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Merkabah mysticism

Merkabah (מֶרְכָּבָה) or Merkavah mysticism  (lit. Chariot mysticism) is a school of early Jewish mysticism, c. 100 BCE – 1000 CE, centered on visions such as those found in Ezekiel 1 or in the hekhalot literature ("palaces" literature), concerning stories of ascents to the heavenly palaces and the Throne of God.

The main corpus of the Merkabah literature was composed in the period 200–700 CE, although later references to the Chariot tradition can also be found in the literature of the Ashkenazi Hasidim in the Middle Ages. A major text in this tradition is the Maaseh Merkabah (מַעֲשֵׂה מֶרְכָּבָה).

Etymology
The noun merkavah "thing to ride in, cart" is derived from the consonantal root  with the general meaning "to ride". The word "chariot" is found 44 times in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible—most of them referring to normal chariots on earth, and although the concept of the Merkabah is associated with Ezekiel's vision (1:4–26), the word is not explicitly written in Ezekiel 1.

However, when left untranslated, in English the Hebrew term merkavah relates to the throne-chariot of God in prophetic visions. It is most closely associated with the vision in Ezekiel 1 of the four-wheeled vehicle driven by four hayyot "living creatures", each of which has four wings and the four faces of a man, lion, ox, and eagle (or vulture).

Ezekiel's vision of the chariot

According to the verses in Ezekiel and its attendant commentaries, his vision consists of a chariot made of many heavenly beings driven by the "Likeness of a Man". The base structure of the chariot is composed of four beings. These beings are called the "living creatures" (חיות hayyot or khayyot). The bodies of the creatures are "like that of a human being", but each of them has four faces, corresponding to the four directions the chariot can go (East, South, North and West). The faces are that of a man, a lion, an ox (later changed to a cherub in Ezekiel ) and an eagle. Since there are four angels and each has four faces, there are a total of sixteen faces. Each of the hayyot angels also has four wings. Two of these wings spread across the length of the chariot and connect with the wings of the angel on the other side. This creates a sort of 'box' of wings that forms the perimeter of the chariot. With the remaining two wings, each angel covers its own body. Below, but not attached to, the feet of the hayyot angels are other angels that are shaped like wheels. These wheel angels, which are described as "a wheel inside of a wheel", are called "ophanim" אופנים (lit. wheels, cycles or ways). These wheels are not directly under the chariot but are nearby and along its perimeter. The angel with the face of the man is always on the east side and looks up at the "Likeness of a Man" that drives the chariot. The "Likeness of a Man" sits on a throne made of "sapphire".

The Bible later makes mention of a third type of angel found in the merkabah called "seraphim" (lit. "burning") angels. These angels appear like flashes of fire continuously ascending and descending. These seraphim angels power the movement of the chariot. In the hierarchy of these angels, hayyoth are the highest, that is, closest to God, followed by the ophanim, which are followed by the seraphim. The chariot is in a constant state of motion, and the energy behind this movement runs according to this hierarchy. The movement of the ophanim is controlled by the "Living creatures", or Hayyot, while the movement of the hayyot is controlled by the seraphim. The movement of all the angels of the chariot is controlled by the "Likeness of a Man" on the Throne.

Early Jewish merkabah mysticism
Mark Verman has distinguished four periods in early Jewish mysticism, developing from Isaiah's and Ezekiel's visions of the Throne/Chariot, to later extant merkabah mysticism texts:
 * 1) 800–500 BCE, mystical elements in Prophetic Judaism such as Ezekiel's chariot
 * 2) Beginning c. 530s BCE, especially 300–100 BCE, Apocalyptic literature mysticism
 * 3) Beginning c. 100 BCE, especially 1–130s CE, early Rabbinic merkabah mysticism referred to briefly in exoteric Rabbinic literature such as the Pardes ascent; also related to early Christian mysticism
 * 4) c. 1–200 CE, continuing till c. 1000 CE, merkabah mystical ascent accounts in the esoteric merkabah-Hekhalot literature

Rabbinic commentary

The earliest Rabbinic merkabah commentaries were exegetical expositions of the prophetic visions of God in the heavens, and the divine retinue of angels, hosts, and heavenly creatures surrounding God. The earliest evidence suggests that merkabah homiletics did not give rise to ascent experiences—as one rabbinic sage states: "Many have expounded upon the merkabah without ever seeing it."

One mention of the merkabah in the Talmud notes the importance of the passage: "A great issue—the account of the merkavah; a small issue—the discussions of Abaye and Rava [famous Talmudic sages]." The sages Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai (d. c. 80 CE) and later, Rabbi Akiva (d. 135) were deeply involved in merkabah exegesis. Rabbi Akiva and his contemporary Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha are most often the protagonists of later merkabah ascent literature.

Prohibition against study
The Talmudic interdictions concerning merkabah speculation are numerous and widely held. Discussions concerning the merkabah were limited to only the most worthy sages, and admonitory legends are preserved about the dangers of overzealous speculation concerning the merkabah.

For example, the secret doctrines might not be discussed in public: "Seek not out the things that are too hard for thee, neither search the things that are above thy strength. But what is commanded thee, think thereupon with reverence; for it is not needful for thee to see with thine eyes the things that are in secret." It must be studied only by exemplary scholars: "Ma'aseh Bereshit must not be explained before two, nor Ma'aseh Merkabah before one, unless he be wise and understands it by himself." Further commentary notes that the chapter-headings of Ma'aseh Merkabah may be taught, as was done by Rabbi Ḥiyya. According to Yer. Hagigah ii. 1, the teacher read the headings of the chapters, after which, subject to the approval of the teacher, the pupil read to the end of the chapter, although Rabbi Zera said that even the chapter-headings might be communicated only to a person who was head of a school and was cautious in temperament.

According to Rabbi Ammi, the secret doctrine might be entrusted only to one who possessed the five qualities enumerated in (being experienced in any of five different professions requiring good judgement), and a certain age is, of course, necessary. When R. Johanan wished to initiate R. Eliezer in the Ma'aseh Merkabah, the latter answered, "I am not yet old enough." A boy who recognized the meaning of חשמל was consumed by fire (Hagigah 13b), and the perils connected with the unauthorized discussion of these subjects are often described (Hagigah ii. 1; Shab. 80b).

Jewish development
Beyond the rabbinic community, Jewish apocalyptists also engaged in visionary exegeses concerning the divine realm and the divine creatures which are remarkably similar to the rabbinic material. A small number of texts unearthed at Qumran indicate that the Dead Sea community also engaged in merkabah exegesis. Recently uncovered Jewish mystical texts also evidence a deep affinity with the rabbinic merkabah homilies.

The merkabah homilies eventually consisted of detailed descriptions of multiple layered heavens (usually Seven Heavens), often guarded over by angels, and encircled by flames and lightning. The highest heaven contains seven palaces (hekhalot), and in the innermost palace resides a supreme divine image (God's Glory or an angelic image) seated on a throne, surrounded by awesome hosts who sing God's praise.

When these images were combined with an actual mystical experiential motif of individual ascent (paradoxically called "descent" in most texts, Yordei Merkabah, "descenders of the chariot", perhaps describing inward contemplation) and union is not precisely known. By inference, contemporary historians of Jewish mysticism usually date this development to the third century CE. Again, there is a significant dispute among historians over whether these ascent and unitive themes were the result of some foreign, usually Gnostic, influence, or a natural progression of religious dynamics within rabbinic Judaism.

Maaseh Merkabah
Maaseh Merkabah (Work of the Chariot) is the modern name given to a Hekhalot text, discovered by scholar Gershom Scholem. Maaseh Merkabah dates from late Hellenistic period, after the end of the Second Temple period following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE when the physical cult ceased to function. The idea of making a journey to the heavenly hekhal seems to be a kind of spiritualization of the pilgrimages to the earthly hekhal that were now no longer possible. It is a form of pre-Kabbalah Jewish mysticism that teaches both of the possibility of making a sublime journey to God and of the ability of man to draw down divine powers to earth; it seems to have been an esoteric movement that grew out of the priestly mysticism already evident in the Dead Sea Scrolls and some apocalyptic writings (see the studies by Rachel Elior).

Several movements in Jewish mysticism and, later, students of the Kabbalah have focused on these passages from Ezekiel, seeking underlying meaning and the secrets of Creation in what they argued was the metaphoric language of the verses.

Due to the concern of some Torah scholars that misunderstanding these passages as literal descriptions of God's image might lead to blasphemy or idolatry, there was great opposition to studying this topic without the proper initiation. Jewish biblical commentaries emphasize that the imagery of the merkabah is not meant to be taken literally; rather the chariot and its accompanying angels are analogies for the various ways that God reveals himself in this world. Hasidic philosophy and kabbalah discuss at length what each aspect of this vision represents in this world, and how the vision does not imply that God is made up of these forms.

Jews customarily read the Biblical passages concerning the merkabah in the synagogue every year on the holiday of Shavuot, and the merkabah is also referenced in several places in traditional Jewish liturgy.

