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unbidden-yidden · 7 months

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I mentioned this in the tags of an earlier post, but I wanted to explain a bit more about the alienated, shattered, exiled, othered imagery of the Divine in Judaism, and how that image of the Divine speaks deeply to me as a queer, non-binary Jew.

The Shechinah, the Divine Presence, is described in feminine terms and She goes with the Jewish people into galus, exile, at the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. What does it mean, for us to imagine G-d as being in exile with us? It's a profound image. We are exiled from our land, from the Beis HaMikdash and the closeness to the Divine Presence that it allowed, yes. But we are not totally cut off; the grief we feel is shared by Hashem Herself as we build a sacred remnant together in the diaspora. What does it mean, for the Divine Presence to be in exile with us, instead of whole? What do we learn from the idea that the sacred feminine is broken, exiled, and alienated along with the rest of klal Yisrael from the masculine Malchus? What does it say that the world will only be perfected (takken olam) when Hashem is One and Ha-Shem is One?

There is another image of the Divine that I've described here before, the holy darkness. The sacred dark that was before the beginning, that begins our days with ma'ariv, and that teaches us the lessons of infinity as the backdrop of the universe. To me it is a beautiful image, this idea that we are all sheltering under the wings of the Shechinah - that our darkness is the protective dark of an embrace. That we are held in a sukkat shalom - a shelter of peace. Like our sukkot, this does not mean we are safe or protected from the elements, but more that our home - our true home - is under the stars, and that no matter what, we are not alone. This article had a lot more fascinating things to say about this as well.

And finally, this image of a hidden G-d, a G-d that weeps for our suffering in G-d's hidden place (mistarim), who speaks silently, in the still small voice within our hearts. There's a drash that I'm still trying to track down about this because it was from several years ago, but it was about this hidden place of Hashem that G-d retreats to in order to grieve the sorrows of the world and how, if we truly want to be close to G-d, we will sit silently in that hidden place alongside Him.

These images and metaphors for G-d are not what is typically imagined. Most concepts of G-d are majestic in scope and elevated in stature. They are filled with the piercing bright light of clarity and gilded with the gold of the Mishkan, the First Temple, and the Second Temple. But we live in a humbler time. Hashem is Avinu Malkeinu - our compassionate, forgiving Father and the Ruler of the Universe, but what does that divine concept do for us when we live in a broken and unredeemed world? How can that traditional understanding of G-d speak to us when we are calling out to G-d from the depths? And especially for those of us who are seen as broken, dwelling in darkness, often hiding our true selves, and exiled from where we belong, how much more powerful is an understanding of G-d that goes into that exile with us and holds us in our grief and hard-won joy, as we endure together?

#jumblr #every hour is theology hour around here apparently

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thebrightestwitchofherage · 3 months

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Responding to yet more unhinged Anti zionists arguments

Because I am not going to waste my precious time and energy on replying to each ignorant person who believes Hamas are a "brave resistance group"

For the millionth time: I do not support the genocide of Palestinians when I say Israelis shouldn't die. I am not deflecting or denying anything, I am making posts about how I and other Israelis have been impacted by October 7th and the war ever since. I am allowed to mourn my people.

Released female Israeli hostages aren't "weaponizing Feminism". Just because some were "only" sexually assaulted and threatened with rape, doesn't mean others aren't raped. Israeli women were targeted on October 7th. Their assault, mutilation, and violent rape were all planned. Hamas terrorists who were caught and interrogated have said so themselves in published recorded interrogations. *** Regarding Mia Shem- I've said before: mocking her appearance isn't making you the great humane person you think you are. I've had some nutjob tell me "Oh well in an interview she said she was only groped and others were raped. She's using feminism and things people care about in order to gain sympathy." She was: -Kidnapped from a party and shot. -Operated on by a veterinarian while in captivity for over 50 days. -Starved ,beaten, mocked , groped and sexually assulted while constantly threatened with being raped. And you're mocking her. Wow that is a new low. Believe Jewish women.

You are constantly backing up your "facts" and statistics with un-credible sources. Let me make this clear one final time: Al Jazeera = racist and antisemitic supports terrorism There isn't a Gaza Ministry of Health- it's Hamas.

