And his twin brother Jacob-Israel converted to the new faith with great joy and
reverently instilled it into all his twelve sons born by his two wives – Rachel and Leah
and their two handmaids – Zilpah and Bilhah.
All children of Jacob-Israel addressed their father with a respectful bow as a sign
of obedience to One God and solemnly said:
“Sh’ma, Israeclass="underline" Adonai - Eloheinu, Adonai – Ehad!” (Hear, O Israeclass="underline" the
Lord is our God, the Lord is One!)
These historical words solemnly said by Patriarchs of the twelve Israeli tribes become a daily prayer and battle hymn for all descendants of Israel.
After release from the Egyptian slavery and forty years of wandering across the
desert Sinai the Jacob-Israel’s descendants by the order of the Almighty conquered the
land of Cnaan.
And this land was distributed among the twelve tribes of Israel and renamed into
Eretz Israel (the Land of Israel).
Thus our forefather Israel was crowned with immortality. His descendants become
famous as bney Israel (sons of Israel) or ‘am Israel (the people of Israel) but not Jew
(Ivri), as it was during the Egyptian slavery.
The Almighty gave the name Israel (see note 27) to our forefather Jacob and his
descendants forever.
And Christians made sure that Abraham’s nickname Ivri (Jew) once again became
the name of our nationality.
Stalin improved the initiative of his co-religionists: the nationality “Jewish” was
recorded in the fifth line of Soviet citizen’s passport.
Christians dedicated one of the chapters of the New Testament to the sons and
daughters of Israel, which disparagingly says: “Epistle to the Hebrews” in order to degrade the honor and dignity of our people in this way.
The status of Israelites in the society of “pious Orthodox Christians” in the Russian Empire was humiliating;
they were forcibly sequestered in small villages away from big cities. They subsequently became known as small-town Jews (see note 28).
And Stalin just improved the initiative of his coreligionists and sent Israelites
even further – to Far East wilderness. Later they became known as Birobidzhan Jews.
And the word “Jew” (Ivri) is found in the Pentateuch (Torah) in the sections describing Israelites – slaves in Egypt and slaves of their compatriots in Israel and in Judaea. That is why “Jew” is associated with the word “slave”.
By the way, thanks to their own efforts African-Americans are not called “negro”
by white Americans
because they associate this word in their memory with the time when they were
slaves in America. Violators can go to jail for this word as an insult of African American.
In other countries denomination, i.e. “Jew” (“Yehudi”), of the sons and daughters
of Israel become their nationality (see note 29).
Many people deliberately distorted the word “Jew” to use it for scolding (insulting) the sons and daughters of Israel.
For example: Jude in Germany, Judeo in Portugal, Judio in Spain, Jud in France,
Zhid – in Russia, Poland and Ukraine, Zhidan in Romania, Zhido in Hungary, Jew in
America and England, Dzhugut or Dzhuvud in Central Asia, Сhufut in Crimea, Dzhuga
in Georgia, Dzhudah in Armenia, Dzhugti in Chechnya etc.
We, Israelites, added so-called Modern Hebrew to these insults.
That’s a mockery of our native Israeli language!
Other nations wouldn’t allow such irresponsible attitude to their centuries-old native languages.
Have you ever heard “modern katsap language” in Russia? Or “modern khokhol
language” in Ukraine?
That could never happen because these nations take these words as an insult
against them.
Moldavian people have: nationality – Moldavan, native language – Moldavian,
state – Moldova.
And Georgian people have: nationality – Georgian, native language – Georgian,
state – Georgia.
Many nations have the same sequence but not Israeli people.
Because for us nationality column is filled in as “Jewish” or “Jew”, mother tongue
– Hebrew, state – almost Palestine.
So the government of Israel should take appropriate measures to change this injustice against the sons and daughters of Israel.
For that purpose it is necessary to revive the age-old dignity of our people and
proudly declare that the people of Israel have:
Nationality.................... ISRAEL in Russian ISRAELIT
Mother tongue.............. ISRAELI ––––––––- IZRAILSKY
State.............................. ISRAEL –––––––––- IZRAIL
Because we are the sons of Israel (bnei Israel) and we will be Israelites wherever
we live.
Actually, out language is called Lashon haKodesh bnei Israel (the Holy Language
of the sons of Israel).
Why is it called so? Because the Creator spoke face-to-face with Moses in the Israeli language in front of all the people on the mountain Sinai.
The whole Christian world considers it an honor to study it as the Holy Language.
So, the State of Israel should prohibit by a government decree to use the nickname
“Jew” as degrading to the honor and dignity of the sons and daughters of Israel.
There is a wise folk saying: “Respect yourself and others will respect you”.
So, stop humiliating ourselves and accepting that anti-Semites contemptuously
scream at us: “Hey, you, Jewish people!” or “Hey, you, Jews! ”
Let’s start respecting ourselves so that other people respect us “Us – Israelites!”.
And there is another thing, pronunciation of many letters in so-called Modern Hebrew is very different from the original.
For example, Israelites pronounce aspirate x (het) as x (hat).
Many repatriates of the former Soviet Union can’t articulate the letter h (hei),
that’s why they omit it while talking.
Guttural letter к (qof) is pronounced as к (kaf) and the letter ъ (‘ayin) totally disappeared from conversation vocabulary of Israelites,
and Israelites, who originate from Yemen, still speak the language which our ancestors used in the days of Moses.
To save this language it is necessary to open special courses in general education
and higher educational institution for those who want to study the language of our ancestors.
If we don’t save the unique original language of our people, our descendants will
never forgive us for our disrespect to the history of our people.
Now, the most painful problem of Israeli society.
I mean caste division of the sons and daughters of Israel based on where they
come from:
so called Sabras, Ashkenazim, Sephardim, Bukharians, Falashas, Lakhlukhs, Tats,
Georgian Jews, Moroccan Jews, etc. and also Karaimes, Samaritans, Sabbatarians, Old Testaments.
These communities live aloof only around their Synagogue and treat each other
with contempt, or even with hostility.
To reconcile these communities it is necessary to organize districts where they can
live together
and where common clubs, schools, libraries, and even common synagogues (Beit-Knesset) for joint prayers will be provided.