Hekhalot literature
The main interests of Hekhalot literature are accounts of divine visions, mystical ascents into heaven and observance of the divine council, and the summoning and control of great angels, usually for the purpose of gaining insight into Torah. The locus classicus for these practices is the biblical accounts of the Chariot vision of Ezekiel and the Temple vision of Isaiah (Chap. ). It is from these, and from the many extra-canonical apocalyptic writings of heavenly visitations, that hekhalot literature emerges. Still, it is distinctive from both Qumran literature and apocalyptic writings for several reasons, chief among them being that hekhalot literature is not at all interested in eschatology, largely ignores the unique status of the priesthood, has little interest in fallen angels or demonology, and it "democratizes" the possibility of divine ascent.

In their visions, these mystics would enter into the celestial realms and journey through the seven stages of mystical ascent: the Seven Heavens and seven throne rooms. Such a journey is fraught with great danger, and the adept must not only have made elaborate purification preparation, but must also know the proper incantations, seals and angelic names needed to get past the fierce angelic guards, as well as know how to navigate the various forces at work inside and outside the palaces.

This heavenly ascent is accomplished by the recital of hymns, as well as the theurgic use of secret names of God which abound in the Hekhalot literature. The Hekalot Zutarti in particular is concerned with the secret names of God and their powers:

"This is His great name, with which Moses divided the great sea:

.בשובר ירברב סגי בדסיקין מרא סחטי בר סאיי לבים

This is His great name which turned the waters into high walls:

אנסיהגמן לכסם נעלם סוסיאל ושברים מרוב און אר אסמוריאל סחריש בי?ו אנמם כהה יהאל."

At times, heavenly interlocutors will reveal divine secrets. In some texts, the mystic's interest extends to the heavenly music and liturgy, usually connected with the angelic adorations mentioned in Isaiah 6:3. The mantra-like repetitive nature of the liturgies recorded in many of these compositions seems meant to encourage further ascent. The ultimate goal of the ascent varies from text to text. In some cases, it seems to be a visionary glimpse of God, to "Behold the King in His Beauty". Others hint at "enthronement", that the adept be accepted among the angelic retinue of God and be given an honored seat. One text actually envisions the successful pilgrim getting to sit in God's "lap". Scholars such as Peter Schaefer and Elliot Wolfson see an erotic theology implied in this kind of image, though it must be said sexual motifs, while present in highly attenuated forms, are few and far between if one surveys the full scope of the literature.

Literary works related to the Hekhalot tradition that have survived in whole or in part include Hekhalot Rabbati (or Pirkei Hekhalot), Hekhalot Zutarti, 3rd Enoch (also known as "Hebrew Enoch"), and Maaseh Merkabah. In addition there are many smaller and fragmentary manuscripts that seem to belong to this genre, but their exact relationship to Maaseh Merkabah mysticism and to each other is often not clear (Dennis, 2007, 199–120).

Key texts
The ascent texts are extant in four principal works, all redacted well after the third but certainly before the ninth century CE. They are:

 * 1) Hekhalot Zutartey ("The Lesser Palaces"), which details an ascent of Rabbi Akiva;
 * 2) Hekhalot Rabbati ("The Greater Palaces"), which details an ascent of Rabbi Ishmael;
 * 3) Maaseh Merkabah ("Work of the Chariot"), a collection of hymns recited by the "descenders" and heard during their ascent;
 * 4) Sepher Hekhalot ("Book of Palaces", also known as 3 Enoch), which recounts an ascent and divine transformation of the biblical figure Enoch into the archangel Metatron, as related by Rabbi Ishmael.

A fifth work provides a detailed description of the Creator as seen by the "descenders" at the climax of their ascent. This work, preserved in various forms, is called Shi'ur Qomah ("Measurement of the Body"), and is rooted in a mystical exegesis of the Song of Songs, a book reputedly venerated by Rabbi Akiva. The literal message of the work was repulsive to those who maintained God's incorporeality; Maimonides (d. 1204) wrote that the book should be erased and all mention of its existence deleted.

While throughout the era of merkabah mysticism the problem of creation was not of paramount importance, the treatise Sefer Yetzirah ("Book of Formation") represents an attempted cosmogony from within a merkabah milieu. This text was probably composed during the seventh century, and evidence suggests Neoplatonic, Pythagoric, and Stoic influences. It features a linguistic theory of creation in which God creates the universe by combining the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, along with emanations represented by the ten numerals, or sefirot.

Certain key concepts found in the Sefer Yetzirah, such as the "6 directions", are mentioned in the Talmud, and also the title of the book is referenced: yet scholars do not conclude that the versions of the Sefer Yetzirah that have been handed down today are identical to the book which the Talmud references.

Hekhalot literature and "Four Entered Pardes"
Moshe Idel, Gershom Scholem, Joseph Dan, and others have raised the natural question concerning the relationship between the "chambers" portion of the Hekhalot literature and the Babylonian Talmud's treatment of "The Work of the Chariot" in the presentation and analysis of such in the Gemara to tractate Hagigah of the Mishna. This portion of the Babylonian Talmud, which includes the famous "four entered pardes" material, runs from 12b-iv (wherein the Gemara's treatment of the "Work of Creation" flows into and becomes its treatment of "The Work of the Chariot") to and into 16a-i. (All references are to the ArtScroll pagination.)

By making use of the Rabbinically paradigmatic figures of Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Ishmael in their writings, the generators of the Hekhalot literature, quite arguably, seem to be attempting to show some sort of connection between their writings and the Chariot/Throne study and practice of the Rabbinic Movement in the decades immediately following upon the destruction of the Temple. However, in both the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud the major players in this Chariot/Throne endeavor are, clearly, Rabbi Akiva and Elisha ben Abuyah who is referred to as "Akher". Neither Talmud presents Rabbi Ishmael as a player in merkabah study and practice.

In the long study on these matters contained in The Written' as the Vocation of Conceiving Jewishly" (McGinley, J W; 2006) the hypothesis is offered and defended that "Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha" (more often, simply "Rabbi Ishmael") is in fact a Rabbinically sanctioned cognomen for Elisha ben Abuyah who apostatized from the Rabbinic Movement. The argument is that through this indirection Rabbinic officialdom was able to integrate into the Gemaric give and take of argumentation and analysis the huge body of halakhic and hermeneutical teachings of this great Torah scholar without, however, honoring his equally significant apostasy. To be sure, in the accounting of this figure's mystical study and practice the pejorative (in context) "Akher" is used instead of "Rabbi Ishmael". This is because Elisha ben Abuyah's teachings under the heading of "The Work of the Chariot" came to be considered heretical in contrast to his halakhic and hermeneutical teachings which were generally admired—and whose weighty influence, in any case, could not be ignored. All of this indicates that the generators of the Hekhalot literature were indeed savvy in choosing "Rabbi Ishmael" as paradigmatic in their own writings as a means of relating their own endeavors to the mystical study and practices of the tannaim in the early decades following upon the destruction of the Temple.

Both Akiva and the "Ishmaelic Akher" traded upon the "two-thrones"/"two-powers"-in-Heaven motif in their respective merkabah-oriented undertakings. Akiva's version is memorialized in the Babylonian Gemara to tractate Hagigah at 14a-ii wherein Akiva puts forth the pairing of God and "David" in a messianic version of that mystical motif. Immediately after this Akivian "solution" to the puzzle of thrones referred to in Song of Songs and the two thrones spoken of in Daniel, Chapter, the text presents Akiva as being pressured—and then acquiescing to—a domesticated version of this twoness theme for the single Jewish God which would be acceptable to Rabbinic officialdom. The text offers Justice [din] and Charity (ts'daqqa) as the middot of God which are enthroned in Heaven. (Again, 14a-ii) Akher's non-Messianic and Metatron-oriented version of this "two-thrones"/"two-powers"-in-Heaven motif is discussed at length in the entry "Paradigmatia" of the above-mentioned study. The generic point in all of this is that by the time of the final editing of the Mishna this whole motif (along with other dimensions of merkabah-oriented study and practice) came to be severely discouraged by Rabbinic officialdom. Those who still pursued these kinds of things were marginalized by the Rabbinic Movement over the next several centuries becoming, in effect, a separate grouping responsible for the Hekhalot literature.

In the "four-entered-pardes" section of this portion of the Babylonian Gemara on tractate Hagigah, it is the figure of Akiva who seems to be lionized. For of the four he is the only one presented who ascended and descended "whole". The other three were broken, one way or another: Ben Azzai dies soon after; Ben Zoma is presented as going insane; and worst of all, "Akher" apostatizes. This putative lionization of Rabbi Akiva occurs at 15b-vi-16a-i of our Gemara section.

Maimonides' explanation
Maimonides' philosophical 12th-century work Guide for the Perplexed is in part intended as an explanation of the passages Ma'aseh Bereshit and Ma'aseh Merkabah. In the third volume, Maimonides commences the exposition of the mystical passage of the mystic doctrines found in the merkabah passages, while justifying this "crossing of the line" from hints to direct instruction. Maimonides explains basic mystical concepts via the Biblical terms referring to Spheres, elements and Intelligences. In these chapters, however, there is still very little in terms of direct explanation.

"We have frequently mentioned in this treatise the principle of our Sages 'not to discuss the Maaseh Merkabah even in the presence of one pupil, except he be wise and intelligent; and then only the headings of the chapters are to be given to him.' We must, therefore, begin with teaching these subjects according to the capacity of the pupil, and on two conditions, first, that he be wise, i.e., that he should have successfully gone through the preliminary studies, and secondly that he be intelligent, talented, clear-headed, and of quick perception, that is, 'have a mind of his own', as our Sages termed it."

