My New Book, "Chayei Chaya": Pre Preface

Pre Preface (16 Tammuz 5777)

This is actually my second book, and I'm releasing it while I'm working on the current ones. I admit that my writing is far from perfect, and I wrote much of this when I began to go through a heartbreaking and confusing time in my life—and I still have the heartbreak and confusion in regards to a particular matter within that timeframe, and which is ongoing unless and until I get a clear answer about it—and that time began almost three years ago!

I’ve also been busy dealing with other concerns in my life, including trying to promote the books that I had already released. With the heartbreak that began almost three years ago and other matters in my life, then, I’ve had to push myself through to write and even begin working on the two books which I am writing at present—and part of pushing myself through to write, much less do anything else, has included dealing with OCD/GAD, Depression, and ADD flareups—and enduring my mental-illness flareups (including one of OCD/GAD which is occurring as I’m writing this pre preface) has made difficult.

Meanwhile, please comprehensively and critically read Chayei Chaya (חיי חיה)—I won’t say “enjoy”, since I’m not sure that any book about the Holocaust (even historical-fictional books like Chayei Chaya (חיי חיה)) can exactly be enjoyed.

 By the way, tzom kal l’shomrim hatzom b’ HaChodesh HaRevi'i.

Nicole Czarnecki

Future Article: "Pioneering Infinity Pool Not So Infinite After All: Glass Break, Water Spill Bring Pool's End And Infinite Costs, Including Fatalities"

Patrons of the Sky Pool at Houston's Market Square Tower died when the pool's plexiglass floor could not hold steadily, despite its thickness of eight inches. Investigators say that at least two patrons were horseplaying, somehow causing the floor to break—and they were among those whom fell to their deaths from 42 floors above the Market Square Tower entrance and 10 feet into Houston.

On condition of anonymity, a Houston Police Department official and one of the HPD's contacts at the Houston's Coroner's Office stated the following:

"We know that none of the swimmers survived—and you'd have to imagine that they wouldn't have survived, given that they fell from half-a-thousand feet and away from anything onto which they could've grabbed, used to break their falls, or what have. They also fell from 42 floors which make up 40 stories of the Market Square Tower—so, they fell from a height of 10.5 floors per story—no way were they going to survive that, even if the pool had been just on the first story."

As for other decedents, they had this to say:

"We are investigating to see whether anyone fell from the balcony itself—if, for example, anyone was hanging on to one of the pool walls, walking over to the pool to see what was happening, or even about to get into the pool—and either fell with the pool or fell when it was longer joined the balcony."

They also talked about whether anyone died on the ground below:

"We haven't heard, though we're looking into that—as glass and water rained down, and some glass and water rained down together as if rain and ice rained down during a winter storm, we have to see whether anyone was even just hurt as a result of anything such as an instant rush of glass and water falling on them. At a rate of 10.5 floors per story, though, the fall speed would've made likely that nobody who was hit by any glass or water would've survived—especially with so much glass and water rushing."

They additionally noted, "Some of the decedents may have died by drowning as they were falling, as if they were being rushed away in a current or down a waterfall."

The Houston Housing Authority and Houston Permitting Center, meanwhile, are looking into whether the Market Square Tower builders, maintenance personnel, and owners violated any structural-integrity or other building-code ordinances, thus causing the pool to be unsafe and unable to hold up from 10 feet out into

The Houston DA's Office will run its own investigation and will work with the police department, Housing Authority, Permitting Center, and possibly even the mayor's office and Texas gubernatorial staff.

In the meantime, the mayor's office and the governor's office have been notified, and the release of the names of the decedents is pending confirmation of their identities and notification of their deaths to their loved ones—and the impending release hinges especially on, per a rumor that is going around in Austin circles, whether one of the decedents is a loved one of the governor.

