October 29, 2005 – Religion: Hispanics Uncovering Roots as Inquisition's 'Hidden' Jews By SIMON ROMERO
HOUSTON, Oct. 28 - When she was growing up in a small town in southern Colorado, an area where her ancestors settled centuries ago when it was on the fringes of the northern frontier of New Spain, Bernadette Gonzalez always thought some of the stories about her family were unusual, if not bizarre.
Her grandmother, for instance, refused to travel on Saturday and would use a specific porcelain basin to drain blood out of meat before she cooked it. In one tale that particularly puzzled Ms. Gonzalez, 52, her grandfather called for a Jewish doctor to circumcise him while he was on his death bed in a hospital in Trinidad, Colo.Only after Ms. Gonzalez moved to Houston to work as a lawyer and began discussing these tales with a Jewish colleague, she said, did "the pieces of the puzzle" start falling into place.
Ms. Gonzalez started researching her family history and concluded that her ancestors were Marranos, or Sephardic Jews, who had fled the Inquisition in Spain and in Mexico more than four centuries ago. Though raised in the Roman Catholic faith, Ms. Gonzalez felt a need to reconnect to her Jewish roots, so she converted to Judaism three years ago."I feel like I came home," said Ms. Gonzalez, who now often uses the first name Batya. "The fingerprints of my past were all around me, but I didn't know what they meant."
It is difficult to know precisely how many Hispanics are converting or adopting Jewish religious practices, but accounts of such embraces of Judaism are growing more common in parts of the Southwest.
In Clear Lake, a suburb south of Houston, Rabbi Stuart Federow has overseen half a dozen conversions of Hispanics in recent years. In El Paso, Rabbi Stephen Leon said he had converted almost 40 Hispanic families since moving to Texas from NJ 19 years ago. These conversions are the latest chapter in the story of the crypto-Jews, or hidden Jews, of the southwestern US and northern Mexico, who are thought to be descended from the Sephardic Jews who began fleeing Spain more than 500 years ago. The story is being bolstered by recent historical research and advances in DNA testing that are said to reveal a prominent role played by crypto-Jews and their descendants in Spain's colonization of the Southwest.
For over two decades, anecdotal evidence collected by researchers in New Mexico, Colorado and Texas suggested that some nominally Catholic families of Iberian descent had stealthily maintained Jewish customs throughout the centuries, including lighting candles on Friday evening, avoiding pork and having the Star of David inscribed on gravestones.
The whispers of hidden rituals coming from thoroughly Catholic communities were at times met with skepticism. One explanation for these seemingly Jewish customs was that evangelical Protestant sects active in the Southwest about a century ago had used Jewish imagery and Hebrew writing in their proselytizing, and that these symbols had become ingrained in isolated Hispanic communities.
Skepticism aside, some rabbis view assistance to or conversions of crypto-Jews as a responsibility. "The American Jewish community provided support in bringing Soviet, Albanian or Syrian Jews to the US, and helping them in their transition," said Rabbi Leon of Congregation B'nai Zion, a Conservative congregation in El Paso. "I don't see how the crypto-Jews are any different."Modern science may now be shedding new light on the history of the crypto-Jews after molecular anthropologists recently developed a DNA test of the male or Y chromosome that can indicate an ancestral connection to the Cohanim, a priestly class of Jews that traces its origin back more than 3,000 years to Aaron, the older brother of Moses.
Family Tree DNA, a Houston company that offers a Cohanim test to its male clients, gets about one inquiry a day from Hispanics interested in exploring the possibility of Jewish ancestry, said Bennett Greenspan, its founder and chief executive. Mr. Greenspan said about one in 10 of the Hispanic men tested by his company showed Semitic ancestry strongly suggesting a Jewish background. (Another divergent possibility is that the test might suggest North African Muslim ancestry.)
"The results have just blown me over, reminding me of something out of Kaifeng," Mr. Greenspan said, referring to the Chinese city of Kaifeng, where a small Jewish community persisted for about 1,000 years until the mid-19th century when it was almost completely assimilated. "Lots of Hispanic people tell me they're interested in something Jewish and they can't explain it. Well, this helps explain it.
"Not everyone who discovers Jewish ancestry, either through genealogical research or DNA testing, has decided to convert to Judaism, but some Hispanics who have found links still feel drawn to incorporate Jewish customs into their life. For instance, the Rev. William Sanchez, 52, a Catholic priest in Albuquerque, spent years researching his family's past in New Mexico before a DNA test three years ago showed that he almost certainly had the Jewish Cohanim marker.
Since then, Father Sanchez has sought to educate his parishioners on the connections between Catholicism and Judaism, and has helped oversee the Nuevo Mexico Project, which tries to identify Sephardic ancestry among Hispanics from New Mexico. He has encouraged more than 100 of his parishioners to take DNA tests.
Father Sanchez has also introduced some Jewish customs at St. Edwins Church in Albuquerque, where he serves; he blew the shofar, or ram's horn, this month during the Yom Kippur holiday. At another parish where he used to work in rural northeastern New Mexico, in the village of Villanueva, he would hold an annual Passover supper."I have a pluralistic, not an antagonistic, view of our religions," Father Sanchez said.
Still, others feel they have to make a clean break upon exploring their Jewish roots. John García, a lawyer in El Paso whose family moved to the US two generations ago from northern Mexico, said he had heard stories since he was a boy that his family had a Sephardic Jewish past. He formally converted to Judaism in 2001 and last year had a bar mitzvah in El Paso, at the age of 53, together with five other crypto-Jews.
These days Mr. García, a lawyer in the public defender's office in El Paso, never works on the Sabbath and is an active member of Temple Mount Sinai, a Reform congregation in El Paso. "I've had to go beyond my comfort level in something I would call a reversion rather than a conversion," Mr. García said. "There were an intervening 400 years when my family had become Catholic, but something about Judaism, I don't know exactly what it was, was kept alive."
Saturday, May 16, 2009
IRS Letter
Note: Sometimes a story comes along that needs no polishing or enhancement to make it better. This is one of those. It is a real letter submitted to the IRS the midst of 1995s weird & bizarre denial of dependents, exemptions & credits.
The letter speaks for itself. Sirs: I’m responding to your letter denying the deduction for two of the three dependents I claimed on my 1994 Federal Tax return. Thank you!
I have questioned whether or not these are my children for years. They are evil and expensive. It's only fair that, since they are minors and no longer my responsibility, the government should know something about them and what to expect over the next year. Please do not try to reassign them to me next year & reinstate the deduction. They are yours!
The oldest, Kristen, is now 17. She’s brilliant. Ask her! I suggest you put her to work in your office answering people's questions about their returns. While she has no formal training, it has not seemed to hamper her mastery of any subject you can name. Taxes should be a breeze. Next year she’s going to college.
It's great that you’ll now be responsible for that little expense. While you mull that over, keep in mind that she has a truck. It doesn't run. So you have the choice of appropriating Dept. of Defense funds to fix it, or getting up early to drive her to school.
Kristen also has a boyfriend. Oh joy! While she possesses all of the wisdom of the universe, her alleged mother & I have felt it best to occasionally remind her of the virtues of abstinence, or in the face of overwhelming passion, safe sex. This is always uncomfortable, & I’m quite relieved you will be handling this in the future. May I suggest you reinstate Dr. Jocelyn Elders who had a good handle on the - problem.
Patrick is 14. I've had my suspicions about him. His eyes are a little closer together than those of normal people. He may be a tax examiner himself one day, if he is not incarcerated first. In February, I was awakened at three a.m. by the police bringing Pat home. He & his friends were Te P'ing houses. His hair is purple, permanent dye, temporary, what's the big deal? Learn to deal with it. You'll have plenty of time, as he’s out of school a few days for instigating a food fight in the cafeteria. I'll take care of filing your phone # with the vice-principal. Oh yes, he and all of his friends have raging hormones. This is the house of testosterone and it will be much more peaceful when he lives with you. DO NOT leave him or his friends unsupervised with girls, explosives, flammables, inflatable, vehicles, or phones. (They find phones a source of unimaginable amusement. Be sure to lock out 900 & 976 numbers!) Kids at 14 will do almost anything on a dare. In the future, would you like him delivered to the local IRS office, or to Ogden, UT?
Heather is an alien. She slid through a time warp and magically appeared one year. I'm sure this one’s yours. She’s 10 going on 21 and came from a bad trip in the 60’s. She wears tie-dyed clothes, beads, sandals, and hair that looks- like Tiny Tim's. Fortunately you will be raising my taxes to help offset the pinch of her remedial reading courses. "Hooked- On Phonics" is expensive, so schools dropped it. But here's the good news! You can buy it yourself for half the amount of the deduction you are denying me! It's quite obvious we were terrible parents (ask the other two). She cannot speak English. Most people under 20 understand the curious patois she fashioned out of valley girls/boys in the hood/ reggae/ yuppie/political double speak. The school sends her to a speech pathologist who has her roll her "r's". It added a refreshing Mexican/Irish touch to her voice. She wears hats backwards, baggy pants, and wants one of her ears pierced four more times. There is a fascination with tattoos that worries me, but I am sure that you can handle it. Bring a truck when you come to get her, she sort of "nests" in her room and I think that it would be easier to move the entire thing than find out what it is really made of. You denied two of the three exemptions, so it is only fair you pick which two you’ll take. I prefer you take the youngest two, I’ll still go bankrupt with Kristen's college, but then I’m free!
If you take the two oldest, I still have time for counseling before Heather becomes a teen. If you take the girls, I won't feel so bad about putting Patrick in a military academy. Please let me know of your decision as soon as possible, as I have already increased the withholding on my W-4 to cover the $395 in additional tax and made a down payment on an airplane.
Yours truly, Bob (Note: The IRS allowed the deductions and reinstated his refund.)
The letter speaks for itself. Sirs: I’m responding to your letter denying the deduction for two of the three dependents I claimed on my 1994 Federal Tax return. Thank you!
I have questioned whether or not these are my children for years. They are evil and expensive. It's only fair that, since they are minors and no longer my responsibility, the government should know something about them and what to expect over the next year. Please do not try to reassign them to me next year & reinstate the deduction. They are yours!
The oldest, Kristen, is now 17. She’s brilliant. Ask her! I suggest you put her to work in your office answering people's questions about their returns. While she has no formal training, it has not seemed to hamper her mastery of any subject you can name. Taxes should be a breeze. Next year she’s going to college.
It's great that you’ll now be responsible for that little expense. While you mull that over, keep in mind that she has a truck. It doesn't run. So you have the choice of appropriating Dept. of Defense funds to fix it, or getting up early to drive her to school.
Kristen also has a boyfriend. Oh joy! While she possesses all of the wisdom of the universe, her alleged mother & I have felt it best to occasionally remind her of the virtues of abstinence, or in the face of overwhelming passion, safe sex. This is always uncomfortable, & I’m quite relieved you will be handling this in the future. May I suggest you reinstate Dr. Jocelyn Elders who had a good handle on the - problem.
