Here's Looking At You, Dad...And Pop-Pop, And Great-Granddad, And Whoever Else

This, again, is where the mixed feelings come in. I am staring at a picture of a notable actor. I am staring at a picture of a relative (I'm not joking. I said that "Danilovich" was a patronymic in his case. Then I saw the pictures, and I knew who Pop-Pop pretty much looked like. Right now, I see maybe who Dad will look like down the road.). I am also staring at a picture of the guy who raped Natalie Wood and murdered Jean Spangler.

What do you do when you know that your family wreaked havoc on the world and yet had some of the most-influential people come out from among them? Even my granddad, one of the three IRS Agents who served tax papers to Richard Nixon, came from the Daniloviches.

A long time ago, my aunt Mary (z"l) told me of the following exchange at a funeral:

*Fist slams on table* "Do you know what that Jack Czarnecki did today?"
"That's my father."
"Oh...I'm so sorry."
"No; it's okay—I agree with you.

And this coming on the day before the anniversary of Great-Granddad's suicide...




What the heck have we done?

My father's current wife with her late in-law father on her and my father's wedding day. She put this picture up after he passed away.

On the Rusnak Family Reunion Page. My dad is behind his wife and her daughter. The Rusnaks are another story, too, by the way; I'll just leave my description at that for right now.

And the mistaken obituary will be published for real soon. I guarantee you that. I guarantee you that since God finally did in Jack Czarnecki (and I have never backtracked from saying that), He will do in Kirk Douglas. Here's hoping, too, that Lana Wood can finally name her sister's rapist.

That shouldn't be said about a relative (ideally at least), although truth outweighs family loyalty—and in the end, might save the family in at least the next few generations. I know that the truth saved my generation (at least me and my sister), and I hope that'll it save the ones to come (for all sides of the Danilovich Family, too, might I add; not just "Katarzyna" Danilówiczowna Czerniecka's side, and certainly not just Kirk Douglas' side).

As an in-law Danilovich (my great-grandmother Mary Trudnak Czarnecki) told my Aunt Mary, "I want to talk about it." That's exactly what I myself intend to do as a Danilovich and as a human being, so that I don't see my family wrecked again or wrecking the world again—and so that many other families won't wreck themselves or the world again.

With 2014 and 5774 Almost Over...

A lot is already over and becoming over for me:

1. Right now, it's December 1, 2014 and Kislev 7, 5774. So, both the current Gregorian and Biblical years are almost over.
2. My Reilly just turned eight months old on November 25, 2014. So, her puppyhood is almost over. (I'm crying right now. Where has the time gone?)
3. The Kittleman campaign is over.
4. My chances at talking once more to some relatives are over. Granduncle Tony (z"l) died on July 31, 2014; and Grandaunt Bern died on November 20, 2014 (z"l). May I see them both at HaTechiyat HaMetim (Even though Mashiach seems to tarry, I wait for Him and hasten His Second Coming, as well as His return after the Tribulation. May Reilly and I be Raptured together, by the way; whether both of us are living or dead, or one of us is living or dead.).

There's also a lot of other times, matters, chances, etc. that are over for me. By the way, there is Scriptural proof that animals do have souls, although they have different kinds of souls. They either go into soul sleep, since their souls go down, or they wait in Abraham's Bosom (where hakedoshim had to wait until Mashiach died, rose, and conquered death) and certainly do not go up for judgement, since they can't reason like humans can.). Incidentally, someone on the Jews For Jesus forums along time ago pointed out that animals have souls per Bereshit 1; and I think that, that was a part of what got me eventually wondering if animals do actually have souls, and finding that (unlike plants), animals do have souls. Those who take the Jewishness out of Christianity (Nazarene/Messianic Judaism) and/or don't read Tanakh for what it is conclude that animals have no souls at all.

Meanwhile, I'm going to go give Reilly extra scritches.

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By the way, I've been blogging more at The Times of Israel lately.