"Imma Rize": A Short Story About a Nun With a Humorous Name (And a Cousin With a Sense of Humor)

Her name was actually Khava Reisz. She was from Obudai, Magyaroszag. However, she took the name "Ima Reis" ("אמא ראיס", "Mother Reis") when she left Obudai after she had become a nun and went to Bremen. From Bremen, she immigrated to Baltimore as "M. Eva Reis"; and she didn't use "Eva"—much less "Khava" ("חוה")—otherwise.

Therefore, nobody knew how to mark her gravestone—much less her makeshift gravestone for the time being—when she lived out her full years and died at the age of 110 years. What they could clearly write on the stone, however, was "1802 to 1912", since they knew that much.

Otherwise, they had to write what they could write about her. Thus, they wrote "Imma Rize". Similarly, they wrote "Earl Lee Rizer" on her cousin's gravestone. Earl, too, by the way, lived a long life. However, he lived to only 91 years of age.

Nonetheless, he could fill them in on the details of his years before he died, and he made an attempt to fill them in on what he could of his cousin's life.

"...And on my matzevah—the thing that you gentiles call a gravestone—simply mark 'Earl Lee Rizer'. I've left the other instructions in my will. As for my matzevah, that isn't the really-fancy part. After all, I can fill you and everybody else in at the Resurrection—if there even is one. Nonetheless, all you and anyone else need to know in this lifetime is that my name was 'Earl Lee Rizer'; I had a sense of humor, and I lived for 91 years.

"As for my cousin—the one that you call 'Mother Reis'—she'll probably die soon, too. I was born in 1806, and this year's 1897. So, she'll probably die in this 95th year of hers—after all, I'm younger than her and dying in my 91st year.

"Anyway, you asked me to fill you in on the details about her—since we all figure that she's going to die, and she is obviously quite secretive. Then—and spare me, for I haven't much breath—here are the details for which you asked—or at least which I can provide, anyway.

"After she became what everybody else considered a meshumadah—a Jesus-following apostate—I was the only one who was willing to take her in when she emigrated from Bremen. She came here in 1850, and I was already here since 1847. Thus, she lagged only three years behind me.

"After she immigrated, she and I went our separate ways once I took her in and she was processed by the immigration authorities. I went to Temple; she went to the Hebrew Christian church and convent up on only-God-knows what street. I lived out my life as a regular man and Temple member; she lived out her life as a Jewish Mother Superior—though such seems a contradiction, when it is actually just quite a paradox—at least she was a Jewish mother! Incidentally, she did remind me of the verse wherein the prophet states that a husbandless woman has more children than a husbanded one; and she believed that, that applied to all nuns, and not just abbotesses.

"I must relate this anecdote as well: she and her community celebrated Yom Kippur—the Jewish Day of Atonement—in the most-fascinating way. We believe in fasting for our atonement; she believes in Jesus as hers. Nonetheless, she—with her community, and like us—fasted on Yom Kippur. However—and this is the fascinating part—she and her community would prepare for Communion after sunset in a fashion similar to how the priests made atonement in the days of the Solomonic and Zadokite Temples. Whereas the priests would enter the Holy of Holies and perform all of the atonement rituals and rites, the Hebrew Catholic priest would wave incense before the cross on the wall behind the altar and then sprinkle all of the vestments, articles, and furniture with some of the wine that was to be used in the Communion ceremony. Then, at sunset, the priest and his deacons would administer Communion to the congregation.

"I cannot say that she did not live an interesting life—perhaps living interesting lives is within our family. After all, I lived an interesting life—part of my life, of course, includes my having changed my name from 'Berl Ari Reisz' to 'Earl Leo Riszer', to just 'Earl Lee Rizer'. I was an early riser, by the way—I took the advice of the American founder Benjamin Franklin seriously. Also, Benjamin Franklin himself knew what I know—that, as King Solomon observed, only the sluggard will not rise at all, for he will even make the excuse that a lion roams the streets!

"Perhaps that's why 'Ima Reis'—'Mother Reis'—may, as I have heard, change her name to 'Imma Rize'—as I alluded to being an early riser, so she will allude to her belief in the Resurrection of the Dead. Also, she—from what I understand—heard a Negro man singing something along the lines of 'I'm-a rise when Jesus calls-a me up from the ground....'—and that had her thinking."

