Hebrew Vision News Exclusive (Article First Printed in HINT Magazine Yom Kippur Edition)
by Miykael Qorbanyahu aka The End Time Scribe
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Your loving-kindness sustains the living, Your great mercies give life to the dead. You support the falling, heal the ailing, free the fettered. You keep Your faith with those who sleep in the dust. Whose power can compare with Yours? You are the Master of life and death and deliverance. Faithful are You in giving life to the dead. Blessed are you HaShem, Master of life and death. Amein.
– Sabbath Evening Amidah from the Siddur –
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In 1857, United States Supreme Court Justice Roger B. Taney declared that “[Blacks] had no rights which the white man was bound to respect”. This statement, made fresh in the throws of the infamous Dred Scott ruling, established the precedent of interaction with both Federal and State law enforcement agencies with Black America from that point forward. To make matters more clear, Taney also went on to state that Blacks were not and could never become citizens of the United States. To Taney, and the corporate institution of the United States, Blacks were civiliter mortuus, or “dead in the eyes of the law”. This legalese term was actually articulated in another judicial ruling a short thirteen years later, when the Virginia Supreme Court, as a result of the recently ratified Thirteenth Amendment that freed enslaved Blacks, went on to rule how Blacks, in particular, who were duly tried and convicted of a crime would now legally and voluntarily return to enslavement. Specifically, the ruling declared that
He [the prisoner] has, as consequence of his crime, not only forfeited his liberty, but all his personal rights except those which the law in its humanity accords him. He is for the time being a slave of the State. He is civiliter mortus, and his estate, if he has any, is administered like that of a dead man.
(Ruffin vs Commonwealth, 1871)
This historical information provides a context to better understand the current macabre environment that exists in America. For the descendants of the enslaved in America today, as it was in the past, there bodes a pervasive and nescient culture of powerlessness and strife that is found wherever a Black community is located. These horrific conditions exhibit a most wretched and vile milieu that typifies a people who have lost their way and have embraced an alien culture that does not value what is known as Black life. Within this constant climate of injustice, hate, bloodshed and murder, the Black inhabitants of America have been so gravely affected by this bitter atmosphere in such a profound way that our desensitization to death often leaves us utterly numb to the multiplicity of Black lives lost daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. What’s more is that Scripture also provides us with a means to contextualize the conditions that are faced by so-called Blacks in America. In the scroll of Deuteronomy, we find these words written,
Thus you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a mockery among all the peoples to which יהוה drives you…And all these curses shall come upon you, and they shall pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of יהוה your Elohim, to guard His commands and His laws which He commanded you. And they shall be upon you for a sign and for a wonder, and on your seed, forever.
Deuteronomy 28.37, 45-46
That the prophetic reality of these words has no greater historical fulfillment than with the so-called Blacks of America comes as a surprise to many who attempt to dispute this fact which further serves as proof of the utter disdain and derision held by others for us as a people. In addition to this, the fact that we are identified as a people by an adjective which despairingly describes our appearance is also a witness to the mockery we face by which our enemies and oppressors have contemptuously dealt with us presently and our ancestors of the past. What is more, our oppressors were semantically and etymologically aware of the word black, or Negro, when they mockingly ascribed to us this forcefully imposed pseudo-identity. Intending to create an alternative reality of the African, and more specifically the Israelite, the usage of the Spanish word Negro was utilized to justify the inhumane treatment of the covenanted people of YHWH. To further elucidate this point, Richard B. Moore in his book, The Name Negro, It’s Origin and Evil Use, states the following,
The word negro is Spanish for black. The Spanish language comes from Latin, which has its origins in Classical Greek. The word negro, in Greek, is derived from the root word necro, meaning dead. What was once referred to as a physical condition is now regarded as an appropriate state of mind for millions of Africans.
