#we bought it off of a man from israel two years ago whose wife was a holocaust survivor

[thefairywithboots]

Happy Hanukkah!!! 🕎✡️

[deepestdarkestsickestpartsofu]

Introduction

We met in spring of 2017. He changed my life forever, in a way that I will never be able to explain. What I would want you to understand before reading this, is how much love has taken charge of my feelings and impulses. 

I loved him, I love him. 

Nothing he did will ever change that.

At this point I bet you may be wondering who I am. Right... I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Nadir, a 25 year old man that is attracted to other men, but that’s not the most significant part in the story. I grew up in a quiet conservative town in Michigan, with a small population of less than 5,000 people. My mother is pretty old schooled and forced me to stay in school until I graduated. That meant no ‘girlfriends’, no sleepovers, no working. I always had the desire to help her monetarily by getting a job and at least pay the house bills. However she would constantly say to me to just focus on my studies and that would be what would help us in the long run.

My parents are originally from Israel. My mother grew up as Catholic, which was not the usual back then and my father grew up Jewish. They became less religious when they decided to move to the United States, which is where they had my siblings and I. They both lived here as immigrants and I didn’t understand what that meant when I was a child, I just thought we were like any other family living in the US. My father unfortunately passed away from a heart attack when I was 8 years old and it affected me in ways you couldn’t possibly imagine. During his wake, I didn’t cry. It was all so surreal and I felt like he would wake up randomly and claim that everything was a joke. He had a great sense of humor and always managed to make people smile, however his death wasn’t a joke. Once it was time to bury him, I cried as hard as I could since I knew I wouldn’t see him ever again. After that, my mother worked as hard as she could to give my siblings and I what we needed. She could barely afford to pay for the mortgage on the house until my older brothers started working and helping her out with as much as they could. My mother worked two jobs daily to make sure we had food on our table, clothes and a good education. 

It would hurt me to see her stress about providing for us, so eventually I managed to get a scholarship at San Francisco State University. Being the youngest of 4 children gave me a bit of an advantage to enjoy ‘the beauty of freedom’ as we know it now, and not have to struggle about being gay in the 70′s, not that it’s any different now. I mean there are hate crimes all over, shootings that keep getting more common by the minute and discrimination which is still pretty big now. That is one of the reasons why I decided not to come out to my mother, nor anyone in town for that matter. I was already struggling with self-acceptance and I didn’t want to be a burden to my mother. During my senior year of High School I managed to convince my mother to let me work to save up for essential stuff. I began working at a pharmacy and little by little saved up enough money to leave town and follow my dreams in a career I wanted. I wasn’t certain of what my major would be, however it needed to be in the art field. Whether it would be acting, directing, drawing or video editing. I decided to go with the flow and see what would appeal my interest. I wanted to be able to afford a place in ‘The City’, so working at that little pharmacy helped me save up & I also had a job secured so I would be able to help my mother with her expenses from afar. 

It took me a few months but right before spring classes started, I booked the first plane to San Francisco without looking back. My siblings showed up with my mother to the airport. Elijah, the oldest, was a bit of a role model growing up. He got married at 22, had 2 children and joined the police force. Amir, the second to oldest, was always a jokester which he definitely got from my father,  and had a bit of a ‘bad boy’ complex, which is quite the opposite of Elijah. He never got married, which my mother never agreed with, however he did have 3 kids, all with different women. Last but not least, my sister Hadassah, she was only 3 years older than me and I guess you could say we were the closest. Both of us would take care of my mom as much as possible and help her around the house as much as it was possible. She decided to stay in a community college to be closer to my mother and to help her financially as much as she possibly could. I hugged everyone goodbye, but when I got to my mother I couldn’t hold it in much longer. Tears started pouring down my face as I hugged her, but managed to remind her that this wasn’t a goodbye, but a ‘see you later’. I wish I could’ve come out to her, but I was afraid it would devastate her and we might lose the relationship we had built. As cliche as it sounds, she is my best friend, the person I trust the most in this world. I was considering staying as I hugged her. She pulled away and put our foreheads together. 

“You’ll be fine... You’ve got this! And remember einayim sheli, you’re stronger than you think! I’ll be supporting you from afar! Nothing you could do would ever disappoint me”.

“I love you mom. Don’t worry, I’ll send money your way and I’ll be back during the holidays!”

“You better, my dear! Now go, don’t want you to miss your flight”, she said as she hugged me once again.

Her words gave me enough courage to pick up my stuff and board the plane. I turned back once more before heading to the ramp and saw my siblings & her waving at me. Hadassah was hugging my mother and even though she was trying to stay as strong as possible, I saw tears rolling down her face. She noticed that I saw them and immediately wiped them off with a smile. I always admired how strong of a woman she is. She truly is a role model and someone I look up to as to how to live my life. However, I’ve never been as strong so I couldn’t hold back and started crying as I boarded the plane. 

The flight felt eternal and having anxiety didn’t help at all. I quit medication a few months before leaving since I didn’t think I would need it… Boy, was I wrong. I managed to calm myself down by working on some sketches I’ve been doing on my drawing paper pad. Next thing I knew, I was arriving in San Francisco, California; Population: 883,305, well... I guess now it’s 883,306 residents. I wasn’t necessarily going into San Francisco completely helpless, I was moving in with my best friend. I met Marcia in elementary school. Her father Sebastiao works for the government, and that’s as much as I know about him. That and the fact that he had to move to San Francisco due to a “really good job opportunity”.  Her father is originally from Brazil & his wife, Mayra is Mexican-American. Marcia grew up and learned all three languages, English, Spanish & Portuguese so she was able to fit in easier in “The Bay Area” when they left our little town. We would spend hours on the phone after she moved and she would tell me about San Francisco and how she thought I’d love it. She was honestly afraid to be one of those kids whose parents have to move regularly because of their jobs, but lucky for her, she didn’t have to do that. She set up a high bar for me arriving in San Fran and when I did... Well, let’s just say she didn’t disappoint. Her dad bought her an apartment and she was willing to share it with me at no cost, but I already had plans of helping her out with utilities & give her some extra cash to thank her for sharing her apartment with me. She shared her apartment with two puppies, Chuy & Elena, two small pomeranians whom she considered her children since she wasn’t planning on having any kids. When I told her I had gotten a scholarship to SF State, she immediately suggested I should move in with her. I wasn’t too sure of that idea, but it honestly was the best option I had so far.