With that said, Earl Lee Rizer breathed his last breath and died at the age of 91 years. Thus, his gravestone read as he stipulated that it should read: "Earl Lee Rizer". However, the stonecarver also engraved Earl's birth and death dates. Therefore, the gravestone read in full, "Earl Lee Rizer, 1806 to 1897".

As for Mother Reis' gravestone, it read:

"אמא ראיס, 1802-1912, עם 62 שנות בעבודה לישוע אדוננו"—

"Mother Reis, 1802 to 1912, with 62 years in the service of Jesus Our Lord."

This was all forgotten, however, when a flood came through the cemetery and left the gravekeepers to put up makeshift gravestones. Thus, Mother Reis' makeshift gravestone read as her cousin Earl suggested that her gravestone should read—with, of course, the death date being different than the date that Earl supposed:

"Imma Rize

"1802 to 1912".

Imagining(?) An Ancestor In Al-Andalusia in Medieval Mediterranea, Part One

Prologue And Introduction

Prologue

      I first became interested in my topic for this paper when I came across a poem of the Medieval poet al-Ghazal[i]. I really had no choice in becoming interested in the topic—much less in writing the paper—, since I had to write the paper for Dr. John W. Birkenheimer’s History 362—Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean World—class. Therefore, I had to be interested in one or another way[ii].  So, as I was reading through my class textbook (Barbara H. Rosenwein’s third edition of A Short History of the Middle Ages[iii]), I found the inspiration for my topic and a source to for it to boot[iv]— the topic being the life of a Jew in the time of Al-Andalusia[v].

By the way, I did not use the term “Muslim” (“submitter”) or “Islam” (“submission”), given that those two Arabic words did (and still do) not exclusively belong to Muhammad. Besides, if and since I—as a Christian—can call myself by what was originally a Syrian pejorative for a talmid(ah)-HaDerech (follower of The Way), I am sure that Mohammedans can handle being called what they were called by others up until recently[vi][vii].  In fact, I, in reading the parts of The Legacy of Muslim Spain[viii] that were relevant to my topic, was actually a little surprised to find that even Maimonides—who did not like Messianic Jews or Messianic Judaism—found Mohammedism more dangerous than Messianic Judaism[ix] [x]. Nonetheless, Maimonides and I agreed on something.

      This is important to note so that I can be in full disclosure and not unnecessary offend anyone by my (if you will) political incorrectness. In the same vein, I used “Vaticanists” to refer to “Catholics” (“Universalists”). By the way, my dad’s relatives (and some of my mom’s relatives) were “Catholic” Anusim[xi], so I can speak about Vaticanists as such[xii]. Also, I have no reason or motive to lie about any of this—and I cited what was not knowledge that I had prior to writing this introduction and the rest of the paper, just so you know[xiii].

      I furthermore hope that you understand that, since this paper is called “Imagining(?) An Ancestor In Al-Andalusia in Medieval Mediterranea”, my writing was informed by my family history (See the endnotes.). As I stated before, the topic of this paper is the life of a Jew in Al-Andalusia—namely, one of my imagined(?)[xiv] ancestors in Al-Andalusia. Therefore, I had to contextualize my paper by prologuing[xv] my topic with a summary of part of my family history. Thus, I ask you to bear with me as you read this following part.

      My dad’s ancestors were Ashkenazi Jews, perhaps of Sefardi descent. For example, the Levitical Foczkos used the Arabic name “Halva” (meaning “sweetmeat”) for one of their children[xvi]. Also, Dad’s dad’s parental grandparents (né Czernecki and née Andrulewiczówna) baptized their son as “Antoni Jan Czarniecki”, who shared his birthday (October 24^th) with to-be Vaticanist saint and notable Spanish clergyman Anthony Claret—Julian and Aleksjondria Alicja Andrulewiczówna Czernecki[xvii] were well aware of the events in Sefarad[xviii].

