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@Average_NY_Guy

Jul 4

🧵This July 4th, let’s honor the Jewish patriots who helped secure America’s independence.

Though only 2,000–3,000 Jews lived in the colonies, they made huge contributions, from financing the war, fighting on the front lines, to advocating for liberty, and helping lay the groundwork for religious freedom.

Here are some of the Jewish heroes of the American Revolution 🇺🇸👇

1/ Haym Salomon – The Financier of the Revolution

Born in Poland in 1740, Haym Salomon was a Sephardic Jew who immigrated to New York. Fluent in several languages, he used his skills to work as a broker and translator for foreign merchants, and later for the Patriot cause.

During the war, Salomon became a prime financier for the Continental Congress. He helped sell war bonds and raised personal loans from wealthy French and Spanish Jews to support Washington’s army when Congress lacked funds.

He personally gave over $650,000, more than $14 million in today’s money, including $20,000 for the final campaign at Yorktown, without which the decisive victory may not have happened.

Captured twice by the British as a suspected spy, he bribed his way out of prison and resumed his efforts, even helping British-held prisoners escape.

Despite his immense contribution, he died in 1785 nearly penniless, having sacrificed everything for the American cause. His gravestone reads: “An American patriot.”

2/ Francis Salvador – The Paul Revere of the South

Francis Salvador was born into a wealthy Sephardic Jewish family in London and later emigrated to South Carolina, becoming a plantation owner. In 1774, he made history as the first Jew elected to public office in the American colonies.

A passionate revolutionary, Salvador represented South Carolina in the Provincial Congress, where he pushed for independence from Britain and advocated strongly for colonial unity.

When Cherokee forces, encouraged by the British, attacked Patriot settlements in 1776, Salvador famously rode 30 miles through the night to warn local militias—similar to Paul Revere’s ride.

He joined the militia to defend his community and was mortally wounded in a skirmish with the Cherokees. He was scalped by their British-allied warriors and died at age 29.

He became the first Jewish soldier killed in the American Revolution—a martyr for a country that still hadn’t fully accepted him.

Read 10 tweets

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@Average_NY_Guy

Jun 30

🧵Zohran Mamdani’s NYC Agenda: A Blueprint for Collapse

New York City stands at a crossroads — and Zohran Mamdani’s radical agenda threatens to push it over the edge.

Most people know him for defending the intifada. They think that’s the controversy.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg

His platform is a fantasy-world checklist that would bankrupt the city, dismantle public safety, and drive out the working and middle class that keeps New York alive.

Here’s exactly how Mamdani would wreck the city — thread below 🧵👇

1. Rent Freeze on Rent-Stabilized Apartments

Policy: Freeze rents on ~1 million rent-stabilized apartments to shield low- and middle-income tenants from rising costs — especially during inflation.

Why It’s Flawed:
Freezing rents may sound tenant-friendly, but it devastates property maintenance. Landlords can’t afford rising costs (repairs, taxes, insurance), and buildings deteriorate — just like they did in 1970s NYC.

A 2019 Manhattan Institute study found that San Francisco’s rent control policies led to reduced housing quality and decreased supply.
Private investment dries up. Developers walk away. Market distortions cause non-stabilized rents to skyrocket, squeezing the middle class.
This isn’t affordability — it’s slow-motion collapse.

2. Free City Buses

Policy: Make all NYC buses fare-free, eliminating $630 million in annual revenue. Mamdani says this will reduce car use and improve equity, especially in the outer boroughs.

Why It’s Flawed:
The MTA already faces a projected $16.8 billion deficit through 2028. Eliminating bus fares without a clear funding plan forces tax hikes or cuts to subway and rail services.

Boston’s fare-free bus pilot led to overcrowding, delayed service, and operational strain.
Working New Yorkers will either pay higher taxes or deal with declining service. It’s a reckless promise with no real plan behind it.

Read 12 tweets

AP

@Average_NY_Guy

Jun 27

🧵🧵No, the Jews didn’t “come” to Israel—because they never left.

Jews have lived in the Land of Israel every single century since the destruction of the Second Temple.

This is not a claim. It’s a fact.
In this thread, I’ll give you a full timeline—
A century-by-century account of uninterrupted presence.

📍 One community
👤 One leader or scholar
📜 Every century

Buckle up—this is a long one.
Let’s begin. 🧵🧵

1️⃣ 1st Century CE (70–100 CE)

📍 Locations: Yavne, Galilee (Tzippori, Gush Halav), outskirts of Jerusalem

👥 Community: Following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE by Rome, Jewish religious leadership moved to Yavne where Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai reestablished the Sanhedrin (Jewish court). This was critical in transforming Judaism from Temple rituals to Rabbinic Judaism centered on Torah study and prayer. Communities in Galilee, including Tzippori and Gush Halav, thrived as centers of learning and agriculture despite Roman restrictions.

