Your Turn, Camille: Happy 2 ⅓-Gregorian-Year Birthday, Reilly!

You are very lucky that you didn't get hurt jumping from that height!

Cam, Reilly is still an alpha over you! (Puppies "kiss" in order to either show dominance, clean each other's teeth, or extract food or other items from each other's teeth.)

Camille gave Reilly a usual ear cleaning! 

She wanted "Hippo" here!

Regarding Hananya Naftali And A Disturbing Report About Him

In a Facebook group of which I'm a member, the group moderator shared a video of self-professed Jewish Christian and survivor of terrorism Hananya Naftali speaking at a UN Security Council Form. Someone objected to the sharing of the video on the grounds that Hananya Naftali may not actually be a terrorism survivor or anything else but a Messianic Jew whom deceitfully claims to have survived a terror attack in order to proselytize.

Just as I replied in the group, I'll post here for two reasons:

1. In case my comment understandably gets deleted—after all, as I said, Hananya Naftali reflects poorly on Jewish Christians if he is lying about whether he survived a terror attack.
2. As I implicitly replied to the original commenter, the report about Hananya Naftali is disturbing either way: that is, it's disturbing whether someone's lying about Hananya Naftali simply because he is a Jewish Christian or whether—more disturbingly—Hananya Naftali is using a Pseudo-Messianic-Jewish form of taqiyya, as what Mohammed did to promote Islam in his days has no compatibility with or equivalent to what Jesus taught, regardless of what one makes of Jesus—after all, Jesus was at least a rabbi whom taught that one should not bear false witness, and any "Messianic Jewish" form of taqiyya contravenes the Torah that Jesus taught and followed. By the way, I can find no news reports about Hananya Naftali actually having survived a terror attack in any case.
3. I'm a bat Anusim whose ancestors survived Anti Semitism as best as they could, and—for example—I'm unfortunately sure that part of what contributed to Great-Granddad Czarnecki's decision to commit suicide was the Anti Semitism that he endured as a child—you try being a 60-year-old Anusi whom, even though you were no hero, you had a rough life and became less than heroic in many ways partly because you were affected by how you started off life: in Anti-Semitic Polish Russia and having converted to Roman Catholicism before you were even a school-aged child because of the pogroms, and thus having your family back in Poland having disowned you and your parents because you became Anusim; and then fleeing to the United States to live as an Anusi in not-much-better-but-at-least-nominally-religiously-free Pennsylvania—and you end up in the Sugar Notch area, which is part of why you have to live as an Anusi. When you're sitting around after you've lost a job due to severing three toes and your lower leg in a work-related accident with a lawnmower, you think about those first 18-21 years of your life when all you can do is sit around and think instead of work—and your flareup of Depression becomes all the more exacerbated. Were you around today, you'd want to throttle that Hananya Naftali kid if he is lying, and you'd love tell him exactly about what you survived as opposed to what he only claimed to have survived—and from what I understand, Great-Granddad (given that he had no problem being abusive towards others) would certainly not hesitate to have throttled someone if he could have and needed to have throttled someone for good reason (After all, someone who turns out to be abusive since he or she was affected by abuse may well stand up to abusers whom are like the abusers that he or she had and has faced before. Also, keep in mind that he worked in the coal mines until times became too hard for the coal mines to run in Sugar Notch—so, he had a good deal of strength prior to his work-related lawnmower accident—and he also worked at a silk mill in his teenage years.).

As I replied to the original commenter, then:

"1) I don't see how that changes that he[, Hananya Naftali] was targeted because of his ethnicity, assuming that he was telling the truth about what happened to him. 2) If he was indeed lying, I as a Jewish Christian apologize on behalf of those like Hanaya Naftali and can tell you that he reflects himself and only himself. In fact, the majority of us are far different from the caricatures that Hananya Naftali likes to make us look like, and we do not condone whatever you call―if I may―his equivalent of taqiyya, as Mohammed and Jesus―regardless whatever you make of him―are not compatible, and no equivalent of taqiyya has any place in the life of any Jewish Christian."

Happy 3 ⅓-Gregorian-Year Birthday, Reilly!

Despite that both Reilly and "Momma" are only getting older, and that "Momma" has a cold (or RSV), Reilly's bittersweet (or at-least-bittersweet-for-"Momma") milestone day was a good day (at least for Reilly. For "Momma", it wasn't an unusual day—החיים, זה מה זה לאותה.). Reilly even voluntarily rolled over to get her belly brushed with the electric toothbrush during grooming time when she heard, "Let's get your belly brushed!"

