Commentary: Why Does Yehovah Give Us Yom Teru'ah In the Middle Of the Year, and Rosh HaShanah In the Spring?

1. "1 And Yehovah spoke unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying: 2 'This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you." (From Exodus 12, JPS 1917)
2. "3 And Moses said unto the people: 'Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand Yehovah brought you out from this place; there shall no leavened bread be eaten. 4 This day ye go forth in the month Aviv." (From Exodus 13)
3. "And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have a holy convocation: ye shall do no manner of servile work; it is a day of blowing the horn unto you." (Numbers 29:1. This might look familiar 🙂.)
4. "And on the tenth day of this seventh month ye shall have a holy convocation; and ye shall afflict your souls; ye shall do no manner of work;" (Number 29:7)
5. "Then shalt thou make proclamation with the blast of the horn on the tenth day of the seventh month; in the day of atonement shall ye make proclamation with the horn throughout all your land. 10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. 11 A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you; ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of the undressed vines." (From Leviticus 25)
6. "The spirit of Adonai Yehovah is upon me; because Yehovah hath anointed me to bring good tidings unto the humble; He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the eyes to them that are bound; 2 To proclaim the year of Yehovah's good pleasure, and the day of vengeance of Eloheinu; to comfort all that mourn; 3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the mantle of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called terebinths of righteousness, the planting of Yehovah, wherein He might glory." (From Isaiah 61)
7. "And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in the broad place of the city; and the old man said: 'Whither goest thou? and whence comest thou?'" (Judges 19:17)

Ken...anachu tovim? Anachu tovim achshi'av?

Ken. Anachu tovim. Anachu tovim achishi'av.   

So, why the long drash of verses here? Well, to answer the question as to why Yehovah give us Yom Teru'ah in the middle of the year, and Rosh HaShanah in the spring:

1. If for nothing else, Yom Teru'ah marks the middle of the year to both prepare us for the next year—especially if the year is the Shanah HaYovel—and have us thank Yehovah that we've survived the year so far—see especially Passages 3-6.
2. Yom Teru'ah and Yom Kippur help us reflect on the year so far, where we're going and where we've been in terms of walking with Yehovah, and what we can do differently with the rest of the year and with the coming year—see especially Passages 2, 6, and 7. Also note how Yom Teru'ah parallels with Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur with the picking out of the Pesach lamb (See Exodus 12:3-17), and Pesach with Sukkot (ibid.).
3. In light of Yom Teru'ah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot being times of reflection (since—remember—we should, if we can, dwell in sukkot during Sukkot to remember that we were strangers in Egypt—not to mention gerim v'toshavim like Avraham, Yitzchak, v'Ya'akov Avoteinu. Thus, no day of the year is unto our ourselves—every day is to Yehovah and thus for what we might do to both glorify Yehovah and to help others (and glorify Yehovah in doing so). See especially Passages 3-6.

There are other reasons as well. Meanwhile, these are the three main reasons: preparing for the rest of the year and the coming of the next year, stopping to take stock of where we're going and where we've been, and renewing our commitment to Yehovah and to helping others commit and recommit to Yehovah. 

PS:

1. I wasn't afraid to change the euphemisms "The LORD", etc. to "Yehovah", nor "Abib" to the more-correct "Aviv".
2. In full disclosure, I'm a Jewish Christian and see additional reasons as to why Yom Teru'ah is in the middle of the year and Rosh HaShanah in the spring, although I think that everyone can agree on the reasons that I cited above—regardless of what each of us believes about Yeshua (Jesus)—thus, I think to cite the reasons that I cited is sufficient. 

Open Letter To Lori Shandle-Fox

I was reading "As A Southern Jew..." and wondering why you complain when you know that the computer class is at a church. What really upset me though is that you make the case seem like Jacob's getting mixed messages.

On the one hand, you wanted to, frankly, be an antimissionary within a church. If, for instance, Jews For Jesus were at a technology camp at a JCC, I'd get the "Stop it!...Stop it NOW!" But at a church? You went as far as entertaining the idea of frankly doing something borderline close to what Donin and Christiani did. On the other hand, you made Jacob feel like you'd be mad at him for living out the values with which he is being raised. Jacob will certainly have a hard-enough time living the South if he keeps getting mixed messages from within his own family.

By the way, he'll also have a hard time if he learns that projection is acceptable. For example, you said that you thought that you heard something other than, "Do you want juice?" Maybe a sentiment about people whom you don't want to be around is manifesting itself in your thoughts and actions in ugly ways. As Jayne said, don't take Jacob to places where Jesus will be brought up if you don't want to hear about Jesus; and I add, don't hang around Christians if you don't want them around.

