Zohar

The Zohar (Hebrew: זֹהַר, lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah (the five books of Moses) and scriptural interpretations as well as material on mysticism, mythical cosmogony, and mystical psychology. The Zohar contains discussions of the nature of God, the origin and structure of the universe, the nature of souls, redemption, the relationship of Ego to Darkness and "true self" to "The Light of God", and the relationship between the "universal energy" and man. Its scriptural exegesis can be considered an esoteric form of the Rabbinic literature known as Midrash, which elaborates on the Torah.

The Zohar is mostly written in what has been described as an exalted, eccentric style of Aramaic. Aramaic, the day-to-day language of Israel in the Second Temple period (539 BCE – 70 CE), was the original language of large sections of the biblical books of Daniel and Ezra, and is the main language of the Talmud.

Xenosaga

Xenosaga (ゼノサーガ, Zenosāga) is a series of science fiction video games developed by Monolith Soft and published by Bandai Namco. Xenosaga's main story is in the form of a trilogy of PlayStation 2 video games. There have been three spin-off games and an anime adaptation. The Xenosaga series serves as a spiritual successor to the game Xenogears, which was released in 1998 for the PlayStation by Square. The creator of both Xenogears and Xenosaga is Tetsuya Takahashi, who left Square in 1998 along with Hirohide Sugiura. Using funds from Namco, they started MonolithSoft and the Xenosaga project.

The first game in the trilogy, Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht was released in February 2002 in Japan, and in February 2003 in North America. Xenosaga Freaks, a lighthearted game with a playable demo for Episode II, was released in April 2004 in Japan, but was not released elsewhere. Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse was released in June 2004 in Japan and February 2005 in North America. Xenosaga: The Animation, an anime based on Episode I, premiered on TV Asahi in Japan on January 5, 2005. Xenosaga Pied Piper, a three chapter-long cellphone-based game depicting the history of cyborg "Ziggurat 8" 100 years before the start of Episode I, was released in Japan in July 2004. Released on July 6, 2006, Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra is the final title in the Xenosaga series; six episodes were originally projected, but by the time Episode III was released, Namco had already established that it would be the last entry, effectively halving the series. A retelling of the first two episodes titled Xenosaga I & II was released on the Nintendo DS in March 2006 in Japan.

Zohar, Israel

Zohar (Hebrew: זֹהַר, lit. Brightness) is a moshav in southern Israel near the town of Kiryat Gat. It is under the jurisdiction of Lakhish Regional Council. A large lake that serves as a reservoir lies near the town.

The moshav was founded in 1956 by Jewish immigrants from Algeria and Tunisia as part of the effort to settle Hevel Lakhish. In later years, new immigrants from Iraq, Russia, and Hungary settled there.

It was established on land that formerly belonged to the Arab village of al-Faluja. Its name signifies the desire of the inhabitants to be quickly absorbed in what was then a remote frontier region.

In the 1950s and 1960s the moshav was a target for terrorists who infiltrated into Israel from Gaza.

References

Zohar (album)

Zohar is an album by the Mystic Fugu Orchestra (John Zorn (as Rav Tzizit) and Yamataka Eye (as Rav Yechida) who perform a range of music inspired by historical recordings of ancient Judaica. To simulate the "antiquity" of these recordings, a heavy layer of surface noise was overlaid on the music to represent the playing quality of a 78 rpm gramophone record.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Joslyn Layne awarded the album 1.5 stars stating "Just under half an hour's worth of old record spin-and-crackle sounds in the foreground, with a faint background of John Zorn adding small amounts of harmonium and Yamantaka Eye voicing occasional hums and tones. Most of what you hear, however, is record surface static and the revolutions of the vinyl. Zohar could only be of use to completists, or as a layer for mixing".

Track listing