Patrick is 14. I've had my suspicions about him. His eyes are a little closer together than those of normal people. He may be a tax examiner himself one day, if he is not incarcerated first. In February, I was awakened at three a.m. by the police bringing Pat home. He & his friends were Te P'ing houses. His hair is purple, permanent dye, temporary, what's the big deal? Learn to deal with it. You'll have plenty of time, as he’s out of school a few days for instigating a food fight in the cafeteria. I'll take care of filing your phone # with the vice-principal. Oh yes, he and all of his friends have raging hormones. This is the house of testosterone and it will be much more peaceful when he lives with you. DO NOT leave him or his friends unsupervised with girls, explosives, flammables, inflatable, vehicles, or phones. (They find phones a source of unimaginable amusement. Be sure to lock out 900 & 976 numbers!) Kids at 14 will do almost anything on a dare. In the future, would you like him delivered to the local IRS office, or to Ogden, UT?
Heather is an alien. She slid through a time warp and magically appeared one year. I'm sure this one’s yours. She’s 10 going on 21 and came from a bad trip in the 60’s. She wears tie-dyed clothes, beads, sandals, and hair that looks- like Tiny Tim's. Fortunately you will be raising my taxes to help offset the pinch of her remedial reading courses. "Hooked- On Phonics" is expensive, so schools dropped it. But here's the good news! You can buy it yourself for half the amount of the deduction you are denying me! It's quite obvious we were terrible parents (ask the other two). She cannot speak English. Most people under 20 understand the curious patois she fashioned out of valley girls/boys in the hood/ reggae/ yuppie/political double speak. The school sends her to a speech pathologist who has her roll her "r's". It added a refreshing Mexican/Irish touch to her voice. She wears hats backwards, baggy pants, and wants one of her ears pierced four more times. There is a fascination with tattoos that worries me, but I am sure that you can handle it. Bring a truck when you come to get her, she sort of "nests" in her room and I think that it would be easier to move the entire thing than find out what it is really made of. You denied two of the three exemptions, so it is only fair you pick which two you’ll take. I prefer you take the youngest two, I’ll still go bankrupt with Kristen's college, but then I’m free!
If you take the two oldest, I still have time for counseling before Heather becomes a teen. If you take the girls, I won't feel so bad about putting Patrick in a military academy. Please let me know of your decision as soon as possible, as I have already increased the withholding on my W-4 to cover the $395 in additional tax and made a down payment on an airplane.
Yours truly, Bob (Note: The IRS allowed the deductions and reinstated his refund.)
Famous Bearded Men
Famous Bearded Men
Jesus, B. Ives, M. Miller, O. Wells, Freud, Moses, Col. Sanders, Sebastian Cabot, Davinci, Darwin, Charlemagne, Lincoln, Robert E Lee, WEB Du Bois, Hemingway, Carl Marx, G. Bernard Shaw. Castro, Bill Frindall, aka the 'Bearded Wonder', Salman Rushdie, NJ Governor John Corzine, & Colonel Sanders all sported beards. So have Victor French, Theodore Bikel, G. Lucas, B. Ives, Jack Cassidy, J. Depp in Pirates of the Caribean movies, C. Norris, Castro, Freud, Fredrick Douglas, W.E.B. Dubois, Confucius, Ulysses S. Grant, Hemingway, Jim Morrison, Uncle Jessie (Dukes of Hazard), Bob Marley, Socrates, Sean P. Daddy Combs, Vikings, Van Gogh, Malcom Jamol Warner, B. Pitt, ?????? in H. Potter, Carlos on D. Housewives, Jonathan Frakes, OB1 Kanobe in S. Wars, B. Underwood, Rob Reiner, J. Lennon, Jerry Garcia, K. Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, Lincoln, King Henry VIII, Al Gore & P. McCartney. Pro wrestlers: Capt. Lou Albano, Tajiri, Great Kahli, Undertaker, Matt & Jeff Harding, Road Warrior Animal, Mark Henry, Triple H, Ivan & Nikata Kolof, Jamie Noble, Hornswoogle, Chavo Guerrero, Greg Helms, Mr. Sieto, MVP, Tiger Lee, Bam Bam Bigalow & Scott Steiner.
There’s a web site of beard and mustache champions.
Phil Olsen, founder & self – appointed captain of Beard team USA @ the world Beard & Mustache Championships. Phil’s mission is to make the US a power in international beard & mustache competitions.
The Beards, Adelaide's all-bearded band that only sings songs about beards, is recruiting Australia's best beards to join Team Australia. The NYC Beard & Moustache Championships are on ABC's The View.
There’s a beard community board on the web. Despite discrimination, bearded men have proven themselves many X throughout history.
ZZ Top wears impressive beards with grace [With the exception, of course, of the drummer, who was actually called Frank Beard]
There are many beloved fictional characters with beards as well: Zues, Green Arrow, Santa Claus, 3 Musketeers, Hagar the Horrible, Captains Harry Hanukah, Haddock, Hook, & Birdseye.
Others who may be less affectionately held in the mind are Osama bin Laden, the Ayatollah Khomeini, & Saddam Hussein (when he emerged from a spider hole after being in hiding for weeks).
The Bible states in Leviticus 19:27 that "Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard." Talmudic rabbis understood this to mean that a man may not shave his beard with a razor with a single blade, since the cutting action of the blade against the skin "mars" the beard. Because scissors have two blades, halakha (Jewish law) permits their use to trim the beard, as the cutting action comes from contact of the two blades & not the blade against the skin. For this reason, most poskim (Jewish legal decisors) rule that Orthodox Jews may use electric razors to remain cleanshaven, as they cut by trapping the hair between the blades & the metal grating, halakhically a scissor-like action. Some prominent contemporary poskim maintain that electric shavers constitute a razor-like action & consequently prohibit their use.
Axioms about beards “There are 2 kinds of people in this world beardless boys & women—& I am neither." Greek saying "A kiss without a moustache, is like soup without salt." - Breton saying "الرجل بلا شنب كالقط بلا ذنب" "A man without moustache is like a cat without a tail." -Arab Saying "The beard is the handsomeness of the face, and a wife is the joy in a man's heart." - R' Akiva, Eicha Rabbah
"How womanly it is for one who is a man to comb & shave himself with a razor, for the sake of fine effect, & to arrange his hair at the mirror, shave his cheeks, pluck hairs out of them, & smooth them!…
For God wished women to be smooth & to rejoice in their locks alone growing spontaneously, as a horse in his mane. But He adorned man like the lions, with a beard, & endowed him as an attribute of manhood, with a hairy chest - a sign of strength & rule." - St. Clement of Alexandria, 2.275
Leonato: You may light on a husband that hath no beard. Beatrice: What should I do with him? dress him in my apparel & make him my waiting-gentlewoman? He that hath a beard is more than a youth, & he that hath no beard is less than a man: & he that is more than a youth is not for me, & he that is less than a man, I am not for him…-Shakespare -Excerpt from 'Much Ado About Nothing' – Act 2, Scene Axioms about beards.
Following WW I, beards fell out of vogue. There are several theories why the military began shaving beards. When it broke out in the 1910s, the use of chemical weapons necessitated that soldiers shave their beards so gas masks sealed over their faces.
The enlistment of recruits for WW I in 1914 precipitated a major migration of men from rural to urban locales. This was the largest such migration that had ever occurred in the US up to that time. The rural lives of some of these bearded men included the "Saturday Night bath" as a reality rather than as a humourism. The sudden concentration of recruits in crowded army induction centers brought with it disease, including head lice. Remedial action was taken by immediately shaving & cutting the hair of all inductees upon their arrival.
When the war concluded in 1918 the "Dough Boys" returned to a hero's welcome. During this time period the Film Industry was coming into its own & "going to the movies" became a popular pastime. Due to the recent Armistice many of the films had themes related to WW I. These popular films featured actors who portrayed clean shaven soldiers & "crew cuts". Concurrently, "Madison Avenue's" psychological mass marketing was becoming prevalent. The Gillette Safety Razor Company was one of these marketers' early clients. These events conspired to popularize short hair & clean shaven faces as the only acceptable style for decades to come. It has been noted that there is a close & consistent association of long standing in American film between facial hair & role—if one lead male character has more facial hair than another, he is far more likely to be the antagonist, & the man with less (or no) facial hair the protagonist.[citation needed]
A contemporary beard style is to trim the beard, or portions of the beard, very short.
From the 1920s to the early 1960s, beards were virtually nonexistent in mainstream America. The few men who wore beards during this period were either old, Central Europeans, members of a religious sect that required it, in academia, or part of the counterculture, such as the "beatniks". Even today there is some degree of prejudice against beards & against men who wear beards, although it is much less serious than it once was; beards are normally much more accepted in the W. World than they once were.
Ancient and Classical world: The highest ranking Ancient Egyptians grew hair on their chins which was often dyed or hennaed (reddish brown) & sometimes plaited with interwoven gold thread. A metal false beard, or postiche, which was a sign of sovereignty, was worn by queens & kings. This was held in place by a ribbon tied over the head & attached to a gold chin strap, a fashion existing from about 3000 to 1580 BC.
Mesopotamian civilizations (Assyrian, Babylonian, Chaldean, Median & ancient Persian) devoted great care to oiling & dressing their beards, using tongs & curling irons to create elaborate ringlets & tiered patterns.
Grecian beards were frequently curled with tongs to create hanging curls. Beards predominated among the Greeks until 323 BC, at which time the youthful Alexander III of Macedon ordered his soldiers to be clean shaven, fearing that their beards would serve as handles for their enemies to grab & to hold the Greek soldier as he was killed. When Alexander was going to fight against the Persians, one of his officers brought him word that all was ready for battle, & demanded if he required anything further. On which Alexander replied, "nothing, but that the Macedonians cut off their beards, for there is not a better handle to take a man by than the beard." This shows Alexander intended close fighting.
In ancient India & Israel, the beard was allowed to grow long, a symbol of dignity and of wisdom (cf. sadhu & nazarite, respectively). The nations in the east generally treated their beards with great care and veneration, & the punishment for licentiousness and adultery was to have the beard of the offending parties publicly cut off. They had such a sacred regard for the preservation of their beards that a man might pledge it for the payment of a debt.
The Persians were fond of long beards. In Olearius' Travels, a King of Persia commands his steward's head to be cut off, and on its being brought to him, remarks, "what a pity it was, that a man possessing such fine mustachios, should have been executed," but he adds, "Ah! it was your own fault."
Sikhism: Sikhs consider the beard to be an integral part of the male human body as created by God & believe that it should be preserved, maintained, & respected as such. Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru, ordained & established the keeping of the hair & beard as part of the identity & one of the insignia of Sikhs. Sikhs consider the beard to be part of the nobility & dignity of manhood.
Judaism: Orthodox Jew from the non-Hassidic "yeshiva world" with a beard & trimmed payot (sidelocks) tucked behind his ears.
Shaving seems to have not been known to the Romans during their early history (under the Kings of Rome & the early Republic). Pliny tells us that P. Ticinius was the first who brought a barber to Rome, which was in the 454th year from the founding of the city (that is, around 299 BC). Scipio Africanus was apparently the first among the Romans who shaved his beard. However, after that shaving seems to have caught on very quickly, & soon almost all Roman men were clean-shaven - being clean-shaven became a sign of being Roman as opposed to being Greek, as the Greeks often grew beards. Beards remained rare among the Romans throughout the Late Republic & the early Principate, until the second century A.D., when the Emperor Hadrian, according to Dion, was the first of all the Caesars to grow a beard. This was a period in Rome of widespread imitation of Greek culture, & the philhellene Emperor Hadrian & many other men grew beards in imitation of the Greek fashion. From that time on beards were once again common in Rome.
