They arrived today, and they look extremely sharp.
The only downside is the timing: The next three days, we're going to be deep in the throes of Ariel's Bat Mitzvah this Saturday (and if you're one of the invitees and you're going, "Oh my God, is that THIS weekend?!?" the answer is yup.) So as soon as that's wrapped, I start signing them and shipping them out immediately.
PAD
Posted by Peter David at October 8, 2004 12:42 AM | TrackBack | Other blogs commentingWow, a THREE-DAY Bat Mitzvah?! I thought they were only a few hours.
-- Ken from Chicago (who thought watching baseball was boring only to learn cricket can last days)
Oh, hey, congratulations on your daughter's Bat-Mitzvah, Peter!
Please congratulate Ariel for me.
I know this is a very important ceremony for Jewish girls.
PAD
I'm so sorry that someone who doesn't even have the intelligence to understand how the CAPS LOCK key works felt the need to post such a racist and ignorent comment.
The poor guy - he has my sympathy and pity.
Congratulations on Ariel's bat mitzvah. I hope she does well in her reading. Mazel tov!
Just wondering if it was too late to get on that bookplate bandwagon. Was there a deadline? Is it while supplies last? I wasn't able to get to my store this week, but I plan on getting the book next Wednesday.
That all-caps guy smells like that old troll that started the whole TypeKey thing.
What is a bookplate?
Ken from Chicago wrote "Wow, a THREE-DAY Bat Mitzvah?! I thought they were only a few hours."
Ken,
While the "ceremony" itself is only a few hours (and the party can go on even longer), there are numerous other traditional and/or optional activities that can take more time. Plus, like any major lifecycle event, there's a ton of planning and last-minute activity to pull it off successfully.
For a parallel, look at weddings. The ceremony itself is only about an hour, but with rehearsal dinners, greeting out-of-town guests, hair and clothing work, etc., etc., there could easily be three or more days of prep work. Bar/Bat Mitzvahs are no different.
Plus, it's traditional for the Bar/Bat Mitzvah to be called to read from the Torah as part of the ceremony. When reading from the Torah, there are no vowels, no punctuation marks, and even though it's often sung, no notes. So there's a lot of practice and preparation for that specific part of it, which could be likened to rehearsals for plays. Full rehearsals get more frequent as you get closer to the event, and here, too, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs are no different.
Okay, enough of that for now. Mazal Tov to Ariel on this wonderful and important event, as well as to PAD and the rest of the family!
brad milyo asks:
What is a bookplate?
A bookplate is a basically a king of label meant to be put into a book, usually on the inside front cover. (Sometimes they're made with adhesive on one side so as to make them easier to paste down.) They're often used by book collectors to mark their collections--you may have seen pre-printed "ex libris" type bookplates for sale as gift items in bookstore, for example. But they're also often used, as seems to be the case here, as a way to to do author autographs without having the author have to be in the same place as the book to be signed--the author is given a number of bookplates, he/she signs them, and the bookplates are distributed to whomever the chosen recipients are.
Sorry for didacticism. My bibliophile nature just took over there for a minute...
One of the nice things about bookplates is that you can send them to an author to be autographed in lieu of a book. That saves considerably on postage both ways, and in the event something gets lost, you're not out nearly so much.
Congrats to Ariel and her bat mitzvah, though I keep getting this image of her standing in a cave reciting an oath by candlelight as Adam West stands before her...
JSM
I appreciate the explanation because I was going to ask what a bookplate was...
But for my next trick...I have no idea what a bat mitzvah is so please forgive my ignorance and someone broaden my cultural awareness.
Thanks in advance..
Regards:
Warren S. Jones III
And I hope that "shrouding" is still in effect for the one of the earlier posts.
Regards:
Warren S. Jones III
WarrenSJonesIII writes:
But for my next trick...I have no idea what a bat mitzvah is so please forgive my ignorance and someone broaden my cultural awareness.
I'm just a Gentile here, so my explanation may not be perfectly correct, but basically, a "bat mitzvah" is a Jewish coming-of-age ceremony where a girl becomes recognized as an adult and therefore responsible for all the moral and religious duties that come with being a part of the faith.
Warren,
"Mitzvah" means "commandment". It's not limited to the 10 you're probably familiar with, but rather encompasses the whole range of 613 that are commanded by G-d in the Torah (see http://www.jewfaq.org/613.htm for a list). "Bar" means "son of" and "Bat" means "daughter of" (and is pronounced like "Bot", so rather than Adam West in Jeff's imagery, perhaps Brent Spiner would be more appropriate. And yes, I know Data was an android and not a robot. But I digress...). So "Bat Mitzvah" means, literally, "Daughter of the Commandments."
There is a certain age when Jews are considered adults (religiously), and are "obligated" to obey all of the commandments (and theoretically be held accountable for failing to do so). This age is 13 for males, and typically 12 for females. So what Ariel will be doing will be joining the community of adult Jews, and doing things (such as, presumably, reading from the Torah) for the first time, for the benefit of the community.
It's really an amazing time. I hope she enjoys it.
Ah, the bat mitzvah weekend.
I hope Ariel has a blast, PAD. Mazel tov.
is the "bat" mitzvah (for girls) a newish delevopment as oppsoed to the "bar" mitzvah (for guys)? I've heard of bar mitzvahs tons of times but never the former.
cut me some slack here, I'm half Italian and was raised Catholic. Alls I know is we pretty much agree on the Old Testament. Whoo, go Job!