I finally get my luggage and sit in the lobby to wait for her. I look around and see a lot of people meeting up with their loved one, whether it is their lover, or family. “You just left your family back there. You won’t even make it here nor achieve anything you had your mind set to. This is truly a bad idea. Why are you even doing here? You’re an idiot for leaving! All for some stupid experiment you want to try? Bullshit!”. I close my eyes and take another deep breath. I then feel my phone vibrate with the following text message:

“I see you!”

I looked up and saw her smile. She hadn’t grown much, stood about 5′6, black, curly shoulder-length hair, light skinned, with dorky glasses. People always claimed she was a weirdo, but who am I to judge? I was a bit taller than her, stood about 6′1, a bit of scruff on my face, brown semi clean-cut hair. I was always the weird kid at school, so we managed to click from the very beginning. She was the first person to talk to me in elementary school, and that meant the world to me. I was always a bit of an introvert, however she helped me come out of my shell little by little and when she left, I fell back into it. 

“Marcia! Babe! I’m so happy to see you!”

I ran to her and hugged her. It felt like yesterday that I had said goodbye to her at the airport. 

“Honeeeeey! Ugh, I’m soooo glad to see you! You smell soooo good! Don’t tell me you’re still into buying or should I say, collecting colognes?”

“Guilty!”

“Well then, you just might like what I have for you at home! Let me help you with your bags! I can’t wait for you to FINALLY meet Chuy & Elena! They’re going to LOVE you! My tia is still pretty mad that I named Elena after her, but she should take it as a compliment! It just means I love her! I mean, dogs are your most loyal companions... Not that she was ever loyal to my uncle, but still! I’m telling you, my little Elena is NOTHING like her!” 

I looked at her in disbelief. She still had that smile and a gleam in her eye. She had always had that hopeful gleam in her eye... Something I had lost a long time ago. 

I hated it.

“I’ll kill if I have to, but I’ll regain that hope again, just wait”

[tamisdava2]

Ok, guys, i am starting something new, i am choosing a theme and you tell me your stories if you’ll ever had such a situation. I’ll tell such a stories too. Because damn, i have nothing to do right now.

And yeah, everyone that will reblog this tag me, cause i am really interested in everyone’s stories. Also, if you’ve heared such a stories from your friends/relatives and etc. i am fine with it too.

Ok, so have you encountered something supernatural? Ghosts and etc.

Welp, i didn’t encounter anything like it. But my sissy did.

I dont even remember how long ago it was, probably 7 years ago, i was 8 or so and my sis 12. So basically me and my family would usually go in summer in Surami and taking a good rest there, since Tbilisi in summer is... Uh... hell, in Tbilisi air is terrible, so terrible that if my family wouldn’t go out of city in summer on time my skin colour would be very terrible, i guess city’s air affected me very badly. So Surami was the place were my mom’s family lived, so it was really great to spent sometime in there, even tho my grandpa back then was dead already for 3 years. I mean, this house holded memories of him, so it was really special to us, especially for mom of course, she grew up there after all. 

So me, mom sissy and my dad went there, we spent day cleaning up the entire house, cause, we and our relatives were staying in Surami only at summer, once in year. And since there wasn’t living anyone in the house for the most of the year, the house was abadoned, the water pipes that got water in the house from water well got old so we had to get the drinking water from the spring.

But back to the ghost or something, so night came then we went to sleep, me, sis and mom slept together, in room where my mom, my aunt and my grandma used to sleep together in one big bed. My father was sleeping in a other room, that was next to ours. Of course 8 years old me would fall asleep very quickly, the same goes to my mom and dad, they were tired. But my sis wasn’t able to fall asleep, because she kept hearing heavy footsteps in the living room, she would’ve thought that our dad was walking there, if she wouldn’t heared dad snoring very loudly all the time while she heared the footsteps. She was scared as f, thats when her imagination started to go wild and she was thinking “What if it is maniac and he’ll chop us all?!” She was really scared so she pretended to be asleep, and there passed a long time before she fell asleep.

Next morning she told everything to mom. Mom at first was skeptical, she said that probably rats or squirrels were walking in ceiling or something. My sis specified that those were heavy footsteps, like, heavy footsteps of a human beign. Then mom asked dad if he heared something like that, he said no. Then my mom talks with my uncle and tells him about it. And he comes from Tbilisi to Surami and he is like “all Mezuzahs are defected, i’ll take them off” aaand he takes every Mezuzah off from every doorway in the house. You see, we are jews, and since i am sure that you wouldn’t know anything about Mezuzah, i’ll expalin it to ya. Mezuzah is a piece of parchment contained in a decorative case and inscribed with the Jewish prayer. The Mezuzah protects the house... From the bad things. The problem is if even one detail of the detail will get defected then the Mezuzah is useless or it can bring harm if i’ll remember it right.(There are alot stories about what happens when Mezuzah gets defected) So, i do remember my uncle saying that it is better to NOT have mezuzah at all than to have the defected one. We were in that house for a week, my sister never heared those footsteps again.

When i heared my sis and mom talk about the footsteps, i thought “What if it is grandpa’s ghost?”(And i am pretty sure right now that if it was ghost it surely wasn’t his ghost) But remebering this story today kind of gives me chills. Also, guess what? Not so long ago i heared from mom my grandpa bought it from a man whose wife died in that house. Grandpa, dont get me wrong, i love you and respect you very much, but, WHY WOULD YOU BUY A HOUSE WHERE SOMEONE DIED?! LIKE, COME ON!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is second one, mom told us it, i mean, she doesn’t remember it, her relatives had told her about it. 