The Foczkos resigned to living as Anusim in Aranyida once they were banished from Warszawa by Foczko relatives who had not become Anusim, and some Anusi relatives were already in cities such as Gelnica. The Andrulewiczówna-Czernecki family did not become Anusim until the pogroms, although some Andrulewiczes had been Anusim and living in Gmina Sejny in Suwałki Gubernia, Polish-Russian Pale[xix] when Aleksjondria was born in Bose, Sejny[xx].

As I aforestated, I hope that you understand that my writing of “Imagining(?) An Ancestor In Al-Andalusia in Medieval Mediterranea” was informed by my family history. Therefore, I had to contextualize my paper by prologuing my topic with a summary of part of my family history. So, I thank you for bearing with me.

Introduction

As I stated in the prologue, I hope that you understand that my writing of “Imagining(?) An Ancestor In Al-Andalusia in Medieval Mediterranea” was informed by my family history. As I also stated, the topic of this paper is one of my imagined(?)[xxi] ancestors in Al-Andalusia. I have no records or access to any records of my paternal ancestors who were born prior to the 1700s or outside of Ashkenazi[xxii] Europe before then—if any were born there at all[xxiii]. My family were P’rushi[xxiv] Jews, so making my ancestor a Qara’i[xxv] Jew would have been pointless, anyway. Besides, I do not remember the Al-Andalusian  Qara’it[xxvi] instructor’s name[xxvii]; and I was going to mention her through my “ancestor” if I had remembered her name on my own. Also, while few—if any—P’rushim did follow Qara’i practice in terms of tzitziyot[xxviii],  most Sefardim[xxix] still do not use techelet[xxx] unless it comes from the chilazon or what is possibly the chilazon. What I did recall was that tallitot were not worn until the 13^th Century or the 1300s[xxxi]—tzitziyot were just worn on one’s outfits, and even tallitot katanot were not a concern until then.

By the way, there were natural fabrics such as linen and wool—and silk and cotton if one was lucky enough to have access to those kinds of fabrics. Thus, acrylic and other synthetic fabrics did not even exist. Furthermore and in short—and as my mom imparted to me—life was basically the same across time until the Space Age/Age of Technology[xxxii]. Even the Ages of Exploration  and Colonization[xxxiii], and the Industrial and Scientific Revolutions[xxxiv] were precendented and precendental compared to the Space Age. Keep in mind, nonetheless, that the Medieval/“Dark” Ages came before and transitioned into the  Even the Ages of Exploration  and Colonization, and the Industrial and Scientific Revolutions.

As a result, you will already have at least somewhat idea of what my “ancestor”’s life was like in the 10^th-11^th Centuries if you truly keep the Medieval Ages in mind and think about Medieval Spain and Portugal, Medieval Jewry, and Medieval Mediterranea. Specifics about my “ancestor”’s life and lifetime will become clear to you as you read this paper (and pay attention to the endnotes!).

To give you a general idea, nonetheless, I will tell you that my “ancestor” lived in Al-Andalusia for 120 years (929-1049[xxxv]), before the First Crusade. She, who was named Rachel Miriam HaLevit bat Yosef Ele’azar HaLevi v’Miriam[xxxvi], also kept kashrut, wore tzitziyot, lived in a patriarchal household and society, was a Levit, married a Levi cousin, and was a stay-at-home daughter and wife who—with the mandate of her family—could read and write. She followed even the “positive mitzvot”—which P’rushi women are exempted or even prohibited from doing by the P’rushi clergymen[xxxvii]. She followed Sefardi P’rushi minhag v’nusach, knew the Tanakh and halachah, etc.. She lived in Córdoba, attended a synagogue and sat on the women’s side of the mehitzah, was not allowed to make aliyot to the bimah, and provided for her own and her family’s necessities by gardening, cooking, sewing, and doing whatever other household activities Medieval and Sefardi Jewish women did.

