15 Feb 89 JUDAIC STUDIES 10 AdarI 49 BS"D Connecting geographically & otherwise disparate groups with a common interest in the study of Judaica. Under the auspices of Dr. Emanuel Tov, Bible Dept., Hebrew University. Edited by Y. Greenbaum. CONTENTS 1) Protocol 2) Events- booksales & lectures 3) Mail- inscriptions, online texts, hebrew display, calendars PROTOCOL In cases of doubt, I have been advised to address people as "Dr."... but I am reasonably certain that I have no doctorate. I shall assume that I may quote things sent to me verbatim, in the name of the sender, unless I am told otherwise. I wish I had the time to acknowledge and respond to correspondence privately, before publicly springing my reaction on the readers. This newsletter is the volunteer effort of a few community-minded individuals. All offers of support will be greatly appreciated. EVENTS This newsletter survived the accidental closing of it's account, but that's neither here nor there (i.e., the letter wasn't distributed -here or there) The loss of time involved will be reflected in the commensurate loss of detail in this section. Booksales- from the sublime to the ridiculous, although it was hard to tell which was which. The Chovevei Judaica auction involved everything from a set of about 400 mss letters of the Jolles family, to a cup presented at a ping-pong match of the Bar Cochba in Satmar. Ah, the old country! The most recent National Library "withdrawn" booksale included many items owned by Isidore Budick. Heavily annotated, they present an intellectual diary of a devoted reader of religion, ethics, morals, politics and so forth. In the latter sale, prices fall from 20 NIS to 2, instead of rising. Lectures- next week is an especially full week in Jerusalem. The Ben Zvi Institute (which studies Oriental Jewry, part of Yad Izhak Ben- Zvi which studies Israel) will devote the morning of the 20th to two sessions of four titles each concerning Turkish Jewry. On the 23rd, the Institute, the Yad and Hebrew U will jointly sponsor the S. D. Goitein lecture, chaired by Prof. Shaul Shaked, in which Prof. Ezra Fleischer will speak on "The Contribution of the Genizah to the Understanding of the Beginning of our Poetics in Spain". On the 24th, one of a series of 10AM lectures will be presented (still at Yad Ben-Zvi) by Prof. Yosef Shetreet, "The Hebrew Enlightenment Movement in North Africa at the End of the 19th Century". Perhaps there will be some grey literature from all this which we can post. MAIL We've gotten quite a number of requests for machine readable text. In addition to what follows, see the excerpt of the HUG Newsletter in the Hebrew Display section. Inscriptions- Date: Mon, 13 Feb 89 15:10:35 GMT From: DEL2@PHOENIX.CAMBRIDGE.AC.UK With a British Academy grant the Cambridge Faculty of Divinity is beginning a project to classify & index inscriptions relating to Jews and Judaism in the Graeco-Roman period. Our goals are (ultimately) a new, machine-readable corpus; (more immediately) a comprehensive index (hard copy and as database) The first step is to establish the current state of play. The more machine-readable texts we can locate, the higher we can set our sights. If you know of any inscriptions already on computer, *PLEASE* let me know! We also need to decide on a database. Any suggestions? (Dr) Douglas de Lacey (DEL2@CAM.PHX). I'll try to put the question to some non-e-connected people as well. Here are some more items dealing with Online texts- Date: Thu, 9 Feb 1989 9:27:28 EST From: Michael L Satlow ...I am a brand new computer user, but a second year PhD student in Ancient Judaism at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. My e-mail address is mls@cunixd. Additionally, once I feel more at ease with this system, I would like to investigate use of and access to certain databases (especially of rabbinic texts) maintained in Israel. Date: Thu, 9 Feb 89 14:00:42 CST From: Richard Goerwitz rutgers!oddjob!gide!sophist!goer Please put me on the list! I'm interested in any form of Hebrew literature online, from inscriptions, through Qumran and the Bar Kochba letters, the Masoretic Text, Mishna - virtually anything before 1000 C.E. Date: Fri, 10 Feb 89 08:29 EST From: ... May I also suggest for discussion ways to make the Bar Ilan database available overseas. ...Joe Baumgarten I would also be interested in knowing more about which versions of the texts in question are finding their way into machine readability, and at what level of accuracy. I have a small store of hearsay knowledge on the topic. Can anyone out there supplement it? -Yechiel(my letters reach here only slightly more quickly than yours) Hebrew Display- Yitzchak Gale sent a long, helpful letter, of which we present the final intriguing segment here. Please do send more information, Yitzchak, since the hebrew alphabet is of no little importance in enhancing the ability to discuss matters Judaic. Date: Wed, 15 Feb 89 20:07:45 +0200 From: Yitzchak GALE ... do you think that there may be a need for words