Wednesday, April 06, 2022

 

Andi Ziegelman of Halpern & Branches on FTDNA's Passing

 

Wednesday, April 6, 2022

Andi Ziegelman of Halpern & Branches on FTDNA's Passing

 Nadene Goldfoot                                          


Andi Ziegelman, co-chair of Halpern & Branches on Family Tree DNA, passed away in Israel 6 months ago, about November 2021.  She was my 3rd cousin, and younger than myself, so this is a surprise.   Andi contacted me as she found me on GedMatch.com and saw that we were 3rd cousins.  She had made aliyah to Israel and had remained.  I had done the same in 1980 only returned the end of 1985, so we also had that in common. My first year was spent in Haifa.   Evidently we shared enough DNA for me and many of my father's side of the family, Moshe-Maurice Goldfoot,  to be in the group.  

                 Andi Ziegelman's family group picture

She and Sandra Aaronson started Halpern & Branches.  This is a Y-DNA surname project to look for relatedness of different groups of folks named HALPERN and related families (Rubenstein, Guggenheim, Wertheim). I believe she told me that my family had 3 routes to RASHI.

She wrote," My particular interest comes from having an ancestor, Nachum Eliyahu Halpern, who claimed descent from Jehiel Heilperin, a great talmudist from Minsk, Belarus. There are other HALPERN who descend from rabbinic families of the Russian Empire, as well as others who simply adopted the surname in the 19th century when it became necessary to chose a name.

So I am looking to dissect the different HALPERN groups to see which, if any, share a common ancestry. As of now (August of 2009), it looks as if my HALPERN family does NOT descend from the large HEILPERIN descended from Zebulun HEILPERIN, at least not via a direct male line. If I do descend from Rabbi Jehiel mentioned above, its likely also through a female line that later adopted the surname (or, alternatively, I either do not relate to Jehiel at all, OR Jehiel does not descend from this greater Heilperin family, as documented by Rabbi Meir Wunder.)"

Andi was also a businesswoman in Israel. She was listed in Linked in; Vice President at Ziegelman Institute for Marketing Research:  מכון ציגלמן לחקר השיווק
Andi Ziegelman has over 25 years of experience carrying out globally oriented marketing research projects for both low-tech and high-tech products. Her project findings are based on in-depth person-to-person telephone and email conversations with worldwide relevant market players. She has researched markets in countries of the three Americas, western and eastern Europe and the far east.
Sample products researched by Andi are traveling museum-quality exhibitions, licking salt for cows/ horses/ sheep, and also motion controllers for motors, and MEMS gyroscopes for Inertial Measuring Units (IMUs)
From her clients, the most common goals of her market research are: (1) to discover if there is or there is not a market for the researched product, and/or (2) to identify target customer market segments and target customer names, as well as how best to sell to them.
Andi will be sorely missed. 
 
Resource:
personal message
FTDNA
Linked in
former messages from Andi


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Monday, June 21, 2021

 

The South African Litvaks and Abba Eban: Strong Zionists-Goldfoot

 Nadene Goldfoot                                             

Aubrey Solomon Meir Eban; 2 February 1915 – 17 November 2002) was an Israeli diplomat and politician, and a scholar of the Arabic and Hebrew languages.

During his career, he was Israeli Foreign Affairs MinisterEducation MinisterDeputy Prime Minister, and ambassador to the United States and to the United Nations. He was also Vice President of the United Nations General Assembly and President of the Weizmann Institute of Science.

His comment that Arabs "never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity" (i.e., for peace), made after the Geneva peace talks in December 1973, is often quoted.

Eban was at times criticized for not voicing his opinions in Israel's internal debate. However, he was generally known to be on the "dovish" side of Israeli politics and was increasingly outspoken after leaving the cabinet. In 1977 and 1981, it was widely understood that Shimon Peres intended to name Eban Foreign Minister, had the Labor Party won those elections. Eban was offered the chance to serve as minister without portfolio in the 1984 national unity government, but chose to serve instead as Chair of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee from 1984 to 1988.                                                                           

              Stanley looked a lot like my Uncle Charlie, I think.  Here he is with his 1st wife and two girls, probably at Tel Aviv's beach.    

Stanley Goldfoot, born 1914 was my 2nd-3rd cousin.  I found him in his home in Jerusalem and was able to meet with him several times.  He had been the Chief of Intelligence for the Stern Group, a group of young men before 1948 that fought against the British, etc.  He was born in South Africa from Lithuanian-born Jews.  His family had gone to Ireland like my grandfather did from Lithuania, and from there to South Africa, which mine did not.  Instead he opted for the USA.  Stanley had a beautiful home in Jerusalem. When I met him in 1980-81, he had the very same slim physique.   

The Jerusalem Post Magazine-Newspaper  of Friday, September 23, 1983 on page 12, had an interesting article on the Jews of South Africa. I had found our grandfather Nathan in Ireland living with another Goldfoot relative.  They were both from Lithuania.   I kept that article with a few others and just ran across them again.  It mentions that they were great Zionists.  There had been for some decades, 120,000 Jews in South Africa, the overwhelming majority of them being Litvaks--ie, they, or their parents, or their grandparents, or their great-grandparents were born in Kovno, Vilna, Grodno, Vitebsk, Minsk or Mogilev. (or other towns in Lithuania like Telsiai or Papile)

My paternal grandfather, Nathan,  was from Telsiai, and  my 3rd cousin twice removed through genealogy; 4th through DNA connecting to my brother.   Grant Gochin's paternal grandfather, Samuel,  was from Papile.  Grant's Descendants of Faive Shrago Gochin born 1837 in Papile, Sialuai, Kuanes, Lithuania had married my Tsipa Goldfus b: 1842 in Papile, Lithuania. We have the connection vetted via DNA and genealogy.    

"There were a few thousand Jews in South Africa who had immigrated there from England and Germany.  Many of them had become immensely wealthy mining magnates, like Barmato, Oppenheimer, Joel, Philips and Albu.  They despised us as "greeners" and we loathed and disdained them, not because they were so rich---many of our best Zionists were very affluent, we had nothing against dear, lovely money as such,---but because they were assimilationists, would-be  "passers" when married their children to Christians, and even got converted.  We were all Zionists.

