Are we experiencing a ‘Jewish Identity Theft’ / along with a cultural appropriation of time and place — and ‘who they calling a Jew, now’)
Who owns Jewish history?
Who owns Jewish time?
Who owns Jewish identity?
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This Shabbat is called: Shabbat HaChodesh (the “Sabbath of the Month” שבת החודש) and precedes the first day of the Hebrew month of Nisan — which is the month in which Passover is celebrated.
- Importantly, we now see the concept of time emerge in a new religious consciousness.
- Quite unusual for a people who have little knowledge or experience with time.
- In this particular reading, the Maftir of this Shabbat, Gd presents for the first time, a commandment to “sanctify the new moon” Nisan. For us, Nisan becomes the first month of the Jewish calendar.
- Historical note: It would be difficult, if not impossible, to appreciate what we refer to as ‘freedom’ under any circumstances, without marking and commemorating time (Book of Exodus ch 12:vss 1-20).
In essence, these 20 verses, to be read out loud this coming Shabbat, mark the beginning of a journey to return to their ancestral tribal lands (the Land of Israel), as a people (the People of Israel) to worship their own Gd (the Gd of Israel). In other words, it will be permanently implanted in our calendar, which we still use to this day.
A New Calendar / An Old Land / A People Renewed
Currently, we are now confronted with an updated modern mythos of antisemitism (aka Jewhate) masquerading as a redefining of identity and reimagining of the Land and the People.
Here, the Myth: Jesus, a Palestinian. Now, the facts:
- Jesus was born a Jew and died a Jew, hailing from the Israelite Tribe of Judah and born in the Israelite Tribal Territory of Judea.
- Fact: Palestine and Palestinian are names the Romans imposed on the terrorized Jews of Judea and a Judenrein Jewish population of the Land of Israel.
- These slave imposed labels were meant to suppress and humiliate the Jewish population under a brutal and suppressive Roman occupation (‘Pax Romanus’ or ‘the Peace of the Roman Empire’).
And it continues, albeit differently . . .
In the Washington Post, Paula Fredriksen cautions against the current redefining efforts to label Jesus as a Palestinian, especially at a time of Easter, (a Christian version of the Jewish Pesach or Passover) which falls (today) Sunday.
Washington Post Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/03/28/easter-jesus-not-palestinian-jew/
Reporting on what she wrote: “Why rehearse this well-known history? Because now, in the current crisis, even Jesus is being enlisted for attacks on Israel. Calling Jesus a ‘Palestinian’ or even a ‘Palestinian Jew’ is all about modern politics. Besides being historically false, the claim is inflammatory. For two millennia, Jews have been blamed for Jesus’ execution by the Romans; casting him as a Palestinian just stokes the fires of hate, using Jesus against Jews once again. It is, further, an act of cultural and political appropriation — and a clever rhetorical move. It rips Jesus out of his Jewish context. And it rips 1st-century Jews — and 21st-century Israeli Jews — out of their ancestral homeland, turning them into interlopers. This is polemic masquerading as history.” [WashPost]
Excerpt: By Jesus’ lifetime, the Romans labeled this whole area, coast and highlands together, as “Judaea,” a Latinization of “Yehudah.” The people living in Judaea were called “Iudaei”: “Judeans” or “Jews.” Their temple in Jerusalem, the focus of their ancestral worship since the first millennium B.C., was sacred to Jesus, which is why the gospels depict him as journeying there for pilgrimage holidays. An ethnic Judean, Jesus was, accordingly, a Jew.
Where, then, did the name “Palestine” come from? From a foreign imperial colonizing power: Rome. Judeans revolted twice against the Romans. The first revolt, from A.D. 66 to 73, reached an awful climax with the destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. Still, Rome kept “Judaea” as the region’s designation. But in A.D. 132-135, the Jews again revolted. By that point, Rome had had enough. The empire changed the administrative name of the region to “Syria-Palestina” — a full century after Jesus’ death. It was a deliberate way to “de-Judaize” the territory by using the throwback term for the coastal Philistines.
What does this mean? It means that Jesus was not “Palestinian.” Nor was he a “Palestinian Jew.” This is so for a simple reason: There was no political entity called “Palestine” in his lifetime.
If Jesus was born in Bethlehem, he was born in Judaea as a Jew. He certainly died as one, under Rome’s heavy hand — the political condition that led to the two Jewish revolts.
It was Roman colonizers who changed the name of Judaea to Palestine.
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Looking forward to seeing everyone this afternoon, today at 3:30 PM
Note 1: it is VERY Important to click in, even if you cannot be there. It does help with our recordings and greatly assists with our funding source data for grant applications.
Note 2: As I began to update everyone in our last email (regarding future sources of funding and all related to our proposed hopes of expansion), . . . I will continue to update everyone about our new and future opportunities. Some of you have responded and I do thank you, as it is all very appreciated.
As I have written, I am hoping for a full participation in our gatherings, our field trips, and our ongoing studies.