Palestinians and Hamas specifically are very racist towards Afro-Palestinian / black people. A quick Google search will lead you to this:

Anti-Black racism in Palestine

The State of Palestine has a community of Afro-Palestinians, many of whom are descendants of the victims of the historical Slavery in Palestine, which ended in the 20th-century.[43]

Racism against African Americans in Palestinian media (Wikipedia)

Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, has been the subject of some viciously racial personal attacks, alongside vociferous criticism of her policies.[44] These included an anti-black racist cartoon in Palestinian Authority's controlled Press Al Quds. The New York Times reported in 2006:

Her comment that the Israel-Lebanon war represented the "birth pangs of a new Middle East"— coming at a time when television stations were showing images of dead Lebanese children — sparked ridicule and even racist cartoons. A Palestinian newspaper, Al Quds," which "depicted Ms. Rice as pregnant with an armed monkey, and a caption that read, "Rice speaks about the birth of a new Middle East.[45]

The Palestinian media has used racist terms including "black spinster" and "colored dark skin lady."[46][47]

.... The African Palestinians who now live in the two compounds near al-Aqsa mosque have called the area home since 1930.[12] They have experienced prejudice, with some Palestinian Arabs[21] referring to them as "slaves" (abeed) and to their neighbourhood as the "slaves' prison" (habs al-abeed), and their colour has led to objections against them marrying Palestinians with lighter skin.[9][3] According to Mousa Qous, director of the African Community Society and a former member of the PFLP, "Sometimes when a black Palestinian wants to marry a white Palestinian woman, some members of her family might object." Interracial marriage with Afro-Palestinians has become more common in recent years.[8] In colloquial Palestinian Arabic, standard usage prefers the word sumr (dark colour) over sawd, which has an uncouth connotation.[22]

-For further reading I found this research paper to be very detailed: https://d-nb.info/1204258597/34

*** I have to mention this as well since some anti-Zionist brought up MLK as an example for their argument against Israel: you clearly have no idea what you're talking about... he was a Zionist!

Jews and African Americans have historically been allies in their struggles for equality. He literally wrote an open letter titled "Letter to an Anti-Zionist friend", explaining why he supports Zionism. Do your research.

5. Gaza hasn't been under Israel's control since 2006, it is controlled by Hamas! Before that, it was governed by Fatah, Another terrorist organization (Hamas killed all of the Fatah members when they came to power). Hamas = terror organization leaching off the Palestinian people. They want to kill all Jews and are against everything that represents the West. UWNRA - Is filled with Hamas terrorists. UN & ICRC - Both have a long history of being biased against Jews and have failed the Jewish people once again.

6. Israelis don't deserve to die just because they are Israeli. They are not privileged to have a government that (relative to Hamas) cares about their civilians.

7. "From the river to the sea" Is a genocidal chant calling for the death of all Jews / Israelis. The final solution / one solution = killing all Jews, holocaust. Intifadas aren't peaceful or inspiring resistance. It's Terror attacks targeting civilians: Shootings, stabbings, lynchings, school buses exploding, etc.

I have an entire post explaining this, you're welcome to read it but the main takeaway should be: You don't get to decide what's anti-Semitic, Jews do. If Jews tell you this chant threatens them and is antisemitic- it is.

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wordsandrobots · 1 month

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IBO reference notes on . . . odds and ends

I have begun writing another big notes entry but it's a heavy one and requires visuals, so I suspect it'll be a while before it's done.

In the meantime, here are a few jottings on various random things in Iron-Blooded Orphans I thought worth commenting upon.

Naming conventions

The headline one, obviously, is the Gundams being named for the demons listed in the Ars Goetia. This we eventually discover is an in-universe response to the naming convention used for the mobile armours the Gundam frame mobile suits were developed to take down. Each mobile armour is named for a angelic figure: Hashmal is named for a class of angel while Harael, Mebahiah, Nemamiah and Ananel are all apparently derived from the Shem HaMephorash. It would be neat if all the names came from John Reuchlin's list of 72, which corresponds directly to the goetic demons but Hashmal nixes that idea.

It's also unclear if the names are for individual units or if they represent different lines or categories of armours. I tend towards the latter, simply based on the scale at which the Calamity War is presented as happening. This is somewhat tenuously is backed up by the Iron-Blooded Orphans G mobile game (RIP) presenting the player with a battle against 'Ananel Alpha' and the flashback in the Urdr Hunt campaign seeming to show Gundam Marchosias fighting a pair of Haraels. Though I must admit, I've watched that clip a few times and still cannot quite make up my mind it if represents two Haraels or just the multiple perspectives of Harael's claw eyes.

In any case, it seems that whoever named the Gundams had enough sense of drama to designate their 'angel hunters' as actual demons. And yet, the overall organisation that operated them -- Gjallarhorn -- embraced quite a different tradition.

This was of course Norse mythology. Each family in the Seven Stars ruling council has heraldry based on a different beast from the sagas (Odin's Ravens, Fenrir, Sleipnir, Jörmungandr, Nidhogg, Veðrfölnir (probably), and Ratatoskr). They have bases named Vingólf and Gladsheimr. Their mobile suits are derived from a set of machines named after Wagnerian valkyries, and they designate various different types of 'suit using German words. And of course, 'Gjallarhorn' itself is the name of the horn that sounds the start of Ragnarök (fitting, for a group formed to prevent the apocalypse). Plus, you know, there's Vidar's whole deal.

