#felt like my prayer has been granted as fast as a lightning

[raamitsu]

SIU-nim is taking a break, it seems again.

[sonicringbond]

Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey: Scene 35

Welcome to the second half of the series’ first 2-parter. A shame I don’t really have anything very witty to open with for this one. Perhaps it’s because I find it a pretty light scene🤔 Regardless, I’ll let you decide for yourself after you read...

    Draw was a talented child all things considered. Though a child far from adulthood, he lived his life as a golem hunter and was generally successful. With the speed granted to him by Mote, it was likely he could best any number of golems and easily live a life dedicated to his occupation. However, his reliance on bow and arrow meant he was limited in how much damage he could do to a large number of golems in a short amount of time. If he were by himself this would be far from a problem as he was quite adept at making his own arrows, and they were frequently reusable. The only problem was retrieving them. A simple task with Sonic like speed, but it meant in this case leaving Rosy’s side.

    “Get away from her you stone dummies!”

    Trying his best to shoo away any golems that floated up over the ravine with his bow, Draw was pushed to his limits trying to collect his arrows. Challenging his efforts was an army of golems that covered the ruins and mountainside. The most troublesome however were the ones that drifted through the air, stone eyes that could fire beams of light at Draw more easily than he could return fire.

    “Why did you have to get sick now of all times, you weirdo girl!” Draw cried out in anguish as he gave up trying to do too much at once. Picking Rosy up as best as he could, he ran for all he was worth. “You’re way to heavy!”

    Had Rosy heard the complaint, she might have had a choice comment or two for the struggling koala, but her mind was far from her surroundings. The fevered sleep that held her fast from consciousness assured she would remain oblivious. Though it perhaps heightened other senses as her fever dreams provided her a unique opportunity, she was not quite sure how to handle.

    ~I’ve dabbled in so many different types of fortune telling because of how fun it is, but reading dreams is always kind of tricky. When people tell me about their dreams there’s always something missing to complete the picture. It’s not their fault of course, it’s hard to remember your dreams. It’s why reading my own are so hard too. Bu~t, hee-hee! Well, I’ve never had a dream like the one on these mountains.~

    “Hello?” Rosy asked the rolling fog before her in hopes that someone might have hid within. It did not answer her naturally, but a soft blue glow within caught her attention and she walked towards it.

    The fog swirled around Rosy as she walked, the blue glow seeming to stay just beyond her reach. “Maybe it’s moving away from me?”

    Lifting her head from where she had tilted it so that her finger pressed into her cheek, Rosy upped her pace. As she still failed to catch up, she puffed her cheeks up in frustration and pushed herself even harder. Still the glow eluded her, and she closed her eyes for a moment to touch on that golden glow within her. That semi-tangible representation of her Ring Bond with Sonic.

    Her intentions were to touch the source of her speed and bolt forward as fast as she possibly could, but as she opened her eyes, she instead had to dodge an attack.

    “Wah~!”

    The entity that attacked her was no larger than Sonic, but it had massive arch forming arms and a trail of light for a body. Had the blue glowing entity possessed a green gem where its arms met Rosy would have presumed it a golem. It had the same shape as one, bar a lack of legs making it resemble an anchor more than a biped.

    “What’s your problem!” Rosy asked it as she jumped back from another attack. A crackling of electricity behind her warned her of another attack from behind and she dove out of the way.

    “I didn’t do anything! No reason to be so mean!”

    Her frustrations served to redouble her efforts, and after rising to a three-point runner’s stance, Rosy shot forward for all she was worth. Her rapid acceleration created a vacuum in her wake and the fog was pulled into the space behind her.

    “Woah! It’s beautiful!”

    There was little time to marvel as more of the glowing anchor golems moved to intercept her, but with the fog behind her Rosy could plan a path forward. The shadowy mountain landscape seemed unreachable though, save the aroura-like road of light marked by columns of unending lightning. Covered in golems it was far from an idea choice, but Rosy could at least see herself making progress as she sped along the road.

    Higher and higher she climbed, and Rosy soon realized the mountains were beneath her. “This is weird. Am I dreaming?”

    A bolt of lightning tore through the heavens in the moment of her question and Rosy froze in place as she felt her life was clearly in danger.

    “Maybe this isn’t a dream… But I was with Sonic, Draw, and Mote. They’re not here, so this has to be–”

    “Come on big guy! Is that all you’ve got!”

    Sonic’s voice cut Rosy off and she turned to call out to him from wherever it was he was running.

    “Sonic!”

    Her voice was cheerful, but Rosy’s smile soon fell as she could not see Sonic anywhere.

    “Sonic?” Rosy questioned her surroundings and studied the darkness for any signs of Sonic. “Where are you!”

    Starting to run again, Rosy tried to wipe away the shadows and reach out to Sonic. As she feared though, the darkness was impenetrable, by herself at least.

    “Yeek!”

    A bolt of lightning descended from the shimmering blue aurora above her and for a moment she saw Sonic and the ruins he traversed. The motes of golden light that marked where Rings had been, and Sonic’s own transparency marked his signature Light Speed Dash, and she knew she missed actually seeing him. Before she could determine where he went however, the darkness flooded back in.

    “Hey! Don’t come back now! Sonic!”

    Turning to and fro, Rosy sought out any signs of him in the darkness but none could be found. “Come on! I just want to see Sonic!”

