Welcome to the Blue Cord, a new biblioblog dedicated to the academic study of the Old Testament, particularly the Pentateuch, although I will feel free to post on just about any topic related to the Bible that interests me.
While the Blue Cord is a new biblioblog, it is a continuation of my previous blog called Karamat. Karamat was hosted on Xanga, which was too restrictive for what I wanted to do. So, I got myself my own domain and moved my blog here. Eventually, I hope to move all my Bible-related posts from Karamat to the Blue Cord, but as of now only posts from April have been moved. Posts concerning my work in Lithuania and my family’s travels will continue to be hosted on Karamat for now, while the Blue Cord will be devoted exclusively to biblical studies.
As you can see, the blog is a bit bare bones right now. As time goes by, more bells and whistles will be added. I also want to change the layout slightly, as I don’t like the font or the spacing in the posts. Given my html knowledge, that might take a little while.
As can be seen from the box in the upper right hand corner, the name of this site is taken from Numbers 15:37-41, which required the Israelites to make tassels of blue cord on the corners of their gaments. The tassels were to remind them to follow the commandments of the Lord. It is to be hoped that this blog will help people (including me!) understand the Bible better as well as allowing me better to participate in the stimuating discussions that have been fostered by the phenomenon of biblioblogging.
Let the conversations continue!
On April 18th, 2006 at 9:56 pm
A beautiful site, I suppose your dog is mourning because he/she has no blog anymore
For a recipe to create the famous tekhelet colour see my blog http://bijbelaantekeningen.blogspot.com/2006/01/de-techeletkleur-van-de-purperslak.html
with an extended bibliography (in English)
On April 19th, 2006 at 10:07 am
Thanks for the information on the color. I didn’t try to make the blue in my website match the blue of tekhelet (the Hebrew word that is used for blue/violet for those who are non-specialists). I just went with the shade of blue that came with this theme.
Since the color in question is produced from the murex shell, it is more likely to have been a shade of violet or purple. This is the dye for which the Phoenecians were famous. But all the modern translations read “blue cord”, and since I prefer blue to purple, I decided to go with it.
My understanding is that modern orthodox Jews do not have a blue thread in their tassels, since the Talmud says that we no longer know what color this was. The blue in the Israeli flag, however, is supposed to represent this blue thread.
On April 21st, 2006 at 6:22 pm
So bloggings will continue until morale improves?