Tomorrow my daughter Dominica marries Chris. I wish them all the blessings of marriage and as little of the travail as necessary. L'Chaim!
Short video record Here!
The second chapter of the Song of Songs:

א אֲנִי חֲבַצֶּלֶת הַשָּׁרוֹן, שׁוֹשַׁנַּת הָעֲמָקִים.	I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.
ב כְּשׁוֹשַׁנָּה בֵּין הַחוֹחִים, כֵּן רַעְיָתִי בֵּין הַבָּנוֹת.	As a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
ג כְּתַפּוּחַ בַּעֲצֵי הַיַּעַר, כֵּן דּוֹדִי בֵּין הַבָּנִים; בְּצִלּוֹ חִמַּדְתִּי וְיָשַׁבְתִּי, וּפִרְיוֹ מָתוֹק לְחִכִּי.	As an apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. Under its shadow I delighted to sit, and its fruit was sweet to my taste.
ד הֱבִיאַנִי אֶל-בֵּית הַיָּיִן, וְדִגְלוֹ עָלַי אַהֲבָה.	He hath brought me to the banqueting-house, and his banner over me is love.
ה סַמְּכוּנִי, בָּאֲשִׁישׁוֹת--רַפְּדוּנִי, בַּתַּפּוּחִים: כִּי-חוֹלַת אַהֲבָה, אָנִי.	'Stay ye me with dainties, refresh me with apples; for I am love-sick.'
ו שְׂמֹאלוֹ תַּחַת לְרֹאשִׁי, וִימִינוֹ תְּחַבְּקֵנִי.	Let his left hand be under my head, and his right hand embrace me.
ז הִשְׁבַּעְתִּי אֶתְכֶם בְּנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלִַם, בִּצְבָאוֹת, אוֹ, בְּאַיְלוֹת הַשָּׂדֶה: אִם-תָּעִירוּ וְאִם-תְּעוֹרְרוּ אֶת-הָאַהֲבָה, עַד שֶׁתֶּחְפָּץ. {ס}	'I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, and by the hinds of the field, that ye awaken not, nor stir up love, until it please.'
ח קוֹל דּוֹדִי, הִנֵּה-זֶה בָּא; מְדַלֵּג, עַל-הֶהָרִים--מְקַפֵּץ, עַל-הַגְּבָעוֹת.	Hark! my beloved! behold, he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
ט דּוֹמֶה דוֹדִי לִצְבִי, אוֹ לְעֹפֶר הָאַיָּלִים; הִנֵּה-זֶה עוֹמֵד, אַחַר כָּתְלֵנוּ--מַשְׁגִּיחַ מִן-הַחַלֹּנוֹת, מֵצִיץ מִן-הַחֲרַכִּים.	My beloved is like a gazelle or a young hart; behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh in through the windows, he peereth through the lattice.
י עָנָה דוֹדִי, וְאָמַר לִי: קוּמִי לָךְ רַעְיָתִי יָפָתִי, וּלְכִי-לָךְ.	My beloved spoke, and said unto me: 'Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
יא כִּי-הִנֵּה הַסְּתָו, עָבָר; הַגֶּשֶׁם, חָלַף הָלַךְ לוֹ.	For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
יב הַנִּצָּנִים נִרְאוּ בָאָרֶץ, עֵת הַזָּמִיר הִגִּיעַ; וְקוֹל הַתּוֹר, נִשְׁמַע בְּאַרְצֵנוּ.	The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
יג הַתְּאֵנָה חָנְטָה פַגֶּיהָ, וְהַגְּפָנִים סְמָדַר נָתְנוּ רֵיחַ; קוּמִי לכי (לָךְ) רַעְיָתִי יָפָתִי, וּלְכִי-לָךְ. {ס}	The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines in blossom give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
יד יוֹנָתִי בְּחַגְוֵי הַסֶּלַע, בְּסֵתֶר הַמַּדְרֵגָה, הַרְאִינִי אֶת-מַרְאַיִךְ, הַשְׁמִיעִנִי אֶת-קוֹלֵךְ: כִּי-קוֹלֵךְ עָרֵב, וּמַרְאֵיךְ נָאוֶה. {ס}	O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the cliff, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.'
טו אֶחֱזוּ-לָנוּ, שֻׁעָלִים--שֻׁעָלִים קְטַנִּים, מְחַבְּלִים כְּרָמִים; וּכְרָמֵינוּ, סְמָדַר.	'Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vineyards; for our vineyards are in blossom.'
טז דּוֹדִי לִי וַאֲנִי לוֹ, הָרֹעֶה בַּשּׁוֹשַׁנִּים.	My beloved is mine, and I am his, that feedeth among the lilies.
יז עַד שֶׁיָּפוּחַ הַיּוֹם, וְנָסוּ הַצְּלָלִים: סֹב דְּמֵה-לְךָ דוֹדִי לִצְבִי, אוֹ לְעֹפֶר הָאַיָּלִים--עַל-הָרֵי בָתֶר. {ס}	Until the day breathe, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a gazelle or a young hart upon the mountains of spices.

Copper engraving by Cornelius Huyberts from Fredericus Ruysch's Thesaurus anatomicus, Amsterdam, 1710

"Ruysch made about a dozen tableaux, constructed of human fetal skeletons with backgrounds of other body parts, on allegorical themes of death and the transiency of life...Ruysch built the 'geological' landscapes of these tableaux from gallstones and kidneystones, and 'botanical' backgrounds from injected and hardened major veins and arteries for "trees," and more ramified tissue of lungs and smaller vessels for 'bushes' and 'grass.' The fetal skeletons, several per tableau, were ornamented with symbols of death and short life - hands may hold mayflies (which live but a day in their adult state); skulls bemoan their fate by weeping into 'handkerchiefs' made of elegantly injected mesentery or brain meninges; 'snakes' and 'worms,' symbols of corruption made of intestine, wind around pelvis and rib cage. Quotations and moral exhortations, emphasizing the brevity of life and the vanity of earthly riches, festooned the compositions. One fetal skeleton holding a string of pearls in its hand proclaims, 'Why should I long for the things of this world?' Another, playing a violin with a bow made of a dried artery, sings, 'Ah fate, ah bitter fate.'"

-- Stephen Jay Gould in Finders, Keepers: Eight Collectors
Quote and illustration found here.

In the seventeenth century science began to document the diffences between modern observation and accepted belief ranging from Scripture to Aristotle. Sir Walter Raleigh, while locked up in the tower of London wrote a memoir recounting his expeditions to the new world and in it, he addressed the serious question of how Noah had been able to transport all of the beasts of the world in his Ark, taking into account the astounding number previously unknown species found in the New World and not in the Old, and why they strayed so far from Ararat while leaving no descendants behind. Raleigh concluded that familiar animals had changed in adapting to the New World thus satisfying many theologians previously perplexed by the mystery. However, this introduction of the concept of changeability of species, began a process that would overthrow the Aristotelean notion of the immutability of nature and lead finally to Darwin and the theory of evolution, an outcome that would trouble later generations of theologians and cast doubt not only on the story of Noah, but the literal reading of Berashith itself.

"Passions are likened best to floods and streams, The shallow murmur, but the deep are dumb."-Raleigh, The Silent Lover

Ironically the first paleontogists of this era were creationists, seeking evidence of the flood.
The interest they stirred in the field led to the work of those who would discredit them.
This mysterious world is so full of evidence that anything, through selective collection of that evidence, may be compellingly asserted.

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."-Hamlet to Horatio before the Ghost, Hamlet, I:5, William Shakespeare