🛑 Stand Against Terrorism! ✋🏾

בס"ד

Bring Them Home Now!


As of today, 10 January 2024, approximately 136 of those estimated 250
who were kidnapped on 7 October 2023 remain in Gaza.


Sunday, 14 January 2024, will mark their 100th day in captivity.


~ ❧ ~


"We are the families and friends of hundreds
of innocent abductees taken hostage by Hamas..."


מטה המשפחות להחזרת החטופים
והשבויים. עזרו לנו להחזיר את הילדים, האחים
וההורים שלנו הביתה. עכשיו


Bring Them Home Now / המטה להחזרת החטופים והנעדרים
(Official Website; posts in English, Hebrew, Arabic):
https://www.tinyurl.com/3hx9b72h

Bring Them Home Now / המטה להחזרת החטופים והנעדרים
(Official Facebook Page; posts in English, Hebrew, Arabic):
https://www.facebook.com/bringhomenow


Original Graphic Artwork and Photos:
Courtesy of Bring Them Home Now / המטה להחזרת החטופים והנעדרים

~ Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham, ISRAELrealNATION,
10 January 2024, 1 Shebat 5784
#BringThemHomeNow


© 2009-2024
ISRAELrealNATION / Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham

One View on You People (2023)

בס"ד

You People (2023) depicts an unlikely romance between a liberal Ashekanzi Jewish man and a liberal African-American Muslim woman with multi-racial heritage and a father who follows the Nation of Islam — certainly a believable Los Angeles story and couple in the context of the Jewish and African Diasporas. True to its genre, the film serves a unique Kosher and Hallal mixed dish of romance and comedy which made me laugh at various points throughout. However, given the narrow focus of the film upon its liberal setting, neither the words "Kosher" or "Hallal" are actually ever mentioned in the film, if I am not mistaken...and here, opportunities for a few moments of culturally relevant comic relief and uplifting lighter laughs in a key, heavier and more intense, scene of the film are surely missed...

In short, the field of view of the cultural lens is not as broad and the writing of the script is not as "tight" as it should have been for a story dealing with serious issues such as race, religion, and class, and this sadly leaves the film on a precipice at risk of falling into the damagingly uneasy and rigidly stereotypical. The loss of rythm and timing in certain scenes of the film is evidence of such, and also likley further indicates a discernible level of discomfort with the material among both writers and cast in these specific scenes of the film. From a Jewish perspective, the film is particularly troubling in certain respects.

First, the film contains a Holocaust engagement ring joke which is in very poor taste, and, quite frankly, which is inappropriate, in my humble opinion. However, one must keep in mind that this joke is introduced by the Jewish character in the film — a film written by a Jewish man, Jonah Hill, and an African-American man, Kenya Barris. Both Hill and Barris are seasoned at their craft, and are award-winning artists, but this joke tests the boundaries of humanity for any author...In Europe, such a joke might even test the boundaries of the law.

Moreover, the film's taking levity to the portrayal of Jewish people as sexually deviant is also disturbing, particularly as such is a topic introduced in a religious context, during a High Holidays scene at the liberal (seemingly Masorti) family synogogue of the groom, at the beginning of the story.

Nevertheless, I am not in agreement with criticisms accusing the film of generally depicting Ashkenazi Jews as "bad" and "racist", and African-Americans — whether secular, Christian, or Muslim — as generally "good" and as "having no issues" with race, religion, or class.

Eddie Murphy's character — Nation of Islam member and father of the bride — is complex, and does have more depth than that for which the mainstream media is crediting screenwriters Hill and Barris. Murphy's character truly struggles with his daughter's choice to marry an Ashkenazi Jewish man throughout the film. The only difference is that concerns about "racism" and "anti-semitism" are never overtly directed at Murphy's character in the film, and to the film's detriment, in my humble opinion. The word "anti-semitism" is never said in the film, if I am not mistaken, but the words "racism" and "racist" are voiced multiple times, representing a character flaw clearly assigned to Jewish people in the film. Today, some people within the Jewish community do sadly refer to Muslim people as "cockroaches" (even in French: "cafards"). Some people within the Nation of Islam also sadly refer to Jewish people "termites" (in English). We should have a problem with both...equally.

Concerns about "racism" are directly addressed to Julia Louis-Dreyfus' character — well-meaning liberal Ashkenazi Jewish mother of the groom, who is awkwardly made to speak on behalf of all Jewish people and on behalf of all "white" people on various occasions throughout the film, one of the film's great shortcomings, in my humble opinion. African-Americans who have grown up in predominantly European-American or "white" American social settings can easily relate to the unsettling dynamic of being asked or presumed to speak on behalf of an entire race or people. If Dreyfus' character was intended to reflect some type of role reversal in this regard, such simply does not work in the film, as the mother of the groom is not speaking as a minority who is being forced or presumed to represent her entire community in the West Los Angeles context. Jewish life and culture thrives in West Los Angeles...

Nia Long's character as mother of the bride is also not developed enough, and her voice as an African-American Muslim woman simply fades too far into the background (shouldn't the two mothers at least have met for a luncheon...?), as does the voice of the father of the groom, played by David Duchovny (shouldn't the two fathers at least have met for a drink...?).

