rare occasions, including a TV sketch with Jackie Gleason on the latter's variety show in the 1960s (in which they performed a variation on the song "Mister Gallagher and Mister Shean," co-written by Marx's uncle Al Shean) and the 1968 Otto Preminger film Skidoo. In his late 70s at the time, Marx remarked on his appearance: "I looked like I was embalmed." He played a mob boss called "God" and, according to Marx, "both my performance and the film were God-awful!"

The exaggerated walk, with one hand on the small of his back and his torso bent almost 90 degrees at the waist was a parody of a fad from the 1880s and 1890s. Fashionable young men of the upper classes would affect a walk with their right hand held fast to the base of their spines, and with a slight lean forward at the waist and a very slight twist toward the right with the left shoulder, allowing the left hand to swing free with the gait. Edmund Morris, in his biography The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, describes a young Roosevelt, newly elected to the State Assembly, walking into the House Chamber for the first time in this trendy, affected gait, somewhat to the amusement of the older and more rural members. Marx exaggerated this fad to a marked degree, and the comedy effect was enhanced by how out of date the fashion was by the 1940s and 1950s.

Marx's three marriages ended in divorce. His first wife was chorus girl Ruth Johnson (m. 1920-42). He was 29 and she was 19 at the time of their wedding. The couple had two children, Arthur Marx and Miriam Marx. His second wife was Kay Marvis (m. 1945–51), Catherine Dittig, ormer wife of Leo Gorcey. Marx was 54 and Kay was 21 at the time of their marriage. They had a daughter, Melinda Marx. His third wife was actress Eden Hartford (m. 1954-69). He was 64 and she was 24 at the time of their wedding.

During the early 1950s, Marx described his perfect woman: "Someone who looks like Marilyn Monroe and talks like George S. Kaufman."

Marx was denied membership in an informal symphonietta of friends (including Harpo) organized by Ben Hecht, because he could play only the mandolin. When the group began its first rehearsal at Hecht's home, Marx rushed in and demanded silence from the "lousy amateurs". The musicians discovered him conducting the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra in a performance of the overture to Tannhäuser in Hecht's living room. Marx was allowed to join the symphonietta.

Later in life, Marx would sometimes note to talk show hosts, not entirely jokingly, that he was unable to actually insult anyone, because the target of his comment would assume that it was a Groucho-esque joke, and would laugh.

Despite his lack of formal education, he wrote many books, including his autobiography, Groucho and Me (1959) and Memoirs of a Mangy Lover (1963). He was a friend of such literary figures as Booth Tarkington, T. S. Eliot and Carl Sandburg. Much of his personal correspondence with those and other figures is featured in the book The Groucho Letters (1967) with an introduction and commentary on the letters written by Marx, who donated his letters to the Library of Congress. His daughter Miriam published a collection of his letters to her in 1992 titled Love, Groucho.

Marx made serious efforts to learn to play the guitar. In the 1932 film Horse Feathers, he performs the film's love theme "Everyone Says I Love You" for costar Thelma Todd on a Gibson L-5.

In July 1937, an America vs England pro-celebrity tennis doubles match was organized, featuring Marx and Ellsworth Vines playing against Charlie Chaplin and Fred Perry, to open the new clubhouse at the Beverly Hills Tennis Club. Marx appeared on court with 12 rackets and a suitcase, leaving Chaplin – who took tennis seriously – bemused, before he asked what was in it. Marx asked Chaplin what was in his, with Chaplin responding he didn't have one. Marx replied, "What kind of tennis player are you?" After playing only a few games, Marx sat on the court and unpacked an elaborate picnic lunch from his suitcase.

Irving Berlin quipped, "The world would not be in such a snarl, had Marx been Groucho instead of Karl". In his book The Groucho Phile, Marx says "I've been a liberal Democrat all my life", and "I frankly find Democrats a better, more sympathetic crowd.... I'll continue to believe that Democrats have a greater regard for the common man than Republicans do". However, just like some of the other Democrats of the time, Marx also said in a television interview that he disliked the women's liberation movement. On the July 7, 1967, Firing Line TV show, Marx said, "The whole political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence."

Marx's radio career was not as successful as his work on stage and in film, though historians such as Gerald Nachman and Michael Barson suggest that, in the case of the single-season Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel (1932), the failure may have been a combination of a poor time slot and the Marx Brothers' returning to Hollywood to make another film.