So i amn’t sure about my mom’s and aunt’s age, but they probably were back then 2-3 years old. This happend before my uncle even was born. So before my uncle was born they had little sister, Mzia, she was 1 maximum years old if my mom recalls it right. And here where the stories split in two, making 2 almost different vesrions of the story(that end the same but still) one is by how mom recalled it, before we went to Israel few months ago and she had talked with my great aunt about it. My mom says that my grandma walked to see how Mzia was sleeping, but she found her dead. You see, back then people wrapped babies in clothes, wrapping their legs and hands, so they weren’t able to move, which looks ridicilous if you’ll see some old photos of it. So it looked like someone or something had wrapped this cloth on her neck in way that it chocked her. She turned Mzia on her back and saw a freakin black handprint. My mom also said that it happend to other babies in Surami too.

And there is my great aunt’s version of it, Grandma was feeding Mzia, and she fell asleep, the baby wasn’t breathing, this how she died. But great aunt said that there WAS the black handprint on the Mzia’s back. 

I mean, i belive that Great Aunt’s version is more right, cause probably my mom heared it only once, and they probably tried to avoid to talk about this theme with grandma and grandpa, cause everytime my grandma would remember about Mzia’s accident... Well of course, it would end up with crying.

Anyway guys, how you heared about the black handprints? I wasn’t able to ask mom if it happend only in Surami or it happend around other towns or if it happend in other parts of Georgia or if it happend in somewhere else in Soviet Union. Like, can you ask about this to the older generation? Especially those one who live in post soviet union countries?

[nataliesnews]

DCO Etzion    13.4.2022  interviewing

Shlomit Steinitz, Natanya Ginsburg

 We had few people today. Probably because of Ramadan.  Two men were in the waiting room with the son of one of them. They said they had tried to call but had no reply so we tried calling and immediately they went through and this happened again with two other people so there was no long wait.

 Another man who had spoke to Sylvia a few months ago for his prevention to be removed. She said that he had not received a favorable answer and said that he should phone Ronit who said she would send an appeal. His son, 15 years of age had been in prison for seven days because of throwing a stone. He, the father, who had worked in Israel for six years and in the settlements for four, had had his work permit cancelled. Truly the IDF believe that they, like God,  can punish, in this case, the sins of the children on the fathers.

 A man whose wife had land down at the Dead Sea which the government wants to confiscate. Another man had bought land in the area of Bethlehem. The lands authority  had been sending him backwards and forwards. We gave them all the appropriate phone numbers.

 We were lucky that Adi was with us as a team from the had come to film and interview us for a project of Machsomwatch as her Arabic was a great help. We were relieved that there were people so as to make the project worthwhile as, being Ramadan, there would be no one there. We had been speaking with the above men….they were asked if they minded being filmed…..and also were ourselves being interviewed, when a vehicle with an army license plate  drove up and two soldiers came out.

    When one thinks of how Palestinians can try to contact the IDF for help when they are being attacked by settlers and how long they have to wait….without anything being done. As they say in English “nuff said”. But here we had an example of how efficient they can be when, maybe, they think that they are not being shown up in a good light. “Who were we? Why were we talking to these people? Had we coordinated with the army?”

  We replied that the team had not been photographing in the waiting room but in an open  parking lot.  And immediately they went into a huddle with their phones. And suddenly the parking lot had become a closed IDF area.

  We decided not to argue as maybe the whole compound, including the area of the confiscated vehicles, is an army area……as we know from other episodes , aside from Machsomwatch, any area where the army does not want you to be, becomes a closed army area, with or without a document to prove this. We moved off to the new “Wailing wall’ which we thought would be a parking lot but which is now hermetically closed. At least some contractor is  happy and who knows who else.

   There we finished the interview.   The team was very pleasant and patient. They also paid us the compliment of saying that they had learned a lot from us. They also, which we had not thought of, introduced us as “the women of Machsomwatch”.

[dfroza]

He remained silent as a Lamb

surrendering His Heart for the sins of others, a truly innocent Man. to be arrested and sentenced. laying down His Life.

A set of lines from Today’s reading:

Pilate: Do You hear these accusations they are making against You?

Still Jesus said nothing, which Pilate found rather astounding—no protests, no defense, nothing.

and the full chapter:

[Matthew 27]

Eventually the chief priests and the elders looked around and saw that it was morning. They convened a council meeting whose sole purpose was to hand down Jesus’ death sentence. They tied Jesus up, took Him away, and handed Him over to the governor of Judea, a man called Pilate.

Judas—the one who had betrayed Him with a kiss for 30 pieces of silver—saw that Jesus had been condemned, and suddenly Judas regretted what he had done. He took the silver back to the chief priests and elders and tried to return it to them.

Judas Iscariot: I can’t keep this money! I’ve sinned! I’ve betrayed an innocent man! His blood will be on my hands.

Chief Priests and Elders: We’re through with you, friend. The state of your soul is really none of our affair.

Judas threw down the money in the temple, went off, and hanged himself.

The chief priests looked at the silver coins and picked them up.

Chief Priests and Elders: You know, according to the law, we can’t put blood money in the temple treasury.

After some deliberation, they took the money and bought a plot of land called Potter’s Field; they would use it to bury foreigners, suicides, and others who were unfit for a full Jewish burial. (To this day, the field is called Blood Field, because it was bought with blood money.) And when the priests bought Potter’s Field, they unwittingly fulfilled a prophecy made long ago by the prophet Jeremiah: “They took 30 pieces of silver, the price set on the head of the man by the children of Israel, and they gave them for the Potter’s Field as the Eternal One instructed.”

Jesus was standing before the governor, Pilate.

Pilate: Are You the King of the Jews?

Jesus: So you say.