It was a custom among the Romans to consecrate the first growth of a young man's beard (i.e., the cuttings after the first time he shaved) to some god; thus Nero at the Gynick games, which he exhibited in the Septa, cut off the first growth of his beard, which he placed in a golden box, adorned with pearls, and then consecrated it in the Capitol to Jupiter.
For the Romans, a bearded man was a proverbial expression for a man of virtue and simplicity. Roman servants or slaves were not allowed to pull their hair, or shave their beards.
During grief & mourning, a Roman would let his hair & beard grow (Livy), while the Greeks on the contrary used to cut off their hair & shave their beards on such occasions (Seneca). This custom may have led to a tradition in later Europe of widows concealing their hair for a stated period after the death of their husbands.[citation needed] There have been instances of a widow closely cutting off her hair, but these observances are becoming less & less frequent.[citation needed]
Among the Catti, a Germanic tribe (perhaps the Chatten), a young man was not allowed to shave or cut his hair until he had slain an enemy (Tacitus). The Lombards or Longobards, derived their Fame from the great length of their beards. When Otho the Great used to speak anything serious, he swore by his beard, which covered his breast.
From the Renaissance to the present day
Richard M. Stallman with a beard in the early 21st century.
In the 15th century, the beard was worn long. Clergymen in 16th century England were usually clean shaven to indicate their celibacy.[citation needed] When a priest became convinced of the doctrines of the Protestant Reformation he would often signal this by allowing his beard to grow, showing that he rejected the tradition of the church & perhaps also its stance on clerical celibacy.[citation needed] The longer the beard, the more striking the statement.[citation needed] 16th century beards were therefore suffered to grow to an amazing length (see the portraits of John Knox, Bishop Gardiner and Thomas Cranmer). Some beards of this time were the Spanish spade beard, the English square cut beard, the forked beard, & the stiletto beard.
Strangely, this trend was especially marked during Queen Mary's reign, a time of reaction against Protestant reform (Cardinal Pole's beard is a good example). Queen Elizabeth I, succeeding Mary, is said to have disliked beards and therefore established a tax on them. [citation needed]
In urban circles of Western Europe and the Americas, beards were out of fashion after the early 17th century; to such an extent that, in 1698, Peter the Great of Russia levied a tax on beards in order to bring Russian society more in line with contemporary W. Europe.[citation needed]
Throughout the 18th Century beards were unknown among most parts of Western society, especially the nobility and upper classes.
Beards returned strongly to fashion after the Napoleonic Era. Throughout the nineteenth century facial hair (beards, along with long sideburns & moustaches) was more common than not. Many male European monarchs were bearded (e.g. Alexander III of Russia, Napoleon III of France, Frederick III of Germany), as were many of the leading statesmen and cultural figures (e.g. Benjamin Disraeli, Charles Dickens and Giuseppe Verdi, to name just a few). The stereotypical Victorian male figure in the popular mind remains a stern figure clothed in black whose gravitas is added to by a heavy beard (or long sideburns). However, in the early 20th century beards fell almost completely out of fashion once more; they became largely the preserve of elderly, old-fashioned eccentrics.
Beards, & long hair, were reintroduced to mainstream society in W. Europe & the Americas by the hippie movement of the mid 1960s. By the end of the 20th century, the closely clipped Verdi beard, often with a matching integrated moustache, was relatively common.
Beards in North America: Maryland Governor Thomas Swann with a long beard. They were common around the time of the Civil War.
In the 18th & early 19th century, beards were rare in the US. However, they had become prevalent by the mid-19th century. Up to & following the American Civil War, many famous heroes and General officers had significant beards. A sign of the shift was to be observed in occupants of the Presidency: before Lincoln, no President had a beard; after Lincoln until McKinley, every President (except Andrew Johnson) had either a beard or a moustache. The beard's loss of popularity since its 19th century hey day is shown by the fact that after this brief "golden age", no President has worn a full beard since Benjamin Harrison, & no President has worn any facial hair at all since William H. Taft.
Following WW I, beards fell out of vogue. There are several theories as to why the military began shaving beards. When WW I broke out in the 1910s, the use of chemical weapons necessitated that soldiers shave their beards so gas masks sealed over their faces.
A contemporary beard style is to trim the beard, or portions of the beard, very short.
From the 1920s to the early 1960s, beards were virtually nonexistent in mainstream America. The few men who wore beards during this period were either old, Central Europeans, members of a religious sect that required it, in academia, or part of the counterculture, such as the "beatniks". Even today there is some degree of prejudice against beards & against men who wear beards, although it is much less serious than it once was; beards are normally much more accepted in the W. world than they once were.
Following the Vietnam War, beards exploded in popularity. In the mid-late 1960s & throughout the 1970s, beards were worn by hippies & businessmen alike. Popular rock, soul & folk musicians like The Beatles, Barry White & the male members of Peter, Paul, & Mary wore full beards. The trend of seemingly ubiquitous beards in American culture subsided in the mid 1980s.
From the 1990s onward, the fashion in beards has generally trended toward either a goatee, Van Dyck, or a closely cropped full beard undercut on the throat. It is not unusual to see corporate executives in modern America with a full beard. Recently, short sideburns have become very popular, particularly among younger men. Beards are being seen more & more these days, most likely as a result of backlash against the popularization of the "metrosexual" character type in the early 2000's.
One stratum of American society where facial hair is virtually nonexistent is in government & politics. The last President to wear any type of facial hair was William Howard Taft, who was in office nearly a century ago. Virtually no current state governors or members of Congress, with the exception of NJ governor Jon Corzine, have beards or mustaches.
Beards in religion: Beards also play an important role in some religions.
In Greek mythology & art Zeus and Poseidon are always portrayed with beards, but Apollo never is. A bearded Hermes was replaced with the more familiar beardless youth in the 5th century.
Main article: Shaving in Judaism
Many Orthodox Jews grow beards for social & cultural reasons. Since the electric razor is a relatively modern innovation, virtually all Orthodox Jews grew beards before its advent. Beards are thus symbolic of keeping the traditions of one's ancestors. The Zohar, one of the primary sources of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), attributes holiness to the beard, specifying that hairs of the beard symbolize channels of subconscious holy energy that flows from above to the human soul. Therefore, most Hasidic Jews, for whom Kabbalah plays an important role in their religious practice, traditionally do not remove or even trim their beards.
Also, some Jews refrain from shaving during the 30-day mourning period after the death of a close relative, known in Hebrew as the "Sheloshim" (thirty).
Christianity: In E. Christianity, beards are often worn by members of the priesthood, & at times have been required for all believers-see Old Believers. Amish & Hutterite men shave until they are married, then grow a beard & are never thereafter without one, although it is a particular form of a beard (see Visual markers of marital status).
Nowadays, members of many Catholic religious communities, mainly those of Franciscan origin, use a beard as a sign of their vocation.
Islam: Many Muslims believe that it is mandatory by Islamic law to grow the beard because in Sahih Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 72, Hadith # 780: The Prophet said, "Do the opposite of what the pagans do. Keep the beards & cut the moustaches short."
The intent of this hadith is, however, a point of ongoing discussion & interpretation, & the fundamental interpretation is not currently the only accepted one among Muslims. This hadith, placed in historical context, is seen by some as an order at that time & in that place to distinguish one's self from the surrounding non-Muslims, largely for security & cultural reasons, for that situation. It is presently not uncommon for practicing Muslims in Islamic & Western countries to not grow their beards.
In addition, following the Prophet's actions is very important as well since he was proclaimed as a walking Quran & Muslims try their utmost to follow the teachings of the Quran. Since the Prophet kept a beard, many Muslim men keep beards to follow his actions & the teachings of the religion. Depending on their sect, they have differing opinions on how the Prophet Muhammad wore his.
As with hadith, however, following the Prophet's actions is also a point where fundamentalist vs. contextual interpretations come into play. Therefore, many Muslims do shave, since it is generally considered to be virtuous, but not mandatory, to grow a beard.
In contemporary Islam a longer beard is associated with Sunnis, a more closely trimmed beard with Shia Muslims. Accordingly in Iraq where ethnic cleansing has taken place to make districts all-Sunni or all-Shii, members of the local minority adjust their beard style to avoid recognition.
According to the majority opinions in the four major Sunni schools of jurisprudence, a beard is mandatory for all men, unless they have a medical reason not to grow one. The exception is the Shafi`i Madhab, which includes two valid opinions, one: a beard is required & one stating it’s Sunnah Mu'akadah (An emphasized example set by the Prophet, but not required). Minority opinions exist in all four schools that the beard is optional, but virtuous.
Prophet Muhammad also was quoted as saying that growing the beard is part of the Abrahamic tradition that Muslims have inherited. God commanded Abraham to keep his beard, shorten his mustache, clip his nails, shave the hair around his genitals, & pluck the hair in his armpit.
Rastafari Movement: A male Rastafarian's beard is a sign of his pact with God (Jah or Jehovah), & his Bible is his source of knowledge. Leviticus 21:5 ("They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in the flesh.")
Modern prohibition of beards: Religions: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: LDS Church Presidents from Brigham Young to George Albert Smith all wore beards of some manner. But from the time of David O. McKay through Gordon Hinckley, general Church leaders have been uniformly clean-shaven. Mormon men in general have followed suit, though this is not mandated by scripture or Church policy. Having a beard does not disqualify a man from temple attendance, nor from serving in many positions of local leadership.
F/t missionaries are clean-shaven as a matter of policy. Bishops & stake presidents are strongly encouraged to shave. Students at Brigham Young University adhere to an Honor Code containing Dress & Grooming Standards. This includes the following language: " If worn, moustaches should be neatly trimmed & may not extend beyond or below the corners of the mouth. Men are expected to be clean shaven; beards aren’t acceptable." [1] Exceptions are made for BYU students who must keep their beard for medical or religious reasons.
Sports: Today, for practical reasons (with some exceptions), it is illegal for amateur boxers to have beards. As a safety precaution, h.s. wrestlers must be clean-shaven before each match, though neatly trimmed moustaches are often allowed.
The Cincinnati Reds, Major League Baseball's oldest existing team, had a longstanding enforced policy where all players had to be completely clean shaven (no beards, long sideburns or moustaches). However, this policy was abolished following the sale of the team by Marge Schott.
Under owner G. Steinbrenner, the NY Yankees baseball team has had a strict dress code that forbids long hair & facial hair below the lip. More recently, Willie Randolph & Joe Girardi, both former Yankee assistant coaches, adopted a similar clean-shaven policy for their ballclubs; the NY Mets & Florida Marlins, respectively. Fredi Gonzalez, who replaced Girardi as the Marlins' manager, dropped that policy when he took over after the 2006 season.
Playoff beard is a tradition common on some teams in the NHL & now in other leagues wherein players beards grow from the beginning of the playoff season until the playoffs are over for their team.
