MICHAEL FREUND: Ezekiel is commanded by God to take two sticks. On one, he is to write "For Judah," and on the other "For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim." Then comes the crucial instruction: "Bring them together into one stick so that they become one in your hand" (37:17). Ezekiel's vision is not one of uniformity. The two sticks do not cease to be what they are. Judah remains Judah; Joseph remains Joseph. Unity does not erase difference – it sanctifies and elevates it by placing it within a larger shared destiny.
Ketriel Blad: In other words, in order for a total restoration to take place, the restored Ephraimites from among the nations will have to become Jewish, in the legal sense of the word, thus accepting the Jewish authorities and becoming obedient to Jewish halachah. In the prophecy of Ezekiel 37:19 the Hebrew text can be understood as HaShem giving Yehuda's stick the function of being over Ephraim's stick and this way both sticks will become one. This teaches us that the Ephraimite movement that comes from heaven cannot rise apart from the Jewish people without submission to the Jewish leaders' authority. This is not for all the gentiles.
Most of us reach at least one pivotal moment in our lives that better defines who we are.
These last several months have been the hardest – but have also ended up being the most freeing months — of my life.
To make an extremely long story short, I have come to be able to admit to myself, and to my family, that I am gay.
I grew up in a very conservative Christian home where I was taught that my sexual orientation was a matter of choice, and had put all my faith into that. I had never before admitted to myself that I was gay, let alone to anyone else. I never wanted to be gay. I was scared of what God would think and what all of these people I loved would think about me; so it never was an option for me. I have been suppressing these attractions and feelings since adolescence. I’ve tried my whole life to be straight. I married a girl, and I even have two beautiful little kids. My daughter, Liv, is six and my son, Beckham, is two.
I had always romanticized the idea of falling in love with a woman; and having a family had always been my dream. In many ways, that dream has come true. But I have also come to realize a lot of time has passed in my life pushing away, blocking out and not dealing with real feelings going on inside of me. I have tried not to be gay for more than 20 years of my life. I found so much comfort as a teen in 1 Samuel 18-20 and the intimacy of Jonathan and David. I thought and hoped that such male intimacy could fulfill that void I felt in my desire for male companionship. I always thought if I could find these intimate friendships, then that would be enough.
Then I thought everything would come naturally on my wedding night. I honestly had never even made out with a girl before I got married. Of course, it felt anything but natural for me. Trying not to be gay, has only led to a desire for intimacy in friendships which pushed friends away, and it has resulted in a marriage where I couldn’t love or satisfy my wife in a way that she needed. Still, I tried to convince myself that this was what God wanted and that this would work. I thought all of those other feelings would stay away if I could just do this right.
When Lauren and I got married, I committed to loving her to the best of my ability, and I had the full intention of spending the rest of my life with her. Despite our best efforts, however, I have come to accept that there is nothing that is going to change who I am.
I have intensely mixed feelings about the changes that have resulted in my life. While I regret the way I was taught to handle this growing up, how much it has hurt me and the unintentional pain I have brought Lauren, I wouldn’t have the friendship I now have with her, and we wouldn’t have our two amazing, beautiful children. But if I keep trying to push this down it will end up hurting her even more.
I am never going to be able to change how I am, and no matter how healthy our relationship becomes, it’s never going to change what I know deep down: that I am gay. Lauren has been the most supportive, understanding, loving and gracious person I could ever ask for, as I have come to face this. And now I am trying to figure out how to co-parent while being her friend, and how to raise our children.
I have progressed so much in my faith over these last several years. I think I needed to be able to affirm other gay people before I could ever accept it for myself. Likewise, I couldn’t expect others to accept me how I am until I could come to terms with it first.
I know I have a long way to go. But if this honesty with myself about who I am, and who I was made by God to be, doesn’t constitute as the peace that passes all understanding, then I don’t know what does. It is like this weight I have been carrying my whole life has been lifted from me, and I have never felt such freedom.
In sharing this publicly I’m taking another step into health and wholeness by accepting myself, and every part of me. It’s not only an idea for me that I’m gay; It’s my life. This is me being authentic and real with myself and other people. This is a part of who I am.
