Teaching Judaism In English Catholic Schools And Notre Dame Of Maryland University

As long as they teach about Judaism without Anti Semitism, I'm okay with it. BTW, part of "Never forget" is, e.g., remembering that some Catholic schools (e.g., Notre Dame of Maryland University​) taught and still teach Pseudo-Christian Anti Semitism—for the record, by the way, Jews, for example, did not steal Passover from the Syrians and were not even "possibl[y]" influenced by the Devil (The prophets were wise and would have known if the Devil, and not the Holy Spirit, was speaking to and through them.).

England, take note—Jews and Christians (including Jewish Christians like me) are watching what you do; and we have no problem telling you when "[we're] tired of your Anti Semitism" (and I still remembering saying that to a certain Religious Studies professor.). Gasp as you will (as my classmates did) and tell us to mind our own business ("Leave!"), and we will maintain that affronting God is affronting the Jewish people—and saying that, e.g., "It's possible [that the prophets were influenced by the Devil]" is affronting God.

Also, Islam is not the root of Christianity (Messianic/Nazarene Judaism).

A Re-Recollection For VE Day and Mother's Day

The World War Two vet who I want to highlight in particular is my Great-Granduncle Bernard Stanley "Bernie" Czarnecki (of blessed memory). There were other family members whom served, though none of them endured what Great-Granduncle Bernie did. Being the youngest brother of my father's paternal grandfather, he was not yet even 21 when he first signed up to serve in the U.S. Army—he was born on March 15, 1917 and signed up on February 17, 1941—and all this after his parents and my great-grandfather came to the U.S. to escape the pogroms and live as Crypto Jews to avoid further Anti Semitism!  He honestly had no obligation to go to the continent from which his parents and brother Tony escaped. There he went, though; and he was discharged from the Army on December 12, 1945 due to shrapnel in his head and a botched operation that he underwent to remove it. The botched operation left his brain damaged, him permanently childlike, etc.; and he died at the age of 43 in the Lebanon, PA Veterans' Affairs' Home due to Schizophrenia and a Coronary Occlusion. Great-Granduncle Bernie never even got a Purple Heart, either.

The mother who I want to highlight is Great-Grandaunt Alexandria Alice Czarnecki Dombroski—the one who set up Great-Granduncle Bernie's Social Security account and got swindled by "Jankie" and "Susi" when Great-Granduncle Bernie died. As I have mentioned before, "Jankie" and "Susi" (real mensches! >:-/) took advantage of their childlike brother by affecting him to sign off his Social Security benefits to them for when he died; and they thus swindled Great-Grandaunt Alice in the process. 

Great-Grandaunt Alice already took care of Great-Great-Grandma when she was dying, headed up the house after Great-Great-Grandma died, and took on the role of a widowed mother when she could have (quite honestly) sent her son to live with relatives after her husband died. She did not have to help her brother—and she did, anyway.

"It's a shame what they[, Jankie and Susi,] did to Bernie," as Granduncle Tony overheard at the funeral home. It's also a shame what Jankie and Susi did to Great-Grandaunt Alice, and that few to none recognize Great-Granduncle Bernie and Great-Grandaunt Alice to this day. 

A "New York Times" Quiz On Lying And How I Did, Etc.

I got 7/10, as I predicted. Pretty darned good. After all, listening to the audio version, wanting to give the benefit of the doubt on some, having had the experiences that I've had, etc. help with that. Remember, e.g., my final conversation with my granddad was over the phone (audio) and he finally implicitly conceded our Jewishness. As far as I know (unless that quote particularly struck me), I was paying attention to every word (especially, "If we had any Jewish blood, I don't know about it.).

That may have also been the conversation (or it was probably one of the ones before) in which he said that he'd said that he'd tell me that "[I] disappoint [him]" all over again (though I think that it was the conversation in which he also mentioned his service at Ft. Knox when Great-Granduncle Ed [z"l] was there in 1957 [I think, since he was 19-20, anyway. Great-Granduncle Ed, meawhile, had served in World War Two.]). I know, too, that he talked about how days and nights were different during his childhood (e.g., Great-Granddad would come home from the mines, etc., an they'd all be in bed at 9:00 PM), unlike how "people go to bed at all hours of the night" (which struck me, I guess, because I tend to be a night owl).

I'm also trying to remember anything else. Anyway, you're usually able to tell when you've been through what I've been through, even via audio.

When Tragedy Is Close To Home Or Even At Home

I was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and lived in Columbia, Maryland throughout my childhood. I still live in the Baltonapolis Area (I'm not saying where), and I can tell you that the tragedy was close to home. In fact, I was under the impression that Columbia, Maryland is the county seat of Howard County (It is not, though—Ellicot City is. Incidentally, that's how much I've been unable to get out.). I was even under the impression that Columbia, Maryland is the Wilkes Barre of Maryland (As I said,  I was under the impression that Columbia, Maryland is the county seat of Howard County.).