Max Gluckman:  

Many years later, after the state was established in 1948, Sarah Gertrude Millin, the novelist, was persuaded by Moshe Sharett to introduce him to Sir Earnest Oppenheimer.  Sharett hoped that the magic of his tongue would win this sinner back to Zion---there is more joy in Zionism over one who repenteth than over one who always believed---and that Sir Ernest would cough up a substantial slice of his gold and diamond and other holdings for the cause.  Sir Ernest's pockets remained closed, but he did agree to do something of greater value than a donation---he got the diamond Syndicate to help Israel's infant diamond industry with allocations of diamonds.

Still later, Sir Ernest's son, Harry Oppenheimer, whom I once interviewed and found  so attractive that I suspected his ancestors really came from Kovno, was completely converted by the combined persuasions of Judge Issy Maisels and Pinchas Sapir.  Whenever Israel faced a crisis---which was every few months---Sapir would ring up Issy to go to Oppenheimer to make him double his donation.  

Why the Zionists so dominated the lives of the Jewish community is a subject that fascinated Gideon Shimoni, of the Hebrew University's Institute of Contemporary Jewry, who wrote an authoritative book on Jews and Zionism:  the South African Experience.  This was remarkably good  up to a point, this point being the inadequate attention he paid to certain Zionists I revered throughout my boyhood.  In no other country did Zionists dominate organized Jewish life to the same extent as in South Africa.

Zionism was to my brothers, my sister and me like gin to Eliza Doolittle's aunt.  Our mother, Katie Gluckmann, was to Southern African Zionism what Henrietta Szold was to American Zionism.  She carried the flag, and fought the good fight, in every city and dorp (hamlet) between the Congo and Cape Agulhas.  (My cousin once put it to her that she should carry a few lines, like stockings or blouses, to sell to the Jews in between indoctrinating and inspiring them).  She was the 1st woman to be elected to the S.A. Zlionist Federation, and was chairman for endless years of the Keren Kayemet in South Africa.  There in a family tradition that she suggested the introduction of the blue box. 

I still remember the alarms and excursions when Vera Weizmann visited South Africa together with her great husband, and suggested to the leading Zionist women that they establish a women's branch of WIZO in South Africa.  

All the men leading S.A. Zionism at the time were as determined male chauvinists as any Prussian Junker, and they resisted the move by every possible means, foul or foul.  Our telephone hummed with calls to and from Mrs. Weizmann, Ethel Heyman, Deborah Katzen (later Sagorsky), Anna Franks and Mrs. Greenberg.  In the end, virtue triumphed, and the S.A. women's Council was created. 

As Gideon Shimoni points out in a thoughtful brochure issued for the Beth Hatefutsoth exhibition, South Africa was very different from America as far as the Jews were concerned.

While all the whites belonged to a privileged minority compared to the blacks, there were deep and bitter divisions and hatreds among the whites.  The Afrikaners never got over the traumatic experience of the Boer War.  The Jews, largely identified with the English-speaking section, were despised by both the Afrikaners and the English.  Social anti-Semitism was a deeply rooted phenomenon. 

It is true that Jews, Italians and Irish suffered at the hands of the WASP's (White Anglo Saxon Protestants) in America, but there was an overriding drive in the U.S. for everyone to become American in a melting-pot,---there was no such drive in South Africa.  We were South African patriots, but we were also well aware of the gulfs between us and the other sections of the white population.  We loved South Africa for its incredible beauty and its gracious way of life, but we knew that other South African did not love us.

We grew up trying to reconcile 2 somewhat contradictory dreams---to play cricket for South Africa and to emigrate to what was then Palestine.

The flame of our Zionism was kept burning ever brighter by the visits of great emissaries on Keren Hayesod and Keren Kayemet campaigns.  Weizmann, Nahum Sokolow, Colonel Kisch, Josiah Wedgwood, Alexander Goldstein, Mossinsohn the educator, Zuckerman the American---they came, they saw, they orated, they conquered. " 

And there my piece of the article ended.  How many immigrated to Palestine?  They could have been in the great numbers of making aliyah from 1882 on in 5 great migrations.

South African Jews in Israel are immigrants and descendants of the immigrants of the South African Jewish communities, who now reside within the state of Israel. They number around 20,000.  

A number of South African Jews settled in Israel, forming a South African community in Israel. Perhaps the most famous South African community founded in Israel is Savyon, which remains the wealthiest suburb in Israel. Large houses were built in the style that the community was accustomed to from their life in South Africa, each with a pool, and developed around a country club.

Abba Eban was from South Africa.  Born in Cape Town, South Africa, on 2 February 1915 to Lithuanian Jewish parents, Eban moved to the United Kingdom at an early age. As a child, he recalled being sent to his grandfather's house every weekend to study the Hebrew language, Talmud, and Biblical literature. He lived for a period of time in Belfast.

He attended St Olave's Grammar School, then Southwark and read Classics and Oriental languages at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he achieved a double first. During his time at University and afterwards, Eban was highly involved in the Federation of Zionist Youth and was editor of its ideological journal, The Young Zionist.

1,400,000 Immigrants went to Israel in 24 years.  Israel went from 650,000 in May 1948 to 3,164,000 by May 1972.  Of the increment, 1,400,000 are immigrants (olim).  There had been 4 major waves of immigration between them immigration continued, but in reduced volume.  

1. May 1948-and end of 1961,  754,800 olim entered Israel doubling its population including:

2. Refugees from the Holocaust in Europe--of Poland, Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia

3. Entire Jewish communities from Arab countries:  121,000 out of 130,000 of Iraq Jews;  44,000 out of 45,000 of Yemen Jews;  30,500 out of 35,000 of Libyan Jews

4. 1955-1957:  165,000 Jews from Morocco, Tunisia, Poland and other countries,  many Romanians came under family reunification plan.

5. 1961-1964:  215,056 came from Eastern Europe and North Africa

Since the SIX DAY WAR of 1967, there was a new wave of immigration from countries in North and South American, Western Europe and the Soviet Union.  by the end of 1972,, about 200,000 immigrants had arrived.  