In the mid-1940s, during a depressing lull in his career (his radio show Blue Ribbon Town had failed, he failed to sell his proposed sitcom The Flotsam Family only to see it become a huge hit as The Life of Riley with William Bendix in the title role, and the Marx Brothers as film performers were well past their prime), Marx was scheduled to appear on a radio show with Bob Hope. Annoyed that he was made to wait in the green room for 40 minutes, he went on the air in a foul mood.

Hope started by saying "Why, Groucho Marx! Groucho, what are you doing out here in the desert?" Marx retorted, "Huh, desert, I've been sitting in the dressing room for forty minutes! Some desert alright..." Marx continued to ignore the script, ad-libbing at length to take the scene well beyond its allotted time slot.

Listening in on the show was producer John Guedel, who had a brainstorm. He approached Marx about doing a quiz show, to which Marx derisively retorted, "A quiz show? Only actors who are completely washed up resort to a quiz show!" Undeterred, Guedel proposed that the quiz would be only a backdrop for Marx's interviews of people, and the storm of ad-libbing that they would elicit. Marx replied, "Well, I've had no success in radio, and I can't hold on to a sponsor. At this point, I'll try anything!"

You Bet Your Life debuted in October 1947 on ABC radio (which aired it from 1947 to 1949), sponsored by costume jewelry manufacturer Allen Gellman;[23] and then on CBS (1949–50), and finally NBC. The show was on radio only from 1947 to 1950; on both radio and television from 1950 to 1960; and on television only, from 1960 to 1961. The show proved a huge hit, being one of the most popular on television by the mid-1950s. With George Fenneman as his announcer and straight man, Marx entertained his audiences with improvised conversation with his guests. Since You Bet Your Life was mostly ad-libbed and unscripted—although writers did pre-interview the guests and feed Marx ready-made lines in advance—the producers insisted that the network prerecord it instead of it being broadcast live. There were two reasons for this: prerecording provided Marx with time to fish around for funny exchanges and any intervening dead spots to be edited out; and secondly to protect the network, since Marx was a notorious loose cannon and known to say almost anything. The television show ran for 11 seasons until it was canceled in 1961. Automobile marque DeSoto was a longtime major sponsor. For the DeSoto ads, Marx would sometimes say: "Tell 'em Groucho sent you", or "Try a DeSoto before you decide".

The program's theme music was an instrumental version of "Hooray for Captain Spaulding", which became increasingly identified as Marx's personal theme song. A recording of the song with Marx and the Ken Lane singers with an orchestra directed by Victor Young was released in 1952. Another recording made by Marx during this period was "The Funniest Song in the World", released on the Young People's Records label in 1949. It was a series of five original children's songs with a connecting narrative about a monkey and his fellow zoo creatures.

An apocryphal story relates Marx interviewing Charlotte Story, who had borne 20 children. When Marx asked why she had chosen to raise such a large family, Mrs. Story is said to have replied, "I love my husband"; to which Marx responded, "I love my cigar, but I take it out of my mouth once in a while." The remark was judged too risqué to be aired, according to the anecdote, and was edited out before broadcast. Charlotte Story and her husband Marion, indeed parents of 20 children, were real people who appeared on the program in 1950. Audio recordings of the interview exist, and a reference to cigars is made ("With each new kid, do you go around passing out cigars?"), but there is no evidence of the claimed remark. Marx and Fenneman both denied that the incident took place. "I get credit all the time for things I never said," Marx told Roger Ebert in 1972. "You know that line in You Bet Your Life? The guy says he has seventeen kids and I say, 'I smoke a cigar, but I take it out of my mouth occasionally'? I never said that." Marx's 1976 memoir recounts the episode as fact, but co-writer Hector Arce relied mostly on sources other than Marx himself—who was by then in his mid eighties, in ill health and mentally compromised—and was probably unaware that Marx had specifically denied making the observation. Another anecdote that may or may not be apocryphal recounts how Warner Brothers threatened to sue Groucho when they learned that the next Marx Brothers film was to be called "A Night in Casablanca", contending that that title was too similar to their own film Casablanca. Groucho is reported to have replied: "I'll sue you for using the word Brothers."

By the time You Bet Your Life debuted on TV on October 5, 1950, Marx had grown a real mustache (which he had already sported earlier in the films Copacabana and Love Happy).