Who knew that Columbia, Maryland would make the news this way? My sister was angry that Julia-Louis Dreyfus called Columbia "dreary". I just thought that she doesn't know Columbia. From schools like Owen Brown and Oakland Mills, and even (quite frankly) Jeffers Hill (and I went to both Owen Brown and Oakland Mills Middle Schools, as well as Jeffers Hill Elementary), to the busstops at Howard Community College and signs in the neighborhoods (at least my childhood neighborhood), the culture of Columbia is quite evident—and "dreary" is a compliment (especially since, for example, some brats burned a bridge in my childhood neighborhood a while back. The bridge has long since been rebuilt, by the way.).

As far as I know, I didn't know the victims (of blessed memory) and I don't know their families (May they be comforted at this difficult time.). I also don't know whether I knew the shooter, and speculation is indeed vain. Nonetheless, I would not be surprised if the shooter did end up being one of my classmates—after all, one of my classmates was involved in a second-degree murder (I thought that, that kid was a brat; but I never expected him to be involved with a second-degree murder. Could it even be him who was the shooter? I doubt it, but I don't know—the last that I heard is that he'd been arrested for his part in the second-degree murder, although he wasn't the one charged with second-degree murder. Unless the Columbia Mall shooter does turn out to be him, I won't name who he is—and if you want to know, Google for his name, since that's how I found out that there was an incident that he was involved in at all.).

Another classmate, meanwhile, died of a drug overdose and left a son behind. Also meanwhile, I was once at an arraignment hearing for the at-the-time boyfriend of one of my classmates. I could talk about other incidents concerning Columbia and Columbians as well.

So, this shooting shouldn't have surprised me. It did, and it shouldn't have. Columbia, Maryland, is more than "dreary" after all—and now it's on the news as more than a "dreary" city. It's not the city that Edward Norton is (or was) proud of (and I didn't even know that Hollywood had Jim Rouse's Columbia-raised grandson in it for the longest time.). It's not the city that Aaron MacGruder is (or was) proud of (I guess. From what I recall, he was raised here—or at least raised around Howard County. For some reason, the idea that he went to Oakland Mills High School came to mind—though I could have a wrong idea.). It's not the city that Jim Rouse would be proud of, either.

Again, I can tell you that "dreary" is a compliment for Columbia, Maryland—especially after an incident like this, and an incident that should not have surprised me as at all.

"The Night Before Christmas" and Reflections on Years Past

I was going to have to do this sometime. As I said, I apologize for getting teary eyed. Honestly to God, one of the few good memories that I can take away from having to deal with Dad and his family (meaning the family that has mistreated me, not the family that actually has some decency) is when Pop-Pop (whose soul is hopefully at peace, despite how he mistreated me and others) would read "The Night Before Christmas", since he wasn't really keen on the religious part (He was an Anusi Ashkenazi, after all, and went through the motions.). No wonder, then, that he read "The Night Before Christmas" with such fervor and nary, if at all, mentioned or read the Bible.

Every Christmas Eve that he could (including the Christmas Eves that my sister and I were there), he would read "The Night Before Christmas". Whenever "and" came up (e.g., "And Mamma in her kerchief and I in my cap"), the grandchildren (at least the under-18-years-of-age ones) would pass a gift around, and (pun intended) whoever got the gift on the last "and" ("and to all a good night") would open the gift—and I remember that Michelle got it one year, for example.

See, Dad; I didn't miss out on the life of a (not-at-all) "great man". In fact, as I said (or, as he would say, "like I said"),  one of the few good memories that I can take away from having to deal with you and your family who have mistreated me is when Pop-Pop (whose soul, again, is hopefully at peace, despite how he mistreated me and others) would read "The Night Before Christmas".

I took away from Pop-Pop's life what I needed to take away—and in conclusion, as Pop-Pop would read, "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night". Enjoy Christmas without your real daughters—after all, Erica and Danielle are exactly who you and Pop-Pop wanted as daughters and granddaughters, and that is no compliment to you and them.

By the way, today is Great-Great-Granddad Julian's professed birthdate—December 24th. Had he lived, he'd've apparently been anywhere from 124 years old (since great-Great-Grandma gave 1879 on his death certificate) to 128 years old (if he was born in 1875, as he seems to have been—since, after all, "Julian Laczinsky" was and "Julius Charnetski" was killed at 46 years of age on September 11, 1922).

