News / Jesus Christ is Now Officially the King of Poland [164]

I just found this discussion and I can't believe what I'm reading. Poland now has a Jewish king. It's about time. But how did this Israeli Jew get Polish citizenship?

Language / The lost literary languages of Poland [54]

Harry, Are you serious? Warsaw the Yiddish capital of the world? It once was, but we know what happened since then. Today you can hear Yiddish spoken even by children in many neighborhoods of Jerusalem and in some neighborhoods of Tel Aviv and Bnei Brak (a suburb of Tel Aviv). You can also hear it in parts of Brooklyn, where it's mixed a bit with English and has a Hungarian accent. Also among the ultra-Orthodox Jews in Antwerp. Basically it's still a common language among Hasidic Jews and is not dying out at all. But there's very little cultural activity in this language. The artistic Jews don't speak it anymore (except for old people) and the Hassidic Jews don't bother much with the arts. Yiddish theater is mostly a nostalgic thing. I don't think anything new is being written. On the other hand there's plenty of Jewish cultural activity in Hebrew in Israel and in English in the US.

News / Pro-Israel lobby to be formed in Polish parliament [29]


I don't call that anti-semitism. I call it stupidity.
What's your point here? Do you think that a pro-Israel lobby in Poland would be aiming to bring communism to Poland? Are you that clueless about history? Just as a point of information: Israel was never a communist country. Poland was. Israel's communist party was tiny and had to join together with an Arab anti-zionist party to get enough votes to be in the Knesset. In Poland, in contrast, the communist party ruled. Communism is and always has been anti-Israel.

Life / Little-known facts about Poland [45]


Who is that?

Life / Little-known facts about Poland [45]


You're exaggerating! I'm a descendant of Polish Jews and I'd be surprised if modern Poles would consider me Polish today. Within Israel the word "Polani" (Polish) is a code word for a bourgeois person with old-fashioned European mannerisms, like Menachem Begin for example. A "Polish Mother" is the Israeli equivalent for what Americans refer to as a Jewish Mother. (Since nearly every mother here is Jewish, that term wouldn't mean anything.) So a "Polish mother" is a loving, overbearing smothering mother who dotes over her children. All of these references aren't based on ethnically Polish people at all but to Polish Jews as they exist in the popular imagination.

News / US slaps Poland in the face (Comey Poland) [92]


Not really so offensive. It's simply the only word in Yiddish for a non-Jew. The degree of offensiveness depends on the context and the tone of voice. In Hebrew it's more polite to say the equivalent of "non-Jew" (לא יהודי) but "goy" is also used and is not necessarily offensive.

Genealogy / Half Polish half Persian? I can't possibly be alone in the whole world with this mix? [34]


First of all it's "deserts", not "desserts". Having only desserts sounds like fun actually.

About Israel being European: Either you don't know much about Europe or you don't really come from Israel. It's true that we're a modern country but "modern" does not equal "European". I think you're using out-dated terminology from the 1950s.

News / Poland scored 31 in THE 2014 LEGATUM PROSPERITY INDEX [6]


The potential for danger is there, and some times it becomes real. But 99% of the time this is a peaceful and happy country.

Off-Topic / Thanks a lot for all of your kindness [27]


You have my invitation. I'm sure you'll have a great time here. And then you can report back to the Polish Forum and tell them.

Law / Father and Grandmother Polish born - can I get a Polish passport? [14]


I can offer you some good news: You're a citizen of a very successful and beautiful country. You don't need to go looking for favors from Poland or any other foreign countries.

Genealogy / Surnames: Brazanna & Stahlheber - background [5]


Never met a Jew with either of those family names.

History / If Poles were antisemitic, would they ...? [240]

Who said they were?

News / Is this the first clear and open signal that Poland makes preparations for war with Russia? [163]

You guys really live in a dangerous part of the world.

News / Is this the first clear and open signal that Poland makes preparations for war with Russia? [163]


Wow! I thought I was being cynical about morality. You're saying it's not even strategic interests - it's just squabbling oligarchs.
That's something I never thought of. What do I know about eastern europe.

News / Is this the first clear and open signal that Poland makes preparations for war with Russia? [163]


She's got guts for saying that. I respect that. But all she's talking about is the ethical side of the situation. That doesn't mean anything to Putin, so it has no bearing on what he'll do.

I would even say that the ethical questions don't mean much to the West either, even if morality happens to be on their side. Each side will play this chess game to win.

Individuals care about right and wrong (even politicians do in private), but countries act to protect their interests.

News / Is this the first clear and open signal that Poland makes preparations for war with Russia? [163]


I'm sure gonna hold on to my nukes (not that I'm saying we have them...)

News / Is this the first clear and open signal that Poland makes preparations for war with Russia? [163]

I heard a Russian-Israeli commentator on the news last night. Let me know what you think of his analysis. He explains the situation this way:

This is the cuban missile crisis in reverse, with Russia feeling threatened. If Ukraine would ally with Europe and eventually join NATO (an essentially anti-Russian alliance) it makes Russian missile defenses useless, with NATO missiles in their backyard (like the Soviet missiles in Cuba), creating an existential threat for Russia. That's why Russia was trying like hell to keep Ukraine in his orbit, and why Putin couldn't sit back and let Ukraine go west. He also understands that the West was encouraging Ukraine to break the connection with Russia, not because of a love of democracy but to alter the strategic balance against Russia.

