I'm so occupied these days

April 2, 2009 6:02 PM

Soup Over Bethlehem - The mloukhieh in the soup bowl represents the shared national heritage and the meal itself becomes a gastronomic anchoring of a Palestinian identity in eternal flux. [via]
posted by tellurian (17 comments total)

As the special sauce becomes the standard about which we rally, our hearts join like the two halves of a sesame seed bun, cradling two all-beef patties which have come to symbolize weather-worn visages of the frontier settlers who forged ahead, despite the charcoal grill of difficult circumstances they faced.
posted by nervousfritz at 7:06 PM on April 2, 2009

Mloukhieh [mulukhiyah, malukhiyah, a million other spellings] is also a popular dish in Egypt and Japan, among other places.

Let's get some recipes up in this mofo:

-EGYPT
-JAPAN
-ITALY [in Italian]
-UNSPECIFIED ORIGIN
posted by Grimp0teuthis at 8:10 PM on April 2, 2009

Actually this is a much better Wikipedia article than the one I posted above.
posted by Grimp0teuthis at 8:17 PM on April 2, 2009

Okay, I'll play. Fresh or Dried Mulukhiya

• al-Maqrizi in Itti'ath al-Hunanfa' أتعاظ الحنفا للمقريزي in 395 AH, in 7th of Muharram an order from al-Hakim bi Amrillah was read in all mosques forbidding eating molokheya, because Mu'awya ibn Abi Sufyan, the arch-enemy of the Shia used to like it!
posted by tellurian at 9:42 PM on April 2, 2009

Molokhia is Egyptian. And there is no such *culture* known as ">Palestinian culture - they are arabs who came from Syria, Egypt and Jordan in search of grazing land for their livestock and decided to stay while the Jews were being annihilated in inquisitions, pogroms and the holocaust.
posted by watercarrier at 7:13 AM on April 3, 2009 [1 favorite]

It's true. There's no such thing as American culture, either - they're just English (and African, and Irish, and German, and Danish, and Chinese, and...) who came in search of new land while the First Nations were being hunted down, relocated and margionalized.
posted by FatherDagon at 10:14 AM on April 3, 2009 [1 favorite]

And there is no such *culture* known as ">Palestinian culture - they are arabs who came from Syria, Egypt and Jordan in search of grazing land for their livestock and decided to stay while the Jews were being annihilated in inquisitions, pogroms and the holocaust.
WTF! Sit down and break some bread with your neighbours. Your [Palestinan culture] link is malformed (I'd be interested in reading it as long as it is factual and reasoned) please repost it.
posted by tellurian at 12:51 AM on April 4, 2009

You got that right Father Dagon - there ~is~ no such thing as American culture.

As for the malformed link - It might one of those art imitating life things - where the nonexistent link mirrors the nonexistent culture.

But here's something to sink your consciousness into nonetheless - Palestine?
posted by watercarrier at 11:20 AM on April 4, 2009

What a wonderful site that is watercarrier! I really liked the 'solution' page and in particular points 10, 11 and 12 (well, maybe not 12).

10. Any Palestinian assisting suicide bombers or any who attempts unsuccessfully to perpetrate a suicide bombing will be captured, will be flown in an Israeli helicopter over Ramallah or Gaza City, will be handcuffed, will have an explosives belt attached to his or her waist, and then will be hurled out of the helicopter and detonated in the air above the city, while the helicopter will be playing through loudspeakers Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. That is because it would be poor taste to play Wagner.

11. Capital punishment for terrorists will be immediately implemented and all executed terrorists will be buried in unmarked graves in pigskins. The government will sell lottery tickets to anyone who wishes to purchase them, whereby the winner of the lottery gets to execute one terrorist. Members of the families of those murdered by terrorists will be offered special preferences. The proceeds will be used to balance the government's budget.