The chief priests and the elders stood and poured out their accusations: that Jesus was a traitor, a seditious rebel, a crazy, a would-be Savior, and a would-be king. Jesus stood in the stream of accusations, but He did not respond.

Pilate: Do You hear these accusations they are making against You?

Still Jesus said nothing, which Pilate found rather astounding—no protests, no defense, nothing.

Now the governor had a custom. During the great Jewish festival of Passover, he would allow the crowd to pick one of the condemned men, and he, Pilate, would set the man free. Just like that. Gratuitous, gracious freedom. At this time, they had a notorious prisoner named Barabbas. So when the crowd gathered, Pilate offered them a choice:

Pilate: Whom do you want me to free? Barabbas or Jesus, whom some call the Anointed One?

Pilate knew the chief priests and elders hated Jesus and had delivered Him up because they envied Him.

Then Pilate sat down on his judgment seat, and he received a message from his wife: “Distance yourself utterly from the proceedings against this righteous man. I have had a dream about Him, a dream full of twisted sufferings—He is innocent, I know it, and we should have nothing to do with Him.”

But the chief priests and the elders convinced the crowd to demand that Barabbas, not Jesus, whom-some-call-the-Anointed-One, be freed and that Jesus be put to death.

Pilate (standing before the crowd): Which of these men would you have me free?

Crowd (shouting): Barabbas!

Pilate: What would you have me do with this Jesus, whom some call the Anointed One?

Crowd (shouting): Crucify Him!

Pilate: Why? What crime has this man committed?

Crowd (responding with a shout): Crucify Him!

Pilate saw that unless he wanted a riot on his hands, he now had to bow to their wishes. So he took a pitcher of water, stood before the crowd, and washed his hands.

Pilate: You will see to this crucifixion, for this man’s blood will be upon you and not upon me. I wash myself of it.

Crowd: Indeed, let His blood be upon us—upon us and our children!

So Pilate released Barabbas, and he had Jesus flogged and handed over to be crucified.

The governor’s soldiers took Jesus into a great hall, gathered a great crowd, and stripped Jesus of His clothes, draping Him in a bold scarlet cloak, the kind that soldiers sometimes wore. They gathered some thorny vines, wove them into a crown, and perched that crown upon His head. They stuck a reed in His right hand, and then they knelt before Him, this inside-out, upside-down King. They mocked Him with catcalls.

Soldiers: Hail, the King of the Jews!

They spat on Him and whipped Him on the head with His scepter of reeds, and when they had their fill, they pulled off the bold scarlet cloak, dressed Him in His own simple clothes, and led Him off to be crucified.

As they were walking, they found a man called Simon of Cyrene and forced him to carry the cross. Eventually they came to a place called Golgotha, which means “Place of the Skull.” There they gave Him a drink—wine mixed with bitter herbs. He tasted it but refused to drink it.

And so they had Him crucified. They divided the clothes off His back by drawing lots, and they sat on the ground and watched Him hang. They placed a sign over His head: “This is Jesus, King of the Jews.” And then they crucified two thieves next to Him, one at His right hand and one at His left hand.

Passersby shouted curses and blasphemies at Jesus. They wagged their heads at Him and hissed.

Passersby: You’re going to destroy the temple and then rebuild it in three days? Why don’t You start with saving Yourself? Come down from the cross if You can, if You’re God’s Son.

Chief Priests, Scribes, and Elders (mocking Him): He saved others, but He can’t save Himself. If He’s really the King of Israel, then let Him climb down from the cross—then we’ll believe Him. He claimed communion with God—well, let God save Him, if He’s God’s beloved Son.

Even the thieves hanging to His right and left poured insults upon Him. And then, starting at noon, the entire land became dark. It was dark for three hours. In the middle of the dark afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice.

Jesus: Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani—My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?

Bystanders: He’s calling on Elijah.

One bystander grabbed a sponge, steeped it in vinegar, stuck it on a reed, and gave Jesus the vinegar to drink.

Others: We’ll see—we’ll see if Elijah is going to come and rescue Him.

And then Jesus cried out once more, loudly, and then He breathed His last breath. At that instant, the temple curtain was torn in half, from top to bottom. The earth shook; rocks split in two; tombs burst open, and bodies of many sleeping holy women and men were raised up. After Jesus’ resurrection, they came out of their tombs, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and showed themselves to people.

When the Centurion and soldiers who had been charged with guarding Jesus felt the earthquake and saw the rocks splitting and the tombs opening, they were, of course, terrified.

Soldiers: He really was God’s Son.

A number of women, who had been devoted to Jesus and followed Him from Galilee, were present, too, watching from a distance. 56 Mary Magdalene was there, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

At evening time, a rich man from Arimathea arrived. His name was Joseph, and he had become a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked to be given Jesus’ body; Pilate assented and ordered his servants to turn Jesus’ body over to Joseph. So Joseph took the body, wrapped Jesus in a clean sheath of white linen, and laid Jesus in his own new tomb, which he had carved from a rock. Then he rolled a great stone in front of the tomb’s opening, and he went away. Mary Magdalene was there, and so was the other Mary. They sat across from the tomb, watching, remembering.

The next day, which is the day after the Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went together to Pilate. They reminded him that when Jesus was alive He had claimed that He would be raised from the dead after three days.

Chief Priests and Pharisees: So please order someone to secure the tomb for at least three days. Otherwise His disciples might sneak in and steal His body away, and then claim that He has been raised from the dead. If that happens, then we would have been better off just leaving Him alive.

Pilate: You have a guard. Go and secure the grave.

So they went to the tomb, sealed the stone in its mouth, and left the guard to keep watch.

The Book of Matthew, Chapter 27 (The Voice)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments begins the ancient story of Esther:

The following events occurred in Persia during the reign of King Ahasuerus, the same man who ruled 127 provinces stretching from India to Ethiopia. In those days King Ahasuerus’ throne was in the citadel of Susa. During the 3rd year of his reign, Ahasuerus gathered together all of Persia’s ruling authorities—nobles and officials, leaders of Persia and Media, and nobles of his provinces—for a grand, state banquet. For 180 days, King Ahasuerus continuously paraded his glorious kingdom’s riches and the splendor of his own notoriety in front of his nobles. Day after day the party continued with Persia’s grandeur on display.