BLACK LIVES DON’T MATTER
The impact of this distorted reality in which we have been forced to exist has had dire ramifications economically, physiologically, politically, socially and spiritually on our lives. Economically, we have suffered from the ravages of unemployment, poverty and indebtedness since being emancipated from the compulsory labor of our chattel enslavement. And though we have amassed upwards to a trillion dollar spending power, we have failed to capitalize on our locust like consumerism with the fiat dollar by investing in our own industries. This is in consequence of our lack of means to produce industry through the creation of self-sustained institutions that would then provide us with the power to not only create employment opportunities, but also a viable means to empower and revitalize our community through the principles of cooperative economics and collective work and responsibility. The resultant economic oppression that brutally rains down on our communities directly correlates to the high rates of poverty, which in turns increases crime, which then feeds directly into the mass incarceration epidemic that disappears our men, women and children. This, however, is all by design, as is the few fortunate token Black professionals who have been allowed into certain social circles based upon their economic status. The tension and different world’s that are thus created continue the perpetuation of the conditions from which we suffer in the cynical, capitalist society in which we find ourselves struggling to make ends meet.
Physiologically, the stresses of dealing with racism’s byproducts of death, dehumanization, depression, derangement, discrimination and disenfranchisement have taken major tolls on our individual and collective well-being. And because we have not yet been afforded a safe and conducive environment in which we can undertake a process to heal ourselves, as a result of the continuous onslaught of racism, our mental and physical health has suffered the calamities of attrition resulting from this most diabolically sophisticated capitalist institution which justifies its exploitation and liquidation of Black Lives with racist notions of Black inferiority. In turn, we have assumed the role of the perpetual victim and remain fragmented spiritually, mentally and physically; unable to either diagnose or remedy the pathological state of being by which we dysfunctionally operate.
Politically, our lack of acumen in our dealings with the various systems of American government have consistently yielded the fruits of betrayal and marginalization of both resources and opportunities which would have otherwise empowered us. Because we have chosen to integrate into a political machine that has proven itself hell-bent on crippling our ability to bring forth a self-determined existence, we have only castrated our collective ability to be able to reproduce a reality that would allow for our fullest potentials to be actualized. What’s more disturbing is that those elected officials who campaigned on false promises for our community wind up demonstrating that their cynical loyalties are to the lobbyists who are intent on further exploiting and exposing our communities to ruin. Due to our political naiveté and ignorance, in addition to the machinations of the system, we have been politically powerless in our attempts to have our collective interests and needs met.
Our political powerlessness and being reckoned as dead in the eyes of the law is what has also justified the escalating police terrorism against us which has been carried out with impunity. This belief was clearly expressed in a text message exchange between former Sgt. Ian Furminger and current officers Michael Robison, Noel Schwab, Rain Daugherty and Michael Celis of the San Francisco Police Department who, according to reports, summarily stated that “killing Blacks is not against the law because it’s not illegal to kill animals.”
Socially, both our communities and families are seemingly broken beyond repair. The school systems that educate our children are failing. Our access to quality food is often compared to that of a desert. Single parent households led by women perforate our living centers. Gender relations and roles are catastrophically perverse. And it appears as if our future has all the markings of a social engineering program that will inevitably capsize on itself according to plans.
But perhaps the greatest aberration of our being is that of our spiritual consciousness. As the consequence of the stripping of our identity and culture during our enslavement, our lens of perception has been distorted to the degree that we have acquired an impairment of vision that has interfered with our ability to distinguish truth from falsehood and right from wrong. Consequently, the generational curses that have ensued have run the course of a pandemic viral infection with only a few among us who have had the fortune to come into contact with the cultural and historical remedy to counter the systemic decomposition of our true and hidden national identity.
