#A SIMCHAT TORAH STORY

[theredqueenandthebloodwyrm]

@edenfenixblogs

Confidently, well semi-confident about four of the ones I wrote via tags. The rest...yeah sorry 😔 failed.

Non-jews of tumblr:

If possible, please write your answers in the tags!

[mirandyficlists]

Hi hi! I’d like to know what your Top 10 Holy Grail fics are? Like I’m talking about fics you would reccommend in a heart beat, fics that you feel are written extremely well that they feel like they should be published or something, fics that have really good pacing, right amount of fluff, angst, or smut. Or even ones that are just silly and fun. It would be cool to read some of your favs!

Hey Nonnie

First my standard answer to the top ten query...10!!! 10!!! You think i can narrow it down to 10!! LOLOLOL

Secondly, I'm flattered you want to know my preferences as a guide...but then that's what my spreadsheet is all about I guess. lol

Okay I did manage to keep myself to 30 fics and I will say I would live quite happily if the first 10 were all I was ever allowed to read for the ret of my life. Just saying. Heh

I've also included my reviews of each fic from my Spreadsheet of 2250+ Mirandy fics to explain my love for the fics.

If you want the fics that are no longer online just message me privately with your email and I'll send my zipped file of deleted Mirandy fics your way.

Happy Reading Nonnie

All the Breast

XVNot15

Top ten and why?

The Lady And Her Dragons by Bearblue https://archiveofourown.org/works/21738811/chapters/51860098

(WIP) OMG!!!!!!!!!!  So amazingly wonderful and magical and well just damned hot!  Full of myth and magic, Miranda and Cruella are real Dragons and Andy is their Lady. Magical machinations and battles ensue. The story is compelling and Bearblue controls the content of magical information absolutely beautifully, you're interest is captured, but you're not over whelmed with more information than what is required for the story she is telling.  Again it has to be said. OMG!!! I have now read this fic over 500 times…and I mean that! Have read it once a week and sometimes 2 or 3 times a week for more than a decade.

Truth and Measure by Telanu https://archiveofourown.org/works/779826/chapters/1468543

The downfall of my anti Mirandy life that dragged me kicking and cursing into the heart of the Mirandyverse. This is what I call a Simchat Torah story. Much like the holiday in which the last chapter of Torah is read and then the first chapter immediately afterward to start the cycle again. And that's just what I did with this one. Miranda discovers after the separation with Stephen that she is pregnant and as she copes with that Andy helps her and eventually Miranda proposes a mutually beneficial relationship...which Andy then proceeds to turn on its head almost immediately. Excellently written and adored the characterisations of both women.

It’s All Relative by Hawkbehere https://archiveofourown.org/works/5884348/chapters/13561771

OMFG!! This is an amazing story. Well written and excellently paced as well. Post Paris H/C piece where Miranda is shot and Andy runs to her side to help and care for her.. A very complex and interesting characterisation of both M and A. The hints at Sub/dom with true love and respect were pitched absolutely meltingly perfect And the passion of Miranda's need for Andy is mind blowing.

Small Favors Series  by Chillyflame https://archiveofourown.org/works/2793701/chapters/6270377

Andy wins a press award and sees Miranda. They talk and Andy acknowledges her feelings to herself. Andy sends a lily as a thank you. Hot first kiss in the conference room at the Mirror. The girls are very supportive as the relationship develops. INTERLUDE - Hot late night quickie in Miranda's office.  BEAUTIFUL THINGS - sees the development  of the relationship through some early rough spots. They're outed by Miranda's PR firm. Loved the twins with their pudding balloon bombs. HERE TO STAY - GOOD FORTUNE –

Fur No Thanks I’d Rather Go Naked by Writtensword (Deleted but I have the fic and can send it.)

Ooooooooooo so totally wonderful this story read it 3 times one after the other. Miranda is magically turned into a Mink and only Andrea can hear her speak and she takes care of her as they try to undo the spell. The characterisation of Mink Miranda is sooooooooooooooo terrific I want more Mink tales. heh  Lovely denoument when Miranda turns back to her human form.

Like Andrea Series by Ginstan https://archiveofourown.org/series/1940092

Ooooooooooooooo romance, mystery, intrigue and damn fine writing! Loved this fic! Andy is alerted to the fact that Miranda needs help when Runway does an edition where every single model looks like her. She comes to Miranda's rescue and their relationship develops super fast and super beautifully..  And beautiful mini FOL crossover! heheh I adore the characterisations of a vulnerable Miranda and a very soft butch Andy.

A Failure to Communicate by thelastgoodname https://archiveofourown.org/works/5300144

Miranda decides to Marry Andy and is busy dictating the plans to Andy just one problem... She hasn't actually asked Andy out on a date yet or anything else.  Cue a very confused Andy and a backpeddling Miranda. Ohhh my aching sides!!!! This is just soooooooooooo funny and sooooo well written.It's just brilliant!

Admiration by Punky_96 https://archiveofourown.org/works/14936337

Swooooooooooon!! Total romance and way HOT sex too! Miranda has a secret (not to us though) admirer who is leaving her daily gifts and notes. She becomes smitten and isn't quite sure until the big reveal.  Beautifully written and I loved it, but it ends rather abruptly.

The Brutal Truth by Redcharcoal (Removed as it was published…both are AWESOME! FF is available in the FB Mirandy Group and in my deleted fic file.)

Wonderfully well written piece. Miranda claims to only want the Brutal truth and ends up having a bet with Andrea that she can't get an exclusive interview with a famous designer and the stakes are one day of absolute honesty for Andrea and one week for Miranda. Andy outs Stephen as a predator and Miranda fires her...but then she gets the exclusive interview with the Deuchamps and they become her friends.

Miranda’s Runway series by Jehc https://archiveofourown.org/works/1242412/chapters/2552452

Oh the joy of a well written and well crafted characterisation piece.  Love this 4 years post Paris piece with Andy having a daughter she has actually named Miranda but who she calls Mandy who is somehting of an artistic prodigy. Andy has written a series of amazingly successful books on fashion but remains anonymous until she trades her privacy to foil Irvs latest almost successful coups against Miranda.  Things follow on from there, when little Mandy meets Randa and they fall for each other as hard as Miranda falls for Andrea.  Amazing fic.

The Fall and the Landing & 90 Days to Glory by Brithna/Ash_Mountain https://archiveofourown.org/works/481161

Warning: Character Death. My God almighty what a powerful piece of writing! This is not fanfiction, this is life, this is the most skillful playing of all that it is to be human, fragile, and to hold friendship and love as the reward for the pain and challenge that those prizes intrinsically bring with them. Have tissues ready, and be prepared to read with your heart and know that love is the force that truly connects all life.

On a Tractor by Bearblue https://archiveofourown.org/works/11696331/chapters/26333922

OMG! Absolutely brilliantly written long post Paris piece. Andy lends up inheriting a farm which she decides to run and she becomes quite the nature photographer as well. Miranda wants her farm for a photoshoot and goes out to visit and things take their natural course. Bear's writing is incredibly fluid and tinglingly evocative. Love the characterisation of Andy in this one. A Simchat Torah - immediate re-reader.

