Tuesday, August 09, 2005

On Censorship

Two things (neither directly having to do with the other):

1. I'm working with a lot of old ספרים at work, which is, of course wonderful and quite cool. Some of the books have stamps in them that say that they have been approved by the "censor" of such-and-such town. In a others, I've found the following passage (or similar). It emphasizes the fact that no matter what the Jews did, they were being watched, and that people were just waiting for a reason to accuse them of being traitors to their sovereigns and thereby worthy of disposing...they obviously had to be pretty careful.

גם אלה החכמים יבינו מדעתם כי לא כגוים שהיו בימי חכמי הש"ס ז"ל הגוים האלה אשר אנו מתגוררים בארצותם כי המה היו עובדי כוכבים ומזלות ודבקים בכל התועבות לא ידעו את ה' ואת דבר קדשו לא הכירו אבל העמים שבזמנינו את ה' יראים ונותנים כבוד לתורתו עושים משפט וצדקה בארצותם וחסד עם היהודים דחוסים תחת כנפיהם וחלילה לנו לדבר או לכתוב שום גנאי עליהם וכ"מ שנזכר בספרים גוי או נכרי או אומות העולם וכדומה הכוונה על אותם עכום שהיו בימי המשנה

2. A blog is a bit like one's home. People come and go, visit as they will, and bring their thoughts and ideas with them. In general, I love visitors, and I love comments ;) However, I ask you to wipe your feet on the mat before you enter. If you bring filth in, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave. There are plenty of other places that revel in such things that you can enjoy. If you bring it here, your post will be deleted, as at least 6 or 7 have already been. Thanks and have a great day!

1 comment:

TRW said...

NJ: I appreciate your agreement..

Leati: I'm glad you figured that out-'cause you were TOTALLY the person I was talking about. ;)