#jews of color resources

[scrumpster]

Jewish Resources (Assorted)

Since my last post seemed to be helpful to a lot of people, I thought I’d make another to share some additional resources. This list includes a bunch of stuff, meant for Jewish people in general. I would definitely encourage you to explore them! There’s a lot of useful stuff here. Goyim are welcome to reblog, just please be respectful if you’re adding tags or comments. Jewish Multiracial Network, an organization for multiracial Jewish families and Jews of Color Sefaria, a free virtual library of Jewish texts Sephardic Studies Digital Library Museum “The SSDC includes key books, archival documents, and audio recordings that illuminate the history, culture, literature, politics, customs, music, and cuisine of Sephardic Jews all expressed in their own language, Ladino.” (from their website) The SMQN, an organization for LGBTQ+ Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews Keshet, a group for LGBTQ+ Jews JQY, a group for LGBTQ+ Jews with a focus on those in Orthodox communities  Queer Jews of Color Resource List (note: this list is way more than just resources, there’s a LOT there) JQ International: “JQ celebrates the lives of LGBTQ+ Jews and their allies by transforming Jewish communities and ensuring inclusion through community building, educational programs, and support and wellness services, promoting the healthy integration of LGBTQ+ and Jewish identities.” (from their website) Jews of Color Initiative, an organization dedicated to teaching about intersectionality in the Jewish community, focuses on research, philanthropy, field building, and community education Nonbinary Hebrew Project: It’s hard to describe, but they’re working to find/create/add suffixes that represent nonbinary genders in Hebrew. If you speak Hebrew/another gendered language, you might know what I mean about gendered suffixes. Jewish Mysticism Reading List  (These are related to our closed practices, goyim should NOT be practicing these things) Ritualwell (you can find prayers and blessings related to specific things here, I personally like that they have blessings related to gender identity)  Guimel, an LGBTQ+ support group for the Jewish Community in Mexico. The site is in Spanish. I’m not a native speaker, but I was still able to read a little bit of it.  SVARA: “SVARA’s mission is to empower queer and trans people to expand Torah and tradition through the spiritual practice of Talmud study.” (From their website) TransTorah is definitely an older website, but there are still some miscellaneous pdfs and resources up on the “Resources” page. Jewish Disabilities Advocates: “The JFS Jewish Disabilities Advocates program was created to raise awareness and further inclusion of people with disabilities within Jewish organizations and the larger Jewish community.” (from their website) Jewish Food Society (recipes, have not spent a lot of time browsing here but maybe I should in the future) Jewish Blind & Disabled, an organization that operates mainly in providing accessible housing and living. Jewish Braille Institute International: “The JBI Library provides individuals who are blind, visually impaired, physically handicapped or reading disabled with books, magazines and special publications of Jewish and general interest in Audio, Large Print and Braille formats.” (from their website) Their services are free!)

[hebrewbyinbal]

Todays watercolor art infused with Hebrew is something I use everyday to bring my lessons online. My trusty camera!

#camera

[thepomegranatewitch]

outdoor bingo cards!

Image description. Four images with a leaf green background, coloured line art pink California rose with red hips and hazel leaf sticker in bottom right with where to get a copy, a red chop in bottom right, and poster's handle in bottom left in black serif font. Each image has a screenshot of a different black on white lineart bingo card. of 24 lineart tiles.

I will admit right now that I think going someplace and playing bingo is pretty boring. But hand me a bingo sheet, a pencil, and tell me to go for a walk and I will speedwalk my way to blackout bingo. I think it's pretty important and pretty fun to be able to identify the plants and animals around you, with an emphasis on what's edible and what's poisonous - I have my priorities. So I made my kids these bingo sheets, and want to share with you!

Then I thought, why waste a perfectly good piece of line art? So I made 8 pages of four tile colouring pages, with the 32 most interesting to colour tiles from the bingo cards.

Image description. Two images with a leaf green background, coloured line art pink California rose with red hips and hazel leaf sticker in bottom right with where to get a copy, a chop in bottom right, and poster's handle in bottom left in black serif font. Each slide has a screenshot of a different black on white lineart four-tile colouring page. The first page shows a sword fern, Fragaria, hawk, and California hazel on the first page. The second colouring page has a California poppy, a California rose, California white sage, and a seed eating bird, which is a sparrow.

We've been having a lot of fun with these - well, the preschooler is, the toddler is more interested in finding a good stick and mishroom hunting still (good sticks are important!). Grab yourself a copy too - it's a 10-page pdf with 4 different bingo cards and 32 colouring tiles, print yourself on 8.5x11 paper. While this was designed for the California woods, it can be enjoyed in much of the wooded United States West Coast areas.

[sarroora]

Zionism is NOT Judaism. Opposing the crimes of Zionists does NOT make you antisemetic - it makes you an individual with morals who doesn’t stand for colonialism, genocide and ethnic cleansing.

If you can understand that a group like ISIS is not Islam, you can understand that Zionism is not Judaism.

Zionists want you to believe that this is all a sort of ‘religious’ battle. No. Palestinians are comprised of Muslims, Christians and Jews. But didn’t you know? Even Palestinian Jews aren’t the right race or language or color, apparently. Guess you gotta be a white European-descent settler to count.

