Nadene Goldfoot
David, fighting the Philistines, before he became King of Israel. He was King Saul's armor-bearer, a fighting warrior! He spent his life-time fighting. His son, Solomon, would then have a more peaceful life because of David's brave spirit. David even faced Goliath, a Philistine giant from Gath with a slingshot when he was very young !
Israeli Defense in 1947 of Israel in War of IndependenceIt has suddenly occurred to me that my ancestors and those of all other Jews were born within a war-time. Those born during 1947-1949 were born during a war that hasn't stopped with the Palestinian Arabs. It was again announced in 1967 in Khartoum, Africa in a meeting of Arabs of the Middle East that they would continue fighting the Jews. Now, Iran threatens to use even stronger weaponry than the last attack against Israel, shooting it from Iraq. There has been little let-up for the past 77 years! We're on our 3rd generation since the formation of Israel, born May 14, 1948.
Jews have been turned from passive individuals with many being intellectuals into life-long warriors. Does this have a genetic effect on the generations? We have been living in an environment of anti-Judaism! For generations since the Greek invasion of Alexander the Great, we have been stressed out with demanding changes in our religious belief to become like others. Rashi (Rabbi Solomon Yitzhaki ben Isaac) , a rabbi born in 1040 in Troyes, France, was a teacher who is most well-known for his brilliant commentaries on the Bible, our oral tradition and Talmuds, Mishnah, etc. His descendants did not fear disagreeing with his comments quite often. He would welcome it! It would sharpen his wit!
MASADA, Israel - This ancient fort atop a Judean Desert butte 1,300-feet above the Dead Sea offers a glimpse into the Israeli soul. "Masada is roughly analogous in importance to the Israelis as the Alamo is to Texas," said LTG H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau (NGB). Our warriors are taken to Masada for a swearing in of IDF. The legend of Masada is etched into Jewish lore: For years, the story goes, ancient Jews held out in a desert fortress against their Roman foes. The main account of the siege comes from the Roman-Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who described extended anticipation as the Romans prepared to attack, then a drawn-out resistance before the Jews atop Masada committed suicide rather than being captured.
What do changes in environment, thoughts, problems do to a generation? In genetics, the discovery of starvation in one generation can lead to the observation of transgenerational effects, meaning that the effects of starvation experienced by a parent can be passed on to their offspring, potentially influencing their health and development even if they are not directly exposed to starvation themselves, often through epigenetic changes in gene expression.
In THE SCIENTIST, evidence is mounting that epigenetic marks on DNA can influence future generations in a variety of ways. But how such phenomena might affect large-scale evolutionary processes is hotly debated.
However, in an experiment with worms, an early sexual attractiveness may be a useful stress response, Rechavi tells The Scientist. More mating means more mixing of different genomes, boosting the progenies’ chances of securing a beneficial allele that will help them weather the taxing environment.
During the course of human life, we are exposed to an environment that abounds with a potent and dynamic milieu capable of triggering chemical changes that activate or silence genes. There is constant interaction between the external and internal environments that is required for normal development and health maintenance as well as for influencing disease load and resistance. For example, exposure to pharmaceutical and toxic chemicals, diet, stress, exercise, and other environmental factors are capable of eliciting positive or negative epigenetic modifications with lasting effects on development, metabolism and health. These can impact the body so profoundly as to permanently alter the epigenetic profile of an individual. We also present a comprehensive new hypothesis of how these diverse environmental factors cause both direct and indirect epigenetic changes and how this knowledge can ultimately be used to improve personalized medicine.
My interests are genealogy and our DNA. I discovered that my father's Y haplogroup was Q1b1 or better known now as QBZ67. We had a leader of this male group who discovered that most all of us had published books; or our writing. They were kind enough to include me, a female, into the group as I had written a book by then. Now I have two books published. It's interesting to me that we all had the gumption to press on and get our work published, and to have a talent to write in the first place.
My Chabad friend told me to think lovely thoughts when I was expecting my son back in 1953. I was studying in college, a nutrition course to be a dietician at the time. Interestingly, I became a teacher, but my son became a nurse who was an expert in nutrition. My daughter, entering the world in 1954, was born when I kept my father's books for his business. She was a business major.
A pregnant mother's thoughts and emotions can significantly affect her developing baby, as her stress levels and emotional state release hormones that can impact the baby's brain development and overall well-being, potentially leading to issues like increased anxiety or behavioral problems later in life; essentially. When a mother experiences stress or strong emotions, the baby is exposed to those feelings through hormonal changes in the womb. Think of the stresses a pregnant mother is under during war-time.
The giraffe developed a long neck in order to reach the fruit on a tree. Our needs are to survive in a dangerous environment, so we developed great surviving skills plus the great need to survive.
Israeli law stipulates that every citizen must have access to a shelter that can be sealed in case of an attack with unconventional weapons. As of November 3, 2024, the population of Israel is 9,431,291. The population is expected to grow to around 10.33 million by 2027.The Israeli bombings of retaliation follow less than a month after Iran attacked Israel’s major cities with at least 180 ballistic missiles on October 2. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said those missiles were fired as Tehran’s response to the killings of civilians in Gaza and more recently, in Lebanon, in Israeli attacks – as well as the assassinations of leaders of the IRGC, Hamas and Hezbollah. The IRGC said the missiles were specifically aimed at three military bases in Tel Aviv.
Do people understand that we are at war? When Israel is shot at, they shoot back. Iran and its underlings hide ammunition in their homes, apartments, mosques, schools, hospitals, everywhere they can protect soldiers with, thinking Israel wouldn't shoot at them. Tunnels have been found in all these places in Gaza, and now in Lebanon as well. Israel has the capacity to pinpoint their targets, and does so when the occasion rises. Hamas has the responsibility to protect their citizens, but that is not what they are doing. They seem to want them killed in order to shame Israel. It was brought to my attention that the USA didn't bother worrying about killing Germans or Japanese during wartime. The idea of war is self-protection and recommencing. Israel, because of their beliefs, does everything they can to protect the enemy civilians, more than any other known army ever has. This is serious business, meaning the snuffing out of Israel in the end if not successful. They're not about to have another Holocaust. They fight back!
Resource:
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/29601/how-do-we-explain-the-criticism-of-rashi-by-his-grandsons
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cell-and-developmental-biology/articles/10.3389/fcell.2014.00049/full