I'm talking about religious Jews who observe the Sabbath who wouldn't drive a modern car today. To my understanding, Jews don't drive a Vehicle on Sabbath because it's considered work as ignition of fire is involved in the combustion engine. I'm wondering if prior to cars, when horses were used, if Jews would still ride or use horses on Sabbath or was the rest also intended for the animals?

I'm reading Christianity: the first three thousand years and he heavily implies a key factor was religious division over what Protestant faith on the island should be. I am Catholic and have very limited understanding on differences between Protestants

Despite being called the United States, America is not a confederation but a single federal state. The Southern states which tried to leave the union in events leading up to the civil war attempted to create a "Confederate States of America". The name makes it seem like a confederation, not a more unified federal state.

Did they really intend to form a more loose type of union than the United States? Why?

I was taught that humans evolved on the plains of Africa a long time ago. However every depiction of these early humanoids I come across shows someone with a white-ish skin colour and a lot of hair. Is that historically correct or just plain biased?

I want to know why did Latin turn into the many different Romance languages that are still around today considering all the nations in Europe communicated with each other a lot? And also, I want to know when did the speakers realize that other countries weren't speaking the same language anymore and that Latin was the original?

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What methods were used to train them? On TV shows like Game of Thrones, it seems like each raven is trained to deliver the message to one specific location. How accurate is this? Any other information regarding this is appreciated as well.

With the sack of Constantinople a huge amount of wealth must have transferred from the Byzantines to the cities of Italy, along side cultural artifacts, slaves, etc. Did this contribute to the political/economic/cultural event, we call the Italian Renaissance?

I don't mean PT Barnum types but true fraudsters who took a vast number of the public in, did any of them ever just 'fess up? I'm thinking that even the people James Randi exposes often end up continuing with their shtick (like Uri Geller for example).

I was recently watching Amadeus and there’s a scene where Mozart is watching a performance of his opera, Don Giovanni. However, whereas we see Mozart personally conducting his opera at a grand theater for the wealthy aristocracy, in this scene he’s watching a more “dumbed down” comic version being performed at a much simpler theater for an audience of what looks like commoners.

During the classical era, was opera also enjoyed by common people? How different were opera performances for the aristocracy and commoners (if they were in fact experienced separately)? Did some composers write works primarily for common people as opposed to more influential patrons? Were these opera performances for the common man and woman looked down upon in high society circles?

As in physical money that the government uses for things like renovating a road.

I'm taking all of my information from wikipedia, so first thing first: Did Rudi stay in Germany throughout the war? Were there other openly Jewish Germans hanging around in Germany during the war? If so, what was the Nazi justification for this... the 30's version of "s/he's one of the good ones?"

Is there a specific culture lawns originated in? Who decided it was fashionable and/or necessary? How did the standard types of lawn grass today come into vogue?

So, folks, I'm a Lutheran pastor. This October 31st will be the 500th anniversary of the Reformation and there is a big to do all about it. It got me thinking how these big anniversaries might have been celebrated in the past.

Right now, I'm watching The Great War on YouTube. If you aren't already familiar, it follows the war week by week as it unfolded 100 years ago.

These two threads have combined into a single question: how did Lutherans celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Reformation within the context of the First World War? I am particularly interested in observances in Germany as well as among German and Scandinavian American immigrants. Many thanks!

The foundation of the modern French haute cuisine was laid mid seventeenth century. One of its major characteristics was how it used no spices in contrast to the previous centuries, yet this was also the era when the Dutch VOC conquered and exploited the Spice Islands. Where did all the spices go? Did other countries, like the Netherlands, keep using spices? Why?

When the bible demonizes homosexuality, as well as the consumption of certain animals and whatnot, is it reasonable to assume that the Church was trying to demonize an enemy? Was the Church trying to warrant or justify war against someone?