Asher ben David

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Asher ben David

Desde la Torre: brought copy from French article too

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'''Asher ben David''' was a [[Hachmei Provence|Provençal Kabbalist]] born in [[Vauvert|Posquières]], who flourished about the middle of the thirteenth century. He was the son (some say, grandson) of [[Abraham ben David|Abraham ben David of Posquières]], and a pupil of his uncle [[Isaac the Blind]].<ref>See [https://ift.tt/2OqOgb1 article] in Jewish Encyclopedia.</ref>

Asher ben David is one of the earliest cabalistic writers. He was the author of ''Perush Shelosh Esreh Middot'' or (''Commentary on the [[Thirteen Attributes of Mercy|Thirteen Attributes]] of God''), and his most important work, the ''Sefer ha-Yiḥud'' (''The Book of Unity'', an explanation of the Tetragrammaton and the ''[[sefirot]]''), which is the first Kabbalistic treatise to be preserved integrally. He identifies, on the one hand, the ten Sefirot with the ten spheres of the philosophers, and, on the other, explains the thirteen attributes of God as derivations of the three middle Sefirot: (love, justice, mercy), which he designates as fundamental principles.

According to [[Gershom Sholem]] Asher ben David is the main transmitter of Kabbalistic doctrines to the Catalan rabbinic schools, and in particular the [[School of Girona]], in the early thirteenth century.<ref>Scholem, ''Origins of the Kabbalah'', Princeton, 1987, p. 252.</ref>

==References==




[[Category:Jewish mysticism]]
[[Category:Kabbalists]]
[[Category:Neoplatonists]]
[[Category:Provençal Jews]]

October 02, 2018 at 07:55AM

Christian TV Network Enters World of 24-hour News

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Christian TV Network Enters World of 24-hour News A Christian TV network is entering the crowded world of 24-hour news broadcasting at a time when the mainstream news media is under increasing attack by President Donald Trump and some of his supporters, many of them evangelicals.   The Christian Broadcasting Network's news channel will provide a religious perspective that other channels lack, CEO Gordon Robertson told The Associated Press in an interview in advance of the network's formal launch Monday.   The CBN News Channel, to air on local television stations in 15 U.S. cities, will produce original programming and commentary on everything from the power of prayer to Justin Bieber's faith and Christian persecution in the Middle East, Robertson said last week.   Robertson, son of evangelist Pat Robertson, said he wants the channel to bring people together. But it is making its debut in an increasingly fractured media landscape and divided nation. Trump sometimes uses evangelical outlets to reach supporters, while shunning other news outlets.   "Trump's modus operandi is not essentially to reach out to new audiences, but to create division and polarization to energize his base," said Mark Ward, an associate professor of communication at the University of Houston-Victoria, who writes about evangelical mass media.   "If that's your strategy and evangelicals are such a huge part of your base, why would you not use the media organs that are available?" Ward said.   Pat Robertson helped revolutionize religious TV through the Christian Broadcasting Network. He also ran for president in 1988 and worked to galvanize conservative Christians into a political force in the 1990s.   Last year, Trump told Pat Robertson on his show, "The 700 Club," that he has "a tremendous audience."   "You have people that I love, the evangelicals," Trump said.   David Brody, CBN's chief political analyst in Washington, also has interviewed the president as well as Vice President Mike Pence and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, among others in the White House. Brody recently co-authored the book, "The Faith of Donald J. Trump."   Critics have accused Brody and the elder Robertson of being less than objective.   "Brody has bragged about having unprecedented access to this White House, which makes sense because he's throwing them softballs," said Kyle Mantyla, a senior fellow for the liberal organization People For the American Way, which runs the Right Wing Watch project.   Gordon Robertson said critics are missing the point.   "What I think is missing is an opportunity for someone to come in and just tell their story from their point of view, not give it an angle, not try to be argumentative," he said. "I think we've been criticized for allowing people to speak. But from my point of view, we want that."   For the past two decades, CBN has produced shows and run them on the ABC Family channel, now known as Freeform, as well as CBN's own online platforms.   Many of those shows will run on the new channel, which is airing on the sub-channels that local stations started broadcasting after switching to a digital signal.   Among the shows included in the news channel's lineup are "Jerusalem Dateline" which will focus on Israel, and "Faith Nation" which is centered on politics. The channel also will provide programming about healthy living and entertainment, Gordon Robertson said.   Those profiled by CBN include Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who went to jail in 2015 for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The network also has been monitoring the story of Andrew Brunson, a U.S. pastor detained in Turkey on charges of espionage and terrorism-related crimes.   The battle over Brett Kavanaugh, Trump's U.S. Supreme Court nominee, fueled much of the channel's news shows last month during its soft launch in a handful of U.S. cities.   "We don't always sit here and say, 'Is there a Bible story that corresponds with this today?'" news director Rob Allman said during an interview last week at CBN's studios in Virginia Beach. CBN also has studios in Washington and Jerusalem.   CBN is launching the new channel in part to appeal to a growing number of viewers who cancel cable subscriptions in favor of streaming services and free broadcast TV.   The nonprofit channel's success will mostly depend on donations, not advertisements.   Most donors are older and like to watch TV.   "There's something that happens to people after the age of 50," Gordon Robertson said, "where they start thinking about legacy and they start thinking about eternity."
October 02, 2018 at 07:40AM

US Economists Optimistic About Growth, Worried About Tariffs

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US Economists Optimistic About Growth, Worried About Tariffs The economy should grow at a healthy pace this year and next, though the Trump administration's trade policy will likely act as a drag, a group of business economists said.  Growth should reach 2.9 percent this year, according to a survey of 51 economists by the National Association for Business Economics, released Monday. That would be up from just 2.3 percent in 2017. And growth is forecast to be 2.7 percent in 2019, the survey found.  Overall, the economists are slightly more optimistic than they were when last surveyed three months ago. Buoyed by solid consumer spending and a healthy increase in business investment, the survey respondents expect the economy will overcome any negative impacts from higher tariffs.  Just over half of the respondents expect that the next recession won't arrive until 2020 at the earliest, while one-third said it wouldn't occur until 2021.  Inflation should remain in check, the survey found, rising to just 2.5 percent this year from 2.1 percent last year. Yet price gains will then likely moderate to 2.3 percent in 2019, the survey said.  Still, worries over trade policy have darkened the outlook for many. Nearly 80 percent of the economists surveyed cut their growth forecasts for next year by up to one-half a percentage point, the NABE said, because of trade concerns. The Trump administration has slapped tariffs on most steel and aluminum imports and on nearly half the imports from China. And one-half of the respondents have increased their inflation forecasts because of the import taxes. More economists cited "trade policy" as the greatest risk to future growth, the NABE said, than any other issue. Higher interest rates and a large drop in the stock market were tied as the second-most likely risk, while just a few economists cited rising inflation and "labor shortages" as risks to growth.     
October 02, 2018 at 07:38AM