Curiously, there is an additional use of a Norse name in the setting: the Garm Rodi, a seemingly unaffiliated type of mobile suit primarily seen in use by the Dawn Horizon pirates. Given this is an instance of mythological naming in a line that otherwise has prefixes like 'Spinner', 'Landman' and 'Monkey', I wonder if perhaps this indicates the type of machine used by Gjallarhorn prior to the development of the Valkyrja and Gundam frames (these both belong to the late Calamity War period, whereas Rodis were deployed during the middle period; no we have no idea how long each period lasted). I haven't any particular reason for thinking this beyond it being named for the dog that guards Hel, but given Norse names are otherwise entirely restricted to Gjallarhorn, it would almost be weirder if there wasn't a connection.

(The Garm is also noted for its versatility, which puts it in the same bracket as the general-purpose Graze frame that has become Gjallarhorn's mainstay.)

Speaking of mobile suit lines, the Hexa frame stands out for having different types designated using people's names: Hugo, Gilda and Enzo. A quick web search for the three names in conjunction returns the Argentinian film Una Cita con la vida, directed by Hugo del Carril, starring Gilda Lousek and Enzo Viena. I do not know if there is any connection there, out of fiction, but it struck me as an intriguing coincidence.

Then we have Teiwaz naming their mobile suits using romanised Japanese words: Hyakuren, Hyakuri, Rouei, Shiden, Hekija. Not much to say about that, since it fits exactly with their Japanese/Italian fusion mafia aesthetics. Although, I suppose we should shout out the Chief's bonkers suffixes. Lupus Rex? Rebake Full City? Jeepers.

Finally, I'd like to draw attention to how the Ariadne Network fits into all this, or rather how it doesn't. It's named for the myth of the Minotaur and how Ariadne gave Theseus a guiding thread to help map his way through the labyrinth. Fitting for a network of navigation beacons. However, as a piece of technology, it's an outlier, named for a Greek myth despite being under the control of Gjallarhorn.

The implication is that the Network predates both them and indeed the Calamity War, with the use of Ahab reactors in its construction being cited as a cause of said War, by virtue of preventing long-range communication and observation. Should we therefore take from this that pre-Calamity War devices follow a Greco-Roman naming convention ala the US space program? There are other Greek names used in the setting, specifically for the regions into which Mars is divided, following the actual real-world mapping of the Red Planet's geography, so I wouldn't want to rule out such a conclusion -- particularly with the way English is used in the setting. But on the other hand, it could simply be that the Network's function made this particular allusion irresistible.

Currency

There are two canonical currencies: the galar and the meria. As far as I can tell, the galar is exclusively mentioned in the context of Mars, and is therefore presumably related to Gjallarhorn's rule of the planet. Meanwhile the meria is used in the two spin-offs, Moon Steel and Urdr Hunt, both of which take place on or around space colonies. Whether this means the meria is primarily a space-based currency, or just a widely used currency in general is unclear.

Mostly I just think this is worth noting for the potential implications the galar has for Mars' situation: if the money in circulation there is directly controlled by Gjallarhorn, then that represents an added obstacle to independence. And given so much of Kudelia's efforts are focused on achieving greater economic freedom from Earth, it's an interesting detail to consider.

Oh, and apparently paper-like money is still in vogue in the Post-Disaster timeline. Which seems a bit odd, since paper itself is counted as a marker of wealth (explicitly stated in the translation of the CGS promo website linked from Gundam wiki; implied in the series by things like how we only ever see real books in the hands of the upper classes).

In Moon Steel, Tanto Tempo's members use paper files and documents, presumably because being part of an Earth-adjacent company, they can afford it. This makes me wonder about the source of the material. Do space colonies grow and recycle their own paper? Is that another layer to money's value in this setting? Or is the case made from some other material?

Food for thought, at least.

This excavator

Because first of all, it's an adorable piece of design work. And second, it's a rare example of non-mobile suit robotics in the setting.

Most Gundam shows have some sort of 'sub-mobile suit' category of mecha, be that a cruder precursor to the humanoid robot suits that are the mainstay of the franchise or a more utilitarian, often civilian variety of machine used for maintenance and construction work. Iron-Blooded Orphan's mobile workers are, however, mostly seen in military configurations, operating as small, extremely manoeuvrable tanks. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to classify them as mecha in their own right -- they have moveable 'legs' and on the type Tekkadan uses at least, the cannons operate in an arm-like fashion. But overall, they are generally more tank-like than anything else. The only civilian use we see from them is as a flat-bed truck. Indeed, when construction work in the space colonies comes up, it is specifically mobile suits that are cited as being used.

