#altneuland

[notaplaceofhonour]

Herzl: hey check out this novel I wrote about how cool it would be to have a society where Jews and Arabs and Greeks and Armenians all came together in the Levant to live as equals in a thriving multicultural society and revitalize the land after the ravages of the Ottoman Empire!

anti-Zionist: ZIONISM IS A RACIST IDEOLOGY THAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT REPLACING INDIGENOUS ARABS WITH JEWS EVEN HERZL ADMITTED IT WAS ABOUT COLONIALISM

Herzl:

[dijeh]

Altneuland, Theodor Herzl

trans. Paul Arnold

[altneuland]

It's Hanukkah in a few days, which means.. it's time to talk about Hanukkah lore.

first, I want you to erase everything you know about hanukah.

Days Of Hanukkah

Hanukkah is known to be the celebration of light, happiness and victory.

But in reality, the story of hanukkah is much darker.

Kingdom of Hashmonai 

Human name: Daniel Ben Yosef

Human age: 18

religion: Cohenity Judaism (early Judaism)

National languages: Hebrew, Aramic, Greek

Independent: 104 BC - 63 AC (but actually 77 years)*

PROLOGUE 

Greek takeover 

When Ancient Greece took over the area, they brought with them Hellenism, which already influenced Daniel. Daniel’s opinion about Hellenism was neutral. Most Jews didn’t mind Hellenism, as long as it peacefully coexisted with Judaism, and it did. 

Cohenity take over 

The Greek empire owed a lot of money to Rome, and the great Cohen’s brother back then, he knew. He offered the king of the areal Hellenic kingdom a lot of money in exchange for making him the Cohen. 

Judaism is highly against such a thing. Since then people noticed that they could buy the great Cohen’s seat and started paying more and more, which led to inside-wars between Cohens, Levians and activists. 

The Cohens who kept taking over the seats happened to be pro-Hellenism, which made Hellenism look bad in the eyes of the radical activists. It didn’t change Daniel’s opinion, though. But he did lose his trust towards his Cohens. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Act i: Hanukkah 

The Hellenic oppression 

The internal wars inside Judea made them not pay taxes to Greece, which made the king very mad. He came to Judea and demanded the Jews to do very sinful things such as eat pig or work on Shabbat, as well as change their names and such things. 

Daniel was mad, and started a revolution. The revolution started from inside, against the current Cohen who brought that on him. 

Maccabee 

Maccabee is a Jewish movement that started at those days, their goal was to liberate the Jews from Hellenic oppression. Hashmonai Family, a well known family of activists, started it. They led the revolution, but it mostly failed. 

Independence 

When the Hashmonai family realized that the revolution failed, one of the members of this family physically went to the king and begged for liberation. The king got convinced and let the Jews have their own country. 

The Maccabees came back to Jerusalem and cleaned the holy temple from all the dirt and sins that the hellenics did. It made them and Daniel so happy they celebrated for 8 days, which is also the same 8 days of Hanukkah. 

Daniel felt like things are getting back to order, he's independent again. but the little he knew about what’s going to happen. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Act ii: Hashmonai 

The civil war continues 

Hashmonai is now an independent kingdom, but the Hashmonai family decided to make Cohenity one with the royal family, the citizens of Hashmonai hate this decision, and revolt once again. 

Daniel started to rethink his own religion, and new groups of new religions started to pop, as an alternative to the current Cohenity Judaism. Christianity is one of them. Groups are starting to rewrite some books and write new books, the Talmud and  the Mishna. 

Daniel thought this situation is just temporary, and Levi soon will get his power in the temple again. But as soon as he thought so, Hashmonai massacred everyone who attempted to stop the royal family, including levians. Levi, the last tribe to exist as a tribe of Israel was killed, and it officially ended Daniel’s hope for the temple, his nation and his religion. 

The changes in Judaism

When Levi Died, Daniel realized he won’t be able to continue in the same path anymore. A group of all groups, called haPrushim, were the leading group of the new Judaism. They believed that all Jews should be able to read, write and own their own Bible copy. Since then only a Levian could, but Levi is now dead. This is temporary, until a new alternative to Levi or if there are still Levians alive somewhere, they could take back their place once they can. 

Daniel preferred this alternative over the others, which helped this one become the main Judaism branch today. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Act iii: Roman Empire 

Roman Empire stepping in

Now Rome is in charge, Rome doesn’t mind most of the wars inside Hashmonai, but when it becomes too brutal they step in. Rome wants quiet in their territory, that’s their strategy. They cross most leaders (Jesus is one of them), and it escalates as the Jews fight back more. 

