User talk:Gilabrand/Archive 1

Knesset

I think I was going for a literal translation of Beit Knesset rather than what it was, but I believe your "House of Worship" probably would be better understood by someone who was trying to look it up. --Magen —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.178.90.191 (talk) 09:37, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Etrog

You edited etrog meaning love and attraction, because of an ayin or aleph according modern Henrew. You will have to recall Nahmanides to court. He clearly states that the word is from חמיד ורגיג and is from Arabic.

Please correct it back.

The way the sentence was phrased was unclear - and no source was cited. Personally, I think this kind of linguistic information doesn't belong in the lead, which needs to be simple, straightforward, and understandable to the layperson. If you want to write an etymology section, that would be the place for it, but with proper citations.--Gilabrand 20:01, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

Scholem's controversy edit

Good correction of the name of the book and of the link in general. I think your edit is an improvement that goes in the right direction, but I'll have to read a litte further on the matter of his opinion of Arendt's harsh criticism of the Jewish communal leadership during the Nazi years. Your improvement of the translation of Scholem's use of the "Ahavat Israel" expression is also better than the previous one, but maybe "Ahavat Israel" in Scholem's sense should be rendered as "love of the experience of Jewishness" or "love and pride in one's Jewishness?" Just some ideas. warshy 17:48, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, Warshy. You are the first person to respond to anything that I've edited on this site. Basically I don't have a lot of time, but when I see English that needs touching up or inaccurate translations from the Hebrew, it's hard for me to close my eyes...It's what I do (I'm a translator). RE your suggestions for ahavat yisrael, I think you are offering more of a commentary than a translation. I deleted the last sentence because it sounded like gobbledy-gook.

--Gilabrand 18:17, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

OK. I think you're impulse and instinct is correct. The problem with Ahavat Israel in Scholem is that it really signified much more than a simple solidarity with other Jews. He was a pretty fierce Jewish Zionist and nationalist, and so the term, when used especially toward his fellow German Jews who did not become Zionists as he did, had a very strong connotation of almost disdain for Jews who, in his opinion, did not have a shred of national Jewish pride in their less-than-erect backbones. How do you express that? Isn't any translation also a sort of commentary willy-nilly? In any case, good exchanging ideas on the subject with you. I happen to do a lot of translation too, though more as a hobby than a profession... warshy 18:44, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

Welcome

Hello, Gilabrand, and welcome to Wikipedia. You seem to have been editing a bit for a while that this is the first time I've noticed you. Good work on your changes to Passover Seder and nice picture. I have noticed that some of your edits relate to Jews or Judaism. You may be interested in looking at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Judaism, a central place to discuss issues relating to Jewish article on Wikipedia. If you are stuck, and looking for help, please come to the New contributors' help page, where experienced Wikipedians can answer any queries you have! Or, you can just type {{helpme}} and your question on your user talk page, and someone will show up shortly to answer. We hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my Talk page my talk page. Again, welcome! Jon513 21:09, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

Hi Jon513, thanks for the nice welcome. Yes, I've been puttering around for a while...I have uploaded a few pictures with the help of my son, but he is going off to Nepal in a few days. Is there any brief set of instructions for that, as I keep forgetting how to do it. --Gilabrand 21:23, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

This should do the trick. nadav 08:09, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

Jerusalem

I'll join in, and welcome you here. Thanks for your edits in Jerusalem.

After a lot of work on the article, it has been nominated for "Featured Article" status. The discussion of the nomination may be found here: Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Jerusalem. You're welcome to join the discussion, and make suggestions for improving the article. If you'd like, you're welcome to support or oppose the candidacy. okedem 19:22, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

Jerusalem congestion

Nadav, the sentence as it is doesn't make sense. The traffic in East Jerusalem is NOT more congested than West Jerusalem, so I concluded that it must be the pollution that is higher. Personally, I doubt it...but someone apparently claims so, and has brought a source to back it up. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Gilabrand (talk • contribs) 11:03, 22 April 2007 (UTC).

Hello. My guess is that you are right, but it's only a guess, and guesses are WP:OR. Anyway, the current version could be true. The text reads "...vehicular traffic, which is especially concentrated in East Jerusalem." That could mean that even if there are less cars in east Jerusalem, they are more prone to be stuck in traffic because of the narrow streets. In any case, the sentence specifically about the old city has no citation. I hope you didn't take it badly; your other edits have been very beneficial and important. nadav 11:20, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

--Epeefleche 21:42, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

Good job on camp ramah

--Epeefleche 14:50, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, pal. It's not as if I have time for this, but it broke my heart to see such a crumby page for this life-changing institution. By the way, I am no pro at Wiki stuff, so if you could link this page to the stub for Ramah in the Berkshires and other Ramah camps that only have a line or two, you would be doing a great mitzvah.