    Turning pleading eyes to the aurora above, Rosy’s silent prayer allowed her to see the shimmering figure of blue light that towered over the mountains. Instinctually she raised her hands to protect herself. She was not the skeletal giant’s target however and the next bolt of lightning it cast down from the aurora again illuminated Sonic.

    As it turned out, Sonic was not faster than light and he was tossed through the air by the impact of the lightning bolt. He was left unharmed for the most part however as the Rings he carried scattered about having absorbed the damage meant for Sonic.

    “Sonic!” Rosy yelled out and covered her mouth. But the darkness took him from view again and he was nowhere to be seen. Upon the aurora road it was only her, the golems that still floated up in pursuit of her, and the towering skeletal figure of light. As that was who summoned the lightning…

    “Hey! Leave Sonic alone!”

    With courage she always had to protect her friends, Rosy wasted no more time and sprinted full speed towards the towering entity. “You better not hurt him! I won’t forgive you if you do!”

    “The medium?” the entity asked and surprised Rosy as it turned to look down at her with eyes so much bluer and brighter than its body of light. Intense as they were, they did not obscure the wonder of the crystal rose held within the gyroscopic, clockwork device in its chest. “So weak a medium, yet you would manage to see me from your slumber, and with no catalyst.”

    “I don’t care about any of that!” Rosy yelled at the entity. “Just leave Sonic alone! You better to! I really won’t forgive you if you hurt him!”

    Rosy’s shouting and arm flailing seemed to not reach the attention of the entity. Instead, it held a hand to the device in its chest and turned its gaze towards the heavens higher than it.

    “Or perhaps this is your doing, Yoluku.”

    “Yo-loo-coo?” Rosy tried to pronounce the odd name and came to a stop, her eyes tracing up the entity and towards the highest heavens. There, as though hung like a jewel from the perpetual red bolt of lightning that arced from horizon to horizon, the little planet that always watched her hung in the sky fixated on her.

    ~Even in my dreams I can’t escape that dreadful little planet. It’s why I haven’t been sleeping. I just can’t with it always watching me. It’s so creepy! I wouldn’t even want Sonic looking at me like that. Tee-hee~♥ Though I wouldn’t mind if Sonic looked at me all the time! Though I probably couldn’t sleep then either.

    ~But this dream was maybe more special than I realized at first. It wasn’t just weird, it actually had a name for that little planet. It’s kind of hard to say though, so I’ll just call it Yolk for now! Maybe I’ll practice saying it properly, but… Hee-hee! It still creeps me out. But with a name, I’m sure once Sonic and I catch up with Tails or Zooey that we’ll be able to look it up and learn all about it! Even then, just knowing it has a name means I can tell it to let me sleep!~

Scene 35 · CLEARED Sonic & Rosy, to be continued

-----

And there we go, Rosy has learned the name of the planet in the sky and has decided to just call it Yolk XD. She’s so mature XD. Perhaps this scene was a little more than light, but I guess action scenes are kind of like that. I just hope it was enjoyable and that everyone will look forward to next time! Thank you!

-----

Special Thanks to Cutegirlmayra Story by @JoshTarwater/SonicFanJ Inspiring Song – One Last Kiss – Hikaru Utada – From Neon Genesis Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time

Fair Use Disclaimer

Sonic the Hedgehog and all affiliated characters and logos are the express property and Copyright© of SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS used without permission under Title 17 U.S.C Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976 in which allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. “Fair use” is use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be considered copyright infringement. The Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey alternate universe (AU) consumer written work of fiction is a non-profit transformative work primarily for personal use and can and will be taken down without warning or prior notice at the request of the copyright holder(s) should it not be recognized under “fair use”.

*Sonic Ring Bond logo created by DEE Art – twitter.com/daryliscute.

Sonic Ring Bond AU and Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey are the creation of Joshua David Tarwater/ynymbus/sonicfanj/@Joshtarwater and is to be, including all contents herein considered for all legal purposes the property of the Sonic the Hedgehog intellectual property (IP) and copyright owners, SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS. All story contributors via prompt, suggestion, written scene, art, and all and every other contribution acknowledge that all contributed material is forfeit for legal purposes to SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS upon official request from SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS.

[ddellirrious]

Calypso is no Goddess...

I don't remember how long it has been. Days? Weeks? Months? It wasn't until i woke up in the hospital that i found out i was rescued, afloat a raft in the middle of a wrecked vessel in the ocean. Miles off course from our original destination. I had been missing for almost two weeks and seem to be the only one who survived the wreck. When reporters ask me what happened to them all i can muster is a shaky voice. "...i don’t know"

 That part was true. Though I don’t know what attacked us that night. But i know what it did. And the destruction it caused. We were a crew of thirty chasing an old legend passed down from our families for generations. My mind races on the..thing that took our ship down. The creature had to be at least a couple football fields long. I will never forget the glimpses of it that i saw from the moments when it breached the water. It hit us out of nowhere and seemed to summon a massive storm just before it arrived. It had the body of a long shark, but the torso and head of what i can assume is a mangled human body. Chunks of flesh are missing from the tail and i can see sections of where its just bone. Long, black harpoons jetted out of the beast's back and body some of them older then others. Much. Older. How many years, possibly centuries, worth of hunters has this horrid thing seen. I remember seeing a hood of once again what i can only assume is human flesh stitched and crafted together, it covered the beast's head and stayed on with hooks embedded into the human chest with two holes crudely slashed in the front for this monster to see through. And from what i saw, it look like it was made from more then one human..

