Dear Black Jews

This message is for those Black Jews who came in from the secular world and into Judaism and found racism and left.

Coming to Judaism from the secular world, is like jumping from the frying pan and into the fire.  That can be a bad thing.  But it can also be a good thing.  Let me explain.

It can be a bad thing, of course, because that is not what we are looking for.  In our quest for truth, it seemed -- at least from the outside -- that Judaism offered the absolute truth, the straight, no chaser truth, deep knowledge and pious people all concerned only with performing mitzvoth and beautifying those mitzvoth.  But then we get the rude awakening; some of those very same people who looked so gorgeous from the outside, aren't so nice up close and personal.  It was all marketing.  Up close and personal, they find your skin loathful, something they must distance themselves from.  Their very holy books disparage black skin, so how can they, the people who read and learn from those books not do otherwise?  And there you have it.  A whole society based on books and teachings that slander black skin and there you are in the middle of it all.  Bad thing.

It can also be a good thing.  If you are a Black Jew that came from the outside, from the secular world, then that means you jumped through many hoops to get to where you are.  That means you observed the secular world and saw how harsh it was, how cruel it could be, and took action for yourself in the hopes of finding better.  And you did find better!  You jumped from the frying pan and straight into the fire.  Straight into the source for many of the racism that is going around.  The idea that Black people should be slaves, the idea that they are inferior, etc.  All of this can be backed up with midrashim. 

But here's the kicker.  The fact that you made it this far means that you are a fighter.  A tired one, but a fighter nonetheless.  The Matrix's red-pill taker.  Now you have the noble task of learning and growing in Judaism and becoming a talmid chacham, or your children becoming such talmidei chachamim that you can mitigate this ugly judgement that many so happily place upon Black folks.  You can come up with -- after you are well versed and learned -- droshim of your own, divinely inspired responsas, and mitigate the judgement that some Jews have placed on Black folks.  Sure, most would probably not accept it.  But once it's out into the world, they will have to recon with it and it will already be a powerful voice in shamayim in defense of Black people the world over.

You didn't ask for this fight.  But Hashem picked you.  Only be strong and courageous like Yehoshua ben Nun.  Study Torah incessantly.  Make it your friend.  The whole reason for the galut/exile is to bring in converts.  The whole reason that there are converts is so that they bring new things, fresh thoughts, new blood to Judaism. Of course, the born Jews won't be too happy about it.  But this is Hashem's plan.  Many of the apparent gatekeepers may not be happy with your convictions and may not even invite you to their homes.  but did you come for the gefilte fish or did you come for Hashem?

There is a reason why so many Africans are interested in Judaism, but yet very few are let in.  There is a reason why some Black Americans feel drawn to Judaism, but yet are not welcomed or once welcomed, are mistreated to the point that they walk right out.  Two reasons actually.  Erev Rav and old man Yatzer Hara.

Something is trying to be born.  Judaism is trying to give birth.  But the midwives want to kill the child before it's even born.  A yin-yang balance is trying to happen in the Jewish world.  As the Jews begin to embrace how beautiful blue eyes are on their babies, as they admire blond Jews, as they embrace the idea that maybe they can be accepted now into whiteness, Hashem brings the balance.  The Black Jew.  The strength, the steadfast, the solid black man and woman, well known for their spirituality, their honesty, their cool confidence (which could give way to strong emunah), and their blackness (uh-oh!) to keep the peyot in a spiral, keep the curls, keep the boxwood skin tone spoken of by Ishmael in the Talmud.

Erev Rav
However, the Erev Rav are busy massaging the Jewish people to sleep.  The last thing they want is Woke Black folks turning things up.  Black folks?  Those people who like to keep things real?  Keep things 100?  They'll ruin the jig! Not what the Erev Rav wants.  But the Jewish people need you more than you realize.  More than you need them. 

Yatzer Hara
The Yatzer Hara encourages them to follow the Erev Rav to sleep.  How long they have wanted Esav to love them.  To embrace them.  Some of them, of course.  This unrequited love affair has been danced for years only to culminate in the tragic holocaust.  The yatzer hara again is lulling the Jewish people to sleep again with the idea that if they team up with other countries -- land grabbing countries, then everyone will understand that they, Israel, is not like them - not a land grabber, but a tribal people who is reclaiming their land from foreign occupation.  The yatzer hara encourages that they push for western values in the name of acceptance by the Western world, the very place that packages and distributes global white supremacy (which even disparages Jews).

So you see, you've come to the right place if you were fed up with the cruelties of the world, fed up with its harshness, its racism, etc.  You have arrived at it's very doorstep.  Are you seriously going to turn away and not make a dent? After coming so far?

The Absent-minded Professor

There are a lot of people walking about as absent-minded professors teaching people for free everything that they have without even knowing this.