After these days of feasting were over, the king held another banquet for all who lived in the citadel of Susa. For seven days, wealthy and poor men alike danced, drank, and made merry together in the lush enclosed gardens of King Ahasuerus’ palace. His gardens were lavishly dressed with white and blue linen draperies, which hung from large marble pillars and were tied to silver rings with cord made out of fine purple linen. Gold and silver couches were arranged on a grand patio—a mosaic beautifully crafted of crystalline burgundy porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl stone, and other beautiful stones. King Ahasuerus generously served his guests wine from the royal cellar in goblets made out of gold, each uniquely designed. But no one was required to drink. The king merely ordered his servants to let his guests do as they wished. Meanwhile, as the men enjoyed the goodwill of King Ahasuerus, Queen Vashti gathered all of the women together for a celebration in one of the banquet halls of the royal palace.

On the seventh and last day of the celebration, when the king was in a very good mood from the wine, he gave special orders to his eunuchs, who served as his personal assistants. (These seven men were Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carkas.)

King Ahasuerus: Bring Queen Vashti to my party! Tell her to put on her royal crown and to wear her finest clothes. I want to show off her beauty in front of my distinguished guests.

He did this because Queen Vashti was very beautiful. But when she heard the king’s order from his eunuchs, she refused to join him and his guests. King Ahasuerus was infuriated when he heard the news from his assistants. In fact, the more he thought of it, the more King Ahasuerus burned with anger.

Immediately, King Ahasuerus called a meeting with his wise counsel, men who understood the laws and customs that had made the Persian Empire great. These seven nobles—the king’s most elite confidants—came from Persia and Media and were named Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan.

King Ahasuerus: Queen Vashti has blatantly defied me and refused the order I gave her through my assistants! Tell me, good men, what do the laws of this land suggest should be done to a queen who has disobeyed her king?

Memucan (before the king and nobles): Your queen has wronged you, my king. She has also offended every noble of the land and all the people who reside in your provinces. Something must be done! If we don’t act quickly, every woman in this kingdom will hear about Queen Vashti’s disrespect for you and they will follow her example in dishonoring their husbands. I can hear the women now, talking among each other: “Why should we listen to our husbands when Queen Vashti doesn’t come when King Ahasuerus calls for her?” This day the noble women of Persia and Media who hear what the queen has done will respond in kind to your nobles, and there will be chaos all across the land.

But my king, don’t worry; I have an idea! With your permission, of course, I recommend that a decree be issued among the Persians and the Medes, a law which cannot be repealed, that forbids Vashti from ever being allowed in your presence again. In fact, I would further suggest that you give her position to another woman, someone who is more honorable than she is. As your subjects hear about your decree in the far reaches of your kingdom, all the women will stop and give their husbands the honor they deserve, those of royal blood as well as the commoners. Oh, this is a great idea!

Memucan’s advice was well received by the king and his advisors.

King Ahasuerus: That is a brilliant idea! I say we make Memucan’s counsel into law!

The king drafted letters and sent them to all of his provinces. His emissaries spread the news quickly at the king’s directive that each province receive the decree in their own script and language: “In Persia every man will be master of his own home and speak in the language of his own people—regardless of the language his wife speaks.”

The Book of Esther, Chapter 1 (The Voice)

we are meant to be submissive, humbled before our True King as Creator, as Lord. although men of this world have at times in History used their position to be cruel towards women, which is a great tragedy. God made us equally in His image as male & female. and we only truly find ourselves in grace as daughters & sons of Light.

my personal reading of the Scriptures for monday, march 29 of 2021 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible, along with Today’s Psalms and Proverbs

A post by John Parsons that takes a look into an ancient poem and song:

During Passover week it is customary to read the ancient “love song” of King Solomon called Shir Ha-Shirim (שיר השירים), or the “Song of Songs.” In Jewish tradition, since Passover marks the time when our “romance” with God officially began, the sages chose this song to celebrate God's love for his people. And since Passover is also called Chag Ha-Aviv, the festival of spring, the Song is also associated with creativity and hope associated with springtime (Song 2:11-12). One way to read this poem is to see the king, who had disguised himself as a lowly shepherd to win the heart of the Shulamite woman, as a picture of Yeshua who took the form of a lowly servant to demonstrate his eternal love for those who are trusting in him... Indeed, the Song of Songs is linked to the “lilies” (i.e., shoshanim: שׁשׁנים) mentioned in Psalm 45, which presents a Messianic vision of the Divine Bridegroom and offers an “ode” for a forthcoming wedding.

The essential meaning of Passover is of course rooted in the greatest love story ever told - about God, creation, the loss of Adam and Eve, the call of Israel, and the coming of the Messiah who would sanctify us as His own people, deliver us from the plague of death, and redeem us from the penalty of sin. Yeshua’s mesirat nefesh ("giving over of soul" in sacrifice) and his triumph at the cross made the new covenant with God possible. As our Suffering Servant, He gave up His life for ours in exchange, redeeming us from the sickness unto death and making the way for our everlasting healing.

Whether or not you are able to attend a Passover Seder this year, please understand that there is always a place for you at His table. After all, Yeshua made a place for you within His heart when he died for you on the cross, and that is what Passover is really all about anyway. Pesach Sameach b’Yeshua, chaverim! -- Happy Passover in Yeshua, friends! [Hebrew for Christians]

3.29.21 • Facebook

Today’s message from the Institute for Creation Research

March 29, 2021

Remembered Through All Generations

“I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.” (Psalm 45:17)

The 45th Psalm is a beautiful Messianic psalm, speaking prophetically of the coming Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, the psalm is quoted by the writer of Hebrews, calling Him “God” and promising not only eternal remembrance but also everlasting dominion: “But unto the Son, he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom” (Hebrews 1:8, citing Psalm 45:6).