Daniel wants this to end, so he goes to Rome and asks him to Assassinate the Hashmonai family. Rome is happy to do so, and he does. Hashmonai loses independence as it happens. 

Rome was mad with Daniel for being such a pain in the ass, so he started forcing him to do such things as eat pig and work on Shabbat, again. But this time Daniel was tired. He didn’t revolt.

Bar kochva revolt

Bar Kochva is a radical guy that Daniel, as well as most of the nation, didn't agree with. He worked alone. He required a small army and tried to fight the Romans. Daniel joined him; he thought he had nothing to lose anyways. But his mistake escalated everything really fast. 

End of ancient Israel

As a punishment Rome cut Daniel’s hair. He knew how much Daniel cares about it. He destroyed the temple, and then kicked Daniel away from Judea to Europe, he changed Judea’s name after a nation in the Bible which is Hebrew means “Invaders”. The name that Daniel used to call other ancient nations as a mockery is now against him. Also, Rome stole a lot of things from the temple, including the great menorah. 

The days of Daniel as ancient Israel (before the kingdom of Israel to the after kingdom of Hashmonai) is now officially over. Daniel now started his Exile era, and after the exile era, the Modern era. 

[jewishvirtuallibrary-blog]

Man carries bricks at the American-German Colony Neighborhood in Tel Aviv, British Mandate of Palestine; 1925.  x

Tel Aviv was originally named Ahuzat Bayit and was founded by 60 Jewish families in 1909 as a Jewish neighborhood in sand dunes near Jaffa. In 1910, the name was changed to Tel Aviv, meaning "hill of spring." The name was taken from Ezekiel 3:15 and is also a reference in Theodore Herzl's novel Altneuland, in which he foresaw the future Jewish state as a socialist utopia.

Although most Jews were expelled from Jaffa and Tel Aviv by the Ottoman Turks during World War I, they returned after the war when the British Mandate of Palestine was created.  The population of Tel Aviv grew as Jewish people left predominantly-Arab Jaffa due to unrest during the Arab Riots of the 1920′s.  In 1948, Arab forces in Jaffa shelled Tel Aviv prior to the beginning of the 1948 Arab Israeli War.  Jewish forces responded by capturing the city two days before declaring independence and the declaration of the establishment of Israel was made in the home of the city's mayor Meir Dizengoff.  Today, Tel Aviv is Israel's second largest city (after Jerusalem), with a population of over 429,000.

[altneuland]

so, I think it is time to reveal my favorite ship for Daniel. I ship him with Alfred, and the Alfred I use is a modified version of the canon.

I will not go into my reasoning of why I ship them, you can always ask me about it or look it up yourself. I will go now to their lore and history as a couple (briefly, you can always ask me if you have more questions).

🇮🇱 AmeIsra: More than allies 🇺🇸

act i.

When Daniel was still a wanderer, trying to find a way to gather money so he could finance his plan to get back home to Zion. That’s when he first met Alfred. Alfred offered him a job and he accepted. Daniel worked for  Alfred for a while before coming back to Europe. 

When Daniel worked in the states, he told Alfred everything about what he wants, his home, etc.  Alfred was overwhelmed with this, and first decided not to intervene. 

Later, the independence war started in Israel and as Alfred decided to, he didn’t intervered. But that didn’t last for long. He got notified about the situation and he then couldn’t stay out of it. Only then he secretly helped Daniel in a few ways. It was very discreet since he had to keep it a secret from everyone including Arthur, who fought against Daniel at that time. 

After the part of the war against the UK ended, Alfred tried to convince Daniel to stop the war and give up on being independent. His argument was that Daniel isn’t strong enough and would for sure lose his independence very fast in the good case. In the bad case he could get injured or even get killed. 

Daniel didn’t like the way Alfred is preaching against him to say the least. He was humiliated by Alfred and called him out for not fully supporting him. Daniel took it a step further and demanded not to have any interaction with Alfred ever again after that. 

act ii.

Both Daniel and Alfred decided to let the other go, but it didn’t last for long. Soon, the USSR noticed Daniel’s importance, and he started building ties with him. Alfred did not remain silent to that, and had to put his step in that as well. 