The Four Worlds of Kabbalah
Kabbalah relates the Merkabah vision of Ezekiel and the Throne vision of Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1–8) describing the seraph angels, to its comprehensive Four Worlds. The highest World, Atziluth ("Emanation"—Divine wisdom), is the realm of absolute Divine manifestation without self-awareness, metaphorically described in the vision as the likeness of a Man on the throne. The throne of sapphire is an etymological root in Kabbalah for the Sephirot divine powers. The second World, Beriah ("Creation"—Divine understanding), is the first independent root creation, the realm of the Throne, denoting God descending into Creation, as a king limits his true greatness and revealed posture when seated. The World of Beriah is the realm of the higher angels, the Seraphim ("burning" in ascent and descent as their understanding of God motivates self-annihilation). The third World, Yetzirah ("Formation"—Divine emotions), is the realm of archetypal existence, the abode of the main Hayyot angels ("alive" with divine emotion). They are described with faces of a lion, ox and eagle, as their emotional nature is instinctive like animals, and they are the archetypal origins of creatures in this World. The lowest World, Assiah ("Action"—Divine rulership), is the realm guided by the lower channels of the Ophanim (humble "ways" in realised creation).

The Rabbinic Talmud compares Ezekiel and Isaiah's visions of God's Chariot-Throne, noticing that Ezekiel gives a lengthy account of details, while Isaiah is very brief. It gives an exoteric explanation for this; Isaiah prophesied in the era of Solomon's Temple, Ezekiel's vision took place in the exile of Babylonian captivity. Rava states in the Babylonian Talmud that although Ezekiel describes the appearance of the throne of God, this is not because he had seen more than Isaiah, but rather because the latter was more accustomed to such visions; for the relation of the two prophets is that of a courtier to a peasant, the latter of whom would always describe a royal court more floridly than the former, to whom such things would be familiar. Ezekiel, like all prophets except Moses, has beheld only a blurred reflection of the divine majesty, just as a poor mirror reflects objects only imperfectly.

The Kabbalistic account explains this difference in terms of the Four Worlds. All prophecy emanates from the divine chokmah (wisdom) realm of Atziluth. However, in order to be perceived it descends to be enclothed in vessels of lower Worlds. Isaiah's prophecy saw the merkabah in the World of Beriah divine understanding, restraining his explanation by realising the inadequacy of description. Ezekiel saw the merkabah in the lower World of Yetzirah divine emotions, causing him to describe the vision in rapturous detail.

The two visions also form the Kedushah Jewish daily liturgy: "We will sanctify Thy name in the world even as they sanctify it in the highest heavens, as it is written by the hand of Thy prophet: 'And they (the Seraphim) called one unto the other and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.'"

"Those over against them (the Hayyot) say, Blessed: 'Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place.'"

"And in Thy holy words it is written, saying: 'The Lord shall reign forever, thy God, O Zion, unto all generations; Hallelujah.'"

According to the Kabbalistic explanation, the Seraphim ("burning" angels) in Beriah (divine understanding) realise their distance from the absolute divinity of Atziluth. Their call, "Holy", repeated three times, means removed or separated. This causes their "burning up" continual self-nullification, ascending to God and returning to their place. Their understanding realises instead that God's true purpose (glory) for creation is with lowly man. The lower Hayyot ("living" angels) in Yetzirah (divine emotions) say, "Blessed [etymologically in Kabbalah "drawing down" blessing] be the glory ... from His [distant-unknown to them] place" of Atziluth. Though lower than the Seraphim, their emotional self-awareness has a superior advantage of powerful desire. This causes them to be able to draw down divine vitality from a higher source, the supreme realm of Atziluth, to lower creation and man. In Ezekiel's vision, the Hayyot have a central role in the merkabah's channeling of the divine flow in creation.

Hasidic explanation
Hasidic thought explains Kabbalah in terms of human psychology. Through this, the merkabah is a multi-layered analogy that offers insight into the nature of man, the ecosystem, the world, and teaches self-refinement.

The four Hayyot angels represent the basic archetypes that God used to create the current nature of the world. Ophanim, which means "ways", are the ways these archetypes combine to create actual entities that exist in the world. For instance, in the basic elements of the world, the lion represents fire, the ox/earth, the man/water, and the eagle/air. However, in practice, everything in the world is some combination of all four, and the particular combination of each element that exist in each thing are its particular Ophanim or ways.

The 'man on the throne' in the vision of Ezekiel descriptively represents God, who is controlling everything that goes on in the world, and how all of the archetypes He set up should interact. The 'man on the throne', however, drives when the four angels connect their wings. This means that God will not be revealed to us by us looking at all four elements (for instance) as separate and independent entities. However, when one looks at the way that earth, wind, fire and water (for instance) which all oppose each other are able to work together and coexist in complete harmony in the world, this shows that there is really a higher power (God) telling these elements how to act.

This very lesson carries over to explain how the four basic groups of animals and the four basic archetypal philosophies and personalities reveal a higher, Godly source when one is able to read between the lines and see how these opposing forces can and do interact in harmony. A person should strive to be like a Merkaba, that is to say, he should realize all the different qualities, talents and inclinations he has (his angels). They may seem to contradict, but when one directs his life to a higher goal such as doing God's will he (the man on the chair driving the chariot) will see how they all can work together and even complement each other. Ultimately, we should strive to realize how all of the forces in the world, though they may seem to conflict, can unite when one knows how to use them all to fulfill a higher purpose; namely to serve God.

Christianity
According to Timo Eskola, early Christian theology and discourse was influenced by the Jewish merkabah tradition. Similarly, Alan Segal and Daniel Boyarin regard Paul the Apostle's accounts of his conversion experience and his ascent to the heavens (2 Corinthians 12:2–4) as the earliest first person accounts we have of a merkabah mystic in Jewish or Christian literature. Timothy Churchill has argued that Paul's Damascus road encounter (e.g., Acts 9:1–9) does not fit the pattern of merkabah, but this experience is not described in Paul's letters, and Acts does not claim to be a first-person account.

In Christianity, the man, lion, ox, and eagle are used as symbols for the four evangelists (or gospel-writers), and appear frequently in church decorations. These Creatures are called Zoë (or the Tetramorph), and surround the throne of God in Heaven, along with twenty-four elders and seven spirits of God (according to Revelation 4:1–11).

Warnings against children or "excitable persons" reading the Ezekiel story exist in some translations.

Religion, philosophy, mysticism

 * Maaseh Breishit and Maaseh Merkavah
 * Bearers of the Throne
 * Cherubim
 * Elijah's chariot of fire
 * Jewish angelic hierarchy
 * Muraqabah
 * Practical Kabbalah
 * Quadriga
 * Solar chariot
 * Vimana

Ancient astronaut theories

 * Chariots of the Gods?
 * The Spaceships of Ezekiel

Science fiction

 * Contact (film)
 * Knowing (film) (Matthäus Merian's "Chariot Vision")
 * Project UFO (TV)

Other

 * Ezekiel Airship
 * "Ezekiel Saw the Wheel" (folk song based on the vision)
 * Merkava an Israel Defense Forces main battle tank named after a more literal interpretation of the Hebrew word meaning "chariot"

title: Merkabah mysticism


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Cyrille Adoula

Cyrille Adoula (13 September 1921 – 24 May 1978) was a Congolese trade unionist and politician. He was the prime minister of the Republic of the Congo, from 2 August 1961 until 30 June 1964.

Early life and education
Cyrille Adoula was born to middle-class Bangala parents on 13 September 1921 in Léopoldville, Belgian Congo. He attended a Catholic primary school in his youth and received secondary education at St. Joseph's Institute, graduating after five years of studies in 1941. That year he began working as a clerk for various commercial firms. He did this until 1952 when he accepted a senior position at the Belgian Congo Central Bank, becoming the first African to hold a significant post there. In 1948 he became a member of the Conseil pour le Travail et la Prevoyance Sociale Indigene.

Career
In 1954, Adoula joined the Belgian Socialist Party and subsequently became the representative for Action Socialiste in Léopoldville. He also enrolled in the Fédération Générale du Travail de Belgique. Once he became one of the top Congolese delegates in the association he resigned from his bank post and devoted his time to politics. In 1957 he attended the International Labour Conference in Geneva as an adviser to the Belgian delegation. At a Fédération Générale conference in 1959 he successfully lobbied for the Congolese branch of the association to become independent, subsequently becoming secretary-general of the new federation's western chapter. In this capacity he traveled to West Germany and Israel to meet with other trade unionists and became a deputy committee member of the International Congress of Federated Trade Unions. He also cultivated a relationship with AFL–CIO unionist Irving Brown.

Entry into national politics, 1958-1960
In October 1958 a group of Léopoldville évolués including Adoula, Patrice Lumumba, Gaston Diomi Ndongala and Joseph Iléo established the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC). Diverse in membership, the party sought to peacefully achieve Congolese independence, promote the political education of the populace, and eliminate regionalism. Adoula became party vice president. While Lumumba became increasingly strident and nationalistic, Adoula remained relatively moderate. In 1959, he and Albert Kalonji made an unsuccessful attempt to oust Lumumba from the party and formed their own faction, MNC-Kalonji.