During a tour of Germany in 1958, accompanied by then-wife Eden, daughter Melinda, Robert Dwan and Dwan's daughter Judith, he climbed a pile of rubble that marked the site of Adolf Hitler's bunker, the site of Hitler's death, and performed a two-minute Charleston. He later remarked to Richard J. Anobile in The Marx Brothers Scrapbook, "Not much satisfaction after he killed six million Jews!"

In 1960, Marx, a lifelong devotee of the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, appeared as Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner, in a televised production of The Mikado on NBC's Bell Telephone Hour. A clip of this is in rotation on Classic Arts Showcase.

Another TV show, Tell It To Groucho, premiered January 11, 1962, on CBS, but only lasted five months. On October 1, 1962, Marx, after acting as occasional guest host of The Tonight Show during the six-month interval between Jack Paar and Johnny Carson, introduced Carson as the new host.

In 1964, Marx starred in the "Time for Elizabeth" episode of Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, a truncated version of a play that he and Norman Krasna wrote in 1948.

In 1965, Marx starred in a weekly show for British TV titled Groucho, broadcast on ITV. The program was along similar lines to You Bet Your Life, with Keith Fordyce taking on the Fenneman role. However, it was poorly received and lasted only 11 weeks.

Marx appeared as a gangster named God in the movie Skidoo (1968), directed by Otto Preminger, and costarring Jackie Gleason and Carol Channing. It was released by the studio where the Marx Brothers began their film career, Paramount Pictures. The film received almost universally negative reviews. As a side note, writer Paul Krassner published a story in the February 1981 issue of High Times, relating how Marx prepared for the LSD-themed movie by taking a dose of the drug in Krassner's company, and had a moving, largely pleasant experience.

Marx developed friendships with rock star Alice Cooper—the two were photographed together for Rolling Stone magazine—and television host Dick Cavett, becoming a frequent guest on Cavett's late-night talk show, even appearing in a one-man, 90-minute interview. He befriended Elton John when the British singer was staying in California in 1972, insisting on calling him "John Elton." According to writer Philip Norman, when Marx jokingly pointed his index fingers as if holding a pair of six-shooters, Elton John put up his hands and said, "Don't shoot me, I'm only the piano player," thereby naming the album he had just completed. A film poster for the Marx Bros. movie Go West is visible on the album cover photograph as an homage to Marx. Elton John accompanied Marx to a performance of Jesus Christ Superstar. As the lights went down, Marx called out, "Does it have a happy ending?" And during the Crucifixion scene, he declared, "This is sure to offend the Jews."

Marx's previous work regained popularity; new books of transcribed conversations were published by Richard J. Anobile and Charlotte Chandler. In a BBC interview in 1975, Marx called his greatest achievement having a book selected for cultural preservation in the Library of Congress. In a Cavett interview in 1971, Marx said being published in The New Yorker under his own name, Julius Henry Marx, meant more than all the plays he appeared in. As a man who never had formal schooling, to have his writings declared culturally important was a point of great satisfaction. As he passed his 81st birthday in 1971, however, Marx became increasingly frail, physically and mentally, as a result of a succession of minor strokes and other health issues.

In 1972, largely at the behest of his companion Erin Fleming, Marx staged a live one-man show at Carnegie Hall that was later released as a double album, An Evening with Groucho, on A&M Records. He also made an appearance in 1973 on a short-lived variety show hosted by Bill Cosby. Fleming's influence on Marx was controversial. Some close to Marx believed that she did much to revive his popularity, and the relationship with a younger woman boosted his ego and vitality. Others described her as a Svengali, exploiting an increasingly senile Marx in pursuit of her own stardom. Marx's children, particularly Arthur, felt strongly that Fleming was pushing their weak father beyond his physical and mental limits. Writer Mark Evanier concurred.

On the 1974 Academy Awards telecast, Marx's final major public appearance, Jack Lemmon presented him with an honorary Academy Award to a standing ovation. The award honored Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo as well: "in recognition of his brilliant creativity and for the unequalled achievements of the Marx Brothers in the art of motion picture comedy.” Noticeably frail, Marx took a bow for his deceased brothers. "I wish that Harpo and Chico could be here to share with me this great honor," he said, naming the two deceased brothers (Zeppo, still alive, was in the audience). He also praised the late Margaret Dumont as a great straight woman who never understood any of his jokes. Marx's final appearance was a brief sketch with George Burns in the Bob Hope television special Joys (a parody of the 1975 movie Jaws) in March 1976. His health continued to decline the following year; when his younger brother Gummo died at age 83 on April 21, 1977, Marx was never told for fear of eliciting still further deterioration of his health.