No matter the race or ethnicity or religion of the foreign settler, the real problem here is the occupation. Stealing people’s lands, driving them from their homes, killing their families, stealing their resources, trapping them in an open air concentration camp (Gaza), terrorizing them, etc. That’s the real issue, and Zionists are utilizing everything in their propaganda media warfare to not show you.

[blachernaepalace]

reading comrades and enemies by zachary lockman and it is driving me insane that the south african analogy has been there since before israel was A FUCKING STATE "To support his argument Arlosoroff cited the case of South Africa, where as he saw it conditions most closely paralleled those which con­fronted the Jewish workers in Palestine. The white workers there were unable to compete in a labor market dominated by abundant and cheap African and Indian labor. They had therefore organized and used their political clout to secure the imposition of a 'color bar' which excluded nonwhites from supervisory, skilled, and well-paid jobs. Similarly, if Jew­ish and Arab workers in Palestine competed within the same labor market, the result would be not only the cessation of Jewish immigration—for Jews would not come to or stay in Palestine if they could not find decently paid jobs there—but also substantial Jewish emigration, making realiza­tion of a Jewish majority unlikely. Joint organization could never over­come the dynamics of the capitalist labor market. The only way out of this dilemma, Arlosoroff insisted, was for the Zionist labor movement to devote its resources and energies to developing a separate high-wage, high-productivity, and exclusively Jewish economic sector, which would coexist with an unproductive and low-wage Arab sector for decades to come. This was in fact already happening, but Arlosoroff wanted the movement to be much clearer about its goals and methods, and above all to give up on what he saw as the dangerous delusion of joint organization."

[sygol]

freedom for palenstine, fuck israel, fuck the US, fuck NATO and the "west", i HATE nations. fuck facists. i love blacks jews mexicans arabs and all races of ppl, i believe in a future where the "purity of the white race" vanishes. faggots and trannys 4ever. we should not live in cultures where people are demarcated by sex and race, that shit does not make any sense, its important for me to know who will collect fish and who will fix my shoes, not if someone has a cock or if their skin color is different. i love homeless ppl, disabled ppl, fat ppl, and the mentally ill (especially the really crazy bitchez) christianity is the religion of colonizers, if u practice, you better keep that shit chill and not be all weird about morality and fate to others around you. "kink" is an entirely arbritrary distinction and children seeing sex or nudity is important for their understanding of the world and development, western family structures are terrible, it isolates children and perpetuates familial abuse, 18 yr olds are not magically "adults" and vica versa, our understanding of adolescence is arbritrarily dictated by the system we find ourselves in, in the US, children are used as "sinless vessels" to enact control. abortions are epic, fuck psychiatry, abolish prisons, no cops, no military, drugs should not be a legal issue, help and support should be accessible, housing for all, food for all. fuck ad campaigns, fuck intellectual property, fuck corporations, fuck nuclear power and electric cars, fuck car dependent infastructure, the only futuristic world we are moving towards with technological advancement is a world in flames. there is no coming "utopia" or "rapture", we must make the best of what we have now and address the suffering of the world. slavery and the strip mining and resource extraction of the world must stop, i don't need gizmos and 2 day shipping and clothes that fall apart and tv media and special coffee, i need love

you have a problem with this? leave, unfollow. i wont debate you, i don't care what you think, fuck off

[spacelazarwolf]

monthly e-begging bc the paycheck for my new job won’t go through until the 1st of may, at which point i will actually be able to afford rent 🎉

if you are feeling generous, i have a ko-fi you can donate to, a patreon you can subscribe to (new post coming this weekend — celebrating pesah as a non ashkenazi jew among mostly ashkenazim, including resources about a variety of sephardi pesah traditions), and i also sell homemade crochet! i have mostly done kippot and blankets but i’m open to other stuff as well. i can do commissions like the ones pictured below but i’ve also included a few that are already made and ready to ship.

$50/300

(please check the original post to see updated total)

tallit (in progress, still need to weave in the ends, block, and add tzizit) — available ($75)

kippah with star of david pattern — commission

multicolored kippah — available ($20)

blanket — personal project in progress, but i can make more with different color combinations

[fatehbaz]

Thinking about the Holocaust in Africa.

Here, European notions of anti-Blackness and antisemitism became intertwined.

There was a fusion between the dispossession and racism of European imperialism and colonization projects of the late nineteenth century, and the prison regimes imposed by European fascism in the early twentieth century.

Scholars Sarah Abrevaya Stein and Aomar Boum have recently written much about the importance of recognizing the trauma of labor and internment camps in North Africa during the second world war.

And I want to express my gratitude for their work. I want to share some of what they’ve written in a couple of recent articles.

In their words: “Nazism in Europe was underlaid by an intricate matrix of racist, eugenicist and nationalist ideas. But the war – and the Holocaust – appears even more complex if historians take into account the racist and violent color wheel that spun in North Africa.” [1]

France's prison camps in North Africa were filled with Algerians, local Jews, deported European Jews, Eastern European refugees, domestic political dissidents from France, people fleeing fascist Spain, Moroccan residents, Senegalese subjects of French rule, other West Africans displaced by French occupation, and more.

The anti-Blackness and antisemitism that had fueled Europe's colonial expansion was finding new expression in fascist Europe.