I could only watch as this beast tore open the ship like it was nothing and devoured all that it could of my crew. Bodies littered the bloody ocean before sinking into the dark depths below. I tried to scream but i couldn't, every time i tried my lungs would fill with water and i could only cough and sputter before turning my head back up to face it. Those eyes. Those cold, empty dead eyes peering at me through the bloody skin. With each flash of lightning i could just barely make out the shape of its massive head. It stared at me for what felt like an eternity. Why me? Why did it leave me alive yet slaughter the others like cattle? Perhaps as a sick, twisted way to keep this..myth alive? But we were so close! Just what was beyond that ring of water in the horizon? Just out of reach there was a large ring of water pushing everything away. That was our goal. Legend says it's the ocean Goddess Calypso and her island of treasure. It is said to be hidden in an isle surrounded by a circle of waves. We had to go. To find out what was there and if it was real. Once i get let out, i don’t care how, but i am going to find out. The legend not only says a great treasure is in the center. But Calypso herself will grant you one wish. And im going to find it. 

 I didn��t have to wait long for my answer. A few weeks after, when i was checked out of the hospital i got myself a boat and started traveling the same path that my crew took. It takes me hours but i follow old police ships and coast guard boats to the wreckage of our large ship. I carefully use the large broken hull to my advantage and slip past everyone, thankfully, unseen. I try to hold back what tears i can as i see the faces of my fallen friends floating in the now still waters. This monster took its time with them. Some torn apart. Others were in pieces. The ones he didn't devour he left to die by the waves. 

If i am successful then i maybe i can avenge my fallen crew and slay this beast. Maybe i can ask Calypso to bring them back. My mind wonders a bit before i finally see it again. That large ring of water that we were so close to before the storm hit. I pause a moment. Is this the right thing? Should i do this? I grip onto the throttle and shake the doubts and thoughts from my head and rev the boat as fast as she will go to slam against the massive wall of water with great force. The wall proves stronger then i first thought. But i did not come all this way to avenge my friends just to turn around and give up. Pressing down hard on the throttle and with one final push the boat bursts through the wall and to the other side. What i was expecting of a dark, bloody, possible corpse and horror filled waters was actually calm and peaceful. The warm water and the fresh breeze and clear skies, it almost seems like an oasis then the lair of a large man eating beast. 

 I catch a glimpse of a small island and on that island is a small beach hut. Someone lived here? Among the beast? I felt a small nudge as the boat rested up on the beach, as i step off, the sand feels soft and warm against my feet, the water is crystal clear and seems more like fresh water from a pool then the ocean. As i step up more on the sand i catch a glimpse of a man in the hut, while i cant see his face clearly yet, i can see that he is blonde with hints of orange faded into his hair, he has a more tanned appearance to his skin, like he spends his days in the sun most often. And orange swim trunks. There’s a surfboard under his arm and he looks shocked to see me and my boat. Before i can utter a word the water breaks and the beast itself lunges out of the water and lets out an earsplitting roar of anger. I waste no time in getting to the end of my boat and grabbing a large harpoon gun from it inner chamber. This man must not be aware of the beast and he must be a messenger of Calypso. I have to protect him! 

As i raise the gun to the creature, it stares back at me with those same soulless eyes that it gave me on the day it took my friends, my family. A roar of my own escapes my throat and a surge of adrenaline rushes through me to take the killing shot as this fowl beast hovers over me, i aim for the chest and then- 

Twack 

 I feel my vision start to go blurry as blood drips down my face. I whip around to see that the man i was protecting struck me with his surfboard. He looks...angry? Furious even. But...why? Why would he protect this murderous thing?? As my vision darkens i hear him speak. 

 "How did this one get here calypso? Are you ok love?"

Through fading vision i see the creature nod. This...thing is Calypso? It cant be...Calypso is a goddess. A woman of pure and holy being and she will grant whomever finds her a wish. This cant be her! Its...cant.. I let out a gurgle as i feel its massive blood soaked, clawed hand grab me and start to lift me up to its hideous face and it peels back the skin to expose what it looks like underneath. All i can do is cry as a close my eyes. I failed..i failed them all. And now i have to die for it. I feel the beast's hot breath on me as its gaping maw splits open and i can faintly see two rows of razor sharp teeth, ready to devour me, i utter the only thing i can muster...a small prayer and hope that if there is a god that i will be reborn with my friends... 

Calypso is no Goddess... 

 Calypso... 

 Is death...

[phroyd]

Reading this article, you see the similarity between right-Wing Orthodox Jewry and Fundamentalist Islam; THIS is why Israel has become an Apartheid, Fascist State, Right-Wing Religious Extremism! - Phroyd

BEIT SHEMESH, Israel — The slaughter of 11 Jews in Pittsburgh elicited responses in Israel that echoed the reactions to anti-Semitic killings in Paris, Toulouse and Brussels: expressions of sympathy, reminders that hatred of Jews is as rampant as ever, reaffirmations of the need for a strong Israel.

But Saturday’s massacre also brought to the surface painful political and theological disagreements tearing at the fabric of Israeli society and driving a wedge between Israelis and American Jews.