Its a bit frustrating because those very same people that we teach, they will conceal information, withhold information, or charge a lot for any piece of information to us.

There was a time when we did this with awareness.  The ancient universities of Timbuktu attests to that.  But I guess one can only say thank you so many times before jealousy and hatred sets in.  This is a lesson we MUST eventually learn. 

Mansa Musa did us no favor going around the world lavishly showing off his wealth.   Humility has its virtue.

In fact, humility is so great, it's like an emotional spine alignment -- it aligns many of the other virtues (diligence, modesty, kindness, and so on).

In recent news I read about a Masai boy who figured out a way to take parts of his mother's radio and turn it into a flashing light to chase away the lions.  Ingenious!! He was only 10.  He was "awarded" by being taken to MIT -- get this.. -- to "learn."

Good for him. But I wouldn't be surprised if suddenly MIT comes out with new ideas and take full credit for them.

I also heard of a different African boy who figured out how to make a generator out of scraps from a junk yard. Ingenious!!  He, too, was accepted into learning electrical engineering at an American school.  Again, I wouldn't be surprised if he, again, was the absent-minded professor.


Not so recently was this nurse who cared for her relatives with HIV.  She took such great care of them that she kept them a love for a very long time.  Everyone was amazed and of course gave her a scholarship to go and "learn" at a nursing school.

Now, I'm not saying they shouldn't go and learn more or that people shouldn't exchange knowledge.  but I am saying that the false pretense that they want to give and we only take narrataive is tiresome and no longer believed anymore.

I 

The Wake Up Call

There is a story from the Talmud about Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.  He and his friends were talking about the Romans who had taken over their city, Jerusalem. The Romans had taken over and were making themselves at home.  They paved roads, built bath houses, set up market places.

Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai, one of his friends, said, "How nice of the Romans that they built the city so much! Now we have bath houses, bridges, paved roads!"

Rabbi Yossi, another friend stayed quiet.

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai protested, "They did all these things for themselves!"

A third friend who had Romans in his family, went back and told them what had happened.  Word got around and finally the Governor heard this and sought to punish them.

Rabbi Yossi was caught and as punishment for not speaking up for the Romans, he was banished to a far away land.  Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai, because he spoke nicely, was given a spokesperson position for the Romans.  And Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was to be executed!

So, **ahem** in light of this story, I'd like to sing the praises of social media! Social media has help Black folks to sound the Wake Up Call to our brothers and sisters.

Because of Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, WhatsApp, including the recent Blaggenuf and everything else out there, Black folks are learning at an exponential pace.  The many things that were kept hidden from us, we are discovering and passing along to each other.  Inventors, warriors, scholars, song writers are all coming out from hiding.  We are learning and we are finding each other, our long lost cousins in Africa, in AFro-Mexico, not yet Asia though, but give it some more time.

Now we have unity.  Despite the people who are lamenting about unity, we should know we have at least two handfuls of people who are united.  But unity is not enough. The next step is organizing.

It's not enough to clump up in a jumbled bunch.  Each braid needs three strands... the strands must be separated before it can get intertwined to form a braid.

This is our new task now, Melanated Folks. Create the strands to form the braids.  A slight bit of separation in order to really come together.

The African American Talmud

It's never been done before, but here it is.  the very first -- and hopefully not the last -- African American Talmud!!

Well, its not really the Talmud, but it's written very much like the Talmud with the sages arguing and discussing with one another.  The word "talmud" in Hebrew means teachings.  In this ebook is a compilation of the teachings of our sages.  And for commentaries I filled it with thought provoking analysis of the world we live in.

This is mainly a think piece to encourage dialogue and to dare someone to do better.

Please subscribe to the blog and send an email to Miriamdrum@outlook.com for access.

Fixing the World This Moment

Dr. Sebi called indigenous people, aboriginal people, black folks, Africans, he called them all "organic people."  Before that I didn't have a word for them and I called them all "earth people."  

Clearly we both knew that there was something significantly same with these types of people. 

But the big question is why are they all oppressed?  And even more importantly, how can they achieve self-autonomy again?

One thing these people have in common is many of their religions or spirituality is animist.  They believe that all things have a soul.  Many African-Americans believe more in Christianity.

Animists

In the case of animist, when there is an enemy, they will respond with force.  Head on.  They will boldly fight this enemy until the problem is gone.  That is the honorable way.  But when dealing with colonizers, that is not the right way.  They usually come with friendly smiles and gifts.  They come as cowards do pretending and relying on the person's good nature to receive them in kind.

This is the most important thing to drill in the youth's understanding.  That colonizers come in sheep's clothing.  Only when that attempt doesn't work, then they bring out the iron.

