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

A Sobering Reality That I've Have Relearned This Week

If you don't stick with someone in his or her bad times, you don't deserve to share in his or her good times. I'm not saying that I haven't been that undeserving person at times. Nonetheless, any person who won't stick with another in his or her bad times doesn't deserve to share in his or her good times. Also, especially those who don't have as many and/or heavy burdens to bear should be helping those who does who do have many and/or heavy-enough burdens to bear.

To think about walking away from people who walk away from me is sobering, and I have to walk away from a person to whom I am somehow a burden. Right now, I'm even thinking of the horror that my aunt told me about in regards to my Granduncle Tony when he snapped at Great-Grandma: "You're a burden!" That she was a burden wasn't the case: that Pop-Pop and others were burdens because they would not help Granduncle Tony help Great-Grandma was the case.

That's probably part of what killed Granduncle Tony (z"l), too: he was the only good son who could really help Great-Grandma (z"l), and few stepped up to help him help her. After all, the two other good sons were unable to help: Granduncle Francis ("Red") had been deceased since 1985 (and he had his own issues during his lifetime), and Granduncle Jim has had to devote a significant amount of his time to Jamie (or who else could and would? Then again, Jamie could've been in a Willowbrook. He wasn't, since Granduncle Jim and Grandaunt Annie didn't let Jamie's accidental overdose on codeine come between them and Jamie. After all, they understood that Grandaunt Annie's sister and the doctors tried to do their best when then-1.5-years-old Jamie was having seizures when his aunt was babysitting him. They, by the way, are an example of those who are bearing burdens—not Jamie himself, mind you, since Jamie is not a burden—they could've even sued or filed criminal charges against Jamie's aunt, and they decided to take the position that life happens and that those who tried to help Jamie had no idea that the codeine to which he is allergic would not help him.).

Being one of the few, if not the only one, who is bearing a burden can take a toll on the bearer in question—which is my point about part of what killed Granduncle Tony. Even as far back as 1964, he was the only one to help Great-Grandma—Pop-Pop was living in Glen Burnie with his wife and three children (one of whom was to be born in August 1965); Granduncle Red was living with his wife and two older children (with the youngest one to be born in 1967), and Granduncle Jim was stationed at Fort Meade. Only Granduncle Tony was there to help Great-Grandma especially after Great-Granddad committed suicide, and almost 50 years of being Great-Grandma's primary helper affected him to die at 68 years old of "chest pains" (as Dad related that Granduncle Tony started feeling to the point at which he needed to go to the hospital) and other issues.

Granduncle Tony, by the way, is, of course, not the only one who had to bear a burden alone—besides that Great-Grandma herself had to bear many burdens alone, others have had to bear burdens alone. Even myself, for another example—I've had to bear burdens alone or at least (at best) almost alone.

By the way, I wrote this primarily in regards to people (including family members) who have ditched me offline and online (and who would ditch me offline, as I can ascertain. After all, people online are reflections of themselves offline, including who they would be offline if they could get away with being so.). Now those people can surely know, if they didn't know, why I, for example, started that #unfollowforunfollow trend on Twitter: as I stated, any person who won't stick with another in his or her bad times doesn't deserve to share in his or her good times. Therefore, anyone in my own life who won't stick with me in my bad times doesn't deserve to share in any of times.

In addition, I want to thank my ditchers for showing me who you really are and not letting me find out later than I already did—and so much for the ones who (Jewish and gentile alike) claim to be fellow Christians and flout bearing others' burdens, since many of you (I suspect) also ditch others and will hear "I never knew you" when you cry out "Lord, Lord" to Yeshua (Jesus). I suppose that others will thank that ditchers for the same as well—and sadly, I can guarantee that some are thanking me for the same thing, and I need to do teshuvah for being a ditcher of those whom I have ditched.