This excavator, which shows up in the background of the main series and has very slightly more presence during the Urdr Hunt game, makes it clear there are in fact mobile worker-like machines with entirely non-military uses. The arms appear to articulate in ways that set it apart from a real-world excavator, suggesting it operates in a more human-like fashion than your average JCB, and the armatures holding it up resemble mobile workers, only in a more stable four-point layout than the otherwise ubiquitous tripod arrangement.

It's a nice touch, extending the sci fi conceits throughout the world-building. It also stands out because so many of the vehicles shown beyond the obligatory humanoid mecha are simply . . . mundane. The cars, trains and even the fighter jets are little different than those we'd see around us today. Having something like this show up helps avoid the sense of the mobile suits being fantastical devices with no connection to the rest of the technological landscape, and gestures at mobile workers having uses that would earn them that name.

Gjallarhorn's plastic macs

I just love how utterly dorky the official rain-wear is.

McGillis very much doing the 'dignity, always dignity' bit, there.

Other reference posts include:

IBO reference notes on … Gjallarhorn (Part 1)

IBO reference notes on … Gjallarhorn (Part 2)

IBO reference notes on … Gjallarhorn (corrigendum) [mainly covering my inability to recognise mythical wolves]

IBO reference notes on … three key Yamagi scenes

IBO reference notes on … three key Shino scenes

IBO reference notes on … three key Eugene scenes

IBO reference notes on … three key Ride scenes

IBO reference notes on … the tone of the setting

IBO reference notes on … character parallels and counterpoints

IBO reference notes on … a perfect villain

IBO reference notes on … Iron-Blooded Orphans: Gekko

IBO reference notes on … an act of unspeakable cruelty

IBO reference notes on … original(ish) characters [this one is mainly fanfic]

IBO reference notes on … Kudelia’s decisions

IBO reference notes on … assorted head-canons

IBO reference notes on … actual, proper original characters [explicit fanfic – as in, actually fanfic. None of them have turned up in the smut yet]

IBO reference notes on … the aesthetics of the mobile frame

IBO reference notes on … mobile suit designations

IBO reference notes on … the Gundams (part 1)

IBO reference notes on … the Gundams (part 2)

IBO reference notes on … the Gundams (part 3)

IBO reference notes on … the Turbines, or ‘Tekkadan done right’

IBO reference notes on … the Gundams (Addendum 1)

IBO reference notes on … deals with the devil

#gundam iron blooded orphans #gundam ibo #g tekketsu #tekketsu no orphans #reference #notes #I will probably do more posts like this at some point

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vivispec · 19 days

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Hello & Happy Friday! From the 'platonic prompts' list and for Viera and Iloniyen: "I am this close away from strangling you." Happy writing!

With how much they bickered as kids, it was really hard to just choose one scene :') here's Viera and Iloniyn preparing for the ball at the Winter Palace, featuring that godawful Inquisition getup.

@dadrunkwriting Viera & Iloniyn words: 660

“Wipe that smug look off your damn face, before I wipe it off for you.”

Viera lifted her hand to hide the offending expression, but Iloniyn could still see the laughter in her eyes. “I think it suits you,” she managed, barely able to contain the giggle seeping into her voice. “It’s…bold. Very…intriguing.”

“By the Creators, I will strangle you.”

“If you value your own life, I wouldn’t,” she warned, crossing arms clad in white satin up to the elbow, and drawing near. “Vivienne’s attendants spent the better part of an hour on my neck alone, and you should know from the lethallen who wove our plaits as da’len that there’s no wrath like that of an artist scorned.”

His scowl was broken by a scoff. “They powdered your neck?”

“Yes. My neck, and just about every other bare piece of skin on my body. It feels terrible, like I walked through a dust cloud on a dry day, and didn’t bother wiping it off.” She lifted a hand, running it along the blue sash cutting across his chest, stark against the bright red fabric behind it. “At least your tunic looks comfortable. I can barely breathe through all these layers.”

“You’d rather look like some exotic bird?”

“And you’d rather be swarmed by bored shem on the hunt for a little entertainment, courtesy of the Inquisitor’s elusive Shadow?” His ears ran red as his tunic at the suggestion, blinking away with a sour set to his brow—no different from when they were children, and she got the best of him. “I didn’t think so. They’d be no match for your good looks, at their full power. For the sake of the world, I’d much rather spare the both of you.”

“How shall I ever repay you,” he griped through his teeth, and she gave his sash a firm tug. “I can’t even begin to understand why you dragged me here. Barely three months since I left the clan, and you bring me to a ball? Really?”