12. Israel will endeavor to solve the parking congestion problems in the Hizbollah villages of southern Lebanon.

Please post more like this to sink my consciousness into.
posted by tellurian at 6:23 PM on April 5, 2009

It all sounds just and perfectly legitimate - nothing amiss - and I will quote:

*) There never was a Palestinian state or a Palestinian nation. There are no Palestinian people, per se. Rather, these are Arabs living in a region that historically has been called many things, including "Palestine."

2) Israel did not go to war against a Palestinian state and occupy its land. Rather, Israel was attacked by six Arab countries at once. She defended herself, defeated her attackers, and won the so-called territories, not from the Palestinians, but from Jordan and Egypt.

3) Jerusalem was never the capital of any state but Israel. It was certainly never the capital of a country that never existed. Why should the Palestinians get any part of it? Because they want it? Because they have terrorists?

4) Jerusalem, under the current Israeli control, is a free and open city. Israel, as a democracy, guarantees freedom of religion within its borders. Contrast this fact with areas that have come under Palestinian occupation. What percentage of Christians have left in recent years because they cannot stand the harassment and persecution?

5) Most Arabs living in Palestine today are not indigenous to the region. It was not until after the Jews had changed deserts and swamps into a productive and thriving land that the Arabs started migrating there. Arafat himself was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt. Did you know that?

The belief that giving the Palestinians a state will bring peace is a delusion. The truth is that they want it all. The short-term goal is a state consisting of the West Bank and Gaza. The long-term goal is a state which includes all of "historical Palestine," including Jordan.*

and what can possibly turn this around - aside from shoving the Jews into the sea which is on the Palestenian/Arab agenda

Simply this - putting down ground rules for GUESTS who are benefitting from water, electricity, food, medical care, benefits, welfare, humanitarian aid and gifts to pacify them from uprising - that all of these perks are contingency based. Either or. And no two ways about it. You can't slaughter your hosts and expect rewards. You play by the rules - you live in peace or you leave - its as simple as that. And those that would nay say such a plan and upcry and say *it's racism* *it's nazism* let's see you live with terrorists in your backyard who hurl missiles at you, hack your children to death with axes, plant bombs in your home, blow up civilians riding buses, and who plan to kill you while you sleep. Let's see your equanimity, your liberalism and your bleeding heart then. From wherever it is you're writing from - safely ensconced in lala land you haven't a clue. Only what the spin media and brainwashing networks have fed you. You haven't a clue boy. Even when the indigenous people of the Americas are still dying from the poisons your ilk has inflicted on them for generations, you're still fundamentally and absolutely clueless.
posted by watercarrier at 2:08 AM on April 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

Only what the spin media and brainwashing networks have fed you. You haven't a clue boy. Even when the indigenous people of the Americas are still dying from the poisons your ilk has inflicted on them for generations, you're still fundamentally and absolutely clueless.
I really don't where to start. You and the web site you have cited only have extreme solutions. Go Well (but don't go there). If you and other people with attitudes like yours persist there will be many years of grief. We will all suffer from your hatred even though we are no part of it. Please try and find another way.
posted by tellurian at 7:31 AM on April 6, 2009

At this point in time, extremities are moving even further apart, in whatever realm, venue, level, whathaveyou. The left is moving away from the right, the liberal away from conservative, the Christian from the Muslim and the Jew away from them both. It is the way how time is panning out in its infinite wisdom. There must be separation in order to clarify, and within that clarification freewill utilized to choose good over evil. Sometimes - and this one of those times, evil doers will attempt in their last throes to overcome good. This will bring about the final war - most know it as Armageddon - however its true name is Gog and Magog.