Break it Down With Joy by Winter156 https://archiveofourown.org/works/1394080

A drabble that is sheer perfection. A and M are friends, Andy has declared her love but Miranda has stated that they will never have a physical relationship, Andy stays anyway, suffering the pain of incompleteness, until that moment of decision. Excellently written, and soooo poignant.

By Heart by Chillyflame https://archiveofourown.org/works/2673044/chapters/5976851

Swooooooooooon, mushfest!! With lovely hot sexiness too. A H/C tale where Andy ends up with a broken leg on a ski weekend and Miranda cares for her in their cabin as they get snowed in for a couple of days and the heating fails heheh. But there is a fireplace and while 'keeping warm' one thing leads to another.

Basic Black by Beachbum https://archiveofourown.org/works/29045490

Brava BB, a lovely piece set post Paris. Nigel who has stayed friends with Andy decides to play matchmaker for the two women in his life. The description of Andy's suit was totally droolsome. And the love scene, wow, took my breath away. Loooooooooved the ending, god Miranda in nothing but a white dress shirt, but still so totally confident and in control of the situation. Yowsa!!

Disarming Athena by Politic X https://archiveofourown.org/works/11921940/chapters/26942895

Wonderful but sometimes distressing psychological exploration that occurs between Miranda and Andy. Many of the interactions take place in the elevator. Miranda appears to be torturing Andy with invitations and demands for her to touch her clothes but not her. Then she fires Andy and this behaviour continues as Andy works her notice.  Eventual happy ending.

Hidden Yet Bright by needled_ink https://archiveofourown.org/works/97340

Swoooooooooooooon, a beautiful and well written short of a developing friendship gently shifting into more but without strings. Loved the chartacterisations of both Andy and Miranda.

In Some Quite Casual Way by Winter156 https://archiveofourown.org/works/621060/chapters/1120824

Holy mother of mountains what a fic. From a request for a story that involved a character with wings. Miranda is a fallen angel of sorts and saves Andy when she falls out a skyscraper window. Declarations of love, and serious sweaty snugglebunnies followed by major storyline and escellent denouement. Gret writing, amazing story, just amazing.

Lost Treasures by Jazwriter  (Removed as it was published…both are AWESOME! FF is available in the FB Mirandy Group and in my deleted fic file.)

  Wow! Andy works as a sales clerk and then a Window dresser in  a small boutique. Her window designs cpature Miranda's attention and fascination. She takes Andy under her wing and mutual attraction sparks. Great little fic.

Objects and Space by Stormashke https://archiveofourown.org/works/15126698

Absolutely Stunning!!!!  Compellingly written with just the right meter and timing. Wonderful internal dialogue from Miranda's pov in an established relationship. She travels through the different rooms of the house noting the evidence of Andy's presence that still bug her…but also noting their indications of Andy's space in her heart and the twins heart and the things she will live with in that space of love.

Rebellious Lock & When Locks Get Locked by Quiethearted http://ralst.com/RebelliousLock.HTM

Ohh soooooooo funny!!!! Miranda's hair has a mind of it's own and it's concentrating on one particular brunette. This is comic writing at it's best. I'm still chuckling.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeee, sequel!  Woohoo, Miranda's hair has awakened an interest from Andy's hair and all is set for the clash of the tresses. Oh soooo wonderfully funny, I so hope this series continues, I want postcoital follicle frolics. Heheh

Sharp Relief by chillyflame https://archiveofourown.org/works/2672990/chapters/5976701

AMAZING fic!!!!! Wow Andy gets a call reporting that Miranda has died in a car crash on her way to her weekend cabin. She goes into shock and faces the fact of how much she loved her. She helps with the twins and stays at the townhouse until there is another call that send her and the girls out into the night chasing a hope agaisnt hope.  So amazing this.

The Lily and the Crown by Telanu (now published) https://archiveofourown.org/works/750438/chapters/1400746

Andren is the reclusive daughter of one of the Empires most capable Station Masters. Assistant - her new slave is the dread space Pirate Queen Mir. Seduction, debauchery, abandonment and redemption in this Space Swashbuckler.Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Gaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwdddddddddd!!!!!!!!!  Wow!!!! Fluids!!!!!!! This is just soooooooooooo wonderfully hot and romantic and hot and well good god I loved it. Okay, perhaps the Andren character was a little bit tooo clueless, but perhaps wonderfully evocative of another time. Still it was a great story and really interesting.

Unexpected Grace by Silverie https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9092005/1/Unexpected-Grace

Amazingly well written fic starting with amazing dream sequances of ancient days and a Goddess/priestess Miranda, perfectly mirrored in a waking world of events. Andy expands her life into music when she comes to own a beautiful guitar decorated with a dragon...linking to her desire for a certain dragon lady.  Lyrically written. Brilliant!!!!

A not exactly storybook romance by writetherest https://archiveofourown.org/works/923207/chapters/1793725

An AU where Andy is independently wealthy and owns a book store which Cassidy starts to visit daily as Andy befriends her. Eventually Miranda and she meet and after a bad decision it's a wonderfully sweet love story. Absolutely wonderful romance done here, adore the shier sweeter Andy.

Farsighted by emeraldorchids https://archiveofourown.org/works/6129537/chapters/14047437

Excellent mid length piece. All from Miranda's pov, chronicling how she and Andrea slip into a wonderful and easy friendship after Paris, that several months later morphs into more. What I love is the realness of Miranda in this fic as a full fledged human being all balance and counter balance with strengths and weaknesses.  And I enjoyed the reality check and stunned Miranda after Andy kisses her. As well as the gradual exploration afterward. The upshot with the page six comment picture in bed is a perfect ending.

Four Corners by Chillyflame https://archiveofourown.org/works/1039309/chapters/2073686

Truth be told, this is a ten star effort. I looooved it! A phenomonally wonderful piece, well written and amazingly characterised. All told from Cassidy's pov as she lives her parents divorce, the advent and demise of Stephen and the new and wonderful inclusion of Andy in her mother's and the twins lives.

Caught Between the Moon and New York City Series  by Punky_96 https://archiveofourown.org/series/1027544

Brilliant story of Miranda as a werewolf and pack leadercaptured by a secret research facility that captures and studies paranormal creatures where Andy works.  Grat adventure unfolds as they escape and Andy's true nature is discovered. Excellently written and intriguing backstory.

After Dark by LiteraryAssasin https://archiveofourown.org/works/20560673/chapters/48807857

A wonderfully characterised slow burn, friends to lovers fic. Well written and engaging of course, from an excellent bard. Andy grows a backbone in the best and most proactive way…almost swapping some of her softness for some of Miranda’s firmness so that they can both balance themselves and each other. I adored Miranda’s oh so careful way of helping Andy while trying also not to overwhelm her with that help.  A nifty little sub pairing of a mirrored couple is so seamlessly done it’s just amazing.  Also touches on an idea I’ve had for quite some time…may have to dust that one off.