“You’ll be able to stomach it for a single evening.”

“This isn’t because I pushed you into the river, is it? Or said you looked like a bogfisher?”

“I need you here, Ilo,” she pressed, white-knuckled against his chest. Then, her fingers relaxed, lifting to smooth the cowlick at his hairline. “You won’t have to speak with anyone, but I’ll be too busy appeasing the nobles to see what’s roiling under the surface—if appeasing them is even something I can hope to do. If you can keep your eyes and ears open, look out for anything amiss…”

“Does Nightingale not have agents for that sort of thing?”

“She does. I don’t.” Her eyes rimmed by severe black, her features framed in gold, she was a far cry from the sun-touched hunter he’d ran the trails with; and yet, her touch at his temple was familiar, the curling of her fingers as she coaxed his stray hairs back into place as recognizable to him as his own. “And they don’t see the same things we do. I trust you, more than myself. Just this once, and I won’t let them dress you in something so garish ever again.”

“Swear it. By the All-Mother.”

Tilting her chin, Viera straightened, her voice growing grave. “In the name of Mythal, the Protector, I do swear to defend Iloniyn Sarethon—the blood at my back, my eyes beyond me—from any and all offending garments.”

Stifling the smirk that thinned his eyes, he chewed on his answer before, eventually, heaving a sigh. “Alright,” he relented, “just make sure, in no uncertain terms, that the tailors know red really isn’t my color. It washes me out.”

“I’ll make it very clear,” she promised, before turning to retrieve her mask, and make for the door. “A burnt orange, maybe, or a nice, neutral black?”

“Over this monstrosity? I’d take magenta, were it paired just right.”

She snickered, and slipped away. “Don’t give me any ideas.”

#oc: viera #oc: iloniyn #dragon age #dai #dadwc #my writing

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aguineapigcouldntdothis · 1 month

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I didn't want to derail your very lovely post with something I understand is a personal choice and doesn't really matter, anyway, but I'm wondering while we're on the subject of you-don't-have-to-do-it-all, why are we taking on extra things that God never asked us to do—like not taking the word g-o-d in vain?

That's not God's name, that's a signifier that didn't even exist when the command was given. It's not the name we aren't allowed to say. It's like writing H@shem or the Al-ighty. It seems like a Christian influence.

this is a really good question and it pretty much boils down to not erasing His name. there are so, so many interpretations of everything in judaism, including how we address g-d in writing. the beautiful thing about this religion is that we can choose what resonates with us and not be judged for it. what it boils down to is not that we shouldnt write g-d's name, but rather that we should not deface or destroy it. if one of His names, rather than a signifier, is written out, then there is always a chance of it being erased. however if He's just alluded to then that problem is avoided. the same concept doesnt really apply to speech bc when you say something out loud it's there for good and there's no going bac

i no longer write out g-d and i use words like Hashem or Him as signifiers as a sign of respect because names have power. I only use the word ad-nai during prayer and i make sure that when i speak to g-d, rather than just about Him, i do so intentionally and with a proper focus.

there are also jews who write out g-d in full and those who switch between methods. those are absolutely valid ways of writing His name as well, but the "-" or Hashem would be the most common ways to refer to Him. what is not common is a religious jew writing out g-ds name or any signifier referring to g-d without some reason or forethought put into it no matter what format they choose. very rarely is it just put down on paper with zero reason.

also btw not taking g-ds name in vain is a honestly huge deal in judaism, but that's actually a completely different concept. the english translation really doesnt explain this concept very well imo, and it is absolutely hard to explain a very non-christian idea in a language influenced by Christianity. in short, not using g-ds name in vain is about avoiding cruel actions that desecrate his teachings. some examples would be using g-d's name and social influence to collect money that is claimed to be for donations but is actually for yourself, using your status as a leader (such as a rabbi) to abuse children, abusing your spouse, etc. g-d's name is a very powerful tool that holds so much meaning and using it for personal gain or to hurt others is what we as jews avoid.

i can sort of understand why this may seem like its influenced by Christianity. its not, the concepts of not taking His name in vain are totally different in those two religions, but these are very very difficult conversations to have in english. hebrew is genuinely the best language to discuss judaism in because it has words and phrases for concepts that just dont exist in English. sometimes close comparisons are all that's there and those can be extremely far off as well.

i dont usually do this but this is long as fuck so:

TLDR: a lot of jewish people use signifiers to refer to g-d so any words used to refer to Him cannot be erased. not taking the l-rd's name in vain is in regards to not using his influence to cause harm or for personal gain.