Israel’s Sephardic chief rabbi took pains to avoid the word “synagogue” to describe the scene of the crime — because it is not Orthodox, but Conservative, one of the liberal branches of Judaism that, despite their numerous adherents in the United States, are rejected by the religious authorities who determine the Jewish state’s definitions of Jewishness.

And the attacker’s anti-refugee, anti-Muslim fulminations on social media prompted some on the Israeli left — like many American Jewish liberals — to draw angry comparisons to views espoused by the increasingly nationalistic leaders who now hold sway in their governments.

The result has been a striking and lightning-fast politicization of the sort of tragedy that until now had only galvanized Jews across the world — not set them at one another’s throats.

Here in Israel, the decades-old animosity between left and right has reached new levels of enmity in recent years. Ultra-Orthodox parties that play a kingmaker’s role in the right-wing government are pressing to increase their influence and that of Jewish law on daily life, sparking bitter fights over everything from who serves in the military to whether trains can run and stores can open on the Sabbath. Jews from liberal American denominations feel increasingly alienated from Israel’s state-run religious life.

With the Israeli government, like many across Europe, also taking a decidedly nationalistic turn, the election of President Trump has only compounded that strife, widening the rift between Israeli and American Jews. Politically liberal American Jews have been repelled by Mr. Trump’s solid support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and by Mr. Netanyahu’s effusive embrace of Mr. Trump and his granting of a wish-list’s worth of political gifts. They range from scrapping the Iran nuclear agreement to repeatedly punishing the Palestinians and recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

All of that, and more, bubbled up when one of Israel’s most influential politicians, Naftali Bennett, leader of the right-wing Jewish Home party, jumped on a plane to Pittsburgh in his capacity as minister of diaspora affairs. Mr. Bennett gave voice only to unifying ideals: “Together we stand, Americans, Israelis — people who are, together, saying no to hatred,” he told a vigil there Sunday night. “The murderer’s bullet does not stop to ask, ‘Are you Conservative or Reform, are you Orthodox? Are you right-wing or left-wing?’ It has one goal, and that is to kill innocent people. Innocent Jews.”

No sooner had Mr. Bennett’s plane departed Ben-Gurion Airport than he was assailed by liberal Israeli critics, who among other things resurfaced a 2012 Facebook post in which he had accused leftists of promoting “crime and rape in Tel Aviv” because they wanted to allow African migrants who had entered the country illegally to stay.

“Is the Trump-supporting, African-migrant-bashing Naftali Bennett really the best person to represent Israel in Pittsburgh right now?” wrote Anshel Pfeffer in Haaretz, the liberal daily.

Others cited a pro-Jewish Home party text message sent to Haifa residents in advance of Tuesday’s municipal elections. It warned Jewish voters fearful of “the flight of young Jews” and a “takeover” by “the sector”— shorthand for Israeli Arabs — to vote for the Jewish Home slate.

“That’s almost word-for-word the spirit of ‘Jews will not replace us,’” said Dahlia Scheindlin, a left-wing political consultant in Tel Aviv, recalling the chant of neo-Nazi marchers in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017.

Even Michael Oren, the American-born deputy minister from the right-of-center Kulanu party, faulted Mr. Bennett for having sided with the ultra-Orthodox Israeli rabbinate, which refuses to recognize non-Orthodox denominations as sufficiently Jewish to participate fully in Israeli religious life.

“Liberal Jews were Jewish enough to be murdered, but their stream is not Jewish enough to be recognized by the Jewish State,” Mr. Oren wrote in Hebrew on Twitter, adding: “I call on Minister Bennett not to suffice with condolences, but to recognize liberal Jewish streams and unite the people.”

On the right, veteran activists in Likud, Mr. Netanyahu’s party, circulated an email on Sunday — which Mr. Netanyahu’s aides and party leaders disavowed within hours — noting that the Pittsburgh killer had denounced the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, which “encouraged immigration” and “acted against Trump.”

“Did we or did we not say that the Left is guilty of encouraging anti-Semitism?,” wrote the email’s author, who responded to queries but declined to identify himself.

Many Israelis, of course, reacted with horror and grief as they tuned into coverage of the Pittsburgh massacre. In Beit Shemesh, a largely ultra-Orthodox city 20 minutes west of Jerusalem, Elisheva Gutman, 24, a social worker, said her parents had vacationed in Pittsburgh two weeks earlier and had attended Sabbath services down the street from the Tree of Life synagogue, the killing site. “When they go to Europe, my father takes off his kipa and puts on a hat,” for fear of attack, Ms. Gutman said. “It’s not supposed to be that way in the U.S.”

Chaim Zaid, 62, a paramedic from Kedumim, a West Bank settlement, said the shooting belied Israelis’ ideas of the United States as a “paradise” for Jews. “You think the big U.S., with the big F.B.I., will protect them, and nothing will change,” he said. “But that was a change point. My sister lives in Brooklyn and was afraid to come to my home. So Sunday morning I sent her a message: ‘Rivka, you were afraid to come to me?’”

If other Israelis were quick to score political points over the Pittsburgh killings, though, in a sense they had been preparing for this moment. The disagreements between American and Israeli Jews have been piling up.