If and When by Kamuraskan https://archiveofourown.org/works/12821418/chapters/29271045

WOOT!!! No greater love hath a Bard for another Bard than to make an offering in a completely unfamiliar fandom. (Thanks Gin.) Most wonderfully well written and amazing Disaster/survival fic. Andy uncovers a terrorist plot to blow up the EC building the night the VP is attending a party there. She isn't believed by Homeland security so she approaches the new CEO of EC...Miranda they manage to evacuate the building but are still on the 20th floor when the bombs go off....suspense, love and amazingness commence.

[girlactionfigure]

This is Michal Elon. Michal is a nurse who was visiting the IDF Zikim training base (next to Gaza) with her husband and 8 children for Simchat Torah. Michal and her husband often volunteer to spend shabbat on military bases, allowing IDF rabbis a break. On October 7th, Hamas invaded the base shooting at soldiers. Michal was able to help the wounded soldiers until a terrorist looked her in the eye and shot 3 bullets in her chest and arm. Although she has a long road to recovery, she is here standing fearless, hopeful, and strong. This is one of the many stories that show how resilient and strong this nation is.

[thoughtportal]

Before 1933, Germany was a center of LGBT+ community and culture, with several renowned organizations serving and supporting trans and gender non-conforming people. Hitler’s Nazi government, however, brutally targeted the trans community, deporting many trans people to concentration camps and wiping out vibrant community structures. As transgender people are now increasingly targets of discriminatory legislation and hate, join the Museum for a program exploring these stories and experiences prior to and during the Holocaust.

This panel conversation will feature Dr. Anna Hájková, Associate Professor of Modern European Continental History at the University of Warwick; Dr. Katie Sutton, Associate Professor of German and Gender Studies, School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics at Australian National University; and Dr. Bodie A. Ashton, a Postdoctoral Researcher and Lecturer at Universität Erfurt, with moderator Rabbi Marisa Elana James, Director of Social Justice Programming at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in New York.

[galaxy-manticore]

Genesis 4:8-12

And Cain spoke to Abel his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him.

And the Lord said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" And he said, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?"

And He said, "What have you done? Hark! Your brother's blood cries out to Me from the earth.

And now, you are cursed even more than the ground, which opened its mouth to take your brother's blood from your hand.

When you till the soil, it will not continue to give its strength to you; you shall be a wanderer and an exile in the land.”

———

As a Palestinian Jew, the ongoing genocide makes my heart ache with a pain unimaginable.

October 7th was Simchat Torah, which starts the Torah over with Bereshit. The story of Adam and Eve, and of Cain and Abel. I personally found a parallel between the Cain and Abel story and the Palestinian Genocide.

Along the top and side are traditional Palestinian embroidery patterns. In both Arabic and Hebrew the middle says “From the River to the Sea.”

[gaelic-symphony]

hi!! :)

i hope this isn't weird, but i love reading your posts about judaism to learn more from it. i don't follow any religion but i love getting to know them from people who do

and if you don't mind me asking, what are your favourite things about it? <3

i hope i have expressed myself well and you don't mind this 🫶🏼

I actually love this ask, and I'm so glad you sent it! There are so many things I love about Judaism, it would take me forever to come up with a list of them, but here are a few of my favorites:

I love our everyday rituals. I love keeping kosher and going to the kosher supermarket. I love that every time I eat or go grocery shopping, I'm affirming my connection to my people and my ancestors. I love that we have blessings for the most mundane human activities like washing our hands. I love ending every week with Shabbat. I love how it gives us a day to rest and reflect and be thankful before we start a new week, and I love having the weekly marker of Shabbat to track the passage of time. I love that you don't have to subscribe to any particular version of Jewish theology or believe that we do these things because Hashem commanded us in order to participate fully in these rituals. You can do them just because you find meaning in them. You can do them just because you're proud to be Jewish and follow the traditions of your ancestors.

I love our holidays. So many of them commemorate our survival against those who tried to wipe us out: Purim, Chanukah, Passover. Every year, we tell the story of our peoples' perseverance. We reflect on the strength and courage of generations of Jews before us that allowed our continued survival into the present day. Other holidays are seasonal markers of time. Tu B'Shvat is a little over a week away, and it's our "new year for trees," the time of year when the earliest trees start to bloom in the Land of Israel. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur mark the end of the old year and beginning of a new one, and give us the chance to leave our mistakes of the past year behind and learn from them moving forward as we start fresh with a brand new year. Sukkot is a traditional celebration of the annual harvest. And other holidays, we're just so happy to be Jewish that we need to throw a party about it! Shavuot celebrates the Israelites receiving the Torah from Hashem at Mount Sinai, and then we celebrate the Torah again on Simchat Torah, when we read the very last verses of the book of Dvarim and start all over again with Bereshit.

I love our music. Our daily prayers are set to music, with special nusach (melodies) for Shabbat and holidays. When we read from the Torah or the books of the prophets, we chant the words to the same melodies our ancestors have done for centuries. We sing as a way to connect with each other and with Hashem. We sing the psalms of King David, and we sing wordless melodies we call niggunim. We've developed our own styles of secular, non-liturgical music and dance: klezmer and canciones, the horah and the Yemenite step, and many, many more!

I love our scholarship. Our scholarly tradition is one of questioning and arguing, neither of which are viewed negatively in Jewish tradition! We love to ask ourselves "what if" and "why," and the point isn't so much finding a singular answer as it is the process of engaging with the text. Does it really matter as a real-world issue whether there are any Pokemon that would be kosher to eat? Of course not! But that's exactly the type of thing we love to argue over, and if the ancient rabbinic sages like Hillel and Akiva and Rashi and Maimonides were alive today, I guarantee you they would have opinions on the matter.

I love our joy. There is so much joy that comes with being Jewish, a joy we feel just for being alive against all odds. Most of our prayers are not asking Hashem for the things we want, but thanking Hashem for the things we have. We have a brachah we say specifically to thank Hashem for the opportunity to fix what is broken in this world. Our history has rarely been a happy one, but we have always found reasons to rejoice. We danced and sang and celebrated our holidays and life events even in the Warsaw Ghetto. This past December, during one of the saddest, heaviest, and scariest times for our people since the Shoah, Jews all over the world celebrated Chanukah like we always do. In the midst of our mourning, we found joy. Literally and figuratively, we came together as a tribe to create light in the darkness.

[nyx-82194]

I grew up learning Hebrew prayers

Yet I have no loyalty to Isr@el

I was raised on holidays like Hanukkah and Simchat Torah

Yet I have no loyalty to Isr@el

I was given a Bat Mitvah

Yet Isr@el means nothing to me

I have read from the Torah and helped lead Saturday morning Services

Yet Isr@el disgusts me

I was raised on stories of the Holocaust and taught to treat people with dignity

Yet Isr@el is doing exactly what rabbis have taught me to avoid

I was raised on Messianic Judaism, and this is by all definitions: cruelty and hypocrisy at its finest

This is Genocide

This has to stop

Palestine will be free

🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

[now-that-i-saw-you]

ranking Jewish holidays/important days (with explanations)

Passover

matzah with chocolate <3 I love the Haggadah. AND THE SONGS Echad Mi Yodea is quite literally the best song ever. Plus I used to get a two weeks vacation from school during Passover.