One thing that all these people have in common is that many are prone to reactive behavior.  They feel an emotion and immediately react with it.  It's as if they cannot control the spirit or emotion that they feel.  But that is natural.  Many are not even told that they can control their emotions.  It just feels like the right behavior at the moment.  No thought is given to it.

But if anything is to change, this must be learned!

Emotions are like spirits.  It's as if the spirits enters the body via the various glands and just like water is a conduit for electricity, the hormones are a conduit for the spirits that have entered.  Then the person feels the urge to react.  To do something that they feel "compelled" to do.

But it is important to hone and sharpen the rational mind so that it remains in control even over the emotions.  The rational mind must always be in control.

It almost seem as if this has been a fight for a long, long time.  In the Bible, there are many stories.  One interesting one is where God supposedly hardens Pharaoh's heart.  And then send Moses to convince him to release the Hebrew slaves.  It's almost as if Pharaoh had to understand in a cerebral way that the Hebrew slaves needed to go, rather than feel in his heart, or be moved by any spirit.  In the end of that story, however, he did pass the test.  He had to sacrifice a lot.  Many plagues befell him and his nation, he lost is son (God forbid), his land was ravaged, many, many people died.  Let's hope that we don't need to sacrifice so much.  We can all learn from this story, and take it as our own.  To see things with a rational mind is important and can save us a lot of suffering and afflictions.

And yet these same organic or earth people are the same ones who tend to have many deities or spirits that they worship and/or appease.  There's the spirit of the wind, the spirit of water, all manners of deities.  While this was fine before, there is a problem with it nowadays.

Christians

Christians, on the other hand, believe in one god, but that one god looks eerily like their oppressor.  There's an obvious problem with that as well.  But one often looked-over problem with this is that not only is the god supposedly just like their oppressors, they also seem to think of the Satan as on equal footing as the god.  It's as if Satan and god are competing and are equally powerful. 

This idea brings them right back to the level of the animists.

"The Name"

The Creator, the Beginning, The Root, God, The Universe -- whatever you want to call it -- for the sake of simplicity, let's use "The Name."

So, "The Name" creates the world.  He -- and any leader -- would never create something as equal as themselves.  Basic.  Why create a competitor?  The Satan is a spirit.  It is possibly on the same level of other spirits, but definitely not on the same level as "The Name" who created it.

The best model of a man is the Black man, the organic people, the earthy people.  They are 50 percent spirit and 50 percent animal. 

Both sides has its needs. 

The Animal Side:

The animal side needs strict discipline.  The more animal, the more discipline, rules, boundaries, restrictions, laws, and limitations.  This may not seem intuitive, but examine the dog.  They do much better in a home where they are taken for walks every day, they are communicated where their boundaries are, they know what they're allowed to do and what they are not allowed to do. 

Now see a dog without these limits.  Usually, Americans who love their dogs, know nothing about their dogs.  They just love them and decided in their mind that they're little babies.  As a result, these dogs don't know to not to jump on people; they think that is the way to be.  They don't know when to bark and bark incessantly.  The dog can become anxious and nervous in various situations because they don't know what is expected of them.  Everything is a free for all.  You don't know what to expect from such an animal.

For the animal side:  the person can either give the body that needed discipline.  Or not.  When they don't tame the animal side, then obesity sets in, over eating, under eating, oversleeping, under sleeping.  The body begins to pull the spirit in its direction.  Greed sets in in order to get more food, more money, more sleep, more everything, all manners of bad values and negative emotions are summoned to help the body in its flight against discipline.

The Spiritual Side:

The spiritual side of a person is the part that connects to the abstract world.  It keeps us connected to "The Name" and helps us to connect with other people, especially those that have the same spirituality as us -- not same religion, but same emotions, same value system, same character traits.  For this reason, it is very important to expose ourselves to good people, people with "good" values -- values that will be beneficial to the world, to people, animals, plants -- to life.

The spiritual part is like a light.  The body, the animal side is also a light, but a more coarse light.

So say the spirit was able to look at a body, a soul-less body propped up, it would see that propped up body, but in addition, the spirit would see a shadow.  When a bright light is put next to a dimmer, coarser light, you get shadows.

Shadows connote darkness, evil, something lurking, wicked.  Etc.  This is the understanding of clean versus unclean.  Christians got it in that they think the body is "wicked" and needs to be disciplined.  Wicked is a bit of a stretch, but it certainly does need discipline.  And discipline doesn't mean a beating or whipping. 

For the spiritual side:  The person can connect with good values that promotes life.  Or not.  If they do not connect with good values, then they can connect to the wicked values that lead to destruction of the body, destruction of the spirit, and death.

Black folks:

But being the 50/50 human is the best and most optimal.  This person can do amazing things!  This is the Black person.  One of the -- if not THE oldest Homo sapiens.  They can hone both their spiritual and physical parts and really expand their abilities. 