But the writer also said He would be remembered in all generations. That has proved true so far! As others have frequently noted, this man lived on Earth only 33 years, never traveled more than a few miles from His home, never wrote a book, never raised an army, never ruled over so much as a village let alone a kingdom, never married or had children, never enrolled for any formal education, and finally was executed as a criminal.

Yet, He has indeed been remembered through all generations following His all-too-short career 2,000 years ago—and remembered with love and deep reverence and gratitude by millions of people in all nations ever since. Furthermore, though He never wrote a book, others have written innumerable books about Him, while another psalmist assured us that His words would also be preserved “from this generation for ever” (Psalm 12:7).

And all this has come to pass! Herein is a marvelous thing! Indeed, He was, and is, God, and this was demonstrated by His flawless character, His amazing teachings, His unique miracles, His volitional, sacrificial death, and His mighty defeat of death itself by His bodily resurrection and ascent into heaven. HMM

A tweet by illumiNations:

@IlluminationsBT: There are 31,102 verses in the Bible–verses we turn to every day to give us hope and strength. Now imagine your life if you didn't know a single one. Learn more at https://illuminations.bible/know #iwtkbible

3.29.21 • 11:01am • Twitter

An additional post by John Parsons about finding the True hope of life beyond death:

Though we can't control what happens in this dangerous world, we can trust that God is working all things together for good, even during times of severe testing, even in things that are blatantly evil, and even in the midst of mass hysteria (Rom. 8:28; Gen. 50:20, Jer. 29:11). And while we instinctively recoil at the prospect of physical death, there are decidedly things worse than death itself, namely, losing hope in life, walking in the darkness of despair, living a joyless existence because of fear, and ultimately facing God as a shameful coward who shrank back from the truth. As much as we abhor evil - and we must resist it with all our hearts - even more must we love the good - and cling to God (וּלְדָבְקָה־בוֹ) with all that is within us.

Ultimately, the most important thing to remember regarding death is the truth about God’s salvation (יְשׁוּעָה). After all, God assuredly hates death and provides each of us with its eternal remedy: By clothing himself in human flesh, Yeshua embraced mortality itself and willingly bore the penalty for your sins, exchanging his life for yours, thereby destroying the one who had the power of death, namely the devil, and by so doing, set you free from slavery to the dread of death (Heb. 2:14-15). To those who belong to belong to Messiah, death represents a passage to eternal life and the loving presence of God Himself.

Only the miracle of faith can see hope in the face of radical evil... and yet that is the very message of the cross of the Messiah... Our Lord demonstrated that He is the the Killer of death itself; the Slayer of the Serpent; and the ultimate Triumph of God's Light over the realm of despair and everlasting darkness... He is the First and the Last, the Living One who died, and behold is alive forevermore, the true Keyholder of Death and Hell (Rev. 1:18). [Hebrew for Christians]

3.29.21 • Facebook

[movietvtechgeeks]

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/donald-trump-ready-different-america/

Is Donald Trump ready for a very different America?

President-elect Donald Trump has a penchant for the 1980’s, but as his inauguration looms closer, it’s very noticeable that America is very different than it was back in the days of Reaganomics.

The week after Donald Trump was elected president, Dr. Mai-Phuong Nguyen and two dozen other Vietnamese-Americans active in liberal causes gathered in a circle of folding chairs, consoling one another about an America almost beyond comprehension.

Now, days before Trump takes the oath of office, Nguyen sits in a restaurant booth in Orange County’s neon-lit Little Saigon and studies perhaps the most confounding face of the divide exposed by the election – her father’s.

“All I know is, if a man makes $100 million he is really something,” Son Van Nguyen, 76, says of Trump.

Here in a county transformed by waves of newcomers, the elder Nguyen – a government translator airlifted from South Vietnam with his family in 1975 as Communist forces pressed in on the capital – built a new life as a record-setting life insurance salesman, watching people strive and struggle.

“And I know a lot of people out there sit there and wait for welfare,” he says, explaining his hopes that Trump will rein in such spending and create jobs.

“But he is trying to prevent other people from coming in and enjoying some of the same things you came here for, Dad,” says his daughter, a 47-year-old physician who pushed for health care reform and fears Trump will take away the medical coverage it extended to millions of Americans. “If he does wrong, are you going to support him?”

Their disagreement is a reminder that for Orange County, just as for the rest of the country, there has never been a moment quite like this one.

When Hillary Clinton won this county of 3.2 million in November, it marked the first time the OC had backed a Democrat for president since Franklin Roosevelt. Best known for Disneyland, and long a hothouse of conservatism in a blue state, it was the largest county in the country to flip.

The shift was expected eventually. Orange County’s citrus groves turned to tract housing decades back to welcome a mostly white influx from Los Angeles and Midwestern states. Today, though, Santa Ana’s quinceanera shops reflect a county that is a third Latino. One in five Orange Countians is Asian.

The hopes and anxieties stirred by Trump’s inauguration spotlight even more complicated tensions.

Most Vietnamese traditionally voted for Republicans, viewed as opponents of communism. But many of their adult children, also refugees, see Trump as rejecting American ideals and people like them.

Local Republicans, who once embraced the John Birch Society and recently erected a statue of Ronald Reagan in the park where he launched two White House bids, long espoused a muscular conservatism. Most voted for Trump, but not without soul-searching.

At Jimmy Camp’s house, a “No Trump” sign made by Camp’s son still hangs in the window. Heading out to feed his family’s a goat and potbellied pig, Camp recalls his start in Republican politics three decades ago – knocking on doors for candidates to earn cash.