Resting by "Momma"

"Momma" rubbing Reilly's belly to get Reilly to look at the camera

Anti Semitism Came From Outside Of A Hartford Cemetery....And Then There's The Anti Semitism In Luzerne County's Cemeteries

I have living and late relatives who were and are (including ones who currently await the Resurrection Of The Dead) in Madison and Norwalk, and all of us are B'nei Anusim. Besides, for example, I don't know where some relatives who weren't Anusim ended up; and either way, Anti Semites, whether or not they leave written graffiti (as if knocking over matzevot isn't a hateful form of graffiti just because it's unwritten) don't care whether we're Rabbinim, Kara'im, or something else (e.g., Notzrim); or openly Jewish or Anusim, whether or not we're B'nei Anusim.

As is said, it can happen here and it can happen anywhere else.

PS The (perhaps) conspiracy theorist in me says that some of the tombstones in the photos that Dad sent me were knocked over simply because they are or suspected to be matzevot; and the same (perhaps) conspiracy theorist in me suspects that that's why others have been left unmaintained. For example:

I'm not sure whose grave this is. However, the grave in two puctures prior, shown here below, is one of Great-Great-Granddad's cousins (the one whom proved that the sin against Natalie Wood didn't escape being perpetrated by our side of his maternal family, might I add.).

Another one, this after the knocked-over one. Although it hasn't been maintained, it's clearly standing upright and without any deliberate- and/or other clean-looking breaks.

By the way, all but two of the Hartford matzevot that were knocked over were knocked over to this kind of condition (The other two faced the kind of horrid fate that a matzevah in Europe may've faced.)

Meanwhile, two tombstones of people who were born within 20 years of Great-Great-Granddad (December 24, 1875; despite his tombstone giving 1877) are well maintained. One was born in 1869, and another was born in 1885. This tombstone seems to not be a matzevah (or at least a matzevah Yehudit, if you want to get technical and apply "matzevah" to any tombstone) or at least a suspected matzevah, in contrast to the two shown above that may be.

I left this in its original size on purpose. Assuming that the cemetery in the next picture is Holy Family/St. Charles Cemetery, one can see very clearly the stark contrast. Not that Great-Great-Granddad was a hero, by the way—and from what I understand, he wasn't—nonetheless, something's fishy when a tombstone in Holy Family/St. Charles looks like this in contrast to the other tombstones, especially since Great-Great-Granddad donated to its "Free Poland" fund. Also by the way, Great-Grandma (z"l) died only 10 Gregorian years ago and was laid to rest in St. Mary's as a Holy Family parishioner—it isn't like Holy Family doesn't keep track members of parishioning families whom are still in the area—in addition, given that this is why I mention Great-Grandma, she received a prayer shawl (which was not specifically a tallit) that my aunt Mary made for her and was quite thrilled to receive it (I know why, and Great-Grandma apparently did, too 🙂—had I known before she died and at least before the last time that I saw her 🙁! —in other words, only looking back on the times that I saw her and looking back with what I found out in mind did I understand that she was an alter-bubeh.)

Incidentally, St. Mary's does not allow stones on top of any tombstones ("No crushed decorative stones, pebbles, shells or similar materials shall be placed on or around monuments or markers.")....never mind that Jesus was Jewish (and is Jewish if you believe that he's Mashiach like I do); but, okay, then. 🙄 Also never mind that the stones left on matzevot are never "decorative" (While I was looking for the source where I read that no stones are allowed on top of any tombstone, I didn't remember St. Mary's Cemetery having this much of a contempt for Jews. If only we could get Great-Grandma and other proud stholts Yidn out of there, and get each of them among lantzmen and lantzfroyen whom believe as he or she believes, since it happens from within and not only from without—unless you want to count as part of the "without" group the Anti Semites whom affected them to become Anusim, "hidden Jews", regardless of their beliefs.)

This isn't to mention that since I clearly didn't pass—unbeknownst to me until a friend told me, "I figured that you're Jewish. You look Jewish."—at least quite a few ancestors who did know that they're Jewish from the beginnings of their lives didn't pass, no matter how much they tried and/or no matter how much anybody who at least suspected that they're Jewish didn't say.

By the way, Holy Family/St. Charles Cemetery in Sugar Notch is a small one (so are cemetery such as Holy Cross Polish National Cemetery, where Great-Great-Granddad's brother Felix is buried). There is, thus, little to no chance that even some stranger would've just passed over a lonely grave of an apparently-Polish or -otherwise-gentile parishioner in tight-knit, everybody-apparently-knows-somebody-or-of-somebody-somehow Sugar Notch.

Mostly Offbeat: "Momma" Now Has A Cold & One More Impediment To Being A Better "Momma" To Reilly

"Momma" thinks that contributing factors include exhaustion, the affect of uncertainty regarding what a certain someone wants—especially as both she (at 27.5 Gregorian years old today) and Reilly (at 3.33 Gregorian years old on Tuesday) are getting only older, and even the distress that the bad behavior of the albe-lovable-brat Reilly's behavior—including getting "Momma"/"Auntie Nicole" into trouble for defending Camille against Reilly's attempts to steal extra "num nums"—can cause. 

