Jewish Fluxx

[magid]

My impulse buy at Pandemonium this afternoon: the Jewish Fluxx expansion card pack. There are seven cards (of course :-).

1. Torah (a Keeper)
   
2. Candles (a Keeper)
   
3. Shabbat (Goal = Candles + Bread)
   
4. Torah Study (Goal = Torah + the Brain)
   
5. Tradition (Goal = Torah + Candles)
   
6. Judaica Bonus (Rule: play an extra card if wearing a Magen David or a Chai)
   
7. Hebrew Knowledge (Action: Draw 3 new cards. Play all 3 if you can say and spell a Hebrew word; play 2 if you can say one but not spell it; play 1 if you can't think of a Hebrew word no one has already used and say "shalom". Discard any you don't use.)

Whee! There were xtian ones, too (they have the Bible as a Keeper), but that wasn't nearly so interesting to me (big surprise). They're religionist, though: no Muslim ones, nor any other religions...

Still, neat-o!

I wonder if people in very frum circles will buy Fluxx if they can get a Jewish expansion to go with it.

Comments

[scholargipsy.livejournal.com]

That is very cool.

Just out of curiosity, why do you write "xtian" instead of "Christian"? I've noticed it in your posts in the past, and always wondered if it was just shorthand, or whether there was a more interesting reason.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Partly shorthand, partly because the word "christ" means messiah/anointed one, which Jesus of Nazareth was not for me. In Greek, the letter chi is almost the English x, so that's the usual substitution (by me, and in other places I've seen).

[scholargipsy.livejournal.com]

I wondered if it was partly a repudiation of the idea that Christ is a universal messiah. (As I understand it, the kristos from whence the word Christ derives most literally means "anointed with oil," and was also once used to describe classical Greek wrestlers, but I could be wrong....)

You've got me thinking, though. A number of religions' names imply that their beliefs have ontological and metaphysical validity outside the religionists' own minds; for example, "Buddha" means "Awakened" in Pali. "Islam" means "submission [to God]," and "Muslim," which you actually use in your post, comes from the same tripartite Arabic root. "Shinto" means "The Way of the Gods" in Japanese.

I'm not trying to have a go at you, nor to question your right to write and not write whatever you like, but the devil's advocate (sorry) in me is enjoying the question: if we start altering what nearly everyone else, religious or not, would normally recognize as the preferred orthography of a religion's name because we ourselves don't believe in it, shouldn't we then logically extend that practice beyond just Christianity/Xtianity?

I realize Christianity has a hegemonic status in America and much of the world, and that many people are uncomfortable with it above and beyond other faiths for that reason, but I'm curious about what seems to be to otherwise constitute a logical inconsistency. As I said, just playing devil's advocate. Or should that be =/=X's advocate? ;)

p.s. The icon accompanying this comment is usually translated "god" or "spirit."

[geekosaur]

As I understand it, the kristos from whence the word Christ derives most literally means "anointed with oil,"

And as such it is a literal translation of the Hebrew משח ("mashiach", more commonly transliterated as "messiah"). (And it's "christos", not "kristos" — the first letter, as magid noted, actually being the Greek χ (chi) which is more of a hard "h" (Hebrew ח or Spanish "j") than a "k" or "kh"... although even modern Hebrew generally does the "kh" thing with it these days.)

"Islam" means "submission [to God],"

That would be curious, as it's the same root as Arabic "salaam" / Hebrew "shalom" (both meaning "peace") and that is the usual translation I hear for it.

BTW, a point not widely known these days: the abbreviation "xtian" originated with Christian scribes, before the printing press was invented.

[scholargipsy.livejournal.com]

I stand corrected on my Greek, which is poorer than I would like. But will you submit (pun intended) to correction on your Arabic?

The root of "Islam" is indeed the triconsonantal array sin-lam-mim, usually translated as "safety" and "peace." However, the word "Islam"'s closest analogue in Arabic is a verbal formulation that derives from that root, aslama, which means "to surrender" or "to submit." "Islam" is the nominative case of that verb; hence "submission," with the understood implication of "submission to Allah."

[scholargipsy.livejournal.com]

Hmm...on the other hand, a little Web research reveals that "Christos" and "Kristos" are both legitimate transliterations from the Greek alphabet. (The Melkite Greek Catholic Church (http://www.mliles.com/melkite/thesaurusi.shtml), for instance, transliterates the Greek "anointed one" into kristos. While I have no problem with being wrong or making mistakes, it seems that (this time, at least) I wasn't, and didn't.

Very interesting point about Christian scribes and their abbreviation, however, although it doesn't affect the thrust of my question.

Salaam aleikum.

[prog.livejournal.com]

Before I was first exposed to the popular use of "Xtian" on the internets in college, a theology teacher at my Catholic high school often represented Jesus in chalkboard notes as "XT".

XT

[magid.livejournal.com]

Sudden giggle: why did Windows go through an "xt" edition....?

a partial response

[magid.livejournal.com]

A number of religions' names imply that their beliefs have ontological and metaphysical validity outside the religionists' own minds; for example, "Buddha" means "Awakened" in Pali. "Islam" means "submission [to God]," and "Muslim," which you actually use in your post, comes from the same tripartite Arabic root. "Shinto" means "The Way of the Gods" in Japanese.

The other religion names you mention aren't 'problematical' in the same way, actually. "Awakened" is not an issue, nor "submission [to God]", which could well be seen as a positive thing. And depending on how one reads the Torah ("have no other gods before me", etc.), one can say that there may be other gods, but that is not our God, so "The Way of the Gods" is just someone else's path.

However, Christianity is of Judaism born. The idea of a messiah, an anointed one, is taken from our texts, and used in a way that is not accepted by Jews, who still await the coming of the true messiah. Calling anyone a messiah would be problematical, in the sense of being heretical to many who think about the issue. And while in conversation I have no other options, in writing I use this reminder to myself. Of course, I wouldn't find myself mentioning this particular religion nearly as much if it weren't the dominant religion in the US (especially these days, *sigh*) and much of the "western world".

Re: a partial response

[scholargipsy.livejournal.com]

This is a very sensible and interesting answer. Thanks.

PS

[magid.livejournal.com]

Also, I have the vague memory of reading that the x was seen as a happy confluence, given that one can see it as a reminder of the Cross.

Yay frequency illusion

[prog.livejournal.com]

I didn't know about Chai so I just read Wikipedia's take on it. Earlier today I heard Cory Doctorow refer to the number 23 as "the Discordian Chai" in a podcast. The context was that Illuminatus! co-author Robert Anton Wilson is dying and broke, and many people responded to his family's call for financial comfort by mailing them checks for $23...

Re: Yay frequency illusion

[magid.livejournal.com]

I had to check out what Wikipedia said, and was amused to see that instead of going to the "disambiguation" page first, I got to read about tea.

I'm amused that there's a "Discordian Chai", though it's sad to hear that someone who has touched so many lives has such need.

I remember getting birthday checks for $18 (or sometimes multiples thereof), and it's very common for Jewish organizations requesting donations to have a variety of multiples of 18 as their different suggested levels (Of course, no one will turn down another number :-).