#jewish #jumblr #answered

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reasoningdaily · 11 days

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Ancient Hebrews of Lachish

Introduction: According to the standard Jewish Encyclopaedia 96% of all the Jews known to the world today are the descendants of the Khazar tribes of Russia, eastern Europe and western Mongolia; these are the Ashkenazi Jews, the other major sect of the Jews are the Sephardic jews, and they are a bastard people from the mixing of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites, Girgashites, Kenites, Edomites and some true Israelites. the Jews have never been Isrealites; they are not Israelites now; and they will never be Israelites.

Encyclopedia Americana (1985):

“Ashkenazim, the Ashkenazim are the Jews whose ancestors lived in German lands…it was among Ashkenazi Jews that the idea of political Zionism emerged, leading ultimately to the establishment of the state of Israel…In the late 1960s, Ashkenazi Jews numbered some 11 million, about 84 percent of the world Jewish population.”

The Jewish Encyclopedia:

“Khazars, a non-Semitic, Asiatic, Mongolian tribal nation who emigrated into Eastern Europe about the first century, who were converted as an entire nation to Judaism in the seventh century by the expanding Russian nation which absorbed the entire Khazar population, and who account for the presence in Eastern Europe of the great numbers of Yiddish speaking Jews in Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Galatia, Besserabia and Rumania.”Khazar: Ashkenazi Modern Jew

The Encyclopedia Judaica (1972): The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia: The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia:

“Khazars, a national group of general Turkic type, independent and sovereign in Eastern Europe between the seventh and tenth centuries C.E. During part of this time the leading Khazars professed Judaism…In spite of the negligible information of an archaeological nature, the presence of Jewish groups and the impact of Jewish ideas in Eastern Europe are considerable during the Middle Ages. Groups have been mentioned as migrating to Central Europe from the East often have been referred to as Khazars, thus making it impossible to overlook the possibility that they originated from within the former Khazar Empire.”

The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia:

“The primary meaning of Ashkenaz and Ashkenazim in Hebrew is Germany and Germans. This may be due to the fact that the home of the ancient ancestors of the Germans is Media, which is the Biblical Ashkenaz…Krauss is of the opinion that in the early medieval ages the Khazars were sometimes referred to as Ashkenazim…About 92 percent of all Jews or approximately 14,500,000 are Ashkenazim.”

The Bible: Relates that the Khazar (Ashkenaz) Jews were/are the sons of Japheth not Shem:

“Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood. The sons of Japheth;…the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz…” (Genesis 10:1-3)

New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia, page 179,[GCP pg 68]

“ASHKENAZI, ASHKENAZIM…constituted before 1963 some nine?tenths of the Jewish people (about 15,000,000 out of 16,5000,000)[ As of 1968 it is believed by some Jewish authorities to be closer to 100%]”

The Outline of History: H. G. Wells,

“It is highly probable that the bulk of the Jew’s ancestors ‘never’ lived in Palestine ‘at all,’ which witnesses the power of historical assertion over fact.”Ancient Hebrews

Under the heading of “A brief History of the Terms for Jew” in the 1980 Jewish Almanac is the following: “Strictly speaking it is incorrect to call an Ancient Israelite a ‘Jew’ or to call a contemporary Jew an Israelite or a Hebrew.” (1980 Jewish Almanac, p. 3).

The Bishop

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#the Hebrews and the Israelites: Not Your Same Old Same Old

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hadit93 · 11 months

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Do you enjoy scrying? Why/why not? Any notable experience?

I do enjoy it because it is how I primarily interact with the spirit world.

I started off with the Golden Dawn 'Scrying in the spirit vision' and it is still my favourite technique to this day. It is simple, you take a symbol (which can also be a an angelic sigil etc.) and you leave your body. Create (that is visualise) a doorway with the sigil burning bright upon it in white light or a relevant colour. Enter the doorway and record the results.

When I do not want to leave my body in such a manner, for example in evocation works where I am working with spirits I do not trust I tend to use a crystal ball. I have also used a black mirror, however, I prefer the crystal. I have used it in Goetic workings, Enochian workings, Shem workings, and just in general scrying workings.

However, I tend to find I start off with the scrying device and then as time goes on I close my eyes and allow the images to flow in that manner. In my opinion the device functions in a manner that attracts the attention of the conscious mind and allows the unconscious (which is the portion through which our myths, streams of images etc. enter) to flow through. This is not to say that spirits are unconscious mechanisms, rather that the unconscious mind is the mechanism by which we commune with the 'other world'.

These days I don't even use the crystal ball. I simply make myself receptive and allow the blank space of my inner vision to be the scrying device. I skip the fixation part altogether- however there are some cases were this would be less favourable.

