My pics of Masada, Jewish fortress in the Judean desert and Dead Sea 5-11

The Origin of the word Latino - El Origen de la palabra Latino

SPANISH:

El judeoespañol (djudeo-espanyol, ג'ודיאו-איספאנייול), ladino o djudezmo [dʒuˈdezmo] es el idioma que fue y sigue siendo hablado por las comunidades judías habitantes de la Península Ibérica hasta 1492, llamados "sefardíes". Esta lengua, aunque derivada del castellano, presenta también rasgos en diferentes proporciones de otras peninsulares y mediterráneas. Al ser una lengua judía, contiene una aportación de hebreo con influencia del turco o del griego, principalmente, dependiendo del entorno. Además, el judeoespañol contemporáneos contiene una cantidad notable de vocablos del francés, por influencia de la Alianza Israelita Universal en ciudades como Salónica y Estambul.

Al nunca haber sido todavía armonizada por una programación lingüística, es actualmente objeto de controversias, comenzando por su denominación. El nombre ladino (de "latino"), surge de la costumbre rabínica de traducir las escrituras del hebreo original al castellano hablado por el común de los sefardíes, fazer en latino, utilizándose finalmente esa expresión para todo ese tipo de textos. Sin embargo, los sefardíes se referían a ella generalmente como espanyol o djudezmo. El término judeoespañol surge de la necesidad de diferenciarlo del español moderno. En el caso del haquetía, se observa una muy fuerte influencia del árabe.

ENGLISH:

Judaeo-Spanish (גודיאו-איספאנייול), in Israel commonly referred to as Ladino,^[1] and known locally as Judezmo, Djudeo-Espanyol, Djudezmo, Djudeo-Kasteyano, Spaniolit and other names, is a Romance language derived from Old Spanish. As aJewish language, it is influenced heavily by Hebrew and Aramaic, but also Arabic, Turkish and to a lesser extent Greek and other languages where Sephardic exiles settled around the world, primarily throughout the Ottoman Empire.

Judaeo-Spanish has kept the postalveolar phonemes /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ of Old Castilian, which both changed to the velar /x/ in modern Spanish. It also has an /x/ phoneme taken over from Hebrew. In some places certain characteristic words were retained, such asmuestro for nuestro (our)^{[clarification needed]}. Its grammatical structure is close to that of Spanish, with the addition of many terms from Hebrew, Portuguese, French, Turkish, Greek, Bulgarian, Bosnian and Serbo-Croatian depending on the geographic origin of the speaker.

Like many other Jewish languages, Judaeo-Spanish is in danger of language extinction. Most native speakers are elderly, many of them having emigrated to Israel where the language was not transmitted to their children or grandchildren. However, it is experiencing a minor revival among Sephardic communities, especially in music. In some expatriate communities in Latin Americaand elsewhere, there is a threat of dialect levelling resulting in extinction by assimilation into modern Spanish.

Ver/see Wikipedia under Sephardic or Ladino

Our "place" In Jerusalem, then in Haifa, Tel Aviv is a great city, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem

BACK IN THE USA

We awoke at 3:00 am this morning (Israel is 7 hours ahead of us), and landed at Dulles at abt 6:30 this evening.  All good.  My most memorable time was visiting Masada, the mountain fortress where 900 Jewish men, women and children took their own lives, to avoid becoming Roman slaves, at the time of the Jewish revolt of 70 A.D.  My most significant observation is the very high education level of Israelis, their high culture - most secular, and their innovation and creativity.  70% of the world's venture capital is today at work in Israel in medicine, bio research, chip tech and high-yield agribusiness. TRUE CAPITALISTS.  My saddest awareness is the extreme orthodoxy of conservative Judaism, and not unlike other faiths, attempt to shut out all other influence and knowledge; man can not co-exist and prosper if we are not willing to understand one another.  My greatest joy was watching my mother experience the many Christian sites that are at the bedrock of her faith.  Mission accomplished. 5-7-11

Israel days from Jerusalem

Took a cruise on the Sea of Galilee.  Bet She'an ruins of Roman and Bezantine days - wonderful!. We visited Bethlehem and the site of his birth.  1500 yr. old church controlled by the Armenian and Orthodox groups, most recently added Catholics at Church of the Nativity..  This requires crossing the border into Palestinian territory - no issues.  Then Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial - STRONG - " so that we may never forget" the brutality of man against the Jews, or against himself.  EVERY CITY IN ISRAEL IS AS CLEAN AS I HAVE SEEN ANYWHERE. A very educated and aware population, I go up and speak to anyone and we get deep, fast - LOL.  All love to my family and friends!  My Mom says HOLA also, she is having a ball, makes me HAPPY!  LGL

Israel May 2-3, Haifa to Kibbutz

Israel, May 2-3

We checked into Dan Panorama Hotel at Haifa. This is a northern city on the Med. about two hours north of Tel Aviv. Visited Caesarea, the political center of the Roman Goverment. Ruins of the circus, a restored amphitheater, and crusader fortress. Haifa is a beautiful city on a steep hillside, with a large active port. This afternoon we visited Acre, the Crusader/Templar fortress; then to Cana where several couples reaffirmed their wedding vows (turning water into wine); then the Mount of Beatitudes ( blessed are the poor in spirit....). Checked into Pastoral Kfar Blum, part of of a Kibbutz, this is an agricultural arrangement of individuals of families, that produces most of the food products in Israel. We can "smell" the Kibbutz! Tomorrow to Jerusalem.  SPECIAL NOTE TO FINAL PIC. Today for 2 minutes at 10:00 across Israel, all traffic ceased and individuals stood silent and still in remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust as sirens sounded, strong.