Tea leaves?

Sorry - here's the rest:

"Yid" comes directly from the German "Jude," which in turn comes from all the other late BCE and early Common-era (Roman, Greek etc.) terms for "Jew."

You mention "Ebonics." Yes indeed, Blacks' use of English has made it "lively up itself" as might be said in Jamaica. I read this book over 30 years ago. Still good - but the languages has changed rapidly since and there is more up-to-date scholarship in the field. Lots of newer books: I still like this because it was the first one I read that was 100% geared to the particular subject. Others I had on music etc. were good, but dealt only tangentially with the subject of Black contributions to English.

https://www.amazon.ca/Black-English-J-L-Dillard/dp/0394718720

One aspect that appeals to me is Nigerian Pidgin. I learned a bit of it some years ago from websites and a knowledgeable DI member. Recently, I found a low-price certificate course in Nigerian Pidgin and hope to get on board with that very soon.

Na condition wey make crayfish bend. ( Changing conditions will make you do whatever you have to do.)

 

"Only"?

 

Yes, only. I used the word because we had been discussing events going back much further - and Hebrew itself is a much older language than Yiddish. And then, there's Aramaic. Our discussion went back to Babylonian Captivity, Hebrew-Israelite-Jew progression etc. Perhaps I made a mistake - I thought Lerner was pointing out "Yid" as a word with origins back in the mists of time. It isn't. As we both know, it got into Yiddish via German - about a thousand years ago, when the mamaloshen developed.

If anything I said here bothers anyone, I'm quite willing to consider all Hebrews & Israelites as having been recognized Jews, back to the beginning of the Jewish Calendar - when was it? - about 5781 years ago, I think. Even if the authorities on the subject don't agree. Hope that helps.

 

Hey, I was right. Today's date: 8 Heshvan 5781. I just looked it up to make sure. How did I know? When I was a kid of 9 or 10, just new in Canada, there was a synagogue a few blocks away, which is no longer there - new one built elsewhere many years ago. I remember the old one had a dual-dated cornerstone - Oct. 1949, Cheshvan 5710. I've used that ever since - maybe once every 20 years.

 

Here's my maybe interesting Jewish tidbit. When I was young I was told that the lost tribe of Israel became lost to the old world when they traveled across the ocean to America in a submarine. This is a true belief that some groups have. Anyone know which groups? By true belief I mean that people really believe it to be true not that the belief is actually true.

 

Glad you said this, Bill.

Lots of groups believe this. Mormons among others. Also there's an African American group called "Black Hebrew Israelites" - here are some links. I haven't taken time to read them because the subject doesn't interest me. I can remember in the 1950s my mother (English) listened to radio broadcasts from a "British Israel Society" that said The Lost Tribes had migrated in ancient times to the U.K. Bunch of bunk.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hebrew_Israelites
https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/places/related-articles/mormon-scripture-and-the-lost-tribes-of-israel
https://www.amazon.com/Hiding-Hebrews-America-Kidnap-Tribes-ebook/dp/B072Q9VMB2

Lots more. Just Google "tribes of Israel went to America" - you'll get pages. Academics thru wackos.

For a Jewish-sourced look at all this nonsense - I think this is good:

https://forward.com/culture/440860/when-native-americans-were-the-lost-tribes-of-israel/

 

I should say - not ALL of what the African American group claims can be entirely disregarded. There are some isolated groups of Black Jews in Africa, and it's certainly possible that some may have been taken as slaves. I haven't seen any historical accounts, but such may have existed. I remember Steve Foerster once linked to an article on one such group - Nigeria's Igbo Jews.

 

I've read a little further and - no - I don't see how the above lends any credence to the African American group's beliefs.

Too much historical revisionism - and Jewish authorities say these people (Black Hebrew Israelites) do not meet the standards to be termed Jews. See the wiki.
Despite all this - some of the group have managed to become Israeli citizens.

 

I had posted my reply and was walking downstairs when to my absolute horror I realized what I had sad. Luckily I was able to edit my post and add the last sentence before the 10 minute limit expired.

Thanks for the interesting information. I hope those other groups don't believe the submarine part though?