This can be seen from the medical advancements, architectural expertise, and spiritual understandings in ancient African civilizations.  This can be seen in the building of "Wall Street" by African-Americans not to long from when they had literally nothing and their ingenuity which is only recently getting exposed.

The Imbalanced Ones:

Any different percentage creates an imbalance.  Then one side pulls on the other side.  One side taxes the other side.  They are like a walking battlefield.

The oppressors and colonizers tend to be mainly spiritual and not very animal.  When you have someone that is more spiritual than animal, that person doesn't value discipline, laws, or rules.  They scoff at such things and feel they are above it all.  But they would be big on attaching to other spirits and emotions.

This is why when they see the organic people, they think of them as "animals" and "plants" or even "fauna."  This is why when they look at earthy people, they can see a shadow and think they are the wicked ones.

Combined this with the fact that spirits are like vectors, they tend not to look back where they came from.  Not looking back means no repentance and no recognition of the Creator that created them.

This is why they are not "down to earth" and would prefer illusions, falsehood, and lies.  Down to earth is for the body, the animal side.  Many earthy/organic people walk barefoot upon the earth and stay connected to Truth, to wisdom, to knowledge.  Intuitively, we know this and call people who are practical and truthful as "down to earth."

But the oppressors and colonizers are not very animal.  They are very spiritual.  As a result, the good news for them is that they really appreciate emotions and spirits.  When they see a gathering of organic/earthy people filled with heightened and honed spiritual expression, or dancing, they want to be a part of it.  They try to wear their garb, wear their hairstyles, and talk like them.  We would call that cultural appropriation.

The spiritual bad news is that it only takes a bit of evil, a bit of bad to ruin the cluster of spirits.  So if there is bad amongst them, then very quickly the whole group becomes wicked. 

The good news physically, is that they are not caring too much about bodily comforts.  They can discard the body, inject implants, remove this, add that attachment to the body, it is not a big deal.

The bad news for them is that they have a disregard for discipline.  They can do a mock show of discipline, such as always being on time, on the clock.  Having a court system, police, clocking in and out of work on time, and so on.  But that is all a show.  With every people they have been involved with, they commit genocide, they oppress, they torture, they enslave, murder, in every way they have tried to kill that society of people and bring them to death. 

They have attached themselves to the worst spirits and emotions flying around and might as well be called the Satan now.  This cluster of negative spirits and emotions is like a wrecking ball everywhere it goes.  But if the organic/earth people rely on spirits, then the Satan has an equal chance of winning and the struggles goes on endlessly.

End the War:

It's time to end this war.  And the only way to end it is to rise above just appeasing spirits, calling out deities.  We need to reach to the Creator with no intermediaries.

This requires great amount of preparedness and boldness.

Preparedness:  Can you surmount emotions?  Can you rise above these deities, these spirits?  That will be needed before you can reach "The Name".  The only way that you will be able to mark that you have overcome your own emotions and spirits, is if you can hear an insult and not be affected.  This is not the same as hearing an insult and calming down your boiling blood.  Not being affected means understanding that they are trying to insult you in a rational way, but not having any movement in the spiritual realm.

Someone calling you a "ni**er" should have the same effect as someone calling you a "tree."

The rational mind must be developed.  And each day we are given a chance to work on it, be it fortunately or unfortunately.

Boldness:  Once you have achieved the preparedness level at least once or twice, then you know you are capable.  The next step is to be bold.  To boldly push for the needs of your people.  To think out of the box to achieve what needs to be achieved.  But what are you pushing against?  The will of the various spirits, the cluster of wicked spirits.  Previously, if a will was very strong, a storm wind, it was thought that its strength should be rewarded by conceding victory to it.  NO!  Not anymore.  No matter how hard the storm wind blows, it must be pushed against for its entire duration until it blows over.

The best and simplest way to do that is to say thank you to "The Name".  To envision the next need, put it out to "The Name" and to say thank you for that.  Each thank you is a step up the spiritual ladder.  But in order to do that, we must discard those that simply cannot go, those that have been too entrenched in the evil and have become like them.

Another tip is to nullify and minimize the evil.  This means if something can be reduced to 1/60th, then it becomes insignificant.  For example, if someone has a family member that is hurtful.  When it's time for a get together, the person invites an extraordinary amount of family members for the feast so that that hurtful one is rendered only 1/60th of all the people.  He becomes an insignificant amount compared to the whole.

Balancing the Imbalanced:

And if there are those amongst them who truly do want to end all the oppression, all the murder, all the negativity and death, it may be helpful for them to be disciplined with their bodies. To take on rules, statutes, and limitations despite what their spirit is saying.

Future Vision:

It is my hope that in this journey of life, we don't settle for eternal struggles.  But that we find concise and definite ways of ending problems and restoring paradise once again.