👤 Key Figure: Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, who pioneered the transition of Judaism to a post-Temple reality.

🏛️ Historical Context: Roman repression continued, with Jews barred from Jerusalem but maintaining a strong presence throughout Galilee and central Israel.

🏺 Archaeology: Synagogues and mikvaot (ritual baths) found in Galilee from this period reveal sustained religious activity.

2️⃣ 2nd Century CE (100–200 CE)

📍 Locations: Yavne, Beit She’arim, Tzippori, Lod

👥 Community: After the devastating Bar Kokhba revolt (132–135 CE), Jewish life in Judea was heavily disrupted, but communities flourished in the Galilee and central Israel. Beit She’arim became a prominent Jewish necropolis, demonstrating a wealthy, diverse community. The Mishnah (first part of the Talmud) was compiled during this century, establishing the foundation for Jewish law.

👤 Key Figure: Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, the Mishnah’s editor, who unified Jewish legal tradition.

🏛️ Historical Context: Roman authorities continued to restrict Jewish autonomy, but religious life flourished in synagogue communities.

🏺 Archaeology: The underground cemetery of Beit She’arim display Hebrew inscriptions and elaborate tombs reflecting the community’s vibrancy.

Read 23 tweets

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@Average_NY_Guy

May 28

🧵THREAD🧵: Elite, Educated, and Entitled: Harvard Has Always Had a Jewish Problem.

What’s happening to Jewish students at Harvard right now—being harassed, cornered, intimidated, and even blocked from going to class—isn’t new at all.

Harvard has spent over a century finding new ways to exclude Jews. In the 1920s, they called it “character.” In the 1930s, they called it “neutrality.” Today, they call it “justice for Palestine.”

But the result is always the same: Jewish students feel unsafe. Unwelcome. And alone.

This thread walks through how we got here—from quotas and Nazis to Hamas and Title VI investigations.

Because if we don’t understand the history, we’ll never stop it from repeating 👇

1. Harvard’s First “Jewish Problem” — Quotas in the 1920s.

In the early 1920s, Jews made up about 20% of Harvard’s student body. These were poor immigrant kids, many of them the children of Eastern European Jews who had fled pogroms — earning their place at Harvard not through legacy or wealth, but through academic brilliance and determination. And Harvard panicked.

President A. Lawrence Lowell saw the rise in Jewish students as a threat. Not an academic threat. But a cultural one. He didn’t want Harvard to lose its elite, white Protestant image — so he proposed a quota to cap the number of Jews at 15%.

To do that, Harvard overhauled its admissions process. They began judging students on “character,” “personality,” and “background” — vague codes for identifying Jews. They examined names, asked about religion, looked at extracurriculars, and suddenly, brilliant Jewish applicants were being turned away.

These policies didn’t just hurt individuals. They institutionalized the message: You don’t belong here.

2. Welcoming Nazis: Harvard’s Moral Collapse in the 1930s.

When Hitler came to power in 1933, his plans weren’t a secret. Jews were being stripped of their rights. Jewish professors were being fired. Jewish students were expelled. Books were burned. People were beaten in the streets. The world watched it in horror.

And Harvard? Harvard chose diplomacy.

In 1934, just one year into Hitler’s rule, Harvard invited the Nazi German ambassador to speak on campus. This wasn’t a mistake or a bureaucratic error — it was a deliberate act defended by the university as academic “neutrality.”

Students and Jewish groups were outraged. They protested. They pleaded with the administration to cancel the event. But Harvard held firm. Academic decorum was more important than moral clarity. Let the Nazis speak.

Then it got worse.

In 1936, the University of Heidelberg — a proud Nazi institution — celebrated its 550th anniversary. By then, it had already expelled all its Jewish faculty. It had pledged loyalty to Hitler. And still, Harvard sent an official delegation to the celebration, alongside representatives of the fascist Italian and Nazi German regimes.

There are photos of Harvard delegates, smiling under swastikas, standing beside Nazi officials. You can find them today — black-and-white proof of the Ivy League’s willingness to look evil in the face and shake its hand.

Jewish alumni, including some who had fled Europe, were horrified. But they were ignored.

Harvard had decided: preserving polite ties with the Reich mattered more than standing with the people being persecuted.

There was no apology. No institutional soul-searching. No moral reckoning. Just a deep, polite silence — and a willingness to be complicit in the greatest crime of the 20th century.

That’s the real story. Not just academic elitism. But cowardice dressed up as civility.

And it would set the tone for Harvard’s future betrayals of its Jewish students — in new forms, under new names — for decades to come.

Read 10 tweets

AP

@Average_NY_Guy

May 25

🧵THREAD: Meet the Jewish immigrant who built America’s Nuclear Navy.