By the way, please let me know if or remind me of when I have ditched you in bad times. I will try to be there to bear your burdens as best as I can from now on—after all, I do not want to adversely affect your life (including your health) in the way that others have affected mine or in the way that others (including, probably, I) affected Granduncle Tony's life and health.

Why I've Not Exactly Been In The Game For a While

1. I, so to speak, needed to let the fields fallow over for a while, anyway. Neither overplanting nor overharvesting are good.
2. I've really hardly yielded results. I was actually amazed when, e.g., Donna Foley Marby actually thanked me for the defense of her and her book "Maude". As far as I can tell, I hardly ever yield results like that. Besides, I expect what I usually yield—backlash! After a while, that "damned if you do, damned if you don't, and damned if you neither do nor don't" conundrum just brings ennui at best and an exacerbation of Depression at worst—and I have admitted that the only reason that I have not taken Great-Granddad's path is because I would not want to risk the negative effects of surviving an attempt to go down his path.
3. I've been busy with Reilly—another reason, by the way, as to why I haven't taken Great-Granddad's path.
4. I've been busy with dealing with my Depression and other matters.
5. Today, I woke up with a cold and muscle aches.

I assure you, by the way, that I'm not the only one who's in my kind of situation. People in similar situations, e.g.:

1. Need to let their fields fallow over once in a while as well.
2. Feel ennui, melancholy (or exacerbation of Depression), and/or even worse if they feel that their attempts at tikun ha'olam don't yield anything, let alone anything good—whether for themselves or, most importantly, others.
3. Sometimes have outside commitments and circumstances. 

Incidentally, the coming year is HaShanah shel HaSh'mitah b'Eretz Yisra'el.

The Seahawks, Like Moses and Jeremiah?

This reminds me of when the Golden Calf incident happened. Yet, how did the Seattle Seahawks sin? The New England Patriots cheated:

"And Moses besought יהוה his God, and said: 'יהוה, why doth Thy wrath wax hot against Thy people, that Thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, saying: For evil did He bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from Thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against Thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants, to whom Thou didst swear by Thine own self, and saidst unto them: I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.' And יהוה repented of the evil which He said He would do unto His people."

I know that יהוה can and does show that cheating, etc. is not acceptable. Right now, though, the Seahawks must be feeling like Moses as they see the Egypt-like Patriots: "'Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, saying: For evil did He bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth?'" They must also be feeling like Jeremiah:

Right wouldest Thou be, O יהוה, were I to contend with Thee, yet will I reason with Thee: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? Wherefore are all they secure that deal very treacherously? Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root; they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit; Thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins. But Thou, O יהוה, knowest me, Thou seest me, and triest my heart toward Thee; pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.

I'm also thinking of, "Where is their God?" I'm even thinking "Does 'Thou shalt not steal' mean anything? Does 'Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor' mean anything? Does that יהוה hates dishonest scales and measures, and other forms of lying mean anything?"

Incidentally, why on Earth did יהוה assign Julian Edelman to a team that does not respect Him, the God of Julian's fathers?

I'm Not the Only One Kvetching About Netanyahu

As if PM Netanyahu's rebuttal to MK Livni did not already reek of dictatorial language:

"Prime Minister Netanyahu is the only leader in the world openly leading the struggle against the signing of a dangerous deal that will turn Iran into a nuclear-threshold state. Tzipi Livni is mistaken and misleading Israel’s citizens. Instead of supporting the prime minister in the big process of stopping a nuclear Iran, Tzipi is busy with personal insults and small politics. In complete contrast to what she says, the legislative initiative to apply additional sanctions on Iran has not been abandoned. Ten Democrat senators announced today that they will support passing more sanctions if Iran does not abide by the required clauses for a general agreement.”

No wonder, then, that I called PM Netanyahu "Manhig Yakar"! I and others saw trouble a long time ago. Why didn't more people see trouble? For example, giving 86% of the West Bank away should've been a huge sign that Netanyahu is a haredi posing as a chiloni! He "has [even] expressed support in principle for a Palestinian state"! 