Music: 20th century American jazz drummer & bandleader Buddy Rich famously fired members of his band for wearing beards[. Dusty Hill & Billy Gibbons of the famous rock band ZZ Top are also renowned for having very distinctive facial hair. Ironically, ZZ Top's Drummer Frank Beard (called "Rube Beard" on earlier albums) is the one member of the group who, despite having a moustache since the early days of the group, does not wear a beard. Alternative Folk musician Sam Beam, better known as Iron & Wine, is known for always sporting a full beard.
Leland Sklar, a profilic session bass guitar player, is noted for his long hair and a long flowing beard.
Armed forces:Canada: The Canadian Forces permits moustaches, provided they are neatly trimmed & do not pass beyond the corners of the mouth; an exception to this is the handlebar moustache, which is permitted. Generally speaking, beards are not permitted to CF personnel with the following exceptions:
members wearing the naval uniform (tradition)
members of an infantry pioneer platoon (tradition)
members who must maintain a beard due to religious requirements (Sikhs or orthodox Jews, e.g.) members with a medical condition which precludes shaving
These exceptions notwithstanding, in no case is a beard permitted without a moustache, & only full beards may be worn (not goatees, van dykes, etc.).
Personnel with beards may still be required to modify or shave off the beard, as environmental or tactical circumstances dictate (e.g., to facilitate the wearing of a gas mask).
Beards are also allowed to be worn by personnel conducting OPFOR duties.
France: The "decree N° 75-675 regarding regulations for general discipline in the Armies of the 28th July 1975, modified"[1] regulates facial hair in the French armed forces.
Military personnel can grow a beard or moustache only during periods when they are out of uniform. The beard must be "correctly trimmed", & provisions are stated for a possible ban of beards by the military authorities to ensure compatibility with certain equipment.
The combat engineers are by tradition allowed to grow a large beard.
The gendarmes, also by tradition, can grow a moustache.
Israel: According to the regulations of the Israel Defense Forces, growing a moustache or a beard is prohibited. Allowances are made in the following cases:
The soldier is a practicing Orthodox Jew & requests permission to grow a beard for religious reasons.
The soldier has a medical condition (such as skin problems) that would be aggravated by shaving (medical documentation is necessary)
The soldier had a beard before joining the army & requests permission to keep it.
The soldier has completed his compulsory service & is serving in the career army.
If a soldier has obtained permission to grow a beard, the beard must either be:
A full beard - extending from the sideburns to the chin on both sides of the face.
A goatee - starting from the middle of the face on both sides & extending to the chin, including a moustache.
The Netherlands: In the Dutch army, petty officers and soldiers may not grow beards, although small moustaches are permissible. High-ranking officers may grow full beards, although this is rare. A beard without a moustache is uncommon in The Netherlands.
Spain: The Spanish Legion allows beards to be grown.
UK: The Royal Navy permits “full sets" (beards and moustaches together) but not beards or moustaches alone. The other British armed services allow moustaches only. Exceptions are beards grown for religious reasons (usually by Sikhs), though in the event of conflict in which the use of chemical or biological weapons is likely, they may be required to shave a strip around the seal of a respirator. Beards are also permitted for medical reasons, such as temporary skin irritations, or by infantry pioneer warrant officers, colour sergeants and sergeants, who traditionally wear beards. Any style of facial hair is allowed in British police forces as long as it is neatly trimmed. Beards are also permitted by special forces when not on base, ie covert intelligence operations or behind enemy lines.
US: The Army & Marines justify banning beards on the basis of both hygiene & the necessity for a good seal with gas masks. The Navy allowed beards for a time in the 1970s & 1980s, following a directive from Chief of Naval Operations Elmo Russell Zumwalt, Jr., but subsequently banned them again. The Coast Guard allowed beards until 1986, when they were banned by the Commandant, Admiral Paul Yost. The vast majority of police forces across the US still ban beards. However, moustaches are generally allowed in both the military & police forces (except for those undergoing basic training). U.S. Army Special Forces & other U.S. Special Operation Forces have been allowed to wear beards in Afghanistan, Iraq, & other middle-eastern countries in order to better fit in with the indigenous population.
Norway
Laws on the matter are quite liberal; both length of hair & beard depends on the soldier's position. The Royal Guard is required to be clean shaven. Most operative personnel are not allowed to wear them (ex. to not interfere with gas masks) unless:
The soldier attains express permission to grow his beard from a high-ranking officer.
The soldier already has a beard upon his enlistment and requests to continue growing it or maintain it at its present length.
Sweden: No limits on beard length exist, but virtually all recruits shave before their first tear gas drill, where any leak between the face and the gasmask will cause excruciating pain. Particularly long hair (facial or head hair) may require the soldier to wear a net when working with machinery or weapons.
Early Christian attitudes
St Clement of Alexandria
"The hair of the chin showed him to be a man." St Clement of Alexandria (c.195, E), 2.271
"How womanly it is for one who is a man to comb himself & shave himself with a razor, for the sake of fine effect, & to arrange his hair at the mirror, shave his cheeks, pluck hairs out of them, & smooth them!…For God wished women to be smooth & rejoice in their locks alone growing spontaneously, as a horse in his mane. But He adorned man like the lions, with a beard, & endowed him as an attribute of manhood, with a hairy chest--a sign of strength & rule." St. Clement of Alexandria, 2.275
"This, then, is the mark of the man, the beard. By this, he is seen to be a man. It is older than Eve. It is the token of the superior nature….It is therefore unholy to desecrate the symbol of manhood, hairiness.” St. Clement of Alexandria, 2.276
"It is not lawful to pluck out the beard, man’s natural & noble adornment." St. Clement of Alexandria, 2.277
St Cyprian
"In their manners, there was no discipline. In men, their beards were defaced." St Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.438
"The beard must not be plucked. 'You will not deface the figure of your beard'." (Leviticus 19:27) St. Cyprian, 5.553
Lactantius
"The nature of the beard contributes in an incredible degree to distinguish the maturity of bodies, or to distinguish the sex, or to contribute to the beauty of manliness & strength." Lactantius (c. 304-314, W), 7.288
Apostolic Constitutions
"Men may not destroy the hair of their beards & unnaturally change the form of a man. For the Law says, “You will not deface your beards.” For God the Creator has made this decent for women, but has determined that it is unsuitable for men." Apostolic Constitutions (compiled c.390, E) 7.392. (1)
There was an Old Man with a beard, Who said: 'It's just as I feared!
Two Owls and a Hen
Four Larks and a Wren
Have all built their nests in my beard.'
Edward Lear (a bearded fellow)
Civil War Generals and Admirals who Wore Beards
99 Notables Compiled -for National Beard Registry by Scott Sklar (Registry #166- Arlington)
Many soldiers & officers in the Confederacy & Union had beards.
Jesus, B. Ives, M. Miller, O. Wells, Freud, Moses, Col. Sanders, Sebastian Cabot, Davinci, Darwin, Charlemagne, Lincoln, Robert E Lee, WEB Du Bois, Hemingway, Carl Marx, G. Bernard Shaw. Castro, Bill Frindall, aka the 'Bearded Wonder', Salman Rushdie, NJ Governor John Corzine, & Colonel Sanders all sported beards. So have Victor French, Theodore Bikel, G. Lucas, B. Ives, Jack Cassidy, J. Depp in Pirates of the Caribean movies, C. Norris, Castro, Freud, Fredrick Douglas, W.E.B. Dubois, Confucius, Ulysses S. Grant, Hemingway, Jim Morrison, Uncle Jessie (Dukes of Hazard), Bob Marley, Socrates, Sean P. Daddy Combs, Vikings, Van Gogh, Malcom Jamol Warner, B. Pitt, ?????? in H. Potter, Carlos on D. Housewives, Jonathan Frakes, OB1 Kanobe in S. Wars, B. Underwood, Rob Reiner, J. Lennon, Jerry Garcia, K. Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, Lincoln, King Henry VIII, Al Gore & P. McCartney. Pro wrestlers: Capt. Lou Albano, Tajiri, Great Kahli, Undertaker, Matt & Jeff Harding, Road Warrior Animal, Mark Henry, Triple H, Ivan & Nikata Kolof, Jamie Noble, Hornswoogle, Chavo Guerrero, Greg Helms, Mr. Sieto, MVP, Tiger Lee, Bam Bam Bigalow & Scott Steiner.
There’s a web site of beard and mustache champions.
Phil Olsen, founder & self – appointed captain of Beard team USA @ the world Beard & Mustache Championships. Phil’s mission is to make the US a power in international beard & mustache competitions.
The Beards, Adelaide's all-bearded band that only sings songs about beards, is recruiting Australia's best beards to join Team Australia. The NYC Beard & Moustache Championships are on ABC's The View.
There’s a beard community board on the web. Despite discrimination, bearded men have proven themselves many X throughout history.
ZZ Top wears impressive beards with grace [With the exception, of course, of the drummer, who was actually called Frank Beard]
There are many beloved fictional characters with beards as well: Zues, Green Arrow, Santa Claus, 3 Musketeers, Hagar the Horrible, Captains Harry Hanukah, Haddock, Hook, & Birdseye.
Others who may be less affectionately held in the mind are Osama bin Laden, the Ayatollah Khomeini, & Saddam Hussein (when he emerged from a spider hole after being in hiding for weeks).
The Bible states in Leviticus 19:27 that "Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard." Talmudic rabbis understood this to mean that a man may not shave his beard with a razor with a single blade, since the cutting action of the blade against the skin "mars" the beard. Because scissors have two blades, halakha (Jewish law) permits their use to trim the beard, as the cutting action comes from contact of the two blades & not the blade against the skin. For this reason, most poskim (Jewish legal decisors) rule that Orthodox Jews may use electric razors to remain cleanshaven, as they cut by trapping the hair between the blades & the metal grating, halakhically a scissor-like action. Some prominent contemporary poskim maintain that electric shavers constitute a razor-like action & consequently prohibit their use.
Axioms about beards “There are 2 kinds of people in this world beardless boys & women—& I am neither." Greek saying "A kiss without a moustache, is like soup without salt." - Breton saying "الرجل بلا شنب كالقط بلا ذنب" "A man without moustache is like a cat without a tail." -Arab Saying "The beard is the handsomeness of the face, and a wife is the joy in a man's heart." - R' Akiva, Eicha Rabbah
"How womanly it is for one who is a man to comb & shave himself with a razor, for the sake of fine effect, & to arrange his hair at the mirror, shave his cheeks, pluck hairs out of them, & smooth them!…
For God wished women to be smooth & to rejoice in their locks alone growing spontaneously, as a horse in his mane. But He adorned man like the lions, with a beard, & endowed him as an attribute of manhood, with a hairy chest - a sign of strength & rule." - St. Clement of Alexandria, 2.275
Leonato: You may light on a husband that hath no beard. Beatrice: What should I do with him? dress him in my apparel & make him my waiting-gentlewoman? He that hath a beard is more than a youth, & he that hath no beard is less than a man: & he that is more than a youth is not for me, & he that is less than a man, I am not for him…-Shakespare -Excerpt from 'Much Ado About Nothing' – Act 2, Scene Axioms about beards.
Following WW I, beards fell out of vogue. There are several theories why the military began shaving beards. When it broke out in the 1910s, the use of chemical weapons necessitated that soldiers shave their beards so gas masks sealed over their faces.
