Sunday, November 13, 2016

ARAB SPRING/AMERICAN FALL

My latest poem that depicts feelings of anger on both sides

ARAB SPRING/AMERICAN FALL by Celine Leduc Nov. 13/16

Bad government -- bad leaders
Corruption – rigging – media
Women’s rights --- isolationist
Abortion --- religion of politics
Politics in religion – superiority of race
“Make America Great Again” explodes

The Arab Spring was coined
As a buzz word --- for the revolt
The ousting out of presidents
First in Tunisia then in Egypt
The murder in Libya heads rolled
All leaders fell except in Syria.

In the fall in November protests
‘NOT MY PRESIDENT”
Is in full swing their objective:
They want him to FALL
Violence erupts people are hurt
Hot tempers lite up fires.

Springs is all about renewal
Fall is all about death
The fall of the American Dream
The fall of the Melting Pot
Violence erupts death follows
As tempers explode society implodes.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

A TRIBUTE TO REBBETZIN ESTHER JUNGREIS WHO LEFT THIS WORLD BUT NOT MY HEART

HINENI --- Here I Am by Celine Leduc edited by Norman Simon

“Here I am,” Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis would say she was a spiritual and mystical person calling people back to Judaism, touching soul with her unconditional love.  She has passed away, has left this world, but she is still alive in my heart, in my soul. 
Condolences to her family, friends and followers. I would like to share with you how I met Rebbetzin Jungreis, the meaning of her blessing, and the impact she had on my life. I am not Jewish; however, my ancestors were Jewish before they converted Christianity (Catholicism) over 500 years ago (1492). Due to the downfall of Andalusia (Spain), they chose life as Christians moved to Rouen, France, and then to Canada. 

THE TWO HOLOCAUSTS

She saw both the physical Holocaust of Jews that occurred in Germany, and the spiritual holocaust when she landed in New York as she saw that people had lost their Jewish spirituality. She had seen the physical horrors and death in a Concentration Camp.  She would say: “Hineni.” Here I am, to awaken the Jewish soul, the lost spirituality of Judaism.  She did bless and touch so many hearts to reawaken the spirit that would bring you HOME. 

I heard her speak in Montreal a few years ago as she was promoting her latest book.  In her speech, she spoke of her experience in a Concentration Camp.   A heckler had started saying, “How can you believe in God after such horror?”  I was sitting in the audience and my spirit was moved, so I told  the man off and told him to listen with his heart and stay quiet before Rebbetzin Jungreis had a chance to answer.  Hence started a wonderful friendship.  After the conference, I bought her book which she signed and gave me a blessing and thanked me.   I was touched.

The next day, we went out visiting Montreal and we talked about life.  I told her I felt ashamed and felt so bad as I had made so many mistakes in my life.  She asked me, “Do you know the story of my ancestor, David? He made so many mistakes. You can read about them in the Torah.”  I knew the story of David, knew intellectually about how he was forgiven; but she gave me a new way of seeing things from the spiritual lens. He made mistakes, but also mended his ways.  He asked for forgiveness and was forgiven because his heart was pure and his mistakes were part of his learning path.  The lesson of David is all about life’s challenges, how we handle them, what lessons we learn, and how we can correct some others. We can also be part of the lesson to think and grow spiritually. 

JEWISH SOUL

She knew I was not Jewish as I had told her.  After I had been with her for more than a week spiritually, I had a spiritual awakening. She would sit with me/ She was a palpable vision her spirit was there at breakfast and we would chat, spirit-to-spirit.  She loved stories about cats and wrote about one the cat that was at the King David Hotel in Tel Aviv and got adopted by a woman. She told the cat that she would be back as she had to go to Jerusalem or Haifa for the day.  She put a ribbon or collar around the neck of the kitten, gave him enough food, and left.  Once she arrived at her destination she was amazed and surprised to see her kitten waiting for her.  How did the cat get there before she had? It was the same kitten with the same collar and markings he answered to is name.  I know this story is real as she did sit and have breakfast with me spiritually. Yes I could feel her love and kindness and oneness with the universe and her blessing. 

