predatory wolf
In the department of Things That Are Outside My Field Of Experience, Yet Of Fascination To Me:
A medieval Torah scholar appears to make the argument that Rachel was killed by her son Benjamin, because he was a werewolf.
(I say "appears to make" because I can't tell which parts of this discussion are the words of Rabbeinu Ephraim ben Shimshon as quoted by the blogger, and which are the blogger talking to themself. The comments may also be worth reading; everyone gets very invested in the werewolf debate.)
EDIT: I'd hoped this was more of the same. Argentina's president Christina Fernandez de Kirchner adopts a Jewish seventh son as her godson to stop him from turning into a werewolf. First, I hoped this was a family tradition of the child, whose name is Yair Tawil. Then I feared it was some sort of unusually elaborate blood libel. It doesn't appear to be either.
If the article is to be believed, there's an Argentinian superstition that a seventh son (or seventh child, it appears to apply to girls too) will become a werewolf, "el lobison," on "the first Friday after his thirteenth birthday." This kid is just the first Jewish recipient of the dubious honor. Apparently, being honored as the President's godson and being given a gold medal and future academic scholarship is enough to avert wolfish nature. It wouldn't avert mine, but it seems like a nice thing to do.
A medieval Torah scholar appears to make the argument that Rachel was killed by her son Benjamin, because he was a werewolf.
(I say "appears to make" because I can't tell which parts of this discussion are the words of Rabbeinu Ephraim ben Shimshon as quoted by the blogger, and which are the blogger talking to themself. The comments may also be worth reading; everyone gets very invested in the werewolf debate.)
EDIT: I'd hoped this was more of the same. Argentina's president Christina Fernandez de Kirchner adopts a Jewish seventh son as her godson to stop him from turning into a werewolf. First, I hoped this was a family tradition of the child, whose name is Yair Tawil. Then I feared it was some sort of unusually elaborate blood libel. It doesn't appear to be either.
If the article is to be believed, there's an Argentinian superstition that a seventh son (or seventh child, it appears to apply to girls too) will become a werewolf, "el lobison," on "the first Friday after his thirteenth birthday." This kid is just the first Jewish recipient of the dubious honor. Apparently, being honored as the President's godson and being given a gold medal and future academic scholarship is enough to avert wolfish nature. It wouldn't avert mine, but it seems like a nice thing to do.