With the independence of the Republic of the Congo in the summer of 1960, Adoula became a senator in Parliament, representing the city of Coquilhatville. Though elected by the Équateur provincial assembly with the support of Parti de l'Unité Nationale, he identified himself as an independent. He requested that his membership of the International Congress of Federated Trade Unions be suspended so that he could devote his time to his new position. Nevertheless he remained well connected with trade unions and labour organisations. In the Senate's first session on 17 June 1960 Adoula proposed a resolution which was unanimously adopted, calling for representatives of the Union of South Africa to be barred from attending the Congo's independence celebrations due to the country's Apartheid policy. Patrice Lumumba became Prime Minister and offered Adoula a ministerial position in his government but the latter refused to accept it. Adoula expressed his dissatisfaction with the ultimate composition of the government and told Lumumba that he had erred in choosing to be Prime Minister of a cabinet, which faced heavy criticism from different circles.

The Congo fell into disorder shortly after independence, as the army's mutiny and the secession of the Katanga Province under Moïse Tshombe created the Congo Crisis. Adoula increasingly distanced himself from Lumumba, but continuously lobbied that the United Nations Operation in the Congo use force to put down the rebellion in the proclaimed State of Katanga. President Joseph Kasa-Vubu dismissed Lumumba in September 1960 and appointed Iléo to be his replacement, though Parliament refused to confirm him. Adoula briefly served as Iléo's minister of interior. Lumumba was definitively removed from power and eventually killed in a coup by Colonel Joseph Mobutu, who forced a new government upon Kasa-Vubu. Adoula began attracting interest from the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as a liberal, anti-communist alternative to Lumumba.

As prime minister, 1961-1964
In early 1961, the United States began to push for an Adoula-led government. United States Secretary of State Dean Rusk directed CIA agents to ensure that Adoula would become the next Congolese prime minister. The CIA acted in concert with other Western intelligence agencies in bribing Congolese parliamentarians to support Adoula. On 1 August Adoula was appointed formateur of a new government by Kasa-Vubu. The following day he presented his government to Parliament with himself as Prime Minister. Like Lumumba had before him, Adoula also gave himself responsibility over the national defence portfolio. The government was delivered a vote of confidence in the Chamber, 121 votes to none with one abstention, and the Senate voiced its support via acclamation.

Adoula managed to balance his cabinet with many former Lumumba supporters. Antoine Gizenga became deputy prime minister. Still, as his tenure progressed, Adoula faced a growing amount of opposition from the nationalist elements of MNC-Lumumba and Gizenga's faction of the Parti Solidaire Africain. He also never garnered much popular support across the country. As 1961 drew to a close, several Lumumba sympathisers withdrew from Adoula's government and Gizenga retired to Stanleyville. Gizenga's persisting counter-government in the east represented the first major challenge to Adoula's authority. In January 1962, Adoula was able to successfully arrest Gizenga. He subsequently removed the remaining Lumumba supporters from his government, thereby excluding the largest political force in the country from power.

During his inaugural address following his investiture, Adoula had declared that his government would "take adequate measures permitting each region to administer itself according to its own profound aspirations". Legislative efforts to achieve the goal immediately began, but faced strong opposition from the Lumumbist bloc, which felt that the Katanga problem should be resolved before any discussion concerning the division of the provinces.

Foreign policy
On an international level, Adoula pursued a policy of neutrality. On 4 September 1961 he attended the 1st Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Belgrade that resulted in the foundation of the Non-Aligned Movement. Following the end of the Katangese secession, he in earnest attempted to develop the Congo's foreign relations, particularly with other African states in a Pan-African image. As part of this, he supported decolonisation in southern Africa.

Adoula denounced Portuguese rule in neighboring Angola, which won him favour from the Afro-Asian bloc of non-aligned states. He actively supported the Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola (FNLA) resistance group throughout his tenure and allowed it to maintain a base in the Congo near the southern border. This was in part attributed to his longstanding personal friendship with FNLA President Holden Roberto; the two had previously been teammates for the Congolese football side Daring Club Motema Pembe. Adoula also had an interest in winning the support of Angolan refugees in Léopoldville, which grew in number after 1961. Furthermore, he hoped to undermine the Portuguese colonial authorities, which were rumored to be supporting Tshombe's efforts in mid-1963 to dislodge his administration. In November of that year his government forced one of the FNLA's chief rivals, the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, to close its Léopoldville offices and drove its leadership out of the city.

Under Adoula, the Congo joined the Pan-African Freedom Movement for East and Central Africa. He agreed to supply funds to various liberation movements in southern Africa and arranged for an office building dubbed the "House of African Nationalists" to be opened in Léopoldville for their use. Despite this, the funds never proved forthcoming and the liberation movements struggled with logistics and organisation.

Attempted post-secession reconciliation and communist rebellion
Following the defeat of Katanga, Adoula organised a new "Government of Reconciliation" in April 1963.

From Gizenga's arrest in early 1962 until Parliament's adjournment in September 1963, most of the dissent Adoula faced from the left came in the form of obstructionist activities in the legislative process. In October the radical Comité National de Libération (CNL) formed in Brazzaville with the goal of overthrowing Adoula's government. By December a CNL-instigated revolt had emerged in Kwilu Province. The larger Simba rebellion of 1964 saw much of the eastern Congo overrun by leftist guerrilla forces. During the run-up to new elections in the summer, three new political coalitions in the country emerged. One of these was the Rassemblement des démocrates congolaise (RADECO), which consisted of 50 small organisations led by Jacques Massa. Centrist in ideology, it failed to amass much popular support. Adoula was elected as its president on 14 June. Still unable to contain the leftist insurrections, Adoula was forced by Kasa-Vubu to resign. He then voluntarily left the country.

Later life, 1965-1978
In a New Year's message at the beginning of 1965, Prime Minister Moise Tshombe, Adoula's replacement, rejected conciliation with the rebels and called for their total defeat. Adoula dissented and put forth his own "African Plan" for the Congo in the weekly Jeune Afrique. He insisted that any long term solution for peace and stability required input from rebel leaders, emphasizing that since their defeat would require the use of European mercenaries, acting to suppress them would only increase the Congo's reliance on external forces. He also accused Tshombe of antagonizing opposition and called for the creation of a transitional government to oversee a settlement without him. Tshombe responded by blaming the conflict on Adoula, accusing him of weakening the central government and Balkanising the country by dividing the six original provinces into 22 new ones.

In November 1965, Adoula returned to the Congo after Mobutu had seized power. He was accommodating of Mobutu's new regime and served as the Congolese Ambassador to the United States and Ambassador to Belgium. In 1969 he became Foreign Minister. He fell ill in May 1970. Mobutu took charge of the portfolio and Adoula retired from politics.

Personal life, beliefs and death
In 1978 Adoula suffered a heart attack and went to Lausanne, Switzerland for treatment. He succumbed to an illness and died there on 24 May 1978.

Adoula was an anti-clerical and a socialist. He was well known publicly for his belief in socialism, but it was non-Marxist in nature; he was an anti-communist. In December 1957 he explained his beliefs to Présence Africaine: "Being a Socialist, I am for the transformation of the present society into one benefiting the entire collectivity. And for this, I conceive the collectivization of the means of production and the lower echelon workers of the latter. In order to attain this goal, I only see one means: the struggle of the classes, the permanent class struggle until this result is obtained."

Legacy
In most written histories Adoula is portrayed as a weak, ineffective prime minister and a lackey of the United States government.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Cyrille Adoula


text:
Talk:Edgeworth series

In this article as it originally appeared, the statement of the central limit theorem was wrong. The error was copied from the cited 1958 paper. Here is a simple counterexample: Suppose X1 = 0 or 1, each with probability 1/2, and Xi = 0 with probability 1. Then the expression that was asserted to approach the normal c.d.f. does not. I have inserted the additional hypothesis that the sum of the variances diverges to infinity. Michael Hardy 02:34, 10 May 2004 (UTC)

I have changed f(x) to F(x) in the statement about the convergence at the end of the Gram-Charlier A series. I think that is the function which was meant. Lafrontera 17:51, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

I changed the priority to mid because (1) Edgeworth expansions are taught first or second term in the core of a stats PhD; (2) they are also taught to some masters students; and, (3) they are used in other fields (such as astronomy). Someday soon I'll update the page for the general form of the expansion. --Cumulant 20:55, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

The notation "F" appears to be used inconsistently. It is introduced in the G-C section as a density (nonstandard usage!), but explicitly defined as the (sample) cumulative distribution F_n in the Edgeworth section. Later, however, it is referred to as a "density", despite being linked with \Phi, the normal cdf. Could an expert sort this out? Gilgalad55 (talk) 19:06, 3 August 2010 (UTC)

I agree with this point; F is sometimes used as a density and sometimes as a cdf. This is incorrect and extremely confusing — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.77.85.3 (talk) 21:48, 28 November 2014 (UTC)

Gram-Charlier
Who are they? Albmont 17:02, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

 * Good question. I'm not sure, but I suspect Gram is the same person whose name appears in the phrase Gram-Schmidt process, and that Charlier is the one whose name appears in Poisson-Charlier polynomials. Michael Hardy 21:21, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

 * Gram is the same; suspect (but haven't confirmed) that Charlier is also the same. FWIW, Gram and Charlier were mathematicians living around the end of the nineteenth century. The Gram-Charlier Series was actually found first by Thiele who gets no credit (thus partially fulfilling Stigler's law of eponymy).