---

Seems France is a central antagonist in the story of evolving approaches to empire, racism, and resource extraction.

After their 1940 alliance with the Nazis, the Vichy French government maintained technical control of French colonies across Africa. Beginning in 1940, the French government “alone built nearly 70 such camps in the Sahara.” [1] This was in addition to another six labor camps which the French government built in West Africa (in Senegal, Guinea, and Mali).

---

By the beginning of the twentieth century, French-influenced or -controlled territory in North Africa was home to around 500,000 Jews, many of whom had been living in the region for centuries or millennia, speaking many languages, “reflecting their many different cultures and ethnicities: Arabic, French, Tamazight – a Berber language – and Haketia, a form of Judeo-Spanish spoken in northern Morocco.” [1] The Vichy French government officially stripped North African Jews of formal citizenship and seized their assets.

Then, deporting residents of Europe and political dissidents in “early 1941, the Vichy authorities transferred hundreds of Jewish and non-Jewish refugees, including women and children, to the Saharan labor camps.” [2] Under French rule “in Algeria [...], it was estimated that 2,000-3,000 Jews were interned in camps [...] resulting in a total prisoner population of 15,000-20,000.” [2]  France pursued an “unrealized dream of the nineteenth century” [2]: the completion of the Mediterranean-Niger railroad line in the Sahara, a transportation route across the vast desert to connect the prosperous West African port of Dakar with the Mediterranean coast of Algeria.

Meanwhile the “Vichy regime [...] continued racist policies begun by France’s Third Republic, which pushed young Black men from the empire into forced military service,” including forced recruitment from “Senegal, French Guinea, Ivory Coast, Niger and Mauritania; [...] Benin, Gambia and Burkina Faso; and Muslim men from Morocco and Algeria. In these ways, the French carried on a wartime campaign of anti-Blackness and Islamophobia, pairing these forms of racialized hatred from the colonial era with antisemitism. Antisemitism had deep roots in French and colonial history, but it found new force in the era of fascism.” [1]

---

In late 1942, during the Nazi occupation of Tunisia, the SS “imprisoned some 5,000 Jewish men in roughly 40 forced labor and detention camps on the front lines and in cities like Tunis.” [2] The fascist Italian government had been experimenting with racist and anti-Black policy in their colonization of East Africa; these policies were expanded in Libya. Here, “Mussolini ordered the Jews of Cyrenaica moved” as “most of the 2,600 Jews deported [...] were sent to the camp of Giado” while “other Libyan Jews were deported to the camps of Buqbuq and Sidi Azaz.” [2]

---

Stein and Boum describe the diversity of prisoner experience: “In these camps, [...] the complex racist logic of Nazism and fascism took vivid form. Muslims arrested for anti-colonial activities were pressed into back-breaking labor” and “broke bread with other forced workers” including ‘Ukrainians, Americans, Germans, Russian Jews and others [...] arrested, deported and imprisoned by the Vichy regime after fleeing Franco’s Spain. There were political enemies of the Vichy and Nazi regime too, including socialists, communists, union members [...] overseen by [...] forcibly recruited [...] Moroccan and Black Senegalese men, who were often little more than prisoners themselves.” [1]

As Stein and Boum describe it: “Vichy North Africa became a unique site [...] where colonialism and fascism co-existed and overlapped.” [2]

They write: “Together, we have spent a decade gathering the voices of the diverse peoples who endured World War II in North Africa, across lines of race, class, language and region. Their letters, diaries, memoirs, poetry and oral histories are both defiant and broken. They express both faith and despair. All in all, they understood themselves to be trapped in a monstrous machine of fascism, occupation, violence and racism.” [1]

---

[1]: Sarah Abrevaya Stein and Aomar Boum. “80 years ago, Nazi Germany occupied Tunisia - but North Africans’ experiences of World War II often go unheard.” The Conversation. 15 November 2022.

[2]: Sarah Arbevaya Stein and Aomar Boum. “Labor and Internment Camps in North Africa.” Holocaust Encyclopedia online. Last edited 13 May 2019.

[blackcultureis]

Black and Palestinian Solidarity

It has been said before by many more articulate than I, but I will say it again: when a Black person sees the plight of the Palestinians, we see our own struggle reflected in it.

We see it in the colonization and robbing of resources from a homeland.

We see it in apartheid.

We see it through the tear gas and police tactics used by our oppressors.

We see it in families torn apart, in homes raided and stolen.

We see it in how "objective" and "fair" journalists dance around the truth of our plights, even when it is right in front of them.

We see it in ethnic cleansing.

We see it in genocide.

We see it in how our voices are silenced and no one else will listen.

"Solidarity is not a market exchange" (Robin D. G. Kelley). When we fight for our freedom, we understand that it is not ours alone. We are fighting the same fight, against oppression, against white supremacy, against colonization. Our struggles are intertwined. Free Palestine.

Sources:

I implore you to do your own research. However, here are some things to get you started.

for information on police raids and the undermining of the Black community, watch the documentary 13th. it's free on YouTube.

Sterilization of Ethiopian jews.

Israeli authorities and the crimes of apartheid and persecution

History of Black solidarity with Palestinians and Jews

Israel and Palestine events of 2021 (displacement, raids, etc.)