Another shortcoming of the film is that it rests too heavily on popular depictions of African-American culture — in aesthetic, in dialogue, in music (including Jay-Z and Kanye West's emblematic two-time Grammy award-winning "Niggas in Paris", which was cut into the film prior to Ye's most recent series of controversial statements about Jewish people, and the ensuing aftermath). There should have been more balance here, with strong aesthetic representations of both popular Jewish-American, and particularly contemporary Ashkenazi Jewish-American, and African-American culture throughout the work. But a scene containing Yiddish, traditionally spoken by Ashkenazi Jews, was allegedly cut out of the film.

Finally, recalling the classic film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), and its more modern remake Guess Who (2005), a dinner table scene — a Shabbat dinner by candlelight in which parents of the bride bring up the history of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade (put fort as the reason why African-Americans don't like boats), and in which the parents of the groom bring up the history of the Holocaust (put forth as the reason why Jewish people don't like trains), digresses into an extremely uncomfortable discussion, including the imposition of an implied comparison of human tragedies and suffering (because none of the characters makes an overt comparison here), and ends with a kufi gifted to the father of the bride by Louis Farrakhan, himself, accidentally set afire and bursting into flames. The scene causes members of the audience to cringe in their moviegoers' "seat at the Shabbat table", an experience true to the discomfort of what can and does happen in real life when such difficult discussions unfortunately go awry, even among family (or family-to-be) or the best of friends. I could have used those "Kosher" and "Hallal" jokes somewhere about here...

Should the film be pulled or re-edited? As an artist, my personal answer to this question is unequivocally, "No". Jonah Hill is a Jew, and most definitely has a right to his own voice in the portrayal of his understanding of the Jewish experience, whether or not I or any other Jewish person personally agree with his perspective. He is talking about his own world, and has crafted a fictional story within that world, which he is free to tell.

The themes of oppression, threat of cultural assimilation, and the desire to preserve religious tradition in the face intermarriage are difficult ones which move beyond the concept of race, not only for Jews, but also for Muslims. In the Orthodox Jewish context, one remains committed to marrying another Jew, a belief also held by more religious Muslims. But this is not the liberal mindset or world of the young couple depicted in You People (2023).

In the end, whatever one's personal view, one must give both Hill and Barris props for attempting to tackle such difficult themes and subject matters, and for coming together as partners in a project which, in its own way and by its own understanding, is ultimately encouraging people to see and accept one another as human beings, as equally significant and beautiful parts of G-d's Creation. A story with the same goal told by an Orthodox Jew would be a different story, but the larger goal is something to which any Jew, whatever their level of observance or religious affiliation, can relate.

~ Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham, ISRAELrealNATION,
5 Feb 2023, 15 Shebat 5783
Tu BeShebat Sameah!


© 2009-2023
ISRAELrealNATION / Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham

On the Removal of Ilhan Omar (D-MN)from the House Foreign Affairs Committee

בס"ד

On the Removal of Ilhan Omar (D-MN)
from the House Foreign Affairs Committee:

@WashingtonPost

Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham (Official),
12 Shebat 5783 / 3 Feb 2023

@ruthrachelaa (Official Twitter):
https://twitter.com/ruthrachelaa/status/1621537015207444487?cxt=HHwWjoCy2d7U7YAtAAAA

ISRAELrealNATION (Official Facebook Page):
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=499642915670194&set=a.783784091645078



~ Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham, ISRAELrealNATION,
3 Feb 2023, 12 Shebat 5783


© 2009-2023
ISRAELrealNATION / Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham

Celebrating the "New Year"

בס"ד

Upon the occasion of Gregorian "New Year's Eve" 2021-2022, we were drawn into a lively discussion celebrating "New Year's" traditions around the world and across different cultures.

During the course of this discussion, we were not sure that we agreed with another participant's representation of the Jewish New Year, "Rosh HaShana" (literally, the "Head of the Year" in Hebrew) as a "solemn" occasion.

While it is most definitely a religious occasion which marks the beginning of the most meaningful period of prayer and repentance for Jewish people — 10 days called the "Yomim Noraim", or the "Days of Awe" (and, more literally, "Days of Enlightenment") in English, Rosh HaShana is not "solemn", a word which would more properly refer to "Yom Kippour", the last of these 10 days of repentance.

We celebrate the two days of Rosh HaShana joyfully by sharing traditional meals with family, friends, and members of the community, the first day of Rosh Hoshana being marked by two formal "seders" (ceremonial religious meals with special prayers, "ritual order", and customs). As Persian people do for Nowrouz, we eat from an abundant table showing gratitude for the sustenance with which G-d has provided us, partaking of many symbolic foods which each correspond to specific prayers, such as:

- apples and honey, a prayer for a sweet New Year ("LeShana Toba OuMetouka");
- leeks, a prayer for protection against and defeat of our enemies;
- black-eyed peas and/or carrots, a prayer that our merits may increase;
- pomegranate, a prayer for the bounty and abundance of our blessings;
- fish, a prayer for fertility and children, that our family may live on in future generations;
- the head of a fish or goat, a prayer for blessing in leadership and stewardship...