Addendum To the Postcript In My TOI "Wuerker" Post

Addendum and disclosure: 

I'll admit that finding sources that are neutral about (e.g., neither hostile against nor favorable toward) Jewish Christians is hard (I try to use sources that, even if they're not Jewish Christian/Messianic Jewish, accept that there are Jews who actually believe in a Jewish man named Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. I don't want to support sources that are hostile toward Jewish Christians, given that I am a Jewish Christian). Sadly, I kept Googling and ran into well-written articles that came from hostile sources (e.g., The Jewish Daily Forward, despite that they concede that Jews are an ethnos. Their article about Jewish Christians by Rabbi David Wolpe and most comments on the article were incredibly hostile.).

If only there were more sources that were neutral, even sources from those such as Dr. Amy-Jill Levine, Rabbi Carol Harris-Shapiro, Dan Cohn-Sherbok, and Ya'akov Ariel. While I won't agree with all of their conclusions (e.g., Dr. Levine's conclusion that the New Testament does have Anti Semitism), I can be thankful that they at least accept Jewish Christians as Jews.

I will add, too, that for them to accept Jewish Christians despite that they've received backlash that's similar or equal to what we Jewish Christians receive takes a lot of ko'ach; and if only we were that strong in our faith, Emateinu HaMeshichi (and that phrase I had to only confirm with Google translate. The case was the same for "ko'ach" and some other words and phrases. ראה? אני לומדת. :-) )

(By the way, yes, I checked: there are forms of "re'eh" that I need to learn.).

Example From My TOI "Wuerker" Post and Disclaimer

(Disclosure: this is mostly for those who have read my "Wuerker" post, by the way.)

For example, I can talk about what a traitor George Soros is because I know the facts, verified what I've read, and had family members (albe that they were distant ones) affected by the Shoah. Glenn Beck, who had and has no history with the Shoah, again has questionable intent. By the way, I first found out about George Soros in Culture Warrior. When I did, I honestly had no clue that I am Jewish and a bat-Anusim, let alone that George Soros (at least in some sense) has the blood of my family members (Anusi and openly Jewish alike) on his hands

By the way, George Soros also has to answer for the murders of some Nagys, among others, might I add—and If you think that I'm stupid, etc., by the way, I am not. I darned well know that, for example, "Levai" and "Nagy" can be Jewish; I know about kinnuim, etc.. If you think that I get drek from only my family on that, you are sorely mistaken.

I always have to add a disclaimer like this because of the tsores I go through at the hands of people who want to plant doubts in my head, etc. I basically go through something like what my dad's maternal granddad went through—in his case, he was always shot down with "The only reason that you say that we're Russian is because you work for the Russian Orthodox Church." How Dad pretty much passed down the drek to me was very much in similar words—something like, " "The only reason that he say that we're Russian is because he worked for the Russian Church.""

He worked for a Slovakian Byzantine Catholic Church in Swoyersville, Pennsylvania; and his father and mother were Anusim by the names of Gajdosz and Uszinsky—and let me tell you, he knew what he was saying. He never outright said that we're Jews, and that's because he would've been given a harder time. Let me add, too, that his parents never Magyarized their names—"Gajdosz" remained "Gaydosh", as opposed to "Gaydos"; and "Uszinsky" remained "Ushinsky", as opposed to "Usinsky".

Also, a Anusit Sefardit also got similar drek from her mishpachah; so, I'm not the first person to whom historical abuse (e.g., mental and verbal abuse in light of historical facts and findings) has happened. By the way, I can't find that example, though I remember reading it. I Googled and found plenty of other examples (including Susan Jacoby's! Who knew?)

Update (November 16, 2014 at 9:28 PM EST): Also see the following message (which I was writing when Shockwave crashed and I had to make the message a two-part video series):

Even If Nobody Else Is Saying This...

Quite honestly, I wonder if it didn't have to do in part with the Haredi constituency in New York City that follows Yevamot 62b. Sure, this Vietnamese couple made their argument; nonetheless, was someone also trying to appease the Haredim?

