Very, very random

[sff_corgi_lj]

In commemorating Simon Weisenthal's passing, one of the denizens of SFF Net said 'One of the 36 righteous men is gone.'  Subsequent posts led me to Google for their reference to these thirty-six, the Lamed-Vovniks.

To understand this metamorphosis, one must be aware of the ancient Jewish tradition of the Lamed-Vov, a tradition that certain Talmudists trace back to the source of the centuries, to the mysterious time of the prophet Isaiah.  Rivers of blood have flowed, columns of smoke have obscured the sky, but surviving all these dooms, the tradition has remained inviolate down to our own time. According to it, the world reposes upon thirty-six Just Men, the Lamed-Vov, indistinguishable from simple mortals; often they are unaware of their station. But if just one of them were lacking, the sufferings of mankind would poison even the souls of the newborn, and humanity would suffocate with a single cry. For the Lamed-Vov are the hearts of the world multiplied, and into them, as into one receptacle, pour all our griefs.

Thousands of popular stories take note of them. Their presence is attested to everywhere. A very old text of the Haggadah tells us that the most pitiable are the Lamed-Vov who remain unknown to themselves.  For those the spectacle of the world is an unspeakable hell.

In the seventh century, Andalusian Jews venerated a rock shaped like a teardrop, which they believed to be the soul, petrified by suffering, of an 'unknown' Lamed-Vovnik. Other Lamed-Vov, like Hecuba shrieking at the death of her sons, are said to have been transformed into dogs.

When an unknown Just rises to Heaven, a Hasidic story goes, he is so frozen that God must warm him for a thousand years between His fingers before his soul can open itself to Paradise. And it is known that some remain forever inconsolable at human woe, so that God Himself cannot warm them. So from time to time the Creator, blessed be His Name, sets forward the clock of the Last Judgment by one minute.

-- from The Last of the Just, by Andre Schwarz-Bart

Then I found this interesting Unitarian sermon which also mentioned the Lamed-Vov...

...and another quote, with a slightly different angle:

...the "lamed-vovniks," a topic from Jewish The Yiddish expression is from the names of the sequence of Hebrew letters, /lamed vav/, which stands for the numeral 36.  The following is quoted from Unterman, A. (1991), Dictionary of Jewish Lore and Legend, London and New York: Thames and Hudson.  See pp. 116-117.

There is a belief in Jewish folklore that in each generation there are thirty- six hidden righteous men (see tzaddik) on whose merits the world depends. This belief is based on a Talmudic statement that there are not less than thirty-six righteous people who stand in the presence of the shekhina every day. One of these humble and
unnoticed lamed-vovniks is destined to be the Messiah, if the generation is worthy. They wander in exile with their fellow Jews, working as artisans, and only assert themselves when there is danger to the community. After they have acted to save the Jews from danger, they revert back to their anonymity. They are forbidden to reveal themselves to others, for if they did so, they would die.  [There is more in the entry.]

And even, interestingly enough, an X-Files fanfic, The Thirty-Sixth, in six chapters.  It's late-series and I think rather well done.  There's a bit of sex, but it's not gratuitous, just a bit... detailled (just a bit).  It also involves knitting *coughmkholmquistcough* - but not during the sex.

In more sober news, but still spiritually related:

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- New flooding hit New Orleans' low-lying 9th Ward Friday as water poured over a section of the Industrial Canal levee under repair.

The levee had been breached during Hurricane Katrina, causing catastrophic flooding through the neighborhoods of the 9th Ward.

Officials blamed rain and storm surge caused by winds from Hurricane Rita for the high water, the New Orleans Times-Picayune said.

Dozens of blocks were again under water as a wave of water 30 feet wide poured over a dike that had been used to patch breaks in the Industrial Canal.

On the street that runs parallel to the canal, the water ran waist-deep and was rising.

Copyright 2005 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.

Y'know, if Dennis Hastert wants to bulldoze the whole of New Orleans and, I dunno, put in a golf course or something, shouldn't we do the same thing to Houston?  In fact, let's replace every city hit by a hurricane with a golf course, because there can never be too many places for the rich to spend their leisure, right?  Even if their buildings are the ones getting knocked down.


If the plural of 'fan' is 'fen', is the plural of 'Firefly flan', 'Firefly flen'?


Tomorrow is the Shire of Southkeep's la Dia de los Muertos.  Well, technically, it started tonight, but other than thlroz cookin' her skilled fingers off, there's little going on.  Stuff in the Paludine is almost always daytrip.  I, for those not familiar with me in a SCAdian fashion, shall be site-heralding and also doing the setup for the High Table.  This is where the OCD comes in handy.  There MUST be complete sets of things, they MUST match or be complementary, they MUST be properly washed, wrapped and folded when done with.  Where's the camera?  Maybe I'll take pictures.  Not very medieval, true, but ever so much faster than illumination.

Comments

[harpinred.livejournal.com]

LOL! My cats and I are flens.

[sff-corgi.livejournal.com]

How... redundant. ^_^ *snicker*

[kaseido.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's wonderful. I'm bookmarking this - I'd never known of the Lamed Vov, and I think it's a beautiful concept. Thank you!

[sff-corgi.livejournal.com]

Thanks are more appropriately due to Roby James and Susan Shwartz for setting me a-hunting. :)

It may have been discussed in more detail in Roby's SFF Net newsgroup, I haven't looked yet.

[sff-corgi.livejournal.com]

Correction:
Susan's newsgroup, here.