I also hasten to add that sending children mixed messages and teaching children "Hate thy neighbor and project thy hatred on thy neighbor" are not Jewish values—and certainly not, contrary to what Donin and Christiani taught, ones that Jesus taught, regardless of what one makes of him.

Trump: Bad On Morality And Bad On Morale

As more of the Trump saga unfolds—and only God knows why He wrote it the way that he did—morality and morale are showing to be on the decline in the United States, and some absolutely- and truly-ugly colors and sides of people are either coming out or beginning to be formed. For example, and as if this hasn't been written about before:

1. Anti Semitism, including Self-Hating Jewishness, is coming out in the open & on the rise. At least Jews like Dennis Prager, for instance, are revealing their far-from-dati colors—and there is nothing dati or b'ahavah about supporting a man whom keeps "My New Order" by his bedside, "[doesn't] want [Jewish] money", as if we're the canardic "short little guys that wear yarmulkes every day", and is friends with Anti-Zionist Netanyahu & Agudat Yisra'el. By the way, the only reason that there are even friends of Trumps like the Netanyahus and their mutual friends known as the Adelsons—whom really spurned the hand of Whom blessed them—is: 1) the one Whom blessed the families like the often-enviously-disparaged Rothschilds and the self-hating Adelsons remade us the head and not the tail; and 2) the Anti Semites that forced many of us into banking as the only available occupation had the evil that they did to us for good; and these Anti Semites now don't like when the tables turned on us and even their families are blessed by B'nei Yisra'el.
2. Ableism is definitely on the rise. As Serge Kovaleski got mocked, Marlee Matlin got cursed as "retarded"—which, by the way, Donald Trump violated the mitzvah of not to curse the deaf in so doing—and people like me have been threatened by "physically fit German American[s]," many can see why Betty DeVos wants to repeal the ADA and make the lives of PWDs (people with disabilities) than it is, for instance.
3. Misogyny is on the rise. Ask, e.g., the Chuck Nellis whom attacked me for being a "girl" when he lost the argument regarding how dangerous Trump is; and ask the GOP Senate whom cowed to Trump by silencing Elizabeth Warren.
4. Racism and xenophobia are on the rise. By the way, thank God that Coretta Scott King died when she did—she did not have to live to see this (cf. Isaiah 57:1-2), and she's a gentile whom went to the mountaintop where her late husband and others are (cf. Micah 4:2).
5. U.S. military morale is on the decline. Ask, e.g., the family of CSWO William "Ryan" Owens, USN, KIA. Also ask the troops that dread that they will be sent to war against Mexico and actually with, instead of against, Trump's and Putin's mutual friend Rouhani—a known Anti Semite.

In conclusion, envious Anti Semites and Self-Hating Jews, dehumanizing ableists, patronizing misogynists, and nativist racists and xenophobes are helping Donald Trump put the United States of America and the U.S. Armed Forces on a slope of moral and morale decline,  

The Alt Right Is Trying To Destroy The Right

"'Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matthew 5:11-12, NKJV)

"And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold." (Matthew 24:2)

"For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect." (Matthew 24:24 and Mark 13:22)

How many times the Alt Right—the Classical Conservatives, the Modern Far Left, etc.—have tried to destroy me & others is too many count. Even this morning, I had to block and report multiple Trumpites—I even got, I'm pretty sure, a coded threat: "You are a ticky-ticky bomb-bomb."

Revisionists, as then and now, continue to classify the Nationalist Socialists—the Neo-Pagan Darwinist, often in-name-only Christians—as Far Right—and with people like RINO, "I'm not sure that I've ever asked for forgiveness", "I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created", and "Make America great again" Donald Trump, people somehow continue to wonder why I dread another Holocaust:

"You're not going to support me because I don't want your money" and an accusation against a group whom has long been libeled as a "global elite" also sounds familiar within the context of the quotes above:

"If only one country, for whatever reason, tolerates a Jewish family in it, that family will become the germ center for fresh sedition. If one little Jewish boy survives without any Jewish education, with no synagogue and no Hebrew school, it [Judaism] is in his soul. Even if there had never been a synagogue or a Jewish school or an Old Testament, the Jewish spirit would still exist and exert its influence. It has been there from the beginning and there is no Jew, not a single one, who does not personify it." [Emphasis mine]