"Our Rabbis taught: Concerning a man who loves his wife as himself, who honours her more than himself, who guides his sons and daughters in the right path and arranges for them to be married near the period of their puberty, Scripture says, And thou shalt know that thy tent is in peace.49  Concerning him who loves his neighbours, who befriends his relatives, marries his sister's50  daughter,"

Incidentally enough, I had no clue that it was that specific. I just knew about the reference. Anyway, don't kid yourself; the Haredim have a very-strong presence in New York City (e.g., Williamsburg, Crown Heights). By the way, the decision reads in part:

There is no comparably strong objection to uncle-niece marriages. Indeed, until 1893 marriages between uncle and niece or aunt and nephew, of the whole or half blood, were lawful in New York. And sixty years after the prohibition was enacted we affirmed, in May, a judgment recognizing as valid a marriage between a half-uncle and half-niece that was entered into in Rhode Island and permitted by Rhode Island law. It seems from the Appellate Division’s reasoning in May that the result would have been the same even if a full uncle and full niece had been involved. Thus Domestic Relations Law § 5(3) has not been viewed as expressing strong condemnation of uncle-niece and aunt-nephew relationships.

I wonder, too, if that's why some Haredim immigrated to New York. They may not have been literate in haleshonot l'goyim, though they still knew what was going on. Remember that back in Krasne nad Krasnopol, Wojciech and Marianna Krusznyska Danilowicz were smart enough to claim negligence in baptizing Katarzyna—by the way, Jews did use and even adopt shemot hagoyim; though I'm not sure if we'll ever know the real names of "Katarzyna" et. al.. "Marianna" is probably the one real name, though, since that's "Miryam Chanah".

As for their cousin Rochla (and I'm definitely not fooled in light of this, since Aleksandria listed Katarzyna as her in-law mother and nearest relative, even though they were not talking to each other after Julian and Aleksandra became Anusim), she came to New York with enough English literacy (or maybe she talked to a customs official who could speak Yiddish) to get into New York (Her aunt had to pick her up; so, who knows?).

By the way, all of Great-Granddad's families stuck together in Northumberland County, PA, too (Look it up. If you're too, quite honestly, lazy to do it, I'll give you the names and links to searches for "Czarnecki", etc.; "Danilowicz", etc.; "Andrulewicz". etc.; and "Margiewicz", etc.. Otherwise, you're on your own from there. I've proved myself enough—and I don't need that "Both sets of parents?" argument again, since Alexandria gave her parents' name as "Antoni" and "Katarzyna" as well. As far as I know, that neither is my fault nor was the fault of Great-Grandaunt Alice. I didn't even know that Great-Granddad's parents were here—let alone Crypto Jews who escaped the pogroms—until I was close to 20 years old, and she was simply writing what her mother told her to write. So, I wouldn't even be counted in an Israeli Census before then, and she was a bat chayil.

Anyway, back to my point (since I just needed to say all that in case I would get the "That's not enough evidence," "That's coincidence," etc. arguments): since Haredim are (as I must mention, in case one didn't know that Haredim are) very much a constituency in New York City (and, thus, New York State) and knew enough to immigrate to the "treif medina", could they somehow have played into "Nguyen v. Holder" (2014), even if quietly? After all, I perhaps would darned well consider that if I were a Second Circuit Court judge—especially if I wanted to get reappointed, and even someday appointed to the Supreme Court (As is known, elective politics plays even into appointive politics.).

Let's not be fooled: if (and since) Katarzyna's parents could (so to speak) pull strings to be under-the-radar Anusim, and Rochla knew enough to get into New York, the Haredim could and do know enough to (at least if they wanted) play into a gentile case that has implications for Haredi Jewish tradition.

Let me conclude one incidental observation as well: "Antoni" and "Katarzyna" seem to be to Poland as "Juan" and "Maria" are to Mexico.