Israel, American police, and communities of color

Genocide in Sudan and Congo.

Israel and Palestine: a story of modern colonialism

[penguicorns-are-cool]

Instead of posting your criticisms of homophobia in judaism that are almost always misinformed and antisemitic, if you really want to combat homophobia in Jewish communities, here are some links to Jewish Queer groups that are doing exactly that. By supporting them and listening to them you will be combatting homophobia without risking being antisemitic and also not speaking over Jews

Jewish Queer Youth

JQ International

Keshet

Eshel

OrthoGays (very bright colors)

Keshet Ga'Avah (also very bright colors but like in the text)

Sojourn

Svara

I got all of these from a very quick google search, and there's so many I didn't include. There's literally a wikipedia page for this, although it's not a very complete one.

Like, learn some more about queer jewish communities and what we're doing to combat homophobia and advocate for LGBT+ rights and how we're doing all this before making your little criticisms. better yet, instead of making those criticisms, support these organizations and share their resources, you'll be helping so much more than when you make rants on tumblr that inevitably end up being antisemitic in ways you don't even understand.

[scrumpster]

LGBTQ+ Jewish Resources and Organizations

Happy Pride! Here's a few links I've collected to hopefully reach whoever in the Jewish community may need them. If you're considering donating a bit of money or volunteer time this Pride, please consider looking into these efforts (at your own discretion, as many of these may be local to specific areas). Please feel free to add on to this list, and any queer Jews reading are welcome to link their personal donation posts in the comments.

The SMQN, an organization for LGBTQ+ Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews

Keshet, a group for LGBTQ+ Jews

JQY, a group for LGBTQ+ Jews with a focus on those in Orthodox communities

Queer Jews of Color Resource List (note: this list is way more than just resources, there’s a LOT of helpful stuff in here) JQ International: In their own words, "JQ celebrates the lives of LGBTQ+ Jews and their allies by transforming Jewish communities and ensuring inclusion through community building, educational programs, and support and wellness services, promoting the healthy integration of LGBTQ+ and Jewish identities."

Ritualwell (check out their blessings related to gender identity!) 

Guimel, an LGBTQ+ support group for the Jewish Community in Mexico. The site is in Spanish. I’m not a native speaker, but I was still able to read a little bit of it. 

SVARA: In their own words, “SVARA’s mission is to empower queer and trans people to expand Torah and tradition through the spiritual practice of Talmud study.”

TransTorah is definitely an older website, but there are still some miscellaneous pdfs and resources up on the “Resources” page.

SOJOURN: In their own words, "The Southern Jewish Resource Network for Gender & Sexual Diversity (SOJOURN) is the American South's resource for Jewish & LGBTQ+ programming, education, support, and advocacy."

[hebrewbyinbal]

Making my Friday is this wonderful picture I received on IG from @biblebreath who also took my online course!

I’ve said it countless time but it’s always true, these pictures warm my heart and make my day ❤️

Thank you for trusting my resources to help learn & love Hebrew!

hebrewbyinbal.com/order

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Sociopaths across the globe finding posters of these kidnapped children. Babies, Holocaust survivors and tearing them down. I saw, they were all over the upper east side, the same posters of the 8-year-old girl, the 9-month-old baby, and someone had literally gone to the trouble of printing it out with the word "occupier" under it, if you would believe that.

And let me explain to you exactly why this is happening. These people have woke mind-virus.

In the woke mindset, there's no difference between right versus wrong. They see the world only through the lens of powerful versus powerless, and then they superimpose race onto that.

So, anybody who is a "person of color" has less power and thus is inherently virtuous, no matter what they do, and anybody who they perceive as a "white" person is inherently morally compromised and an oppressor and has no virtue and is evil.

And they code Jews and Israel as "white." And just like all white people, there's no such thing as an innocent white person or an innocent Jew to these woke people.

And so what they do is, when there's evidence of a Jewish victim, what could be more pure and innocent than a 9-month-old baby, they literally have to destroy the evidence because it destroys their mindset, their worldview.

And let me just tell you one more thing. You know, there's a lot of people walking around saying the Jewish people are shaking, the Jewish people are scared. We're not scared. We are livid. And if these sociopaths think we're going to cede this great nation to them, they're in for a big surprise.

--

"Another aspect of the construction of whiteness is the way certain groups have moved into or out of that race. For example, early in our history Irish, Jews, and Italians were considered nonwhite—that is, on a par with African Americans. Over time, they earned the prerogatives and social standing of whites by a process that included joining labor unions, swearing fealty to the Democratic Party, and acquiring wealth, sometimes by illegal or underground means. Whiteness, it turns out, is not only valuable; it is shifting and malleable." -- "Critical Race Theory, An Introduction" (Third Edition), by Delgado and Stefancic

-

The Role of the Moslem Woman: Article Seventeen: The Moslem woman has a role no less important than that of the Moslem man in the battle of liberation. She is the maker of men. Her role in guiding and educating the new generations is great. The enemies have realised the importance of her role. They consider that if they are able to direct and bring her up the way they wish, far from Islam, they would have won the battle. That is why you find them giving these attempts constant attention through information campaigns, films, and the school curriculum, using for that purpose their lackeys who are infiltrated through Zionist organizations under various names and shapes, such as Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, espionage groups and others, which are all nothing more than cells of subversion and saboteurs. These organizations have ample resources that enable them to play their role in societies for the purpose of achieving the Zionist targets and to deepen the concepts that would serve the enemy. These organizations operate in the absence of Islam and its estrangement among its people. The Islamic peoples should perform their role in confronting the conspiracies of these saboteurs. The day Islam is in control of guiding the affairs of life, these organizations, hostile to humanity and Islam, will be obliterated. -- Hamas Covenant 1988

Critical Race Theory and Hamas both echo the same "Jews control the world" conspiracy theories as the far-right.