  Here's some numbers I've found:

1948194919501951195219531948-53
Eastern Europe
Romania17678135954704140625371261122712
Poland2878847331250712529264225104208
Bulgaria15091200081000114246135938061
Czechoslovakia211515685263150241018247
Hungary346368422302102213322413986
Soviet Union1175323026186891982168126
Yugoslavia4126247042757288147697
Total72436109161787224672948801109313037
Other Europe
Germany1422532914396621421009094
France640165311655482271174350
Austria395161874623376453113
United Kingdom5017565813022331402513
Greece175136434312246712121
Italy53050124214295371547
Netherlands188367265282112951309
Belgium-61529719651441203
Total3851122035078248798264925250

Resource;

The Jerusalem Post Magazine , Friday, September 23, 1983, page 12

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliyah

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Jews_in_Israel#:~:text=South%20African%20Jews%20in%20Israel%20are%20immigrants%20and%20descendants%20of,They%20number%20around%2020%2C000.



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Sunday, December 27, 2020

 

Brig General Dan Goldfus, Head of Infantry and Paratroopers Corps in Israel

 Nadene Goldfoot

                                                                       

 Brig Gen Dan Goldfus, Head of Infantry and Paratroopers Corps, Israel, paid a courtesy call on Gen. Purna Chandra Thapa, COAS, Nepalese Army, on 12 September 2019. The duo also discussed on possible future mutual cooperation. Now, which man is which? Both are generals! Dan's on the left in the blue shirt.

In Hebrew his rank is called a Tat Aluf-or Ta'al which shows one rocket? laying over a leaf. it's 3rd from the top rank.

Our surname was originally Goldfus. Dan Goldfus could be our cousin. Stanley Goldfoot of Jerusalem was a 3rd cousin. If his ancestors were from Lithuania, there's a 100% chance we are related and share a few genes. Stanley's parents emigrated to South Africa while ours emigrated to the USA.

Yes, I have found him on my tree. We are 4th cousins twice removed according to my Family Tree Maker chart. I'd love to have a DNA test from Dan to see what genes we share. If my research was correct, and I worked on this some years ago, his father was a Chaim Goldfus and mother was Caroline Ida Stern. He is 42 years younger than me. How wonderful to have him as a relative, though a distant one! If I am correct, Dan's birthday is tomorrow! Happy Birthday cousin Dan! What a coincidence!

I have our common ancestor being:

Iankel (Yankel) Goldfus b: 1768 in Telsai, Telsiai, Kaunas, Lithuania

Dan was from his son, Chaim c: 1801

I was from his son, Iosel (Josel) Symka ben Yankel b: c1798.

June 4, 2020 had an article in it from Jerusalem Post mentioning "Head of the Infantry and Paratroopers Corps, Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfus to lead it.

Lt.-Col. Avichai Mor Yosef was accidentally shot in the abdomen by another commander during a live-fire drill into Wednesday night.


Challenges of Command

In a special interview, the departing commander of the IDF Nahal Brigade, Col. Dan Goldfus, talks about the challenges of his position, the threats facing the various theaters, and dealing with the young generation joining the military. "The troopers come from a technological world where everything is instant. Our job is to challenge them"

                                                                         

The departing commander of the IDF Nahal Brigade, Col. Dan Goldfus (Photo: IDF)

The commander of the IDF Nahal Brigade, Col. Dan Goldfus, is regarded as one of the most daring and ethical officers in the IDF. A fighter through and through, he encountered numerous terrorists at point-blank range during his 23 years of service in the IDF, in nearby theaters like the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, as well as in remote places which must remain unnamed. (I notice he's right-handed.  My brother and a cousin and I are left-handed.)  

"Goldfus is the son of new immigrants from South Africa who settled in Jerusalem. Originally religious, he does not wear a Yarmulke anymore. Goldfus joined the IDF in 1995 and volunteered for the IDF Navy's 13th Flotilla ("Shayetet") – the Naval Commandos. During Operation Shirat HaTzaftzafa, the fiasco in Ansariyeh, Lebanon in 1997, Goldfus, then a young warfighter, was a member of the rescue team that rushed to help the detachment that had sustained heavy casualties. This incident evolved into one of the most tragic disasters in the history of the 13th Flotilla, and remains an open, unresolved case for many within the unit even 21 years later. Back then, Goldfus was a 20-year-old warfighter in an operation still regarded as a severe and traumatic incident, and the actual circumstances and causes remain a mystery, as far as he is concerned. The IDF Chief of Staff has recently appointed Goldfus as Chief IDF Infantry & Paratroopers Officer. He will be promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, and the implication is that he would not fulfill the dream of every naval commando – to become the commander of the 13th Flotilla. If Goldfus is disappointed – he hides it well, and definitely does not allow this fact to affect his demanding job as commander of the IDF Nahal Brigade."

                                                


Stanley Goldfoot was from South Africa.  Many Jewish Lithuanians emigrated there.  

"In a special interview, the departing commander of the IDF Nahal Brigade, Col. Dan Goldfus, talks about the challenges of his position, the threats facing the various theaters, and dealing with the young generation joining the military. "The troopers come from a technological world where everything is instant. Our job is to challenge them.""

Goldfus' IDF career has always been a zigzag between the Naval Commandos and the Nahal and other brigades of the "larger IDF" – those outside the realm of elite specialist units. During Operation Protective Shield, Goldfus served as the commander of the Nahal Brigade's reconnaissance company – Sayeret Nahal. For his performance while in this position, in a series of successful counter-terrorism operations in the territories, the general officer commanding IDF Central Command, Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinski, awarded Goldfus a Major General's citation. He subsequently served as deputy commander of the 13th Flotilla, and then as commander of the IDF 769th Brigade – the Hiram Formation (the eastern brigade deployed along the Lebanon border). While in this position, the Brigade sustained a severe attack by anti-tank missiles Hezbollah had launched at a convoy of the Givati Brigade on Mount Dov. This incident, IDF designation "Shemesh Horpit," brought the State of Israel very close to the outbreak of the "Third Lebanon War," or the "First War of the North."

We met Col. Goldfus at the training camp of the Nahal Brigade in Tel Arad. The training troopers practice close-range running engagement drills, a 'dry run' followed by a 'wet run' (live fire). "They study the posture and acquire the ability to shoot effectively. I am a great believer in the simulators they had trained on before. We want to develop this activity further," says Goldfus.