The enlistment of recruits for WW I in 1914 precipitated a major migration of men from rural to urban locales. This was the largest such migration that had ever occurred in the US up to that time. The rural lives of some of these bearded men included the "Saturday Night bath" as a reality rather than as a humourism. The sudden concentration of recruits in crowded army induction centers brought with it disease, including head lice. Remedial action was taken by immediately shaving & cutting the hair of all inductees upon their arrival.
When the war concluded in 1918 the "Dough Boys" returned to a hero's welcome. During this time period the Film Industry was coming into its own & "going to the movies" became a popular pastime. Due to the recent Armistice many of the films had themes related to WW I. These popular films featured actors who portrayed clean shaven soldiers & "crew cuts". Concurrently, "Madison Avenue's" psychological mass marketing was becoming prevalent. The Gillette Safety Razor Company was one of these marketers' early clients. These events conspired to popularize short hair & clean shaven faces as the only acceptable style for decades to come. It has been noted that there is a close & consistent association of long standing in American film between facial hair & role—if one lead male character has more facial hair than another, he is far more likely to be the antagonist, & the man with less (or no) facial hair the protagonist.[citation needed]
A contemporary beard style is to trim the beard, or portions of the beard, very short.
From the 1920s to the early 1960s, beards were virtually nonexistent in mainstream America. The few men who wore beards during this period were either old, Central Europeans, members of a religious sect that required it, in academia, or part of the counterculture, such as the "beatniks". Even today there is some degree of prejudice against beards & against men who wear beards, although it is much less serious than it once was; beards are normally much more accepted in the W. World than they once were.
Ancient and Classical world: The highest ranking Ancient Egyptians grew hair on their chins which was often dyed or hennaed (reddish brown) & sometimes plaited with interwoven gold thread. A metal false beard, or postiche, which was a sign of sovereignty, was worn by queens & kings. This was held in place by a ribbon tied over the head & attached to a gold chin strap, a fashion existing from about 3000 to 1580 BC.
Mesopotamian civilizations (Assyrian, Babylonian, Chaldean, Median & ancient Persian) devoted great care to oiling & dressing their beards, using tongs & curling irons to create elaborate ringlets & tiered patterns.
Grecian beards were frequently curled with tongs to create hanging curls. Beards predominated among the Greeks until 323 BC, at which time the youthful Alexander III of Macedon ordered his soldiers to be clean shaven, fearing that their beards would serve as handles for their enemies to grab & to hold the Greek soldier as he was killed. When Alexander was going to fight against the Persians, one of his officers brought him word that all was ready for battle, & demanded if he required anything further. On which Alexander replied, "nothing, but that the Macedonians cut off their beards, for there is not a better handle to take a man by than the beard." This shows Alexander intended close fighting.
In ancient India & Israel, the beard was allowed to grow long, a symbol of dignity and of wisdom (cf. sadhu & nazarite, respectively). The nations in the east generally treated their beards with great care and veneration, & the punishment for licentiousness and adultery was to have the beard of the offending parties publicly cut off. They had such a sacred regard for the preservation of their beards that a man might pledge it for the payment of a debt.
The Persians were fond of long beards. In Olearius' Travels, a King of Persia commands his steward's head to be cut off, and on its being brought to him, remarks, "what a pity it was, that a man possessing such fine mustachios, should have been executed," but he adds, "Ah! it was your own fault."
Sikhism: Sikhs consider the beard to be an integral part of the male human body as created by God & believe that it should be preserved, maintained, & respected as such. Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru, ordained & established the keeping of the hair & beard as part of the identity & one of the insignia of Sikhs. Sikhs consider the beard to be part of the nobility & dignity of manhood.
Judaism: Orthodox Jew from the non-Hassidic "yeshiva world" with a beard & trimmed payot (sidelocks) tucked behind his ears.
Shaving seems to have not been known to the Romans during their early history (under the Kings of Rome & the early Republic). Pliny tells us that P. Ticinius was the first who brought a barber to Rome, which was in the 454th year from the founding of the city (that is, around 299 BC). Scipio Africanus was apparently the first among the Romans who shaved his beard. However, after that shaving seems to have caught on very quickly, & soon almost all Roman men were clean-shaven - being clean-shaven became a sign of being Roman as opposed to being Greek, as the Greeks often grew beards. Beards remained rare among the Romans throughout the Late Republic & the early Principate, until the second century A.D., when the Emperor Hadrian, according to Dion, was the first of all the Caesars to grow a beard. This was a period in Rome of widespread imitation of Greek culture, & the philhellene Emperor Hadrian & many other men grew beards in imitation of the Greek fashion. From that time on beards were once again common in Rome.
It was a custom among the Romans to consecrate the first growth of a young man's beard (i.e., the cuttings after the first time he shaved) to some god; thus Nero at the Gynick games, which he exhibited in the Septa, cut off the first growth of his beard, which he placed in a golden box, adorned with pearls, and then consecrated it in the Capitol to Jupiter.
For the Romans, a bearded man was a proverbial expression for a man of virtue and simplicity. Roman servants or slaves were not allowed to pull their hair, or shave their beards.
During grief & mourning, a Roman would let his hair & beard grow (Livy), while the Greeks on the contrary used to cut off their hair & shave their beards on such occasions (Seneca). This custom may have led to a tradition in later Europe of widows concealing their hair for a stated period after the death of their husbands.[citation needed] There have been instances of a widow closely cutting off her hair, but these observances are becoming less & less frequent.[citation needed]
Among the Catti, a Germanic tribe (perhaps the Chatten), a young man was not allowed to shave or cut his hair until he had slain an enemy (Tacitus). The Lombards or Longobards, derived their Fame from the great length of their beards. When Otho the Great used to speak anything serious, he swore by his beard, which covered his breast.
From the Renaissance to the present day
Richard M. Stallman with a beard in the early 21st century.
In the 15th century, the beard was worn long. Clergymen in 16th century England were usually clean shaven to indicate their celibacy.[citation needed] When a priest became convinced of the doctrines of the Protestant Reformation he would often signal this by allowing his beard to grow, showing that he rejected the tradition of the church & perhaps also its stance on clerical celibacy.[citation needed] The longer the beard, the more striking the statement.[citation needed] 16th century beards were therefore suffered to grow to an amazing length (see the portraits of John Knox, Bishop Gardiner and Thomas Cranmer). Some beards of this time were the Spanish spade beard, the English square cut beard, the forked beard, & the stiletto beard.
Strangely, this trend was especially marked during Queen Mary's reign, a time of reaction against Protestant reform (Cardinal Pole's beard is a good example). Queen Elizabeth I, succeeding Mary, is said to have disliked beards and therefore established a tax on them. [citation needed]
In urban circles of Western Europe and the Americas, beards were out of fashion after the early 17th century; to such an extent that, in 1698, Peter the Great of Russia levied a tax on beards in order to bring Russian society more in line with contemporary W. Europe.[citation needed]
Throughout the 18th Century beards were unknown among most parts of Western society, especially the nobility and upper classes.
Beards returned strongly to fashion after the Napoleonic Era. Throughout the nineteenth century facial hair (beards, along with long sideburns & moustaches) was more common than not. Many male European monarchs were bearded (e.g. Alexander III of Russia, Napoleon III of France, Frederick III of Germany), as were many of the leading statesmen and cultural figures (e.g. Benjamin Disraeli, Charles Dickens and Giuseppe Verdi, to name just a few). The stereotypical Victorian male figure in the popular mind remains a stern figure clothed in black whose gravitas is added to by a heavy beard (or long sideburns). However, in the early 20th century beards fell almost completely out of fashion once more; they became largely the preserve of elderly, old-fashioned eccentrics.
Beards, & long hair, were reintroduced to mainstream society in W. Europe & the Americas by the hippie movement of the mid 1960s. By the end of the 20th century, the closely clipped Verdi beard, often with a matching integrated moustache, was relatively common.
Beards in North America: Maryland Governor Thomas Swann with a long beard. They were common around the time of the Civil War.
In the 18th & early 19th century, beards were rare in the US. However, they had become prevalent by the mid-19th century. Up to & following the American Civil War, many famous heroes and General officers had significant beards. A sign of the shift was to be observed in occupants of the Presidency: before Lincoln, no President had a beard; after Lincoln until McKinley, every President (except Andrew Johnson) had either a beard or a moustache. The beard's loss of popularity since its 19th century hey day is shown by the fact that after this brief "golden age", no President has worn a full beard since Benjamin Harrison, & no President has worn any facial hair at all since William H. Taft.
Following WW I, beards fell out of vogue. There are several theories as to why the military began shaving beards. When WW I broke out in the 1910s, the use of chemical weapons necessitated that soldiers shave their beards so gas masks sealed over their faces.
A contemporary beard style is to trim the beard, or portions of the beard, very short.
From the 1920s to the early 1960s, beards were virtually nonexistent in mainstream America. The few men who wore beards during this period were either old, Central Europeans, members of a religious sect that required it, in academia, or part of the counterculture, such as the "beatniks". Even today there is some degree of prejudice against beards & against men who wear beards, although it is much less serious than it once was; beards are normally much more accepted in the W. world than they once were.
Following the Vietnam War, beards exploded in popularity. In the mid-late 1960s & throughout the 1970s, beards were worn by hippies & businessmen alike. Popular rock, soul & folk musicians like The Beatles, Barry White & the male members of Peter, Paul, & Mary wore full beards. The trend of seemingly ubiquitous beards in American culture subsided in the mid 1980s.
From the 1990s onward, the fashion in beards has generally trended toward either a goatee, Van Dyck, or a closely cropped full beard undercut on the throat. It is not unusual to see corporate executives in modern America with a full beard. Recently, short sideburns have become very popular, particularly among younger men. Beards are being seen more & more these days, most likely as a result of backlash against the popularization of the "metrosexual" character type in the early 2000's.
One stratum of American society where facial hair is virtually nonexistent is in government & politics. The last President to wear any type of facial hair was William Howard Taft, who was in office nearly a century ago. Virtually no current state governors or members of Congress, with the exception of NJ governor Jon Corzine, have beards or mustaches.
Beards in religion: Beards also play an important role in some religions.
In Greek mythology & art Zeus and Poseidon are always portrayed with beards, but Apollo never is. A bearded Hermes was replaced with the more familiar beardless youth in the 5th century.
Main article: Shaving in Judaism
Many Orthodox Jews grow beards for social & cultural reasons. Since the electric razor is a relatively modern innovation, virtually all Orthodox Jews grew beards before its advent. Beards are thus symbolic of keeping the traditions of one's ancestors. The Zohar, one of the primary sources of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), attributes holiness to the beard, specifying that hairs of the beard symbolize channels of subconscious holy energy that flows from above to the human soul. Therefore, most Hasidic Jews, for whom Kabbalah plays an important role in their religious practice, traditionally do not remove or even trim their beards.
Also, some Jews refrain from shaving during the 30-day mourning period after the death of a close relative, known in Hebrew as the "Sheloshim" (thirty).
Christianity: In E. Christianity, beards are often worn by members of the priesthood, & at times have been required for all believers-see Old Believers. Amish & Hutterite men shave until they are married, then grow a beard & are never thereafter without one, although it is a particular form of a beard (see Visual markers of marital status).