Through this war, good will come and evil will cease to be. Yes. Imagine that. No more abuses, no more violence, no more mind controls, no more lies, disease, animosity or differences. All will be one. And not this NWO - but true heart - love - oneness, connectedness and unity. That's how it will pan out. And Israel will become a very holy place where all can come to worship one God, Creator without fear, without animosity and without politics. Apocalyptic? Yes. Prophetic? Yes. I didn't write the prophecy, I'm just passing on.
posted by watercarrier at 8:34 AM on April 6, 2009

Oh, I see. Any ideas on where the buddhists, hindus and non-believers might be moving? Also, do you have a date for this Gog and Magog thing? I think it might be something I need to diarise.
posted by tellurian at 4:18 PM on April 6, 2009

Yeah - you can check this out for starters.
posted by watercarrier at 12:34 AM on April 7, 2009

From your link:

Interesting that such a controversy should be happening in the sixth year of the Sh’mittah cycle, the one designated for “voices” about Moshiach’s arrival. Like its predecessor, Y2K, the Kabbalist’s letter it is certainly forcing the issue and making Moshiach the topic of the day for many believers.

As for the seventh year, there is already talk of war, again. The world just doesn’t get it. Instead, they blame the Jews and boycott the Israelis, a perfect example of the adage, “You mind is so open your brains fall out.”

Is it that they like the Arabs so much, or detest the Jews more? I suppose it depends upon who you ask, but either way, they just can’t seem to see how Yishmael is not the peace-loving type. Gush Katif was worst than an unmitigated disaster; it was a slap across God’s face, because it is one of the biggest lies ever told and upheld.

The state of affairs in Gaza should have forced people to say, “Well, we got that one all wrong, so let’s quit while we’re only that far behind.” Instead, the proponents of “piece” are forging ahead, like lemmings obliviously plunging off a cliff, one after the other. Are those Palestinians running the Knesset these days, because what Jew in his right mind (or even his left mind) would keep dealing with such people?

Unless of course, it is Heaven’s will that this Sh’mittah year be one of war, just as the Talmud predicted it would be. Rumors have it that the government is preparing for it just in case. Talk on the streets is that the Kabbalists are saying similar things, and strongly suggesting storing up about two weeks worth of water. Could the water-bottlers be behind all of this?

Well, if it turns out that the seventh year is a warring year, which is enough to make one pause to think, given that Iran is pretty much nuclear, and who knows what they have already bought from places like Russia, that would make the eighth year a good candidate to be the year of Moshiach Ben Dovid. Someone has to put all those fires out.

This is interesting, because what I have seen this year I did not see the last time the Sh’mittah year came around. Someone from Montreal knew about it, faxed it to a friend of mine in Eretz Yisroel, who recently passed it on to me. It is from a sefer called, “Meir Einei Chachamim”, based upon the teachings of the Ostrovster Rebi. The following piece was said over in 1925, or the Jewish year 5685, the year of Kiddush HaChamah—the blessing over the sun that has returned to its original position at the time of Creation. He said:

From the time of Creation, there are three times that Kiddush HaChamah falls on Erev Pesach: the year they left Egypt—it is mentioned in the Talmud that Kiddush HaChamah happened on Erev Pesach on a Wednesday—and the second time was in the year of the redemption of Mordechai and Esther, who then fasted on the 14th, 15th, and 16th [of Nissan]. The third time Kiddush HaChamah occurs on Erev Pesach, not much time will pass before the redemption comes, God willing.

If so, then that is good news, VERY good news. For, the third time that the sun finds itself back in its original position on an Erev Pesach, which has to be on a Wednesday, the day on which it was put in its place during the week of Creation, will be in 2009, or 5769—the eighth year of THIS Sh’mittah cycle! What an amazing coincidence.