 

Jews are diverse groups, from atheists to ultra-orthodox.
There are Hebrew tribes in India. They call themselves Sons of Menace, or Bnei Menashe.
For the Bnei Menashe, Jews of North-east India, reclaiming their Jewish heritage has been a story of challenges and triumphs.

According to rabbinic literature, the Sambation (Hebrew: סמבטיון ‎) is the river beyond which the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel were exiled by the Assyrian king Shalmaneser V (Sanchairev).
I even read speculation that Denmark was of the tribe of Dan.
And on YouTube, you can learn that Putin, Trump, Clinton, Lincoln, and Truman are Jews.
A movie you may enjoy:

 

Yes. And you'll probably hear on YouTube about that "British Israel" program my mother used to listen to. You might learn that the ten LOST TRIBES were LOST in the "Tube" (London Underground) somewhere on the Piccadilly Line between Turnpike Lane and Manor House.

 

If that's so, then I think they're both horrible examples. And one of them eats CHEESEBURGERS! Call the Rabbi! It's time for Cherem (the Jewish equivalent to excommunication).

 

Heck, even the JEWS can't decide who is a Jew. You have the astonishing situation where the State of Israel will grant an oleh's visa to a Reform convert (after a bit of hassle, to be sure, but it IS Israel after all) but not to an Orthodox convert whose bet din didn't include "approved" Orthodox rabbis. Once there, however, the Reform convert won't be allowed to marry or be buried in a Jewish cemetary. "Approval" means being on a list no one seems to be able to produce. Likewise, a Jew who adopts Christianity even in the guise of Messianic Judaism, will be treated as a Jew who has adopted a foreign religion and will be denied aliyah under the Law of Return even though the Israeli rabbinate does recognize such a person as a legal, if heretical, Jew.

Part of this mess is that the Israeli rabbinate is extremely rigid and right wing and unwilling to share its power over personal status but only part. Some of it arises from very practical questions about the nature of a "Jewish" State. Part of it comes from unilateral decisions by Liberal rabbis to extend Jewishness by birth to the patrilineal line. It's a mess, that's all.

 

Pidgin is really big in West Africa. 75 million speakers in Nigeria alone. BBC has a Pidgin news service - have a look.

https://www.bbc.com/pidgin/tori-54702683

 

Secular Jews don't keep kosher, eat what they want.

They don't see this as a mess, they convinced that they are the guardians.
To them, Halacha is the Law when it comes to who is a Jew.
One Sefsardic chief rabbi called Russian speaking immigrants, not real jews, they are Goyim and worse,
‘religion-hating gentiles’
This was early in the year.
Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef criticized Israel’s Law of Return for granting citizenship to Russians who are not Jewish according to Orthodox religious law.
So who is a Jew? Is it ethnicity or Region or both?
Who determines in Israel?
Knesset or Rabbis? The debate is ongoing since the formation of the state and before.

 

With no sign of resolution.

 

All of them? Okay - that cheeseburger remark was made as a joke, actually. Eating cheeseburgers is probably one of the better things about Mr. Trump. A long way from the "worst" aspects by any standards.

I haven't had one in maybe fifteen or twenty years, but I'm pretty sure a cheeseburger wouldn't kill me. My cardiologist would, though, if he heard about it.

 

I'm not sure what a "secular" Jew even is. In the U.S., the term "unaffiliated" has a pretty definite meaning but there's a wide spectrum of observance. Vegetarianism is quite common among liberal Jews and veganism is not unknown. Even among liberal Jews who don't keep kosher, there's a lot of pork and shellfish avoidance. Keeping kosher is also very much a matter of definition. Machel Wex says, (rather judgmentally I think), that in America these days, one's level of dietary observance depends mostly on how many hechsherim one rejects as insufficient.

 

Okay, back to the original point of this thread...nailing my colors to the mast, here...I haven’t changed my prediction. President Trump will win a second term in the Electoral College. I don’t know what will happen in the Senate though I suspect that control will pass to the Democrats. The House will stay in Democratic hands. That's my story and I am sticking to it.

 

With 283 electoral votes.