A Blessing For Protection

בברוך יהוה אלוהינו, מלך העולם ואל אלוהי ישראל, יהוה צבאות ושומר ישראל מי מצוה המלאכי עליון  להגן ולשמור כל בני ישראל וכל הצדיקים מגויים.

Transliteration:

Baruch Yehovah Eloheinu, Melekh Ha'Olam v'El Elohei Yisra'el, Yehovah Tz'va'ot v'Shomer Yisra'el Mi Metzave hamalakei Elyon lehagen v'lishmor kal b'nei Yisra'el v'kal hatzadikim m'goyim.


Translation:

Blessed be Yehovah our God, the King of the universe and the God of Israel, the LORD of Hosts and the Keeper of Israel Whom commands His angels to protect and keep charge over all of the children of Israel and all of the righteous among the nations.

A More-Thorough Answer To Questions Which A Fan Asked Me on My Facebook Page

• "Shalom l'kulam" means "peace for all". You could reply "Shalom l'at[a]" (singular "Peace for you") or "Shalom l'ate[m/n]" (plural, "Peace for you"). 

[The original answer. Since he asked about "Shalom l'kulam" and I wasn't thinking of object forms of Hebrew pronouns, I didn't give correct answers. To be fair, though, my native language is not Hebrew (although it is my ethnic/national language). Also, as I note, I did not know that I am Jewish. 

[I should've answered with the following:

1. [L'shalom l'lekh.
2. [L'shalom l'lakh.
3. [L'shalom l'lakem.
4. [L'shalom l'laken.

[PS I know that I should use my Rosetta Stone software more. Also, remember that "whenever you feel like criticizing any one, just remember that [not] all of the people in this world [have] had the privileges you've had." (I don't like the original wording by the way, since quite a few people had and have the privilege that Nick Carraway had.)]

• I myself try not to eat pork, though some Jews (particularly Liberal [more-liberal Masorti/Conservative, Reform/Progressive, Reconstructionist, Alternative, etc.] and secular Non-Messianic Jews) do. 

[I should have mentioned that I've been trying to go more kashrut since I've found out that I'm Jewish and have the classically-Jewish IBS  (By the way, I do not buy that IBS and Chron's are not related. IBS and Chron's, which increases the risk of Colon Cancer, are part of the same system.).

• As for a bar mitzvah, he is a "son [of the] commandment". A bat mitzvah is a "daughter [of the] commandment". B'nai Mitzvah ("sons [of the] commandment") are found in all denominations (Messianic and Non Messianic); and so are Banot Mitzvah ("daughters [of the] commandment), although only in Messianic and Non-Messianic Liberal denominations do banot mitzvah have teqesim l'b'nai mitzvah (bar- and bat-mitzvah ceremonies). I myself, by the way, did not have a teqes l'bat mitzvah. This is because I did not know that I am Jewish until I was 18 years old.

[By the way, another wrong answer. Non-Liberal denominations do have teqesim l'banot mitzvah nowadays. Nonetheless, teqesim l'b'nai mitzvah are still considered more of teqesim l'yeladim.]

I hope that I answered your questions. Shabbat Shalom.

"Man Of Constant Sorrow"--Work of Fiction Based On the Song Lyrics and Covers From the Soggy Bottom Boys and Charm City Devils

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. (Disclaimer copied and pasted from TVTropes.org)

©2013 Nicole Czarnecki. All rights reserved by the author. "Man Of Constant Sorrow" is listed as "Traditional" and written from 1888-1913 according to Wikipedia, and thus has no copyright date or has an expired copyright. The cover by the Soggy Bottom Boys was copyrighted in 2002, and the cover by the Charm City Devils in 2012. The lyrics are in the public domain.

The author has done thorough- and accurate-research, and used prior knowledge to the best of her knowledge and ability.

Lyrics taken from http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/s/soggy_bottom_boys/i_am_a_man_of_constant_sorrow.html at the time of the writing of this work. 