Imagining(?) An Ancestor In Al-Andalusia in Medieval Mediterranea

Bibliography

Prologue And Introduction

Jayyusi, Salma Khadra, ed. The Legacy of Muslim Spain, Volume 1. Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill, 1994.

Rosenwein, Barbara H.. A Short History Of the Middle Ages, Third Edition. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Imagining(?) An Ancestor In Al-Andalusia in Medieval Mediterranea

 Jayyusi , Salma Khadra, ed. The Legacy of Muslim Spain, Volume 1. Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill, 1994.

Rosenwein, Barbara H.. A Short History Of the Middle Ages, Third Edition. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

[Note as of 24 September 2013: Other sources to be used after 26 September 2013].

     

---

[i] Barbara H. Rosenwein, A Short History of the Middle Ages, Third Edition (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009), 114. Cited on Roseinwein 137.

[ii] In other words, I was going to be either positively interested (writing about a topic which I liked—since I was actually free to choose the topic) or negatively interested (obligatory, so to speak, dragging my feet through writing a college-class paper and hopefully receiving a good grade for what work I begrudgingly did).

[iii] Barbara H. Rosenwein, A Short History of the Middle Ages, Third Edition (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009).

[iv] The source being (as I later found out, two volumes of) The Legacy of Muslim Spain (Salma Khadra Jayyusi, ed., The Legacy of Muslim Spain, Volume 1 (Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill, 1994), 327. Also see Rosenwein 114 and 137.). 

[v] Today, Portugal and most of Spain. See Roseinwein 115 and 148.

[vi] I even read The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin once, and religiously-tolerant Deist Ben Franklin called self-identified “Muslims” by the name “Mohammedans”.

[vii] Also, I—as a Jew and a “Muslimah” to “Isa” (submitter to Jesus—the real Jesus, not Mohammed’s perversion of Jesus)—find Mohammedism (especially the more that I learn about it) offensive (and one of the tenants of Mohammedism that I immediately and especially find offensive is the idea that Ishma’el and Esau [the Arabs] replaced Isaac and Jacob).

[viii] Salma Khadra Jayyusi, ed., The Legacy of Muslim Spain, Volume 1 (Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill, 1994).

[ix] Ibid., 195-197.

[x] Christianity; and nowadays, many—if not most—make historical Jews seem like they favored Mohammedism over Christianity—or at least saw it as the lesser of what they saw as two evils, anyway.

[xi] Some still are—Dad’s, for example, being Roman and Byzantine. If you need more information on this, by the way, feel free to do a Google search for my family tree on Ancestry.com and my blog on Blogspot/Blogger.

[xii] To make a long story short (and to get back to my point), Vaticanists (similarly to Mohammedans after them) used a form of Replacement Theology (what I call “Replacementism”)—specifically, they replaced Mount Zion (G-d’s “holy hill”, as He says in the Old Testament) with Vatican Hill (and if you care to look at the Wikipedia entry on Vatican Hill that I once read, feel free to do so.).

[xiii] Incidentally, that whole copyright and citation drek and schpiel did not start until Queen Anne Stuart’s Copyright Act back of 1708-1710—nothing is new under the sun (as Ecclesiastes makes quite clear); but I could get my tuchus sued by feinshmekers for one little—even one little unknown—mistake in citation because of Her Royal “Highness” (or shall I say “Macher”ness or “Feinshmeke”ness?). Also, I hope that you can tell that I come from an Ashkenazi Jewish family and have some working (albeit, basically-self-taught) proficiency in Yiddish, though (given that my proficiency is limited) I am letting you choose between “Mache”ness (“big-shot”-ness) and “Feinshmeke”ness (“high-falutin”-ness) to describe the monarchical ancestor of the Modern Language Association, the American Psychological Assocation and its publication manual, and Kate Turabian and her Chicago/Humanities style.

