Ganeida's Knots

There is a famous story in which the German Kaiser asks Bismark, "Can you prove the existence of God?" Bismark replied," The Jews, your majesty, the Jews." Breaking The Jewish Code.
We went shopping for shoes...& came home with books! This happens more often than I care to admit. I would rather read than eat. My children avoid taking me in to bookshops because they are invariably finished & ready to move on long before I am & even then I dither. This book or that book? If I'm not sure I simply stand there reading till I am. There's nothing I hate more than buying a book I can't return to again & again. What a waste of money not to be able to re~read & re~read & get pleasure & something new each & every time. Naturally buying books is a time consuming process & not one to be entered into lightly.


What I went to buy was this. Uh~huh. I was really excited about it. I thought it would be a fascinating read. Insightful. Eye~opening. And it just didn't grab me, you know. Peeved, I was. So I went & had a look at Pen's book ~ & I do want this! I kept coming back to it. Lovely style but I only had enough money for one book & the one God kept nudging me towards was this one:

Now I knew nothing about this man or his teachings until after I bought his book. Then I went on~line & went, Yikes! Not the sort of teacher I would normally go for but if I stick with the books I can ignore the loud, over~the~top personality & garish, peculiar church decoration. Man! What an eye~opener than was. People really do this stuff in the house of God? Sometimes ignorance really is bliss because I took the book on it's face value as a scholarly insight into Judaic principles, well researched, thoughtful, well written & easy to read.

Edit: Read with caution. There seems to be a fair bit of controversy about Stone that I wasn't aware of & certainly there are things in this book I disagree with. But ~ there is also much I agree with & much to ponder. It's just he is a charasmatic & they tend to be a little weird about money & advertising & stuff. It's simple any way, folks. God says very plainly to read & discern the scriptures for ourselves. Don't just swallow what you're told holus bolus. This is still a fascinating read ~ just check anything you are uncomfortable with lines up biblically. For an interesting discussion of what people object to/agree with go here.

It is also chock full of those peculiar trivia tid~bits I so enjoy, starting with the Jews compromise just 1% of the world's population. For just 1% of the world's total population their contribution is exorbitant. OK, so I was interested because it covers a little more than just the feasts & I am tending to read it in my usual haphazard fashion because certain things interest me more than other things. The prophetic naming of children is not peculiar to the Jews & I found this chapter less insightful than many others but the Mezuzah is something I am thinking on quietly. Wonder how long it will take to talk Dearest into that one? The idea of literally putting God's word to guard our house & as a physical reminder of His watching over our coming & going appeals to the dramatist in me. lol. I would have liked more information on kosher foods as well but I'm pretty sure there's other books out there that deal exclusively with the food issue ~ & let's face it: I don't generally get all excited about food.

Yeah, I'm not the practical sort so filling my head with all sorts of useless information tends to be my downfall ~ & God knows it. At least this way I'm filling my head with Godly insights & because the word is a living entity there will be a practical outcome! Maybe not anytime soon but it will happen because the more I learn about the religion Christ practised the more I think the church has got some basic things very, very wrong. Maybe I should learn Hebrew so I can just read the whole thing in the original? Is it hard...& how long would it take me, do you think? After all, I have all those hours & hours of listening to Ditz sing like a canary!

Mind you, what I got for the Singapore plane trip was this. Not in the least highbrow & because I have already read the last book [first] & the first book [2nd] I can just concentrate on the storytelling & simply enjoy it. Better yet, when I am done Ditz will read it. Way to go!