Isn't that a clue that he, like many other Haredim, believe that the current Medinat Yisra'el is a treif medina?! Also, Agudat Yisra'el, the party in control, opposes Medinat Yisra'el! 

Next, in 1905, came Reb Judah Aryeh Leib Alter's eldest son, Abraham Mordecai Alter (1866-1948), who was perhaps the most influential of all Gerer tsadikim. He was nicknamed "Imrei Emet" (Speaker of Truth). Under his leadership the Gerer court reached its height of influence, gaining a reputation of excellence throughout the Hasidic world. Imrei Emet was also among the founders ofAgudat Israel , a conservative anti-Zionist religious political party that stepped into the difficult and diverse political world of the 20th century, articulating their view of what the essentials needs were for Jewish survival in Poland.

Ding! Ding! Is a bell ringing now?! David ben-Gurion let himself be a self-hating pawn! If there is any conspiracy going on, the conspiracy is on the part of self-hating/Anti-Semitic Haredim to dismantle Medinat Yisra'el until whom they believe to be Moshiach would come!

They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be, until the day that I remember them, saith the Lord.¹  And R. Zera?²  — That text¹ refers³  to the vessels of ministry.⁴  And Rab Judah? — Another text also is available:³  I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, and by the hinds of the field, [that ye awaken not, nor stir up love,⁵  until it please]'.⁶  And R. Zera? — That⁷  implies that Israel shall not go up [all together as if surrounded] by a wall.⁸  And Rab Judah? — Another 'I adjure you'⁹  is written in Scripture. And R. Zera? — That text is required for [an exposition] like that of R. Jose son of R. Hanina who said: 'What was the purpose of those three adjurations?¹⁰  — One, that Israel shall not go up [all together as if surrounded] by a wall;⁸  the second, that whereby the Holy One, blessed be He, adjured Israel that they shall not rebel against the nations of the world; and the third is that whereby the Holy One, blessed be He, adjured the idolaters that they shall not oppress Israel too much'. And Rab Judah? — It is written in Scripture, That ye awaken not, nor stir up.¹¹  And R. Zera? — That text is required for [an exposition] like that of R. Levi who stated: 'What was the purpose of those six adjurations?¹²  — Three for the purposes just mentioned and the others, that [the prophets] shall not make known the end,¹³  that [the people] shall not¹⁴ delay¹⁵  the end,¹³  and that they shall not reveal the secret¹⁶  to the idolaters'.

By the gazelles, and by the hinds of the field.¹⁷  R. Eleazar explained: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel, 'If you will keep the adjuration, well and good; but if not, I will permit your flesh [to be a prey] like [that of] the gazelles and the hinds of the field'.

As for Netanyahu, Artuz Eser surmises:

[W]ith the current poll findings[,] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could form a 68 member governing coalition by joining forces with Jewish Home, Shas, United Torah Judaism, Kahlon, Yishai and Yisrael Beytenu. Opposition leader Isaac Herzog would be harder pressed to form a government, having to rope in both the ultra-Orthodox and Yesh Atid to form a fragile ruling coalition of 61 seats.

This is why Amir Hetsroni wrote:

What does Israel have to offer? It is easier to find kosher meat here and there is more variety of synagogues. To young people, Israel also offers the dubious pleasure of devoting two or three years of your life to the army.

Sounds tempting? Perhaps to Netanyahu and Benett, but not in the eyes of hundreds of thousands of Israelis who desperately search their family vaults for a proof that would grant them EU passport and not long ago took part in the popular Olim LeBerlin (“ascending to Berlin”) protest that expressed a wish to immigrate to Europe. Perhaps, Israel is a case wherein what looks nice from a distance is less attractive when you take a close-up shot.

By the way, that the Haredim are drying up Israel's economy may explain the low wages, etc..