To prevent that from happening, Putin doesn't want to take over only the russian speaking part of Ukraine, because the remaining part would ally with NATO and then Russia would be in the same vulnerable fix. Putin wants all of Ukraine. But instead of conquering it outright, he will use the Russian citizens of Ukraine to do the job for him. Taking over Crimea was crisis control, to solve the urgent problem of protecting the naval base, and also to threaten Ukraine and embolden the Russian Ukrainians to push the country back into Russia's domination. But his goal is to dominate all of Ukraine, which he sees as strategically part of Russia.

None of this has to do with fascists or protecting russian speakers. That's just propaganda to gain popular support. The issue is not even political or diplomatic. It's totally strategic, and Putin can't afford to back down.

That's his analysis in short. Tell me if you think this is accurate.

News / Is this the first clear and open signal that Poland makes preparations for war with Russia? [163]

Here in Israel, this makes me wonder: The US and EU want us to give the Jordan valley to the Palestinians, offering us security guarantees to protect our eastern border with the Arab world. Let's see how the US keeps its word to protect Ukraine before we agree to a crazy plan like that.

Genealogy / My grandmother's last name was Krolik, is this name Jewish? [66]

If your mother was a fighter in the AK she was not likely to be Jewish. I've heard there were some Jews in the Ak but not many and certainly not many women. Nothing in your story points toward a Jewish background.

Genealogy / My grandmother's last name was Krolik, is this name Jewish? [66]

I never met a Jewish person named Krolik. There were some people in my grandfather's family named Kroll, but that's not an uncommon name, and it's not Krolik.

I think that if your grandmother was from a Jewish family, her sister's family would have known about that. That seems like the least likely explanation for your family's split.

Life / Famous Polish music and musicians [48]

There's a concert here in Tel Aviv of Krzysztof Penderecki conducting the Polish Requiem.

ipo.co.il/eng/Series/Subscribers/telaviv/Events,2858.aspx

Can anybody tell me if it's worth going to hear it?

News / Don't let Poland become like my country, France. [630]

What's with you people?! Paulina is making perfectly reasonable points and asking relevant questions, and for some reason you keep jumping on her and saying she's "tiresome".

Paulina, it's not you, it's them.

News / Don't let Poland become like my country, France. [630]


Good point!

News / Don't let Poland become like my country, France. [630]


To me, this sculpture really symbolizes the relationship between christianity and judaism: A christian sculptor took a character from the hebrew bible and depicted him in a way that would horrify the ancient hebrews. (The idea of showing a full body statue of a king is anathema to jews, and a naked one yet!). The depiction is greco-roman if anything. In a similar way, the church fathers took Jewish concepts and stories and then merged them with greco-roman and pagan ideas and turned them into something that jews couldn't recognize as anything like the original.

Life / Catholic "Telewizja Trwam" from Poland - your thoughts? [98]


That story is your writings, not ours. We don't have to explain an event that may never have happened. What is true is that the Romans in that period crucified Jews right and left, so it's certainly possible that they crucified a man named Jesus. But I never saw any mention of it in the Mishna, the part of the Talmud that was written in those times, so I doubt that his execution, if it happened, attracted more attention than the hundreds of others who were killed the same way.


As far as I'm concerned the whole event was a legend. Along with the virgin birth, being the son of god etc. Every religion has it's stories and you're welcome to believe in yours. But just keep me out of it.


Maybe in biblical times they were, but in the second temple period and certainly in the roman occupation the Sanhedrin didn't have the power to carry out executions.

But if you want to study religious executions, why go so far back into history? People are executed in the Muslim world for blasphemy even today.

Life / Catholic "Telewizja Trwam" from Poland - your thoughts? [98]


Jews never had much of any attitude toward Jesus the man or his teachings. We had an attitude toward the christian religion, and anything said about jesus would be an expression of that.

What did they say on the TV show?

Genealogy / How common is it for other people of Polish origin to discover they are actually Jewish? [127]


If he is the right age and in good health, then yes.

Genealogy / How common is it for other people of Polish origin to discover they are actually Jewish? [127]

It works like this:
When you apply for an immigrant status you have to provide a document that shows your a Jew, whether by birth or converted. If a person is Jewish according to Jewish religious law but his spouse is not (and therefore his kids are not), they can also immigrate and become citizens. The idea behind that is sort of a negative of what the germans did: If you're someone the nazis would have killed, then we'll let you in.

I'm not aware of any DNA tests to prove Jewishness.

Genealogy / How common is it for other people of Polish origin to discover they are actually Jewish? [127]


That's right, you don't understand. Not every group of people defines identity the way you do. For Jews, ethnicity and religion overlap.
We are an ethnic group (tribe/nation/ people) that has its own religion.

Genealogy / How common is it for other people of Polish origin to discover they are actually Jewish? [127]


There isn't one specific gene, there are many genes that are common in the Jewish gene pool. Since Jews (until the past hundred years) married among themselves for centuries there developed a gene pool that has characteristics, both good and bad. Just like any ethnic group that keeps separate from others. That's why there are some genetic diseases that are more common among Jews, and that's also why we get more Nobel prizes. It's all in the genes.