----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: John Radcliffe <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2001 2:32 PM
Subject: "Jews of Shushan" correspondence
> Following John Radcliffe's article in the June Journal, I have
> looked at the March correspondence on the Mailbase discussion site.
>
> Might I refer to my letters in the Journal of Sept 1996, at pp 54 & 56
> where I mention the analysis of the Shushan story in Cheyette's book; and
> my follow-up in Dec '96, pp53-54. I see that Michael Jefferson has
another
> suggestion as to the significance of the whistled "Ten Little Niggers" .
>
> I now add two other comments on the Biblical references in the story;
the
> "fixed pillar of dust" seems to refer to the pillars which went with the
> Israelites as they left Egypt (Ex 13 vv21-22); and "his hand leaving a
> red mark on the timber" as he shut the door after slaughter of the sheep
> recalls the marking with blood of the doorways of the Israelites (Ex 12
v12).
> I am not sure quite what Roger Ayres means by "the parallel of the
combined
> roles of priest and butcher in the story and in life"; in small
> traditional Jeish communities the role of ritual slaughterer (shochet) was
> indeed often carried out by the rabbi or other communal leader.
>
> Bryan Diamond
>
>
>
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