Oh, and I'm sorry to say, I disagree with your "grammatical" corrections of my writing. --Gilabrand 18:16, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

I'm sorry as well! Not sure which you refer to, but (with the latest revision) the awk sentence that otherwise suggests that the fire stood empty is now un-AWKed. That would actually be a style issue, I believe, not one of grammar. Also, style is to use "although" at the beginning of a sentence, but though within a sentence.

Also, this page is linked internally to Ramah entries that do exist, but none exist for ramah in the berkshires and a few others. If you wish to create them, you can start by putting two square brackets on each side of the entry on the ramah page. That will yield a "red" entry when you save it. Double click that entry, and it will bring you to a blank new page which, once you save it, will be the new page that you have created.--Epeefleche 19:14, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

But I did see a page on Camp Ramah in the Berkshires! How could it not exist? I don't think such a page is necessary, but since there is one, I just thought it would be good to link it. With regard to style, I happen to be a professional translator and editor, and I stand by what I wrote. There are no hard and fast rules about though and although that I'm aware of. Did you go to Camp Ramah??

Best, Gila --Gilabrand 19:43, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

A wikipedia page? Similar to the one on New England? See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Ramah_in_New_England . I didn't see it. What is the url?

As to the style issues, I was an editor as far back as 1980. But perhaps the rules have changed ....

Yep. Berkshires. you?

Berkshires

This is the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Valley2city/Camp_Ramah_in_the_Berkshires I went to Berkshires (camper from the age of 9-13, then arts& crafts counsellor), Glenspey (when I was 14), Ramah Community Program (15) and Ramah Seminar (16). My father was the educational director. --Gilabrand 04:17, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

Man, that is one ugly looking site. I don't know how to fix it, but could start a new one, which others could then augment.

I was at Berkshires and Palmer, my sis was at both and Nyack and Glen Spey, and my brother was at Berkshires. What years were you there? --Epeefleche 04:30, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

That's a long ways back...I think the first year in Berkshires was 1963. My whole family was there. Jerry Abrams was the director, then Mogilner. We were scattered through all the edot (6 kids). Know anyone named Schafler (my maiden name)? My brother was the director of Palmer one year. Do you have any idea when Glen Spey actually closed down? We were there in 1967, right after the Six Day War, and the following year we started going to Israel every summer. If it burned down in 1971, I guess it didn't last very long.

--Gilabrand 05:49, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

Hmmm. I was the last sibling to go to camp ... the others were only staff. Nancy nee Wiener (sister) and Bob ... I don't recall the Schaflers offhand ... or was there a Randy? Jerry Abrams and Mogilner are familiar. I was Machon in '72, then staff in 75-77, then Palmer in 78 for half a summer, then Palmer again in 79 as sports staff. You may know the Saposhs? Or Hugh Pollack/Adam Wallach, etc. (the East Midwood crowd ... which is where I was from).--Epeefleche 05:57, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

AAAAhhh, Brooklyn. So now I get where your English is coming from LOL. I'm from Flushing but I went to East Midwood from nursery school through second grade! (late 1950s & early 60s)I've been in Jerusalem since 1971. Somehow Saposh does ring a bell, but you are younger than me, if I'm not mistaken. I went to YCQ with a guy named David Weiner (a rabbi's son) And your name?

--Gilabrand 06:24, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

Ah, yes ... in Brooklyn we say "younger than I (rather than "younger than me," and other such phrases that I gather are foreign to those from Flushing.  :-) Jack is my name. So I imagine you know Dr. Rohn and Jenny Brooks from EMJC? I was at Hebrew U in 77-78, btw.--Epeefleche 19:58, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Ah, I guess you were offended by the grammatical correction.--Epeefleche 19:43, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Hey, I created the article on Ramah in the Berkshires though I put it on my own page because some editors ruled it not "notable" enough for the mainspace yet. The article needed to be fixed before it could be moved back. I know very little about it (I am an Ojai person myself and also worked at Poconos for a year). Meanwhile someone did create a mainspace article about it which can be found here. Camp Ramah in the Berkshires so I suggest any edits you make go there. Shabbat Shalom, --Valley2city^₪‽ 16:03, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

Yup ... created it at our mutual friend's suggestion. I guess it would be good if at some point someone made a page for each camp, and made the pages similarly robust, with pix and all. Perhaps someone is in touch w/the Ramah people or people at JTS who might have interest?--Epeefleche 19:42, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Photos

Shalom. Here's how to upload the photos from Hebrew wikipedia:

1. First you have to find the picture you want on the Hebrew Wikipedia. (I am assuming they are not already saved on your computer.) If you can't find it, I'll try to help.
2. Click on the picture twice so that you get to a webpage showing just the picture with no other stuff on it.
3. Downlad the picture by right-clicking on it and clicking "Save Picture As..." on the menu that appears.
4. Save the picture to an easy to find folder.
5. Now upload it onto the English Wikipedia. I assume you know how, since you uploaded those picturesque new photos!