 * Thiele's work was published in 1871 as (Danish) "En mathematisk Formel for Dødeligheden, prøvet paa en af Livsforsikringanstalten af 1871 benyttet Erfaringrække"; an English translation followed in 1872. Gram's article was published in 1883 as (German) "Über die Entwickelung reeler Funktionen in Reihen mittelstder Methode der kleinsten Quadrate".  Charlier?  Eh.  Late to the party from what I can tell -- although if someone can figure out how he enters in, I'd love to hear it.--Cumulant 19:32, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

What is n?
I think the definition of n in Edgeworth (after Gram-Charlier) is confusing. It says that the two are the same thing except that Edgeworth is grouped by powers of n, but GC has no n at all. What would it even mean to follow the GC derivation and then group it by n part way through when there is no n. After many reads, my best understanding is that n is the number of these iid variables summed together that we are trying to estimate the cdf and pdf of. So, n would usually be set to 1 I would think?????? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.182.7.143 (talk) 22:24, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

Edgeworth Series
This section is hard to read. There seems to be an error in the computation of the rth cumulant, and it is not at all clear how to "group by powers of n." This section should be rewritten along the lines of http://sites.stat.psu.edu/~drh20/asymp/fall2004/lectures/edgeworth.pdf — Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.134.212.74 (talk) 21:56, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

title: Talk:Edgeworth series


text:
Nap Lajoie

Napoléon "Nap" Lajoie (September 5, 1874 – February 7, 1959), also known as Larry Lajoie, was an American professional baseball second baseman who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Nicknamed "the Frenchman", he represented both Philadelphia franchises and the Cleveland Naps, the latter of which he became the namesake of, and from 1905 through 1909, the player-manager.

Lajoie was signed to the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League (NL) in 1896. By the beginning of the 20th century, however, the upstart American League (AL) was looking to rival the supremacy of the NL and in 1901, Lajoie and dozens of former National League players joined the American League. National League clubs contested the legality of contracts signed by players who jumped to the other league, but eventually Lajoie was allowed to play for Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics. During the season, Lajoie set the all-time American League single-season mark for the highest batting average (.426). One year later, Lajoie went to the Cleveland Bronchos, where he would play until the 1915 season, when he returned to play for Mack and the Athletics. While with Cleveland, Lajoie's popularity led to locals electing to change the club's team name from Bronchos to Napoleons ("Naps" for short), which remained until after Lajoie departed Cleveland and the name was changed to Indians (the team's name until 2021).

Lajoie led the AL in batting average five times in his career and four times recorded the highest number of hits. During several of those years with the Naps, he and Ty Cobb dominated AL hitting categories and traded batting titles with each other, most notably coming in 1910, when the league's batting champion was not decided until well after the last game of the season and after an investigation by American League President Ban Johnson. Lajoie in 1914 joined Cap Anson and Honus Wagner as the only major league players to record 3,000 career hits. He led the NL or AL in putouts five times in his career and in assists three times. He has been called "the best second baseman in the history of baseball" and "the most outstanding player to wear a Cleveland uniform." Cy Young said, "Lajoie was one of the most rugged players I ever faced. He'd take your leg off with a line drive, turn the third baseman around like a swinging door and powder the hand of the left fielder." He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937.

Early life
Lajoie was born on September 5, 1874, in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, to Jean Baptiste and Celina Guertin Lajoie. Jean Lajoie was French-Canadian and had immigrated to the United States. Upon arrival to the U.S., he first settled in Rutland, Vermont, but then moved to Woonsocket, where Nap, the youngest of eight surviving children, was born. Throughout his childhood Lajoie received little formal education.

Jean, who worked as a teamster and laborer, died not long into Lajoie's childhood, which forced him and his siblings to work to support the family. Lajoie dropped out of school to work in a textile mill. He also began playing semi-professional baseball for the local Woonsocket team, under the alias "Sandy" because his parents did not approve of their son playing baseball. He earned money as a taxi driver with a horse and buggy and locally was called "Slugging Cabby." "When I told my father I had decided to take the job he was very angry. He shouted that ball players were bums and that nobody respected them, but I was determined to give it a try at least one season," Lajoie later said. He also received the nickname "Larry" from a teammate who had trouble pronouncing Lajoie. Lajoie admired baseball players such as King Kelly and Charles Radbourn.

When word of Lajoie's baseball ability spread, he began to play for other semi-professional teams at $2 to $5 per game ($0 to $0 in current dollar terms). He also worked as a teamster. He left Woonsocket and his $7.50 per week ($0 in current dollar terms) working as a taxi driver and joined the Class B New England League's Fall River Indians in 1896. Lajoie played as a center fielder, first baseman and catcher, earning $25 weekly ($0 in current dollar terms). He recorded 163 hits in 80 games and led the team in batting average, doubles, triples, home runs and hits. Lajoie was "widely regarded as an outstanding prospect," and Indians owner Charlie Marston rejected an offer from the Pittsburgh Pirates for Lajoie in exchange for $500 ($0 in current dollar terms). He was also scouted by the Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Beaneaters.

Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies of the MLB's National League (NL) purchased Lajoie and teammate Phil Geier from Fall River for $1,500 ($0 in current dollar terms) on August 9. Phillies' manager Billy Nash originally went to Fall River intending to sign Geier only but obtained Lajoie when the team agreed to include him in their asking price. Author David Jordan wrote:

"A legend later grew up that Geier was the main target of Nash's pursuit and that Marston 'threw in' Lajoie in order to get the Phillies to pay the $1,500 asking price. This is hardly likely. While Geier was considered a good prospect, Lajoie was banging the ball at a .429 clip in his first professional season, was a fine fielder, and had already been sought by several big league clubs. Nap Lajoie clearly represented a financial asset to Marston, who did not give him away. The price the Phillies paid was a substantial sum for two minor leaguers in 1896."

Against the Washington Senators on August 12, 1896, Lajoie made his major league debut. He played first base and recorded a single. Ed Delahanty was being considered to play the first base position after Dan Brouthers retired. Delahanty, however, wanted Lajoie to play first so he could return to his natural position of left field. Delahanty said to Lajoie, "Look, sonny, you tell the boss you're a first baseman and you and me are gonna get along." Lajoie became the team's first baseman, and by the end of the season he and Delahanty were roommates. Later in 1898, new manager George Stallings moved Lajoie to second base, commenting, "[Lajoie would] have made good no matter where I positioned him."

Lajoie hit .363 and led the NL in slugging percentage in 1897 and doubles and RBIs in 1898. He had a .378 batting average in 1899, though he played only 77 games due to an injury. In 1900, he missed five weeks due to a broken thumb suffered in a fistfight with teammate Elmer Flick.

In April 1900, Brooklyn manager Ned Hanlon made a public offer of $10,000 to purchase Lajoie from the Phillies which would be rebuffed by the Phillies ownership.

John Rogers, described as a "penny-pinching" majority owner of the Phillies, assured Lajoie that he would make the same salary as Delahanty. However, Lajoie discovered that while he was earning $2,600 ($0 in current dollar terms), Delahanty earned $3,000 ($0 in current dollar terms) (contracts for NL players were not allowed to surpass $2,400). Rogers increased Lajoie's pay by $200 but the damage had already been done. "Because I felt I had been cheated, I was determined to listen to any reasonable American League offer," Lajoie said.

Philadelphia Athletics
In 1901, the newly created American League had attracted several of the top players in the competing National League to join its ranks. Rogers declined Lajoie's request for an increase in salary, and as a result Lajoie jumped to the crosstown Philadelphia Athletics, owned by former Phillies' part-owner Benjamin Shibe and managed by Connie Mack. Frank Hough offered Lajoie the contract on behalf of Mack. "Hough offered me $24,000 ($0 in current dollar terms) for four years. You can bet I signed in a hurry," Lajoie said. Lajoie was considered "the first superstar" to join the newly formed AL. He was also the first player whose yearly salary was $4,000 ($0 in current dollar terms). "The Phillies opened their season and drew 6,000 fans. A week later, when we opened, there were 16,000 in the stands. The American League was here to stay," Lajoie later said. Lajoie's batting average that year was .426 (due to a transcription error that was not discovered until 1954, which inaccurately gave his hit total as 220 instead of 229, it was originally recorded at .405, later changed to .422, before finally being revised again to .426). The batting average mark became the all-time AL record after the number was revised. Previously, Ty Cobb and George Sisler had been credited with having the AL's all-time mark. That same year in a game against the Chicago White Sox's Clark Griffith, Lajoie became the second Major Leaguer after Abner Dalrymple in 1881 to be intentionally walked with the bases loaded in an 11–7 game. For the 1901 season, Lajoie led the majors in doubles (48), and led the majors in hits (232), batting average (.426), runs (145), on-base (.463) and slugging percentage (.643), and total bases (350). His 125 RBIs led the AL and his 14 home runs were a career-best and his 48 doubles are a Philadelphia Athletics' record. Mack said of Lajoie, "He plays so naturally and so easily it looks like lack of effort." Author Robert Kelly writes:

"The .422 [sic] batting average of Lajoie still stands as an AL record. To some degree, however, it is tainted. The 1901 season was the first for the AL and the level of competition was presumably evolving. Such questions, however, in no way cast doubt on the extraordinary batting ability of the second baseman.'"

