On various Jewish holidays, Hallel (“praise”) is recited. [For word nerds, hallel gives us hallelujah, or “praise Yahweh.” Many years ago I learned a short blessing in Arabic which includes what I assume is a cognate: Alhamdulillah, “praise Allah.”] At Passover several psalms are read, among them Psalm 136, praising God for creation, for saving […]
Author Archive | Martha Shelley
Passover is Almost Upon Us
Slaves making bricks, Egypt 1274 BCE I missed a week of blogging as I was doing taxes. But tonight’s post will, I hope, more than make up for it. Below is a poem from Haggadah: a Celebration of Freedom. It is read with the fourth cup of wine at the Passover seder. (You can order this […]
Wrestling with the Angel of Death
Selma, Bloody Sunday–people who made a difference I have always believed that every action we take, every word we utter, makes a difference. We either acquiesce to tyranny or oppose it, on all levels: home, neighborhood, nation-state. The Angel of Death is the fear That sits on your chest at three a.m. That tells you, […]
That Isis Might Make Free
Followers of ISIS destroying statuary The title of this post is the first line of an Egyptian prayer, asking the goddess Isis to free a patient from illness. Isis is very much in the news lately, but ironically, only as the English-language acronym for an organization that calls itself the Islamic State. It is […]
Readings: in Portland this Friday
Nena Rawdah, owner of St Johns Booksellers This Friday, February 27, Martha Shelley will be one of the featured readers at “Them’s Fightin’ Words.” For those unfamiliar with the series, it happens the last Friday of the month at St. Johns Booksellers here in Portland, OR. It starts with an open mike where anybody can […]
Passover: the First Cup
Passover comes after Purim and is my favorite holiday, since it celebrates a successful slave revolt. Whether that revolt actually happened is irrelevant; what matters is that the Passover legend shaped the consciousness of the Jewish people and was adopted by other people struggling to liberate themselves—most notably African slaves in the United States. The […]
Esther = Ishtar: the Pagan Origins of Purim
Cakes for Purim Purim has been called “the Jewish Halloween.” In its origins, however, I’d say it was more like Carnival. On Purim Jews in various countries dress up in costumes, get drunk, put on plays, sing, parade, burn effigies of Haman (the traditional enemy), and eat little triangular filled cakes. Central to the holiday […]
Oil for the Lamps of Assyria
Natural oil seep, Iraq You and I live in a petroleum-based global economy. Most likely you’ve heard of the theory of “peak oil,” meaning that there’s only so much oil in the ground. Once we start running out, prices will skyrocket. Scientists, economists, and oil industry representatives have been arguing about this theory for years. […]
Israel v Palestine: a Proposal
Gaza War, 2014 I grew up in a large family of pogrom and Holocaust survivors. We were taught that Israel’s existence gave all Jews a sense of pride and security that had been denied us for almost two millennia. The Arabs? I knew nothing about them. One afternoon in 1982, when I was a novice […]
Nile Mud, Dirt, and Ancient Medicine
In December, I blogged about how modern scientists are rediscovering the use of copper to kill germs. This week I’m interested in reports of a new antibiotic, one that doesn’t seem to induce resistance. We know that the overuse of antibiotics in modern medicine and factory farming has allowed bad bugs to evolve into badder, […]