147 Years Ago Yesterday, And The Disastrous Effects Which It Affected

On November 2, 1877, a newborn boy named András Rusznák was baptized. András was apparently just another Slovakian boy being baptized in Zlatá Idka, Slovakia (then Aranyida, Ausztria Magyarország) on, of all days, All Souls' Day. So, he allegedly was a newborn boy of Slovakian ethnicity being baptized on a special day. What's the big deal, then?

The big deal is this boy was neither a Slovakian ethnic or a real recipient of the Sacrament of Baptism. Speaking of souls as well, his parents' souls were not even into baptizing him at all. Furthermore, they themselves were נשמות אנוסים—forced souls. They weren't even there in Aranyida to be there.

They were there because they, Jakub and Marysia "Maria" Nováková, were בני אנוסים who just didn't feel comfortable returning to the shtetl of Kassa (now Košice) in nominally-religious-freedom-supporting Ausztria Magyarország (In fact, a Levite like Jakub—a kohen by the name of Fritz—would become an אנוסים in the next century. So, supposedly-tolerant Ausztria Magyarország wasn't so tolerant after all, and apparently became worse by the time that Fritz Kohn "Kerry" was persecuted.). 

András Rusznák himself, however, did leave Aranyida, though he also didn't return to his ancestral shtetl. He, with a Molnár cousin, immigrated to the United States and lived no differently than Jakub (the son of אנוסים György "Kvetkovits" Rusznák HaLevi and Erzsébet Rusznáková née Molnárová) had lived in Ausztria Magyarország—that is, he lived as an אנוסי. After he did that, disaster struck.

András came to the United States in 1902 and never thought that he would receive a letter from his Kassa-residing cousins, let alone one in which a request for help was written. 40-42 years later, however, that kind of letter was received by him and his daughter Mary Rusnak Gaydos. Thus, the boundary that was erected by the Kassa relatives' sitting שבעה was broken—or so the Kassa cousins hoped. 

Besides, they weren't sending a letter of reconciliation. They were sending a letter for העזרה לענין פיקוח נפש—help for the sake of piku'ach nefesh. They weren't looking after just themselves, either—they had families for whom to care and cousins who also had families, and family members in הארץ ישראל (which the Nazis and the Grand Mufti [ימח שמם] were targeting in their Middle Eastern invasion). 

As I alluded to, disaster then struck. András Rusznák (now Andrew Rusnak) and Mary Rusnak Gaydos, in order to cover that they were Jewish and follow the isolationist policy of the United States under Anti-Semitic Franklin Roosevelt (ימח שמם)—ceased all correspondence with their Kassa cousins, most of whom were murdered in השואה (Andrew's and Mary's kind of attitude, by the way, also had affects on the S.S. St. Louis Incident.),

Then Andrew, now the widower of  Julia Fosko Rusnak (née Juliana Foczková, ז'ל) was stricken with cancer and died of it. By the way, Julia (an אישה צדיקה and a לוית צדיקה) was taken before she had to see all that would befall her husband and her oldest child. After that, Andrew and whoever wrote his obituary (presumably Mary) decided to invent a fictional brother for Andrew (Stef) and lie to Andrew's son Carl (an איש צדיק) , who was charged with filling out with his father's death certificate.

As for the disasters that befell Mary—well, I can safely say that, for example, having a granddaughter who attempted suicide and living to attend the funeral of her great-grandson who drowned count as two disasters (She died in 1992, just after the deceased great-grandson's sister was born, by the way. The decedent drowned in 1991. So, she was alive when a descendant died and didn't live to see another descendant grow before her eyes.). 

By the way, all I received were evasive answers when I asked further questions about the supposed uncle of Mary, who allegedly wrote a letter to her in 1947. Also, there is no baptism record for him. So (so to speak), another hole was shot into that "Relatives wrote letters to ask for money, and she stopped writing" סיפור פיות. 

So, what's the point? The point is the point that I made on Twitter, and this account is a case in point:

[F]orcing someone against his or her will always ends in disastrous results somewhere along the line.