Nowadays, members of many Catholic religious communities, mainly those of Franciscan origin, use a beard as a sign of their vocation.
Islam: Many Muslims believe that it is mandatory by Islamic law to grow the beard because in Sahih Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 72, Hadith # 780: The Prophet said, "Do the opposite of what the pagans do. Keep the beards & cut the moustaches short."
The intent of this hadith is, however, a point of ongoing discussion & interpretation, & the fundamental interpretation is not currently the only accepted one among Muslims. This hadith, placed in historical context, is seen by some as an order at that time & in that place to distinguish one's self from the surrounding non-Muslims, largely for security & cultural reasons, for that situation. It is presently not uncommon for practicing Muslims in Islamic & Western countries to not grow their beards.
In addition, following the Prophet's actions is very important as well since he was proclaimed as a walking Quran & Muslims try their utmost to follow the teachings of the Quran. Since the Prophet kept a beard, many Muslim men keep beards to follow his actions & the teachings of the religion. Depending on their sect, they have differing opinions on how the Prophet Muhammad wore his.
As with hadith, however, following the Prophet's actions is also a point where fundamentalist vs. contextual interpretations come into play. Therefore, many Muslims do shave, since it is generally considered to be virtuous, but not mandatory, to grow a beard.
In contemporary Islam a longer beard is associated with Sunnis, a more closely trimmed beard with Shia Muslims. Accordingly in Iraq where ethnic cleansing has taken place to make districts all-Sunni or all-Shii, members of the local minority adjust their beard style to avoid recognition.
According to the majority opinions in the four major Sunni schools of jurisprudence, a beard is mandatory for all men, unless they have a medical reason not to grow one. The exception is the Shafi`i Madhab, which includes two valid opinions, one: a beard is required & one stating it’s Sunnah Mu'akadah (An emphasized example set by the Prophet, but not required). Minority opinions exist in all four schools that the beard is optional, but virtuous.
Prophet Muhammad also was quoted as saying that growing the beard is part of the Abrahamic tradition that Muslims have inherited. God commanded Abraham to keep his beard, shorten his mustache, clip his nails, shave the hair around his genitals, & pluck the hair in his armpit.
Rastafari Movement: A male Rastafarian's beard is a sign of his pact with God (Jah or Jehovah), & his Bible is his source of knowledge. Leviticus 21:5 ("They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in the flesh.")
Modern prohibition of beards: Religions: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: LDS Church Presidents from Brigham Young to George Albert Smith all wore beards of some manner. But from the time of David O. McKay through Gordon Hinckley, general Church leaders have been uniformly clean-shaven. Mormon men in general have followed suit, though this is not mandated by scripture or Church policy. Having a beard does not disqualify a man from temple attendance, nor from serving in many positions of local leadership.
F/t missionaries are clean-shaven as a matter of policy. Bishops & stake presidents are strongly encouraged to shave. Students at Brigham Young University adhere to an Honor Code containing Dress & Grooming Standards. This includes the following language: " If worn, moustaches should be neatly trimmed & may not extend beyond or below the corners of the mouth. Men are expected to be clean shaven; beards aren’t acceptable." [1] Exceptions are made for BYU students who must keep their beard for medical or religious reasons.
Sports: Today, for practical reasons (with some exceptions), it is illegal for amateur boxers to have beards. As a safety precaution, h.s. wrestlers must be clean-shaven before each match, though neatly trimmed moustaches are often allowed.
The Cincinnati Reds, Major League Baseball's oldest existing team, had a longstanding enforced policy where all players had to be completely clean shaven (no beards, long sideburns or moustaches). However, this policy was abolished following the sale of the team by Marge Schott.
Under owner G. Steinbrenner, the NY Yankees baseball team has had a strict dress code that forbids long hair & facial hair below the lip. More recently, Willie Randolph & Joe Girardi, both former Yankee assistant coaches, adopted a similar clean-shaven policy for their ballclubs; the NY Mets & Florida Marlins, respectively. Fredi Gonzalez, who replaced Girardi as the Marlins' manager, dropped that policy when he took over after the 2006 season.
Playoff beard is a tradition common on some teams in the NHL & now in other leagues wherein players beards grow from the beginning of the playoff season until the playoffs are over for their team.
Music: 20th century American jazz drummer & bandleader Buddy Rich famously fired members of his band for wearing beards[. Dusty Hill & Billy Gibbons of the famous rock band ZZ Top are also renowned for having very distinctive facial hair. Ironically, ZZ Top's Drummer Frank Beard (called "Rube Beard" on earlier albums) is the one member of the group who, despite having a moustache since the early days of the group, does not wear a beard. Alternative Folk musician Sam Beam, better known as Iron & Wine, is known for always sporting a full beard.
Leland Sklar, a profilic session bass guitar player, is noted for his long hair and a long flowing beard.
Armed forces:Canada: The Canadian Forces permits moustaches, provided they are neatly trimmed & do not pass beyond the corners of the mouth; an exception to this is the handlebar moustache, which is permitted. Generally speaking, beards are not permitted to CF personnel with the following exceptions:
members wearing the naval uniform (tradition)
members of an infantry pioneer platoon (tradition)
members who must maintain a beard due to religious requirements (Sikhs or orthodox Jews, e.g.) members with a medical condition which precludes shaving
These exceptions notwithstanding, in no case is a beard permitted without a moustache, & only full beards may be worn (not goatees, van dykes, etc.).
Personnel with beards may still be required to modify or shave off the beard, as environmental or tactical circumstances dictate (e.g., to facilitate the wearing of a gas mask).
Beards are also allowed to be worn by personnel conducting OPFOR duties.
France: The "decree N° 75-675 regarding regulations for general discipline in the Armies of the 28th July 1975, modified"[1] regulates facial hair in the French armed forces.
Military personnel can grow a beard or moustache only during periods when they are out of uniform. The beard must be "correctly trimmed", & provisions are stated for a possible ban of beards by the military authorities to ensure compatibility with certain equipment.
The combat engineers are by tradition allowed to grow a large beard.
The gendarmes, also by tradition, can grow a moustache.
Israel: According to the regulations of the Israel Defense Forces, growing a moustache or a beard is prohibited. Allowances are made in the following cases:
The soldier is a practicing Orthodox Jew & requests permission to grow a beard for religious reasons.
The soldier has a medical condition (such as skin problems) that would be aggravated by shaving (medical documentation is necessary)
The soldier had a beard before joining the army & requests permission to keep it.
The soldier has completed his compulsory service & is serving in the career army.
If a soldier has obtained permission to grow a beard, the beard must either be:
A full beard - extending from the sideburns to the chin on both sides of the face.
A goatee - starting from the middle of the face on both sides & extending to the chin, including a moustache.
The Netherlands: In the Dutch army, petty officers and soldiers may not grow beards, although small moustaches are permissible. High-ranking officers may grow full beards, although this is rare. A beard without a moustache is uncommon in The Netherlands.
Spain: The Spanish Legion allows beards to be grown.
UK: The Royal Navy permits “full sets" (beards and moustaches together) but not beards or moustaches alone. The other British armed services allow moustaches only. Exceptions are beards grown for religious reasons (usually by Sikhs), though in the event of conflict in which the use of chemical or biological weapons is likely, they may be required to shave a strip around the seal of a respirator. Beards are also permitted for medical reasons, such as temporary skin irritations, or by infantry pioneer warrant officers, colour sergeants and sergeants, who traditionally wear beards. Any style of facial hair is allowed in British police forces as long as it is neatly trimmed. Beards are also permitted by special forces when not on base, ie covert intelligence operations or behind enemy lines.
US: The Army & Marines justify banning beards on the basis of both hygiene & the necessity for a good seal with gas masks. The Navy allowed beards for a time in the 1970s & 1980s, following a directive from Chief of Naval Operations Elmo Russell Zumwalt, Jr., but subsequently banned them again. The Coast Guard allowed beards until 1986, when they were banned by the Commandant, Admiral Paul Yost. The vast majority of police forces across the US still ban beards. However, moustaches are generally allowed in both the military & police forces (except for those undergoing basic training). U.S. Army Special Forces & other U.S. Special Operation Forces have been allowed to wear beards in Afghanistan, Iraq, & other middle-eastern countries in order to better fit in with the indigenous population.
Norway
Laws on the matter are quite liberal; both length of hair & beard depends on the soldier's position. The Royal Guard is required to be clean shaven. Most operative personnel are not allowed to wear them (ex. to not interfere with gas masks) unless:
The soldier attains express permission to grow his beard from a high-ranking officer.
The soldier already has a beard upon his enlistment and requests to continue growing it or maintain it at its present length.
Sweden: No limits on beard length exist, but virtually all recruits shave before their first tear gas drill, where any leak between the face and the gasmask will cause excruciating pain. Particularly long hair (facial or head hair) may require the soldier to wear a net when working with machinery or weapons.
Early Christian attitudes
St Clement of Alexandria
"The hair of the chin showed him to be a man." St Clement of Alexandria (c.195, E), 2.271
"How womanly it is for one who is a man to comb himself & shave himself with a razor, for the sake of fine effect, & to arrange his hair at the mirror, shave his cheeks, pluck hairs out of them, & smooth them!…For God wished women to be smooth & rejoice in their locks alone growing spontaneously, as a horse in his mane. But He adorned man like the lions, with a beard, & endowed him as an attribute of manhood, with a hairy chest--a sign of strength & rule." St. Clement of Alexandria, 2.275
"This, then, is the mark of the man, the beard. By this, he is seen to be a man. It is older than Eve. It is the token of the superior nature….It is therefore unholy to desecrate the symbol of manhood, hairiness.” St. Clement of Alexandria, 2.276
"It is not lawful to pluck out the beard, man’s natural & noble adornment." St. Clement of Alexandria, 2.277
St Cyprian
"In their manners, there was no discipline. In men, their beards were defaced." St Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.438
"The beard must not be plucked. 'You will not deface the figure of your beard'." (Leviticus 19:27) St. Cyprian, 5.553
Lactantius
"The nature of the beard contributes in an incredible degree to distinguish the maturity of bodies, or to distinguish the sex, or to contribute to the beauty of manliness & strength." Lactantius (c. 304-314, W), 7.288
Apostolic Constitutions
"Men may not destroy the hair of their beards & unnaturally change the form of a man. For the Law says, “You will not deface your beards.” For God the Creator has made this decent for women, but has determined that it is unsuitable for men." Apostolic Constitutions (compiled c.390, E) 7.392. (1)
There was an Old Man with a beard, Who said: 'It's just as I feared!
Two Owls and a Hen
Four Larks and a Wren
Have all built their nests in my beard.'
Edward Lear (a bearded fellow)
Civil War Generals and Admirals who Wore Beards
99 Notables Compiled -for National Beard Registry by Scott Sklar (Registry #166- Arlington)
Many soldiers & officers in the Confederacy & Union had beards.
Eve
Eve & God"Lord, I have a problem."
"What's the problem, Eve?"
"I know U created me, this beautiful garden & all the wonderful animals, as well as that hilarious comedic snake, but I'm unhappy."
"And why is that, Eve?"
