Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"I don't think most people understand just how absolutely fanatically crazy a number of us Jews are about Jerusalem. Indeed there are a fair number of American Jews who don't understand why this stupid, highly symbolic issue is so fucking powerful for so many of the rest of us. [...]

"On the subject of Jerusalem, I am about as rational as the dwarves of Durin's race about Moria. (It helps, I suppose, that Tolkien once said in an interview that he vaguely based the dwarves on the Jews in the same way he vaguely based the Rohirrim on the Vikings.) And yeah, maybe it will turn out that this time, the Balrog wins. Too bad."

-- Harold Feld, 2017-12-08 (N.b.: much useful, pertinent, historical information in the comments! If you have an immediate gut reaction to this, you might want to peek at the debate there.)

[To my friends observing Asara B'Tevet, may you have an easy fast.]

Today is:
Gregorian: 2017 December 28 -- fourth day of Christmas
Julian: 2017 December 15
Hebrew: 5778 Teveth 10 -- minor fast commemorating the seige of Jerusalem in 588 BCE
Islamic: 1439 Rabi`ath-Thani 09
Persian: 1396 Dey 07
Mayan: 0.0.0.13.0.5.1.11
Indian: 1939 Pausa 07
Coptic: 1734 Koiak 19

[I'm still confused as to why Chabad gives a date about 160 years later than Wikipedia & other sites I looked at.]