Meanwhile, Reilly hasn't exactly behaved too much better than usual for "Momma"—though she's still a (or at least a relatively-) loyal "dogter" (although misbehavior doesn't exactly constitute loyalty, notwithstanding that the misbehaviors of puppies of all ages is comparable to the misbehavior of human children of infant to pre-kindergartner ages—in other words, Reilly's human-child-like mischievousness can still be frustrating despite that it isn't human-like brazen disobedience).

By the way, as shown from earlier, "Momma" and Reilly did get some fresh air on the back porch—so, "Momma" is trying to give herself a refu'ah shelemah from the cold and take care of Reilly as best as she can, and not just kvetch about being cholah due to a cold (and being cholah k'ronit due to having Cerebral Palsy and mental illnesses—the OCD/Anxiety of which, for example, affected "Momma" negatively last night when she was simply making herself an omelette with garlic in order to try to eat something and expedite the refu'ah shelemah from the cold, despite that she painstakingly attempted to observe safety precautions and Reilly was in the other room most of the time. Raw eggs + garlic + worry about Reilly = perfect combination to get a "Mamaleh" whose sick with a cold to have an OCD/Anxiety flareup and an exacerbated cold!).

Again, Reisilicita? Once Again....

Reilly attempted to knock Camille off of "Mom-Mom"'s lap, for all intents and purposes—understandably, Camille growled at Reilly (although "Mom-Mom" thought that Camille was growling at her for rolling her over on her back. "Mom-Mom" had to convince Camille that she would not allow her to be hurt by Reilly), of whom Camille was afraid!

PS Reilly rolled onto her back for "Mom-Mom" to "get her belly" and "is getting an extra treat"! Camille is not happy about that. 

Like Stealing Food From A Puppy...Oh; Wait. And An Incidental Note

After Reilly and Camille had their evening "num nums", enough wet food for them to have a little extra food (or dessert or whatever one wants to call the leftover food) was left in the recently-opened can. As happens at every other time when a new can's been opened and someone has to put away the food that wasn't served, then, whoever put the unserved food in a jar to refrigerate it gave the last little bits of food from the can to them—and the "whoever" this time was "Momma"/"Auntie Nicole"—and this time's whoever had to eventually block her "dogter" from attempting to take her furniece's share of the food from the furniece (including by trying to block the furniece, whom had to try to counterblock the "dogter").

About three separate times, "Auntie Nicole"/"Momma" had to take the spoon with the wet food on it from Camille to keep it out of Reilly's covetous reach, especially since Reilly wouldn't remain sitting and let Camille have her portion of the extra "num nums"—and of course, leave Reilly to get "Momma"/"Auntie Nicole" into trouble with "Mom-Mom" for not just giving Camille her fair share of the extra "num nums"!

"Momma"/"Auntie Nicole" finally had to have Reilly sit and put her hand on Reilly's back to have her remain sitting while Camille got her extra share of the "num nums".

Just like Reilly to get "Momma" into trouble, like stealing food from a puppy...oh wait,,,,well, by trying to steal food from another puppy—for as much as Reilly is a lovable brat, Reilly is a brat; and for as much as she is a brat, she is a lovable brat!




PS "Momma" and Reilly (at least try to) never forget to pray for everyone, especially for whomever "Momma"'s helpmate and Reilly's "Daddy" is (especially if he is whom "Momma" thinks that he is), every day—please don't think that "Momma" doesn't care about anybody else, and nobody has to doubt that Reilly (who even gets jealous for everyone's attention!) cares for everyone!

Throwback Thursday: When Reilly Tried To Knock Camille Off Of "Mom-Mom"'s Lap!

That Reilly wants something when she wants something is well known, and also well known is that Camille usually ends up getting the brunt of Reilly's "I want it, and I want it now!" antics. So, that Reilly attempted to knock Camille off of "Mom-Mom"'s lap during a recent grooming session should not surprise anyone. Nonetheless, "Momma" was a little surprised that Reilly would try to knock Camille off of "Mom-Mom"'s lap, as was "Mom-Mom".

As "Momma" has said, Hell hath no fury like a jealous Reilly; and Reilly was certainly jealous for the treats that she would get in exchange for allowing "Mom-Mom" to run the electric toothbrush over her! 

More Memory Monday: The Photoshoots That Inspired The Concept For Reilly's And Camille's Bastille Day Cards

Photoshoot One, July 13, 2017

Photoshoot Two: Le Jour de La Bastille de 2017