If You Know the Story Behind This Picture, You Know It. If You Don’t…

 

I saw this picture of a Pennsylvanian relative on Ancestry. One reason that I saved it was to colorize it, etc. Another reason, and a more-compelling reason: no immigration of this man to Pennsylvania, no Pennsylvania staples as you might know them. If you’ve ever heard of a brand called “Bobby T’s” and another one called “Chokola Beverage Company”, you’re now putting a face to their names. Why? The man known as “Felix Czarniecki” took incredible risks immigrating from Russia-occupied Poland (and if you know even an inkling of the real story—which I did not until I began doing serious digging into my family history—you will appreciate why he took those risks. His brother Julian was my paternal grandfather’s paternal grandfather, and Julian would join Felix in 1904—with Julian’s son Tony joining him in 1908). 

Felix’s daughter Lillie (originally Nellie**) would go on to marry John Trudnak—and he sadly did not get to walk her down the aisle, as he passed away in 1928 (just under six years after Julian, his younger brother, passed away in a coal-mining accident). He did, as far as I know, get to walk his daughter Katherine down the aisle—and she became the bride of the widower Simon Chokola (and Simon had three more children by her—and how they kept it together when one of those children died in infancy, I will never know). 

The apparent story by itself would be perhaps compelling—if you even knew that Felix existed and immigrated to Pennsylvania (which I originally did not— and I certainly had no idea that Tony in fact came over here when he was a child to join his father and his uncle, whom were already over here). If you knew even an inkling of the actual story, you would be amazed at the truly-all-American account of a man whose descendants include the original “Bobby T” and many of the Chokolas today. By the way, I’ve never seen a picture of his brother and his in-law sister whom are my ancestors—let alone pictures of  Felix’s and Julian‘s parents. The estrangement (one of the risks) got so bad, that we would throw away pictures that a family friend brought back once we were done passing them around (My granduncle Tony, of blessed memory, told me this.). Felix also named two of his daughters “Katherine“—Katherine and Jennifer Catherine (later Joan)—for his mother, as if she were already dead (We are mixed Ashkenazi and Sefardi Jewish on that side, although he used Ashkenazi naming custom in those instances— and as I said, the estrangement got bad. For starters, his mother was forcibly baptized when she herself was five years old — and she did not appreciate that her sons chose to generally hide their Jewish heritage.)

(**Her mother, Josephine “Veronica” Czarnecki née Supronowicz, apparently had Jewish heritage from the Jewish Diaspora in Ukraine, and used “Nellie“ for Nechama. Lillie’s in-law sister Mary Trudnak subsequently was my paternal grandfather’s mother, by the way. Unfortunately, Felix never got to see Mary become his in-law niece, either, as Mary and Tony married in 1934.).

Originally On Medium: God Blames Women For Men’s Sins?

 …Oh no. Wait. 

God blamed the men for their sins. I thought about this when someone on Twitter (X) not too long ago had recently pointed out that the book of Hosea warned us that the women who are prostitutes will not be punished because of the men whom are entering them. In other words, the women will not be punished for their sins because the men are actively enabling and aggravating those sins.

Similarly was the sin of Tamar: because her in-law father did not give her her in-law brother Shelah to secure her levirate right, she needed to prostitute herself and uncover the nakedness of her husbands’ father. Remember that both brothers of Shelah died before him, and that the middle son of Judah at the time died because he attempted to get around fulfilling his levirate duty. Thus (as Torah tells us) did her in-law father say of her, “She is more righteous than I.”

Similarly in only its shared vein is the sin of Moses in regard to circumcision. When יהוה sought to kill Moses, יהוה sought to kill Moses and therefore put the blame on Moses. Thus does Torah tell us that Zipporah circumcised her son and told her husband, “You are a husband of blood to me” as she threw the foreskin at his feet. 

In other words, Zipporah was not blamed for not having her son circumcised on the eighth day. Moses was blamed for not having Zipporah’s son circumcised on the eighth day, although Zipporah clearly had to rectify her husband’s wrong because her husband took no action whatsoever to rectify his wrong.