She went back to New York and gave me her contact information. I would call her on a regular basis and listen to her radio broadcasts.  One day I called and spoke with her about the fact my family on both sides had once been Jewish, in Andalusia which became Spain.  Jews and Muslims were friends then and worked together for the betterment of society.  She asked me, “How did you find out you had Jewish ancestry?”  I told her it was because of prejudice. My aunts were always telling me to stop being so Jewish when I questioned too much.  It was because of the family secret: an egg pie that had originated in Andalusia and was a family secret. It was about my family name, Leduc which was a derogatory name given to Jewish converts. It meant that we thought we were royalty, something my aunts would remind me of, until I read “Les Juifs” by Roger Peyrefitte, and discovered my family name was there.  My aunt, the historian of the family and a nun, refused to believe me, in 1967. In the late 1990s just a few years before her death and after she had gone to a family gathering of all the Leduc’s in Rouen, she could not find any tombstone prior to the 1500 bearing the name Leduc.  I mention to my aunt I had proof our family name was Duce or e-Duce in Toledo, and she said, “We were like Jesus, a Jew.” After I met the Rebbetzin, someone told me we had come from Toledo which confirmed my lineage and what Peyrefitte had theorized.  My mother’s family name was Foisy, also Freedman in English. The family was also from Andalusia and had been named after a river, another clue to their Jewish origins.  She told me that in order for me to be recognized as a Jew, I would have to convert and she suggested I do a DNA test to show that many Jews were converts or that their identity was hidden and their origins were denied as being Jewish in the family tree. 

AVOIDING A THIRD HOLOCAUST

Here I am and thanks to the Rebbetzin, I will write about the lesson I learned from our numerous talks. She never tired of my calling, always smiling, listening, and giving me a blessing.  The winds of another Holocaust is on the horizon. This time it involves racism and xenophobia in Europe with the hatred being focused on Muslims; yet Jews will be blamed for the religious war that is in the imagination of the elitists and intellectuals of Europe.  These intellectuals and haters are using religion as a weapon.  Up until colonization, Jews and Muslims lived side by side as descendants of Abraham according to the Torah, or Hebrew Bible. Isaac and Ishmael did make up, stopped the sibling rivalry, made peace, and lived side by side as the fathers of two great Nation.  Isaac and Ishmael are the antithesis of Cain who killed Abel. In Europe, due to perception and faulty teachings, they see it as a war of religion: they want Jews to forget that they were once cousins with Muslims. Today, some Jews and Muslims are very political, because of European politics. Politics and nationalism have to do with ideologies and not spirituality.  The political ideas of the “Final Solution” are still alive, and have been exported by Europeans to the Levant.  Israel is, thank God, the refuge of Jews. Yet those dark clouds in European politics are blinding, as they use religion as a weapon.  My ancestors lived in Andalusia. We lived freely under the Moors and prospered. Our lives were threatened by the forces of Isabella and Ferdinand. My ancestors did not want to die, so they converted by the sword and migrated to Rouen, France hence to Canada.  To avoid another Holocaust that will affect the lives of Muslims, Jews, Roma people, homosexuals and those with a physical handicap, we need to unite and stop the advancing troops of hate.  Here, I am calling on all those spirits from Andalusia and all those who died in the Holocaust to come and stop the madness.  Let us awaken our spirit by uniting and telling hate mongers to stop, as they not only want to destroy Jews, but Israel and the whole of the Levant and North Africa because of their greed and lust for power.  They want to kill Jews, Muslims, Christians, Yezidi, all living beings and wipe out history.

Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis spoke of two holocausts: one physical and one spiritual. Jews were scapegoated in Europe many times. Now they are again becoming the target and being used to cause a rift with Muslims.  Yes, there is a war that is political and not religious going on. That war is being fueled by hate mongers who lust over land and oil. They favor one side as the victim and demonize the other. However, they hate both, believing one killed Jesus and the other is the devil incarnate. This is the elitist mindset.    I remember Andalusia and my love of life of being Jewish and my being friends with Muslims, and I remember the Holocaust.
Rebbetzin Jungreis spoke of unconditional love and lived it. She was open to everyone. She awoke the spirit in each of us regardless of our religious affiliations.  Here I am, Rebbetzin Jungreis. I am ready to do what needs to be done to stop the dark clouds of war to stop the hate…  No more holocausts.

