Thursday, September 24, 2015

The Biblical Museum of Natural History

Check out this new promotional video for The Biblical Museum of Natural History - best played full-screen with the volume cranked up! Please help us out by sharing it with all your friends! (Note that if you are reading this post via email subscription, you will not be able to see the video - go to this link instead: https://youtu.be/yx0zJnE-xu)

25 comments:

  1. 2 Boys and a girl together, in the same video, within daled amos of each other? And the girl is wearing earrings! WHAT is going on here???????.

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    Replies
    1. Better the boys should wear earrings?

      Delete
    2. That's always an option.

      Many Tsnius-fixated Rabbis have stated openly that women should not wear earrings, especially those that hang or dangle from the lobe; they believe that level of adornment can wreak havoc on a man's libido.

      Delete
    3. Well, it would be more traditional, for a value of 'tradition'. of course, then the girl should be wearing a nose-ring....

      Yehuda, internet troll extraordinaire.

      Delete
  2. You'll need to add a Charedi version with all the female faces blurred out. I would pay money to see that version.

    To get the Eidah Charedis crowd, you'll need to blur out your own face as well :).

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    Replies
    1. I was also struck by the predominance of quite frum co-ed groups. Does this mean that you are now pitching your Museum more to an exclusively Dati-Leumi crowd as opposed to a Haredi crowd?

      Lawrence Kaplan

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    2. No, it means that those are the groups which were there on the day that the videographers came!

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    3. And when you reviewed the film you didn't notice that all the groups featured were co-ed, and didn't consider its possible implications?

      BTW, great video and great background music.

      Hag Sameach.

      Lawrence Kaplan

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    4. The Pashkevil version will use different pictures.

      Delete
  3. Excellent job on the background music, I must say.

    I'm curious, given the significant differences between Christian translations and Jewish translations as it is, and compounding this with the rationalist approach to figuring out what the animals are that differs from the traditional translations: Do you get Christian tour groups to your museum, and if so, how much does what you have to say blow their minds and/or make them really really uncomfortable?

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  4. Nice video.

    Do you give tours at the museum on a regular basis, or is it usually just "show yourself around"?

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  5. It's guided tours only. Sometimes me, sometimes other guides.

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  6. Incredible! Some lovely shots of people and animals. Really gets across the wonder.

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  7. Whats the music in the soundtrack I really like it

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  8. Off topic, but I don't know how else to reach you:

    Could you please do a piece on the upcoming (Sukkos!) supermoon eclipse visible to us Americans, Sukkah 29a on the bad omen, and rationalist Judaism?

    Shmooli

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  9. You show gazelles, but why does the video translate Tzvi as Deer?

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    Replies
    1. The Pasuk referenced is Breishis 49:21

      כא נַפְתָּלִי, אַיָּלָה שְׁלֻחָה--הַנֹּתֵן, אִמְרֵי-שָׁפֶר. {ס} 21

      Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words. {S}

      (Hind is a female deer).

      IIUC, the pairing of the names Naftali and Zvi came after the word Zvi became associated with deer in Europe.

      Delete
  10. Wondering: "Naftali Ayalah shluhah." Not Tzvi.

    Lawrence Kaplan

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  11. If not already their add a Jawbone of an Ass, the kind Shimshone used to smite 1000 men. Also replicas or pictures of important early hominad finds in Eretz Yisroel - they are over 6000 years old which may cause a problem for some Orthodox Jews. I think it is good that Orthodox Jews get some exposure to the real natural world (and not solely from holy texts) - your Museum is a step in the right direction.

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  12. The majesty of nature always makes the majesty of the Bible seem so much less majestic. It's like, "look at this amazing creature that will shock and amaze you in 1000 different ways... oh, and also, it's mentioned in the Bible." Who cares about that last part? Seems to me this video would work just fine for any natural history museum. If you need the "mentioned in the Bible" part to get people to be interested in nature, well, that's just pathetic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Most of what you write is opinion, so I won't try to answer. But in terms of the appeal of the Museum: You are learning simple peshat in many parts of Tanach and Talmud. Basic things that you should have known, but didn't because you lacked basic knowledge. Similar to trying to understand aspects of kiddush hachodesh or the calendar without understanding the very basics of astronomy or kashrus without basic biology. We're remediating our ignorance of the ancient worldview caused by our urbanization.

      And yes, there is an extra enjoyment when you can not only learn some aspect of zoology, but also use that to understand a pasuk that was previously opaque.

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    2. Also, many of the customers are interested in just the "nature" part of it, but he "mentioned in the Bible" helps because:

      1) They won't see what they consider to be "kefirah" like they would at the "secular" museum.

      2) They need a Matir to involve themselves in a "secular" subject.

      Delete
    3. "Fiery Cholent", you clearly have absolutely no idea what the museum is about.

      Delete

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