Col. Goldfus is the type of commander you can tag as "old school" – one who regards his service as a calling, who regards the IDF as a military whose range of tasks transcends the realm of just fighting or training for war. The IDF Nahal Brigade has recently experienced a major trauma. On November 30, 2017, local Bedouins knifed to death one of the Brigade's troopers, Sgt. Ron Kokia, at a transport station in Arad, and escaped with his firearm. The victim was on his way back to the Nahal Brigade's training camp. "He had arrived at the transport station and waited there on a bench. We never thought it would come from within. We expected it to come from the territories, from the area of Hebron."

Out of the shock and rage, Goldfus announced a new project titled "Ohel Avraham" (Abraham's Tent) – a series of encounters aimed at getting to know the Bedouin community of the Negev, living close to the Nahal training camp. The formal objective was reconciliation and mutual acquaintance. The informal objective was to increase the percentages of Bedouins recruited into the IDF, opposite the trends of Islamization and radicalization, with Hamas, the Islamist Movement, and ISIS competing against the IDF over the hearts and minds of the young Bedouin generation.

"The project consists of four meetings, beginning with a meeting of the commanders," Goldfus explains. "We aim for a partnership, for 'togetherness.' The idea is for the (Bedouin) youngsters to see the troopers, and for the troopers to see the (Bedouin) youngsters, and drop off the stigmatic labels."

Is being a brigade commander in the IDF more complicated today than it was when you joined the Flotilla back in 1995?

"We had a training activity where we took the guys out and spent three days without access to mobile phones. Suddenly there was interaction among the troopers. Suddenly they started speaking to one another. When those three days were over, each one took back his mobile phone and went away, engrossed in the screen. It was an interesting challenge. The hierarchy has become flat since I had joined (the IDF). The story you are telling will be challenged. You must be prepared to answer the questions of even the last trooper. Maj. Gen. (res.) Yom-Tov Samia, who had served as the commander of the 931st Battalion of the Nahal Brigade, came to speak to the Battalion's troopers. Suddenly, a trooper stood up and asked 'Why would you go into politics?' Back in the day, who had the nerve to stand up and ask? It is amazing. It is great. You must understand the life of these guys. Especially the younger commanders – the challenge they face is even more substantial. Their friction is with the information. Today it is 'sit down, platoon commander, and I will tell you what it was like.' We must empower the platoon commander. We take what we do for granted. An 18-year-old youth hears a radio commercial for a college. Here with us, you will find command and a mission. We assign crazy adult responsibilities to 18 and 20-year-old youngsters. Today they are regarded more as children and the parents are more intensively involved and you attempt to establish a triple commitment: command-trooper-parent."

Col. Goldfus walks over to the new recruits near the encampments. "What's up, guys?" he asks them while shaking hands with each one in turn.

You are a little old fashioned with regard to military-society relations, are you not? Is it actually the military's job to educate about and become acquainted with the Bedouins? People will say 'what is to you? Go out and fight or prepare for war.'

"Yes, I believe in it. If that means being old fashioned, so I am, and I do believe in it. This is the real strength. I do not believe in a professional military. I will be delighted to take off my uniform, but I am here because I believe in what I do. It is amazing, nothing is more virtuous than this. Nothing equals the opportunity to raise and lead people."

In the week when we met at the Nahal training camp, elements of the Nahal Brigade were operating in all of the different sectors: Col. Goldfus' brigade had one battalion deployed in Hebron, another battalion on the Golan Heights along the Syrian border and two more battalions deployed along the Lebanon border. As the brigade commander, he is running around from one battalion to the next.

"We are just like any other infantry brigade," says Goldfus. "We set ourselves a goal to be excellent and relevant. The infantryman asks himself 'how can I be relevant?' We should have the best equipment, use simulators and be able to identify the reference threat. Hezbollah and the built-up area are relevant to both the north and the south and we are preparing our men accordingly."

You have recently concluded a division-level training exercise with the IDF Southern Command's 162nd Division to which the Nahal Brigade had been attached. How close did it feel to a situation where, at a moment's notice, you would be inside the Gaza Strip in the context of a new major operation, owing to the deterioration in the Gaza Strip?

"I believe that with the 162nd Division we came and managed to reach a common language at a very, very high level with regard to plans, concepts and how we expect ourselves to accomplish the mission when the time comes. All the way, that is the plan. Go all the way – wherever we may have to go. Based on that, you may say that you want to stop somewhere or initiate a certain act to influence the operation. The prevailing feeling is that it is a matter of decision-making – to embark or not to embark (on a new operation in the Gaza Strip – O.H.) – and we are ready. That is what we say to the Chief of Staff: we are ready, we are determined, and we will accomplish the mission. We have no doubts about it. One of the most significant problems is the fact that we sometimes doubt our own capabilities.

"We listen too much to the other side. To Nasrallah, to Sinwar, to anyone who wants to tell us stories. We need to ask ourselves what about us. We will always have gaps. Am I fully satisfied with what I have, with the training time allotted to me? No. Definitely not, but we must be ready to accomplish the mission with what we have, without excuses. To come in and initiate all the time. We remain on a very high state of alert for whatever we may be required to do. My mission, as a field commander, is to prepare my men to be resolute, to be the kind of men who can, at the end of the day, remain ethical and accomplish the mission."

How do you view the criticism the IDF is sustaining over its activities in the Gaza Strip following every major operation and even over the operations along the border fence?

"I have no problem with all kinds of organizations that state 'we were not like this and we were not like that.' On the contrary, I draw strength from the fact that I have to explain things better, to ourselves and to our soldiers. With regard to all kinds of incidents. An incident has occurred. Why did we act this way and not that way? Let us ask ourselves why we did what we did. We live in a democratic country. We must be strong enough to allow it."

Challenging the Troopers

Do you ask yourself what it would be like next time, in the next major operation in the Gaza Strip?