"Lord, I am lonely, and I'm sick to death of apples."
"Well, Eve, in that case, I have a solution. I shall create a man for you."
"Man? What is that Lord?"
"A flawed creature, with many faults. He'll lie, cheat & be vain; all in all, he'll give you a hard time. But he'll be bigger, faster, like to hunt & kill. I'll create him in such a way that he’ll satisfy your physical needs. He will be witless & will revel in childish -things like fighting and kicking a ball about. He won't be as smart as you, so he will also need your advice to think properly." "Sounds great," says Eve, with ironically raised eyebrows, "but what's the catch Lord?"
"Well... you can have him on one condition."
"And what's that Lord?"
"As I- said, he'll be proud, arrogant and self-admiring... So you'll have to let him believe that I made him first. And it will have to be our little secret... you know, woman to woman."
"What's the problem, Eve?"
"I know U created me, this beautiful garden & all the wonderful animals, as well as that hilarious comedic snake, but I'm unhappy."
"And why is that, Eve?"
"Lord, I am lonely, and I'm sick to death of apples."
"Well, Eve, in that case, I have a solution. I shall create a man for you."
"Man? What is that Lord?"
"A flawed creature, with many faults. He'll lie, cheat & be vain; all in all, he'll give you a hard time. But he'll be bigger, faster, like to hunt & kill. I'll create him in such a way that he’ll satisfy your physical needs. He will be witless & will revel in childish -things like fighting and kicking a ball about. He won't be as smart as you, so he will also need your advice to think properly." "Sounds great," says Eve, with ironically raised eyebrows, "but what's the catch Lord?"
"Well... you can have him on one condition."
"And what's that Lord?"
"As I- said, he'll be proud, arrogant and self-admiring... So you'll have to let him believe that I made him first. And it will have to be our little secret... you know, woman to woman."
Dennis Miller's Ranblings on Mid e.
"A brief overview of the situation is always valuable, so as a service to all Americans who still don't get it, I now offer you the story of the Mid E. in just a few paragraphs, which is all you really need.
Don't thank me. I'm a giver.
Here we go: The Palestinians want their own country. There's just one thing about that: There are no Palestinians. It's a made up word. Israel was called Palestine for 2,000 years.
Like "Wiccan," "Palestinian" sounds ancient but is really a modern invention. Before the Israelis won the land in war, Gaza was owned by Egypt, & there were no "Palestinians" then, the W. Bank was owned by Jordan, & there were no "Palestinians".
As soon as the Jews took over & started growing oranges as big as basketballs, the "Palestinians," began weeping for their deep bond with their lost "land" & "nation." So for the sake of honesty, let's not use the word "Palestinian" any more to describe these delightful folks, who dance for joy at our deaths until someone notices they're being taped. Instead, let's call them what they are: "Other Arabs Accomplish Anything In Life And Would Rather Wrap Themselves In The Seductive Melodrama Of Eternal Struggle And Death." I know that's a bit unwieldy to expect to see on CNN. How about this, then: "Adjacent Jew-Haters." Okay, so the Adjacent Jew-Haters want their own country. Oops, just one more thing. No, they don't. They could've had their own country any time in the last 3 years, especially two years ago at Camp David. But if you have your own country, you need infrastructure, Chamber of Commerce & worse, you actually have to figure out a way to make a living. That's no fun. No, they want what all the other Jew-Haters in the region want: Israel.
They also want a big pile of dead Jews, of course-that's where the real fun is-but mostly they want Israel. Why? For one thing, trying to destroy Israel-or "The Zionist Entity" as their textbooks call it-for the last 50 years has allowed the rulers of Arab countries to divert the attention of their own people away from the fact that they're the blue-ribbon most illiterate, poorest, & tribally backward on G-d's Earth, and if you've ever been around, you know that's something.
It makes me roll my eyes every time one of our pundits waxes poetic about the great history /culture of the Muslim Mid E. Unless I'm missing something, the Arabs haven't given anything to the world since Algebra, & by the way, thanks...
Chew this around & spit it out: 500 million Arabs; five million Jews. Think of all the Arab countries as a football field, and Israel as a pack of matches sitting in the middle of it. And now these same folks swear that if Israel gives them half of that pack of matches, everyone will be pals. Really? Wow. Hey, but what about the string of wars to obliterate the tiny country and the constant din of rabid blood oaths to drive every Jew into the sea? Oh, that? We were just kidding.
My friend Kevin Rooney made a gorgeous point the other day: Just reverse the numbers. Imagine five hundred million Jews/five million Arabs. I was stunned at the simple brilliance of it. Can anyone picture the Jews strapping belts of razor blades & dynamite to themselves? Of course not. Or marshalling every fiber/force at their disposal for generations to drive a tiny Arab state into the sea? Nonsense. Or dancing for joy at the murder of innocents? Impossible. Or spreading & believing horrible lies about the Arabs baking their bread with the blood of children? Disgusting. No, as you know, left to themselves in a world of peace, the worst Jews would ever do to people is debate them to death. Mr. Bush, G-d bless him, is walking a tightrope.
I understand that with vital operations coming up against Iraq & others, it's in our interest, as Americans, to try to stabilize our Arab allies as much as possible, & after all, that can't be much harder than stabilizing a roomful of supermodels who've just had their drugs taken away.
However, in any big-picture strategy, there's always a danger of losing moral weight. We've already lost some. After 9/11 our president told the world he was going to root out all terrorists & the countries that support them. Beautiful.
Then the Israelis, after months of having the equivalent of Oklahoma City every week (& then every day) start to do the same thing we did, & we tell them to show restraint.
If America were being attacked with an Oklahoma City every day, we'd all very shortly be screaming for the administration to just be done with it and kill everything south of the Mediterranean & east of the Jordan. (Hey, wait a minute, that's actually not such a bad idea. . . uh, that is, what a horrible thought, yeah, horrible.)"
Don't thank me. I'm a giver.
Here we go: The Palestinians want their own country. There's just one thing about that: There are no Palestinians. It's a made up word. Israel was called Palestine for 2,000 years.
Like "Wiccan," "Palestinian" sounds ancient but is really a modern invention. Before the Israelis won the land in war, Gaza was owned by Egypt, & there were no "Palestinians" then, the W. Bank was owned by Jordan, & there were no "Palestinians".
As soon as the Jews took over & started growing oranges as big as basketballs, the "Palestinians," began weeping for their deep bond with their lost "land" & "nation." So for the sake of honesty, let's not use the word "Palestinian" any more to describe these delightful folks, who dance for joy at our deaths until someone notices they're being taped. Instead, let's call them what they are: "Other Arabs Accomplish Anything In Life And Would Rather Wrap Themselves In The Seductive Melodrama Of Eternal Struggle And Death." I know that's a bit unwieldy to expect to see on CNN. How about this, then: "Adjacent Jew-Haters." Okay, so the Adjacent Jew-Haters want their own country. Oops, just one more thing. No, they don't. They could've had their own country any time in the last 3 years, especially two years ago at Camp David. But if you have your own country, you need infrastructure, Chamber of Commerce & worse, you actually have to figure out a way to make a living. That's no fun. No, they want what all the other Jew-Haters in the region want: Israel.
They also want a big pile of dead Jews, of course-that's where the real fun is-but mostly they want Israel. Why? For one thing, trying to destroy Israel-or "The Zionist Entity" as their textbooks call it-for the last 50 years has allowed the rulers of Arab countries to divert the attention of their own people away from the fact that they're the blue-ribbon most illiterate, poorest, & tribally backward on G-d's Earth, and if you've ever been around, you know that's something.
It makes me roll my eyes every time one of our pundits waxes poetic about the great history /culture of the Muslim Mid E. Unless I'm missing something, the Arabs haven't given anything to the world since Algebra, & by the way, thanks...
Chew this around & spit it out: 500 million Arabs; five million Jews. Think of all the Arab countries as a football field, and Israel as a pack of matches sitting in the middle of it. And now these same folks swear that if Israel gives them half of that pack of matches, everyone will be pals. Really? Wow. Hey, but what about the string of wars to obliterate the tiny country and the constant din of rabid blood oaths to drive every Jew into the sea? Oh, that? We were just kidding.
My friend Kevin Rooney made a gorgeous point the other day: Just reverse the numbers. Imagine five hundred million Jews/five million Arabs. I was stunned at the simple brilliance of it. Can anyone picture the Jews strapping belts of razor blades & dynamite to themselves? Of course not. Or marshalling every fiber/force at their disposal for generations to drive a tiny Arab state into the sea? Nonsense. Or dancing for joy at the murder of innocents? Impossible. Or spreading & believing horrible lies about the Arabs baking their bread with the blood of children? Disgusting. No, as you know, left to themselves in a world of peace, the worst Jews would ever do to people is debate them to death. Mr. Bush, G-d bless him, is walking a tightrope.
I understand that with vital operations coming up against Iraq & others, it's in our interest, as Americans, to try to stabilize our Arab allies as much as possible, & after all, that can't be much harder than stabilizing a roomful of supermodels who've just had their drugs taken away.
However, in any big-picture strategy, there's always a danger of losing moral weight. We've already lost some. After 9/11 our president told the world he was going to root out all terrorists & the countries that support them. Beautiful.
Then the Israelis, after months of having the equivalent of Oklahoma City every week (& then every day) start to do the same thing we did, & we tell them to show restraint.
If America were being attacked with an Oklahoma City every day, we'd all very shortly be screaming for the administration to just be done with it and kill everything south of the Mediterranean & east of the Jordan. (Hey, wait a minute, that's actually not such a bad idea. . . uh, that is, what a horrible thought, yeah, horrible.)"
Ben Netanyahu interview
Ben Netanyahu gave an interview & was asked about Israel's occupation of Arab lands--his reply: "It's our land."
The reporter (think it was CNN) was stunned -- read below "it's our land..."
The following material was written by an American Christian prof.
It's important to know since we don't get fair, accurate reporting from the media/facts tend to get lost in the jumble of daily events. Crash Course on the Arab Israeli Conflict-here is some overlooked facts in the current Mid E. situation. These were compiled by a Christian U. Professor. HERE'S THE BRIEF FACTS ON THE ISRAELI CONFLICT TODAY....
Takes 1 minute to read! It makes sense/not slanted. Jew or not--it doesn't matter. Thank You.
1. Nationhood & Jerusalem. Israel became a nation in 1312 B.C.E., 2,000 years before Islam.
2. Arab refugees in Israel began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1967,
20 years after Israel’s establishment.
3. Since the Jewish conquest in 1272 B.C.E., Jews have had dominion over the land for 1,000 years with a continuous presence for the past 3,300 years.
4. The only Arab dominion since the conquest in 635 C.E. lasted no more than 22 years.
5. For over 3,300 years, Jerusalem has been the Jewish capital. It never was capital of any Arab or Muslim entity.
Even when Jordan occupied it they never made it their capital/Arab leaders didn’t come to visit.
6. Jerusalem’s mentioned over 700X in Tanach:, the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Yet not 1X in the Koran.
7. King David founded the city of Jerusalem. Mohammed never went there.
8. Jews pray facing Jerusalem. Muslims pray with their backs toward it.
9. Arab and Jewish Refugees: In 1948 the Arab refugees were encouraged to leave Israel by Arab leaders promising to purge the land of Jews. 68% left without ever seeing an Israeli soldier.