In April 1902, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania overruled an earlier decision by the Court of Common Pleas and upheld the reserve clause in contracts between players and NL clubs. President of the Chicago National League Club Jim Hart said the state Supreme Court's decision had dealt "a fatal blow to the rival league" and NL clubs "have won a great victory." The Phillies' Rogers obtained an injunction barring Lajoie from playing baseball for any team other than his team. However, a lawyer discovered that the injunction was enforceable only in the state of Pennsylvania. The courts ruled that the reserve clause was not valid for players who signed with an AL team. Mack responded by trading Lajoie and Bill Bernhard to the then-moribund Cleveland Bronchos, whose owner, Charles Somers, had provided considerable financial assistance to the A's in the early years. Lajoie was also pursued by Charles Comiskey, owner of the Chicago White Sox.

Cleveland Bronchos/Naps
Lajoie, nicknamed "The Frenchman" and considered baseball's most famous player at the time, arrived in Cleveland on June 4; his play was immediately met with approval from fans. The Bronchos drew 10,000 fans to League Park in Lajoie's first game. The Bronchos' record at the time Lajoie and fellow Athletics teammate, Bill Bernhard, joined was 11–24 and improved to 12–24 after the team's inaugural game with their new players, a 4–3 win over the Boston Americans. The team went on to finish 69–67, fifth in the AL, for the franchise's first winning record since the AL began as a league. After his first season with the Bronchos, Lajoie's .378 average led all AL players. New York Giants manager, John McGraw, was rumored to want to sign Lajoie, but Lajoie said "... I intend to stick to Cleveland."

For the remainder of 1902 and most of 1903, Lajoie and Elmer Flick traveled separately from the rest of the team, needing to avoid entering Pennsylvania so as to avoid a subpoena (the only team they could legally play with inside state limits was the Phillies). When the Naps (the team was temporarily named the Naps after Nap Lajoie) went to play in Philadelphia, Lajoie and Bernhard would go to nearby Atlantic City to help pass the time. The issue was finally resolved when the leagues made peace through the National Agreement in September 1903 (which also brought the formation of the World Series). To begin the 1903 season, the club changed its name from the Bronchos to the Naps in honor of Lajoie after a readers' poll result was released by the Cleveland Press. (The team was officially the Blues in their inaugural AL season but changed to the Bronchos for the 1902 season.) The Bronchos finished the season 77–63 and Lajoie finished his first full season with the club again the AL's batting champion with a .344 average. He also led the league in slugging percentage (.518), finished second in doubles (41), third in RBIs (93) and tied for fifth in home runs (7). In the off-season he contracted pleurisy.

During the 1904 season, Lajoie received a suspension after he spat tobacco juice in an umpire's eye. He later informally replaced Bill Armour as the team's manager (Armour submitted his resignation on September 9 but as team captain, Lajoie had already been acting as the Naps' field manager). After the season had concluded, Lajoie was officially named manager. He still managed to lead the majors with a .376 batting average as he recorded his second consecutive league batting title. He also led the majors in hits (208), doubles (49), RBIs (102) and slugging percentage (.546). Lajoie forbade his players from card playing and gambling during the regular season. As a manager, Lajoie was also described as "much too lenient with his players."

Lajoie contracted sepsis from an untreated spike injury after a game in July 1905. Dye from Lajoie's stockings entered his bloodstream and led to blood poisoning. (A rule was put into place requiring white socks to be worn underneath a player's colored socks.) The injury worsened and Lajoie eventually came to games in a wheelchair, and doctors considered amputation. The injury and illness kept Lajoie out until August 28, when he returned as the team's first baseman. Near the end of the season he sustained an injury to his ankle from a foul tip during an at bat, and did not play for the remainder of the season but continued to manage from the bench. He finished the season having only appeared in 65 games (a career-low, other than his rookie season when he was not called up until well after the season had begun). The Naps finished with a 76–78 record in a season in which they had been 52–29, and held a three-game lead in the American League on July 24 Baseball historian Bill James wrote of Lajoie's higher-than-normal career putout total and importance to Cleveland:

"Nap Lajoie was not only the team's superstar, after 1905 he was also the manager. He was more than that—hell, the team was actually called the 'Naps' in his honor, as if Lajoie was the team. If Lajoie was in the habit of covering second base every play, the shortstop certainly wasn't going to tell him not to."

Lajoie led the majors in 1906 in hits (214) and doubles (48) and the Naps finished third in the AL again with a winning record, 89–64. Lajoie finished second in the AL to George Stone in batting average, slugging and on-base percentage. In 1906 he married Myrtle Smith and the couple moved to a small farm outside Cleveland.

In June of the 1907 season, Lajoie's .296 average, "an average even now that scores of players would be glad to accept," put him at risk for hitting below .300 for the first time in his career. He also missed 15 games due to a recurrence of sepsis. Lajoie and Naps first baseman George Stovall got into an argument in a hotel lobby and Stovall broke a chair over Lajoie's head. "George didn't mean anything by it," Lajoie said, and the two maintained a working relationship. He finished the season with an average of .301. Naps owner Charles Somers received a trade offer from the Detroit Tigers for Flick and the Tigers' Ty Cobb. Tigers manager Hughie Jennings called Somers and told him he was offering the trade because Cobb was not getting along with several teammates. Somers decided to retain Flick, saying, "We'll keep Flick. Maybe he isn't as good a batter as Cobb, but he's much nicer to have on the team." The Naps finished the regular season in second place to the Tigers with a 90–64 record, a half-game behind the Tigers (who finished 90–63 and were not forced to make-up a rained out game in accordance with league rules). Lajoie was partly blamed for the Naps' second-place finish. Author Fred McMane described an instance during the season between Naps catcher Nig Clarke and Lajoie.

"Clarke ... was newly married and asked Lajoie for a day off so that he could go home. Lajoie refused. Clarke sulked and walked over to warm up pitcher Addie Joss. On the first pitch, he stuck out a finger and the ball broke it cleanly. With blood streaming from his hand, Clarke waved it defiantly in front of Lajoie. 'Now can I go home?' asked Clarke. He was out five weeks, and Cleveland lost the pennant to Detroit by half a game."

Lajoie finished the season tied for third-most in hits (168) while Cobb's batting average, slugging and on-base percentages, and hit total led the American League. Baseball historians have suggested the managerial duties Lajoie took on affected his offensive numbers.

Lajoie's dissatisfaction with the Naps' play worsened. "You can't win in the major leagues unless you have players who know the game. We don't have time to teach and train youngsters up here. Our job is to win pennants, not run schools," he said. Franklin Lewis, sports writer and author, wrote "Lajoie, in spite of his marvelous fielding and tremendous batting, was not exactly a darling of the grandstand as a manager." Lajoie recommended to Somers on August 17, 1909, he find the team a new manager, although he wanted to remain on the club as a player. Somers responded to Lajoie by giving him more time to finalize his decision but when Lajoie came back days later and announced the same decision, Somers acted quickly to find a replacement. Lajoie later described the decision to take on the added duties as a player-manager as the biggest mistake of his career as he felt it negatively affected his play. The highest-paid player in the league, he also offered a $10,000 ($0 in current dollar terms) reduction in salary. Somers promoted Naps coach Deacon "Jim" McGuire to manager. The team finished 71–82 while Lajoie's .324 average was third in the AL and 33 doubles second. The Naps finished 1910 71–81 but Lajoie had one of his better seasons statistically as he led the majors with a .384 average and 227 hits, both categories bettered only in Lajoie's 1901 campaign. His 51 doubles, a career-high, and 304 total bases led the majors, the fourth and final time in his career he would lead the majors in the latter category. Lajoie missed significant parts of back-to-back seasons, the first in 1911 when he appeared in just 90 games. Stovall, the former Naps first baseman, replaced McGuire as the club's manager and the Naps finished 80–73. Lajoie was forced to sit out six weeks of the 1912 season when he sprained his back in May during a practice session in Chicago. He played in 117 games on the season, an increase of the 90 he played in one season before, but Cleveland, who had hired Joe Birmingham as the team's fifth manager since Lajoie gave up the role in 1909, finished 75–78. Lajoie and Joe Jackson tied for the team lead with 90 RBIs. He finished fourth in the AL with a .368 batting average. In 1913, Birmingham and Lajoie had arguments in the open, including one incident in June when Lajoie cursed Birmingham openly to reporters after being benched during a batting slump. Lajoie hit .335 on the year, the last time he would hit over .300 in his career.

Only two other major league players had attained 3,000 career hits until Lajoie hit a double on September 27, 1914, and so joined Cap Anson and Honus Wagner in the 3,000 hit club. Lajoie recorded the hit off Yankees pitcher Marty McHale in a 5–3 Naps win. His .258 batting average for the season, however, was the lowest since he had joined the majors in 1896. The Naps finished in last place in the American League standings with a 51–102 record, their worst record since joining the league and the franchise's lowest winning percentage (.333). Lajoie requested that Somers trade him and the club obliged, selling Lajoie to the Athletics for the waiver price and in so doing, Lajoie returned to Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Athletics (second stint)
The following season, 1915, Lajoie returned to the Athletics when Mack signed him to a contract. In his first season back with the Athletics, he finished with a .280 batting average but the team ended the season in last place with a 43–109 record. The 1916 season would be Lajoie's last in the majors. In his final major league game, he hit a triple to help Athletics pitcher Joe Bush win his no-hitter. Lajoie, aged 41 years, played in 113 games and finished with a .246 average. Philadelphia's season record was worse than the previous season's franchise-low record, and the team finished in last place again with a 36–117 record. The Athletics' winning percentage (.235) is the franchise's worst winning percentage (through the 2021 season); moreover, it is the lowest of any major league team in the modern (post-1900) era.