I don’t know the source of the rebi’s prediction, but I am always amazed at the Hashgochah Pratit of information, how it seems to surface in the world just when it does. Just before 5760, the prediction of the Rokayach and the Chesed L’Avraham, both of which speak of a world-wide flood for that year, the year of Y2K, came to light:

240 years before the seventh millennium, the lower waters will rise up and cover the entire world, and only Israel will remain, which will float on the surface of the water like Noach’s ark. They will approach the Garden of Eden, the place from which the Four Rivers emanate … (Rokayach, Gali Razya; 12th century)

The amount [of undrawn water] necessary for a mikvah [to be kosher] is [a volume equal to the displacement of] 5,760 eggs. The secret regarding this is that, at the end of the year 5760 from Creation, the verse, “I [God] will remove the impure spirit from the land” (Zechariah 13:2) will be fulfilled, as well as the verse, “I will give peace in the land, and you will lie down, and no one will make you tremble; and I will remove the evil beasts from the land” (Vayikra 26:6); that is, the forces of spiritual impurity, as is mentioned in the Zohar. (Avraham Azulai, Chesed L’Avraham, Nahar 59, B’Sod Mikvah, p. 88)

Sounds pretty Messianic, doesn’t it? And, it just happened to coincide with Year 2000, a year of messianic fervor for the gentile world as well, which would have overtaken Eretz Yisroel had not the Arabs obliged with Intifadah, Part 2. Were the predictions only a potential that was left unfulfilled? Were they only meant to stir up Messianic sentiments in the sixth year of a Sh’mittah cycle?

In the meantime, seven years later, the situation has become even more intense. The Palestinians have been given land from which to fight and armed to the teeth. Pressure is on the Israelis to keep going forward, or backwards, depending upon your perspective in the situation, in spite of the fact that our partner for peace is a ghost, or worst yet, a demon, while Iran boasts plans to test its nuclear program real soon on Eretz Yisroel, and no one seems to be saying “boo”, nor will they say “boo-hoo” if they actually carry out their plans.

The good thing about the Cold War was that destruction of the enemy was only feasible if survival remained possible. Mutual deterrent meant that, out of fear of reprisal, considerations of attack had to be weighed out VERY carefully, and usually, for the most part, were aborted. Fear of destruction kept the world intact.

Iran and its religious adherents have cleverly removed that nasty obstacle of world peace, or even just world survival. Worrying about keeping the world alive just interferes with one’s plans to obliterate one’s enemy, no fun at all. How about, instead, embracing self-destruction, make it into some kind of holy experience that brings with it the ultimate pleasures of this world in the next world? Then you can just drop bombs anywhere you want, along with leaflets that say, “Make my day, blow me away!”

I have to say, if I didn’t believe in God and Torah, I would despair. I mean, what hope is there for the world the way it is going right now? For the moment it is quiet, but it is also disquieting. As the Talmud predicted long ago (Sanhedrin 97a):

It was taught in a brisa: Rebi Yehudah says: The generation within which Moshiach will come, the “Bait HaVaad” will be for promiscuous behavior.

Ever see pictures from a Gay Parade? For people who want respect, they certainly go about getting the most disrespectful way possible. Take Hollywood for example. At least they don’t claim to be a political party, just a box office hit.

The Galil will be destroyed and Gablan will be demolished. The people of the border will travel from city to city and find no grace. (Sanhedrin 97a)

Been there. Done that … last summer in the war against Hizbollah in southern Lebanon. Check.

The wisdom of the scribes will be corrupted, God-fearing men will be despised, and the faces of the leaders of the generation will be like the face of a dog.

Ruff! Grrrrrrrrrrrr. Check.

I think not. Wednesday, 2009 is a bit vague. Got anything sensible?
posted by tellurian at 6:21 AM on April 7, 2009

An amazing post.

Tellurin, between cleaning and cooking and burning my chametz, I've still managed to read your words. Now~I~don't know what to say except maybe - have an amazing Yitziat Mitzraim with all the blessings that come from moving forward and upward - and fear nothing and no one but HKBH.

Hag Sameach!
posted by watercarrier at 9:39 AM on April 7, 2009

I guess we'll just leave it at that then. Despite not agreeing with a lot of the points, I did learn quite a few things. I hope your bi'ur is successful and a happy holiday to you too.
posted by tellurian at 4:05 PM on April 7, 2009