10. The Jewish refugees were forced to flee from Arab lands due to Arab brutality, persecution & pogroms.
11. About 630,000 Arab refugees left Israel in 1948. The # of Jewish refugees from Arab lands is about the same.
12. Arab refugees were INTENTIONALLY not absorbed or integrated into Arab lands to which they fled, despite the vast Arab territory. Out of the 100,000,000 refugees since WW 2, theirs is the only refugee group in the world that’s never been absorbed or integrated into their own peoples' lands. Jewish refugees were completely absorbed into Israel, a nation the size of NJ.
13. The Arab - Israeli Conflict: The Arabs are represented by eight nations, excluding Palestinians.
There is only one Jewish nation. Arabs initiated/lost all five wars. Israel defended itself/won each time.
14. The P.L.O.'s Charter still calls for Israel’s destruction. Israel has given the Palestinians most of the W. Bank autonomy under Palestinian Authority, & has supplied them.
15. Under Jordanian rule, Jewish holy sites were desecrated/Jews were denied access to places of worship. Under Israeli rule, all Muslim & Christian sites have been preserved & are accessible to all.
16. The U.N. Record on Israel & the Arabs: of the 175 Security Council resolutions passed before-1990, 97 were anti Israel.
17. Of the 690 General Assembly resolutions voted on before 1990, 429 were against Israel. 18. The U.N was silent while 58 Jerusalem Synagogues were destroyed by Jordanians.
19. The U.N. was silent while the Jordanians systematically desecrated the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives.
20. The U.N. was silent while the Jordanians enforced an apartheid-like policy of preventing Jews from visiting the Temple Mount and the Waiking Wall. These are incredible times. We have to ask what our role should be. What will we tell our grandchildren we did when there was a turning point in Jewish destiny, an opportunity to make a difference?
START NOW!! Send this to 20 other people you know and ask them to send it to twenty others, Jew & non-Jew- -it doesn't really matter.
The reporter (think it was CNN) was stunned -- read below "it's our land..."
The following material was written by an American Christian prof.
It's important to know since we don't get fair, accurate reporting from the media/facts tend to get lost in the jumble of daily events. Crash Course on the Arab Israeli Conflict-here is some overlooked facts in the current Mid E. situation. These were compiled by a Christian U. Professor. HERE'S THE BRIEF FACTS ON THE ISRAELI CONFLICT TODAY....
Takes 1 minute to read! It makes sense/not slanted. Jew or not--it doesn't matter. Thank You.
1. Nationhood & Jerusalem. Israel became a nation in 1312 B.C.E., 2,000 years before Islam.
2. Arab refugees in Israel began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1967,
20 years after Israel’s establishment.
3. Since the Jewish conquest in 1272 B.C.E., Jews have had dominion over the land for 1,000 years with a continuous presence for the past 3,300 years.
4. The only Arab dominion since the conquest in 635 C.E. lasted no more than 22 years.
5. For over 3,300 years, Jerusalem has been the Jewish capital. It never was capital of any Arab or Muslim entity.
Even when Jordan occupied it they never made it their capital/Arab leaders didn’t come to visit.
6. Jerusalem’s mentioned over 700X in Tanach:, the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Yet not 1X in the Koran.
7. King David founded the city of Jerusalem. Mohammed never went there.
8. Jews pray facing Jerusalem. Muslims pray with their backs toward it.
9. Arab and Jewish Refugees: In 1948 the Arab refugees were encouraged to leave Israel by Arab leaders promising to purge the land of Jews. 68% left without ever seeing an Israeli soldier.
10. The Jewish refugees were forced to flee from Arab lands due to Arab brutality, persecution & pogroms.
11. About 630,000 Arab refugees left Israel in 1948. The # of Jewish refugees from Arab lands is about the same.
12. Arab refugees were INTENTIONALLY not absorbed or integrated into Arab lands to which they fled, despite the vast Arab territory. Out of the 100,000,000 refugees since WW 2, theirs is the only refugee group in the world that’s never been absorbed or integrated into their own peoples' lands. Jewish refugees were completely absorbed into Israel, a nation the size of NJ.
13. The Arab - Israeli Conflict: The Arabs are represented by eight nations, excluding Palestinians.
There is only one Jewish nation. Arabs initiated/lost all five wars. Israel defended itself/won each time.
14. The P.L.O.'s Charter still calls for Israel’s destruction. Israel has given the Palestinians most of the W. Bank autonomy under Palestinian Authority, & has supplied them.
15. Under Jordanian rule, Jewish holy sites were desecrated/Jews were denied access to places of worship. Under Israeli rule, all Muslim & Christian sites have been preserved & are accessible to all.
16. The U.N. Record on Israel & the Arabs: of the 175 Security Council resolutions passed before-1990, 97 were anti Israel.
17. Of the 690 General Assembly resolutions voted on before 1990, 429 were against Israel. 18. The U.N was silent while 58 Jerusalem Synagogues were destroyed by Jordanians.
19. The U.N. was silent while the Jordanians systematically desecrated the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives.
20. The U.N. was silent while the Jordanians enforced an apartheid-like policy of preventing Jews from visiting the Temple Mount and the Waiking Wall. These are incredible times. We have to ask what our role should be. What will we tell our grandchildren we did when there was a turning point in Jewish destiny, an opportunity to make a difference?
START NOW!! Send this to 20 other people you know and ask them to send it to twenty others, Jew & non-Jew- -it doesn't really matter.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Bible Salesman
Do we have any Bibles in our storeroom at church?????
A minister realized that his church was getting into serious financial trouble. Coincidentally, while checking the church storeroom, he discovered several cartons of new bibles that had never been opened and distributed. So after his Sunday sermon, he asked for three volunteers from the congregation who would be willing to sell the bibles door-to-door for $10 each to raise the money needed so desperately by the church.
Peter, Paul, and Louie all raised their hands to volunteer for the task. The reverend knew that Peter and Paul earned their livings as salesmen and were likely capable of selling some bibles, but he had serious doubts about Louie. Louie was just a local farmer who had always tended to keep to himself, because he was embarrassed by his speech impediment. Poor little Louis stuttered very badly. But, not wanting to discourage poor Louie, the reverend decided to let him give it a try. He sent the three of them away with the back seats of their cars stacked with bibles and asked them to meet with him and report the results of their door-to-door selling efforts the following Sunday ~ which they did.
Eager to find out how successful they were, the reverend immediately asked Peter, "Well, er, how did you make out selling bibles last week?"
Proudly handing the reverend an envelope, Peter replied, "Pastor, using my sales prowess, I was able to sell twenty bibles, and here's the $200 I collected on behalf of the church." "Fine job, Peter!" the reverend said, vigorously shaking his hand. "You are indeed a fine salesman; and the church is indebted to you." Turning to Paul, he asked, "And Paul, how many bibles did you manage to sell for the church last week?"
Paul, smiling and sticking out his chest, proudly replied, "Reverend, I am a professional salesman, & was happy to give the church the benefit of my sales expertise. Last week I sold 28 bibles on behalf of the church; and here's $280 I collected." The reverend responded, "That's absolutely splendid, Paul. You’re truly a pro, & the church is indebted to you."
Apprehensively, the preacher turned to Louie & said, "And Louie, did you manage to sell any
Bibles last week?"
Louie silently offered the reverend a large envelope. The reverend opened it and counted the contents. "What is this?" the reverend asked! "Louie, there's $3200 in here! Are you suggesting that you sold 320 bibles for the church, door-to-door, in just one week? Louie just nodded. "That's impossible," both Peter and Paul said in unison. "We are professional salesmen, yet you claim to have sold ten times as many bibles as we did!" "Yes, this does seem unlikely," the reverend agreed. "I think you'd better explain how you managed to accomplish this, Louie." Louis shrugged. "I-I-I re-re-really d-do-don't kn-kn--know f-f-f-for s-sh-sh-sure," he stammered. Impatiently, Peter interrupted.
"For crying out loud, Louie, just tell us what you said to them when they opened the door."
"A-a-all I s-s-said was," Louie replied, "W-w-would y-y-you l-l-like to b-b-buy th-th-this B-B-Bible f-f-for t-t-ten b-b-bucks ~ or w-w-would you j-j-just like m-m-me t-t-to st-stand h-h-here and r-r-read it to y-y-you?"
A minister realized that his church was getting into serious financial trouble. Coincidentally, while checking the church storeroom, he discovered several cartons of new bibles that had never been opened and distributed. So after his Sunday sermon, he asked for three volunteers from the congregation who would be willing to sell the bibles door-to-door for $10 each to raise the money needed so desperately by the church.
Peter, Paul, and Louie all raised their hands to volunteer for the task. The reverend knew that Peter and Paul earned their livings as salesmen and were likely capable of selling some bibles, but he had serious doubts about Louie. Louie was just a local farmer who had always tended to keep to himself, because he was embarrassed by his speech impediment. Poor little Louis stuttered very badly. But, not wanting to discourage poor Louie, the reverend decided to let him give it a try. He sent the three of them away with the back seats of their cars stacked with bibles and asked them to meet with him and report the results of their door-to-door selling efforts the following Sunday ~ which they did.
Eager to find out how successful they were, the reverend immediately asked Peter, "Well, er, how did you make out selling bibles last week?"
Proudly handing the reverend an envelope, Peter replied, "Pastor, using my sales prowess, I was able to sell twenty bibles, and here's the $200 I collected on behalf of the church." "Fine job, Peter!" the reverend said, vigorously shaking his hand. "You are indeed a fine salesman; and the church is indebted to you." Turning to Paul, he asked, "And Paul, how many bibles did you manage to sell for the church last week?"
Paul, smiling and sticking out his chest, proudly replied, "Reverend, I am a professional salesman, & was happy to give the church the benefit of my sales expertise. Last week I sold 28 bibles on behalf of the church; and here's $280 I collected." The reverend responded, "That's absolutely splendid, Paul. You’re truly a pro, & the church is indebted to you."
Apprehensively, the preacher turned to Louie & said, "And Louie, did you manage to sell any
Bibles last week?"
Louie silently offered the reverend a large envelope. The reverend opened it and counted the contents. "What is this?" the reverend asked! "Louie, there's $3200 in here! Are you suggesting that you sold 320 bibles for the church, door-to-door, in just one week? Louie just nodded. "That's impossible," both Peter and Paul said in unison. "We are professional salesmen, yet you claim to have sold ten times as many bibles as we did!" "Yes, this does seem unlikely," the reverend agreed. "I think you'd better explain how you managed to accomplish this, Louie." Louis shrugged. "I-I-I re-re-really d-do-don't kn-kn--know f-f-f-for s-sh-sh-sure," he stammered. Impatiently, Peter interrupted.
"For crying out loud, Louie, just tell us what you said to them when they opened the door."
"A-a-all I s-s-said was," Louie replied, "W-w-would y-y-you l-l-like to b-b-buy th-th-this B-B-Bible f-f-for t-t-ten b-b-bucks ~ or w-w-would you j-j-just like m-m-me t-t-to st-stand h-h-here and r-r-read it to y-y-you?"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)