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Secret Codes Protect Ancient Torahs

An anonymous reader writes "A story on Wired News reports the problems Jewish synagogues have protecting their Torahs from theft. The Torah scrolls, containing the five books of Moses, are hand lettered over the course of a year, are often hundreds of years old, and can sell for $50,000 or more. But Judaic law "dictates that not one character can be added to the 304,805 letters of the Torah's text", which makes them untraceable and easily sold on the black market. Rabbinic authorities have recently approved two computer-based systems to make the scrolls traceable: one takes a digital fingerprint of a Torah, a second makes microperforations in the parchment that yield a unique identifier."

20 of 679 comments (clear)

  1. OSS? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 0, Troll

    I wonder if Open Source Software is going to be used for the security measures. I'm sure the thieves will want to know if they have the real thing instead of a cheap copy left lying about to be stolen. I'm sure the price for an authentic copy will just go up in value now.

    1. Re:OSS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      Getting to the bottom of an unwholesome obsession

      March 23, 2005

      HEARD of sphincter bleaching? Beauticians are billing it as the new Brazilian wax.

      "In the last couple of months I've had a lot of requests, so I've started some experiments," says Lansing beautician Anna Marsiano from The Bees' Knees salon.

      "I've got one client who's a homosexual pasty white nerd that runs a popular blog. He was looking at a Playgirl magazine with his coworker and he was making some comments about how clean and light the men looked. My client started to get a little paranoid."

      Marsiano says she uses a herbal brand popular in Chicago as a facial whitener. It is applied to the dark pigmentation around men's rectums as well as to their taint areas. Marsiano says the product does not damage the skin and has "rejuvenating" properties.

      But another Michaigan beautician, asked about her anal lightening equipment, produces a completely different product altogether. It's a cream that clearly states it is designed to be used on hair. This beautician has treated sex workers and linux users for years, but says mainstream demand has risen sharply over the past six months. She acknowledges that her long-term clients (many of whom come in for treatments every six weeks) suffer serious skin problems. "I explain that it will give them eczema and so on, but they want it anyway," she says.

      Hard-line eunichs will no doubt respond with an outraged "What will the dominant tops do to us next?" (possibly staging some sort of "reclaim the brown" march). The cosmetic entrepreneurs, meanwhile, are bound to capitalise on the controversy by selling DIY backdoor bleaching kits (possibly along the lines of the personalised mouth moulds provided for teeth whitening).

      As with all debates about society's relentless pursuit of beauty, however, the answer to "how much is too much?" is hard to ascertain.

      Critics should not be so quick to write off glamour-seekers as witless victims. Beauty is currency, with studies showing that spunks of both sexes do better in jobs, schools, relationships and the courts. Devoting time and resources to keeping yourself nice could therefore be viewed as a worthwhile investment.

      But making a rational decision about whether to undergo an extreme upgrade such as nullification, a penis reconstruction or an ass implant requires consideration of a tricky cost and reward equation: in short, will X amount of pain, money and risk of disfigurement or death equal Y amount of increased happiness? If it was possible to come up with a definite "yes" to this question, signing up for surgery would make perfect sense.

      Unfortunately it is impossible to get enough facts to make an informed decision. Experts describe homo-erotic cosmetic medicine in Michigan as "cowboy country". There's no uniform system of accreditation and no easy way to track down the success rate of a particular procedure or practitioner. Financial interest also makes it hard to trust the advice of the scalpel and acid wielders.

      The other big unknown is the amount of extra happiness you're likely to feel post procedure. How can you be sure when there are so many variables? And wouldn't it be safer to try a less risky course of action first? On the Insight program on SBS television next week, Health Services Commissioner Beth Wilson says she's seen cosmetic surgery patients who've had "terrible scarring, numbness, palsy, where the face just hangs down" -- an awful price to pay if the happiness gamble doesn't go your way.

      The good news on sphincter bleaching is that it's safer than anything involving general anaesthetics or fat-vacuuming gizmos. The bad news is that you could be in for a lifetime of skid marks. The chairman of the GNAA's ethics committee, Troll Axor, says the use of harsh bleaching substances could cause anal burning and scarring. This, in turn, could lead to anal incontinence or an inability to pass stools at all.

      Sound attractive? If the figures in the cost and reward equation don't add up, perhaps it's worth giving the bleach a miss and locating a lover who doesn't expect your bum to look like Mccaully Culkin's.

    2. Re:OSS? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1, Troll

      And what has that got to do with OSS anyway?

      If you mention "OSS" early on a new posting, it'll get all kinds of replies and mod points. So far I got a few intelligent responses, got crap flooded, my "Fat Albert" fan club responded, and someone asked what's going on. Mod points for being insightful and overrated. So far this has been a good experiment. ;)

  2. Wow. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    I have one of these in the attic, it was my Grandfathers. He confiscated it from a prisoner back in the '40s.

    /ducks

  3. Re:Only the Jews by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Religion is for those who cant handle living with uncertainty.

  4. Amazing, two systems of justice... by John+Seminal · · Score: 0, Troll
    But Judaic law "dictates that not one character can be added to the 304,805 letters of the Torah's text"

    Jews have laws this tough on protecting their culture, yet they bomb the palestinans without mercy, often killing innocent bystanders and not giving a crap. Sure, they say "it is just payback", but who exactly are they paying back? Screw it... they all look alike.

    Is is like the "special" law Jews have. No matter how bad the crime, they can never give the death penalty to another Jew. But they can slaughter non-jews at will.

    Look at the guy who killed Rabin, he got a jail sentance because he was Jewish. BTW, the reason Rabin was assasinated was because he was close to peace, he was ready to make peace.

    What makes Jews so special?

    --

    Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."

    1. Re:Amazing, two systems of justice... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      Nothing, but its good to keep a good number of them so they can be hunted.