Hanukkah

SUFGANYOT and singing :D my birthday usually falls on Hanukkah

Shavuot

C H E E S E and wearing white

Purim

Great story! my family usually dress up together (last year we did Snow White and the Seven Dwarves). I stopped wearing costumes outside the family events, but seeing other people's costumes is still nice. Making Misolach manot for school was so fun.

Rosh Hashanah

Apples with honey and pomegranates!! Celebrating the beginning of a new year so that feels symbolic and nice and sentimental.

Lag B'omer

I only like this because my friend and I used to meet every year at my place and make cholcate fondue.

Sukkot

We don't really celebrate this anymore but I have fond childhood memories from this holiday.

Tu B'shevat

T R E E S

Yom Kippur

I hate being told not to eat and I apologise for nothing...but I like that my siblings are home and I like watching them play board games. Plus it's so quiet.

Simchat Torah

I just remember wearing white for elementary school and it felt like An Event.

Tu B'av

I don't have a partner to celebrate this with.

[ruminativerabbi]

Colonialism

As we face the end of the year with the IDF still conducting its campaign in Gaza, with so many hostages still not released, and with the support of the world waning by the minute, we could all use a bit of shoring up. I am speaking of myself as well, by the way: despite my abiding confidence in the innate tolerance of Americans, I continue to feel shaken by the ferocity of the anti-Zionism, anti-Israelism, and anti-Semitism that seems to have arisen almost from nowhere in the wake of Israel’s response to the Simchat Torah massacre.

This week, I would like to address a specific aspect of that ferocity, the accusation—by now almost a commonplace among the haters—that Israel is nothing but a last-gasp outpost of colonialism. And, as a result, that the Jews of Israel have the same right to Palestine that the Belgians had to the Congo, the Dutch to Indonesia, the French to Algeria, the British to India, and the Germans to Namibia: none at all. (It is interesting how few of those who regularly tar Israel with that brush feel the same way about Australia or Canada, not to mention our own nation, which actually were founded by overt colonialists who saw nothing at all wrong with moving onto other people’s turf and declaring their independence in that place. About that paradox, I will write on another occasion.)

Colonialism, sometimes called imperialism, surely was one of the most pernicious avenues of political theorizing ever devised to justify the conquest of other people’s countries and the addition of those conquered lands to the conquerors’ self-proclaimed empire. And this is so much the case that, at least for most of us, even the rationale behind the concept seems impossible to grasp. It is true that decades of mini-trade-wars between Dutch, British, and Portuguese set the stage for the eventual absorption of India into the British Empire, but the larger picture is the one that survives of a rapacious Empire ignoring the fact that it had no conceivable right to a country thousands of miles away from Britain with which it had no history of enmity, let alone of overt hostility or warfare, and unilaterally making that place part of its Empire, and then using the full force of its own Armed Forces to stifle dissent and to prevent any serious movement on the part of the people whose country it actually was towards self-rule. This was the story of the British in India, but it was also the story of many other nations struggling to annex the maximum number of overseas territories without regard for the wishes of the people who actually lived there.

I have to assume that most colonialists were motivated by pure greed. But there were others who were motivated not by rank acquisitiveness or covetousness, but by the supremely arrogant assumption that they were actually doing the native people’s whose nations they occupied a huge favor by exposing them to Western ways and beliefs. The prize for the most grotesque expression of that idea, even after all these years, has to go to Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936), whose famous poem, “The White Man’s Burden,” depicted colonialism not as venal or brutal, but as virtuous. “Take up the White Man’s burden,” he wrote to his fellow Brits. “Send forth the best ye breed. / Go bind your sons to exile / to serve your captives’ need: / To wait in heavy harness / On fluttered folk and wild / Your new-caught sullen peoples, / Half devil and half child.” It’s really hard to know what to say to that! (The poem goes on at length along similar lines. To read the full poem, click here.)

But what could any of this have to do with Israel?

The history of Israel is recorded in the historical books of the Bible and confirmed by archelogy: there have been Jewish people, or the ancestors of what we reference as the Jewish people, in the Land of Israel since the beginning of the 2nd millennium BCE and there has never been a day since then that there was not a Jewish presence in the land. That’s about 3000 years of continued residence in the land and that is at the core of the Jewish claim to consider Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people. The nations they replaced have long since vanished: there are no surviving Girgashites or Kenites to negotiate with. But where did the Arabs come from?

As the seventh century dawned, the world’s two great super-powers, Byzantium and Persia, were at war. Things were calm in the Holy Land for a while, but then, in 613, the local Jews joined with the Persians in their ongoing campaign against the Byzantines. In 614, the Persians, now fighting alongside about 20,000 Jewish supporters, captured Jerusalem. It was a bloody war. According to some ancient historians, the siege of Jerusalem resulted in the deaths of about 17,000 civilians. Another 4500 or so, taken first as prisoners of war, were eventually murdered by the Persians at the Mamilla Pool, then a man-made lake just outside Jerusalem and today the site of a very popular upscale shopping mall. Another 35,000 or so were exiled to Persia.

But the tide eventually turned. By 617, the Persians determined that their best interests lay in making peace with the Byzantines even if it meant betraying their Jewish allies. And that is just what they did. In 628, the shah of Iran, King Kavad II, made peace with his Byzantine counterpart, a man named Heraclius. The Jews surrendered and asked for the emperor’s protection, which was granted. That lasted about twelve minutes, however: before the ink on the treaty was dry, a massacre of the Jews ensued throughout the land and Jewish residency in Jerusalem was formally forbidden.

And now we get to the relevant part. Just ten years later, in 648, the Byzantine Empire was invaded again, this time by the Islamic State that had grown up after Mohammed’s death in 632. The Byzantines retreated, the Muslims took over, and Israel was then ruled by Muslim Arab colonialists until the Crusaders arrived a cool four and a half centuries later in 1099. Nor is “colonialist” a vague term here. In fact, it is the precisely accurate one: a powerful nation wrests land from a neighboring nation that it bests on the battlefield, then annexes that land to itself with reference neither to the history of the place nor to the wishes of its citizens.

At first, life under Arab occupation wasn’t that bad. Historians estimate that there were between 300,000 and 400,000 Jewish residents in Israel in those days. Umar, the second caliph of the Rashidun caliphate, even eventually permitted Jews to return to Jerusalem. The famous Pact of Umar promised Jewish families security and safety, but also classified Jews as dhimmis, i.e., as non-Muslims whose presence in Islamic lands was begrudgingly to be tolerated as long as they accepted their second-class status and agreed to pay a special tax, called the jizya, that was levied against non-Muslims. Things were not great, but tolerable. But tolerable didn’t last, particularly after the Arabs built the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in 691 and the Al-Aksa Mosque in 705. By 720, Jews were banned from the mount, the holiest site in all of Judaism and things just continued to deteriorate from there. (To read more about the Pact of Umar, click here.)

