History of the Day: 10/13

On this day in 1307, Phillip the (not-so) Fair of France arrested hundreds of the Knights Templar (to whom he was heavily indebted) and tortured them until they gave false confessions of heresy. He then pressured Pope Clement V (the papacy was in France at the time) to have all Templars in all kingdoms arrested. But, once freed from torture, the Templars recanted and began using legal means to defend themselves. So, Phillip had them burned at the stake and again forced Clement to order that the same be done in all kingdoms.

Paul Simon is 67 today. Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. Another singer, Sammy Hagar of Van Hagar ('cause you know it's just not the same without David Lee Roth) is 61. I mean, he did suggest they call one of their albums For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, but still, he always sounded a little whiny. Props for covering A Apolitical Blues by Little Feat, though.

Happy birthday to the U.S. Navy! Incidentally, it's also the ancient Roman festival of Fontanalia, in honor of the god Fontus. He was the god of wells and springs ... and typefaces. Just kidding, although I am kind of partial to Garamond ... and Papyrus.

Speaking of wells, there is a Jewish tradition about the well of Miriam. According to Jewish lore, it was a well made by God during the Creation which was alternately owned by Abraham, Hagar, Isaac and Jacob. It was lost while the Jews were in the Egyptian exile and rediscovered by/revealed to Miriam (Moses' sister) when they went into the desert. This tradition is based on Numbers 20:1 and 2. In the first verse Miriam dies, and in the second the people begin to grumble because they have no water. It is believed that, when Miriam died, the well was lost, though it has been sought ever since. Well, on this day in 1881, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda took a step toward recovering it when it and some friends agreed to speak only Hebrew at home and to each other. Previously, although most could speak Hebrew, the languages of the diaspora (Russian, Spanish, Yiddish, German, etc.) were primarily used, with Hebrew reserved for liturgical purposes. As a result, Ben -Yehuda's son was the first native speaker of Hebrew in over a century.