Daniel and Alfred’s relationship started going off and on, and when they were off, it was Daniel and Konstantin’s relationship going on. Daniel didn’t notice the game going on above his head at all, as he admitted to enjoying the sudden interest in him. He felt like he was being valued. 

This situation continued in a low phase, until the year of 1967, and the 6 days war happened. Daniel proved his value even more. At the first time since their fight, Alfred admitted to Daniel that he was wrong when he accused him of not being strong enough. 

After the war, Daniel started behaving egocentric and angry. 

act iii

After the 6 days war, Daniel either proved his value. His neighbor Egypt (Nour) who was injured in that war, had good ties with Alfred, and kindly asked him to intervene between the situation of him and his adopted brother. 

Alfred agreed and started building a more meaningful relationship with Daniel so he would listen to his request regarding Nour, since Daniel snapped every time Nour or any of his neighbors were mentioned in a conversation, even a bit. He wouldn’t listen, and act egocentric and delusional. At this point, Alfred noticed that Daniel is going through something and needs a different approach if he wants him to agree to any contract or deal. 

The friendship grew, but it was too late. Alfred didn’t find a good way to soften Daniel enough on time, before Nour started a war on Kippur of 1973, which when Daniel was badly injured. This was also his wake up call to pop his bubble and get back to reality. At this point, Daniel became much more depressed but also aware of his problems. His mindset matched Alfred’s old mindset about him; he was too weak. But at this breakpoint, Alfred decided to be strong for him. 

act iv

After the war, Alfred promised to be next to Daniel’s side, no matter what. He declared “Special Relationship” with him. Since this point and on, this relationship is official.

In 1991, there was a war between the USA and Iraq, the gulf war. In which war, Israel was dragged into. Alfred blamed himself for that and decided to move his forces to Israel, where he spent most of his days at that war. This war was the first time both Daniel and Alfred had their shared domestic life together. 

Lately, Daniel has become more vocal about his needs, while Alfred has become more indifferent about them. But yet, this relationship is strong and going.

🇮🇱 Headcanons 🇺🇸

Love language.

Alfred is the verbal one of the two. He talks out his emotions, as soon as he feels them. He isn’t shy about it. Though, in the past it was harder to do. Alfred used to feel blocked in front of Daniel. As the time went by, Alfred learned how to say what’s on his mind out loud. 

He is also very physical. He will hug, kiss, hold or touch as a love message. He makes sure that Daniel knows every moment how he feels. 

Daniel, on the other hand, is very subtle. He doesn’t talk a lot about his feelings. His body language is louder, though. Alfred learned to read his body, and therefore tell what’s on Daniel’s mind. Daniel is purposely sending messages through his eyes, hands, torso and so on. He has a harder time talking, either because he is a stutterer, and because he’s a shy man. 

But when he is angry, he won’t keep his thoughts inside for so long. He will snap. Unfortunately, his emotional nature will make him lose proportions fast. 

With others.

When with others, both know how to give the other space. Both have their own family and social lives, and let others enjoy them too. But both expect to be the others’ main priority, while Daniel is less needy due to him being an introvert, and understands Alfred’s responsibilities. 

special thanks to @dolceminerva97 for this amazing commission!

[altneuland]

some artwork I did for Hanukkah, I imagine this scene happening during the jewish wars, which happened during and after Hanukkah situations

[altneuland]

Did you know that in Ancient Israel they didn't fight on shabbat? nowadays Jews now that "פיקוח נפש דוחה שבת" But this thing is very new, at old times, Shabbat was on top.

That's why it was rather easy to take over the kingdom...

Daniel waited for 3 stars to be seen that indicates that Shabbat has left.

[altneuland]

I just watched Golda, the amazing production movie about Kippur war of 1973. I love seeing accurate representation of Israel and its history in a non Israeli production. The movie was amazing, great filmography. I recommend.

1973 is one of my favorite events to write about in Daniel's lore. so much things happened here. it is one of his steps in the phases of grief.

when he moved to total denial to sadness, is this war. this war reminded him that he is not invincible. He has flaws, and a lot of them.

during the war itself, he was something in between the denial phase and the sadness phase, which created this kind of stubbornness that he showed.

especially when talking to Alfred, during this time, he had this "respect and suspect" relationship with him. reminder, its the Cold War.

Alfred actually appreciated when Daniel could put his foot down...

this quote is from the movie, and it shows so well Golda's personality, and also, Daniel's during that time.