And so did the Arabs come to Byzantine Palestine, a land that had been the Jewish homeland even then for one and a half millennia. But although Muslim rule eventually gave way to a long series of foreign overlords who seized the land and ruled over it for as long as they were able, the Muslims who came along with the armies of occupation remained in place. And so were set in place the ancestors of today’s Palestinian Arabs.

Working all that data yields the semi-astounding result that, in the almost two thousand years from the time the Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem in biblical times until the Crusaders were finally defeated once and for all by the Mamluks (yet a different version of Arab invader), the Jews were able to restore Jewish sovereignty to the Land of Israel and rule over themselves for precisely one single century, the one stretched out between the Maccabean victory over King Antiochus in 164 B.C.E. and Romans’ successful invasion of the land a century and a year later in 63 B.C.E.  That’s a lot of years of occupation by a wide range of occupiers.

To refer to today’s Palestinians as imperialist colonizers because their ancestors came to the land as part of an army of occupation thirteen centuries ago—that seems exaggerated: thirteen hundred years is a long time! But to refer to the Jews of Israel, whose ancestors have been present in that place not for centuries but for millennia—that seems even wackier and far less reasonable. I suppose some of Israel’s enemies must be sincere in their sense of Israel as a force of occupation, as a last-gasp vestige of European colonialism. But leaving aside the detail that most Israelis are not of European origin, the notion itself is simply incorrect. The Land of Israel has been the homeland of the Jewish people from time immemorial. To argue to the contrary is to ignore history. And ignoring history is never good policy, not for our own nation and not for anybody. Arabs have lived in Israel for more than a millennium. But to use that fact to deny the reasonableness of there being a Jewish state in the Land of Israel is simply an abuse of history.

[thosefaroffconstellations]

Op is absolutely correct

Here’s my own personal experience with this stuff: after October 7th/simchat Torah 5784 i started following almost every Jewish creator i found. And quite frankly it was awful.

It was probably the worst echo chamber I’ve ever experienced in my life, every single day every ���jinsta/jumblr etc influencer” would repost the “antisemite of the day.” Everyday another negative person or story to talk about, things just felt hopeless. I didn’t want to see anything to do with Judaism online anymore because whenever i did it would just be centered aroundJewish hate.

Around June i decided i had enough and did a giant purge of my following list everywhere, leaving only some religious Jews or the rare Jewish education accounts that i deemed accurate enough. And the difference was like night and day. I realized that what made such a big difference between who i was following now was that the religious Jews i followed all had their Jewish communities where they could talk about issues and so it was rare for anyone to post about negative topics in comparison to joyful ones. While the education accounts i followed focused more on religious topics than political ones. All leading to a much more peaceful experience online.

Some other cool differences i noticed

- people were more okay with disagreeing with each other, and disagreements never ended in fights

- whenever antisemitic events did happen the focus fell more on helping the victims than talking about the antisemite

- simchas we’re talked about more than bad events

- a stronger sense of community and unity.

When you have a Jewish community in person that you can rely on to help you and support you in any way you need, you dont feel a need to draw support from negativity. Instead, you are elevated by sharing Jewish joy.

I cannot stress enough how being on Jumblr is like this XKCD comic (2071)

Everyone is constantly posting the vilest things that antisemites say, or rebuttals to the most insane things that anyone could possibly think about Jews or Judaism. ...Meanwhile I'm over here content with my observant Jewish life until opening the psychic bomb of this website. You guys should really try getting a Jewish community in person. I promise that all of this nonsense I'm constantly seeing on Jumblr will no longer even cross your mind once you do.

Other observant Jews, affirm that I am correct about this!

[yhwhrulz]

Worthy Brief - October 26, 2023

Watch….and pray, because you love!

Ephesians 6:18 praying at ALL times in the Spirit, with ALL prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with ALL perseverance, making supplication for ALL the saints,

Worthy News covered a story about the impact of prayer in the lives of the everyday American. As I read through the poll, I was shocked at how little Americans pray. In these days, prayer simply must become an essential in our daily walk. Pondering this, I realized I’ve never done an in-depth series on prayer, its importance, and how to be an effective prayer warrior. This will be the first in a series of devotions discussing this important subject — prayer and intercession.

This verse in Ephesians 6 is part of Paul's most articulate exposition on spiritual warfare, the passage in which he describes the enemies arrayed against us, and the spiritual armor we must wear for the battle. Once our armor is on, prayer takes center stage in his battle strategy. And notice Paul's usage: ALL times, with ALL prayer, with ALL PERSEVERANCE, for ALL saints. Could he have been more urgent or comprehensive in his counsel toward equipping us? Prayer seems to be the single most critical element in spiritual warfare.

Yet it appears that prayer is one of the most neglected disciplines in the body of Messiah. Visit the next prayer meeting at your congregation, if there is one, and calculate the percentage of those present. We don't have the time…or, we don't make the time…or the meeting is at the wrong time…or, it's actually kind of boring … What's really going on here?

To begin with, we're not aware, we're not watching. Often in scripture, prayer is immediately connected to watchfulness; [Mat. 26:41; Mar. 13:33; Mar. 14:38; Luk. 21:36]. Paul also stressed this. "Keep alert", he says. If prayer is neglected, one primary cause is our failure to WATCH, to be alert. We are numb, preoccupied, lazy, overwhelmed, distracted, or drunk on whatever; anything but watchful like Gideon's 300 men. But prayer is a natural sequel to watchfulness. When we're aware of what's really happening, we almost naturally feel the urgency to respond to it.

But, if we are going to get serious about prayer, it will be because we are mobilized to watch, and by watching, to care, and by caring to respond. Prayer is motivated by deep concern. Check this in your own life. When were your prayers most fervent and persevering? What were you so deeply concerned about? Prayer is really about love, isn't it. Pray because you watch; watch because you care; prayer is an act of love.

Your family in the Lord with much agape love,

George, Baht Rivka, Obadiah and Elianna (Dallas, TX) (Baltimore, Maryland)

Editor's Note: If you're interested in supporting Israel, Worthy Ministries has established a dedicated Israel Fund. Click here for more information. - https://worthyministries.com/israel/

Editor's Note: Watch George's latest messages: Simchat Torah War - Part 5: Answering Reader Questions - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7Lh79XkGLk&feature=youtu.be | Simchat Torah War Part 4: Is this the Psalm 83 war? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf4pSHZfY0U&feature=youtu.be| The Simchat Torah War -- Part 3: How will you pass the Israel test? -https://worthy.tv/the-simchat-torah-war-part-3-how-will-you-pass-the-israel-test/ | The Simchat Torah War -- Part 2 - https://worthy.tv/the-simchat-torah-war-part-2/ - https://worthy.tv/the-simchat-torah-war-is-this-a-water-breaking-moment/ | The Simchat Torah War … is this a water breaking moment? | The Kingdom, Marriage, and the Feasts of the Lord - https://worthy.tv/the-kingdom-marriage-and-the-feasts-of-the-lord/

Editor's Note: During this war, we have been live blogging throughout the day -- sometimes minute by minute on our Telegram channel. - https://t.me/worthywatch/ Be sure to check it out!