Marx maintained his irrepressible sense of humor to the very end, however. George Fenneman, his radio and TV announcer, good-natured foil, and lifelong friend, often related a story of one of his final visits to Marx's home: When the time came to end the visit, Fenneman lifted Marx from his wheelchair, put his arms around his torso, and began to "walk" the frail comedian backwards across the room towards his bed. As he did, he heard a weak voice in his ear: "Fenneman," whispered Marx, "you always were a lousy dancer." When a nurse approached him with a thermometer during his final hospitalization, explaining that she wanted to see if he had a temperature, he responded, "Don't be silly — everybody has a temperature." Actor Elliott Gould recalled a similar incident: "I recall the last time I saw Groucho, he was in the hospital, and he had tubes in his nose and what have you," he said. "And when he saw me, he was weak, but he was there; and he put his fingers on the tubes and played them like it was a clarinet. Groucho played the tubes for me, which brings me to tears."

Marx was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with pneumonia on June 22, 1977, and died there nearly two months later at the age of 86 on August 19, four months after Gummo's death.

Marx was cremated and the ashes are interred in the Eden Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. He was survived by his three children and younger brother Zeppo, who outlived him by two years. His gravestone bears no epitaph, but in one of his last interviews he suggested one: "Excuse me, I can't stand up."

Litigation over his estate lasted into the 1980s. Eventually, Arthur Marx and his sisters were awarded the bulk of the estate, and Erin Fleming was ordered to repay $472,000.

[meirweiss]

SHIMSHON BITNUN, naomiragen.com

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[whatsprayer]