Camp played guitar in a rock band then and embraced platforms calling for government to stay out of people’s lives. He’d always loved the outdoors in a county that stretches from the ocean to the Santa Ana Mountains. After meeting county native Richard Nixon, he read up on the disgraced president’s often forgotten chartering of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Camp became one of the state’s busiest Republican political consultants. Then, last summer he emailed fellow Republicans, renouncing his party membership because of his disgust with Trump.

“If you go through and look at everything Jesus said in the Bible, this guy is opposite of it,” says Camp, 52, a pastor’s son.

Camp, who has friends from Iran and Egypt, cringes at a president who would castigate Muslims as supposedly tied to terrorists, though he doubts Trump will fulfill his most extreme rhetoric.

“I hope he doesn’t drive us off a cliff,” Camp says. “I hope that we survive the next four years. I think we will.”

Others voice confidence in Trump.

Gloria Pruyne says her family had reservations about Trump’s morality early on. But the conservative activist ended up knocking on more than 500 doors to get out the vote. Now Pruyne, 78, says she wants Trump to install a conservative Supreme Court justice, revoke an Affordable Care Act she blames for a $500 increase in her family’s monthly insurance bill, and back Israel.

“We’re looking forward to a radical change with this president,” she says.

With the inauguration approaching, Ron Brindle has no plans to remove the 5-foot-square portrait of Trump from his oil well fronting a main road in Huntington Beach. Brindle bought this land for his tree nursery business more than 40 years ago. Today, it is surrounded by tract homes, many owned by Asian families.

“Now I don’t have anything against any of them, but what happened to the country?” Brindle says.

The first thing Trump should do, he says, is close the border so Americans no longer have to foot the bill to care for foreigners. But Brindle also hopes that Trump will reach out to skeptics.

Steven Mai is ready to listen. Mai, a 42-year-old registered Republican, rejected Trump for criticizing the Muslim parents of a slain American soldier.

But Trump will be his president, Mai says.

Still, if Trump really wants to lead, he should come to places like Orange County, says Mai’s wife, Tammy Tran. He could work in a sandwich shop for a few hours or see what it’s like to care for an elderly person. Maybe then, the couple say, Trump will understand his responsibility to the many Americas.

“I just hope he’s going to be the president that my parents were thinking,” Mai says. “If he can be a good president, then we all benefit.”

The Big American Party Switch

Towns along the Susquehanna River are filled with people whose grandparents worked in coal mines, garment factories and small manufacturing companies. But those jobs are long gone in Luzerne County, and Wilkes-Barre, the county seat, has seen its population drop by more than half. Dozens of public officials have fallen to scandal.

All of which helps explain how Ed Harry – who, at 70, has spent most of his working life as a union president and a Democratic party activist, running phone banks for candidates and even serving as a delegate for Bill Clinton in 1992 – became an unlikely apostle for Donald Trump.

When the billionaire businessman and reality TV star entered the presidential race, “I laughed, like everyone else,” Harry says. Then he took note of Trump’s opposition. “The Rs said they hated him, the Ds wanted no part of him, the lobbyists didn’t like him. China came out against him, India came out against him, Mexico came out against him.

“And I said, ‘I think I might have a candidate.'”

Harry, who had grown disillusioned with what he saw as Washington’s broken and corrupt politics, switched parties, publicly endorsed Trump and resigned his labor post. He expects the new president to renegotiate trade deals and reduce corporate taxes, which he believes will help lure back manufacturing jobs. And he is not alone.

In Luzerne County, Trump crushed Hillary Clinton by 20 points – in no small part because lifelong Democrats like Harry believed she was the candidate of Wall Street, ignoring the working class while taking its vote for granted. As Trump enters office, these largely older, white, blue-collar voters want him to keep his promise on manufacturing jobs, rebuild deteriorating roads and bridges, crack down on illegal immigration and “drain the swamp.”

“There’s no hope the way things were,” Harry explains. “It had to be something different.”

And listen to Tom Pikas, who is also counting on Trump to bring change. The 61-year-old Wilkes-Barre native remembers a time when you could easily get a decent-paying job right out of high school. He worked in a shoe factory, then for an electrical contractor, and downtown Wilkes-Barre pulsed with life. “This used to be a nice town,” Pikas says.

More recently, Pikas has toiled in a series of temp jobs, the last one paying $8 an hour. Now looking for work, he found himself at the unemployment office this month, enrolling in a jobs program for seniors. The waiting area was packed.

He has faith that Trump will find a way to turn things around but also counsels patience. “Some people expect he’s gonna do miracles the first month,” Pikas says. “No. No. You gotta at least give the guy a year.”

At a bar up the street, William Chase, 55, a construction foreman recovering from surgeries to his back and both knees, says most of the people in his circle are as hopeful about the future as he is.

“I want to be proud of my area again,” he says.

But just 90 minutes or so down the road, one hears a very different set of voices.

In the wealthy Philadelphia suburbs, where million-dollar homes are advertised for sale and luxury cars fill the parking lot of an organic grocery, the pocketbook issues raised in Luzerne County take a back seat for many.

As Inauguration Day draws near, many people in Chester County – Pennsylvania’s richest, where Clinton won by roughly 9 points despite a Republican majority – remain unsettled by Trump’s volatility, demeanor and offensive comments about women, immigrants and others.

“He kind of frightens me,” says business owner Keely Comstock Shaw, 34, who voted a straight Republican ticket, except for the top office.

“I see him as really breaking all the rules, throwing them all aside, and that’s what is scary to me,” adds Kate Young, a 43-year-old Democrat and stay-at-home mom who lives in West Chester, a bustling college town.

The 2016 election compelled Young to become politically active for the first time. Upset that her candidate won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College vote, she joined an organization that’s fighting to end gerrymandered legislative districts.

Young predicts Trump will ignore global warming, roll back environmental protections and create a hostile environment for women and minorities. She also doubts he will be able to produce the manufacturing jobs that voters in places like Luzerne County say they want, citing the rise of automation.

“If that’s what people were hoping to get,” she says, “I just think the world economy is moving in a different direction.”