A reference list of sources used for specific information (not common-knowledge, general, non-copyrightable or public-domain information*) at the time of this writing can be found at the end of this work. (*e.g., language is not copyrightable)

(In constant sorrow all through his days)

I am a man of constant sorrow
I've seen trouble all my days
I bid farewell to old Kentucky
The place where I was born and raised

(The place where he was born and raised)

For six long years I've been in trouble
No pleasure here on Earth I found
For in this world I'm bound to ramble
I have no friends to help me now

(He has no friends to help him now)

It's fare-thee-well my old true lover
I never expect to see you again
For I'm bound to ride that northern railroad
Perhaps I'll die upon this train

(Perhaps he'll die upon this train)

You can bury me in some deep valley
For many years where I may lay
And you may learn to love another
While I am sleeping in my grave

(While he is sleeping in his grave)

Maybe your friends think I'm just a stranger
My face you never will see no more
But there is one promise that is given
I'll meet you on God's golden shore

(He'll meet you on God's golden shore)

Chapter 1

"Out; out!" they screamed. And that was that--Kehillath Kodesh Adas Israel had kicked him out, sat shiva for him, and sent him packing. He mumbled, "You can't even get your damned Hebrew right!" So much for Liberal, or Progressive, or Tolerant, or Inclusive, or whatever-the-Hell "Judaism" they called it, anyway--besides, they had to liberalize (really, bastardize) the Hebrew, anyway: it was "Kehillat-Kodesh Adat Yisra'el", anyway. 

He was angry enough that he couldn't think clearly. How dare they deal with him in that manner! "Liberal" in zayn tuchus! "Progresiv" in zayn tuchus! "Tolera'nt" in zayn tuchus! "Far kirev" in zayn tuchus! He wasn't a cursing man, but fury raged within him--he had been treated in such a shlekht shteyger, and he was a Levite! How dare those Yisra'elim! How dare those 'am-ha'aretz! How dare those minim!

He used the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to catch a train as far away from Louisville as possible--to somewhere, to anywhere, and to somewhere and anywhere but Louisville. He just didn't know where. Un "Brith Sholom" in zayn tuchus--an adat-l'hab'rit-shalom surely wouldn't kick an ish l'shalom out of any "Brith Sholom"--which, to him, would still and always be "Kehillat-Kodesh Adat Yisra'el", "Holy Community of the Congregation of Israel". 

Chapter 2

40 years later, and his life had completely changed--he was born when his now-ex congregation was founded, of age when the Emancipation Proclamation was made (for Sefer-B'Midbar read "Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, by the descent from their fathers, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel."), and now of age plus a score of years. Incidentally--or perhaps not so--, he was of the same number of years as Moses when Moses' life changed--as the New Testament read, "And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong , he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed , and smote the Egyptian: For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not."

As Moses' life had changed over the course of a day, so also did the life of this Levite. He hadn't intended to change his life overnight--or, since his conversion happened during the day and as he thus joked to himself, "overday". He took a covered wagon to Cincinnati, Ohio, and then a train to Baltimore, Maryland. Finding no church with which he was satisfied or any Hebrew Christian congregation, he worshiped alone in his home on the Jewish and the traditional Christian Sabbaths--Saturday and Sunday, although some Christians observed their Sabbath on Saturday like the Jews did.

Then one day, he received a mysterious letter: "Mister Leve, a rumor concerning you is as such--that your Jewish neighbors have spied on you, since they have suspected you to be a Hebrew Christian among them. The rumor is also that you worship alone. ' Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised ;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching .'

"Mister Leve, if you insist on worshiping in your home, then I insist that we start a congregation in your home--for I am a Hebrew Christian myself, and many establish congregations within various' congregants' homes. The rumor, by the way, continues that your former congregation is Brith Sholom of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations--which, as I have heard and as I mention incidentally, has congregants among it that called their denomination of Judaism "Liberal" or "Progressive" before the Union itself did (and I would credit them as prescient and clairvoyant in that matter if only their denomination were "liberal" and "progressive", for who can have true liberty in worship and progress in his growth of faith without first having liberty and growth in Yeshua our Messiah?")