DOMINGO III DA QUARESMA: O mais belo diálogo do Novo Testamento

1. No programa de «preparação» para a Noite Pascal Batismal, início e meta da vida cristã, o Domingo III da Quaresma está marcado pelos primeiros «escrutínios» para os catecúmenos: primeira «chamada» para a Liberdade. Em ordem a uma melhor compreensão integrada dos Domingos da Quaresma, e particularmente do III que hoje nos ocupa, tenha-se sempre presente a linha dos Evangelhos: Cristo batizado, tentado na sua condição de batizado, e Vitorioso (Domingo I), confirmado na sua missão filial batismal com a Transfiguração (Domingo II), promete a Água da Vida (Domingo III), dá a Luz (Domingo IV), dá a Ressurreição (Domingo V). A linha cristológica torna-se também «antropológica». A «obra» divina na Humanidade do Filho dirige-se, nesta mesma Humanidade, com amor, aos homens. Água, Luz, Ressurreição, são os elementos batismais primários (simbologia batismal da Quaresma) quer para os batizados quer para os catecúmenos.   2. O Evangelho do Domingo III da Quaresma oferece-nos o grande diálogo de Jesus com a samaritana (João 4,5-42). A meticulosa preparação da cena mostra-nos Jesus a fazer a viagem da Judeia para a Galileia, com o narrador a anotar que «era preciso passar pela Samaria» (João 4,4). Aquilo que parece óbvio à primeira vista, na verdade não o é. Quem, no tempo de Jesus, fazia essa viagem, evitava mesmo passar pela Samaria: desde logo porque a estrada era montanhosa, mas também porque eram hostis as relações entre judeus e samaritanos. A viagem habitual fazia-se, descendo de Jerusalém para Jericó, atravessando depois o Jordão para Oriente, junto de Damyiah, percorrendo então por terra plana o Além-Jordão (atual Jordânia) sempre junto do rio Jordão, para voltar depois a atravessar o Jordão, agora para Ocidente, junto de Bet-Shean, um pouco a sul do Mar da Galileia. E estava-se na Galileia. Evitava-se assim a estrada montanhosa da Samaria, bem como eventuais hostilidades com os samaritanos. Se o narrador coloca Jesus a calcorrear o caminho montanhoso da Samaria, é assunto teológico, de resto, explicitado naquele «era preciso», e não geográfico: trata-se de revestir Jesus dos traços do mensageiro de Isaías 52,7: «Como são belos, sobre os montes, os pés do mensageiro que leva boas novas a Sião», e do noivo do Cântico dos Cânticos 2,8, de quem a noiva diz: «A voz do meu amado: ei-lo que vem correndo sobre os montes». O que faz correr sobre os montes é, pois, uma grande notícia ou um grande amor. As duas realidades movem Jesus.   3. O texto refere ainda que Jesus se sentava com tempo (ekathízeto: imperfeito que implica duração) junto do poço-fonte de Jacob (João 4,6). É sabido, desde o Antigo Testamento, que o poço-fonte é visto como um cenário de noivado. É assim em Génesis 24, onde, junto de um poço, se trata o casamento de Isaac com Rebeca; é assim em Génesis 29, onde, junto de um poço, se trata o casamento de Jacob com Raquel; é assim em Êxodo 2, onde, junto de um poço, se prepara o casamento de Moisés com Séfora. Um grande amor e grandes e belas notícias movem Jesus, na sua viagem «necessária» sobre os montes da Samaria. Fazendo-o sentar com tempo junto do poço-fonte, são cenários de noivado que o narrador evoca e cuidadosamente prepara. Ao anotar, outra vez com tinta teológica, que «era por volta do meio-dia [= hora sexta]» (João 4,6), o narrador evoca outra vez a hora do Noivo dos Cântico dos Cânticos 1,7, mas deixa-nos também expostos à máxima e irresistível revelação (Atos 22,6; 26,13). O meio-dia representa a luz a pique, penetrante, como uma espada de dois gumes (cf. Hebreus 4,12). Em contraponto, procurar Jesus de noite, como fez Nicodemos na página anterior (João 3,2) é não entender nada, como os discípulos que nada pescam de noite (João 21,3) e no meio do escuro andam perdidos (João 6,17-18), como a Madalena que vai de madrugada, ainda escuro, ao túmulo de Jesus, e nada entende (João 20,1), como o homem da noite na noite perdido, que é Judas (João 13,30; 18,3), enfim, como Pedro, perdido na noite e no meio dos guardas, com os guardas e sem Jesus (João 18,17-18).   