There are a few holidays I would ideally like altered. Purim needs to be amended to stop lying about ‘Queen Esther’ and that Zoroastrians were killing Jews. In reality, there was a Persian Jew Queen, Queen Shushanduhkt, who married a Sassanid King, who went on to establish/expand many Jewish communities across Persia. Also, Zoroastrians were very philosemitic. Why are we erasing real-life Judean heroines, and inventing stories of near atrocities of Jews, when, infuriatingly, there are more than enough real-life instances of such within Judean history.
Next, Chanukkah is a celebration of the greatest Zionist military victory of all time – both against the Hellenized Jews (Judean Civil Wars) and the Seleucids (who were not Greek but Syrian. It is akin to saying Portugal attacked when it was say Brazil). There was no ‘miracle of oil’ – that was not added to the holiday until 200 years later, borrowing from neighboring traditions of lighting candles in wintertime. Both Persians and Romans had similar customs. After the devastating defeat by the Romans in 136 AD, rabbis decided to downplay the military aspect of Chanukkah in order to not agitate further uprisings. The same mindset was displayed by rabbinical leaders during Byzantine times (though brief Judean revolts did occur against Byzantine rule). That military victory celebration needs to be brought back to honor our Judean heroes and reality.
The first two books of the Maccabees describe only the re-dedication of the Temple and the celebration of an 8-day festival in the winter, which at the time meant a delayed Sukkot, since they were unable, due to military activity, to celebrate during the fall harvest period.
And, of course, a holiday to honor King Cyrus the Great ought to be added, as he was the only real ‘Moses’ Jews ever had. He freed all the slaves in Babylon in 539 BC, including Jews. He even helped fund the rebuilding of the Temple and encouraged the formerly enslaved Jews to return home.
The Jews in Babylon wrote the Exodus story, and in 516 BC, when Pesach was reinstated as a national holiday in Israel, that is when the Exodus story was integrated. Historians highly speculate that Moses, the character, is based on the Sargon of Akkad origination story of the Akkadians, which was popular across numerous cultures of the time.
The Akkadians were a Semitic people who conquered Sumer in 2340 BC, uniting the Sumerian city-states into the first Mesopotamian Empire, which was called the Akkadian Empire. A less popular speculation is that the story of Moses is based on the Egyptian mythical hero, Ra-Harakhti. The Akkadians had a far greater influence over the region, both linguistically and culturally. The great flood story was influenced by the Epic of Gilgamesh, a tale which itself was influenced by the much older Atrahasis epic. Scientists today are backing up evidence of great floods at the end of the Ice Age worldwide.
And numerous cultures adopted aspects of the Code of Hammurabi, a Babylonian law code that followed Akkadian tradition. Many civil laws found in the Torah hearken back to that Code.
Jews were influenced by their regional neighbors, as neighbors were influenced by Jews.
In historical reality, no one came to rescue the Jews who ended up in Egypt, those taken from Canaan to Egypt, as military spoils. Canaan was at various times a vassal state of the Egyptians. Once Jews emerged as a distinct race from the pagan Semitic tribes in the Hill Country (Judea & Samaria) of Canaan, Jews distinguished themselves as a uniquely rambunctious bunch who fought both against the Egyptians, and the Semitic tribes of Canaan for territorial gain.
Zionism Historical Accuracy Fact: One of the most antisemitic and dangerous lies even Zionists share is that Israel is part of the West, that it has Western values. Saying so completely erases the Middle Eastern legitimacy of Israel, of Judeans, and upholds the antisemitic lie of ‘Judeo-Christian’ values.
The term ‘Judeo-Christian’ emerged from the Inquisition and referred to forcibly ‘converted’ Jews. It was never a positive term and one steeped deep in Judean bloodshed. Further, in the 19th – early 20th centuries in America, it referred to Jews who ‘converted’ to Christianity in order to hide their racial Judean roots. It has ALWAYS been an antisemitic term, one that for some reason especially Jews are helping to sanitize.
A bit about me and my Zionism work, if anyone would like to join forces:
For 20 years, I was an anti-Israel Jew, not due to the media, but largely due to the Jewish organizations I was part of, who would misinform that Israel was ‘founded’ in 1948, that Herzl had anything to do with it, or even more laughable, the UN. Antisemitic terms such as ‘Palestinians’ to mean the Arab occupiers, and not the indigenous Jews in Israel, who were called Palestinians from 136 AD – 1948, West Bank, settlers, settlements, Green Line, and East Jerusalem. Other lies included that all Jews were exiled after 136 AD. Or that Jews came to Israel per a Biblical story and not invoking actual history, that Jews literally emerged from Semitic tribes in Judea & Samaria 4,000 years ago.
None mentioned that Gaza was Judean land since 145 BC, and to this day, legally, per international law (Article 80) still belongs to Israel. Or that Gaza was an epicenter of Judean life in numerous eras prior to the liberation of Israel, in 1948, by brave Jews after 20 years of fighting the British occupiers. Or that most of the Arab occupiers in Jewish Gaza are not ‘Gazans’ but former Egyptian nationals settled in after 1947/48 and radicalized, or that the other smaller cohort are former Israeli-Arabs who came to Israel originally from 25 different Muslim nations, and who then fled to Gaza, once Egypt stole Gaza, to help Arab armies kill Jews faster in the 1947-1948 War.
In 2014, I became a Zionist, and began to learn actual Judean history along with the history of Israel, as that is interwoven. Social media posting turned into becoming a published op-ed writer on the topics of Israel, antisemitism, and politics. Thousands of people since then have been converted to being pro-Israel solely by my sharing irrefutable facts and history. To date, I have been published over 50 times in both Jewish and non-Jewish publications. And, in 2022, I launched Taking Back the Narrative (www.tbtnisrael.com), a Zionism education company.
All my materials were triple vetted by top Middle Eastern affairs experts, and in the few years of the company being in operation, 7 classes of Israel Explained: Through the Lens of History have been completed, with on average of 100 students per class (worldwide, over Zoom), a newsletter, a Zionism-oriented podcast, The Zionist Corner, and I have been a featured speaker on podcasts, tv segments, and a speaker for both Jewish and non-Jewish groups in person and online.
https://tbtnisrael.com/zionism-glossary-combat-antisemitism/
https://tbtnisrael.com/articles/
https://tbtnisrael.com/zionism-education-services/
https://tbtnisrael.com/tbtn-in-the-media/
https://tbtnisrael.com/zionism-education-class/ (next course will begin either mid August or early October, will decide within the next few days).
My classes are perfect for those who are seeking to effectively push back on antisemitic lies. If anyone is interested in a meeting to potentially partner on any aspect of Zionism outreach, I welcome any inquiries. The range of educational services TBTN offers is outlined above.
I am currently also working on a ‘tear sheet’ on Israel to counter the false ones out there, to spread to colleges and universities come fall.