Ted Bauer, Insularity, and Industries—Including the Technology and News Industries

With dread about the electrical grid being struck and Luddite sentiment, Ted Bauer's article about the technology industry is relevant. After all, many industries indeed become like the technology industry—"insular", monopolized, hegemonic, nepotistic, and oligarchical. For example, where in the news-reporting world is one going to find a muckraker who's willing to expose many under-the-radar matters anymore? As has been noted in many different ways, many people want complacently-sensationalistic soundbites and graphics from "trusted" veteran reporters (whether or not they are actually trustworthy and willing to produce work that at least meets journalistic standards).

One example is with regard to PM Netanyahu, Congress, and the President of the United States. Very few reporters, analysts, commentators, and other news-connected figures would care to bring up, let alone report, that PM Netanyahu is actually violating Section Three of Article Two of the U.S. Constitution by addressing Congress without first having President Obama convene the House and/ore the Senator. When one commentator/analyst and one journalist (the former being Baruch Maoz and the latter being Geraldo Rivera) did bring that point up, they were sorely lambasted (Geraldo Rivera in particular and directly was lambasted. Anyone who concurred with Baruch Maoz was through whom the lambasters attempted to excoriate Pastor Maoz.).

The "report to support Netanyahu and Congress" line was expected to be toed. Never mind that the Constitution should have been brought into the reporting of PM Netanyahu's addressing Congress without being received by the President.

My Own 25th Birthday, And a Scary Realization...

Now I'm 25 years old by both Biblical and Gregorian standards. Meanwhile, I (no pun intended) am stopped dead in my tracks by a horrifying realization: I am as old as Great-Granddad Czarnecki was when the 1929 Great Depression happened. Also, I just read about the hardly-explained suicide of Madison Holleran—and all while I had been browsing to find out the age of a public figure whose age was not given on Wikipedia. One thing really can lead to another!

At that point, reading about Miss Holleran's suicide led to my reading comments about it—including the evil-hearted one from "Bc". Typing a response to him made me realize (at least more of) what happened to Great-Granddad, etc. (Incidentally—or maybe not—the day-and-date scheme was the same in 1964 as it was in 2014. By the way, "50" and "25" are multiples of "25" and "five". The numbers in it all, too. Needless to say, numbers and patterns alone should prove that there are no coincidences in life.):

That's easy for you to say. Could you go in back in time and, e.g., talk to my Great-Granddad Czarnecki:

Born on October 24, 1904, he was a pogrom survivor who had to become a Crypto Jew, who lost his father (who, by the way, was an alcoholic and a terrible husband) when he was 17 going on 18, his sister Regina when he was 20 (and she was 16. She died of cholera [sic.].), his mother when he was 31 going on 32 (after he already had a complicated relationship with her), his firstborn son, and his youngest brother (who was a Holocaust victim whose cause of death was murder due to serving in the U.S. Military and being fatally injured by a Nazi soldier. He took almost 18 years to die, by the way, since that's how botched the surgery to remove the shrapnel from his head was; and he died from a schizophrenic reaction and a coronary occlusion). He also lost other siblings, all of whom died when they were infants.

Add to that, that he lost his three right middle toes and his leg up to his knee when he worked as a lawnmower operator at an apartment complex (and because he lost his previous job in the hard-hit Sugar Notch, Pennsylvania coal mines). The job losses and limb loss either affected the onset of or exacerbated his Depression, for which the medication that he took was ineffective.

So, after 60 years, a month, a week, and a day of pain (i.e., 21,954 days of pain), he attempted suicide; and although his attempt didn't work and he changed his mind at the last minute, his death certificate reads that he died of suicide by drowning.

By the way, the Great Depression began on his 9,131st day (his 25th birthday). He also had other pain (that is, besides what I mentioned, including how his 25th birthday was marred and the Pogrom of Pogroms thus far at that time—the Holocaust—began on that day).

You tell me, then, how willing he was to consider that, e.g., "tomorrow is another to borrow the words of some one else". Your lack of critical thinking, empathy, and compassion astounds me.