THE MATTER OF IDENTITY
Predicated upon one’s character as shaped by individual, familial and socio-cultural traditions and customs, the matter of identity is one of the most significant distinctions for a people to share as relates to creating, defining and maintaining their existential reality. That identity is a driving force for a culture or nation is a historical precedent that needs no validation or affirmation for its unifying effects and focusing agency as relates to accomplishing greatness. For so-called Blacks, historically speaking, the most effective national identity reclamation that has been embraced, arguably, is that of Israelite heritage. Going back as far in American history to at least 1810 with the community of Israel Hill in Prince Edward County, Virginia, the identification of Blacks with Israel has radically inspired Blacks to achieve freedom from oppression. Exercising a Torah based self-determination, as well as cooperative economics and collective work and responsibility, it can be said that their thriving community, which was sustained by an bustling agricultural industry, laid foundations for future self-determined Black communities like those in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Kinloch, Missouri, Durham, North Carolina, Knoxville, Tennessee, East St. Louis and even inspired organizations like Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association.
Given this information about identity, it is in my humble opinion that the most successful of all identity based movements in our historical struggle for liberation and self-determination has been the Dimona, Israel based Hebrew Israelite Kingdom of Yah. Embodying the active ingredients to bring forth a new reality, these Israelites have established a self-determined and self-sustained community in the land of our inheritance which, notwithstanding its trials and travails, has exemplified what a shared sense of identity can accomplish when embraced and acted upon.
For Israelites such as the community in Dimona, Mitzpe Ramon & Tel Arad, the centrality of identity has completely transformed their reality and resurrected their consciousness from being once reckoned as a dead people, to that of a community which is alive and thriving in a land that was once where our ancestors inhabited, cultivated and lived life. This example should serve as an inspiration to other so-called Blacks who identify as Israelites in that it should motivate us to unify and seek to establish our own communities in the land that once allowed for us to experience optimum living conditions. Not to say that they have accomplished the ultimate goal of liberation and self-determination, however, their efforts to make the Kingdom of Yah a reality must, at least, be greatly respected. Yet, to achieve this ultimate reality is conditioned upon our national repentance, which will truly allow for our resurrection to take place. As relates to the resurrection of the Negro, the late Malcolm X who once stated that,
We believe in the resurrection of the dead, not in the physical resurrection, but in mental resurrection we believe that the so-called Negro is the most in need of mental resurrection. Therefore, they will be the ones resurrected first…What about the resurrection? Our people are dead, Negroes are dead, walking zombies. You are the one that the book is talking about who is dead; dead to the knowledge of yourself, dead to the knowledge of your own people, dead to the knowledge of your own god, dead to the knowledge of the devil. Why, you don’t even know who the devil is…We believe in the resurrection of the dead. We believe that the 20 million Black people in America in the last days will be taught the truth. The trumpet of truth will sound in your ear, as its being sounded today. The trumpet of truth! And as truth strikes your ear, it strikes your heart, it’ll open your eyes; it’ll open your ears. It’ll make you stand up. It’ll do the same thing that truth did for the dry bones in the valley, because the picture of dry bones in the valley is talking about you. The picture of Lazarus laying dead four days is talking about you. You are Lazarus! You are the dry bones! You are the prodigal son! You are the lost sheep! You are the people about whom the Bible is speaking who will stand up in the last days when the trumpet is sounded! Black People are waking up! Black people are standing up! Black people are rising up and they’re instilling fright in that knee shaking white man. We believe we are the people of God’s choice. That’s what we believe…
– Malcolm X 1964 Harlem Unity Rally –
REPENTANCE, ATONEMENT, REDEMPTION, EMPOWERMENT, KINGDOM
In order for the resurrection to be our collective reality, there must first take place a national repentance. This repentance, based in our national return to Torah, will yield the fruits of righteousness that this world so longingly desires. What will also be yielded in this national repentance is the manifestation of the Messianic reality of national Israel restoring truth, justice and peace to the world as a kingdom of priests and set apart nation. For it is the goal of the Torah to bring forth an anointed people who are charged with the mission of bringing forth a political kingdom that is established in righteousness, justice, equity and truth. These principles will be brought forth by a people who have been deprived of them for millennia as a result of their rejection of their covenantal responsibilities. This is why our repentance is vital to our survival.