Editor's Note: We are planning our Winter Tour so if you would like us to minister at your congregation, home fellowship, or Israel focused event, be sure to let us know ASAP. You can send an email to george [ @ ] worthyministries.com for more information.

[girlactionfigure]

Dastardly David, Gentleman Goliath and the Underdog Syndrome

It’s natural to cheer on the underdog – after all, who can’t help but encourage the plucky young bloke taking on a vastly more experienced and far bigger pugilist in the ring, only to win through sheer determined effort and some clever moves, whilst he leaps nimbly from foot to foot?

The classical underdog story is David and Goliath; the former, a fresh-faced youngster with nothing but a slingshot, standing up to the barbarian behemoth Goliath covered in armour and wielding a giant sword. The irony is that David is a young Jew and Goliath an older Philistine, and today we have the positions reversed with David being the poor, battered Philistine standing up to the incredibly powerful Israeli Goliath.

Naturally, the uninformed will want to root for David since all he has to counter Goliath’s weapons are some AK47 rifles, a few machine guns and some harmless rockets. Goliath, on the other hand, has a fearsome array of weapons, including laser-guided 2,000lbs bombs, tanks, drones, F-35 aircraft and that’s just for breakfast. The brave Philistine fighters are putting up a valiant fight against their arch-nemesis and oppressor, who despite his incredibly overwhelming and ferocious weapons has apparently failed to beat him to the ground.

Let’s drop the metaphor, since we are basically past it at this juncture. All the supporters of the Gazans would have you believe is that Israel is wantonly slashing and burning its way through Gaza, killing everything in sight and razing every building it sees to the ground. Ever since the grotesque, libelous letter was published by the Lancet (https://x.com/daniepstein_com/status/1810322594215628816), the civilian death toll has sky-rocketed from the original and already ludicrous figure of 37,000 (debunked here: https://x.com/daniepstein_com/status/1808866740727578891) to a stratospheric 186,000.

Is Israel a hulking, destructive and mass-murdering Goliath? Are Hamas and ordinary Gazans embroiled in active fighting a fresh-faced David? Let’s see.

On the 6th of October 2023, there was still a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. No-one seriously expected a direct attack on Israeli soil; hence people went about celebrating Shabbat and Simchat Torah as usual, and a peace music festival was held in a field less than 2km from the Gaza border. When the attack commenced, the police, army and other forces had a hard time believing it was actually happening.

By the time the full extent of the horror was understood, 1,200 lives had been in lost in a brutal spree of pillaging, raping, murdering, torturing and hostage-taking. Israel and World Jewry was in shock. Not since the mind-numbing inhumanity of the Holocaust had Jews experienced such a horrific episode. The carnage, the delight terrorist took in their appalling, revolting attack was simply incomprehensible.

Needless to say that accompanying the shock and grief was a seething rage. Despite having given Gazan’s autonomy in 2005 at the ignominious expense of over 10,000 Jews, all that the so-called Palestinians (https://x.com/daniepstein_com/status/1811151386425577479) had repaid in gratitude was death, destruction and violence. This was the final straw.

At this juncture, Israel had a casus belli of epic proportions. They could have quite rightly razed Gaza to the ground in their attempts to retrieve their hostages and wipe Hamas off the face of the earth. Moreso, GoPro videos that Hamas themselves published online showed Gazans in civilian clothing participating in the massacre. Whilst this did not make all the Gazan civilians complicit, it certainly broadened the scope of culpability. After all, now they were seeking much more than simply the estimated 45,000 Hamas terrorists; now they were after thousands of Gazans who either participated directly in the slaughter, took civilians hostage or dragged their bodies through the streets.

It's worth considering what the IDF brings to the table in terms of military capability. The air force alone consists of over 300 aircraft gen-4 and gen-5 fighters, equipped with Israeli-developed avionics and sensors unique to the IDF, capable of launching sophisticated missiles and guided gravity munitions. They have hundreds of tanks and artillery pieces, 169,000 active personnel and a reserve army of roughly 465,000. The Israeli Navy has a slew of sophisticated surface and submarine vessels capable of firing shells and launching missiles from great distances. Given the will on the part of the Israelis, Gaza could have been flattened into rubble in a matter of a couple of hours; by the time the world would have commenced protesting, the strip would have been a smoking ruin, its citizens bombed to kingdom come.

Yet this did not happen. Much everyone’s surprise, the Israeli government sat on its haunches for three weeks. Some small operations were carried out almost immediately, but the full ground invasion took three weeks to mobilise. During that process, the IDF formulated a plan that would require the mass movement of citizens in the strip, and in order to execute this plan they undertook heretofore unheard-of steps to prevent as many civilians dying as possible, employing leaflet drops, robocalls, text messages and direct calls by specially trained IDF members. Israel has formidable electronic capabilities that according to John Spencer, Chair of Urban War Studies at the MWI, West Point, no other army has. They employed all of these in their efforts to prevent a slaughter.

As the war drew on, the IDF realised that Hamas were using the IDF’s strengths and morality against them, ensuring higher casualties than were predicted. For example, Hamas prevented their own citizens from following evacuation orders in order to use them as human shields (https://reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-tells-gaza-residents-stay-home-israel-ground-offensive-looms-2023-10-13/); when people were evacuating Hamas shot at them. When the IDF attempted to shield the evacuees, Hamas attacked the soldiers protecting the civilians. Hamas even faked IDF leaflets telling citizens that evacuation corridors were only for emergencies. When it comes to distributing aid, Hamas are not below hijacking the lorries and preventing their own people from accessing food, hygiene supplies and other basic requisites. People who protested that Hamas had gone too far should surrender were beaten or shot. There is nothing new about this; when Hamas took over the Gaza strip in 2007 they engaged in fratricide at an appalling level (https://theguardian.com/world/2007/jun/15/israel4), and they have consistently used their own citizens as human shields (https://stratcomcoe.org/cuploads/pfiles/hamas_human_shields.pdf).

In order to counter these tactical abuses of civilians, the IDF developed new strategies, employing sophisticated electronics to scan known Hamas phones, using long range ID systems and filtering civilians for terrorists using human intelligence.

