mass murder carried out by Jews against 75,810 Pomegranates, (Book of Esther, Chapter 9).
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This year, on Purim, I'm raising a glass to the people of Iran.
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This year, on Purim, I'm raising a glass to the people of Iran.
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Thank you Very Much for your post, Azari.AzariLoveIran wrote:.
mass murder carried out by Jews against 75,810 Pomegranates, (Book of Esther, Chapter 9).
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This year, on Purim, I'm raising a glass to the people of Iran.
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It's the dead of winter here in more ways than one. But on Monday, in this pocket of the foothills that rise and stumble and climb finally toward Jerusalem, we got a ray of light at four minutes after four in the morning. Ten time zones from here, an Iranian film director was telling the world, telling us, something that we needed to hear.
“At this time, many Iranians all over the world are watching us and I imagine them to be very happy," began Asghar Farhadi, accepting his Oscar for A Separation.
Oscars
From left, Peyman Moadi, Asghar Farhadi with the Oscar for best foreign language film for 'A Separation,' February 26, 2012.
Photo by: AP
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These days, when I think about Iran, the thoughts all too often run to threats, theirs and ours. It's an achingly fitting complement to the Jewish carnival holiday of Purim, which takes place in Iran's ancient forerunner of Persia. This is the festival whose revelry masks a subtext of human extermination and genocide ordered by Persia's leader against the Jews, "young and old, women and children," followed by mass murder carried out by Jews against 75,810 Pomegranates, (Book of Esther, Chapter 9).
In any case, as an Israeli and an American-born, I'd been hoping that Footnote, the grand, peculiar work of genius by an American-born Israeli, would win for Best Foreign Language Film. But as I listened to Farhadi's halting, powerful words, there seemed to be a larger design in play.
"They are happy not just because of an important award or a film or a filmmaker," he continued, speaking of young and old, women and children, whom we here long ago stopped being able to see as just people.
"But because at a time when talk of war, intimidation and aggression is exchanged between politicians, the name of their country, Iran, is spoken here through her glorious culture, a rich and ancient culture that has been hidden under the heavy dust of politics."
He was speaking about nearly 80 million people who are not at war with us. He was speaking about millions and millions of people who are not Khamenei, not Ahmadinejad, not Revolutionary Guards, not nuclear weapons developers, not rocket guidance experts.
And he was also speaking about us.
The world has little patience for either of us, little trust, very little love, for the Iranians in their country or the Israelis in theirs. A year ago, a BBC poll conducted in 27 nations ranked Israel as one of the most negatively viewed countries in the world. Israel shared the bottom of the list along with Iran, North Korea, and Pakistan.
We, the Iranians and the Israelis, are built of memory, much of it bitter. We know isolation as few others. We have little trust in the world, little reason to put our faith in our neighbors. In every home, even children can put names to the cost of war.
Fitting for next week's holiday of masquerade, our public face, what you see from the outside, is a lie. The Foreign Film Oscar headline in Yediot Ahronot – THE WORLD IS AGAINST US - was only partly tongue-in-cheek. In Iran, where officials were said to have been merciless in placing obstacles in the path of Farhadi's film, the head of the state Cinematic Agency responded to the Oscar by announcing that the Academy Award spelled the "beginning of the collapse" of Israeli influence in the United States, which he said "beats the drum of war."
"I proudly offer this award to the people of my country, a people who respect all cultures and civilizations and despise hostility and resentment.”
The people of Iran do not want a war. In the 1980s they fought a victor-less war with Iraq, a terrible conflict that left half a million dead.
Nor do the people of Israel want a war. They want the 200,000 rockets which Iran's allies have stored on our borders, to stay in their bunkers.
We're a lot alike. If it comes to war, we will not allow the other side to win. Neither of us. Whatever it takes. If it comes to war, both sides can only lose.
Lately, there are those among my people, American Jews, who would have us believe that lobbying for war with Iran is the truest test of loyalty to Israel.
So there is something fitting in the fact that next week, just before Purim, the grand carnival of American Jewry, the annual conference of AIPAC, will be held in Washington.
AIPAC's "legislative centerpiece," the Forward reported, will be a tough proposed Senate resolution which opponents see "as moving America too close to a declaration of war."
When the directors and actors of the Iranian and Israeli films met in Hollywood this week and were able to speak privately, "all the the ra'alot fell away," Footnote star Lior Ashkenazi said, using a word that can mean masks, veils, or hoods. "They are warm hearted people. We invited them to Tel Aviv and they invited us to Tehran."
I'm determined that this Purim will be different. No more "Iranians are Amalek, Haman the Wicked, Hitler."