[girlactionfigure]

Sewer Worker and Savior: Poldek Socha

He brought them everything they needed.

Leopold “Poldek” Socha was a mild-mannered maintenance man who saved the lives of eleven Jews by hiding them in the underground sewers of Lvov, Poland during the Nazi occupation.

An uneducated Pole living in poverty, the only job Poldek could get was cleaning up the underground sewage system in Lvov. The pay was so low that he supplemented his income with theft and burglary.

The Germans occupied Lvov in 1941 and immediately forced all of the city’s Jews into a squalid, overcrowded ghetto teeming with disease, death and misery. Ignorant and barely literate, Poldek had something more valuable than education, something the oh-so-sophisticated Nazi leaders lacked: a moral compass. Outraged by the Nazi occupiers’ persecution of the Jews of Lvov, Poldek – who didn’t know any Jews personally – decided to do something about the injustice he witnessed. He visited the Jewish ghetto and after befriending some of its desperate occupants, he vowed to find a way to rescue Jews. He had no money, resources, or influence; all this humble man had was a desire to save the lives of complete strangers. Poldek convinced a fellow sewer-worker, Stefan Wroblewski, to help carry out his brave mission, although they still weren’t sure exactly how they’d accomplish it.

The aspiring heroes got their answer when the Nazis began the Aktion, liquidation of the ghetto, which meant transporting the inhabitants to concentration and death camps. The night the Aktion started, in June 1943, Poldek was cleaning out sewage canals when he saw a family of Jews trudging through the stinking filth, heading toward the river. They had escaped the ghetto through the floorboards. Knowing that the riverbank was crowded with police and Gestapo storm troopers, Poldek approached the terrified Jews and told them not to go that way. Instead, he said, they should stay underground and he would take care of them.

Poldek brought the Jews food and clean clothing. Others found out about the safe hiding place and joined them until there were twenty people living in the sewer. Poldek, his wife Magdalena, and Stefan and his wife took care of all the hidden Jews’ needs. At the beginning, the Jews paid them, but their money soon ran out and the brave Polish couples continued paying for everything from their own meager paychecks.

Hiding in the sewers was a temporary way to stay alive, but it was horrible. It was dark, cold, wet, and the fetid smell was overpowering. There was nothing to see or do, and the sheer terror of being discovered never left them. One of the Jews, eight months pregnant, was there with her elderly grandmother. The conditions were so harsh and unsanitary that both the baby and the grandmother died. The Sochas and the Wroblewskis went to great trouble to remove the bodies from the sewer in the dead of night, and bury the tiny infant and his aged great-grandmother. Other Jews couldn’t take the brutal conditions in the sewer and they decided to find another safe haven, but getting out of the sewer was fraught with danger and they died on the way out. When he found their bodies, Poldek made sure they received burials.

Besides providing the hidden Jews with food, medicine, clothing, blankets and other necessities of life, Poldek went out of his way to enable them to practice their faith. He rummaged through empty tenements in the ghetto – the residents had been sent to concentration camps – until he found a dog-eared prayer book. During Passover, when the Jews couldn’t eat bread, he brought them potatoes.

Among the Jews hiding in the sewers was the Chirowski family of four. The Chirowski children were 4 and 7 years old. It was very difficult to keep the children occupied and entertained for over a year in their filthy, smelly underground hiding place. Mother Paulina Chirowski spent the days telling her children colorful stories and keeping up their schooling as much as she could. In Paulina’s testimony to Yad Vashem years later, she recalled that much of the family’s time was spent huddling under the sewer grills and listening to street noise, their only link with the normal world above. One particular painful moment among many she mentioned in her testimony was when she and her little daughter overheard a mother and daughter above chatting happily about which flowers to get on their way to church. The child was distraught, not understanding why a different little girl and her mommy were able to live freely and enjoy life when she was stuck living in literal excrement day after day. To soothe the girl, Paulina promised her that they too would be free one day – although she wasn’t sure if she believed it.

Finally, after the Jews had been underground for thirteen months, Lvov was liberated by the Russians and it was safe to come out of the sewers. Of the 21 Jews who found refuge in the sewers, 10 survived, including the entire Chirowski family.

The war ended in 1945, and the next year Poldek and his daughter were on their bicycles when a freak tragedy occurred. An out-of-control Soviet military truck careened towards them. Thinking quickly, Poldek used his bicycle to push his daughter out of the way, saving her life but sacrificing his own. He was only 36 years old.

Poldek Socha and his wife Magdalena were honored by Israeli Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations in 1978. Three years later, the Wroblewskis were also honored.