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

the question on everyone;s lips

TWO HIJABI WOMEN AND THE REPORTERS by Celine Leduc August 24, 2016
inspired by Chana Miriam Opert

Journalists flocked the two HIJABI winners
The athletes who won MEDALS at the Rio Olympics
Cameras click --- They are PORTS HEROES!
The questions everyone want to know.
DO YOU WEAR BURKINI?

The burkini IS front page news
European men and women know
Burkini is a symbol of Islamic submission
These women are not FREE
WE LOVE WOMEN OUR WOMEN ARE FREE

Women WE LOVE it is for their own good
WE want them free YET what about Yezidi
You prove: Muslim men ARE evil barbarian men
YET you are deaf blind and mute re Yezidi
LOVE women you DO NOT

Nigeria pleads “Bring back our Girls”
You talk Burkini hijab niqab
You pity the poor oppressed Muslim women
Yet you bully them to submit to your will.
IS THAT LOVE (of women)?

You claim you want to free Muslim women
You forcibly enforce and impose your laws
Make it legal so I can bully legally
Do nothing too free those kidnapped
IS THAT FREEDOM?

Bring BACK OUR GIRLS in Nigeria
BRING BACK OUR YEZIDI GIRLS
STOP HUMAN TRAFFICKING OF WOMEN
Yet you ask SPORTS HEROS what’s on everyone’s mind and lips:
DO YOUR WEAR A BURKINI?


Friday, August 5, 2016

DEDICATED TO MY YEZIDI FRIENDS

YEZIDI by Celine Leduc August 2 2016

Never heard of them prior to 2014
Never knew they existed
Yezidi existed prior to 2014.

Lived in LIMBO in the obscure
In an alternate reality
Where all is obscure

Shadows yes they are shadows
Reviled and defiled by zealots
Who propagate hate based on lies.

Yezidi in Iraq were well known
The Daesh knew they existed
Their lineage is pre- Adam

The People of “monotheism”
Claim they are of a different lineage
One Earth one Adam one God

One sun --- children of the Sun
One Adam --- One earth
One God one Yezidi People.

To know Yezidi exist
To bring their story to light
Out of the shadow they shine.

 GENOCIDE by Celine Leduc August 2 2016

Images of invaders well-armed
Mercenaries or soldiers invade
Lust over land and women.
Women children are victims.

Genocide the extermination
The execution termination
End of a people overtaken
By brutal force is a genocide.

Another type of genocide
One that is created by neglect
Their story is untold unrecorded
A people without a history

A people with a story of Creation
A people with no wars, no invasion
A people targeted for they hold a truth
A secret so bold they are Eden.

Mercenaries are ruthless
They rape, sodomize enslave
They want to destroy Eden
Call the heathen as they kill

Their blood soaks the earth
Tears of blood are shed
Shed by those who know truth.
Speak up and loud remember

Remember the slain
Remember the genocide
They are not Heathen
They are a reminder of Eden.


Sunday, June 12, 2016

Dr. Homa Hoodfar please help her come back to Canada A letter sent to President Obama rime Minister Justin Trudeau f Canada and Stephane Dion

 Dear President Obama 

I am not an American citizen however my mother was born in Upper State NY and I was born in Canada.  

I have written to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mr. Dion of international affairs, RE: DR HOMA HOODFAR. However, there is a problem in Canada as noted in my letter to the Prime Minister   Canada severed all tights with Iran in 2012 Hence I am coming to you because you have diplomatic ties with Iran and you might be able to do something to help her come back to Canada.  

Dr. Homa Hoodfar is a professor from Concordia University anthropology dept.  Her being imprisoned in Iran makes me very sad.  She is not a political activist.  She is not against the government of Iran.  She always gave students a balanced point of view about women and Iran.   She is a scholar and an anthropologist but most importantly a human being who has a great heart.  She has a stroke needs medical attention and her medication.  She needs to see her lawyer and her family needs to know what is happening. On a humanitarian level can you please intercede in her favor?  Thank you Sir. 

