Word: talmudic
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...first election. Premier David Ben-Gurion's Mapai (Labor Party) polled 35% of the vote, more than double the total of its nearest competitor. Closely bunched were the left-wing United Workers, which want alignment with Russia; the United Religious Front, which wants a state conforming to the Talmud; and the ultranationalist Freedom Movement, which wants a conquest of Palestine and Transjordan before peace is made with the Arabs. The Communists got 3.5% of the vote...
...Russian village during the early days of the century, when Czarism was cracking and the old Jewish communal life had begun to crack, too. All he wanted from life was a chance to sell his butter and cheese, an occasional glance into the Old Testament or the Talmud, and some reliable husbands for his sprouting daughters. "The Lord," he sarcastically remarked, "wanted to be good to Tevye, so He blessed him with seven female children ... all of them good-looking and charming . . . like young pine trees." But what was the use of such a blessing if he couldn...
...Orthodox concern for sidecurls starts with Leviticus, 19:27: "Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard." The Talmud carefully enumerates the corners: two on each cheek, one on the chin. Yemenite Jews often shave their heads, but leave the sidecurls (peoth) untouched...
...There is a legend in the Talmud which . . . runs like this: that when the Egyptians were drowning in the Red Sea, and Miriam was singing her song of triumph . . . the angels in heaven began to take up the refrain; but God stopped them saying, 'What? My children are drowning and ye would rejoice...
...micha-the laying on of hands by which Jewish rabbis were ordained for more than 1,500 years. But S'micha is something more than a simple ceremony of ordination. It is conferred only upon Orthodox rabbis who 1) have devoted years to intensive study of the Talmud and the complex, exacting Jewish Law, and 2) have satisfied their rabbinical superiors as to their scholarship and piety. Without receiving S'micha, rabbis may preach, head synagogues and serve as chaplains, but for Orthodox Jews may decide no questions of Jewish...