The above list is indicative, and not exhaustive.

On Rosh HaShana, we also say a special prayer called "Tashlikh" over an open body of water, which can be the sea or a river, for example, in order to spiritually "cast off" our sins, which is a very beautiful tradition.

And, finally, as mentioned during the course of the discussion in question, we are called to the importance of this time, the beginning of the Jewish New Year and the next 10 days to follow, by the blowing of the "shofar" (typically, an ancient ritual "ram's horn"), which has actually been blown, in any case, during each day of the month prior on the Jewish calendar, the month of Eloul, a time of deep spiritual preparation for Rosh HaShana and the Yomim Noraim.

Thus, for Jewish people, the days of Rosh HaShana, though of very significant and serious religious weight, are also a very festive, joyful time...not "solemn" or "muted". The solemnity follows as the Yomim Noraim progress, ending with Yom Kippour, our most significant day of religious observance, prayer, and repentence during the Jewish calendar year...which is then immediately followed by another period of joy: Soukkot!



~ Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham, ISRAELrealNATION,
27 Tebet 5782, 31 December 2021


© 2009-2021
ISRAELrealNATION / Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham

(As edited and republished from the original text published in a commentary made by Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham to the Global News video reportage "How Different Cultures Celebrate the New Year" on 27 Tebet 5782, 31 December 2021.)

Global News (Official YouTube; video in English):
https://youtu.be/7SwFmMHEV_c?si=D4CESVF2ryO2oHtI

1919/COVID-19: Honor the Struggles (2020)

בס"ד

Sponsored by Bold World / ReelNATION.
Dedicated to Abraham ben Ruth, A"H.

"May our fight against novel Coronavirus / COVID-19
honor the struggles of those who came before us.

Be strong. Be safe. Be well."

~ Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham, ISRAELrealNATION,
8 July 2020, 16 Tammouz 5780


© 2009-2020
ISRAELrealNATION / Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham

Film Review In A Line (or Two...)

בס"ד

Israel: The Story of the Jewish People (1965)
by Julien Bryan

In his film Israel: The Story of the Jewish People (1965), Julien Bryan perceptively addresses the issue of discrimination against Musta'arabi, Misrahi, and Sefaradi Jews from the Middle East and North Africa, calling "integration" of these Jewish communities "Israel's most serious internal problem".

I believe that when Mr. Bryan says "internal problem", he means not only socially, within the Jewish community, but also geographically, within the boundaries of the State of Israel, save the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, which has taken on a more dominant "external" dimension (from an Israeli perspective) by 1965.


~ Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham, ISRAELrealNATION,
20 February 2020 (evening), 26 Shebat 5780


© 2009-2020
ISRAELrealNATION / Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham

"Our Jewishness": Part I

בס"ד

Our Jewishness is neither solely defined by what we "look like" in strictly physical terms (facial features, form and shape of the body, or any other purely physical aspect of our being), nor our place in Diaspora (it being understood that individual physicial traits or characteristics, experiences, and traditions in Diaspora are to be respected; one who is committed to preserving their Jewish history and tradition in Diaspora has every right to be and do so according to Halakha — this has nothing to do with the fallacy of the social construct of "race").

Our Jewishness is defined by:

1) our common descendance from Abraham veSara,

2) our acceptance of the obligations of Torah by "all those who were there, and all those who were not there" (Debarim 29:13-14, Shabuot 39a)...throughout all space and time..., and,

3) according to Halakha, the manifestation of both through our maternal descendance from a Jewish mother (whatever she "looks like") or conversion (which, according to some of our Sages, truly represents a Jewish soul finding its lost half, and, according to some of our Sages, represents a spark of holiness in the soul of a lost Jew or a Gentile...).

What does a "Nefesh Yehudi" (our "spiritual DNA"...) "look like"? It is invisible to the eye.

We are a nation of people BeMisrah, MeMisrah, LeMisrah...rooted in the East — mentally, physically, spiritually...

In our humble opinion, one should therefore refrain from strictly assigning a standard, limited physical characteristic, form, or racial construct to "Jewishness", to ourselves, as Jews (as those who hate us have sought to do throughout the centuries, and seek to do even today, such as Amalek openly revealing itself on this earth during the course of the Spanish Inquisition, the Shoah, the Jewish Nakba, the attacks on Habeshim in the Sudan as they made Aliyah to Israel (on foot!)...this past Friday's terrorist attack on the Hyper Cacher in Paris (!)) — the true science of genetics easily being misunderstood or manipulated, and falling into the evils of eugenics and racist, anti-semitic morphologies (some concepts of which have sadly been internalized by some of us, as Jewish people)...'Has veShalom.



~ Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham, ISRAELrealNATION,
15 January 2015, 25 Tebet 5775


© 2009-2015
ISRAELrealNATION / Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham

(As edited and republished from an original text published by Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham in the official ISRAELrealNATION Facebook Page on 15 January 2015, 25 Tebet 5775.)