"Therefore, I propose that we found a congregation in your home and christen it 'Kehillat-Kodesh b'Chofesh-Ha'Emet'--'Holy Congregation In Freedom of the Truth'. By the way, I have no knowledge of how fluent you are in Hebrew; so I hope that you don't mind that I transliterated and translated my Hebrew name for your congregation for you.

"Shalom b'HaShem-Yeshua Mishichenu--Peace In the Name of Jesus our Messiah."

[To be continued...]

As A Jew, I Thoroughly Resent Any Portrayal of Jesus As Black or White

Dr. Marylin Kulik of Berkely College cites a fairly-often-used map that suggests, if not shows, that Jesus was Olive-- not Black (shakar), White (lavan), Yellow (tzahov), Red ('Adom, though 'Adam was 'Adom, but Iraqi 'Adom-- red or ruddy), or Brown (hum), but Olive (zayit). The Diaspora (HaGalut) left many of us looking all the different colors, though some of us retained the Olive complexion (including the Olive complexion in my own Ashkenazic Jewish family).

So the more that I'm becoming aware and getting closer to my Jewish heritage, the more that I resent any portrayal of Jesus as Black or White.

Is Ilana Angel Elitist? We Know That Haredim Are Elitist; So To Dexter's Point

The Jewish people are an ethnic group first, and being Jewish comes from either one or both of the sides-- ignore Kiddushin 68b, and focus on D'varim 7:1-5 for itself. In light of D'varim 7:1-5 (among other parshot), I find Gwyneth Paltrow to be a Self-Hating Jew who does no good for 'ameinu by supporting Pleshet over Yisra'el-- what is a Jewish woman doing supporting the remnant of Goliat's people over the fellow descendants of Ya'akov?

By the way, Ilana's chutzpah is staggering (and "hutz-pah"; the "c" is silent or not there in the original Hebrew, which is what Yidish messed up. I just wanted to remind Rep. Michele "Party of 'No'" Bachmann as she jeporadizes the US' greatest ally by voting "No" on even the McConnell Compromise-- how'd the Reid and $2.8-T ones work, Rep. Bachmann?).

Kevin Still Hates That We're Jewish-- He Thinks That I'm Advocating Apostasy; But I'm Actually, Among Other Things, Holding Great-Granduncle Carl Up As a Hero

First, the part where I supplemented my original reply:

http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2011/03/the_depths_of_f.html

Even more pro-FDR sources are conceding (even if between the lines) that FDR was a notorious, pro-Grand Mufti, pro-Hitler Anti Semite.

In a message... [I wrote]:

http://www.newsweek.com/1994/04/17/did-fdr-betray-the-jews.html

So why did Great-Grandma let the Anti Semites and Anti Missionaries scare her into enabling the murder of Vilmosz, David, Pepi, and their side of the family? Great-Granduncle Carl didn't.

In a message, [Kevin, who is being cocky and actually being rude as well as assuming in his position that the letters couldn't have been translated or that I could read at least the dates in Slovakian and/or maybe even Yidish] writes:
No mistake was uncovered. You wouldn't be able to read the letters anyway because they are written in Slovak. I don't appreciate your rudeness after the help I gave you in your genealogical quest...

My original reply:

I'm not trying to be rude, but I'm being blunt. Besides, as I said, " if the letters weren't so bad, why did Grandaunt Mary Ann not give the dates or specific contents of the letters?" Both of us have seen that this is a clear pattern in certainly the Fosko Family (I never heard that your great-granddad was sent away, let alone that you existed, for example!).