[xiv] Or, perhaps, not so imagined if G-d really works through me in a similar way that He worked through the Bible scribes. In the Gospel writers’ cases, they were writing down the very Word of G-d. In my case, I was  writing down history passed onto me by the Holy Spirit—e.g., who knows if I did not actually write down one of the names of my ancestors?—and history based on my sources (which, as I stated, I cited).

[xv] “Prologuing” was used here as a gerund of “prologue” as a verb.

[xvi] See "Hungary Catholic Church Records, 1636-1895," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XCPB-VHH : accessed 20 Sep 2013), Halva Wyzkiewicz, 1895.

I found this record way before and seized on this fact. Although the name does have a Greek meaning as well, the Foczkos/Fockos were Roman—not Byzantine/Greek—Vaticanist Anusim in Slovakia (including Zlatá Idka and Košice—then Aranyidka and Kassa, when Slovakia was a part of Hungary) and Hungary (including Miskolc and Diósgyőr, where my great-great-granduncle Frantisek György “Frank George” Foczko was born and baptized in October of 1888, shortly before his cousin Halva). Incidentally, my grandmother Joan Gaydos Czarnecki (whose maternal grandmother was Juliana Foczková Rusznaková) followed Sefardi custom by naming my aunt “Mary Joan” for my dad’s grandmothers (Mary Czarnecki née Trudniak and Mary Gaydos née Rusnak) and herself (Ashkenazim generally did and still do not name children for living relatives, though those who follow Sefardi and Biblical custom do. Keep in mind, for example, that Absalom named his daughter “Tamar” after his sister; and John the Baptist was almost named “Zachariah” for his dad.).

[xvii]  With the latter having a brother named Ignacy Andrulewicz—perhaps for Saint Ignatius or Ignacio de Loyola, unless his parents used the common name “Ignacy”/”Ignatzy” for him

[xviii] Including what was Al-Andalusia. Sometimes, many or even all Non-Ashkenazi Jews (including Mizrahi Jews) are labeled as “Sefardim Yehudim”.

[xix] Our branch was pretty much the holdout. There was a Rochla Andrelewitz whose family did not convert, and a Jacob Androlowicz who identified as Jewish and was buried in a Roman Vaticanist cemetery—his next of kin at the time, according to his Jewish World War Two Soldiers’ card, was Mary S. Strout née Andrulewicz. By the way, a Rusznak in-law cousin tells me that “Maria” was used as a variant of “Mariam” among Jews in Hungary.  Also, I have a Foczko cousin named Mariama Focková Valková—and there was a cousin named Miriam Fockowa who was a victim of the Holocaust back in Poland.

[xx] Her parents, an unknown Andrulevičus and an unknown Morgevičutė from Stakliškės, moved from Stakliškės when her cousin Shmuli Morgovich died in April of 1882. She was born in Bose on June 26, 1882.

[xxi] See the prologue.

[xxii] Eastern, Central, and Non-Sefardi Western (e.g., German) Europe. In fact, Eastern and Central European Jews are descended from Diasporan Jews who came from places such as the Rhineland, Sefardi Jews who escaped the Inquisition and (as I cited) who escaped Al-Andalusia and the Reconquista, and “Khazar” Jews who escaped the fall of the Byzantine Empire (Sidenote: Kevin Alan Brook’s Khazaria.com is where I got a substantial amount of my prior knowledge. When I first encountered the “Khazar Theory”, I was—figuratively and literally—pulling my hair to prove that Ashkenazi Jews are Jews and not, as Anti Semites and Self-Hating Jews like to claim, Khazars and Edomite posers.).

[xxiii] See the prologue. If nothing else, the Foczko Wyzkiewiczes and Andrulewicz Czerneckis were well aware of Sefardi Jewish experiences and history.

[xxiv] Pharisee, “Rabbi”nate, “Rabbi”nical, Talmudic. “P’rushi” literally means “self separating” or “self cutting off”.