What a sobering reality! By the way, let me add what I originally commented:

Sure; expectations of perfection, etc. can affect the onset of Depression and suicide affected by Depression. Frankly, though, it does seem unusual (even weird). What didn't Madison tell?

By the way, I know that this isn't about me; although I have Depression, and my father's paternal grandfather, the maternal grandfather of my father's maternal grandmother, and two maternal uncles of father's maternal grandmother all committed suicide. My father's sister attempted suicide as well, and I ended up in Sheppard Pratt for threatening suicide (and there are days where the temptation of suicide still assails me.

So, I know from experience that more than just expectations of perfection, etc. had to be in play. Incidentally, I have never seen my great-granddad's suicide note; and I figured out that my great-grandmother's maternal grandfather (who was in his 50s when he died) committed suicide because I noted that two of his six sons (and two of his seven children) committed suicide (so, mathematically, for him to not commit suicide would have been impossible.

I will add other links later [6:04 PM EST].

The links have been added [10:45 PM EST].

The Type Of Matters That I Want To Bring To the Forefront, And...

I can't bring up those matters when I'm being crushed under the weight of my own burdens. For example:

Catholic teaching prohibits the use of artificial contraception but allows the use of the so-called rhythm method, where couples avoid unwanted pregnancy by planning sex on days during the woman's menstrual cycle on which she is less likely to conceive.

Then some wondered why I was furious when a Facebook friend suggested that I "[m]arry Jesus in [my] heart." As I told him, my family suffered enough under the Roman and Byzantine Catholic Churches. Need I bring up Great-Granddad's family again, for example? Besides, I know exactly what "marry[ing] Jesus" means:

1. As if I'm not already a Christian? Fur shanda! 
2. I saw when, for instance, the SSND women at UNDM had on wedding bands to represent that they were "brides of Christ" (and I was reminded of that term when I read The Staircase recently).

I told him quite frankly:

"Marry Jesus"? What; become a nun? I'm a non-proselytizing Jewish Christian; and quite frankly, my paternal family dealt with enough from the Roman and Byzantine (e.g., Russian Orthodox) Catholic Churches for centuries—which is why my and other branches became Anusim.

Also, this matter reminded me of why people complain about the Roman Catholic Church. After all, even Acts 15 prevents menstrual sex!  Again, my own paternal family dealt with enough from the Roman and Byzantine (e.g., Russian Orthodox) Catholic Churches for centuries—and part of that included watching and hearing as the Roman Catholic Church contradicted even the B'rit Chadashah, let alone (the rest of) Tanakh.

My Own Response To the SOTU Address of 2015

"Mr. President, with all due respect, I must sadly sum up your address as the following: promises with catches, at-maximum-half truths, and simply outright lies. I should also remind you that the Constitution states, 'He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union'. As I read that statement, I do not find it to mean, 'He shall at an annual interval give to the American people and his compatriots in the American government a self reaffirmation of his worldview and his Executive governance in light of the worldview.'"

What About "Falling Away", By the Way?

I was thinking again on the subject in Hebrews 6 and 10 today (and discussed it in light of a friend's status). Here's what I wrote later on the subject:

John 6:66, though, talks about disciples who no longer walked with Jesus. 1 Corinthians 3:15 also reads, "If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire."Congregation Yeshuat Yisrael has a wonderful study on this, by the way (Seehttp://www.yeshuatyisrael.com/Power.../Hebrews%20Dilemma.pdf). 

This might shed light on the Parable of the Sower: 

" 20 But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22 Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. "

If Some Of You All Want To Keep Judging Ms. Dorvilier....