Only last week, the Jewish Federations of North America’s yearly General Assembly drew hundreds of Americans to Tel Aviv for a three-day conference focused on the strains in the relationship, titled “We Need to Talk.”

In a provocative keynote, the head of Israel’s largest real estate company, Danna Azrieli, recited the litany of friction points. For Americans, she said, there are Mr. Netanyahu’s effusive embrace of Mr. Trump, whom most American Jews oppose; the Israeli occupation and Jewish settlements on the West Bank, which many American Jews believe block peace with the Palestinians; Mr. Netanyahu’s reneging on a deal last year to significantly upgrade and grant equal status to a mixed-gender, Reform and Conservative prayer space at the Western Wall; and Israel’s new nation-state law, which opponents call racist and anti-democratic because it enshrines the right of national self-determination in Israel as “unique to the Jewish people.”

For Israelis, Ms. Azrieli said, Americans don’t serve in the Israeli army, pay Israeli taxes or live under the threat of rockets, but also don’t let those realities stop them from trying to impose their views on Israelis.

Long as it was, that list had big omissions. Israelis on the left would add, at a minimum, the Netanyahu government’s warming up to increasingly authoritarian leaders in countries like Hungary and Poland, and its demonization of the Hungarian-born, liberal Jewish financier George Soros — who also is a frequent target of anti-Semitic attacks in the United States and Europe — for underwriting activist groups that oppose Mr. Netanyahu’s policies. Mr. Netanyahu’s own son even posted a meme attacking Mr. Soros with anti-Semitic imagery that drew praise from the likes of David Duke.

And Israelis on the right would add their lingering resentment of American Jews’ support for the Iran nuclear deal struck by President Obama, which Israelis saw as a matter of survival, according to the author Yossi Klein Halevi, a New York-born Jerusalemite.

Mr. Halevi, a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, said the Pittsburgh shootings had exposed an even deeper and more worrisome divide between the two populations. “Each sees the other as in some sense threatening its most basic well-being,” he said. “American Jews don’t understand the depth of the Israeli sense of betrayal over the Iran deal. And Israelis don’t understand why American Jews regard Trump as a life-and-death threat to the liberal society that allowed American Jewry to become the most successful minority in Jewish history.”

How damaged is the relationship? In her keynote, Ms. Azrieli felt compelled to plead, “Don’t give up on our country,” adding: “Don’t walk away because your liberal sensibilities are insulted. Don’t assume that nothing can change. Things do change — just painfully, slowly, incrementally, and with all of our help.”

And yet among Israeli leaders, some already have given up on American Jews, said Mr. Oren, the deputy minister and a former Israeli ambassador in Washington, who also cited some American Jews’ opposition to President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“One school of thought is: ‘These are our people, we have to do everything possible to reach out.’ The second school says:, ‘It’s too late, they’re gone. After Iran, after Jerusalem, if we have limited resources we should invest in our base — evangelicals and the Orthodox.’”

“The first school, which is mine, is a beleaguered school,” Mr. Oren said. “The burden of doubt is on us; we have to prove that we’re still correct. It’s not easy.”

In Beit Shemesh, Zion Cohen, 66, a mall manager, lamented the acrimony. “I’m Likud, but what’s happened between Israel and America, I’m against it,” he said. “I know it’s painful to Jews in America how Israel acts toward them. The influence of the Orthodox and Haredim on the Israeli government is a catastrophe. And we need help from the Jews of the U.S., especially given how much anti-Semitism there is now in the world.”

He added: “We have to unite the whole Jewish people.”

Correction: October 30, 2018

An earlier version of a picture caption with this article misspelled the surname of man shown standing in front of a mall in Beit Shemesh. He is Eli Peretz, not Teretz.

Phroyd

[newstfionline]

Pittsburgh Killing Aftermath Bares Jewish Rifts in Israel and America

By David M. Halbfinger, NY Times, Oct. 29, 2018

BEIT SHEMESH, Israel--The slaughter of 11 Jews in Pittsburgh elicited responses in Israel that echoed the reactions to anti-Semitic killings in Paris, Toulouse and Brussels: expressions of sympathy, reminders that hatred of Jews is as rampant as ever, reaffirmations of the need for a strong Israel.

But Saturday’s massacre also brought to the surface painful political and theological disagreements tearing at the fabric of Israeli society and driving a wedge between Israelis and American Jews.

Israel’s Ashkenazi chief rabbi took pains to avoid the word “synagogue” to describe the scene of the crime--because it is not Orthodox, but Conservative, one of the liberal branches of Judaism that, despite their numerous adherents in the United States, are rejected by the religious authorities who determine the Jewish state’s definitions of Jewishness.

And the attacker’s anti-refugee, anti-Muslim fulminations on social media prompted some on the Israeli left--like many American Jewish liberals--to draw angry comparisons to views espoused by the increasingly nationalistic leaders who now hold sway in their governments.

The result has been a striking and lightning-fast politicization of the sort of tragedy that until now had only galvanized Jews across the world--not set them at one another’s throats.

Here in Israel, the decades-old animosity between left and right has reached new levels of enmity in recent years. Ultra-Orthodox parties that play a kingmaker’s role in the right-wing government are pressing to increase their influence and that of Jewish law on daily life, sparking bitter fights over everything from who serves in the military to whether trains can run and stores can open on the Sabbath. Jews from liberal American denominations feel increasingly alienated from Israel’s state-run religious life.

