Re: appendix

When I said Jews are generally not farmers I should have added " when
living outside Palestine." I know that in Palestine are farmers. One of
my cousins spent some time on a Jewish farm in Palestine.

At 01:06 AM 07/01/2005 -0800, Don Winterstein wrote:
>
>Rich wrote:
>
>"Of course, you've seen my subsequent post with the link to the article
>stating Jews haven't farmed in 2 millennia.... You have not trumped my
>suggestion that Jews eschew agriculture..."
>
>I haven't stopped trying yet, so don't get overconfident. Modern Israel
>is known for agricultural productivity. Are you implying that they hire
>Palestinians to do it all? My reading tells me that Jews do at least some
>of the farming, and they're apparently quite creative and successful at
>it. One of our gardening clubs (California Rare Fruit Growers) also makes
>reference on occasion to Israeli agricultural accomplishments. The names
>mentioned sound Jewish, not Arabian.
>
>Don
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <mailto:RFaussette@aol.com>RFaussette@aol.com
>To: <mailto:dfwinterstein@msn.com>"Don Winterstein" ;
><mailto:asa@calvin.edu>""asa""
>Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2005 5:47 AM
>Subject: Re: appendix
>
>In a message dated 1/6/2005 2:53:10 AM Eastern Standard Time, "Don
>Winterstein" <<mailto:dfwinterstein@msn.com>dfwinterstein@msn.com> writes:
>
> >Rich Faussette wrote:
> >
> >"My remarks are restricted to genesis...."
> >
> >OK. Genesis (chapter 2) says the Lord God put the man in the garden "to
> work the ground." This trumps the Cain story and your interpretation of
> it. So God made man to be a gardener. As a gardener (since retirement) I
> emphatically concur with the author of Genesis that such occupation is
> what man was made for. So please stop denigrating agriculture. : )
>
>Of course, you've seen my subsequent post with the link to the article
>stating Jews haven't farmed in 2 millenia, and you've seen my remark
>regarding England and the Jewish expulsion by the king after the Jews
>refused to farm and I do not understand why you link any other references
>to Jewish farming with the references in the Pentateuch which contains the
>Jewish partiarchal archetypes and their laws and I don't know why you
>would compare Adam before the fall when all things were given to him as
>opposed to the conditions for Adam and his progeny after the fall, (Cain
>and Abel came after the fall) the very conditions under which we live.
>I don't denigrate agriculture :) but I'm pretty sure given the wording in
>the texts, of the absolute prevalence of the shepherd as a symbol
>throughout the Old and New Testaments.
>
>
>
>
>
> >Actually I never said "the Israelites preferred agriculture over
> shepherding." The Bible to my recollection never names Israelites'
> occupational preferences. I was pointing out that agriculture was widely
> known and practiced among Israelites. While Genesis certainly emphasizes
> herding among the patriarchs, apparently agriculture was known and
> practiced among them also: Gen. 27:28 has Isaac wishing Jacob "an
> abundance of grain and new wine," and Gen. 30:14 has Reuben going out in
> the fields "during wheat harvest."
> >
> >Don
>How does wishing someone an abundance of grain and wine make them a
>farmer? You have to ignore the subsequent move to Egypt when Jacob's sons
>clearly cling to nomadism. 27:28 does not make Jacob a farmer. He is a man
>of the tents and that is his worth over Esau, a man of the hunt. As for
>Reuben, he is the first-born of the dull-eyed Leah, he defiles his
>father’s concubine. His father says he will not excel.
>When he goes into the field, he collects mandrakes, he does not farm.
>He does not till the ground. You have not trumped my suggestion that Jews
>eschew agriculture, but you have seriously tried to and I am grateful.
>rich
Received on Fri Jan 7 10:49:50 2005