"“Providence has ordained that I should be the greatest liberator of humanity.  I am freeing man from the restraints of an intelligence that has taken charge, from the dirty and degrading self-mortification of a false vision called conscience and morality, and from the demands of a freedom and independence which only a very few can bear.”" [Emphasis mine]

"The heaviest blow which ever struck humanity was Christianity; Bolshevism is Christianity’s illegitimate child.  Both are inventions of the Jew." [Emphasis mine]

"Do you now appreciate the depth of our National Socialist Movement?  Can there be anything greater and more all comprehending?  Those who see in National Socialism nothing more than a political movement know scarcely anything of it.  It is more even than religion; it is the will to create mankind anew." [Emphasis mine]

Never mind that, for example:

1. We made the best of when European governments consigned to banking and a violation of Torah known as usury against even fellow Jews. 
2. Without Judaism, including Jewish Christianity, the Christian Adam Smith would not have written "The Wealth of Nations" (Genesis 12:1-3, anyone?) and talked about an "invisible hand" ("Now יהוה said unto Abram: 'Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee. 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing. 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.'")
3. The often-derided Capitalism has benefited many people, and National Socialism wouldn't allow Jews to bless "all the families of the Earth." Even, for example, the Printing Press of Johann Gutenberg (whom had a Europeanized version of a Hebrew first name) would not be invented if Johann Gutenberg didn't want to print a Bible.

In short, the Far Left known as the Alt Right is trying to destroy the Philosemitic, Adam Smith-influenced, and otherwise Jewishly-blessed Right (Classical Left)—which, paradoxically, Reform Jews and other Haskalic-influenced Jews were on for years, and even centuries before then

Can The LGBTQ Militants Please Cool It—And Can the Proselytizy Non-LGBT Militants Cool It?

1. I'm a Jewish Christian whom believes that homosexuality is a thorn in the flesh and not a choice. In fact, I've argued that Paul (who got his words right from Jesus, per Galatians 1:6-12) may have struggled with it—as the "Pharisee of Pharisees" and Gamali'el's impudent student (cf. Shabbat 30b), Paul would've known the yet-to-be codified Yevamot 63b and and Sifra Acharei Mot 9:8—and, so to speak, that's a hard pill to swallow. Paul even asked God to take the thorn in the flesh away three times, and the word "flesh" in Greek can mean something related to the flesh or carnality. By the way, an example of orientation and lifestyle being two different matters would be in regards to Paul if he was homosexual. Also, that's why some get LGBTQ conversion therapy in any case—they don't want to be LGBTQ people, and they want God to heal them if He wills.
2. I've talked about that relative's high school classmate whom later chose to be celibate—and he became celibate once he became a strong Christian, and he even dated a girl in high school in part to try to be straight. By the way, Jesus did say that marriage is between one man and one woman when the Pharisees asked him if divorce violated Torah (cf. Matthew 19:1-10. Also cf. 19:11-13 on eunuch celibacy, which can apply to other kinds of celibacy as well).
3. Contrary to what some argue, the First, Ninth, and 14th Amendments give no room to deny the right to same-sex marriage in at least this day and age—we go either back to the nominally-Christian days or allow freedom of religion for everyone. We don't proselytize like, for instance, one of Frank Peretti's "Prophet"—sharing our faith, yes; forcibly trying to make disciples, no. Peretti's character "Prophet" Barrett—and Peretti himself, by having his character stay at the rally and encouraging real people to do that—needed to back off. Shaking the dust off of one's feet and letting God grow the seed (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:5-8) don't mean nothing—reasonless words are not included in the Bible. Besides, even Lot—whom rebuked the Sodomites—didn't threaten to kill the Sodomites, despite that he judged righteously (cf. Proverbs 31:9, Matthew 7:1-3, 1 Corinthians 5). Also, we're to judge ourselves as well as others without hypocrisy—that's what "judge not lest be judged" and "make sure of your calling and election" mean.
4. I have LGBTQ family members and friends, and I don't force them to be straight or celibate LGBTQ types.
5. If LGBTQ people want to take risks (about which the CDC warns), that's their business—that doesn't mean that you can't point out that even the secular CDC warns that there are medical risks (e.g., exposure to higher rates of STDs) that same-sex couples take.
6. Hatred of people whom practice certain religions sometimes come from the proselytizy ones that give the religious groups as wholes bad names.
7. Everybody in the LGBTQ orientation-and-lifestyle debate needs to stop taking each other's words out of context, much less use reading-comprehension and listening skills in the first place.

In conclusion, the LGBTQ proselytizers and the Non-LGBTQ proselytizers can back off and understand that orientation is different from lifestyle, we're to judge ourselves and others without hypocrisy, etc.. 