What is the lesson here for men, then?

(Emphasis and explanation mine)

“If you look at a woman with lust, you have committed adultery with her in your heart.” 

Even though Tamar sinned out of desperation, and Judah looked at her with lost in his heart. In the same way, even if a woman provokes or entices, the man is responsible for what he does. This is also why Solomon ultimately puts the onus on his son to not sin when a woman does actually provoke or entice with malice. Solomon learned from the sins of his father Judah (even though he would certainly have sins of his own). This is also why יהוה moved Hosea to prophesy against the men whom exploited women by encouraging them to prostitute themselves (cf. Hosea 4:14).

This is additionally why, in between Judah’s and Solomon’s respective generations, Moses was punished when one of his sons was yet to be circumcised: “To whom much is given, much is required” (cf. Luke 12:48).

Moses was the head of the household, and much was required of him because much was given to him. Yet, Zipporah did what was required of Moses because Moses did not do as was given to him.

In other words, whether through sexual sin, or non-sexual sin, a man is required to answer for his sins instead of blame the woman when he sins — even if the woman herself sins, and especially when the woman does not sin.

Of course, there are cases in which the reverse is absolutely true — as was the case of the wife of Potiphar and Joseph. In the case of the wife of Potiphar and Joseph, the Egyptian wife of Potiphar had power over the Hebrew Joseph, whose boss was the Egyptian Potiphar. Also being single, Joseph as a Hebrew slave of Potiphar had less status than the free-by-comparison and married wife of Joseph’s Egyptian enslaver. Even then, Joseph did not use the discriminations against him based on his ethnicity, marital status, and lack of freedom to sin with Potiphar’s wife.

There are other examples. Nonetheless, here is the sum of the examples: leader must serve and take responsibility for his sins instead of put them on his wife and/or other women. When the man sins (excepting those very-rare cases in which he possesses even less power than Joseph, and the woman truly causes him to stumble), the man must take responsibility for his sins (and those very-rare cases in which he possesses even less power than Joseph usually involve a physical or another disability — or an equivalent factor — that deprives him of all power and therefore all culpability).

Anger Against gentiles Whom Support Israel?…From Within Israel?

(Mostly Originally Part of a Facebook Reply)

I blocked both people whom put the angry emoji on a post that both Jews and gentiles should celebrate Chanukah to support ‘Am Yisra’el this year. Who are they to get angry when Tanakh itself tells us that gentiles will come to the light that shines over Israel¹? If anyone is upset that gentiles would celebrate Chanukah to partly support Israel, they ultimately have anger against the God of Israel—and Korah and his God-defying band of rebels learned the hard way when they similarly rebelled against Moses and Aaron. After all, Chanukah is a reminder that the Greco-Syrian armies could not thwart the plans that יהוה צבאות had for ‘Am Yisra’el; and Chanukah is therefore ultimately an acknowledgment of יהוה.

¹ I of course believe the light that shines over Israel to be that of Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Mary and the adopted son of Joseph. I understand that not everyone does; and Anti Messianics (“antimissionaries”/“countermissionaries”) can stay away from any discussion about it with me. I’m not proselytizing (forcing or recruiting) you into believing what I believe; and you stay away if you can’t agree to disagree. 

To My Family Whom Is Ashamed To Be Jewish

 I won’t disclose exactly who I have in mind, though I have even plenty of closer relatives of mind; and I have the following to say: 

Deal with that if we are descended from the same Jewish ancestors (regardless of if they had to hide their Jewish ethnicity**, and regardless of their individual beliefs), I am part of our common families—although I am most certainly ashamed to be related to you if you are ashamed to be a part of ‘Am Yisra’el. 

By the way, God didn’t ask any of us; and Mordechai had to remind Esther of that millennia ago: 

“13 Then Mordecai bade them to return answer unto Esther: 'Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews. 14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then will relief and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place, but thou and thy father's house will perish; and who knoweth whether thou art not come to royal estate for such a time as this?'”

**Which can skew DNA results due to self reporting—including lack thereof. It shows how little you know, and mixed-blooded Jews frequently have to deal with this.