By the way, Google it, too. "Postpartum Depression violence". Some of you all need to grow up (at best) and/or get mental-health treatment (at "worst"/most). Also, do not buy that Postpartum Depression and violence have no link. Depression, let alone Postpartum Depression, can affect violence (including murder and murder-suicide). My father's paternal grandfather (not a Postpartum-Depressive man, let alone an untreated one, as far as I know) committed suicide because of Depression alone! How much more might a Postpartum-Depressive woman commit suicide and/or murder! In addition, I suggest that you keep silent if you have no clue about mental illness. After all, "Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding." (Proverbs 17:28, for Christians and so-called Christians—especially if you are Jewish. You well know that our fathers and mothers received all of Tanakh by the Second Temple Era). For everyone else, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

Let me add, too, that I know about mental illness. I already explained enough about my mother's maternal grandmother's mother, did I not? I also explained enough my father's grandfather. Well, guess what? I inherited his Depression! I also inherited my father's OCD/Anxiety and ADD (He will admit to the ADD. He has yet to admit that OCD/Anxiety and Depression; though I clearly inherited his mental illnesses, and I remember those pill bottles that I saw in his now-former apartment. Let me tell you, now I know that not all of them were Vitamin B12 pills. I also have other memories that I did not think about at the time that they were present events.).

I, thus, know what I am saying. Therefore, I can open my mouth. I forgot to mention as well, and let me add, that my mother's paternal grandfather's father ended up in Springfield State Hospital due to Alcoholism. I also ended up in Sheppard Pratt once, and that's where I was diagnosed with Depression. I can give other examples as well, and now I am really going to tell the "some of you all" to shut your mouths and not say a damned thing about me—and I know that at least one of you thought that I was the fool in this case. I did not say that I am wise, by the way; so, you word twisters can really stop now (Do not think that I am clueless, either.).

I even suspect that quite a few of the "some of you all" are sociopaths and/or otherwise lacking compassion, critical thinking skills, and discernment as well. According to Fox News (who published an Associated Press article), "Authorities believe the mother doused her baby with an accelerant then set her on fire, Bewley said. They do not have a motive. The woman was taken into custody Friday night." Yet, some of you all have the hutzpah to cite "innocent until proven guilty" even in cases in which the motive is clear.

Postpartum Psychosis, Crime, Etc.

BTW, my sister wants to clarify that her rude background laughter had nothing to do with the subjects at hand, despite that I asked that she would be quiet while I made the video to which this blog entry applies.

Anyway, here are the statistics on Postpartum Depression and Psychosis:

1) http://www.apa.org/pi/women/programs/depression/postpartum.aspx

2) http://www.cdc.gov/mmwR/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5714a1.htm

(Please note that Black and other Non-White, Non-Hispanic women are affected the most.).

3) http://www.postpartumprogress.com/category/postpartum-depression-statistics

4) http://www.idph.state.il.us/about/womenshealth/factsheets/pdpress.htm

The original story is at http://www.theintell.com/news/local/baby-dies-after-being-set-on-fire-in-pemberton-woman/article_e40fb4a6-31e3-579e-841e-82d7ec100ccf.html

My Hebrew Birthdate(?)

I'm working on getting the correct date, though I have the date of 26 Tevet 5770 (really, 26 Tevet 5769). I was born on January 23, 1990, and I downloaded the Israeli New Moon Society archive table to find if January 1990 and Tevet 5749 coincided at all. Only three dates were listed for 1990, and none of them were in January of 1990. So, I wasn't going to find out what January 23, 1990 was.

I have been able to learn and observe, however, that the Biblical calendar (which factors in the Aviv Barley) and the P'rushi calendar coincide to some extent (and they actually sometimes exactly coincide. This month of Tevet 5774/"5775", they did not exactly coincide. I originally thought that they did, though I guess that I was tracking it on my own copy of the P'rushi calendar and put "Tevet 1 if not earlier.". I thought that my copy put Tevet 1 on December 23rd or 24th.).

So, then, here's what I've been able to calculate:

1. I originally thought that my Hebrew birthday was on January 18, 2015 at sundown.
2. I went back and looked at a moon-phases calendar (I originally tried the one from the Israeli New Moon Society. It didn't download.).
3. I looked at the traditional Hebrew date again.
4. I looked at the traditional start of Tevet 5749/"5750" (December 28, 1989. On December 29, 1989, it was the day of Tevet 1, 5749; since Hebrew days are evening-and-morning days.).
5. I saw that the New Moon was actually on December 29, 1989. 
6. So, then, began the count.
7. The conclusion....