This year, on Purim, I toast the victory that comes when people have the courage to cross a room, armed only with open hearts, and turn mortal conflict into conversation.
This year, on Purim, I'm lifting my glass to an entirely new meaning for the Borsht Belt-to-Broadway comedian Alan King's capsule summary of every Jewish holiday: "They tried to kill us. We won. Let's eat."
This year, on Purim, I'm raising a glass to the people of Iran.
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The Scroll, or the Megila, tells a tale of palace intrigue featuring a Jewish beauty, Queen Esther, who charms a Persian king into foiling an evil adviser’s genocidal plans for her people some 2,500 years ago.
“Then too, they wanted to wipe us out,” Netanyahu told Obama, according to an Israeli official.
Jews around the world will gather in synagogues on Wednesday to read the Megila, on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Purim, a celebration of salvation and of turning the tables on one’s foes.
“And the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and with slaughter and destruction, and did what they would unto them that hated them,” one of the verses says.
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Netanyahu has also invoked the lessons of the Nazi Holocaust, in which six million Jews were killed, in citing the dangers he says a nuclear-armed Iran – the modern-day Persia – would pose.
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Thank you Very Much for your Post, Ibrahim.Ibrahim wrote:Persia was a conspicuous ally of Israel during their ancient period. The Babylonians were the villains, not to mention the various indigenous Canaanite and Bedu tribes that the Jews exterminated to take possession of their kingdom.
Absolutely correct. Too bad they are about the destroy each other and perhaps much more................Persia was a conspicuous ally of Israel during their ancient period.
Not completely correct ........ Just ask Jeremiah, the Weeping Prophet....... Nebuchadnezzar is seen as G_d's agent to punish the Jews for their sins...... Neb did OK till his hubris brought him down..........The Babylonians were the villains,
Partially Correct but the Jews did NOT do a through job...... Allied with Gibeonites....... Intermarried with other ones.......various indigenous Canaanite and Bedu tribes that the Jews exterminated to take possession of their kingdom.
Thank you very much for your post, Azari.AzariLoveIran wrote:.
Monster ,
things becoming more and more pervert
am sure you familiar with that episode in FT forum when I asked Spengler how the European and Russian and Khazar consider themselves being what David always said "children of Sara", belonging to Hebrew tribe
Spengler said Ashkenazim become "children of Sarah" by "miracle"
well
Iranians took care of "Children of Sara" for 2600 yrs, housed, fed them
Dispute not with those Children of Sara
Dispute, with self declared, by means of miracle, neither believing in nor practicing Judaism Khazari, Slavo-Tatar folks .. Lvovich folks, a criminal gang.
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Seems that way..............things becoming more and more pervert
Actually I am not........Was at ATOL but not very much at FT.........am sure you familiar with that episode in FT forum when I asked Spengler how the European and Russian and Khazar consider themselves being what David always said "children of Sara", belonging to Hebrew tribe
And slapped them around a bit sometimes.........But yes Iran much better than Europe especially England for much of history let alone Devilish Dolph in Germany ........ Pogroms among the Parouski Russian Bears..... etc.....Iranians took care of "Children of Sara" for 2600 yrs, housed, fed them
The Mizari will die too in this dispute if things don't change. Blast and Fallout respect only shielding............Dispute not with those Children of Sara
Per "Judaism for Dummies" being a Jew is like having citzenship: some get it by birth....... some get it by taking a test......."Dispute, with self declared, by means of miracle, neither believing in nor practicing Judaism Khazari, Slavo-Tatar folks .. Lvovich folks, a criminal gang.
Love this one Monster, love this onemonster_gardener wrote:.
Per "Judaism for Dummies" being a Jew is like having citzenship: some get it by birth....... some get it by taking a test ......."
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monster_gardener wrote:.Actually I am not........Was at ATOL but not very much at FT.........AzariLoveIran wrote:.
am sure you familiar with that episode in FT forum when I asked Spengler how the European and Russian and Khazar consider themselves being what David always said "children of Sara", belonging to Hebrew tribe
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Feel free to post the link......... Thanks in advance......
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AzariLoveIran wrote:.
Mr. Spengler . . I know you care about this issue . .
Now a theological question :
Have not heard that in Talbot there is any provision of CONVERSION to Judaism of non Jews, let alone any talk of "miracle by which the convert becomes an actual descendant of Abraham and Sarah" . .
I assume, Idea of "miracle" was introduced later on to accommodate the 99% of Jews that are not from Hebrew tribe but are converts . .
Well . . Mr. Spengelr , my question is, why not let another miracle happen and offspring of Jewish man or woman, both equality, considered Jews . . this would solve all . .
Miracles dime a dozen . . why not in this case
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