These cover ups (so many of them) have divided our family on our common and all sides right here in America; and some of us aren't even talking to each other because of the "Who's not telling what?" and "Who's hiding what?" games? Besides, how can we forgive and bring redemption into and out of family situations which we don't even know-- or talk-- about?



Whenever I heard Andrew and Julia Fosko Rusnak spoken of-- they were immigrants from Slovakia or Czechoslovakia who married in 1905, had kids, etc.. Never did I know that our family (even if I disagreed with some of the intent of their decisions)-- for example-- came over here to escape persecution after we couldn't assimilate in Slovakia; and many of us weren't just Crypto Jews (although some were, which is where I disagree with the intent: regardless of the meshuga AntiSemitism in the Church, we should've given Jesus a chance in our lives; and if and when our relatives thought that we were joining the traitors, so what?! And many of us were Jews who believed in Jesus; we were just too damned afraid and too damned quiet to emphasize that part) .



Truth is a lot better (even if stranger and more disquieting) than fiction. By the way, I look at Great-Granduncles Andy, Carl, and Joe all the more as heroes for their going over there (Well, Great-Granduncles Carl and Joe were able to; but on the homefront, there was still Anti Semitism and also that "You can't be a Jew for Jesus!" attitude that Great-Granduncle Andy had to deal with every day!).



And for example, with Great-Granduncle Carl; how would you have liked to ever have the possibility that you may have to step into especially Czechoslovakia and Hungary if the war took you there, particularly when the Germans were looking for Jewish (even Messianic (Christian) Jewish) military personnel and civilians to kidnap and ship off to murder and POW-murder camps? And given that the Rusnaks were a prominent family in Kosice, (Czecho)Slovakia (Kassa, Hungary); the Germans and other Anti Semites would be on the lookout for Rusnaks trying to come in and help Vilmosz et. al.-- and other Jewish people trying to help others.



(By the way, I'm not saying that, that excuses Great-Grandma's stopping to write either: letters seemed bad enough to smuggle; but Great-Granduncle Carl put himself there for his country and fellow Jews in and who were certainly at risk because the Holocaust-- even if you were in a Jew in the Allied Countries, you were at risk; and actually, that's part of why Great-Grandma should've helped instead of hurt Vilmosz et. al. all the more: so to speak and pardon my language, screw FDR and his isolationist, pro-UN and pro-Grand Mufti, Anti-Jewish and Anti-Israel policies!



(FDR was a known Anti Semite who wanted to not just stay out of ending the Holocaust and out of World War, but also to hurt the Jews and-- for a lack of a better term and if you will, since this how Anti Semites like FDR would've thought-- "let Europe take care of the Jews". FDR actually even wrote a letter saying that he did not support the founding of a Jewish state in the Middle East, and he appointed Bernard Baruch as his scapegoat to take blame for what was often called "The Jew Deal".)



Given, then, the example of the recollection of FDRs and other Anti-Semitic WASPs-- and Anti-Semitic Europe-- on one hand, and the Antimissionary (Anti-Messianic-Jewish) crowd on the other; Great-Granduncles Carl, Joseph, and Andy, and others who have a place of honor within the family history and within history; shouldn't we at least tell what really happened to honor those who did the right thing and brought redemption into and out of our family, instead of covering even the good up with the bad?



As I said, for instance, Great-Granduncle Carl did put himself over there knowing that the European Theater could take him in the footsteps of his parents and right into the hands of Germans who were looking for more Jewish Rusnaks and other Jews to kidnap and imprison in murder camps-- and what Mary Rusnak Gaydos did makes her brother Carl all the braver and more righteous: Sgt. Carl Rusnak basically stood up and said by standing up, "I'm going to go over there and help our family, help our fellow Jews, and help my native country-- even if many of them don't like Jews! I'm not going to let the Anti Semites and Antimissionaries scare me out of doing the right thing."



Nicole

Where's Hebrew Transliteration?

Lo tov, Google (Not good, Google; not cool, Google.).