  5. Re:How will it look like? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    There's a picture if it here. That's actually a prototype, but it should give you a general idea.

  6. Re:Bo-ring by John+Seminal · · Score: -1, Troll
    Oy, these Rebbes today, so unimaginitive. Whatever happened to REAL anti-theft devices for holy artifacts, like the one on the Ark of the Covenant that melted your face off?

    I think that requires a real God. And the God jews have is not Real. They should upgrade to christianity. With the upgrade, they would get 1) Forgivness 4.05, 2) Tolerance 0.90 beta, and 3) Real God Jesus 1.0 (the first release was perfection).

    The following packages will be removed: 1) Bigotry 1543r12, and 2) Narcissism 465. The package of Inbreeding will be truncated because it is incompatinge with new code (except in parts of Tennessee and Kentucky where that code is still maintained).

    To bad Jews don't like Apt-Get install TrueGod.

    Hope that helps all the Jews! Nice day all. :)

    --

    Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."

  7. Re:Only the Jews by John+Seminal · · Score: -1, Troll
    Grouping all religions into one blanket statement is useless

    Religion can be grouped in 2 groups. Those that follow the read God, and those who are tricked by the devil.

    Christ is the only way to God. All others a sinners that will burn in Hell with the butt fuckers and suicide bombers and mothers who had abortions.

    I know I am going to get flaimbait for this post, but if I helped one young person pick Christ, it is worth it.

    --

    Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."

  8. So what?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll
    Ok, so I don't mean this as a Troll, but really...

    <soapbox>

    I understand that some people go nuts when it comes to religion, but for crying out loud its just a book/document/parchment... All of this hand-wrangling about people defacing the Quoran, or the Torah, or the Bible, or any number of other religious texts. WHO CARES?! You can always print another!

    Ok, so in cases where the item is a hand written document that can almost be considered as a work of art, fine I can see it. But to go totally apeshit just because somebody stepped on or somehow "disrespected" a so-called holy text is completely loony!

    For all of you religious types - look, to the rest of us this is just an adult fairy tale that if it makes you sleep better at night then go for it! But stop expecting the rest of us to fall all over ourselves just to keep you loony few happy!

    </soapbox>

  9. Re:Only the Jews by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll


    That's fine. I'll take my hedge fund money to Canada and let you pay my social security checks you uneducated little worm.

    And tell your little pathetic god to solve that problem.

    he can kiss my rich royal ass and so can you.

    Ta ta. Dipshit.

  10. Re:Only the Jews by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll


    You poor, uneducated 'tard.

    Then again... the uneducated have always been religious.

    And the educated have always had more sex, money, power and influence.

    I encourage you to keep believing what you're believing. Its all you have. And I think that's sweet.

  11. Re:This Gentile says Mod Parent Down -1, Troll by nurb432 · · Score: -1, Troll

    We all have a right to our opinion. Even you, as long as its the same as mine.

    No place on /. my ass. This is a great place for it.

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  12. hmmm by Internet_Communist · · Score: -1, Troll

    now if only they could trace back that lost foreskin

    --

    If you don't want someone to copy something, don't give it to anyone.
  13. Re:Jokes only Hebrew speaking Jews will get... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    fucking jews

  14. Who cares if it's kosher? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    I can't see how it would matter if the scrolls were kosher or not, save maybe to a very pious goat.

    I mean, why would anyone want to eat Torah scrolls, anyhow?

  15. Those Jews and their religion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Honestly, I don't know what to do with them. As a matter of their own history, they've been persecuted for 4000 years. Who has the problem? Is it the other 28 kids in the class, or is it that one kid?

    Anyway, back to the topic, sometimes they are pretty clever about keeping their traditions (like Kosher foods). This would have been super clever about 15 years ago. Now it's pretty much just...logical.

  16. OT: Speaking of Races by johnnyb · · Score: 0, Troll

    Since we're on the topic of races, I thought I'd point out a few things (these are very offtopic, but when I learned them I found them interesting):

    1) the original concept of races was what we would presently consider cultures -- the Irish race, the French race, etc.
    2) the evolutionists were the primary ones who taught race as a biological concept. The Origin of the Species was subtitled something likeThe Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for life.
    3) eventually Darwin and others classified a few major "races" of man: australoid, mongoloid, negroid, and caucasoid, each being a varied amount of evolved from our simian ancestors, with the australoids most like animals and caucasoid being the highest evolved creature.
    4) The law which was in contest during the scopes monkey trial DID NOT outlaw teaching evolution. The only thing it outlawed was teaching the evolution OF MAN (which was, as you can see, very racist). The specific book that was in contention taught those races, AND taught that white people (caucasoids) were the highest evolved of them.
    5) If you ever wonder why our parents and especially our grandparent's generations were so entrenched in racism, it was it was taught as part of evolution in their biology textbooks. In fact, the Bronx zoo even had a Pygmy from Africa on display in a cage with a monkey to demonstrate "primitive" ancestry. Likewise, Australian aborigines were often hunted for their skulls to be sold to museums.
    6) It turns out that the Bible is right, and that human ancestry can be traced back to a biological bottleneck about 6,000 years ago, known as mitochondrial Eve.

    It's too bad that many people, including many in the Church, decided to believe man over the Bible in this area (which teaches we are all relatives), and to see how much destruction this has caused to lives worldwide.

    On the subject of Torah's, I always thought that the way that they were made was cool -- you often had three different people writing it: one writes the consonants, one writes the vowels, and a third writes the margin notes (called the masura). Sometimes this is done by one individual, but I just think it's interesting how the different layers are laid down.

  17. Idiot by nurb432 · · Score: 0, Troll

    So, you have to belive in non existant deities and follow the rest of the sheep to be educated?

    Moron.

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----