I was born on Tevet 25, 5749. Thus, I will be 25 on....today. Well, Happy Birthday to me and a Peaceful Sabbath to all (ליום הולדת שמח ללי ושבת שלום לכולם.). Meanwhile, I took a while to calculate this since math is not my strongsuit. 

Depression, Dying In the Diaspora, and Likely Being An Alteh Moid (And Other Matters)

First with the schtick about dying in the Diaspora: well, an ex friend just died at 4:00 AM today. As I told my sister, "I keep telling you about dying in the Diaspora; you won't believe me" or something like that. To watch Yirimiyahu 8:1-7 continuously come true disturbs me. The ex friend was only in his 20s and had cancer, by the way.

Also, what about the four men murdered in Friday's terror attacks as well as Georges Wolinski murdered on Wednesday? Surely, some have to be looking at this and saying, "It is true: 'And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith יהוה צבאות.' Indeed, 'the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but My people know not the ordinance of יהוה.'

"'And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples whither יהוה shall lead thee away.'" That's not supposed to exacerbate the MDD with which I suffer?!

Also, I can't get out of the Diaspora myself. Why? Besides what I wrote yesterday (See "To watch...true" above.), that I'm not married is a factor (and a painful one!)! Did that get into a debate as well, by the way!

Given the following, I may pretty much be doomed either way:

1. Each but for two of my maternal grandparents' post-natal children (including my late aunt Mary Carole) have been divorced and remarried at least once.
2. All of my paternal grandparents' post natal children have each been divorced once.
3. My parents are divorced (no duh!).
4. I have C.P., OCD/ADD, MDD, ADD, and IBS.
5. I'm 24 years old and going on to be 25 years old.

There are other factors as well. Being an undesirable, a divorce statistic, and still single at 24 years old, I'm likely to die an alteh moid. Comforting? No! Exacerbating my MDD? Yes! Having nobody to at least get me out of the Diaspora? Even more exacerbating my MDD!

PS As I was trying to write this whole blog entry, I had to stop for multiple long periods because I couldn't get a moment of quiet. Also, I was pretty much, e.g., shot down on explaining why Francois Hollande called Netanyahu's bluff. To live in a house in which I can't share much without being interrupted, shot down, etc. is all the rougher.

For People Whom Complain About Jews Leaving Europe

Why don't you go to Yerushalayim and carry Jews like me who are otherwise unable to make aliyah there? 
"Thus saith the Lord יהוה: Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations, and set up Mine ensign to the peoples, and they shall bring thy sons in their bosom, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy foster-fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers; they shall bow down to thee with their face to the earth, and lick the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am יהוה, for they shall not be ashamed that wait for Me." [Yeshayahu 49:22-23, JPS 1917; with the Name put back in there]
"And I will work a sign among them, and I will send such as escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard My fame, neither have seen My glory; and they shall declare My glory among the nations. And they shall bring all your brethren out of all the nations for an offering unto יהוה, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to My holy mountain Jerusalem, saith יהוה, as the children of Israel bring their offering in a clean vessel into the house of the יהוה." [Yeshayahu 66:19-20, JPS 1917; with the Name put back in there]
And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith  יהוהof hosts.



I have C.P. and cannot drive. Do you really, think, then, that I can get out of the U.S. to Israel? Many of my brothers and sisters in Europe are in similar positions.

Also like quite a few of my fellow Jews, I am a Nazarene/Messianic Jew/Jewish Christian of Anusi descent; so, I have an even-harder time making aliyah, and I refuse to be thought of as only a gentile of Jewish descent—I intend to make aliyah as a Jew, since I am a Jew by ethnicity and denomination. In that case, then, I'd love to see Jewish and gentile Christian Zionists help us out and put actions where their mouths are. Shame on you if you make us choose death over life:

Are you really Christian Zionists, then, if you don't help especially Jewish Christians who otherwise couldn't make aliyah? Think about, for example, that we all are to "do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith." (Galatians 6:10, NKJV)

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.