Dr. Hoodfar prior to her retirement was always ready to help students if we did not understand the culture or ethos of Iran.  I consulted her more than once when I had a radio show on CKUT FM Twisting Tongue 1995 to 2001.  She never said no, when she could help. She would guide me and refer me to the proper sources or key women.  I had her as a guest a few times and she was a pleasure to interview and work with, as she described women from the Middle East and Iran as being strong and resilient.  She is not against the religion of Islam nor the leadership in Iran.  She travelled many times to Iran as a scholar and was never detained or accused of any crime.  
Canada does not have an embassy in Iran since 2012. However, I am sure that Canada can intervene in her favor as a woman who has dual citizenship Canadian/Iranian whether she travelled with an Iranian or a Canadian passport.   She is Canadian, she is a woman and a scholar. You need to find ways to help her get back home to Canada and her loving family and friends.   

Celine Leduc  

Monday, May 23, 2016

LET US STOP CELEBRATING COLONIALISM --- LET US CELEBRATE FREEDOM THROUGH TRUTH

LET US STOP CELEBRATING COLONIALISM --- LET US CELEBRATE FREEDOM THROUGH TRUTH

TODAY is celebrating Colonialism British and French hence perpetuating colonialism and neocolonialism and negating all those who are NOT White European making it an all-White holiday that also celebrates a history that is full of slavery, domination and celebrates White supremacy and privilege.  Let us celebrate freedom by facing our history acknowledging our past and start a new tradition that is inclusive of all. 

Queen Victoria ruled over the world and knew that the sun never set on the British Empire. During her reign we Canada was a Dominion and we were given the BNA Act (British North American Act) and the “Indian Act” in both cases women were not persons under the Law.  Queen Victoria did not believe in suffrage for women.  Meaning women did not have the vote, even if requested by Suffragettes.   First Nation women who could vote lost their right and so did men because they were considered to be “ORIENTAL” after all they were renamed “Indian” meaning they came from India. They were serfs and now under THE law they became children like women they were not able to make decision on their own they need a man a White man of European background to tell them what to do and how to do it, that man is known as the “great White Father” Not so great in my opinion.   Because Father did not know best.  As a woman how can I celebrate a woman who did not believe I could think and vote?   As a woman how can I celebrate colonialism?  Nine (9) provinces and territories celebrate Queen Victoria but not in Quebec. 

Quebec does not celebrate because they claim it is not proper as England colonized France, therefore they decided to celebrate First Dollard des Ormeaux and then settle on the Patriots of 1837.  The Patriots are also a symbol of colonialism.   They have been made into heroes by some French speaking Canadians as they fought against England hence they promote war and not PEACE. Secondly, the ones from Chateauguay wanted to go to war with Mohawks and with the British.  On a Sunday morning when Mohawks were attending Mass in the Catholic Church they made their way to Kahnawake to steal their hunting guns and attack the Mohawk’s.  One woman who was late saw them coming and alerted the men at Church and the Patriots were defeated and rounded up and given to the British.  It was not the place of Mohawks to put them on trial it was for the governments of Upper Canada to deal with the men who were at war with both the Mohawks and England.  They wanted to rule over Quebec and be under France and the politicians of the time enforced the Code of Napoleon in 1804, where women all women had NO RIGHTS.  The leadership of France was and is Misogynistic.  As a woman how can I celebrate the Patriots who wanted to make sure I had no RIGHTS…  Plus, these men wanted to keep their slaves Black or First Nation.   England had banned slavery in all its colonies and Upper and Lower Canada were colonies.  How can I celebrate colonialism, neo-colonialism, misogyny and slavery as a Woman? 

Be it Queen Victoria day or Patriot day represents oppression of First Nation those of African descent which include former slaves, and makes Jews, First Nation, African-Canadians and women second class citizens…    LET US STOP CELEBRATING COLONIALISM MISOGYNY AND INTELLECTUAL SLAVERY.  


SOLUTION push for a new holiday that celebrates FREEDOM based on truth.  