To be honest whilst I get visual results I tend to be more tuned into auditory phenomena. I will hear voices- not outside myself (although that has happened!) but usually like telepathy. As though a spirit is speaking within the back of my head. It utilises the unconscious to do this and so it will speak your language with your words and your references. This is why I believe Crowley instructed his son to read the bible and Shakespeare which hold a treasure trove of references but also are arguably some of the greatest works of literature ever to be penned. The spirits need something to work with.

Again, this being said I have worked with spirits who have pretty much given me bible passages verbatim that I have never read in my life.

So in my opinion the magician themself is the scoring device. The tools we use may help facilitate that tuning into consciousness needed, but it is about bing receptive and allowing the conscious mind to take a step back temporarily.

#Scrying #magick

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spicywarl0ck · 4 months

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Wip-Wednesday

Finally, I have a small wip to share again, probably the last for this year until I take a break to recharge my creative spirit again. But the first stone for an transInquisitor/Solas fanfiction is set!

He tried to fight against the hands digging into the worn down tunic they must have given him and that was nothing like his Dalish armour. His feet dragged over the cold stone floor and his teeth grit when he tried to wiggle his way out.

But their grip was too firm, bruising almost as they threw him onto the ground, pulling their blades at the same moment to place them around his neck and forcing him to keep his head up at the same prospect.

By the creators, how much he wanted to put an arrow into their foreheads if only he’d have his weapons.

“Don’t even try.” The woman with the dark hair and the metal armour warned him. Her face was a mask of tiredness and desperation, but she tried to hide it with a curtain of harshness. This woman was used to handle interrogation’s, that much was clear.

“We have guards positioned at the outside as well, you’d do best to corporate if you don’t want to be ended by one of their blades. They will be as quick as I.” she added, her tired yet scornful eyes piercing him as he remained silent.

He wore a stoic mask on his own, as forest green eyes reflected the torches around him. His shoulders were straight, and his chin lifted as he met her gaze, waiting for her to continue on with pursed lips.

Revassan surely wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of speaking on his own, no matter if the damp coldness of the stone floor underneath him dug through the pants they’d given him.

“What were you doing at the conclave?” she continued on, as if he didn’t insult her with his silence. “And what happened? How did you survive?”

Confusion flashed over his face.

Survive? That didn’t sound right with him, but then again… he could tell that he was injured. His arm still hurt, yet not as badly as it had before, the very palm of his hand feeling as if it throbbed and something was stuck inside.

So, it wasn’t as he knew anymore about what was going on but the Shem’s did obviously.

He regarded her for a moment, seemingly not bothered at all by the cold steel pressed against his neck and ready to end his life at any moment. Yet, he knew, as threatening as they might have been, they were desperate too. He could see it in their eyes after all.

“I was sent to the conclave by request of the Keeper of my Clan.” he answered, carefully. “As for your other question… I can’t answer that I’m afraid for I am just as much in the dark as you are.”

#dragon age #dragon age fanfiction #solavellan #dragon age inquisition #writing #wip wednesday #solas/male lavellan #male Lavellan #wip #my wip #my writing #unedited

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shcherbatskya · 2 years

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sammy ur gonna hate this... for my friend's birthday last year i gave him a printed book of clc fanfiction

disqidjwjefn clc fanfiction is suchhhh a concept and i can get behind it (as long as it’s not the later books where it’s like wow okay let’s write stories about real life emperor domitian) the funniest ones are the ones written in latin like imagine taking that much time to painstakingly write about gay people in a dead language…

#samael speaks #angel radio #shem <3

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elenathrais · 5 days

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Nothing Left To Love

The People were all he had ever known, all he had ever wanted to know. The shemlen were there, on the fringes of his world—barbarians scrounging out a living from the dirt while the Elvhen built their way across the land and towards the sky. He is one of them, but not one of them. Always on the outside, prowling. He is their hubris given physical form.

Fen’Harel had always been alone, really. But he has never felt so alone as he does now.

He tells himself it is the loss of his focus. A failure, on top of a failure, on top of a failure. But he knows, deep down, that this is not the truth of it. The agents know better than to comment. Felassan might have said something, once. He was always the one to speak his mind, a trait Fen’Harel had valued once.

Another regret. Another sorrow. He had not listened. Solas was an apt name indeed.

Abelas does not comment. He knows of as much of sorrow as his name implies. But he can see the disapproving look on his face whenever Fen’Harel slips away to sleep early. There is no way he could know, and yet he does somehow. Perhaps he saw too much at the Vir’Abelasan. It is no matter.

It will not change anything.

There is no cause for concern.

Most nights he spends calling to his people, reaching out through dreams to bid them come to him. But there are some nights instead when he goes to her. He stalks the edge of her dreams, careful not to ruffle her conscious mind and stir her into wakefulness.