Well, We Know Where An Egyptian Prince Went

From time to time, I browse Wikipedia outside of looking for basic facts just to see what they're thinking. Per Wikipedia, I realized that the story about Lazarus and the rich man is actually about a Lazarus and Khaemweset the Egyptian Prince. Wikipedia tries to imply that the New Testament stole the Tale of Khaemweset, though they succeeded only in shedding light on an account in Scripture for the first time for me.

By the way, the Egyptians used Matrilineal Descent; or at least Khaemweset did, since he had more than five brothers. Through his mother, he had at least three brothers; and he cleverly tried to use the Abrahamic excuse of a sibling being the child of only the common father and, thus, not a sibling—remember "Besides, she is my sister—she is the daughter of my father, but not of my mother, and so she became my wife"? Incidentally, this is probably way Israel viewed Matrilineal Descent as pagan, despite that Tanakh (and Yigdal) allow for Matrilineal Descent (Remember haben Sh'lomit bat Divri and Kavod-l'El ben Netzkiyah-Tovah—aka, Timotheos ben Eunice? By the way, Google it if you don't believe that my translations are correct. Also, Kavodlel ben Netzkiyahtovah or Kavodlel ben Netzkiyatovah—or the two contractions with "Kavodl'el"—probably work sufficiently.).

Abraham knew that Khameweset was trying to pull what he himself pulled. 

Also, Khawmweset's father was highly Anti Semitic—and Mereneptah knew enough about Torah to try to destroy Israel.

For An Easy Fast On Yom Kippur

To "The Berean Call" and Others (e.g., Others Whom Oppose Christian Psychology and Psychiatry)

With all due respect, is The "Berean Call" really "Berean"? Based on what I have read, I do not believe so. For example, you push the following lie:
​
​"The fundamental problem is that although we know a lot about the biomedical etiology of neurological disorders, we still fathom embarrassingly little about the biology of the major mental illnesses. And even the burgeoning understanding of genetic and metabolic risk factors has not translated into clinically useful tests or cures. Modern technology has not produced a single blood test or brain scan that can be routinely used to diagnose depression, bipolar disease, schizophrenia or other common mental illnesses."
​
​What makes it a lie is that it is information that is presented as if it still current. Scripture says to not bear false witness. Speaking of false witness, The "Berean Call" also does quite a job of twisting Exodus 20:4-5. The context is as follows:
​
​"3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anythingthat is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments."
​
​(From Exodus 20, NKJV. Also see Exodus 34:17.)
​
​The context is in making images to worship. Again (with emphasis): 
​
​"3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anythingthat is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments."
​
​When images, etc. were destroyed, they were images (e.g., Asherim) used to worship false gods. Otherwise, making images as commanded by God would be contradictory. For example: 
​
​"“You shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. It shall be woven with an artistic design of cherubim." (From Exodus 26)
​
​Another example:
​
​"20 The two pillars, one Sea, the twelve bronze bulls which were under it, and the carts, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord—the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. 
21 Now concerning the pillars: the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, a measuring line of twelve cubits could measure its circumference, and its thickness was four fingers; it was hollow. 
22 A capital of bronze was on it; and the height of one capital was five cubits, with a network and pomegranates all around the capital, all of bronze. The second pillar, with pomegranates was the same. 
23 There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates, all around on the network,were one hundred." 
​
​(From Jeremiah 52)
​
​As far as psychology and psychiatry, understand that:
​

1. ​We are called to love our neighbors as ourselves. If we can't love even ourselves, how can we love our neighbors?
2. "Lo titzrach." "Thou shalt not murder." People have committed suicide and murder because of mental illnesses, etc..
3. When Galatians 5 talks about drugs, it is talking about drugs used explicitly for occultic and other evil purposes. It uses the word "φαρμακεία" as opposed to "φαρμακο" (Hebrew "רפואה").
4. God created everything, and certainly everything good (cf. Genesis 1, Psalm 24:1).
5. God calls us to "[h]eal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give." (Matthew 10:8)

I could go on, although I hope that you get my point by now. By the way, I, as a Jew who has benefited from Christian psychology (psychos-logos, "ψυχή" and "λογος"), find a shame that you would decontextualize my Lord's Word for your gain. BTW, Deuteronomy 6:5 says to "love Yehovah your God with all your heart, and your soul, and all your might [e.g., your psyche]."

Just A Pause...