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

THE POWER OF A HUG by Celine Leduc

PERSONAL INFORMATION about my life and what has made me very happy and cry. I was brought up Catholic and I did not agree with a great deal of prejudiced peddled religiously and also politically by leaders by men. I never believed Jews killed Jesus or that Muslim were devils. Religious leaders wanted me to go to heaven and politicians wanted to go to war. My society the men lied to me big time and I wanted to know truth that included everyone.
I met women and became friends with Jewish who came from Egypt. The taught me that religion was NOT the problem it was politics and nationalism. I did my MA degree on Jewish women who came from Egypt and lived in Montreal adding a section about Egypt and their struggle.
To be fair and honest I met Muslim and Copt women who also came from Egypt, to get more information and be accurate in my depiction of society and the reality women of all three religions faced.
I did address the facts that Jews in Egypt were targeted by the leaders that Umm Khaltum did call for their death but also that there were friends and even some Jewish men and women did marry Muslims and Copt Christian. Truth was much more complex and much more intricate that I was told. Women all attended Catholic School in Alexandria (Jewish Christian and Muslim) The schools were run by nuns from France because of colonialism
Most Canadian or Quebec research had been done here by using books and travel logs written by men who had an agenda. They called themselves anthropologist and NEVER talked to the people of the area it was their narrow-minded opinion that was full of prejudice, arrogance and superiority. Women from Egypt talked about themselves and their life their friends their family that often included women or men of different religions or ethnicity. Their reality was quite different that what history or anthropological books were about ass they were based on voyage logs, travel guides, missionary diaries which were used to write books and not one of those academics asked the people. In the religion Dept. of Concordia we used books and oral history to write about a group any group.
People read my MA thesis and appreciated my work I was given the greatest of all honors AJOE Association des Juifs Originaires d'Egypte included me in their association not as a member only but on the board. Since a person had to be Jewish and from Egypt they gave me the nationality and the religion no rabbi needed to official the member voted me in unanimously. Same thing happened with some Egyptian who were Muslim they included me as both Egyptian and Muslim women did no conversion nor government involved. BTW Egyptians call or refer to me as the Blonde Egyptian (blondes are not dumb in Egypt they are cool intelligent people LOL). Because of Egyptian or of those born in Egypt (women and men) I am not only Catholic by birth but also Jewish and Muslim and Egyptian. One friend jokingly said if you are banned from one heaven you can come to Jewish or Muslim heaven because you are loved by us.
Yes, I did speak of the horror of nationalism and radicalization due to fanatics but also of the people. I love the people from Egypt and my heart is partly in Egypt and the other part in Canada.
This experience lead me to.First Nation people and I became friends with Mohawks of Kahnawake later with Ojibwa and Shalish and Cree many have adopted me unofficially as a friend because I used the same technique looking at the "Big Minds" and their lies and adding the voice of the people.
It all started because of a big hug a woman gave me, when I was ten years old, she was Black and I use to play with her son and was told by my father not to play with him. I was so angry at my father, found it unfair on his part. I went to my friend's mother and cried and ranted all she did was give me a hug and told me "I was right" she added that I needed to listen to my father however but I was RIGHT. A hug can change a life it did mine.


Wednesday, January 27, 2016

A POEM TO COMMEMORATE THE SHOAH

Today is Holocaust remembrance day it reminds us of what hate and indifference can do to people. Soulmates are separated friendships broken people die because of hate ... DISOBEY REFUSE to HATE to be INDIFFERENT Close your ears to the propaganda and open you ears from your soul hear the Creator whisper disobey bad leaders .
I wrote this poem for two friends whose only crime was loving one another in a climate of hate where Jews were vilified by the Nazi and yet these two friends one Jewish on German never stopped loving one another, they were SOULMATES One was shot by borders guards trying to escape the other one died in in Concentration Camp 2 years later. She was trying to go home, to be with her soulmate, to be ONE to be WHOLE.
It is happening now in the Middle East because of Daesh it is happening again in Europe because of immigration and migration Jews, Muslims Roma are the target of hate GROUPS.
This poem is dedicated to all of those who love and remain faithful to the one love in their life regardless of ethnicity, background, religion or skin tone no matter if the leaders tell them to hate. Evil men say: her hate him they disobey and still love and go through adversity because they know the power of TRUE LOVE. They know themselves, their culture their flaws and their strengths they know that love the power of one of wholeness of being complete.
SOULMATES by Celine Leduc January 27 2016
One soul in one spirit
Two bodies are one.
Two hearts one love
The two are ONE
One love two thoughts
They are of one mind.
United by creation
Created out of earth
From dust they came
To dust they go
Two bodies one earth
One love one soul.