As we approach Yom Kippur, the most holy day of the year, let us understand the type of repentance that our Father in heaven desires for us to bring forth. The prophet Isaiah explains to us just the type of service of the heart that we should seek to accomplish on this most important appointment in time that we have with Yah. For he reveals to us what is expected from us.,
Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loosen the tight cords of wrongness, to undo the bands of the yoke, to exempt the oppressed, and to break off every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, and cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh?
Isaiah 58.6-7
Given this standard, it should be clear to us that repentance is the only solution to all of our hardships and woes. This should be evident given the prophetic manifestation of the curses from which we have suffered for over four hundred years in North America. Our disregard of the covenant that we are obliged to guard as descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have consequently brought upon us the horrors we have faced daily. These “signs” that are upon us are intended to awaken us to the plight that we have brought upon ourselves for our forsaking of the covenant. And though some of us have returned to Torah in the full consciousness of being an Israelite, our people are still being brutally slaughtered in the streets by enemies from within and without.
The solutions which we have attempted to undertake to bring about a qualitative change historically have all but brought about the desired results of our freedom from oppression. This is because nothing short of returning with fullness of heart, strength and being to our Father and King will heal us and transform our environs into a harmonious whole. The prophet Hoshea speaks clears of this matter as he prophetically stated,
Come, and let us turn back to יהוה. For He has torn but He does heal us, He has stricken but He binds us up. After two days He shall revive us, on the third day He shall raise us up, so that we live before Him. So let us know, let us pursue to know יהוה. His going forth is as certain as the morning. And He comes to us like the rain, like the latter rain watering the earth.
Hoshea 6.1-3
That repentance creates atonement is a matter of our collective restoration of what we have broken and our resolve to never again offend HaShem or our neighbor in thought, word or deed. That atonement occasions redemption is a result of our reacquired awareness of our covenantal priorities and the centrality of the land of Israel as relates to the inheritance of the seed of Abraham. That redemption affords empowerment is caused by our assuming of responsibilities of being the kingdom of priests and set-apart nation by which we were called to exist and bring forth the reality of Heaven on Earth through the administration of the Torah. That empowerment gives birth to the Kingdom is contingent upon our shared sense of identity and the unity of the Spirit of the Torah embodied in each and every Israelite who has crossed over the chasm of the darkness of death into the fullness of the light of life. For it is written,
Arise, shine, for your light has come! And the esteem of יהוה has risen upon you. “For look, darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness the peoples. But יהוה arises over you, and His esteem is seen upon you. And the gentiles shall come to your light, and sovereigns to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes all around and see: all of them have gathered, they have come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are supported on the side. Then you shall see and be bright, and your heart shall throb and swell, for the wealth of the sea is turned to you, the riches of the gentiles come to you. A stream of camels cover your land, the dromedaries of Miḏyan and Ěphah; all those from Sheḇa come, bearing gold and incense, and proclaiming the praises of יהוה. All the flocks of Qĕḏar are gathered to you, the rams of Neḇayoth serve you; they come up for acceptance on My altar, and I embellish My esteemed House. Who are these who fly like a cloud, and like doves to their windows? Because the coastlands wait for Me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them, to the Name of יהוה your Elohim, and to the Set-apart One of Yisra’ĕl, because He has adorned you. And the sons of foreigners shall build your walls, and their sovereigns serve you. For in My wrath I have smitten you, but in My delight I shall have compassion on you. And your gates shall be open continually, they are not shut day or night, to bring to you the wealth of the gentiles, and their sovereigns in procession. For the nation and the reign that do not serve you shall perish, and those gentiles shall be utterly laid waste. The esteem of Leḇanon shall come to you, cypress, pine, and the box tree together, to embellish the place of My set-apart place. And I shall make the place of My feet esteemed. And the sons of those who afflicted you come bowing to you, and all those who despised you shall bow themselves at the soles of your feet. And they shall call you: City of יהוה, Tsiyon of the Set-apart One of Yisra’ĕl.
Isaiah 60.1-14
Selah.
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