Re: [AUXLANG] We do but jest, poison in jest,

Steg wrote:

>Biblical Hebrew is essentially Canaanite as spoken by Zoroastrians.
>
>Mandaic is essentially Aramaic as spoken by Zoroastrians.
<<wonders where the Zoroastrians got into all of this>>
    It's actually a pretty bad joke about Hebrew Bible Studies.
    Arguably, no period was as formative for Judaism as the Second Temple
period.  It was during this period that a monolithic Judaism emerged and
assumed the basic tenets that it would continue to hold sacred even after
the Temple was destroyed by Trajan (even when Judaism lost its center, the
Rabbis continued and refined the reforms instigated by Ezra, and for this
reason he holds a paramount position to this day, as the "sofer gemir").
    It was a Persian emperor, Cyrus, who brought an end to several hundred
years of warfare, oppression, and dispersion, which the Jews had endured
under the Assyrians and the Babylonians.  According to tradition, it was
during this period that Ezra compiled the Law and brought it back to the
Jews.  Texts from this period (Esther, Tobit, Judith, etc.) reveal heavy
influences from Iranian dualism, Iranian concepts of salvation and the
afterlife, a detailed angelic (and demonic) hierarchy calqued on the Iranian
hierarchy, and even divine figures from the Iranian pantheon, such as
Asmodeus, make an appearance.  One might say that Judaism was never the same
after Ezra was finished with it - although I personally would not go as far
as to say that Judaism is basically a Zoroastrian sect, as some Bible
scholars maintain.

"And what's Mandaic?"
     Mandaic is a neo-aramaic dialect spoken by a handful of people in the
world today.  The Mandaeans, who used to live in southern Iraq and
Khuzistan, were doubly cursed: in a predominantly Islamic society, they were
Gnostic and pagan.  They also gained a reputation for themselves as
practitioners of black magic.
     As such, they are the last surviving Gnostics and pagans from
antiquity, in an unbroken chain from about the 3rd or 4th century.
Interestingly enough, John the Baptist is a central figure in their
cosmology; the Mandaeans are fervent believers in Baptism (and they are
dunkers, not sprinklers) and become baptised several times during their
lives (at important events).

     I was fortunate enough to take part in the 1st International Conference
on the Mandaeans, here at Harvard, last summer.  Mandaeans came from
everywhere around the world to take part in this conference - we were, for
the first time, hosting a Mandaean priest on American soil, which was
especially important as many younger Mandaeans who were raised in North
America had never been baptised (there are only a dozen or so Mandaean
priests left).  This was the first opportunity for them to fulfill their
most important religious obligation.

     So, the baptism, which took place in the Charles River, was the
centerpiece of the conference.  It was my duty to convince the Metropolitan
District Commission to give us a license to perform this baptism, and it was
*not* easy.  Try explaining to some soulless Boston bureaucrat that you have
a group of Iranian clerics who want to dunk minors into a poluted river.
Then watch them become confused when you tell them how it is that they are
Baptists but they aren't Christian, or even part of any organized
denomination they have ever heard of.

     Eventually, we reached an understanding.  The baptism itself was one of
the most beautiful and impressive ceremonies that I have ever seen.  It
reminded me intensely of some of the Zoroastrian ceremonies that I have seen
(on tape, of course), and in fact the Mandaean clergy used the same tools
and wore the same clothes as the Zoroastrian clergy.  The Mandaeans, like
the Zoroastrians, have a highly dualistic theology.  That is why I say that
Mandaic is basically Aramaic spoken by Zoroastrians.
-Chollie
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