Tallest Fan Ever,
Yes, the Bat Mitzvah is a relatively new development. I think it was started by the Reform movement sometime around the turn of the 20th Century. One of the best things (IMO) to come out of the Reform movement was saying that the religion should be egalitarian. 12 was chosen for the age of Bat Mitzvah over 13 because girls mature more quickly than boys. I think most Reform congregations, and a good number of Conservative celebrate this event, but I doubt that the Orthodox follow it.
Oh, and one small technical correction to my earlier post: since "Mitzvah" is a singular noun, "Bat Mitzvah" literally menas "Daughter of the Commandment", not "Commandments". And technically, the child doesn't *have* a Bat Mitzvah, she *becomes* a Bat Mitzvah.
Peter, family occasions like this, especially one as special as this, come second to your work. We fans understand. All our best to you, your family, and Ariel!
Mazel tov from a big goy,
John
Congrats to Ariel on her special day! They grow up so fast, don't they? :)
Ok, major correction here regarding the 'Bar' and 'Bat' mitzvah:
While technically 'bat' does actually mean 'daugter of' (and also just 'daughter' or even plain 'girl'), in this case it means something else: in posession of, which in this case transfers itself into 'accountable to'.
This is the translation to 'Bar', which does absolutely NEVER mean 'son of' (that would be 'ben'), and in this case 'bat' is simply the female version of 'bar'.
So: 'bar mitzvah' and 'bat mitzvah' mean sort of 'accountable to commandment', in the sense that, as has been pointed out, they are of the age where they will be accountable to their actions, not children anymore, and obligated to follow the religious commandments - or more accurately, serious laws - because it's not the 10 commandments we're talking about.
You see, a Mitzvah (as opposed to the 10 'dibrot', COMMANDMENTS, which are to never be broken) presents you with a choice: to do or not; for example, it is a Mitzvah to give to the poor in anonimity, but not a commandment.
But there's more: in the jewish religion, all 'mitzvahs' performed will be listed in the 'big book' which sums up your life's balance: good or bad. Therefore, another side to this accountability is that any act one performs as an adult, is listed in that balance - but also any act which breaks the Jewish rules. So starting the age of 13 (or 12, in this case, although the orthodox don't recognize this) the count towards the afterlife starts.
This happens a lot in Hebrew, many words have multiple meanings and nuances; for example, 'bar' also means 'wild' as in wild flower or rice.
Thus concludes our Hebrew lesson for today.
Getting back to the BOOKPLATES (*grin*), I also forget the details, but I walked into my comics shop (Outer Limits in Waltham, MA) and said to the owner (a great guy named Steve), "I don't want to buy this, because I have all the individual issues. But Peter David asked me to!"
So I did, and picked up Matrox while I was there, and now I have to figure out who to give the Fallen Angel TPB to...
Regarding the Bat Mitzvah, CONGRATULATIONS!!!, and where I grew up, the guys and girls both had their Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremonies at 13...
Sigh.
As you say, gvalley, many words have multiple meanings. While "Ben" does, indeed, mean "son", so does "Bar". There's Bar Kochba, for instance, and many, many Bars (as compared to Bens) in the Talmud and elsewhere. So, you see, our Hebrew lesson continues.
Now, Alan, so what you're saying is you have an extra copy of the Fallen Angel TP that you're interested in getting to someone? I'd be interested. I was able to get the free issue one from my retailer (thanks Michael!) and I'm intrigued. In particular (and among other things), I enjoyed the sequence with the cop (although there *are* no cops) and the hat. This leads me to believe the careful reader would be able to enjoy Watchmen-type visual continuity, and that is of extreme appeal to me. So if you want to send it to me, I will gladly read it to see if it continues to intrigue me and see if room can be made in my tight, tight budget to continue to read it. If it doesn't, I will gladly send it along to someone else who wants to give it a shot.
IMPOSSIBLE! I said to myself as I read Saulres's comment, and ran to the Hebrew dictionary. My hebrew is flawless, goddammit!
Turns out my Arameic is not, though... because 'bar' does mean the stuff I said, but - and this was new to me - it DOES also mean 'son'. Both, oddly, in Arameic. So while my Hebrew remains intact, guess it's time to learn the language of Aram...
Ah yes, that's right! The Gemmorah part of the Talmud *is* in Aramaic. Hence the confusion. You were right, gvalley, the Hebrew lesson was indeed over, but the Aramaic was just beginning :)
Saulres, I appreciate the offer, but (heh) that's what Barnes & Noble is for. Right?
I'm going to hand it off to some underprivileged person I know; I just haven't figured out who yet.
Or I suppose there could be worse things than putting it on the shelf with the individual issues and knowing that even if I someday sell my comic collection, I can keep the TPB to re-read.
I wonder if a thread discussing comic collecting would be interesting, or just disappointing (for anyone who thinks they're going to make tons of money from the investment in recent/current comics)... :-)
Can no one answer my question, or am I just being ignored? Is the bookplate offer still open? Meaning when I buy the trade on Wednesday (I've heard rumors that my store has a copy in!) and send in my receipt and whatnot, will I still be able to get a bookplate sent to me (autographed? whatnow?)?
Rob Rosenblatt