The Worst Of the Tragedies At Charlie Hebdo

Read the articles and do more research, and the worst of the tragedies at "Charlie Hebdo" will become very clear to you: a Holocaust survivor was the direct target of those who murdered 12, injured 11, and affected many others at "Charlie Hebdo". A survivor of the Nazi invasions into French Tunisia, Georges Wolinski (ז''ל והי''ד) moved to mainland France only to live into his 70s and avoid the fate that he could've had in what became a part of Vichy France. He was also the son of a Volyn'ska-rooted Yehudi Ashkenazi  and a Tunis-rooted Yehudit Mizrachit.

Wasn't that his paternal family endured horrors, including pogroms, at the hands of Imperial and Soviet Russia enough? Wasn't that has maternal family endured centuries of Anti-Semitic Arabocentrism enough (and he was a teen during the aliyot from Arab countries in 1948!)? Now he, also a son of survivors of Anti Semitism, became the victim of the Anti Semitism that he and his family were able to elude when Germany and the "Grand" Mufti (more like a "Satan Gadol") invaded one of the countries in which his maternal family had endured enough Anti Semitism, and to which his paternal family fled to escape Anti Semitism.

That, either an irony or a paradox created by G-d, is the worst tragedy at "Charlie Hebdo".

PS Vive le peuple de Yisra'el!

Public OpinionPoll Results

Speaking Of Stereotypes...

I had to deal with, quite frankly, slander against me because I pointed out that the policepersons who saluted their murdered colleagues had Black men among them. As I told her:

To assume that I put Michael Brown and Eric Garner in the same category is wrong. Also, I've even gone out of my way to support certain politicians because they are Black (e.g., Charles Lollar and Pinkston Harris. I'm glad that Larry Hogan has a Black Lieutenant Governor, Boyd Rutherford). I don't like the WASP and WEC mentality that some in the GOP have held for years. I come from Jewish families on both sides even (long story), and I've defended the Lemba Jews and Falasha Mura. As an Ashkenazi Jew from Crypto-Jewish families, I could easily back off and not defend the Lemba (who were slandered in a bogus study by an Indian oceanographer who claims that the CMH type that they have is not a kohen one). You can't assume, then, that I have contempt for Blacks.

I suppose, then, that I was stereotyped as much as she alleges that I stereotype Blacks.

To Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz At HaKotel b'Yerushalayim

Rabbi Rabinowitz,

Think of the song "Light One Candle". Part of the song goes, "Don't let the light go out; it's lasted for so many years." So have our people, 'Am Yisra'el, Ha'Or L'Goyim. We have lasted for millennia, ever since Yitzchak was conceived and born; and then Yitzchak conceived and had born to him two sons of his own, one of whom became Ya'akov Avinu.

Without Imoteinu, our coming forth and longevity as a people would have been impossible. Without achoteinu, habanot imoteinu, none of acheinu would have been able to conceive and have born to them successive dorot m'Yisra'el. Without further dorot m'Yisra'el, we would've died out as an 'am.

Therefore, your banning of HaNashot HaKotel is a chillul HaShem and a chillul zichronot ha'avot v'imahot. Even Ya'akov Avinu told even Imoteinu, "'Put away the strange gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments; 3 and let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.'" (From Bereshit 35, JPS 1917) Why do you, then, put away achoteinu as Imoteinu put away their strange g-ds?

Please consider whether to put away achoteinu, habanot Imoteinu, like Imoteinu put away strange g-ds is an avodah tovah. If it is an avodah tovah, then to have put away Imoteinu would have been tov, would it not have been?

Toda v'Chanukkah Tovah.