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).

Closing Thoughts For the Night (Shabbat v'Laila Shushan Purim)

• The more that I look into a certain line, the more that I wish that I could tell Granduncle Tony, "No; we look like Great-Granddad's grandma!" (Pop-Pop did not look a Trudnak, unless the Trudnaks are and/or look[ed] like Daniloviches.).
• Many a time I see relatives in other relatives (including per the thought above), it hurts.
• How the heck do you deal with being an illegit (Yes, it's derogatory; though that's what I am, and I thought the connection was wrong.)? How do you also deal with knowing that others are (forgive the derogatory shorthand again) illegits and you're not exactly allowed to tell them? As I've stated before, I'm an illegitimate (really, delegitimized) descendant of John Allan. I even thought that it was a joke or wrong connection: 

Now this I never heard about. Wouldn't they have known if John Allan had an out-of-wedlock child? I had always heard that he was some sort-of great-something granduncle. Though Wikipedia does say, "In October 1830, John Allan married his second wife, Louisa Patterson.[30] The marriage, and bitter quarrels with Poe over the children born to Allan out of affairs, led to the foster father finally disowning Poe.[31] " Was Charles one of those children?

• How do you (and I know that I'm hashing up a dead horse again) deal with knowing that you have prominent family who have wrecked the world (e.g., John Allan and certain Daniloviches)? 

By the way, I know that I used mixed metaphors: "hashing up an old matter" and "beating a dead horse". I must also say that I've also hung on PolishForums.com too much, given that (unfortunately) Poles tend to eat horses (and hashing up horses is treif; so the metaphor works). Also, as I said on Twitter, I know that my knowledge of "Not my circus; not my monkeys" means that I've also hung on PolishForums.com too much and (with all due respect) interacted with assimilated relatives quite a bit—and have few new answers in the process.

"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.

"[A]ll Men Are Created Equal[ly]"? Or Are They Created Equitably?

By the way, if you want an example of a group who think that all should be equal:

The haredi press raised further concerns that many of the immigrants would refuse to undergo a conversion process or that the procedure would be conducted by institutions and courts which do not meet the strict standard, and that as a result their children will create mixed marriages later on.

Note "strict standard" and a dread of "mixed marriages". Also consider that Thomas Jefferson considered Blacks, e.g., to be "as incapable as children". So much for "equally":

1

:  in an equal or uniform manner :  evenly equally

>

2

:  to an equal degree equally

 by young and old>
Try "equitably" instead:

1
:  having or exhibiting equity :  dealing fairly and equally with all concernedequitable

 settlement of the dispute>
2
:  existing or valid in equity as distinguished from law equitable defense>
After all, the Haredim would have to treat Non-Haredi Jews as fellow Jews who were created b'tzelem Elohim v'm'Yisra'el; and Thomas Jefferson would have had to treat Blacks as fellow humans who were created b'tzelem Elohim. Since they wanted equality, though, they could make only those who fit their standards to be considered as their compatriots.

Shema Kolainu, "Shema, Yisra'el", and Us People With Disabilities (Originally On LinkedIn)

Note: I will not be surprised if LinkedIn deletes this post, though. Nonetheless, I could not sit there and just be silent. 

'Im kol kavod l'Doqtor Weinstein (with all respect to Dr. Weinstein), this pretty much goes to my point. People blame people with disabilities for bad attitudes (I have experienced this from even my own family.) and act like we're at fault when we don't get hired by (excuse my language) ablelisits (which is, as I found out, what we call those who hate us because of our disabilities).