[xxv] Karaite, “Scripturalist” (“Kara” or “Qara” means “Scriptualist”, viz. “Tanakh-only”). At your own risk, see Nehemia Gordon’s Karaite Korner website (I qualify my statement with “at your own risk” because he is Anti Messianic/Anti Christian—not Anti Christ—, as I learned the hard way when he twisted my defense of his argument that “Rashi” (Shlomo Isaacides) was not Messianic. For more on this, see my YouTube video “Verbal Abuse From Nehemia Gordon And Evidence Thereof”—which Nehemia even managed to get removed with a false cyberbullying report until I uploaded it again and explained that he is a public figure. As knowledgeable as Nehemia Gordon is, he is not a trustworthy person—which is why I qualify my statement regarding Karaite Korner with “at your own risk”. A better website is http://www.karaitejudaism.org/, especially because the person does not seem to be abusive as is Nehemia Gordon. You may also want to look at http://kahana.hubpages.com/, which is maintained by a Karaite kohen and has at least some good content. Also keep in mind that Qara’im, like P’rushim, generally do not believe in Yeshua (Jesus)—though Nehemia Gordon’s affirmative “No” to the question “Do Karaites believe in Jesus?” is false, as some Qara’im (including Tzdukim— “Zadokians”, “Sadducees”, literally “Righteous Ones” [cf. Ezekiel 44:15-16, 48:11]) and P’rushim have believed in Yeshua throughout time.

[xxvi] “Karaitess”

[xxvii] All I remember is that Nehemia Gordon stated that she was in Spain in the 10^th Century and that her name began with “al”, and was something like “al-Malmudah” or “al-Malhudah”. Besides, I am not going back to Nehemia’s website ever again if I can help myself.

[xxviii] And other matters as well; such as the calendar, Torah parshot, and eating the fat of the tailbone (included among chelev, or forbidden fat).

[xxix] Most Sefardim, like most Non Sefardim, are P’rushim. Even many Messianic Jews are P’rushi or follow P’rushi minhagim v’nusachim—Pharisee traditions and customs (e.g., from the Talmudim Bavlim v’Yerushalayimi).

[xxx] E.g., When I used to shop at Eichlers.com, Sefardi tallitot did not include the option for techelet. In full disclosure, by the way, I use the Microsoft® Word 2003 “Research” bar or (if I could not find what I wanted in the Research bar) Google to double check my Hebrew, prior knowledge, etc.; so I did not cite what I double checked and/or corrected unless I needed to absolutely cite it. I did not want to be compulsive about citing. By the way, as I stated before, nothing is new under the sun—so much for the MLA, the APA, Kate Turabian, and others paying attention to (if not the Word of G-d itself, at least) the wisdom of Solomon, though. Also, I have Obsessive Compulsive/Generalized Anxiety, Major Depressive, and Attention Deficit Disorders; and I did and will not kill myself with obsessive citing.

[xxxi] I cannot remember which. I just remember reading it. I have read a source that have said that tallitot were used back in the days of Sh’mu’el.

[xxxii] My mom was born in the 1950s in the United States of America, by the way.

[xxxiii] 15^th-20^th Centuries

[xxxiv] Including the “Age of Reason/Age of Enlightenment”; beginning with Galileo Galieli, 15^th-20^th Centuries

[xxxv] P’rushi years 4689-5709 AM. The Qara’im generally follow the Biblical calendar, and there are 165 missing years—thus, the years are actually probably closer to 4853/4854-4973/4974 AM. (Today is Tishri 18, 5773 AM/5774 AM; perhaps 5938/5939 [September 24-25, 2013].). The Jewish New begins for P’rushim in Tishri, and for Qara’im in Aviv.

[xxxvi] I could not write out her Hebrew name in Hebrew lettering, as Word kept giving me problems pasting it from when I typed and checked it with http://www.linguanaut.com/hebrew_keyboard.htm, translate.google.com, http://alittlehebrew.com/transliterate, and even Notepad and Blogger (to see if I could paste it unscrambled from one of those two sources).

[xxxvii] Not “rabbis”, “Chazal”, or “sages”. See Jeremiah 8:8-9 and Matthew 23:8-10.