I was looking at a photo which was posted in a Jewish group for those of us who have roots in Poland. Then I came across the picture...the picture that was captioned that he attended his first bar- and bat-mitzvah ceremony, and that he enjoyed attending....and I knew that, that could've been him.

The bar-mitzvah. Not that he isn't or wouldn't be; it's just the family is so assimilated. The rest of the caption read that his mother was asking herself where the time has gone. I wonder why she didn't say something like, "The funny thing is that, that could've been him." Maybe she was thinking it behind the computer screen, though I doubt it. 

Then when I went to type her name into the search bar again, I came across another cousin with the same first name. The pictures were there, too. The kids look Jewish! 

They can't escape who they are, even if they don't know now—the younger kids couldn't know now, anyway (Could they? I doubt it. They wouldn't be told at least at their age—and they're triplets—and I don't think that their mother—who I should clarify is an in-law cousin—would let them use iPads, etc. at their age.). The older kids might not know (although the older one maybe attended the seder shel b'nai-mitzvah because he knows and wanted to see his heritage firsthand), and the adults are either ignorant and/or naive or just in plain denial.

The younger kids look Jewish because they look like their dad (I see his paternal grandmother, his kids' and my great-grandmother, in him.). They may also look Jewish because of their mom (I suspect that she may be Jewish. If she is Jewish, what a shanda that she's of a younger generation and feels like she has to hide it—after all, one of the younger generations is coming out with it. "Choose ye this day..." and "relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise elsewhere...." Why be afraid to stand with our people?)

The older kid can't escape that he's Jewish either way (As I recall, his great-great-granddad was also Andrew Rusnak—and he is certainly a descendant of him either way; that much I know. If my memory is correct, then we are third cousins and right in the same generation.). In any case, you can trace our lines right back to the Anusi Gyorgy "György Kvetkovits" Rusznák HaLevi of Kassa, Ausztria Magyarország (and he and his bashert Erzesbet Molnarová became Anusuim and moved to Aranyida once Szlovakia became a part of Ausztria. Keep in mind that the 1700s-1900s were one of the biggest time periods in which Ashkenazi Jews became Anusim. Even in supposedly-religiously-free Czech Austria, Fritz Kohn became Frederick Kerry, 63 years after the Hungarian Revolution and after Hungary was co-opted by Austria.). 

The adults like me can either be naive or in denial (and I was still a kid when I found out that we are Jewish; since, Biblically speaking, the bar-mitzvah and bat-mitzvah age is 20 years. I was 18 years, six months, and two days old when I posted a copy of Great-Great-Granddad Czarnecki's death certificate on Ancestry.com—I was almost one-and-a-half years short of being a bat-mitzvah, and I was able to confirm that I'm Jewish by seeking, enlisting, and finding)—and I know that those who were b'nai mitzvah before me could've known and been honest about it.

After all, the non-Photoshopped pictures don't lie. The draw toward our heritage does not lie. As Samuel told Saul according to one of the recently-read haftarot, "[G-d] is not a man, that He should repent." 

The records also do not lie, at least as far as the records that had honest information givers and honest transcribers. "Acquitted [to marry]", for example, is a damning thing to read on a marriage dispensation record, especially for apparently such good Slovakian and Czechoslovakian Catholics (which we weren't. We were Jews in Hungary and Austria Hungary.). Also, again, the non-Photoshopped pictures don't lie—just as the younger kids look like their dad's family, those Rusznaks of Kassa looked like the apparently-Czechoslovakian Andrew Rusnak (and as I've said in the past, that's when the "Relatives asked for money" lid got blown off the story—and I figured out that help was needed by Rusznaks instead of money by Foskos).

Those reminders and pauses will, by the way, somehow show up for the rest of my life or my time here in this age. I at least can say, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel," and "[T]here is nothing secret that will not be revealed". After all, I was led and I chose to say, "I'm a Jew. I'm a bat Anusim. They chose to persecute me in the Name of my Messiah, but they could not take my heritage away from me." I wonder how many of my family can and will be able to say that instead of offer up even excuses such as "That was then; this is now" and "Jewishness is religious, not ethnic" (which is the real meaning behind "Judaism is a religion, not a [race, nationality, etc.]"—as if the Judeans were never an ethnic or even ethnoreligious group). 

They, like me, can either choose to be like Esther and Paul (and Paul especially, for that he was Jewish was obvious and not obscurable as it was for Esther) or choose to be like forefathers such as Andrew Rusnak (and despite that rebringing up a matter will separate close friends, that the inquity will be felt down to the third and fourth generations remains).

