I am Yehudit

The Jewish calendar goes by the moon, this is is my birth month, Cheshvan, and I just had my Hebrew birthday during Shabbat, from last night to tonight.  Since I got married and am living a more observant Jewish life, I figure why not just celebrate it all, from my October 11 birthday to my Hebrew birthday.  On the Jewish birthday our blessings are powerful, like they come straight from the source, I want to wish everyone a life full of purpose, happiness, love, success, and being of service.  I also want to wish Shalom Bayit and Parnasa, which mean peace in the home and success in what you love.

Yehudit is my Hebrew name, it would have been my only name, but I was born in the communist era in the Soviet Union, Moscow, Russia, and it was not allowed or safe.  I am named after my great-grandmother on my father’s side, who was born in Grozny, Chechnya, which was part of the Soviet Union at that time.  There was a handful of Jews there, Mizrahi, Mountain Jews, Kavkazi, they are known by many descriptions.  They spoke a language that was a mix of Hebrew, Farsi, and Turkish, and since the fall of the Soviet Union, there are no more Jews there, it is dangerous to live there now.  My parents named my the closest Russian sounding name, Yulia, and I love both names.  I love my secular side and my spiritual side, the story of Yehudit in Jewish history is fascinating,


I also realized that not only is the story of Yehudit during the Chanukah story, but so is my youngest son Matityahu, who looks like me, in history he was the father of the Maccabees, who were a group of brothers that saved the Jewish nation from destruction.

As you see, Jewish history is filled with our journey in and out of Israel, and we go way back.  I read a great article today that explains how what is happening now in Israel is modern history, and most of the world does not realize we have been in Israel since the beginning of time, the article is called “Don’t Blame The New York Times,”


and today I see a joint march in Jerusalem,


What if everyone used their words, just like we teach our children to use their words,

Afshine Emrani
The capacity to move people through words, written or spoken, is a sacred task that should not be misused to promote evil as in the case of Hitler, but should elevate the human soul and side with goodness regardless of popularity or number of followers as with Abraham Joshua Heschel and ‪#‎MLK‬. May it be your will God that we influence people with love, kindness and oneness. Amen.
What if?
Coach Yulia

Amazing History of Jews in Grozny, and how they barely escaped WWII
Grozny, Russia – Enjoy a video of a traditional dance below

GROZNY, capital of the Chechen Republic in Russia, formerly in S.W. European R.S.F.S.R. Situated on the Rostov-Baku railroad, it has been an oil-producing center since 1893. Until 1917 the city was outside the Pale of Settlement, but a community of *mountain (Tat) Jews existed there, which in 1866 numbered 928 persons living in 197 houses. In 1897 the Jewish population numbered 1,711 (11% of the total population) divided into two communities: mountain Jews and “Ashkenazim.” In 1900 a synagogue built in Oriental style was opened. The community suffered heavily during the civil war of 1918–21 and many Jews left the city. There remained 1,274 in 1926 (1.7% of the population), but the Jewish population grew to 3,992 in 1939 (2.3% of the total), in 1939. In World War II, during the summer of 1942, the German advance was halted just before reaching Grozny and the Jews of the city were saved from annihilation. The Jewish population according to the 1959 census numbered 4,981 in the towns of the then Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic; it may be assumed that the majority lived in Grozny. By 1970 the number of Jews in Grozny was estimated at about 10,000. The only synagogue serving the “Tat” Jews, who reside in a Jewish quarter, was confiscated in 1962. In the 1990s almost all the Jews left, mostly for Israel.

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