4. Eis Jesus sentado, com tempo, junto do poço-fonte à hora do meio-dia. E aí vem a noiva, a mulher da Samaria. E Jesus desce pedagogicamente ao nível da mulher que vinha buscar água, com aquele pedido direto: «Dá-me de beber» (João 4,7), com que se abre o maior diálogo de todo o Novo Testamento. Salta à vista que Jesus se transforma em pedinte com o intuito de transformar em pedinte a mulher: a maravilhosa delicadeza de um Deus que pede para dar! De facto, pedagogicamente conduzida por Jesus, no final do diálogo sobre a água, é a mulher que diz para Jesus: «Senhor, dá-me dessa água...» (João 4,15).   5. Neste ponto preciso, Jesus imprime um novo ritmo ao diálogo, dizendo agora à mulher: «Vai, chama o teu marido, e vem aqui» (João 4,16). Ao que a mulher responde: «Não tenho marido!» (João 4,17). Quem tem o ouvido sintonizado na onda finíssima que percorre o Evangelho de João, começa já a aperceber-se do verdadeiro efeito retórico deste «Não tenho», e para onde nos leva este Não ter. Na verdade, pouco antes, em plenas bodas de Caná, Maria tinha anotado para Jesus: «Não têm vinho!» (João 2,3). E a verdade é que vão ter vinho em excesso! Em João 5,7, anota-se o caso do doente que não é curado por Jesus, porque não temninguém que o lance à água. Vai, portanto, ter cura em excesso! É ainda o caso dos discípulos que, à pergunta de Jesus: «Filhinhos (paidía), não tendes alguma coisa para comer, pois não?», respondem: «Não!» (João 21,5). Também já se sabe que irão ter peixe em excesso! É, portanto, de suspeitar, por parte do leitor atento de João, que a mulher da Samaria, que não tem marido, vá encontrar o esposo definitivo, o próprio Deus, cumprindo Isaías 62,5: «Como um jovem desposa uma virgem, assim te desposará o teu edificador. Como a alegria do noivo pela sua noiva, assim o teu Deus se alegrará em ti».   6. E aí está Jesus, o conhecedor que nos conhece, e que nós ainda não conhecemos, a entrar dentro da mulher da Samaria e de nós mesmos, dizendo: «Disseste bem: “Não tenho marido”. Na Verdade tiveste cinco maridos, e o que tens agora [= sexto] não é teu marido”» (João 4,17-18). Abre-se aqui outra janela de luz e sentido. Olhando através dela, podemos ver uma mulher atónita, a olhar para Jesus com redobrado espanto, e a dizer consigo mesma: «Mas como é que este desconhecido sabe tanto de mim? Como é que este desconhecido conhece a minha vida toda? Que experiência será esta de nos sentirmos ditos, adivinhados, conhecidos? Não será o conhecimento conhecido, obra de Deus em nós, de que fala Paulo em 1 Coríntios 13,12? Seguramente que a mulher experimenta a estranha sensação de estar perante o saber que a ultrapassa de alguém que a conhece perfeitamente, e que ela ainda não conhece. Mas esta técnica da «antecipação» ou «adivinhação» pode ver-se noutras passagens do IV Evangelho, pelo que, se a mulher é completamente surpreendida, o leitor competente não o é. De facto, a mesma estratégia narrativa já foi encontrada em João 1,45-49, quando Jesus se adianta a Natanael, dizendo dele: «Eis um verdadeiro israelita!» (João 1,47), ao que Natanael reage com espanto: «De onde me conheces?» (João 1,48). Ver-se-á também em João 20,15, quando aquele que, aos olhos da Madalena, era um simples jardineiro, se adianta a ela, atravessando-a com uma pergunta penetrante: «Mulher, porque choras? A quem procuras?» (João 20,15a). Se a primeira pergunta («Porque choras?») parece óbvia (porque a Madalena estava, de facto, a chorar), a segunda («A quem procuras?») apanha a Madalena completamente de surpresa. Na verdade, pensará a Madalena: «Quem será este que sabe que eu procuro alguém neste jardim?» E se sabe que eu procuro alguém, seguramente saberá também quem eu procuro. Por isso, porque se sentiu adivinhada e pressente que ele sabe quem ela procura, responde-lhe em código: «Se tu o levaste, diz-me onde o puseste , e eu o retirarei» (João 20,15b). Esta estratégia pode ver-se ainda na manifestação de Jesus Ressuscitado a Tomé. Na verdade, depois de Tomé ter dito aos outros discípulos que afirmaram diante dele terem visto o Senhor (João 20,25), que não acreditaria se ele próprio não visse nas suas mãos a marca dos cravos, e se não metesse o seu dedo na marca dos cravos e a sua mão no seu lado (João 20,25), surge Jesus, dirige-se a Tomé e diz: «Traz o teu dedo aqui e vê as minhas mãos, e traz a tua mão e mete-a no meu lado, e não sejas incrédulo, mas crente!» (João 20,27). Tomé já não vai investigar nada, e responde de imediato, certamente atónito, porque adivinhado (como é que Jesus tomou conhecimento das condições postas por ele?): «Meu Senhor e meu Deus!» (João 20,28), a mais alta confissão de fé no plano narrativo do IV Evangelho.   