"Stand With Israel, Not Netanyahu"

Even I, a staunch Zionist who was already mad enough at Netanyahu and his Haredi Judaism which he attempts to disguise as Yahadut Chilonit, took a few steps back and thought:

If Netanyahu was largely passive while Arab citizens were being assaulted, he led the demonization campaign against the 47,000 African refugees and asylum seekers who entered Israel without permits. Despite reducing the number of refugees entering Israel to practically zero, thanks to the Sinai fence, he continues to lock up thousands of these desperate people – who, like our own Jewish ancestors, sought to escape persecution and poverty. Netanyahu’s policies flout Jewish values, and have been overturned multiple times by the High Court as immoral and unjustified. But they play well to his xenophobic base. 

Good points and reminders. In fact, I wager that some of the Sudanese and other refugees may even be Falasha and Lemba Jews who are making aliyah in what many would call an illegal way—and if any "illegal" olim are among the Sudanese refugees, the Government of Israel has no right to deny those olim ("eleh Kushim!") their taglit. Also, think about this: what if some illegal immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, etc. are Anusim who'd make aliyah if Netanyahu and his yadidim let them? After all, they're not considered Yehudim al pi HaHoq Shivut. They otherwise have to be under the auspices of nasty people such as Dr. Michael Freund. (Just like Netanyahu, Dr. Freund can fool people. That's even part of why I save most of my e-mails in my backup folders—that is, so I do not ever lose the proof of when I run into mitchazim like Dr. Freund. That's why I still have the link to the 2012 conversation.).

 Likud-led fear and hatemongering hardly stops with our non-Jewish minorities. Progressives, civil rights activists, leftists, the judiciary and anyone who criticizes the occupation have all been accused of being enemies of the state. So much for Jewish solidarity or democratic discourse. 

Indeed. I've experienced this myself. I even have a Facebook friend who called Senator Diane Feinstein (with whom I myelf hardly ever agree) a "witch" for standing against Netanyahu, and I've seen others harp on the fact that Senator Feinstein comes from a Jewish Catholic family (which I did not know until they harped on her for it. As I learned, the Feinsteins and the Rosenburgs were and are Russian Byzantine Catholics.).

From a family of Roman Catholic Anusim and b'nei Anusim, I know that feeling ("You're not Jewish!"; "Your family betrayed their people!"; "They're meshumadim!"; "They're bogadim!"; "Oh; no wonder your Hebrew's not good: your family didn't tell you that they're Jewish!")

Perhaps, by the way, maybe the Anusi and "meshumad" minds are among the ones which are quickest to pick up on trouble. Our ancestors knew when trouble was coming and/or already came, and at least two of us (Senator Feinstein and me, though I suspect that there are more who) knew that Netanyahu and the Haredim were trouble (By the way, I'll have some kavod for Taylor Swift if she goes to Israel and dedicates her famous song to Netanyahu.).

Anyway:

This week’s Netanyahu drumbeat claims that the Iranian threat trumps all traditional diplomatic considerations. But those who, like me, believe that Iran is an existential threat to Israel, and fear that the agreement currently being negotiated will be too forgiving and trusting of Iran need to acknowledge that Netanyahu has blown it. 

His anti-Obama tirades, his support for West Bank settlements over all other considerations, his efforts to undermine the Palestinian Authority, his expropriation of 988 acres of Palestinian land at the end of the Gaza War not only wasted the new diplomatic opportunities he promised toward the war’s end, but alienated and antagonized the very European leaders who, along with U.S. President Barack Obama, are the partners necessary to stop Iran’s nuclear program. 

Excellent reminder and point as well. For being such a Zionist, Netanyahu isn't taking the higher road. He also is not trusting יהוה. For example, bulldozing the houses of innocent Bedouins does not help—and deliberately failing to distinguish between the innocent and the guilty is a chillul יהוה.

Bulldozing the houses of terrorists and their accomplices is fine. Destroying terrorists and their accomplices is fine. Stereotyping all Arabs as terrorists and bulldozing their houses is not fine.

As for (and back to the point about) taking the higher road, to stoop down to the level of an enemy or even lower is a chillul יהוה (cf. Tehillim 25:21-22 and Mishlei 26:4). The applicable mitzvot, after all, say to love your neighbor as yourself (not be like him or her in doing evil), treat the stranger well (not do as he or she has done to you), and let יהוה avenge you. Netanyahu is doing the exact opposite when he has the IDF go beyond proactive counterproliferation, preemption, and deterrence.