"Certainly. All the time. I am obliged to ask myself what it would be like all the time. I took my platoon commanders and asked them 'Tell me what the next war will be like. Envision the next war and describe it to me'. At the time of Operation Protective Edge, the troopers you see here were in the ninth grade, but where were the commanders? It is very difficult for them to envision the war, but it is very easy for them to envision their vacation in Thailand. You must help them envision the challenges of the next war, the encounter with combat. I think we are very powerful. We do not have to be arrogant. We must allow the problems to float up without fear of criticism. Anyone who fails to do it will be lost.

"I keep asking myself and the commanders above and below me: what can I do and what would be more complex for me to do. Scaring myself to death with casualty figures is ineffective. I always strive to get everyone I can back safely. It was during Operation Protective Edge that I witnessed realization that these things involve casualties. I believe the civilians were very strong. Some mistakes were made during Operation Protective Edge that we must learn from in order to be better next time."

Do such guys as the recruits of the Nahal Brigade train, for example, to fight in the underground tunnels – what the IDF calls subterranean warfare?

"We strive to avoid the subterranean medium. What we have to do is turn the subterranean medium into a death trap for the other side. Look at history, at the battle of Okinawa. What did the Japanese say? 'We cannot cope with the Americans, so let's build tunnels.' They built three lines of defense made up of tunnels. They had intended to force the Americans to fight for every inch.

"Hamas says: I cannot resist the IDF. If the IDF wants to – it will conquer the entire Strip in a second. Consequently, I have to think of a way to turn their space into a death trap, to drive them out of their safe space. That is the name of the game. That is the battle. I want to deliver my advantages and my subterfuge to the battlefield. We have the method to do it and the cooperation to do it. Nothing is perfect. We must practice our advantages and work on our disadvantages. They look for ways to kidnap an IDF trooper. They look for ways to turn a small incident into a major strategic event, and I look for ways to deny it to them, to kill them under the ground and not to play into their hands.

"These troopers are currently going through their basic training. For the first time since the year 2000 and the second Intifada, we are once again training according to the 17-17 pattern: seventeen weeks of training followed by seventeen weeks on frontline duty, so the troopers are training much more. The troopers get to know their weapons and the commanders can evaluate the quality of the training activity. We want to see how a trooper, who goes into the training activity at a performance level of X, emerges from that activity: X plus how much? We need to understand what the training had given him. This applies to the simulators that simulate the battlefield, including the casualties.

"We have to challenge them. The troopers come from a technological world where everything is instant. Our job is to challenge them in the context of what we are about to encounter during the war. We developed a training seminar on being the 'coiled spring.' Only for the Gaza Strip, only scenarios."  

Resource:

facebook

https://www.israeldefense.co.il/en/node/36727

me-research on genealogy of Goldfoot/Goldfus

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Thursday, August 27, 2020

 

Part II of III Isaac and His Importance to Our Story With Jacob

Nadene Goldfoot                                             
                                                                         
Isaac is the 2nd of our 3 patriarchs; Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  His parents, Abram and Sarai, were told of his expectancy by angels, the Torah tells us, which must have been a shock as they both were advanced in years.  He was circumcised when 8 days old, setting the standard ritual for all forthcoming Jewish baby boys.  Isaac born born and died in Canaan.                                                   
                                                    

When Abraham was being obedient to G-d by preparing Isaac for sacrifice of his son that was such a gift in his late age, he was saved by Divine intervention on Mt. Moriah from almost becoming the sacrifice.  This astounding event is dubbed the AKEDAH.  
                                               

At the age of  40 Isaac married Rebekah, daughter of BethuelBethuel, in the Hebrew Bible, was an Aramean man, the youngest son of Nahor and Milcah, the nephew of Abraham, and the father of Laban and Rebekah;  Arameans were a group of Semitic tribes who invaded the Fertile Crescent during the 2nd half of the 2nd millennium BCE and roamed between the Persian Gulf and the Amanus Mountains.  Aram and Israel had a common ancestry and the Israelite patriarchs were of Aramaic origin and maintained ties of marriage with the tribes of Aram.  We learn this also from Akkadian sources of the 12th century BCE.  Bethuel was also a town in the territory of the tribe of Simeon, west of the Dead Sea.                                           
       The question has come up as to Rebekah's age at marriage, and RASHI, a biblical commentator, said:  age 3.  
 Genesis 17:15-22 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? WILL SARAH BEAR A CHILD AT THE AGE OF NINETY?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “If only
Ishmael might live under your blessing!”
19 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac.[d] I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom SARAH WILL BEAR TO YOU BY THIS TIME NEXT YEAR.” 22 When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.” – Genesis 17:15-22 (NIV)


This proves that Rebecca was born when Isaac was in his late 30s (37), just before the death of Sarah. Five verses down after Abraham and Isaac’s incident of sacrifice, we are told Rebecca was born:
“20 Some time later Abraham was told, “Milkah is also a mother; she has borne sons to your brother Nahor: 21 Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram), 22 Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel.” 23 BETHUEL BECAME THE FATHER OF REBEKAH. Milkah bore these eight sons to Abraham’s brother Nahor. 24 His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also had sons: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maakah.” – Genesis 22:20-24 (NIV)

     Rebekah is one of our 4 matriarchs of the Jewish people.  She is the ideal type of Jewish womanhood according to our legend.  That's because her kindness attracted the attention of Abraham's envoy who had been dispatched to Aram Naharaim to find a wife for Isaac.  She later supported Jacob in his struggle with his brother, Esau.  
                                                     

 and at age 60 became a father to twin sons, Jacob and Esau.  Esau was born first and was red, entirely like a hairy mantle.  Jacob was born with his hand on the heel of Esau.  They were not identical twins, but very different in looks and acts. The two are representatives of two different grades of social order, Jacob being a pastoralist and Esau a nomadic hunter.
                                                   