Hamas in the meanwhile were abusing every possible law they could; aside from holding civilian hostages captive (including babies) as bargaining chips, they fought the IDF in civilian clothing from inside civilian structures. The Gaza Metro – a network of over 600km of tunnels – allowed them to pop out almost anywhere, from under houses, mosques, hospitals and schools, run into a building and break out the weapons cached there. They would manoeuvre into position, take some shots and then drop their weapons to join the civilians in the area. Almost every building the IDF has entered has contained weapons; even protected status buildings such as hospital, schools and mosques are riddled with armaments and explosives (https://cbsnews.com/news/israel-photos-hamas-gaza-weapons-un-facilities-including-schools/ https://youtube.com/watch?v=7gLABy9s8Zc https://thecipherbrief.com/a-look-inside-hamass-weapons-arsenal). Hamas are not beyond using captures Israeli uniforms to disguise themselves as IDF soldiers, allowing them to manoeuvre in the open. They cynically baited the IDF into believing a WCK convoy was a Hamas one by firing off guns from on top of the vehicles (https://breitbart.com/middle-east/2024/04/06/report-hamas-may-have-baited-idf-into-striking-wck-convoy-in-error/). If there is a humanitarian or warfare law or custom that Hamas has not broken, it is because it is so obscure that practically no-one has heard of it.

All of this has slowed down the progress of the IDF. Instead of taking days, the war to date has been dragged out for almost nine months at the time of writing. Whilst the death toll of Gazans has been enormously exaggerated (https://x.com/daniepstein_com/status/1808866740727578891), the destruction has been widespread. At least 16% of Gaza lies in ruins. Whatever economy they had prior to the 7th has essentially evaporated. It will be a decade at least before they have a chance to enjoy self-rule, and since Israel will certainly not rebuild Gaza and perhaps claim reparations as well, the reconstruction will progress at snail’s pace.

This does beg the question: what did Hamas have in mind when they attacked Israel on the 7thin such a brutal, barbarian and animalistic fashion? Did they not expect a response of these proportions?

To answer this, some background of the situation must be fleshed out. On the 6th, Israel was a terribly divided country, across political and religious lines. Proposed changes to the judiciary led to mass protests, and Yom Kippur prayers in the centre of Tel Aviv were disturbed by a small rabble. The country was deeply mired in conflict, and even a group of soldiers refusing to serve in protest, which came as a shock to a country whose army is almost sacrosanct.

Hamas and probably the IRGC as well saw this as a serious opportunity to hit Israel hard, expecting an overwhelming attack to weaken Israel’s morale sufficiently to perhaps mount several more such incursions. In the past, Israel’s response to Hamas terror ranged from weak to lukewarm. Operation Cast Lead (2008–2009) ended after three weeks with a mutual ceasefire; the conflict resulted in roughly 1,400 Palestinian and 13 Israeli deaths. Some 46,000 homes were destroyed, making more than 100,000 people homeless. Operation Protective Edge 2014 lasted for seven weeks with 2,000 Gazan deaths and a total of six Israeli civilians who were killed as a result of the conflict. Neither operations resulted in a decisive victory.

What is clear is that Hamas never expected such wide-spread devastation. Instead, they probably forecast another short war with Israel in disarray. Hamas would mount several incursions, capture as many hostages as they could during the operations and then withdraw to negotiate for thousands of prisoners in Israeli jails to be freed. They would be able to flee to their tunnels at any time, making the process of hunting them down almost impossible.

This plan backfired horribly for Hamas. From the very first moment, they broke every rule of armed conflict. The bestiality and brutality of the attack achieved the exact opposite of what they expected. Not only did it shake Israel out of its torpor, but it also united the country and world Jewry in a way they had never been united previously.

Within a matter of days, reservists responded with a 140% turnout; commanders were frustrated at the lack of readily available equipment for their soldiers since no-one predicted such a response. As of 9th April 2024, donations from the Diaspora raised $1.4 billion (https://timesofisrael.com/donations-to-israel-since-october-7-topped-1-4-billion-government-reports/) and Israel Bonds sales raised a further $1.7 billion.

Israel now swore to do what they had never done before: utterly destroy Hamas. However, they made it clear that this was not going to be revenge, it was going to be justice.

Where Hamas broke every possible rule and acted like rabid barbarians, Israel took every possible step to reduce collateral damage and the expected carnage. Where Hamas simply raped, butchered and pillaged, Israel kept the IDF on a tight leash. Soldiers had very strict rules of engagement and monumental efforts were undertaken to keep civilian life functioning as well as possible under war conditions. As John Spencer writes (https://x.com/SpencerGuard/status/1812183672734589372): “Israel has gone above and beyond what is traditionally required of armies. In Gaza, they faced 40,000 enemy defenders in dense urban terrain featuring some 400 miles of deep buried military tunnels a depth of 15 to over 200 feet deep purposely built under civilian and protected sites. The defenders were equipped with over 15,000 rockets and a full array of small arms, mortars, and improvised explosive devices. The enemy had defenses that took at least fifteen years to prepare and fortify. Hamas held over 200 hostages, disguised themselves as civilians, and used ordinary Gazans as human shields to manipulate external actors, especially the United States, to stop Israel from escalating and instead to push for a ceasefire. Largely because of Egypt, there was almost no possibility for the 2.2. million civilians in Gaza to completely flee the war zone by land.”

Ultimately, Israel at war is the consummate gentleman; moral, considerate and firm in its mission to protect its people. Hamas, conversely, are the very embodiment of evil, with a callous disregard for its own people and cynically abusing the laws and customs of war for their own nefarious gains. Hamas is no fresh-faced David with his little slingshot. Hamas is a wildly immoral and bestial death cult with absolutely no regard for the very people that elected them.

Despite all this, the world does not see Hamas in its true light. Gazans are painted as innocent victims who are suffering under the brutality of the Israeli war machine. The appalling crimes against humanity that Hamas committed are either brushed under the carpet or denied outright, despite the copious evidence supplied by Hamas themselves. The incredible efforts of the IDF to prevent civilian casualties, and the unspeakable attacks Israel suffered are not simply ignored but distorted all out of recognition.

Why is this? How is it that the picture has been so successfully reversed?

Behind all of the various theories that might explain this is the IRGC and other bad actors, as discussed in this post: https://x.com/daniepstein_com/status/1807676708734042189.

What allows these machinations to succeed is partially due to the nature of people wanting to cheer on the underdog. This is the cognitive dissonance of beer glasses – the mind only shows you what you want to see, not what you actually observe. It is also the fact that Jew-hatred has festered at every level since the very founding of Jewry, and this war has allowed Jew-haters across the globe to sanitise their anti-Semitism through the filter of anti-Zionism, which they then vomit onto their sheeple audiences through the medium of social media. The confluence of these impulses results in a narrative that paints the victim as the oppressor, and elevates raping, murdering, butchering and hostage-taking barbarian troglodytes to near-sainthood.

This is not a David and Goliath conflict. This is a conflict of barbarianism versus civilisation.

And it’s coming to the West.

[expansions888]

The Truth Of Gaza And Others by Stewart Swerdlow

The Truth Of Gaza And Others by Stewart Swerdlow

In the last 48 hours, a horrendous attack on Israel began coming from Gaza, on a day of celebration in Israel and around the world of Simchat Torah. That name means, Torah Happiness. It is the day of the year when Jews complete the annual cycle of Torah stories and begin a new cycle.