7. E quanto às contas feitas com os maridos, o leitor atento, mas incauto, contentar-se-á, talvez, com a simples aritmética, mas se fizesse as operações mentais e afetivas reclamadas pelo texto, seria levado a compreender que aquela mulher da Samaria, que agora não tem marido, que já teve cinco, e que o que tem agora, e que é o sexto, não é seu marido – teve cinco, o que tem agora e que não é seu marido, é o sexto. Compreende-se então que aquela mulher já vai no sexto marido provisório, sendo seis um número imperfeito. Mas o sexto, enquanto provisório e imperfeito, aponta para o definitivo e perfeito. Em boa gramática simbólica, aponta para o sétimo, que está ali à beira, que está aqui à beira, e é Jesus! É por isso que a sua voz é a voz do noivo, daquele que vem, trazendo o tempo novo da alegria nova e definitiva, a alegria grande da Páscoa, o Messias suspeitado (João 4,25) e confesso: «EU SOU (egô eimi), o que estou a FALAR contigo (ho lalôn soi)!» (João 4,26), verdadeiro clímax narrativo e da revelação. E a samaritana, encontrada pelo Noivo novo definitivo esperado, procede, de facto, como as mulheres na manhã de Páscoa: abandona o cântaro antigo e provisório (João 4,28) que servia apenas para recolher a água antiga e provisória tirada do poço antigo e provisório (João 4,11), e correu à cidade para dizer a todos... (João 4,28). Notável movimento Batismal Pascal!   8. Mas o que é que diz a mulher aos homens da Samaria? Diz: «Vinde ver um Homem que me disse tudo o que eu fiz. Não será ele o Cristo?» (João 4,29). Note-se o importante dizer reticente e pedagógico, mas também cristológico, da mulher da Samaria. Dizendo como diz, a mulher da Samaria evita dizer «judeu» e «messias», duas realidades que provocariam nos samaritanos uma reação de hostilidade, e não os mobilizariam para irem ao encontro de Jesus. Usando, porém, o título de «Homem», aqui dado a Jesus pela primeira vez no Evangelho de João, mas que o atravessa completamente (4,29; 5,12; 7,46; 8,40; 9,11.16.24; 10,33; 11,47.50; 18,14.17.29; 19,15), e mesmo a inteira Escritura (Génesis 1,26-30), é a singular humanidade de Jesus que se salienta, o seu saber penetrante, bem como a sua palavra mansa e dialógica. E a interrogação: «Não será ele o Cristo?» não é expressão de dúvida acerca da identidade de Jesus, mas uma finíssima interrogação pedagógica, que provoca nos samaritanos a curiosidade e acende neles o desejo de fazerem a experiência, de irem ver Jesus. Muitas vezes, uma afirmação põe fim a um processo de pesquisa. A interrogação, ao contrário, mobiliza e desperta. Foi assim que os samaritanos foram ver e ouvir a voz do Noivo, Aquele-que-vem, e chegaram à fé em Jesus, confessando que Ele é verdadeiramente «o salvador do mundo» (João 4,42). O definitivo.   9. É estranho, mas também pedagógico e ilustrativo, que enquanto Jesus dialoga com a samaritana, circulando entre os dois o verbo «dar», os seus discípulos andem pelo shopping a «comprar»!   10. É igualmente estranho e nada edificante que estes discípulos de Jesus, que regressam do shopping exatamente quando termina este imenso diálogo de Jesus com a samaritana, tenham ficado admirados de ver Jesus a falar com uma mulher, mas evitem fazer qualquer pergunta a Jesus (João 4,27-28). Em vez disso, convidam Jesus a comer alguma coisa, e ouvem de Jesus um dizer espantoso: «Tenho para comer um alimento que vós não conheceis» (João 4,32). Nós, que assistimos ao crescendo das reações da samaritana às propostas de Jesus, achamos agora estranhíssimo que estes discípulos não digam a Jesus: «Dá-nos então também desse alimento!», e que nem sequer formulem a pergunta: «Então que alimento novo que é esse?». Em vez disso, diz-nos o narrador que perguntavam, não a Jesus, de quem, pelos vistos, não querem que diga nada, mas uns aos outros: «Porventura alguém lhe terá trazido alguma coisa de comer?» (João 4,33).   11. Estranhos discípulos desacertados de Jesus e do seu tempo novo. Descompassados e descompensados. Andam ainda no tempo do inverno e da sementeira: «Não dizeis vós que faltam ainda quatro meses para a ceifa?» (João 4,35a). Eles não querem ouvir, mas Jesus abre diante deles um tempo novo: «Levantai os olhos e vede os campos: estão brancos para a ceifa!» (João 4,35b). Sim, o tempo que Jesus abre diante de nós é o tempo novo da ceifa e da alegria (cf. Salmo 126,6).   