 The brothers had a serious fight over the birthright that Esau had being the oldest son.  The oldest brother is supposed to inherit this special right of the tribal politics, but Jacob, knowing this, and knowing what Esau's personality was like, tricked his brother into selling that birthright to himself, showing the readers what his personality was also like. In defense of Jacob, he knew that his brother was not the type to address the good of the tribe, but preferred to spend his time hunting.  
       Jacob had bought Esau's birthright from him for a mess of pottage, for Esau was so hungry when he came in their home from hunting that he gladly sold it in order for immediate satisfaction.  Jacob had stayed home, studied and cooked.  Then Jacob had help from his mother to get Isaac's blessing that was intended for Esau. 
       This story of twins symbolizes the relationship between the 2 nations, developing to the point of hostility.  In the Talmud, Esau implies a coarse materialist.  It's a synonym for an oppressive government, especially Rome, and in the Middle Ages, was applied to Christian Europe.   
  • Why did Jacob want the birthright? Originally, the firstborn were intended to serve G‑d in the Tabernacle and later in the Holy Temple,5 so Jacob wanted to gain that privilege, feeling that Esau’s wickedness made him unworthy of performing this service.
    Rabbi Avraham ibn Ezra offers another explanation: since by Torah law the firstborn inherits a double portion of his father’s estate,6 Jacob wished to purchase his brother’s rights and thereby eventually receive that greater portion.
  • “Here I am going to die, so why do I need the birthright?” What makes Esau think that he’s about to die?
    The two answers to the previous question address this one as well. If Jacob wanted the birthright because of the attendant privilege of serving in the Temple, then Esau was observing that failure to perform this service properly is punishable by immediate death,7 and that therefore he’d prefer to forgo it. According to Ibn Ezra’s approach, Esau was the type of person who expected to “live fast and die young,” since he was constantly exposing himself to danger in his hunting activities. Therefore he assumed his father’s estate was no concern of his.
  • How much did Jacob pay for the birthright? The plain text seems to indicate that all Jacob gave Esau was bread and lentil stew. But Rabbi Shmuel ben Meir (Rashbam) states that Jacob paid for the birthright in full, and that afterwards they shared a meal celebrating the completion of the deal. Other commentaries explain that the birthright was actually not worth much in monetary terms, so that bread and lentil stew was a fair exchange for it.
  • “He got up and left, and Esau mocked the birthright.” With this phrase the Torah disabuses us of any notion that poor Esau had been forced into selling a prized possession for some food to still his hunger. We see that that he entered into the deal wholeheartedly, and that he treated his birthright with contempt. In keeping with the explanation above that the birthright meant the right to serve G‑d in the Holy Temple, this mockery amounted to rejection of the Creator and disdain for serving Him.
Later on, Isaac, who wasn’t aware of the sale, planned to bless his firstborn son, Esau, but ended up giving the blessings to Jacob (who had impersonated his brother) instead. In retrospect, it all made sense: Jacob deserved these blessings, having purchased the birthright from his indifferent brother for a mess of pottage.                                             
Jacob fell in love with his cousin, Rachel

       By doing this, the twins became enemies and Esau sought to kill Jacob.  Jacob fled for his life and headed to Haran, their old city and stayed there for 20 years.  During that time he married Leah and had to work 7 more years to marry Rachel, his true love.  During his journey to return home to his mother, he struggled with a heavenly emissary and overcame him, then was given the name, "Israel."  (Origin. Word/name. Hebrew. Meaning. 'God Contended', 'Wrestles with God', 'Triumphant with God". This brings up questions as to why did he wrestle with a heavenly angel and win and why?  
                                                                 
Rembrandt - Jacob Wrestling with the Angel - Google Art Project
The Confrontation“A man wrestled with him: our sages explained that this was the ministering angel of Esau.”5 A commonplace of Talmudic and midrashic literature is that every nation has its own angelic “minister” who represents its interests before G‑d. It is Esau’s angel, then, who attempts to frustrate Jacob’s mission.Thus begins the clash of the titans.

“A man wrestled with him until dawn broke.” The contest lasts for hours on end. They grapple with each other,6 casting up dust7 all the way up to the divine throne.8 The angel realizes that he cannot overpower Jacob, so he “touches [Jacob’s] thigh” and dislocates it.

As dawn breaks, Esau’s angel must join his colleagues to sing to their Creator. The angel tries to disentangle himself from Jacob but cannot do so. He is forced to beg Jacob to let him go,9 to which Jacob agrees, but only on one condition: The angel must bless him and admit that the blessings Jacob received from Isaac indeed are rightfully his and not Esau’s.
The angel agrees, blesses Jacob, and even bestows upon him a new name, Israel. Among its meanings is that Jacob has received the blessings in a noble manner, rather than by fraud.10In commemoration of this episode, the Jewish people are forbidden to eat the gid ha-nasheh11 of an animal, which corresponds anatomically to Jacob’s injured nerve.12

The Epic Struggle

The commentaries13 point out that the fight described in this Parshah is the opening act of a battle that continues to this day between the Jewish people (represented by Jacob) and the enemy nations that seek its destruction (G‑d forbid). Indeed, throughout history many regimes have tried but failed to eradicate the Jewish people physically or spiritually; they may indeed be successful in “dislocating the hip joint,” damaging parts of Jewry, but the “body” as a whole remains intact.  This struggle will finally come to an end with the “break of dawn,” the era of the final Redemption, when Jacob’s victory will be complete and definitive. “Jacob,” as the Torah goes on to describe, “arrived whole in Shechem,” and so will it be with his descendants: despite all of the humiliation, pain and torture, the Jewish people lives on eternally and will arrive “whole” at its, and the world’s, ultimate destination.
On a Personal Level
The Zohar14 describes Jacob’s battle with the angel as symbolic of man’s struggle with his darker side.  As morning was approaching, the angel knew that he had to act fast, for soon the night—the time when he has power—would be gone, and he would be powerless. He therefore struck Jacob’s thigh, the place where the evil inclination rests. And there he was able to wound him.  The Zohar teaches us that in every struggle, we are powerful and can overcome our evil urges if we so desire. There is only one place where the lust is so strong that even great men are powerless—the gid ha-nasheh. Its very name means “to forget,”15 because once it has been aroused, all rational thinking and religious scruples are left far behind.  The only way to win that war is to stay far away in the first place, for once one is tempted, there is no knowing where things can lead. For this reason, the gid is not eaten at all, but utterly avoided.16   It's why we don't eat a steak, unless it has had the artery taken out, for this is how we remember this lesson, part of the law of kashrut (kosher law) and this is because  of the biblical prohibition of eating blood, all blood must be promptly removed from the carcass. All large arteries and veins are removed, as well as any bruised meat or coagulated blood. Gid Hanasheh (Hebrewגִּיד הַנָּשֶׁה‎), often translated as "displaced tendon," is the term for sciatic nerve in Judaism. It may not be eaten by Jews according to Halacha (Jewish Law). The laws regarding the prohibition of gid hanasheh are found in Tractate Chullin, chapter 7.                    
                                                                