With the Israeli government, like many across Europe, also taking a decidedly nationalistic turn, the election of President Trump has only compounded that strife, widening the rift between Israeli and American Jews. Politically liberal American Jews have been repelled by Mr. Trump’s solid support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and by Mr. Netanyahu’s effusive embrace of Mr. Trump and his granting of a wish-list’s worth of political gifts. They range from scrapping the Iran nuclear agreement to repeatedly punishing the Palestinians and recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

All of that, and more, bubbled up when one of Israel’s most influential politicians, Naftali Bennett, leader of the right-wing Jewish Home party, jumped on a plane to Pittsburgh in his capacity as minister of diaspora affairs. Mr. Bennett gave voice only to unifying ideals: “Together we stand, Americans, Israelis--people who are, together, saying no to hatred,” he told a vigil there Sunday night. “The murderer’s bullet does not stop to ask, ‘Are you Conservative or Reform, are you Orthodox? Are you right-wing or left-wing?’ It has one goal, and that is to kill innocent people. Innocent Jews.”

No sooner had Mr. Bennett’s plane departed Ben-Gurion Airport than he was assailed by liberal Israeli critics, who among other things resurfaced a 2012 Facebook post in which he had accused leftists of promoting “crime and rape in Tel Aviv” because they wanted to allow African migrants who had entered the country illegally to stay.

“Is the Trump-supporting, African-migrant-bashing Naftali Bennett really the best person to represent Israel in Pittsburgh right now?” wrote Anshel Pfeffer in Haaretz, the liberal daily.

Others cited a pro-Jewish Home party text message sent to Haifa residents in advance of Tuesday’s municipal elections. It warned Jewish voters fearful of “the flight of young Jews” and a “takeover” by “the sector”--shorthand for Israeli Arabs--to vote for the Jewish Home slate.

“That’s almost word-for-word the spirit of ‘Jews will not replace us,’” said Dahlia Scheindlin, a left-wing political consultant in Tel Aviv, recalling the chant of neo-Nazi marchers in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017.

Even Michael Oren, the American-born deputy minister from the right-of-center Kulanu party, faulted Mr. Bennett for having sided with the ultra-Orthodox Israeli rabbinate, which refuses to recognize non-Orthodox denominations as sufficiently Jewish to participate fully in Israeli religious life.

“Liberal Jews were Jewish enough to be murdered, but their stream is not Jewish enough to be recognized by the Jewish State,” Mr. Oren wrote in Hebrew on Twitter, adding: “I call on Minister Bennett not to suffice with condolences, but to recognize liberal Jewish streams and unite the people.”

On the right, veteran activists in Likud, Mr. Netanyahu’s party, circulated an email on Sunday--which Mr. Netanyahu’s aides and party leaders disavowed within hours--noting that the Pittsburgh killer had denounced the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, which “encouraged immigration” and “acted against Trump.”

“Did we or did we not say that the Left is guilty of encouraging anti-Semitism?,” wrote the email’s author, who responded to queries but declined to identify himself.

Many Israelis, of course, reacted with horror and grief as they tuned into coverage of the Pittsburgh massacre. In Beit Shemesh, a largely ultra-Orthodox city 20 minutes west of Jerusalem, Elisheva Gutman, 24, a social worker, said her parents had vacationed in Pittsburgh two weeks earlier and had attended Sabbath services down the street from the Tree of Life synagogue, the killing site. “When they go to Europe, my father takes off his kipa and puts on a hat,” for fear of attack, Ms. Gutman said. “It’s not supposed to be that way in the U.S.”

Chaim Zaid, 62, a paramedic from Kedumim, a West Bank settlement, said the shooting belied Israelis’ ideas of the United States as a “paradise” for Jews. “You think the big U.S., with the big F.B.I., will protect them, and nothing will change,” he said. “But that was a change point. My sister lives in Brooklyn and was afraid to come to my home. So Sunday morning I sent her a message: ‘Rivka, you were afraid to come to me?’”

If other Israelis were quick to score political points over the Pittsburgh killings, though, in a sense they had been preparing for this moment. The disagreements between American and Israeli Jews have been piling up.

Only last week, the Jewish Federations of North America’s yearly General Assembly drew hundreds of Americans to Tel Aviv for a three-day conference focused on the strains in the relationship, titled “We Need to Talk.”

In a provocative keynote, the head of Israel’s largest real estate company, Danna Azrieli, recited the litany of friction points. For Americans, she said, there are Mr. Netanyahu’s effusive embrace of Mr. Trump, whom most American Jews oppose; the Israeli occupation and Jewish settlements on the West Bank, which many American Jews believe block peace with the Palestinians; Mr. Netanyahu’s reneging on a deal last year to significantly upgrade and grant equal status to a mixed-gender, Reform and Conservative prayer space at the Western Wall; and Israel’s new nation-state law, which opponents call racist and anti-democratic because it enshrines the right of national self-determination in Israel as “unique to the Jewish people.”

Long as it was, that list had big omissions. Israelis on the left would add, at a minimum, the Netanyahu government’s warming up to increasingly authoritarian leaders in countries like Hungary and Poland, and its demonization of the Hungarian-born, liberal Jewish financier George Soros--who also is a frequent target of anti-Semitic attacks in the United States and Europe--for underwriting activist groups that oppose Mr. Netanyahu’s policies. Mr. Netanyahu’s own son even posted a meme attacking Mr. Soros with anti-Semitic imagery that drew praise from the likes of David Duke.