12. O relato do Livro do Êxodo (17,3-7) mostra-nos hoje que o Senhor está sempre no meio de nós e sacia a nossa sede no deserto da caminhada da vida. Então a sua «obra» nova não consiste também em fazer jorrar a água no deserto? (Isaías 35,6-7; 41,18; 43,19-20). Deus é muitas vezes, por 33 vezes, designado no Antigo Testamento, sobretudo nos Salmos, como a Rocha ou o Rochedo da nossa salvação. Por isso, é da Rocha, do Rochedo que jorra a água que mata a sede do povo de Israel, e a nossa, no deserto. Como sempre, o Antigo Testamento aponta para o Novo: no Evangelho de hoje, Jesus, o Filho de Deus, oferece a Água da Vida que mata a nossa sede para sempre. E Paulo, encontrado pelo Senhor Ressuscitado (Filipenses 3,12), que é quem dá a Água da Vida que é o Espírito Santo, pode agora dizer, relendo o Antigo Testamento, que aquela Rocha donde jorrava a água no deserto é Cristo (1 Coríntios 10,4).   13. A Rocha, o Poço e a Água viva. Deixo aqui a bela interpretação que os targûmîm (paráfrases aramaicas) fizeram da passagem do Livro dos Números 21,16-18: «Foi então que Israel cantou este poema de louvor, no momento em que voltou o poço que lhes tinha sido dado por mérito de Miriam, depois de ter estado escondido: “Sobe, poço! Sobe, poço!”, assim cantavam. E ele subia. O poço que tinham escavado os patriarcas, Abraão, Isaac e Jacob, os príncipes de outrora, os chefes do povo, Moisés e Aarão, perfuraram-no os dirigentes de Israel, mediram-no com as suas varas. E, depois do deserto, deu-se a eles como um dom. E depois de se dar a eles como um dom, pôs-se a subir com eles pelas altas montanhas, a descer com eles pelos vales. Passando por todo o território de Israel, dava-lhes de beber a todos e a cada um à entrada da sua tenda». Um poço que acompanha o povo por todo o lado, por montes e vales, e que dá de beber ao povo. Bela metáfora que pode traduzir também o Jesus de João 4, que vai à nossa procura e sacia a nossa sede mais profunda.   14. Na Carta aos Romanos (5,1-2.5-8), Paulo dá testemunho do acontecimento central da sua e da nossa vida. Dá testemunho do Evangelho. Cristo morreu por nós, dando-nos a Água da Vida que é o Espírito Santo (de novo Atos 2,32-33; João 19,30.34 decifrado por João 7,38-39). O Espírito Santo dado (Romanos 5,5) como selo (Efésios 4,30) para a vida eterna ensina-nos tudo sobre o Pai – em nós clama: Abbá(Gálatas 4,6); nele clamamos: Abbá (Romanos 8,15) – e sobre o Filho: «ninguém pode dizer “Senhor é Jesus” a não ser no Espírito Santo» (1 Coríntios 12,3). É ele que derrama o amor de Deus no nosso coração: unidos a Deus até à vida eterna (Romanos 8,16-17; 1 Coríntios 12).   15 Sim, não nos é permitido adormecer ou entorpecer, de modo a ficarmos inativos, infecundos, insensíveis, tipo «tanto faz!». O Salmo 95, que hoje cantamos, e que é, para os judeus fiéis, a oração de ingresso ou de entrada no sábado (reza-se sexta-feira ao pôr-do-sol), e para nós, cristãos, é o Salmo invitatório recitado todas as manhãs, é o mais quotidiano dos Salmos. E deve ser um permanente despertador para não nos deixarmos andar ao sabor de qualquer música, mas apenas e sempre ao sabor da música de Deus. Sim, não é tempo de nos instalarmos aqui, em qualquer «aqui». É necessário levar a todos os lugares e a todas as pessoas este vendaval manso de graça e de bondade e de fé que um dia Jesus ensinou à mulher da Samaria e todos os dias mostrou e continua a mostrar aos seus discípulos.   Era por volta do meio-dia, E Jesus sentava-se com tempo à beira do poço de Jacob, À espera que chegasse a mulher da Samaria. O meio-dia é a hora da Luz e da Revelação, Coisa que Nicodemos não sabia, E a mulher da Samaria vem ao poço buscar água e Luz, Vem buscar Jesus, Para beber e para viver.   Jesus, que a esperava, desceu ao nível dela, Fez-se pedinte, e disse-lhe: «Dá-me de beber!». Mas o seu intuito era Transformar em pedinte a mulher, Que pouco depois pede a Jesus: «Dá-me Tu dessa água viva, Senhor!».   E depois foi chamar os samaritanos, Que também vieram ver o poço novo aberto em Siquém. Todos beberam da água viva, E descobriram-se irmanados na alegria Daquele meio-dia.   Vem, Senhor Jesus, Senta-te à nossa beira, E ensina aos teus irmãos O segredo E o enredo Daquela nova ceifa e sementeira.   http://dlvr.it/Ng70r8

[cgshorts]

Bet She'an "In the city of Bet She'an, where mankind is progressively morphing into crows, a sculptor decides to leave a trace of this dwindling humanity" See the making of at the link below: https://vimeo.com/78102934