In 2011 Poldek Socha was the subject of the movie “In Darkness,” a drama by acclaimed director Agnieszka Holland, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

For saving eleven Jews, at great risk to themselves, we honor the Sochas and the Wroblewskis as this week’s Thursday Heroes.

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #1150: The Devil's Sister (?) (Super Smash Bros Ultimate X Tekken)

3:23 p.m. at the Smash Mansion's Dining Halls.......

Zelda: (Sighs While Crossing her Arms and Walking Along with Mewtwo and Ganondorf) For the last time, Ganon, Mewwy and I are not interested in joining your little heist tonight.

Ganondorf: Oh come now, you two, it'll only be one night and the obtaining the sacred jew will be twice as short and less time restraint than originally planned with your assistance around and about.

Mewtwo: But everyone else in the League will take part in this too, right? Couldn't you have one play the distraction role instead?

Ganondorf: I already assigned everyone to their roles ages ago and even then, I can't really say I trust either of them with this task in question. Bowser and Ridley wouldn't be able keep their mouths shut for the likes of them, Dark Samus' shape-shifting abilities would rise suspension, and the Devil Brat-

The trio's eyes begins to widened as they see Kazuya repeatedly banging his head on the table while everyone else present watching him and Hades chuckling maniacally at the scene itself.

Ganondorf: (Raises his Eyebrow in Confusion) Is not currently banging his head on the table like a madman, what's going on here?

Mewtwo: (Notices a Young Woman Sporting a Purple Colored Tips Faded into her Black Hair, Standing Behind Kazuya with a Smirk on her Face) And who's this?

Hades: (Gets Up From his Seat) Ohohoo! You three are in for a helluva treat right now! Princess, gentlemen, allow me to introduce you Reina Mishima.

Reina: (Causally Waves at the Three) 'Sup.

Zelda: Wait, Mishima? Does that mean you're-

Reina: (Smiles Brightly) That's right!~ I just so happen to be Kazuya's baby sister~ (Was About Ruffle The Top of Kazuya's Head Until....)

Kazuya: (Angrily Points at his "Sister") DON'T!....Touch me.

Reina: (Moves her Hand Away From Kazuya) Fine. Whatever you say, Onee-san~

Kazuya: DON'T CALL ME THAT EITHER!!!

Ganondorf: Okay, I'm confused. (Turns to Kazuya) You have a sibling this entire time?

Reina: Make that "siblings" actually. There's many of us around believe or not.

Mewtwo: (Raises an Eyebrow) How many are we talking exactly?

Reina: Oh I dunno~ Nine....Eighteen.....Maybe twenty-five of us perhaps~

Everyone: TWENTY FIVE!?

Hades: Yeeeeeeup!~ And none of them belongs to Kazumi either. Old Hachi-Boy might've gotten over that train wreck real quick that day cause he was getting BUSY in these past few years!

Bowser: Oh God the Child Support Payment must've been off the roof for the guy. (Eyes Suddenly Starts to Widened) Does even PAID Child Support to begin with?

Sephiroth: Given the the history we were given about him so far, I wouldn't be surprised if that turns out to be the case.

Pichu: (Nodded in Agreement) Pi.

Reina: Nah I wouldn't say that's the case entirely. The old fart never activately been around in any of our lives, bit he has provided all of us the funds and resources we needed to survive in the outside world. Well.....(Smirks Down at a Severely Pissed Off Kazuya) Almost all of us.

Zelda: (Still Surpised at What is Happening Right Now) This is all so much to process at once.....I need something to snack on ASAP!

Mewtwo: Got it. (Summons a Bag of Chips in Front of Zelda With a Snap of his Finger)

Zelda: (Catches the Bag Before Letting Out a Loud Gasps and Pulling her Best Friend into a Very Loving Hug) Mewwy, I love you with every fiber of my soul!~ Let's go!~ (Grabs Mewtwo by the Hand and Rushes Over to the Leagues of Villains' Table to Having a Much Better Viewing Experience)

Ganondorf: So....Given that you're Heihachi's daughter, have you learned a thing or two about his family fighting style as well?

Reina: For the most part. I took a few lessons from his training guide videos a while back and it's been proven beneficial so far. (Let Out a Bit of a Chuckle) A few of peers would usually go on and on saying that learning Martial Arts is a waste of time, but I dunno. It feels nice to fight your own battles for once. (Wiggles her Fingers a Little Before Balling her Fist Up, Creating a Small Purple Electricity Around the Knuckles) It's also satisfying to crush any weak, small fry that tries to get in my way.

Ganondorf: Assertive dominance and power hungry.....(Forms an Evil Smirk on his Face) Not bad. Ever thought about joining our League-

Kazuya: NO! NO! NO! She is NOT joining our group!

Ganondorf: (Casually Shrugs) Don't see why? We ARE in need of new recruits.

Ridley: Plus, she does seems to fit the qualifications of a villain so far, so-

A Devil Beam starts coming towards Space Pirate's direction before quickly dodging it completely.

Ridley: (Glares at Kazuya) What the hell, man!? I was just saying!

Kazuya: (Glares Back at Ridley) And you need to learn when to keep your mouth shut, bird!!

Ridley: Hey, don't get pissy at me for stating the obvious! And I'm a freaking dragon!....I think?....

