I have seen the movie Fiddler On the Roof now about 22 times. I still am trying to figure out what WAS the Fiddler on the Roof.
He's a grand metaphor and most excellent word play for the ages (play well and build, and rearrange to Goel). Fair warning -- what's a freedom trail without the freedom to wander off the beaten path? The Freedom Trail IS the one without a trail.
Looks like this is my little project for the morning ("Never Boring. Always Surprising"). I tend to irritate folks with my never-ending material and attitude, but it's truly the story of my life. 😂
A few things gathered from my collection:
Purim time and themes, because
If you've watched a 179-minute movie (venahafoch hu, וְנַהֲפוֹךְ הוּא = 179) 22 times, perhaps this post will hold interest. "23" only requires a fraction of that time.
The pair of words taken from Megillat Esther -- "venahafoch hu," meaning "the opposite happened" -- symbolizes the change in the Jews' status from a group whose murder was permissible, to a nation with the right to protect and avenge itself.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/op-ed-contributors/not-a-coincidence
Fiddling. It's not just that David knew how to play with his hand...
1 Samuel 16
16 Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp (kinnor*): and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.
17 And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me.
18 Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the LORD is with him.
Chaim Topol
Died March 8, 2023 Tel Aviv, Israel
Shushan Purim
In cities that are surrounded by a wall dating from the days of Joshua (13th century BCE) -- a prominent example is the city of Jerusalem -- the festival of Purim is observed on the 15th of Adar (instead of the 14th), in commemoration of the fact that in the ancient walled city of Shushan, the first Purim was celebrated on this day.
You know how the dialog goes:
"Rabbi, we've been waiting for the Messiah all our lives.
Wouldn't this be a good time for him to come?"
Fiddler [כַּנָּר, kanar] on the Roof [על הגג]
*kinnor [כִּנּוֹר]: violin, fiddle
Kinnor (Hebrew: כִּנּוֹר kīnnōr) is an ancient Israelite musical instrument in the yoke lutes family, the first one to be mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.
Its exact identification is unclear, but in the modern day it is generally translated as "harp" or "lyre",[1] 440 and associated with a type of lyre depicted in Israelite imagery, particularly the Bar Kokhba coins.[1] 440 It has been referred to as the "national instrument" of the Jewish people,[2] and modern luthiers have created reproduction lyres of the kinnor based on this imagery.
The word has subsequently come to mean violin in Modern Hebrew.
Here is the Kinnor HaMashiach -- the Messiah kinnor -- a Stradivarius meaning the best of the best:
The Messiah - Salabue Stradivarius of 1716 is a violin made by the Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari of Cremona. It is considered to be the only Stradivarius in existence in as new state.[1] It is in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England.
The violin, known as the Messiah (Messie in French), remained in Stradivari's workshop until his death in 1737. It was then sold by his son Paolo to Count Cozio di Salabue in 1775, and for a time, the violin bore the name Salabue. The instrument was then purchased by Luigi Tarisio in 1827.
Upon Tarisio's death, in 1854, the French luthier Jean Baptiste Vuillaume of Paris purchased The Messiah along with Tarisio's entire collection. "One day Tarisio was discoursing with Vuillaume on the merits of this unknown and marvelous instrument, when the violinist Jean-Delphin Alard, Vuillaume's son-in-law, exclaimed: 'Really, Mister Tarisio, your violin is like the Messiah of the Jews: one always expects him but he never appears' ('Vraiment, Monsieur Tarisio, votre violon est comme le Messie des Juifs: on l'attend toujours, mais il ne paraît jamais' [2]). Thus the violin was titled with the name by which it is still known."[3]
The Messiah is located at the museum that was built to house Elias' cabinet of curiosities. The same Elias who is on record concerning the Philosopher's Stone [109. THE TZOHAR].
The earliest known written mention of the philosopher's stone is in the Cheirokmeta by Zosimos of Panopolis (c. 300 AD).[3] 66 Alchemical writers assign a longer history. Elias Ashmole and the anonymous author of Gloria Mundi (1620) claim that its history goes back to Adam, who acquired the knowledge of the stone directly from God. This knowledge was said to have been passed down through biblical patriarchs, giving them their longevity. The legend of the stone was also compared to the biblical history of the Temple of Solomon and the rejected cornerstone described in Psalm 118.[4] 19
Born to wander:
"The violin, known as the Messiah (Messie in French), remained in Stradivari's workshop until his death in 1737. It was then sold by his son Paolo to Count Cozio di Salabue in 1775..."
At the head of the corner, the Hub of the Revolution,
The Boston Stone is a stone in Boston, Massachusetts. Near --but not on-- the Freedom Trail, it is a minor tourist attraction:
Of course, philosopher comes from the Greek meaning a lover of wisdom.
Philosopher's Stone
Φιλοσοφική λίθος
= 1737
Elias Ashmole and the anonymous author of Gloria Mundi (1620) claim that its history goes back to Adam, who acquired the knowledge of the stone directly from God.
Up on the roof of that very building with the odd 1737 cornerstone twinset:
The project added back the top floors 4 and 5 that had been lopped off along the way (Client: Adam Travel) --
Adam [אדם = 45] is Strong's 120:
Gen 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man [120], for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
Adam Travel (address 7) and Adam Convenience -- along with Bella Vista Tours and Room Escapers -- are located in the same building where the rejected stone became the head of the corner.
And also on the opposite corner, the place named "Kalā" (coconut klipah, coconut shell in Thai -- the imagery is on the sign); which is to say, the place of the skull.
The Scroll of Esther is commonly referred to as "The Megillah", [המגילה] in Hebrew, which adds up to 93. It's the book famous for all of its hidden mysteries and revelations. The word for a scroll is based on rolling, the revolution of the thing so to speak.
Rolling along underground is the place where the central artery (I-93) had been concealed by way of the Big Dig. It's a, paradox fit for a queen.
It's a short walk from Penuel er Faneuil Hall (whose origin goes back to the famous Market Riot of March 24, 1737, when about 500 men in disguises and painted faces pulled down the public Middle Market House...). The Holocaust Memorial is along the way:
The New England Holocaust Memorial is located a few steps off the Freedom Trail, making it a popular tourist attraction.[7]
Lekha dodi liqrat kallah
p'ne Shabbat neqabelah...
I have seen the movie Fiddler On the Roof now about 22 times. I still am trying to figure out what WAS the Fiddler on the Roof.
Funny thing... Pharaoh had all of this supposed power, but built into his own scepter was its and his demise, because *WAS*. It's the simple meaning. You'd think someone would have noticed by now.
It not only first shows up in the Bible here:
And the earth was without form, and void...
"WAS" is located on a standard keyboard right below "23."
It's as if the whole world and everything going on in it is Hebrew school. Might as well watch from the roof and provide the background music.
🍿🤔