Movie TV Tech Geeks News

[nataliesnews]

Wadi, Jew from Afghanistan, boy in the striped pyjamas, the blue box, Alsiena 9.9.2021

I had a very pleasant experience in the wadi yesterday.  I met a man coming from the little Shul in the area and he asked if I had heard the shofar. I said yes from afar and from many of the small shuls around the area. He took out his shofar and blew it for me. I told him I am not religious but that was a bracha. So many of the religious men in the wadi on shabbat and on chagiem act as if they do not see me. I asked if I could photograph him and he said sure.

  The papers keep writing about the last Jew from Afghanistan. He has refused for years to give his wife who lives in Israel a divorce. By archaic Jewish law only the man can divorce a woman. Now he is begging some American Jew to bring him to America. As far as I am concerned if this rabbi had any decency he would demand that he first give his wife a divorce before he brings him to America and if he does bring him he should be boycotted by all Jewish communities which have any decent values. They say he had a miraculous escape. A great pity. And he does not want to come to Israel because he will maybe be forced to give her the divorce. Check out the PDF

  I am watching “The boy in the striped Pajamas” and it is not easy. The boy asks his father whom the people are whom he sees in the camp and the father says “They are not real people.” Which is what many people here on the right think about the Palestinians.  The mother does not realise that Jews are being burned and I ask how decent Germans  could not have known what was happing. Then I think that people do not know what is happening in the occupied territories  and if they know they do not do anything to stop this but hide their heads in the sand or find reasons for it. We, the Jews, are as bad as every other nation. No. We are worse because we know what  happened to us and we have not learned from it.. Maybe the extremists on the right or those who find excuses for them should watch the movie and see themselves in the Nazis.  For example when the lieutenant beats up the Jewish doctor because he has spilled the wine….or is it because suddenly he himself finds that others do not think he is such a good German. And I have to asks myself if I were there at that time would I have had the courage to stand up and be counted. Because yes I go to demonstrations but I know that I am in a privileged place……I am a Jew and an old woman. Two factors which protect me from being beaten up at a demonstration ….although I know from experience that it will not save me from being beaten up by an extremist Jew. But would I have the courage. And I find myself asking as I watch the two children….how did they get  the little boy in the concentration camp  to act such a painful role. Did anyone explain  to him. And I ask how Germans of that generation who felt guilty manage afterwards with parents who had been ardent Nazis

 The day before I had been watching a documentary which appears on utube . It is about the Blue Box for the Keren Hayemet in which I dropped pennies as a child with such wonderful ideas about the Jewish state we would build. This link says it all and I ask myself had I seen what would happen in our new state would I have come. At the time yes. After the terror of the Holocaust when we thought our people would be wipe out for sure. Even in the first years when I saw things so differently when I thought too that it was either them or us. It was a different period. I long for the days when with so many ideals and such dreams that we were truly a people who would bring light to the world….when my conscience was so clear.

 https://povmagazine.com/blue-box-review-the-big-moral-problem-of-history/

 It is so true what Weitz saw in the end…that the occupied territories would not bring us joy and as his granddaughter says he bought us the Blue Box but today we have the black box. How even then could we speak about a country for a people without a country in a country without people. How could he have spoken of sending them back to their own countries.  No wonder that at one stage he said that the silence of the destroyed villages scared him. At least then there was the thought of giving them compensation…….not like today when we throw them off their lands and out of their houses for the settlers.  But again different times I guess

 And it always surprises me how some people will just live in their own cocoons and will not take responsibility.  A friend took the trouble when I invited him to a picnic to say that it had to be without fire. I told him as I had done in previous years to other friends that these instructions are about live fire and not about barbecues in what we call a mangel. He argued with me and I said anyone who does not agree with this does not have to come. Also that in twenty years and more of picnic we have never had a problem. Soneone is always next to the fire or keeping and eye on it including I myself and Chaim who does the braai always has water and fire dousing material with him. You don’t have to agree  with this but what struck me was that when we were driving back later in the evening of the picnic I saw the woods, not even in a designated picnic spot, a live fire being made. I immediately said that we should call the fire brigade and the reply was that they do not interfere or phone the authorities. I was shocked and immediately did so myself  and before we had exited the area I saw the police on their way.

 I was reminded how years ago we had neighbours above who were always having terrible fights and one could hear the little girl crying in fright. I went to the opposite neighbours and asked if we should not contact the police and they said they did not interfere in family fights. I phoned myself and in a very short time that police arrived and there was silence. Afterwards the woman actually ran up and down the stairs to ask who had phoned the police.

 There is also the woman who screamed at me once when I saw a child of about three playing on the pavement next to the road all alone and I insisted we stop the car to see if there was anyone near him and she wanted to know why I was interfering!!  And if there is a tragedy afterwards people ask why no one did anything.

 And again on a light note. I have been listening on audible to Anne Perry’s Inspector Monk. She herself with a friend was convicted at the age of 15 with a friend for the murder of the friend’s mother. A strange story. It happened in New Zealand. Anyhow they were both released from jail and she rehabilitated herself and is now an acclaimed authoress. Her heroine is a nurse whose surname is Latterly . The author has done an amazing amount of research about the period. The Crimean war with Florence Nightingale appearing in one of the books ….but what is so interesting is the attitude towards nurses as at time when women were not allowed to study medicine and yet on the battlefield nurses sometime even acted as surgeons….the attitude to women is of course also part of the book. Anyhow why I started laughing when I was listening  was because Kelly (late Oscar’s daughter) was looked after by a black nurse Alsiena who could not say my name and called me Latterlie. One day I heard her saying to Kelly , “Kelly if you don’t behave, you will grow up to be like Latterlie.

 And on that note   bye for now

 Natalie

   Wadi, Jew from Afghanistan, boy in the striped pyjamas, the blue box, Alsiena 9.9.2021

                  https://variety.com/2021/film/reviews/hot-docs-review-1234964681/