Reina: Oh come now, Kazu, there's no need for you get so mad~ I personally don't see anything wrong with us working together from time to time.

Kazuya: (Turns to Reina) I do not associate myself with snot-nosed brats. Let alone one who doesn't seem to know her PLACE!

Reina: No need to get so hostile. Your crew mates here were only presenting me an offer I have no reason to refuse.

Kazuya: And I decline you from EVER joining our ranks!!

Bowser: (Nervously Raise Up his Finger) I don't really think you have a say in the matt-

Kazuya: SHUT UP!

Kazuya angrily shoots another Devil Beam at Bowser, whom quickly dodges it as well.

Reina: ('Sigh') Honestly. Have you always throw hissy fits whenever things don't go your way? At your own age nonetheless?

Mewtwo: You think that's immature? You should've seen all the times him and his subordinates drinking celebrating around your father's grave every chance they get.

Reina: Really?....Can't tell if that's sad or pathetic.

Mewtwo: I say it's the latter.

Kazuya shoots yet another Devil Beam at Mewtwo, only for Zelda to stop it from hitting him by using her manipulation power with the palm of her hand

Zelda: (Glares at Kazuya While Slowly Erasing the Beam Entirely) Don't. Even.

Reina: (Gives Zelda a Impressed Smile on her Face) Gotta say, that's some nifty telekinesis powers you got there, princess.

Zelda: (Turns to Reina with a Bright Smile on her Face) Thanks!~ Mewwy's been teaching me a thing or two on how to use them more fluently

Reina: (Chuckles Lightly While Pointing at Mewtwo) This cutie suppose to be your teacher or something?

Zelda: Not just that. (Happily Hugs Mewtwo Again) This cutie is also my bestest friend in the whole wide world!~

Mewtwo: (Looks Away While Blushing) Nothing about me screams cute, Zelda......

Reina: Intellect and cool collected. (Turns Back to her Shakingly Enraged Older Brother) You should learn a few things from him, Kazu. Maybe then you wouldn't be deemed as a failure to the Mishima Family's name. (Casually Shrugs) Hell, I wouldn't even be surprised if your mother thought the same way too before she di-

Before Reina could even finish the rest of her sentence, Kazuya delivers a powerful, electric surging punch towards her face, only for the young woman to catch it at the last second woth an iron grip, much to everyone's surprise.

Bowser: (Immediately Gets Up From his Seat) Oh shit!

Ridley: Another escalation happening here, people!

Sephiroth: (Rolls his Eyes) No surprise there.

Hades: And the sparks begins to fly at long last!

Ganondorf: (Smirk Grew Wider) Excellent.

Reina: Well, would you look at that!~ (Forms an Evil, Cocky Smirk on her Face While Still Holdong onto Kazuya's Fist) We're actually getting somewhere here.

Kazuya: (Tries His Very Hardest to Power Through Reina's Grip While Grunting) Sister......or not.....I WILL kill you.....With my own BARE HANDS!!!

Reina: You're more than welcome to try. But I must warn you though.....I never take my punches lightly....nor do I take lightly to those who are all talk....So unless you wanna know what it feels like to grovel on a solid floor, cut the bullshit, try your hardest, and push me towards my. Absolute. Limit.

Kazuya: Gladly.

Kazuya uses his other fist to try and punch Reina for the second time and-

冬夜!!

Kazuya's eyes suddenly starts to widen as he turns to see a ghost of his own mother, Kazumi, stand beside him, silently shaking her head at in disappointment. It was long for only son take a deep breath and loosen the force of his punch.

Kazuya: No. I won't kill you. Not yet anyways.

Reina: (Raises an Eyebrow as She Slowly Starts to Losen her Grip) Really? You're giving up just like that? Pretty disappointing if you ask me-

Kazuya: Quiet, you insufferable brat! That's not what I'm doing! I'm only putting this on hold for now. But the next time I see you, I won't be so merciful.

Reina: (Stares at Kazuya Fore a Brief Second Before Sighing in Defeat) Fine. Whatever you say, Kazuya. (Finally Let's Go of Kazuya's Hand) I have a busy schedule on my hands already. (Properly Bows to Everyone Else at the Table) So I must bid ypu all adieu for now.

Ganondorf: (Walks Up to Reina) Wait. Before you go anywhere, here. (Gives Reina the Leagues of Villains Business Card) The offer still stands for you to join our League if you like.

Reina: (Smiles Brightly at Ganondorf) Why, thank you very much, Senpai!~ (Place the Business Card in her Jackey Pocket) I'll be sure to keep you all in touch going forward. In the meantime, I'll actually take my leave for real this time. (Walks Away Before Suddenly Stopping in her Tracks) Oh and......Onee-Chan? If you still wanna try and kill me with your own bare hands, you know where to find me. (Turns Back to Kazuya One Last Time With an Evil Grin on her Face) And I'll be sure show not to show you any form of mercy on my end either. (Turns Away Before Walking Away, Waving Goodbye to Everyone)

Zelda: (Happily Waves Goodbye to the New Girl Along With Almost Everyone Else) Byeeee, Reina!~ It was nice meeting you!~

Hades: Come back amd humble Kazu-boy anytime you want!~

Sephiroth: Till we meet again I suppose.

