Papua New Guinea And Shema

First of all I apologize for very slow blogging lately. I've just been swamped with work.

And now for this unusual video - of natives of Papua New Guinea reciting the shema. Haaretz doesn't really have much detail on why these natives were taught the Shema in Hebrew, other than some speculation (that doesn't ring true to me) that christian missionaries taught them the Shema "to recite the Sh’ma to demonstrate their love and respect for Christianity’s Jewish roots."

Who Invented The Sandwich?

Lapham's Quarterly has this graphic up:

Personally I've some doubt over this "win". The language of the Haggadah isn't really clear what Hillel used to do. The Hebrew word KORECH כורך can be either binding, or rolling. Therefore it is easy to understand that
Hillel didn't use two pieces of bread, but rather used something similar to a Lafa (large flat pita). On the other hand, the modern Hebrew word for a sandwich כריך clearly does come from Hillel's Korech.

This is clearly a case for Balashon!

Haggadah or Aggadah?

Why do we talk about the הגדה (Haggadah) of Pesach, but normally say Aggada (אגדה) for all other uses? according to the Academy of the Hebrew Language, both terms are identical. The early Hebrew was הגדה, however as Aramaic became more influential people started using the aramaic form and started to use the word אגדה.  Even in recent times you could find both spellings of the word used to describe the Pesach (H)Aggadah.

So, next time an Israeli  instructs you to say Aggadah without a Heh, you can tell him that he is the one who's Hebrew has been corrupted!