Besides, given that Dr. Weinstein founded Hear Our Voices - Shema Kolainu, he should know how Adonai tested our hearts in the desert to see how able people would treat people, let alone kohanim, with disabilities (I, by the way, am mainly a Patrilineal Jew who, although I do have some Jewish heritage on my mother's side, knows that I am descended from Ashkenazi Levites and kohanim; and this, hopefully richly, colors my commentary on YouTube, etc..):

And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: 17 Speak unto Aaron, saying: Whosoever he be of thy seed throughout their generations that hath a blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God. 18 For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath any thing maimed, or anything too long, 19 or a man that is broken-footed, or broken-handed, 20 or crook-backed, or a dwarf, or that hath his eye overspread, or is scabbed, or scurvy, or hath his stones crushed; 21 no man of the seed of Aaron the priest, that hath a blemish, shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire; he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God. 22 He may eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy. 23 Only he shall not go in unto the veil, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane not My holy places; for I am the LORD who sanctify them. 24 So Moses spoke unto Aaron, and to his sons, and unto all the children of Israel. {P}

The attitude that the able people among us came out with was not only unmerciful; it was also abysmally discriminatory. This kind of attitude, even in modern Western (read: Judeo-Christian) countries still prevails figuratively in many aspects, including in the workforce:

"8 And when ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it no evil! And when ye offer the lame and sick, is it no evil! Present it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee? or will he accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts."

In fact, three examples of this attitude are demonstrated in two ABC News "What Would You Do?" episodes. One portrays how a woman who is "slow of speech" (as Moses described himself in Torah) is persecuted by ablelists. Two other examples (which I was seeking when I found the first) show how deaf people are slyly rejected by human-resource managers and how parking spaces are regularly taken by ablelists (and even my now-estranged father called out a woman who took an accessible parking space when he and I were at, as I initially recalled, a Blockbuster one time; and I recall that to this day. Needless to say, he was not thrilled when she was parking in the space just to return a video, as I remember. She didn't take it from me. Still, she disadvantaged my compatriots with disabilities. By the way, that was a long time ago.). 

Sadly, this attitude has not changed from Biblical Times to allegedly-Judeo-Christian Times. This is despite how Adonai "desire[s] mercy, and not sacrifice" and even with laws such as the American With Disabilities Act—and so much for "one nation under G-d, indivisible with liberty and justice for all."

If Only Such Was For People With Disabilities

Mike Rowe told a fan, in part:

“We call it a pencil, because all things need a name. But today, let’s call it what it really is. A time machine. A match maker. A magic wand. And let’s say it can all be yours...for just .99 cents.”
The timer read 0:00. The man walked back to the desk. He took the pencil and wrote “YOU’RE HIRED” on the stationary, and few days later, I moved to West Chester, PA. And a few days after that, I was on live television, face to face with the never-ending parade of trinkets and chotchkies that comprise QVC’s overnight inventory.

Sadly, the case is not such for persons with disabilities. Never mind that people with disabilities are not all the same. Never mind that Marlee Martins and Jaime Brewers aren't as rare as society thinks, let alone given an equal amount of opportunity to prove that they're just as capable of success. Never mind that us that quite a few of us even have college degrees, and often postgraduate degrees.

All we are is:

1. "Gimps" and the like (and I've been called a "gimp")
2. Apparently useless in any case. One YouTube comment which I did not allow to be posted was, "Do you think disabled people can help the economy? What about fraudulant people? What about people that on a disability?"
3. As Richard Burt thinks that we are all fakers and/or on the dole (I was also called "lazy" by someone once.).
4. Fodder for jokes, gags, etc. (e.g., "Family Guy"'s Joe Swanson and SNL's despicable parody of Mr. Potter, the real portrayer of whom suffered debilitating arthritis) 
5. Definable by our disabilities, as if all disabilities are in one's DNA. e.g., Being a Jew (of which I am proud) is apparently like being a person with Cerebral Palsy (So, e.g., Dad and Pop-Pop must've been born with C.P....duly noted.).
6. Shames (After all, Dad and Pop-Pop, e.g., lied for years about why Jamie really has Cerebral Palsy.).
7. Exploitables. Who would, e.g., fake being Black or Hispanic for Affirmative Action benefits and get away it? Yet, at the expense of people like me, people really do fake having disabilities.

That is all....for now. Not that the list doesn't go on. 

The Anti Semitism And Other Hatred Has To Stop