[Avodah] EVEN WHEN THE MOON IS HIDDEN, IT IS STILL THERE...

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Aug 06, 2008 at 07:03:29AM -0400, Cantor Wolberg wrote:
: This month is called Av, which of course means "father"...

Actually Av is a Hebrification of the Babylonian Abu which in turn was
slurred from the Sumerian (Ur III) month "Aru" - lion, the mazal of
the month.

Even weirder is Elul, and the common derashah of turning it into an
acronym of Ani LeDodi VeDodi Li. Ululu was dedicated to Ishtar (which
gives us Hadassah's Babylonian name) a goddes of fertility, love and war,
associated with Venus, and played a similar role to Venus's/Aphrodite's
in their pantheon. The Kenaanim called her Asheirah, later Ashtarte,
the goddess with the qedeishos.

-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Zion will be redeemed through justice,
micha at aishdas.org        and her returnees, through righteousness.
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