Somehow, despite all that has happened and all that continues to happen, most of her dreams are bright, happy things. She draws spirits of joy to her like a flame in the darkness. He watches, fascinated, as scenes of life from her world play out. He cannot tell if what she dreams of is true to her life before Thedas or if what she sees is fantastical.

Sometimes she races across great stretches of black road that ribbons through rolling hills, bundled into a metal carriage that glides along faster than anything drawn by a horse. Other times she is simply sitting in what he assumes is a cafe of sorts. She talks happily with friends long lost to her, while other patrons nearby stare intently into glowing mirrors.

Sometimes she dreams of Solas.

It is not really him. He stays well back, even if the temptation to reveal himself is strong enough that he wakes with a deep ache in his chest. Instead, he allows different shades to take his form, always taking note of the spirits that are called to stand in.

Fear comes when she dreams that he is out in the world, hurting. Wisdom is called when she feels lost and in need of guidance. Compassion is there when she requires comfort, delivered in a soothing echo of his voice.

It is when desire arrives that his interest is truly piqued. The feeling of longing coming from her is so strong it pulses through the fade and brushes against him as a physical touch. In dreams, she speaks of things never said in the waking world and he listens in hungrily. The guilt eats away at him. This is no longer pertinent information. He does not need to know this about her to further his plans.

Once he would not have cared. He would have been amused to find that a human entertained thoughts of him. Of course. Why wouldn’t she? Was he not desirable? Was he not given a strong and beautiful form? Besides, a shem was not one of the People. She did not deserve such privacy. He would have stepped in, given her pleasure she so clearly wanted and taken some of his own with no thought whatsoever.

But he did care. She was real to him now, as real as anything he had ever known. He had fought beside this woman, bled beside her. He had watched as she nearly killed herself to save his friend—a friend many others would have considered nothing more than a thing, a demon. Something to be feared, and reviled. Something less important than even the lowest living creature.

He had nearly taken her then. In the heat of the moment, when he was overwhelmed by the need to rend the mages who had tormented his friend limb from limb, she had touched his arm—ever so gently—and his lust for revenge had shifted wholly into lust for her. He would have pinned her to the ground in full view of her companions. He would have made real every curse ever called out by the superstitious lot his People had devolved into.

Solas always wakes up before he can see how her more lustful dreams end. She is no mage to fear possession, and even though her dreams are more solid than the average person thanks to his anchor, he knows that Desire could not take her. Would not. Every demon or spirit around Terasyl’an Te’las knows better than to try something like that in a place marked by the Dread Wolf. They especially know better than to go near her.

He would see her soon, in the flesh. Her dreams of him had increased as the talks at the Winter Palace drew near. Solas found himself eager to see her, and nervous at the same time. He had been watching as the Mark began to wake her from dreams. Demons of Pain and Fear flocked to her more and more, but she was willful. Stubborn. Breathtaking. As always.

She has taken on a lover, but he knows she has not told him about the pain. He sees her play the conversation out over and over again, always displeased with the result. It galls him to see the Commander’s face—even a facsimile of it—looking back at her with love and concern. Standing close to her, holding her in his arms. Where I should be, he thinks. Where he sometimes is, when her dreams shift back to him.

He wonders at times if things would have been different if her ears were not quite so round. If his agents hadn’t led Corypheus to the orb. If she had been born in Arlathan. If he had been born in her world.

Could they have been together? Would she have loved him then? Could she love him now?

Did it matter?

He had chosen his path, decided he would right his wrongs. He must do this alone. He must die alone. Surely, it was the only way.

Surely.

But he had been wrong before. Many times. Perhaps Pride was leaning back towards Wisdom. Perhaps the path forward did not have to lead him back into the darkness.

Solas steps through the Eluvian, readying himself to see her—truly see her—for the first time in two years. For her to see him.

In another life… he thinks, before the sorrow of the reality sinks in once more.

He could have loved her. He does love her. But the path has been laid before them. The path that he must walk. In another life they might have come together, and changed the world. But they do not have another life. There is only this one. And soon, hers must end.

His only solace is that after so long a life, he will follow shortly after.

Fen'Harel barely acknowledges the saarebas as she speaks. He only has eyes for her as she picks her way warily through the frozen forms of his Qunari attackers. He takes a deep breath when he sees her stumble forward, crying out in pain.

Solas places wards around the Anchor, knowing they will not hold for long.

“That should give us more time. I suspect you have questions.”

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this Solas, you may also enjoy my fic Everything Is Alright on A03 - a 90+ chapter monstrosity full of Solas a n g s t.

#ao3 fanfic #cross posted on ao3 #dragon age fanfiction #solas dragon age #dragon age inquisition #my fanfiction #modern girl in thedas

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