It was also just about 50 years to the day, when the forces of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan unleashed a surprise attack on Israel on the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur. That was in 1973.

Despite all the army being in temple praying that day, they rallied to arms and ultimately were on the doorsteps of Cairo and Amman. The US government begged Israel to stop so as not to embarrass Egypt. Golda Meir acquiesced, and then a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt and Jordan ensued...read more here

Not a member sign up here https://www.expansions.com/product-category/membership/

#israel #gaza #truth #war #IsraelPalestineConflict #swerdlow

[ruminativerabbi]

The Simchat Torah War - One Week In

I was a college senior in 1973 when the Yom Kippur War broke out and I can remember all too well the shock and dismay that permeated not only the big Jewish world out there but also my own synagogue community and my own circle of family and friends as the first terrible days of the war unfolded on our television screens. But as the tide turned quickly and it became increasingly clear that Israel would yet again vanquish its enemies, that dread lifted and was replaced—and replaced easily—by my customary confidence in the future, by my faith in God’s watchful and protective guardianship of the people Israel, and by my certainty that, in the end, good always wins out over evil. If I had been temporarily uncertain, my trust in the future snapped back into place almost instantly.

I was busy preparing myself that fall for the entry exams you had to pass back in the day to be admitted to rabbinical school at JTS. And my studies in the course of the  rest of the year only appeared to support that trust that sprung up so automatically for me once the tide turned and Israel’s victory seemed certain. Indeed, the more I read to prepare for my exams, the more certain I became that the course of the war had merely mirrored the larger course of Jewish history. Yes, we’ve known nights of unimaginable sadness. But then dawn breaks and the sky is filled again with light. The tide ebbs, but soon flows back. A remnant always survives, always returns, always re-asserts its right to chart the destiny of the Jewish people into the subsequent generation. My father’s joke about the difference between a Jewish optimist and a Jewish pessimist—the Jewish pessimist says, “Oy, things couldn’t get any worse,” to which the Jewish optimist responds, “Of course, they can. And will!”—seemed funny to me precisely because it so little mirrored how I perceived things really to be. The arc of Jewish history, I felt certain, always bends towards survival.

I have begun this letter a dozen different times. My original plan was to recount my memories of the Yom Kippur War in even more detail and then to assure you all that just as our enemies were vanquished then, so will they also be beaten now. I know everybody wants to hear that. And mostly I do write today to tell you all that—and not because it’s my personal job to cheer people up, but because that conviction regarding the inviolate destiny of Israel is too much a part of who I am to dissolve in even seriously bad news. I am, as always, a man of faith devoted both professionally and emotionally to the cultivation in others of the confidence in the destiny of the Jewish people that is so foundational to my own worldview and so much a part of who I am.

But this has been beyond challenging for me, this whole detour into hell that we have all been experiencing over this last week. I suppose part of that has to do with the degree to which the terrorists have somehow turned in my mind from merely violent thugs motivated by raged-based frustration into latter-day Nazis. And, indeed, the images and stories that have come out from the events of this last week would earlier on have been familiar to me only as the stuff of Shoah memoirs. But these stories, all verified and clearly true, are not made-up or embellished. And the first-hand accounts I’ve read—that we’ve all read—of young women being raped, of old people being dragged from their homes and killed, of babies being slaughtered, of young people at a desert concert being shot by the hundreds at point-blank range—these cannot be decried as mere crimes or acts of brutality. Nor do I see a way to explain any of this even as extreme political activism. After the events of last weekend, the enemy has surely lost all pretense merely to be acting forcefully to improve the lots of Gazans as the soldiers of Hamas takes their place in the history of the world as true monsters who have done their worst to destroy the Jewish people. Yes, I am more than aware that the Nazis were eventually vanquished, that they lost the war, that at least some Jewish people did end up surviving in every single country the Nazis occupied. I know all that. And yet I feel myself seized by a sense of dread that I am not quite sure how to justify or even explain.

Yes, the support that Israel has received—and especially from some unexpected quarters (including especially in Europe)—has been heartening. Even the New York Times managed to publish an editorial that was far more supportive of Israel than that newspaper has been in a very long time. President Biden’s and Secretary of State Blinken’s unequivocal statements of support meant a lot to me, as I’m sure it also did to all of you. (On the other hand, underlying all that heartening rhetoric is the certainty that, in the end, no amount of supportive rhetoric will mean anything if it is not accompanied by an equally solid commitment to deny Iran entry into the nuclear club.) Still, both the President and the Secretary of State did say the right thing and I have to give them credit for that. So did a lot of people—say the right thing in the course of this last week, I mean—but the real test, of course, will be to see if those lovely words are followed by action or not.

So that’s where I’ve been for most of this last week: buoyed by confidence and seized with dread, riven and subdivided like an actor impossibly hired to play two different roles on the same stage at the same time. (There’s a reason they don’t save money on Broadway by doing that: because it can’t actually be done.) But, in the end, I have to let what I know about Jewish history guide me forward.

I wish I could promise you all that this will somehow end well. I actually do think that, of course. But I also know that the journey from here to there is going to be long, painful, and beyond arduous. Our friends and family in Israel are mostly too old even for reserve duty, but their children and grandchildren—other than the ones who are actually in the middle of their military service—have more or less all been called up. I’ve been speaking to friends and family all week, and the message I’ve heard over and over has been more or less the same one: yihyeh tov, things will work out…but the journey from here to there is going to be grueling and challenging. And so, in the end, that is my message for all of you as well. Yihyeh tov.  This will end with a total defeat of Hamas, with the annihilation of its stores of menacing weaponry, with the restoration of Gaza to the actual people who live there and many of whom (click here) would be thrilled to live in peace with Israel and to prosper and thrive as their neighbors’ neighbors. The Saudis will eventually joint the Abraham Accords. The Palestinians will eventually realize that they can have their own state as soon as they are signal their right to nationhood by signaling their readiness make peace with making peace with the people next door. Hamas will join the Crusaders and the Cossacks and the Nazis in the dustbin of history. And the same God who makes peace on high will bless the world with peace as well.

And our job, as ever, is to remain staunch and steadfast in our support for the State of Israel. I can’t stress enough how important it is to write to the President and the people who represent us in Congress in support of Israel.  (Click here for guidance.) We need to give as much as we can manage to the charities that support the soldiers of the IDF and the civilian population of Israel. Most of all, we need to find the courage to reconstitute our riven selves into single-minded individuals possessed of faith in the future and confidence in the IDF. As I wrote above, I feel that riven-ness too, that uncertainty, that ill ease that we’re all feeling. But I plan to devote myself in these coming days and weeks to shucking it off, to re-integrating what I believe and what I know and what I hope to create the fully confident Jewish soul that I know myself capable of becoming, the one that is reflective of the truest me there is. The task in front of us all is a daunting one. I myself am on that journey as well. But if we travel together, we’ll at least have each other for company. And we’ll surely reach our destination with our faith and our trust intact.