or text in Hebrew characters on either of your lists? I have been corre- sponding by e-mail in a mixture of Hebrew and English text for a few years. My correspondents have a variety of equipment that covers the full spectrum of capability for handling Hebrew, from all to none. We have a very simple method that works pretty well for everyone. It can be used easily without any software by anyone with minimal competence in both Hebrew and English, and simple programs exist and can be writ- ten to make it "look pretty". (There is also an official Israeli standard - designed by Hank Nussbacher - for encoding Hebrew text in e-mail, but it requires special software.) If you are interested, let me know. Yitzchak mtGale@Weizmann.bitnet (Tel. 02-525437) I'll forward this letter to HUG. Anyone who hasn't seen HUG (or CHUG on the east coast) please read on. Incidentally, the Hebrew U computers are now being equipped to work with the hebrew alphabet. FROM THE EDITOR [of HUG Newsletter... all items hereunder have been drastically cut and re-edited by the JS editor. Contact Ari for the whole issue, which discusses fonts and other important subjects.] It has been five years now since a small group of fanatics met in the Berkeley Hillel basement --this issue sees Philip Payne's announcement of a Hebrew grammar on disk. HUG believes that its time to think about the tremendous possibilities afforded by CD-ROM. Now that a variety of our vendors are providing the public domain copies of the Bible on both PC and Mac readable floppy disks, imagine what could be done with optical disks: the entire Torah with all rabbinic and even modern commentators could easily be contained on one disk. Likewise, the entire Babylonian Talmud. (We admit we're not sure that the whole Talmud and its commentaries would fit on one disk!-- Does anyone out there know?) Perhaps one CD could hold most or all of the great codes. One thing is for sure, within a short time, we will all have far greater access to classical Jewish thought. The HUG editorial staff now consists of two gentlefolk, Ari Davidow and Ye Olde Editor, Jack Love. Jack has now relocated to Ann Arbor, Michigan, but he stays in touch with the HUG editorial offices in Berkeley. The Newsletter is now prepared both in Berkeley and Ann Arbor and transmitted via the WELL. HUG computer Beginning next issue we are going to once again survey the universe of Hebrew/English word processing and discuss the whys and wherefores of a variety of approaches to the topic. If you are a bit bewildered by terminology like bidirectional word wrap and think that vowel overstrike capability sounds like it belongs in a discussion of the strategic defense initiative, you will want demand that your local news store carry the next issue of HUG. If you reach Ari or Jack by telephone, they will attempt to answer any =brief= queries about Hebrew/English word processing; however, they will not return long distance phone calls unless you authorize a collect call. It is also unfair to ask HUG staff to help you design a computer system. To the age old question of which computer should I buy to do Hebrew/English word processing, the answer is still, both the MS-DOS community and the Mac community offer exceptionally good options. The MS-DOS world still offers better word processors, and the Mac world still offers better graphics (in our case that means better vowel and trope handling). Ari will attempt to answer correspondence, but we can make no guarantees regarding timeliness of this service. Most commercial newsletters refuse to answer any but a tiny sample of queries, and our volunteer service would be hard pressed to do much better. The best way to reach HUG is through HUG Online via the Well. In addition to a marvelous Jewish BBS, Ari and Jack have promised to answer all queries regarding HUG issues within 72 hours. See the HUG Online section later in this newsletter. We are sorry but, we cannot provide assistance to non-members of HUG. SUBSCRIPTION FORM *****Shalom U'l'hitra'ot***** The future of Hebrew and English word processing is bright indeed. To make sure you learn of all developments, and to make sure that HUG's future is bright as well, please renew your subscription. Many B'NEI-HUG have given subscriptions as gifts, and we would encourage you to consider this not only for individuals, but also for your local synagogue or Jewish library. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Domestic individual: $7.50/year Foreign individual: $10.00 Domestic institution: 15.00 Foreign institution: $17.50 Enclosed is $________ for my subscription and an additional $________ as my tax deductible contribution. Name:___________________________________________________________ Address:________________________________________________________ City/State/Zip/Country__________________________________________ Telephone:_____________________________ Please make your check payable to "Berkeley Hillel Foundation" and mail to: HUG, c/o Berkeley Hillel, 2736 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704. Computer: 1)____________________ 2)________________________ Hebrew software you already own and comments:___________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Send us a letter if this isn't enough space! Credits and Kudos: This newsletter was edited by Jack Love using WordPerfect 4.2 and converted to typeset form by Ari Davidow of Ari Davidow & Associates, Book Compositors. Queries to Ari Davidow should be sent to: 753 Walker Ave., Oakland, CA 94610. Tel: (415) 834-9038. All material in this newsletter is copyrighted, and the authors of articles retain their copyrights. ======================================================================== THE VENDORS GUIDE Note to vendors: If your product isn't listed here, don't get mad, get even. Send us the details and we'll be happy to add it to this new regular feature of the HUG Newsletter. Listed alphabetically by vendor WORD PROCESSING SOFTWARE EDUCATIONAL Linguists Software, PO Box 580, Edmonds, WA 98020-0580 (206) 775-3130 offers BIBLICAL HEBREW GRAMMAR, 50 lectures, aids, tests, for the MAc. Cost is $49.95. See below for their font offering. They also offer the entire BIBLIA HEBRAICA STUTTGARTENSIA on Mac disk in either MacWrite or MS Word format for $99.95; and a MACHEBREW SCRIPTURES CONVERTER for $79.95 that creates 10 option text formats for the BHS--non-accented or consonantal / Hebrew or transliterated (Massoretic+ SBL) / +- morphological divisions (dashes separate prefixes and suffices). Includes a Semitica transliteration font. OTHER Midwood Computer Center, TANACH DATA BASE for the PC, 1634 Coney Island Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11230 (718) 692-2211. You can get it in modules from just the Tanach on up through Shash. The complete system is about 60MB and several thousand dollars. FONTS OTHER USER GROUPS: CHUG, Computer Hebrew Users Group: Contact: Michael Rand, 21 Bennet Ave., Apt. 46, New York, NY 10033. ======================================================================== QUESTIONS & ANSWERS Dear HUG: I'm interested in receiving Hebrew word processing and Hebrew machine readable texts (Talmud, e.g.) for the Macintosh. I heard your newsletter gives such information. Is that correct? Or do you live and work in the "IBM-world"? Hoping to get what I need I will subscribe to your newsletter. Is it possible to bill by Eurocard account? Thank you for your help, greetings and $lvm. Klaus Muller, Pfr, Oschingen, Panoramastasse 60, 7406 Mossingen 5, West Germany Regarding machine readable texts for the Mac, please see the "Old Friends Department" below. Such texts are also available for the PC community and are readable by Nota Bene, on which see our prelim- inary remarks on Nota Bene below. Your letter gives us an oppor- tunity to respond to a couple of issues. First of all, regarding payment. As a =very= small user group (we're still under 300 souls), we appreciate everyone's assistance in renewing by payment by check. We're just too small, and the accounting hassle too great, to handle charge accounts and purchase orders. On the other hand, for libraries and such that simply must use purchase orders, and who pay the small additional institutional charge, we will take p.o.s. I'm sure your remark about the "IBM-world" was made lightheartedly, but it hit a rather sore spot in Ye Olde Editor. HUG attempts to support not only the MS-DOS and Mac communities, but also Amiga, Atari, Apple II, and even CP/M computers. We are eagerly looking forward to developments with NeXT, Inc. Many of us in the MS-DOS world are here because for the moment, this is a part of the computer world where free competition is encouraged; a variety of hardware manufacturers and software publishers can easily vie for our dollars. Apple, on the other hand, has done everything in its power to restrain competition, not only against IBM, but also against many smaller companies like Atari and Commodore. There is no doubt that the Mac is a fabulous computer; I'm not so sure Apple is a fabulous company.--Yvrk Ari Davidow "Jewish" on the WELL--a damn nice example of virtual community ari%well.uucp@lll-crg.llnl.gov | {pacbell,ucbvax,hplabs,apple}!well!ari @ucbvax.berkeley.edu @lll-winken.llnl.gov (Ari's address was not part of the newsletter, and if he gets suddenly swamped with mail, I guess he'll know who to blame. Calendars- Date: Tue, 14 Feb 89 11:01:29 +0200 From: Daniel Schindler To: wwrmk@hujivm1 Please add my name to your mailing list. I became interested in the Jewish calendar on the computer and have been checking bulletin boards for people with a like interest. I have looked at the effect of the difference of opinion of Rabbi Aharon b. Meir and our current calendar and more accurate cycles than that of Rabbi Nachshon. I am interested in the molad of Nisan in the year of the leaving of Mitzrayim. NEXT WEEK-Some remarks on chronology Why there was nothing on lists this week Corrections in orthography of acknowledgments (the word and the section)