Pichu: Pi-chuuuu!~

Ganondorf: (Let's Out a Satisfied Sigh) Well now. I suppose an agreement is in order. All in favor letting Reina join the League: Say 'Aye'! (Raises his Hand Up)

Everyone: (Raises Their Hands Up as Well) Aye!/Pi!

Kazuya: (Angrily Transform into his Devil Form) ('GRAAAAAAAA') FUCK IT! I'm going out for fresh air and you all can kiss the stone cold part of my ass!!

Kazuya sky rockets himself out of the mansion, breaking parts of the ceiling as it falls down on the table.

Ganondorf: ('Sigh') Great. The devil brat's tantrum destroyed the ceiling again. All in favor in telling the ladies what happened- Not it!

Bowser: Not it!

Zelda: Not it!

Mewtwo: Not it.

Hades: Not itttt!~

Sephiroth: Not it.

Pichu: Pichu!~

Dark Samus: Not it....

Ridley: Not it- Ahhh Damnit! Again with this!?

Bowser: (Shrugs) Sorry, man. Rules are rules.

Dark Samus: I'll miss you~

Ridley: (Sighs in Defeat While Getting Up From his Seat) Yeah, yeah, I'll miss you too, babe. (Starts Walking Off) I swear, I can't have anything good in this place.....

@cyber-wildcat

@caleb13frede

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@bestpony666

@thelexhex

[mariacallous]

(JTA) — This past week we entered the Hebrew month of Kislev, the month here in the Northern Hemisphere when we often experience the longest, darkest nights of the year. As the light contracts each day, I experience a tightening in my gut, an anxious fluttering of the heart. Time feels compressed, as if there aren’t enough hours in a day to do everything that needs doing. When the light fades at the end of these foreshortened days, I draw the blinds and turn on the lamps, wanting to make my home into an island of warmth and light in the face of the encroaching darkness.

My trepidation at the onset of night echoes the primal fear of the dark ascribed to the first mythic humans, Adam and Eve. A talmudic tale, found in Avodah Zarah 8a, imagines the two of them becoming frantic as darkness falls at the close of the first day of their lives. They’ve disobeyed God by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and now they’re terror stricken. “Woe is me,” Adam wails, “that because I’ve sinned, the world is darkening around me! The world will return to chaos and emptiness; this is heaven’s death sentence upon me!”

In this midrash, Adam experiences the arrival of darkness as punishment. His words conjure up the kind of existential shudder that can overtake a person in the dark, as the familiar shapes and colors of the daytime world dissolve into the trackless night. No wonder that darkness is often a metaphor for the scariest of times, times like the present, when awash in grief, fear and anger, we bear witness to the atrocities of war, to hatred unleashed and suffering magnified, to shattered dreams and dampened hopes. “These are dark times,” we tell one another.

Perhaps it’s only natural that humans try to beat back the dark with our hearths, campfires and brilliant winter light displays. We Jews do this beginning on the 25th of Kislev, when we kindle Hanukkah candles in remembrance of the Hasmoneans’ military victory over the Seleucid Greeks and the rededication of the Jerusalem Temple. But on a more primal level, we do this to remind ourselves that even a tiny flame instantly dispels the deepest dark, offering hope, a light at the end of the tunnel.

And yet it strikes me that many of our tradition’s most transformational and transcendent moments unfold in the dark, in a dream space rich with spiritual potency. In Toldot, this week’s Torah portion, for instance, we meet Jacob, whose journey toward self-realization is bookended by two stirring night episodes. Fleeing from his wrathful brother, he has a prophetic dream in which angels ascend and descend a ladder stretching between heaven and earth while God looms over him, promising protection. Returning home some 20 years later, he engages in an all-night wrestling match with a mysterious being, perhaps his own shadow self, who ultimately blesses him as the dawn breaks, renaming him Israel, the one who strives with God and prevails.

Despite the anguish that darkness evokes, the dark times offer unique opportunities. They slow us down, inviting us to rest in the moment. Sometimes they force us to face painful truths. They challenge us to deepen our prayer life, strengthen our faith and resolve, and discover inner resources and possibilities for transformation we might not know we possess.

Years ago, I practiced walking in the woods at night without a flashlight and discovered that when I could breathe deeply and relax into the darkness, over time my eyes would adjust and I could see much more than I thought possible. Not just my eyes, but my whole body began to see in the dark in ways that I couldn’t in the light of day. I could find my way.

Adam and Eve, so the story goes, sat across from one another on that first traumatic night, fasting and weeping. When the dawn finally broke, they realized that the freshly created world was not coming to an end and that the alternation of light and dark, day and night, was simply the way of the world. Had they not felt so guilty and terrified they might have been able to look around with curiosity as the light waned, noticing how their eyes were primed to pick up many subtle shades of gray, the palette of darkness. Their vision might have gradually adjusted to the dark and, in the subtle glow of starlight, they might have been able to pick out the familiar, reassuring features of the other’s face and been calmed and comforted, even in the midst of their distress.

Could it be that in our yearning for the resurgence of the light, we fail to recognize and fully receive the gifts of darkness? That in drawing my blinds against the terrors of the night, I also shut out the vastness of the cosmos, the glimmering pinpoints of distant stars, the radiant winter moon, and the intimate, enveloping quiet of the dark?