These days, some people are trying to question and challenge the place of Jews in American life—What we’ve contributed, what side we’re on, or if we even belong here.

So here’s just one story. One man.
A Jewish kid from a Polish shtetl…
Who ended up building the most powerful Navy in the world.

They called him a tyrant. A genius. A lunatic. A prophet.

But without him, America would’ve lost the Cold War underwater.

This is the unbelievable story of Admiral Hyman G. Rickover —The father of the nuclear Navy. 🧵

1. From the shtetl to the sea.

Rickover was born in 1900 in a one-room shack in Maków Mazowiecki, Poland. His father was a tailor. They were Jews—poor, persecuted, and always one step away from disaster.

When Hyman was 6, the family fled to America to escape antisemitism. They arrived in Chicago with almost nothing.

He barely spoke English.

By 9, he was delivering ice. By 14, he was shining shoes and working in a hardware store.

But he was sharp. Tough. Relentless. And no one—no one—would outwork him.

2. Beating the quotas.

At the time, elite military schools had unwritten quotas for Jews. Most didn’t get in.

Rickover knew this.

So when he applied to the U.S. Naval Academy, he got a local congressman to nominate him and crushed the entrance exam.

He graduated in 1922. Top of his class in engineering.
He was short, Jewish, unimpressed by power. And now, wearing a Navy uniform.

Let’s just say: he didn’t exactly fit the mold.

Read 10 tweets

AP

@Average_NY_Guy

Mar 20

🧵𝐀 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐫 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐮𝐝: 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬. 🧵🧵

Introduction:

The Talmud—the backbone of Jewish thought—has been attacked, censored, and destroyed more than almost any other book in history. To Jews, it is the foundation of law, morality, and identity. To its enemies, it was a threat, a conspiracy, a danger to the world order.

For centuries, Christian Kings, popes, and rulers demonized the Talmud, accusing it of blasphemy, treason, and corruption. Entire copies were burned in public squares, and Jewish communities were persecuted for studying it. But what made the Talmud so feared? Why did the world wage a relentless war against Jewish knowledge?

Let’s dive deep into the history of these attacks, why they happened, and why the Talmud remains at the heart of Jewish life.

1. What is the Talmud, and Why Has It Been Attacked for Centuries?

To understand why the Talmud has been targeted throughout history, we need to understand what it represents. The Talmud is the vast compendium of Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, and debate. It is not just one book but a collection of over 2,711 double-sided pages, composed of two primary parts:

▪️The Mishnah (compiled in the 2nd century CE), a written record of Jewish oral law.

▪️The Gemara (completed between the 4th and 6th centuries CE), which expands, debates, and analyzes these teachings with rigorous intellectual discussion.

The Talmud’s unique nature sets it apart from other
religious texts, because it is not a fixed, unquestionable doctrine but a living, evolving conversation between rabbis spanning centuries. The text is filled with disagreements, counterarguments, and multiple perspectives, showing that Jewish learning is based on critical thinking and dialogue, not blind obedience.

This made the Talmud dangerous to those in power. Unlike Christian teachings, which emphasized centralized authority, the Talmud encouraged questioning and debate. It made Jewish scholarship independent of kings and popes, reinforcing Jewish identity in exile.

As Christianity gained dominance, church leaders saw the Talmud as a threat. It kept Jews from converting, challenged religious control, and contained ideas they did not understand. Because the Talmud is vast, complex, and filled with figurative language, it was easy for outsiders to misinterpret, distort, and weaponize.

Thus, centuries of persecution began.

2. The First Attacks: Early Christian Objections to the Talmud.

The first major assaults on the Talmud began in the early Christian period. Church fathers like Augustine and John Chrysostom viewed Jewish scholarship as a refusal to accept the "New Covenant" of Christianity. They saw the Talmud as the reason why Jews continued to reject Jesus.

By the 8th and 9th centuries, Christian rulers in Europe began restricting Jewish learning. Charlemagne, for example, allowed Jews to practice their religion but placed limits on public teaching. By the 11th century, as the Crusades fueled religious fanaticism, Jews were increasingly persecuted.

One of the key accusations against the Talmud was that it contained insults against Jesus and Christianity. But in reality, the Talmud barely mentions Jesus at all. Most passages targeted by Christian censors referred to false messiahs and corrupt Roman figures but were deliberately misinterpreted.

For example, the medieval Church claimed that a passage referring to "Yeshu" (Yeshua) being executed was an attack on Jesus. But historical evidence suggests this referred to a different person—a common name in ancient Israel. Still, this claim was enough for Christian authorities to ban and burn the Talmud for centuries.

This growing resentment led to the first official trial of the Talmud—a staged event meant to justify its destruction.

Read 9 tweets

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