Minor leagues and retirement
In 1917, Lajoie joined the Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League as manager. At the age of 42, Lajoie won the league's batting title with batting average of .380. He appeared in 151 of 156 games and, for the first time in his career, played on a team that won a pennant. He later was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers for $3,000 ($0 in current dollar terms) in March 1918 but the contract was annulled by the Commissioner's office and made a free agent to which Lajoie was "well pleased". Later that same year he joined the Indianapolis Indians of the American Association as player-manager. He helped lead the team to a third-place finish but the season was impacted due to the U.S.'s involvement in World War I. Lajoie made his services available to the draft board but they rejected his offer. On December 27, 1918, Lajoie announced his retirement from baseball.

Several years after his retirement, a story in The Milwaukee Sentinel talked of Lajoie's ability to "outguess any pitcher." Lajoie faced pitcher Red Donahue, who avoided pitching fastballs to Lajoie after seeing him go 4-for-4 against a fellow pitcher. Donahue instead made pitches on the outside corner, to which Lajoie reached over "and hit them with ease." Donahue then aimed a pitch at Lajoie's head and he proceeded to hit a home run. "That's the kind I eat", he said.

Rivalry with Ty Cobb
For the first part of the 20th century, Lajoie's and Ty Cobb's statistics rivaled each other like few other players in the American League. In 1908, Honus Wagner and Lajoie recorded their 2,000th career hits. Baseball historian David Anderson wrote:

"Nap Lajoie reached the milestone later in the summer with even less hoopla, in an age when individual records received little attention from the press and were generally scorned by many players. Players overly worried about their individual stats were often unpopular with teammates. The modesty of Wagner and Lajoie over their achievements contrasted sharply with Cobb's ambition and overriding interest in his individual numbers."

The Lajoie-Cobb rivalry reached a peak in 1910, when Hugh Chalmers of the Chalmers Auto Company (a direct predecessor to modern-day Chrysler) promised a Chalmers 30 Roadster to the season's batting champion. The public became fascinated with the daily statistics of Lajoie and Cobb in what became known as the Chalmers Race. Sports bettors, who by this time followed the sport attentively, also followed the daily reports with interest. Cobb took the final two games, a doubleheader, off against the Chicago White Sox, confident that his average was safe and would allow him to win the AL batting title—unless Lajoie had a near-perfect final day. Going into the final game of the season, Cobb's average led Lajoie's, .383 to .376.

Lajoie and the Naps faced a doubleheader against the St. Louis Browns in Sportsman's Park, Cleveland's final two games of the season. After a sun-hindered fly ball went for a stand-up triple and another batted ball landed for a cleanly hit single, Lajoie had five subsequent hits – bunt singles dropped in front of rookie third baseman Red Corriden (whose normal position was shortstop), who was playing closer to shallow left field on orders, it has been suggested, of manager Jack O'Connor. In his final at bat of the second game, Lajoie reached base on another bunt but the throw to first by Corriden was off target and the play was scored a error and thus, Lajoie did not record an official at-bat, nor a hit. He finished the doubleheader 8-for-8 and his batting average increased to .384, .001 greater than Cobb's mark. Although the AL office had not officially announced the results, Lajoie began to receive congratulations from fans and players, including eight of Cobb's Detroit Tigers teammates. Most players in the league preferred Lajoie's personality to that of Cobb's. Coach Harry Howell is reported to have said to the game's official scorer, E. V. Parish, "to do well by Lajoie." Howell was reported to have offered a bribe to Parish, which as described in Al Stump's biography of Cobb, was a $40 ($0 in current dollar terms) suit. Parish refused the offer and the resulting uproar ended in O'Connor and Howell being banned from the major leagues by AL President Ban Johnson.

Johnson had the matter investigated, and after having Cobb's September 24 doubleheader statistics re-checked, discovered only the first game of Cobb's statistics had been scored, but not the second game, in which he went 2-for-3. This put Cobb's suggested actual batting average at .385, again ahead of Lajoie's. In the end, Johnson ruled that Lajoie's sacrifice bunt should have been recorded as a hit (which would have allowed him to go 9-for-9) but that Cobb's batting average was greater, recording 196 hits in 509 at bats to Lajoie's 227 hits in 591 at bats. Johnson asked Chalmers if his company would award an automobile to each player, to which he agreed. Lajoie initially refused the car, but eventually relented and accepted it. Cobb said, "I am glad that I won an automobile and am especially pleased that Lajoie also gets one. I have no one to criticize. I know the games were on the square and I am greatly pleased to know that the affair has ended so nicely." Lajoie said, "I am quite satisfied that I was treated fairly in every way by President Johnson, but I think the scorer at St. Louis made an error in not crediting me with nine hits. However, I am glad that the controversy is over. I have the greatest respect for Cobb as a batter and am glad of his success."

The Sporting News published an article written by Paul MacFarlane in its April 18, 1981, issue where historian Pete Palmer had discovered that while Cobb's September 24 doubleheader was not correctly tabulated (perhaps purposely) according to the correct date, the second game's statistics were in fact included in the next day's ledger, thus incorrectly recording a second 2-for-3 performance from Cobb which meant Lajoie's average was greater. Author James Vail wrote in 2001:

"To date, it seems that no one knows for certain who won that 1910 batting title. Total Baseball, which is now the official major-league record, lists both men at .384 in its seasonal section, but its player register has Lajoie at the same number and Cobb at .383—so even the various editors of that source do not, or cannot, agree."

Jon Wertheim wrote in Sports Illustrated 100 years after the event,

"The statistics for the Detroit players had been crossed out and nullified. Every Detroit player, that is, except one: Ty Cobb. It takes something less than a detective to arrive at the conclusion that at some point Johnson (or someone in the league office, anyway) realized the error and decided to conceal it."

Legacy
Lajoie ended his career with a lifetime .338 batting average. His career total of 3,252 hits was the second-most in MLB history at the time of his retirement, behind only Honus Wagner's total (3,420). Lajoie's 2,522 hits in the American League was that league's record until Cobb surpassed his mark. He was among the second group of players elected to the Hall of Fame in 1937 and was later inducted on June 12, 1939, when the Hall opened that same year. Lajoie obtained the greatest number of votes as he led induction mates Tris Speaker (165 votes) and Cy Young (153) with 168 votes (83.6 percent of ballots) from the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Lajoie led all second basemen in the NL in putouts (1898) and the AL four times in his career (1901, 1903, 1906, and 1908). From 1906–1908 he led the AL in assists (amongst second basemen). He also led the league in double plays six times in his career. Baseball historian William McNeil rates Lajoie as the game's greatest second baseman, when combining both offensive and defensive impact. Bill James argues, "In the last 20 years several statistical analysts ... have credited Lajoie with immense defensive value ... this analysis is incorrect. He was a competent fielder, even a good fielder. He was not a defensive superstar."

During spring training before the 1928 season, Lajoie commented on the 1927 New York Yankees. "Of course, you could see a lot of loafing going on but if that club is the greatest of all times, you just know that we had a lot of clubs in my time who were world champions and didn't know it." He died in Daytona Beach, Florida on February 7, 1959, at the age of 84 from complications associated with pneumonia. He had fallen in the autumn of 1958 and fractured his arm. His wife had died earlier in 1951. In 1999, he ranked number 29 on The Sporting News' list of the "100 Greatest Baseball Players", and was a nominee for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

Lajoie was included in the checklist for the 1933 baseball card set produced by the Goudey Gum Company. However, the card (#106 in the set) became infamous for being impossible to find copies of. While the company eventually sent copies of the card to those collectors who wrote in to complain, it was revealed years later that the uncut sheets of the set did not include the card, and the alleged 1933 Lajoie card was printed with the 1934 set. Today, the card is among the highest value from the set.

Lajoie is mentioned in the poem "Line-Up for Yesterday" by Ogden Nash:

In Ring Lardner's 1911 baseball song, "Gee, It's a Wonderful Game", a stanza refers to Lajoie:

Who lost out in the battle of old Waterloo?/ I don't know, I don't know/ They say 'twas Na-po-le-on/ Maybe it's true/ Maybe so, I don't know/ The pink sheets don't print Mr. Bonaparte's face/ No stories about him today/ 'Cause he never could hold down that old second base/ Like his name sake/ Big Nap Lay'-ooh-way

Lajoie's likeness made a brief cameo appearance in the 1992 The Simpsons episode "Homer at the Bat" as one of the would-be ringers for Mr. Burns' company softball team. Mr. Burns had planned to have Lajoie play second base, until his assistant Smithers points out that all of the players Mr. Burns had selected had long since retired and died.

title: Nap Lajoie


text:
User:Hayyoth

Greetings. I am Hayyoth
My purpose here is to dispute religion through intimate knowledge of religion itself. Knowledge is faith's enemy. Learn, do not remain stagnant in your studies, or you will never find happyness.