I hope people will hear my heart, and that I will still be loved. I’m still the same guy, with the same heart, who wants to love God and love people with everything I have. This is a part of me I have come to be able to accept, and now it is a part of me that you know as well. I trust God to help love do the rest.
Robert Ash: For centuries, up through today, European-descended Christians have exclusively portrayed our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as being European in virtually every visual representation they have made including paintings, books, television, and films, but overuse and abuse of European images have "given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme" Him (2 Sam 12:14) by calling Christianity a "white man’s religion," a religion of racial prejudice, when it is neither. This has even continued decades after it has become widely known that Jesus was not a European at all.
Robert Ash: Egyptians were very prominent in bloodline and ethnic heritage of Israel. They were in Egypt for over 400 years and they didn’t grow from 70 people to 2.5 million people just marrying each other. Joseph married an African woman while he was president of Egypt. Her name was Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah priest of the city of On [Gen 41:45]. Joseph’s children were half-African and each of his two half-African children [Ephraim and Manasseh] became a tribe of Israel. Because the tribe of Levi was not counted in the census of armed men for Israel’s army, Joseph was given two half-tribes. Two of Israel’s tribes were fathered by men who had African blood in their veins. All of the Jews from both of these tribes had an African forefather and they’re not the only ones. A large mixed multitude of Africans came out of Egypt with the Israelites [Ex 12:38].
Edison Toledo: This video is dedicated to my wife Gulkair Toledo and for all my friends and family that didn’t get to attend my wedding in Kyrgyzstan. June 18, 2013. Filipino/American and Kyrgyz wedding. Thank you all for you support and blessings. I hope you enjoy our documentary.
Jewish Virtual Library: The term "Bukharan Jews" refers to the Central Asian Jews of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Also, a large number of Bukharan Jews have made aliyah and have congregated in Jerusalem.
Megilla 26a, Yoma 12a: What was in the portion of Yehuda? The Temple Mount, the chambers and the courtyards. And what was in the portion of Benyamin? The Ulam (antechamber), the Holy and the Holy of Holies. And a strip comes out of the portion of Yehuda and enters the portion of Benyamin, and the altar was built on that.
Kyrgyz means “imperishable”, “inextinguishable”, “immortal”, “unconquerable”, or “unbeatable”
The early Kyrgyz people, known as Yenisei Kyrgyz, have their origins in the western parts of modern-day Mongolia
They were described in Tang Dynasty texts as having “red hair and green eyes” with a mixture of European and Mongol features.
They are considered to be a people that were created by a combination of Mongol, Khitan, and Uyghur tribes. They generally have an East Asian appearance like their neighbours the Kazakhs, and in contrast to the mostly Caucasoid Tajiks and the mixed-looking Uzbeks.
The Kyrgyz form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People’s Republic of China. There are more than 145,000 Kyrgyz in China.
Russia 104,570
Kazakhstan 23,274
Uzbekistan 250,000
Kyrgyzstan 3,804,800
Tajikistan 60,000
Afghanistan 1,130
Turkey 5,000
China 145,000
They are found mainly in the Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture in the southwestern part of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
Many ancient indigenous beliefs and practices, including shamanism and totemism, coexisted synthetically with Islam. Likewise, the Sufi order of Islam has been one of the most active Muslim groups in Kyrgyzstan for over a century. Certain segments of the Kyrgyz in China are followers of Tibetan Buddhism.
Russians believe that the Kirghiz would be a liability in any conflict against China. The Kirghiz believe that in an upcoming war China would defeat Russia.
Peter Fischer: Cooking pot types represent a certain tradition of preparing meals which may have arrived at the site with newcomers. I am not saying that they founded a colony there but they became integrated with the local population.
Neil Asher Silberman, Israel Finkelstein, David Ussishkin, and Baruch Halpern: The Book of Joshua (12:21) specifically mentions the defeat of the king of Megiddo and the allotment of his territory to the tribe of Manasseh;
NETANYA MUNICIPALITY: thanks to the Lord for giving them {Netan~ya, lot. "gift of God"} the ability to continue the legacy of the 12 tribes who settled in the Land of Israel, and particularly of the half~tribe of Manasseh, which settled in the region.
Stephen Epstein: Some went down the Mekong River into Vietnam, the Philippines, Siam, Thailand and Malaysia, while some of the Israelites moved to Burma and west to India.