By the way, counterproliferation, preemption, and deterrence are obviously mitzvot and acts of kiddush יהוה.

Netanyahu plays the statesman abroad, but back home he is known for his paranoia, his self-aggrandizement, and his lashing out against the courts, the universities and the media. Netanyahu aspires to be Israel’s Churchill, but in nurturing a nation divided against itself he has become our Nixon. 

I and others who follow news from and about 'Eretz Yisra'el keep trying to say that, though nobody believes us. Hopefully, Director Futterman (despite that he's looking at the situation from a leftist perspective) can affect you to get that through your head.

Depression, Dying In the Diaspora, and Likely Being An Alteh Moid (And Other Matters)

First with the schtick about dying in the Diaspora: well, an ex friend just died at 4:00 AM today. As I told my sister, "I keep telling you about dying in the Diaspora; you won't believe me" or something like that. To watch Yirimiyahu 8:1-7 continuously come true disturbs me. The ex friend was only in his 20s and had cancer, by the way.

Also, what about the four men murdered in Friday's terror attacks as well as Georges Wolinski murdered on Wednesday? Surely, some have to be looking at this and saying, "It is true: 'And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith יהוה צבאות.' Indeed, 'the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but My people know not the ordinance of יהוה.'

"'And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples whither יהוה shall lead thee away.'" That's not supposed to exacerbate the MDD with which I suffer?!

Also, I can't get out of the Diaspora myself. Why? Besides what I wrote yesterday (See "To watch...true" above.), that I'm not married is a factor (and a painful one!)! Did that get into a debate as well, by the way!

Given the following, I may pretty much be doomed either way:

1. Each but for two of my maternal grandparents' post-natal children (including my late aunt Mary Carole) have been divorced and remarried at least once.
2. All of my paternal grandparents' post natal children have each been divorced once.
3. My parents are divorced (no duh!).
4. I have C.P., OCD/ADD, MDD, ADD, and IBS.
5. I'm 24 years old and going on to be 25 years old.

There are other factors as well. Being an undesirable, a divorce statistic, and still single at 24 years old, I'm likely to die an alteh moid. Comforting? No! Exacerbating my MDD? Yes! Having nobody to at least get me out of the Diaspora? Even more exacerbating my MDD!

PS As I was trying to write this whole blog entry, I had to stop for multiple long periods because I couldn't get a moment of quiet. Also, I was pretty much, e.g., shot down on explaining why Francois Hollande called Netanyahu's bluff. To live in a house in which I can't share much without being interrupted, shot down, etc. is all the rougher.

To Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz At HaKotel b'Yerushalayim

Rabbi Rabinowitz,

Think of the song "Light One Candle". Part of the song goes, "Don't let the light go out; it's lasted for so many years." So have our people, 'Am Yisra'el, Ha'Or L'Goyim. We have lasted for millennia, ever since Yitzchak was conceived and born; and then Yitzchak conceived and had born to him two sons of his own, one of whom became Ya'akov Avinu.

Without Imoteinu, our coming forth and longevity as a people would have been impossible. Without achoteinu, habanot imoteinu, none of acheinu would have been able to conceive and have born to them successive dorot m'Yisra'el. Without further dorot m'Yisra'el, we would've died out as an 'am.

Therefore, your banning of HaNashot HaKotel is a chillul HaShem and a chillul zichronot ha'avot v'imahot. Even Ya'akov Avinu told even Imoteinu, "'Put away the strange gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments; 3 and let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.'" (From Bereshit 35, JPS 1917) Why do you, then, put away achoteinu as Imoteinu put away their strange g-ds?

Please consider whether to put away achoteinu, habanot Imoteinu, like Imoteinu put away strange g-ds is an avodah tovah. If it is an avodah tovah, then to have put away Imoteinu would have been tov, would it not have been?

Toda v'Chanukkah Tovah.

The Talmud Confirms HaB'rit Chadashah, And Not How You Think

Forget the argument about the cord in the Temple not turning white. That argument is as hackneyed as how Yeshayahu 53 talks about Mashiach. If I'm going to argue for the Talmud confirming HaB'rit Chadashah, I could at least look at Yeshayahu 53 from a different angle, and I could use that to talk about how other Talmud passages confirm HaB'rit Chadashah.

As such, this is how I was able to do it recently (Some of these arguments, such as the "On the Eve of Passover" argument, have been used before. If they haven't, then הכבוד של יהוה, לא לי.): 

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          tieman  N. Mara Czarnecki • 2 days ago

          Are you a believing Jew?
          If so I have a respectful question about your religion.