I'm just messing with you. Actually, I have a well rounded knowledge of most major religions, and I am intrigued with the idea of faith, mostly because i do not feel it towards any diety (although i do belive there is some sort of higher power). I'm always open to discussion about anything theological, and if you know any good books on the basic overview of Hinduism, please let me know!

Hope to talk to you soon, and someone bless!

title: User:Hayyoth


text:
Talk:Private Media Group

Untitled
This page should probably be retitled "Private Media Group", but I'd like to defer to someone more experienced before I do anything drastic. Tregoweth 02:37, May 10, 2004 (UTC)

Moved Private (magazine) to Private Media Group. (My first relocation -- hopefully I did it correctly...) Tregoweth 01:33, May 14, 2004 (UTC)

Edit on 5 November 2005
What a strange edit. Positron Emission Tomography? Particle acceleration porn? Private Media Glop? Somebody who knows if this company actually produces physics porn should look into this.

Itsme2003 23:52, 18 June 2007 (UTC)I tried to clean up some of the most offensive "press release" nature of this article. I want to encourage someone else to do some more along the same lines.

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title: Talk:Private Media Group


text:
David M. Cote

David M. Cote (born July 19, 1952 ) is an American businessman. Cote previously worked for General Electric and TRW Inc. before he was appointed chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Honeywell in 2002, following their acquisition by AlliedSignal. Cote also sat on the JP Morgan Chase risk committee during the period in which the firm lost $6 billion trading credit derivatives. Cote stepped down as CEO at Honeywell at the end of March 2017 and was succeeded by Darius Adamczyk. Cote is currently the executive chairman of Vertiv.

Early life
Cote was born in Manchester, New Hampshire and graduated from Pembroke Academy in Pembroke, New Hampshire in 1970. The following year, Cote enrolled at the University of New Hampshire, and while attending UNH full-time, he worked an hourly job on the night shift at a nearby GE jet engine plant. In 1976, he graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a bachelor's degree in business administration.

General Electric
Cote joined General Electric full-time in November 1976, and worked there for more than twenty years. He transitioned from his hourly production work at the General Electric aircraft-engine plant in New Hampshire to a full-time auditing job at another GE plant in Massachusetts. In 1985, his handling of an interaction with CEO Jack Welch became the catalyst for Cote's advancement at GE. Welch promoted Cote three levels of management. Over his career there, he held positions in manufacturing, finance, marketing, strategic planning and general management, before becoming CEO of GE Appliances in 1996.

TRW
In November 1999, Cote joined TRW as president and COO where he introduced the Six Sigma management system to reduce defects in manufacturing. In February 2001, Cote was appointed CEO, and later chairman of the board. Cote led the creation of the TRW subsidiary Velocium, which manufactured ultra-high-speed semiconductors.

In February 2002, Cote announced he would be leaving TRW. Reportedly, the news surprised employees and some executives, who learned of Cote's departure hours before the announcement.

Honeywell
Honeywell selected Cote as successor to Lawrence Bossidy, following the AlliedSignal acquisition of Honeywell and European Union's rejection of Honeywell's merger with General Electric. Cote was elected CEO, president, and a member of the board of directors on February 19, 2002. He was elected chairman of the board on July 1, 2002.

The year Cote took office, Honeywell lost $220 million. Cote instituted conservative accounting to streamline costs. In an effort to reduce the unpredictability of asbestos-plus-environmental expenses, Honeywell established a trust for claims and reclaim soil at chemical plants. As a result, that expense is consistently $150 million a year, after-tax. Honeywell saw improved quality in design, increased production, and lower production costs after it implemented a new productivity management system. During the 2008-2009 recession, the company instituted furloughs to reduce overall operating costs rather than lay off workers. While CEO of Honeywell International in 2015, Cote earned a total compensation of US$25,053,000 which included a base salary of $1,890,000, an annual bonus of $5,700,000, and $10,338,000 in stock options. During his tenure at Honeywell, the company's donations via its Political Action Committee rose from two hundred thousand dollars in 2002 to 8 million in 2014. Under Cote’s leadership, Honeywell’s market capitalisation grew from $20 billion to $120 billion, delivering returns of about 800%, outperforming the S&P 500 by two and a half times.

Cote stepped down as CEO at Honeywell at the end of March 2017 and was succeeded by Darius Adamczyk. Cote continued as executive chairman through April 2018.

Vertiv
Since February 7, 2020, Cote has been the executive chairman of Vertiv.

Banking
Cote was a member of the board of directors at JPMorgan Chase and an advisor to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR). In 2012, Cote came under criticism as one of the three members of JP Morgan Chase's risk committee, after CEO Jamie Dimon said on May 10, 2012, that the firm's chief investment office suffered a $2 billion loss trading credit derivatives. Commentators identified a lack of relevant expertise among the members of the committee, identifying Cote and a museum official who also served, in particular for their lack of banking experience.

In February 2014 it was announced that Cote would fill a vacancy on the board of the New York Federal Reserve. Simon Johnson, former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, writing in The New York Times, raised doubts about the suitability of Cote's appointment, noting the "systematic breakdown of compliance and risk control" during the period when Cote was on the board of JPMorgan Chase, whilst also noting that some, but not all, of the problems there pre-dated Cote's appointment. The election papers did not mention Cote's role at JPMorgan Chase in his candidate C.V. Cote stepped down from the board of New York Federal Reserve in March 2018.

Government
In 2010, President Obama named Cote as one of the chief executives he most admired. In 2009, Cote was invited to the White House to meet the President for a briefing on the US economic recovery plan and in November 2009, he was one of 12 businesspeople asked by the White House to host the US-India CEO Forum, which Cote and Ratan Tata co-chaired. In February 2010, Cote was selected by President Obama to be on the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, more commonly known as the Simpson Bowles Commission.

Other
Cote was a member of the executive committee of The Business Council for 2011 and 2012.

Attitude to deficit reduction
Cote is a co-founder of Fix the Debt, a group of executives and former legislators who campaign for deficit reduction and tax reform. In a 2013 interview with the New Hampshire Union Leader, Cote identified the problem of debt reduction in the United States as being the fact that "Washington is ruled by fear of voters ... and the three 'h's' prevail—hysteria, histrionics and hyperbole". He also framed the options for deficit reduction in terms of either increases in taxes or a reduction in social security benefits, saying, "If you have people saying, 'Don't raise my taxes, but don't cut my benefits,' it makes it really difficult to get anything done."

In 2013, during negotiations over the Federal deficit during which some Republicans threatened a default, one lobbyist was quoted as identifying "the rise of an ideological wing [within the Republican Party] that is now willing to stand up to business interests". Cote was quoted as saying "It's clearly this faction within the Republican Party that's causing the issue right now" which was interpreted by OpenSecrets.org as an implied threat that if the dissident Republicans did not co-operate, contributions from Honeywell's Political Action Committee could be cut. In 2012, Honeywell's PAC and employees made political donations of about $5.3 million to candidates and committees.

In March 2014, Cote presented his views on deficit reduction and American competitiveness to the House Committee on Financial Services of the United States House of Representatives.

Books

 * Winning Now, Winning Later (HarperCollins Leadership, 31 July 2020) ISBN 9781599510224

Awards

 * 2013-2016 World's Best CEOs, Barron's
 * 2013 Chief Executive of the Year, Chief Executive Magazine
 * 2014 Horatio Alger Award

title: David M. Cote


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Einar

Derivation of a name. RickK 22:10, 9 May 2004 (UTC)

 * Delete: not an encyclopedic article jaredwf 06:29, 10 May 2004 (UTC)

Well I'd say names their definition/where they originally come from and what they mean can surely be looked upon as an encyclopedic issue with merit.

Names as you probably well know can be determining factors in peoples lives i.e. a cultural factor for how they fare in certain societies. Knowing about these factors makes it easier to understand why in some countries having a foreign sounding name might make your life more difficult than if you had a native name.

Thus instead of deleting a name it would be more clever to make the name a disambiguation page and allow people to chose what information they were seeking in connection with the name.

Someone seeking information on the archer onboard the Long Worm (Viking vessel) might remember only the archers first name Einar and not the latter Tambarskelvur Einar Tambarskelvur = Einar that makes Tambar shudder (Tambar was the name of Einars Bow) - Einar was one of the characters in the Traditional Norse Kvaed (Song sagas) that actually still are being kept alive in the Faroe Islands.

Someone that would like to know the definition and origin of the name could go to that page

I'm quite certain many interesting people, historical or otherwise who are encyclopedic material could be named Einar something...

Thus deleting the name IMHO would be wrong.

Names and their derivation

 * Take it to Wikipedia. And please note that anonymous postings are not counted in the ultimate vote.  RickK 00:56, 11 May 2004 (UTC)

 * Keep this page. It is encyclopdic (provided it is correct). Nowhere have I read that says you cant put up name entymologies on Wikipedia. Burgundavia 20:31, May 13, 2004 (UTC)
 * You mean etymologies, which belong in a dictionary, which Wikipedia is not. If the page is made to be about something (e.g., there was a Norse mythological wombat named Einar), then keep. Short of that, delete. Grendelkhan 20:55, 2004 May 13 (UTC)

title: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Einar