And Israelis on the right would add their lingering resentment of American Jews’ support for the Iran nuclear deal struck by President Obama, which Israelis saw as a matter of survival, according to the author Yossi Klein Halevi, a New York-born Jerusalemite.

Mr. Halevi, a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, said the Pittsburgh shootings had exposed an even deeper and more worrisome divide between the two populations. “Each sees the other as in some sense threatening its most basic well-being,” he said. “American Jews don’t understand the depth of the Israeli sense of betrayal over the Iran deal. And Israelis don’t understand why American Jews regard Trump as a life-and-death threat to the liberal society that allowed American Jewry to become the most successful minority in Jewish history.”

How damaged is the relationship? In her keynote, Ms. Azrieli felt compelled to plead, “Don’t give up on our country,” adding: “Don’t walk away because your liberal sensibilities are insulted. Don’t assume that nothing can change. Things do change--just painfully, slowly, incrementally, and with all of our help.”

And yet among Israeli leaders, some already have given up on American Jews, said Mr. Oren, the deputy minister and a former Israeli ambassador in Washington, who also cited some American Jews’ opposition to President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“One school of thought is: ‘These are our people, we have to do everything possible to reach out.’ The second school says:, ‘It’s too late, they’re gone. After Iran, after Jerusalem, if we have limited resources we should invest in our base--evangelicals and the Orthodox.’”

In Beit Shemesh, Zion Cohen, 66, a mall manager, lamented the acrimony. “I’m Likud, but what’s happened between Israel and America, I’m against it,” he said. “I know it’s painful to Jews in America how Israel acts toward them. The influence of the Orthodox and Haredim on the Israeli government is a catastrophe. And we need help from the Jews of the U.S., especially given how much anti-Semitism there is now in the world.”

[jubileecreations-blog]

The Fall and Escape

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Lights flickered through the curtains of my chambers. Reds and yellows filling the room with life. I had only just started to wake. The realization didn’t sink in quite fast enough, you think it would considering what happened only a month ago. When it did, I hastefully jumped out of bed and ripped back the fabrics blocking my view. Fire. It was consuming my land. Even with the heat radiating in, I stood there, frozen. This was all a bad dream. This couldn’t be happening so soon. Please tell me this is a dream. It wasn’t. I found myself suddenly wishing my father was home once again. He knew how to keep a leveled head. He’s the one that knew how to protect others. Just as I felt myself about to give in to the panic, my wife called out to me, instantly snapping me out of what my mind was about to spiral into.

Hannah looked distressed yet somehow intensely determined still. She always did have a fire in her that I could never quite find in myself. “Don’t you want to help your kingdom!? They need you!” … That was all she had to say to me. It was enough though. I didn’t give her a reply even. My feet rushed me outside the palace too quickly to let my mind process it all. Overthinking could possibly be my biggest downfall, I’ll admit.

Instinct had kicked in, rushing through my veins to fix all of this. Though as I stepped out, there stood a familiar face. A friend that I hadn’t seen in many years. Yet something about him was...different. The child-like innocence that his face always beamed with before is gone. Someone had drained the life out of him. He looked… miserable.

“Tigur…” I tried to speak out to him, but he gave me no response. At least not a spoken one. He lunged at me with a sharp snarl. I didn’t realize how strong he had gotten. Unfortunately for him, I still had the upper hand when it came to strength. As he tried to pin me back against the door, I promptly shut him down with a toss to the ground. Something wasn’t right. First my parents and now this? I didn’t have time to deal with him right now. I didn’t have time to deal with either thought really.

With the shake of my head, I ran past Tigur. His feeble attempt to grab my leg in vain. I left him there on the ground. My people came first. Hannah and the guards will keep my daughter safe. They have my utmost trust in that task.

I ran through every building I could. Helping many families escape the fiery destruction. The cause started to show itself. Imps wielding tiny pitchforks cackled maniacally as they prodded the people. Some starting the fires with their abilities. Each one I caught, I promptly knocked out. A few stronger than the others, but even when they worked together, it wasn't much of a match for me. This… Was actually going to turn out alright. The imps didn't explain the situation with Tigur any, but I can always interrogate him later.

At least I thought I could.

A towering ominous man blocked my path after I pushed through a few more homes. Thick spikes protruded from his body, his red eyes outshining the fires surrounding us. I couldn't make out many more features between the contrasting night sky and burning lands.

“So we finally meet face to face, Sutarou. I've looked forward to this day for many… many… years.”

His words twisted like the spines that silhouetted against the fires. He clearly knew me but I have never seen or heard of such a man.

“Who are you and what are you doing here!?”

I spoke boldly, holding my ground as firmly as possible. That didn't seem to work as the man literally laughed in response. I gritted my teeth at this point. I had more families to help. There wasn't time for this insane man trying to play games with me. In fact, I wasn't going to give him the chance. I took off, trying to run past him. Only to be stopped with a sharp pain in my shoulder. My eyes darted over to see what hit me. I saw a thick spike piercing me. I trailed it down to the ground, next to this man.