           

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            N. Mara Czarnecki  tieman • a day ago

            Absolutely.

             

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              tieman  N. Mara Czarnecki • a day ago

              Ma'am, who will the Messiah be?
              God incarnate?
              An angel?
              Or does God have a Son waiting to be robed in flesh?
              Or a man approved by God?
              I'm assuming you believe in one God.
              Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.

               

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                N. Mara Czarnecki  tieman • a day ago

                1, 2, and 4. Keep in mind that "echad" means "united" or "unity", whereas "yachid" is "sole", etc.. This is why Maimonides added "yachid" in "Yigdal"—to get around "echad".

                "It is one of many poetical renderings of Maimonides’ 13 Principles, popular because of the clarity of its language and its easy rhythm and rhyme." (Rabbi Raymond Apple)

                Also look at Tehillim 112:1-4. Only Adonai's righteousness endures forever. As well, Adonai is the only Moshiach (Savior, Redeemer) per Yeshayahu 45:22-25.

                 

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                  tieman  N. Mara Czarnecki • a day ago

                  So then....God is the Spirit and the body of flesh, the Son? But not two Gods

                   

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                    N. Mara Czarnecki  tieman • a day ago

                    Yes, in the Manifestation of the Son. Eloheinu Echad is Ha'Av (The Father), Ha'Ru'ach HaKodesh (the Spirit), and HaBen (the Son. cf. Tehillim 112:1-4 and Yeshayahu 53. e.g. per Yeshayahu, "He was despised, and forsaken of men, a man of pains, and acquainted with disease, and as one from whom men hide their face: he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely our diseases he did bear, and our pains he carried; whereas we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted". With Yeshayahu 53:4, this hearkens back to Yeshayahu 45:22-25. e.g., "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else. 23 By Myself have I sworn, the word is gone forth from My mouth in righteousness, and shall not come back, that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. 24 Only in the LORD, shall one say of Me, is victory and strength; even to Him shall men come in confusion, all they that were incensed against Him. 25 In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.")

                    In the Talmud, there is proof that the Son "was despised, and we esteemed him not" and "we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted". In Gittin 57a,

                    "He then went and raised by incantations the sinners of Israel.3 "

                    (http://halakhah.com/gittin/git...

                    As if we didn't despise Yeshua enough by calling Him one among "the sinners of Israel", we indeed "esteem Him stricken", etc. in the worst of ways:

                    "AND A HERALD PRECEDES HIM etc. This implies, only immediately before [the execution], but not previous thereto.33 [In contradiction to this] it was taught: On the eve of the Passover Yeshu34 was hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald went forth and cried, 'He is going forth to be stoned because he has practised sorcery and enticed Israel to apostacy. Any one who can say anything in his favour, let him come forward and plead on his behalf.' But since nothing was brought forward in his favour he was hanged on the eve of the Passover!35 — Ulla retorted: 'Do you suppose that he was one for whom a defence could be made? Was he not a Mesith [enticer], concerning whom Scripture says, Neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him?36 With Yeshu however it was different, for he was connected with the government [or royalty, i.e., influential].'

                    "Our Rabbis taught: Yeshu had five disciples, Matthai, Nakai, Nezer, Buni and Todah. When Matthai was brought [before the court] he said to them [the judges], Shall Matthai be executed? Is it not written, Matthai [when] shall I come and appear before God?37 Thereupon they retorted; Yes, Matthai shall be executed, since it is written, When Matthai [when] shall [he] die and his name perish.38 "

                    (http://halakhah.com/sanhedrin/...

                    This confirms that the accusations of driving out demons by Ba'alzevuv were made, that Yeshua's crucifixion did take place on Erev Pesach, and that He had a talmid named Matityahu.

                    The problem isn't that we misunderstood D'varim 13 and applied to Yeshua; the problem is that there were and are those of us who willfully continued to apply D'varim 13 to Yeshua after the fact.

                    "24 Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub,[f] the ruler of the demons.”

                    25 But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. 28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. 30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.

                    The Unpardonable Sin

                    31 “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come."

                    (https://www.biblegateway.com/p...

                     

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                      tieman  N. Mara Czarnecki • a day ago

                      Thanks for your attention.
                      God bless you Ma'am.

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One can't just use one argument and then "Bam!".

On another note, I will (עי'ה) be doing a contrasting video on YouTube—"White Bread Christianity"—in the morning or the afternoon (We'll see with Reilly and all.).

חול המועד סוכות ולילה טוב.

PS Powerpoint 2003 is a great little tool for graphics.