Along his journey Jacob received a special revelation from God; God promised Jacob lands and numerous offspring that would prove to be the blessing of the entire Earth. Jacob named the place where he received his vision Bethel (“House of God”)  He returned with gifts, finding Esau receiving him affectionately now.  
                                                      The story goes on with Esau being identified with Edom.(Idumea) Edom is a country in SE Eretz Yisrael, also called Mt. Seir.  It lies south of the Dead Sea and bordered on the Red Sea at Elath and Ezion Geber.  The Edomites were of Semitic origin, traditionally descendants of Esau, and lived by hunting.  They had dispossessed the Horites of Seir and lived as a tribe with a chieftain called a allooph, later having a king.  The Edomites were traditional enemies of the Israelites;  they fought King Saul and were defeated by David who partly annexed their land.  They had independence during the reign of king Jehoram, but wars between the 2 states were frequent.  
      In the 8th century BCE, they became vassals of Assyria.  At the time of the destruction of the 1st Temple, they plundered and looted along with the Babylonians, and were driven out from Seir by the Nabateans, so occupied southern Judah during or after their period of Exile.  The Edomites were conquered by John Hyrcannus for forcibly converted them to Judaism, and from then on they were a part of the Jewish people.  Herod was one of their descendants.  During Titus' siege of Jerusalem, they marched in to reinforce the extreme elements, killing all they suspected of peace tendencies.  
                                                    
Isaac the peacemaker 
Famine came to the family, so Isaac moved everyone from the Negev to the Philistine country, but he did not leave Eretz Yisrael.  
       In his old age, his sight failed, and this allowed Jacob instead of Esau to obtain his blessing. This happens to most seniors, but one can remember that Leah, his mother, had weak eyes as a young adult.   
      According to tradition, he introduced the afternoon prayer that is called the mihah service.  
      
Descendants of Terah and 6 generations: 

Terah b: in 1883 BCE-Ur of Chaldees, Sumeria, Mesopotamia Iraq d: 2083 in Haran in the year 2083 BCE Age at death: ?
.   2  [5] Abram-Abraham b: 1948 in Ur of the Chalees in 2nd millennium d: in Hebron
..... +[13] Sarai-Sarah b: in Ur of Chaldees d: in Kiriath-arba Hebron, Canaan m: in Haran m: in Haran
..... [9] Isaac ben Abraham b: 2048 in Negev
......... +[8] Rebekah bat Bethuel b: in Aram
......... [4] Jacob-Israel d: in Goshen, E. Egypt age 147
............. +[6] Leah b: in Aram m: in Haran
............. [14] Reuben
............. [15] Simeon
............. [16] Levi
................. +[17] Milkah
................. Jochebed
..................... +Amram
................. Gershon
................. Kohath
................. Merari
............. [2] Judah
................. +[18] Daughter of Shua
................. kinsman of Naomi Boaz b: in Bethlehem
..................... +RUTH of Royalty b: in Moab d: in Bethlehem
................. Hur
................. Er d: in Evil, died young
..................... +[1] Tamar b: in didn't get pregnant, till by Judah, her father in law
................. Onan d: in did evil, would not get brother's wife pregnant
..................... +[1] Tamar b: in didn't get pregnant, till by Judah, her father in law
................. Shelah b: in Chezib
............. *2nd Wife of [2] Judah:
................. +[19] Canaanite Woman
................. Er
..................... +[3] Tamar
................. Onan
..................... +[3] Tamar
................. Shelah b: in Chezib
............. *3rd Wife of [2] Judah:
................. +[3] Tamar
................. Perez
................. Zerah
............. [20] Issachar
............. [21] Zebulun
................. Helon
............. [22] Dinah


......... *2nd Wife of [4] Jacob-Israel:
............. +[7] Rachel m: in Haran m: in Haran
............. [23] Joseph b: in Canaan, 18th-16th centuries BCE? Hyksos period (2500-1587 BCE) d: in age 110
................. +[24] Asenath b: in Egypt
................. Manasseh
................. Ephraim
............. [25] Benjamin
................. Bela-Abiel
................. Becher
................. Ashbel
................. Gera
................. Naaman
................. Ehi
................. Rosh
................. Muppim
................. Huppim
................. Ard
................. Gideoni
......... *Friend of [4] Jacob-Israel:
............. +[10] Bilhah
............. [26] Dan
................. Ahisamach b: in Tribe of Dan
................. Ammishaddai
............. [27] Naphtali
......... *Friend of [4] Jacob-Israel:
............. +[11] Zilpah
............. [28] Gad
............. [29] Asher
................. Serah
......... [12] Esau
............. [30] Mahalath
. *2nd Wife of [5] Abram-Abraham:
..... +Hagar
..... Ishmael d: in Near Egypt towards Assyria
......... Basemath
............. Reuel
................. Nahath
......... Kedar
......... +1st wife
......... Nehaioth Ishmael
......... Kedar Ishmael
......... Adbeel Ishmael
......... Mibsam Ishmael
......... Mishma Ishmael
......... Dumah Ishmael
......... Massa Ishmael
......... Hadad Ishmael
......... Terna Ishmael
......... Jetur Ishmael
......... Naphish Ishmael
......... Kedem Ishmael


. *3rd Wife of [5] Abram-Abraham:


..... +Keturah
..... Zimran ben Abram-Abraham
..... Jokshan ben Abram-Abraham
..... Medan ben Abram-Abraham
..... Midian ben Abram-Abraham
..... Ishbak ben Abram-Abraham
..... Shuah ben Abram-Abraham
Haran b: in Ur of Chaldees d: Bef. 2083 in Ur of Chaldees Age at death: ?
..... Lot
......... Ammon
......... Moab
......... Daughter 1
......... Daughter 2
..... Iskah
..... [32] Milcah b: in Ur of Chaldees d: in Haran
......... +[31] NAHOR II b: in Ur of Chaldees d: in Haran
......... [33] Uz
......... [34] Buz
......... [35] Kemuel
............. [36] Aram ben Kemuel
......... [37] Chesed
......... [38] Hazo
......... [39] Pildash
......... [40] Jidlaph
......... [41] Bethuel Citizenship: Syrian
............. [42] Laban
................. +[43] Adinahand
................. [6] Leah b: in Aram
..................... +[4] Jacob-Israel d: in Goshen, E. Egypt age 147 m: in Haran m: in Haran
................. [7] Rachel
..................... +[4] Jacob-Israel d: in Goshen, E. Egypt age 147 m: in Haran m: in Haran
............. [8] Rebekah bat Bethuel b: in Aram
................. +[9] Isaac ben Abraham b: 2048 in Negev
................. [4] Jacob-Israel d: in Goshen, E. Egypt age 147
..................... +[6] Leah b: in Aram m: in Haran m: in Haran
................. *2nd Wife of [4] Jacob-Israel:
..................... +[7] Rachel m: in Haran m: in Haran
................. *Friend of [4] Jacob-Israel:
..................... +[10] Bilhah
................. *Friend of [4] Jacob-Israel:
..................... +[11] Zilpah
................. [12] Esau
..... [13] Sarai-Sarah b: in Ur of Chaldees d: in Kiriath-arba Hebron, Canaan
......... +[5] Abram-Abraham b: 1948 in Ur of the Chalees in 2nd millennium d: in Hebron m: in Haran m: in Haran
......... [9] Isaac ben Abraham b: 2048 in Negev
............. +[8] Rebekah bat Bethuel b: in Aram
............. [4] Jacob-Israel d: in Goshen, E. Egypt age 147
................. +[6] Leah b: in Aram m: in Haran m: in Haran
................. [14] Reuben
................. [15] Simeon
................. [16] Levi
..................... +[17] Milkah
................. [2] Judah
..................... +[18] Daughter of Shua
................. *2nd Wife of [2] Judah:
..................... +[19] Canaanite Woman
................. *3rd Wife of [2] Judah:
..................... +[3] Tamar
................. [20] Issachar
................. [21] Zebulun
................. [22] Dinah
............. *2nd Wife of [4] Jacob-Israel:
................. +[7] Rachel m: in Haran m: in Haran
................. [23] Joseph b: in Canaan, 18th-16th centuries BCE? Hyksos period (2500-1587 BCE) d: in age 110
..................... +[24] Asenath b: in Egypt
................. [25] Benjamin
............. *Friend of [4] Jacob-Israel:
................. +[10] Bilhah
................. [26] Dan
................. [27] Naphtali
............. *Friend of [4] Jacob-Israel:
................. +[11] Zilpah
................. [28] Gad
................. [29] Asher
............. [12] Esau
................. [30] Mahalath
. [31] NAHOR II b: in Ur of Chaldees d: in Haran
..... +[32] Milcah b: in Ur of Chaldees d: in Haran
..... [33] Uz
..... [34] Buz
..... [35] Kemuel
......... [36] Aram ben Kemuel
..... [37] Chesed
..... [38] Hazo
..... [39] Pildash
..... [40] Jidlaph
..... [41] Bethuel Citizenship: Syrian
......... [42] Laban
............. +[43] Adinahand
............. [6] Leah b: in Aram
................. +[4] Jacob-Israel d: in Goshen, E. Egypt age 147 m: in Haran m: in Haran
................. [14] Reuben
................. [15] Simeon
................. [16] Levi
..................... +[17] Milkah
................. [2] Judah
..................... +[18] Daughter of Shua
................. *2nd Wife of [2] Judah:
..................... +[19] Canaanite Woman
................. *3rd Wife of [2] Judah:
..................... +[3] Tamar
................. [20] Issachar
................. [21] Zebulun
................. [22] Dinah
............. [7] Rachel
................. +[4] Jacob-Israel d: in Goshen, E. Egypt age 147 m: in Haran m: in Haran
................. [23] Joseph b: in Canaan, 18th-16th centuries BCE? Hyksos period (2500-1587 BCE) d: in age 110
..................... +[24] Asenath b: in Egypt
................. [25] Benjamin
......... [8] Rebekah bat Bethuel b: in Aram
............. +[9] Isaac ben Abraham b: 2048 in Negev
............. [4] Jacob-Israel d: in Goshen, E. Egypt age 147
................. +[6] Leah b: in Aram m: in Haran m: in Haran
................. [14] Reuben
................. [15] Simeon
................. [16] Levi
..................... +[17] Milkah
................. [2] Judah
..................... +[18] Daughter of Shua
................. *2nd Wife of [2] Judah:
..................... +[19] Canaanite Woman
................. *3rd Wife of [2] Judah:
..................... +[3] Tamar
................. [20] Issachar
................. [21] Zebulun
................. [22] Dinah
............. *2nd Wife of [4] Jacob-Israel:
................. +[7] Rachel m: in Haran m: in Haran
................. [23] Joseph b: in Canaan, 18th-16th centuries BCE? Hyksos period (2500-1587 BCE) d: in age 110
..................... +[24] Asenath b: in Egypt
................. [25] Benjamin
............. *Friend of [4] Jacob-Israel:
................. +[10] Bilhah
................. [26] Dan
................. [27] Naphtali
............. *Friend of [4] Jacob-Israel:
................. +[11] Zilpah
................. [28] Gad
................. [29] Asher
............. [12] Esau
................. [30] Mahalath
. *Friend of [31] NAHOR II:
..... +Reumah the Concubine
..... Tebah ben NAHOR II
..... Gaham ben NAHOR II
..... Tahash ben NAHOR II

..... Maacah ben NAHOR II

Resource: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jacob-Hebrew-patriarch
Tanakh, The Stone Edition
My genealogy tree research from Tanakh
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://unitedwithisrael.org/mercenaries-arrowheads-reveal-holy-land-invasion-during-1st-temple-era-say-israeli-researchers/ from Victor Sharpe
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2389625/jewish/Jacob-Wrestles-With-the-Angel.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gid_hanasheh

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