“Tsk, tsk. This is no way to greet a guest, my liege. I'm hardly this chatty, but if you must know, I'm here to see to your downfall personally. All my actions have been leading up to this and I'm not about to miss the most important part.”

Had...everything been because of this man!? I couldn't keep my vision straight. Between the pain and trying to keep up with what he was saying, other functions of my body were quickly fading.

“Why yes, even those burns were my doing!” He walked closer, “What? Is our mighty king giving up already?”

I narrowed my eyes, scowling the best I could. Granted it didn't have to be forced whatsoever. Hearing what he has done already was enough to infuriate me. My eyes began to glow as I put my hand at the spike, pulled back quickly, then promptly started to heal the puncture.

“Good. There's some fight in you yet. I was hoping for a fun time.” Tattered wings unfurled from his back. They looked like they shouldn't be able to even lift him, but sure enough he was talking flight moments after they appeared.

I didn't want to waste any time. So I decided to take on this man the best way I knew how. As a dragon. My body shifted and glowed intensely until I was before him as an enormous, black-maned serpent-like dragon. He laughed again, this time more amused and excited, which just burned me up further.

His laughter was cut off with a swift bite around his body. I lifted him into the air further with my motion and biting down with all of my might. That didn't take long to turn against me. He clawed at the roof of my mouth with unnaturally razor sharp claws. A pained roar let him escape my jaws. He began to claw at my body, though the scales protected me, even against claws like his. I worked against him, trying to shake him off or smack him away using my body. Neither seemed to work. With an aggressive roar, my eyes shined brightly once again, this time blue, as shards of ice formed around his body and pierced him down to the ground.

Thinking I could at least buy some time to help another family, I took off in this form. Crushing any imps that dared crossed my path. It was not long until this demonic man caught up to me. Signalling this with an inferno that consumed my body. I stopped in my tracks, not wanting to spread even more fire around me. My body reacted instinctively at this point, forming a shield around my body just long enough to snuff out the fire. I glared back, to him, who was now flying past my tail for my face. I bore my fangs, summoning lightning to strike him down yet again. Wasn’t as effective as the ice had been, but it seared him for more lasting damage.

Our fight carried on as such for what felt like hours. I had lost track of where it was leading to exactly. All I cared to pay attention to around me was the homes. Trying not to cause any further destruction. Both of us slowly drained our energy on each other, yet not budging a bit on letting either side have the upper hand. He soon had lead me up to the palace, stopping in front of it and...laughing again. I snarled at him, lunging for another attack until he stopped me once again with those damned spikes.

“Oh, Sutarou...You’ve fallen right into my distractions.” He chimed, the tone as playful as ever. ...What distraction though?

“You haven’t taken a moment to watch your family in the slightest, have you? You know, they aren’t like you at all. With all your fancy powers and sorry training.”

No.

I tried to move, but my body just… would not let me. I’m over. My kingdom is quite literally burning to the ground, I’m being told what was left of my family is gone. What else could this man take from me? I took a sharp breath, unaware of my expression. Honestly I was blind of a lot of things at this point in time. My mind blacked out and all I could see was red. I’m sure I tore through as much as I could to get to see my beloved Hannah and Kedjou. Maybe I actually saw them, maybe all I saw was remains of a fight akin to my parents’ demise. I cannot say for sure either way.

The next thing I was cognitive for was Tigur being dragged between me and the man. He pulled him in front of himself as I prepared my next strike.

“You wouldn’t want to strike down the only friend you had left would you?” A pointy grin stretched across his face. His own sharp fangs glistening in the embers. Tigur struggled weakly in his grasp. I … I think I heard him mutter something about his father. It was hard to make out over everything else. I stopped immediately, eyes darting and looking for an escape. Tigur looked up to me, defeat plastered on his face. I won’t let another person down. Especially right in front of my face. I gave Tigur a look of determination. He seemed to pick up on it, even if he wasn’t fully aware of my shoddy put together plan.

With the last of my strength, I tilted my head up, praying desperately to Gods for simply an ounce of their power. To lend me the power of the stars if only to scrape by with my life. My eyes searched the skies, looking- wishing for any sign that my prayers reached their gracious spirits. A small spark in the sky was all I needed. They granted me this, and right then I knew I had to keep going no matter the circumstances. I cannot give up. I’m still alive.

“What? Are you just going to stand there? No one is coming for you this time, Sutarou. Now bow down and give up with the last of your honor and dignity. Otherwise, I’ll take your friend and finish killing every last soul here.” I glared back to him then slowly started to lower my head. It will be a cheap shot, but I will do whatever it takes.

“Good boy.” He grinned as he released Tigur and made his way towards me. As he got close, I took the advantage where he let his guard down. If anything, he should have known better than to relax before I was even unconscious. I overpowered him with the ice spikes once again. This time though, I was going to follow it up swiftly. With the power granted to me by the celestials of the stars, I summoned radiant white stars and bore them into him hard enough to leave a small crater in the land.

There was no time to double check if that was enough to do him in. I had to grab Tigur and whoever else I could get ahold of and leave. I kept my form, still a large dragon, and went after him. Thankful that with the size difference I could easily pick him up and fly off with him. As I passed by other various homes, it seemed everyone was either hiding or dead already. I couldn’t safely reach any of them. The thought crushed me inside. Abandoning them like this, but what choice did I truly have. I had to escape this floating rubble now.