In Memory of Staff Sgt. Andrew Louis Rusnak (Andrash HaLevi ben Andrash v'Aviva; USAF-WW2)

I didn't really know Great-Granduncle Andy (z'l), but I know this much:

1. He was humble. Even when he talked about his military service, he tried to make "Andrew Rusnak" and "Mr. Andrew L. Rusnak" look completely different—and they were the same Andrew Rusnak, even though he surely didn't (though he could have) noted "self" as the relationship of the honorer to the honoree. 
2. He loved his parents—he's even being interred at their gravesite.
3. He had that 1900s movie quality in his voice—I wish that I had recorded the call or calls that I made. If you'd wanted to hear a voice from that era, you'd've wanted to hear his.
4. He loved his family.
5. He—and I just figured this out—clearly loved his heritage. He is being cremated and interred at his parents' gravesite—like Tibor (z'l), who directly went through the Holocaust, he felt guilty about surviving (Why else would he want to be cremated when his siblings were all buried? Also, he served on the homefront—and his brothers, Sgt. Carl Stephen Rusnak and S2C Joseph John Rusnak [z'l], served overseas.). Tears came to my eyes when I figured that out—what could he do? As far as I know, he wasn't the one to whom Vilmos and Zoli wrote—Great-Grandma Gaydos (Great-Granduncle Andy's elder sister) had the mitzvah of helping Vilmos, Zoli, et. al. out; and she reneged on her mitzvah (He was single and serving in the Air Force; she was married with four to five children—he was doing what he could; she wasn't.)

I could list more points, but Point Five sticks in particularly with me. Think about this: Every Jew at the time of the Shoah—whether Anusim or openly-Jewish Jews, Messianic or Non Messianic, and inside or outside of Europe—went through the Shoah—whether directly or indirectly. Every Jew who could help fellow Jews had the mitzvah to do so, and Great-Granduncle Andy fulfilled his part of the mitzvah. 

"‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’" and "‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world"

Great-Granduncle Andy died of Alzheimer's Disease—and, in a way, thank God that he did; for:

 "The righteous perishes,And no man takes it to heart;Merciful men are taken away,While no one considersThat the righteous is taken away from evil.
He shall enter into peace;They shall rest in their beds,Each one walking in his uprightness."

Would God have been fair to Great-Granduncle Andy to have him be able to comprehend such times? After all, he died on October 2nd—the middle of the week of the government shutdown—, and he'd been battling Alzheimer's Disease for a long time—and what times in which we live, and what times from which God had Great-Granduncle Andy escape!

Alzheimer's Disease was, in a sense, a blessing for a man such as Staff Sgt. Andrew L. Rusnak—a Levi tzedek, a good son, brother, and dad (and if you just know about—let alone at all know—any of his children, you know that); and (indeed) the last of the Fosko Rusnaks (Incidentally, Grandma and I were on the same brainwave—that is, about the mantle passing on to the next generation.).

Staff Sgt. Andrew Louis Rusnak HaLevi ben Andrash v'Aviva, shemo v'zichrono l'bracha (12 Kislev 5677 -25 Tishrei 5773).

From the 1999 Rusnak Family Reunion Cookbook (I should've scanned in the picture better at the time that I did so.).

From one of the Rusnak family reunions. 

From the 1999 Rusnak Family Reunion Cookbook (I should've scanned in the picture better at the time that I did so.). Here is Andrew L. Rusnak with his surviving brothers, Carl and Joseph (of blessed memory)—their oldest sibling, John, died shortly after he was born

From the 1999 Rusnak Family Reunion Cookbook (I should've scanned in the picture better at the time that I did so.). Here is Pvt. Andrew L. Rusnak with his mother (of blessed memory).

I Saw This Earlier Today, But...

Now I have time to share this:

   

Madison, Wisconsin arrived from google.com on "The Nicole Factor: So Great-Grandma Czarnecki Was Jewish After All.." by searching for is czarnecki a jewish name?.

10:36:55 -- 13 hours 28 mins ago

    

Longmont, Colorado arrived from google.com on "The Nicole Factor: Part Six of My Stage32 Submission" by searching for francis a. “red” czarnecki.

10:03:30 -- 14 hours 1 min ago

What an impact that my blog is making! Furthermore (unless just some relative, family friend, or whoever else changed his or her location online, is on vacation, moved, etc.), what an impact Granduncle Red made! Granduncle Red's is the kind of life that I want to live--I grant that he got Grandaunt Judy (then Judith Ann Thomas) pregnant outside of marriage, was an alcoholic, etc.; but he literally gave up his baseball scholarship to do the right thing by marrying his then-pregnant girlfriend, and he was known and remembered by all who knew him as a nice and righteous man.

Granduncle Red aspired to be famous baseball player, too--and he could have been one--, but he knew that doing righteousness and making an impact was far better than being famous. Francis "Red" Anthony Czarnecki, June 21, 1940 - July 9, 1985--zichrona l'bracha. 

I Couldn't Resist...

I got him at the UMBC Bookstore for the sake of University Spirit, since it is Homecoming Season (I used Campus Cash.) and so that I could have something by which to remember UMBC--and after all the trouble that I put the cashiers through to make sure that I wouldn't get one made in Indonesia as the others are (since he was made in China--the lesser of two evils). His Spanish nickname is "Oside" (for "Osito de la Espiritu Universitario"), his Hebrew nickname "Dubru" ("Dubi-Ru'ach-Ha'Universita").