Take care, nadav 01:55, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

image license

I think that cc2.5 is the strictest license that is compatible with Wikipedia. I guess it depends on what restrictions you want to put on the image. The other option may be to upload a lower def image so that you can keep the rights to the higher quality image. The bottom line is that anything on Wikipedia has to be freely available because Wikipedia as a whole is.

Creating a gallery on your user page is easy. Just type the following:

 <gallery>
 image:foo.jpg | caption
 image:foo2.jpg | caption2
 </gallery>

--dm ^(talk) 17:10, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

cropping photo

I saw you added a map to the BG airport page and think it needs some cropping. The pages look a little ragged... --Gilabrand 06:45, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

I uploaded the photo but did not add it to the article. The hebrew wikipedia has a cropped version of this photo. I believe that since it is free use photo (from the collection of the Library of Congress) it should be uploaded to commons. I do not have an account or the experience with wikicommons. If you would like to upload the cropped photo to commons, my version already has the Library of Congress tag in it. Derwig 21:15, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

women who wear kippot

I've seen women wearing kippot at Reconstructionist and Renewal services as well as Conservative and Reform. I think I've seen a few women wearing kippot while making a bruchah, but I wouldn't swear to it. But you're right: I don't think I've ever seen a woman wearing a kippah "full time."

Here's what the article says:

A kippah is ... worn by most Jewish men while praying, eating, reciting blessings, or studying Jewish religious texts, and at all times by some Jewish men. Some Jewish women have also begun to wear kippot. ...

I'm not interested in starting an edit war. I thought the word "some" made a qualifier about the specific Jewish movements unnecessary. If the sentence about women becomes a bone of contention, I wouldn't have a problem with "Some Jewish women have also begun to wear kippot while praying" (without the italics, of course). — Malik Shabazz | Talk 19:52, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

Haaretz

Image:Newspapers.jpg listed for deletion An image or media file that you uploaded or altered, Image:Newspapers.jpg, has been listed at Wikipedia:Images and media for deletion. Please look there to see why this is (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry), if you are interested in it not being deleted. Thank you. Addhoc 23:27, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Shalom, Gila. User:Addhoc asked if a version of the picture could be created without the spectacles. I think they are a nice artistic touch, but do agree that Haaretz will look more encyclopedic without them in the image. Do you mind providing an additional picture at some point? Thanks very much, nadav 07:54, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

I can take more pictures, no problem, but I thought the glasses upgraded the photo and made it more of an illustration. After the whole debate about whether it could be used at all, I find it a little odd that Addhoc should ask for a more "straightforward" picture...The glasses were also put there as a kind of symbolic "arrow" to show the paper is translated from Hebrew to English. Anyhow, I appreciate your support.--Gilabrand 08:02, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

Well, he claimed on the fair use review page that without them, the status would be clearer: it would "unequivocally be fair-use." Aesthetically, I think they do balance the composition of the picture, but perhaps a "straightforward" picture is better in this case for other reasons. nadav 08:23, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

Reference to CAMERA in Haaretz entry The fact that CAMERA is a pro-Israeli advocacy group is not a POV. Only they themselves claim they are objective, because of their self-interest in their credibilty. If you are familiar with them or read the evidence in the article itself, you will see that it is not something seriously in dispute. You would also find that almost everything they deal with is related to Israel. I feel that it is important to explain what CAMERA is with a short description like "CAMERA, a pro-Israel advocacy group", just so people know what it is, since its not clear from the name.

I also think a section should be added about the importance of Haaretz, both in Israel and Internationally. One article said they were like the NYT of the US

But that is where you are introducing POV. If people want to know what the group is, they click on the blue link and reach their own conclusions. Summing up what you think, or think the world thinks, is OR and POV. There is no statement in the article about it being a pro-Israel advocacy group. Adding this also colors the reader's interpretation of the group's statements about Haaretz: Oh, if it's a pro-Israel group then of course it will say XXX about Haaretz. --Gilabrand 20:03, 29 October 2007 (UTC)