Test Yourself: How Much of a Sensitive Person Are You?

Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor Determination to be Joyful Today We live one day at a time. To make joy easier to attain, decide to be joyful just for today. Tomorrow you can be determined to make that day joyful. But today you only need to decide for today. Everyone would like to be joyful, but not everyone is willing to do all that they could to actually create daily joy. In general, the more determined you are to reach a goal, the more time and effort you are willing to invest. Since you are reading this, you are already showing a strong interest in increasing your joy. Some people argue, "I'm just not the determined type. I start many things but don't follow through. If something seems like too much effort, I give up right at the beginning." When something is truly important to you, you will have much more determination than usual. This is especially true when you greatly enjoy doing what you are determined to do. Love Yehuda Lave Test Yourself: How Much of a Sensitive Person Are You? From 0 to 100, how sensitive of a person do you think you are? It would be hard for us to know, because we cannot see ourselves from the inside. We need to find out through others, or, as in this case, by testing your emotional response to the following visuals. Are you ready to find out? http://www.ba-bamail.com/content.aspx?emailid=26198 Hungarian Archaeologists Unearth Herod's Fortress, Ritual Bath, East of Jordan River A Hungarian archaeological mission digging in the ruins of Machaerus, a fortress built by King Herod on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea, has discovered a large ritual bath which were likely constructed for the royal family's use. The bath has 12 steps, and was fed from a reserve pool when its water ran low. In order to qualify as a means to purification, a ritual bath must have at least 40 Se'ah, the equivalent of about 83 gallons of water. Advertisement The underground cistern, 54 ft deep, watered the baths and the fortress' gardens. This photo of Qumran Caves is courtesy of TripAdvisor The architecture of the bath is very similar to the baths and cisterns discovered in nearby Qumran (across the Dead Sea). It is situated 9 ft below the royal courtyard, and used to be covered by a vaulted stone roof, which was probably demolished by Lucilius Bassus' 10th Roman legion. Bassus' soldiers, on a campaign to repress the Great Jewish Revolt, in 71 attacked the Herodian fortress and the Jewish warriors who were hiding inside. The archeologists exposed collapsed walls, two massive column drums, and four Roman ballistae. Two re-erected columns, Doric (right) and Ionic, in Machaerus. / Photo credit: Courtesy of the Hungarian Archaeological Mission to Machaerus. The fortress of Machaerus was built by Hasmonean king Alexander Yanai (104-78 BCE), probably in 90 BCE. Its high, rocky vantage point was difficult to access, and it was used to spot and alerted Jerusalem about invaders from the east. It was part of a warning system that included several Hasmonean citadels, in one another's line of sight. The line of sight view from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to Machaerus (circled). / Photo credit: Courtesy of the Hungarian Archaeological Mission to Machaerus Machaerus was destroyed by Pompey's general Gabinius in 57 BCE, and later rebuilt by Herod in 30 BCE as a military base. Herod's son, Herod Antipas, inherited the fortress (and the kingdom) in 4 BCE, until his demise in 39 CE. That's time when, according to Christian belief, John the Baptist was imprisoned and beheaded at Machaerus. Machaerus with the Dead Sea in the background. / Thomas Bantle via Wikimedia The legend sets the event on Herod's birthday (that's Herod II), when the king's daughter Salome danced before the king and his guests, and her father liked it so much that he promised to give her anything she desired, at which point Salome asked for—and received—the head of John the Baptist on a platter. An artist's view of Herod's fortress Machaerus. / Photo credit: Courtesy of the Hungarian Archaeological Mission to Machaerus. The excavation of Machaerus began in 1968, by the American Archaeological Baptist Mission. The current excavations, by a Hungarian-Jordanian team led by Dr. Győző Vörös, have unearthed intact massive walls 30 ft high, revealing the majesty of the legendary Herodian architecture. The Hungarian excavators also discovered dozens of Hasmonean and Roman coins, as well as 47 Aramaic broken pottery shards inscribed with Aramaic letters. Machaerus was in direct line of sight of Jerusalem. The Talmud reports that the smoke of the sacrificial offerings could be seen rising from the altar of the temple in Jerusalem all the way to Machaerus, and Rabbi Elazar ben Delgai said: (Yuma 39:): "Father owned goats in the Machaerus mountains that would sneeze from the smell of the burn incense." Advertisement WORD TO THE WISE ON MOTHERS If we are busy ourselves, we are detached. If we offer advice, we are controlling. If we refrain, we are disinterested. If we visit often, we are pests, If we don't care, we are thought uncaring. If we hide our needs, we are demanding. If we provide for our old age, we are selfish. If we don't provide, we are burdens. If we don't pitch in, they question our competency. If we do pitch in, we question their competency. If all this is true, we might as well do as we wish, and do it outrageously. Written by Ruth Harriet Jacobs. Wellesley College Centre for Research on Women See you tomorrow--Love yehuda lave View this email in your browser You are receiving this email because of your relationship with Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor. If you do not wish to receive any more emails, you can unsubscribe here. This message was sent to loveheced.lovehesced@blogger.com by yehudalave@yehudalave.co Jerusalem, Israel, California, 92106 Unsubscribe | Manage Subscription | Forward Email | Report Abuse