I grew up Christian. At five years old, God was my best friend — I spoke to Him every day with no intermediary. At seven, a priest looked me in the eye and said, “You cannot know God without Jesus.” Something deep in my soul immediately put up a wall.

Years later, I discovered I was Jewish through my mother’s Halevi line. My uncles tested as Kohanim. Our family connects directly to Bennett Greenspan, founder of FamilyTreeDNA. Today, at sixty, I weep with joy watching priests prepare offerings again for the first time in nearly two thousand years.

I didn’t leave Christianity out of anger. I left because I started asking the same rigorous questions Jay Smith uses to examine Islam — and the answers destroyed the foundation I had been taught.

Jay Smith’s Method: The Man, the Place, and the Book — Applied Without Favoritism

Jay Smith’s approach is relentless and fair. He demands contemporary evidence from the exact time and place claimed. In his recent lectures, he states:

“Between 624 and 660 AD — that’s the entire period of the so-called Islamic conquests — we have zero Islamic coins. Nothing. The coins we do have from that time still carry crosses or Zoroastrian fire altars. The name ‘Muhammad’ and the full Shahada only appear decades later, around 690–692 AD on coins and the Dome of the Rock inscription.”

He documents a 100-year silence. No contemporary Arab, Roman, or Persian records mention Muhammad preaching in Mecca. No archaeology supports the grand trade-center narrative. The story appears to have been constructed later and projected backward.

When I applied the exact same method to Christianity, the pattern repeated itself with devastating clarity.

Christianity Through the Same Historical Lens

Where are the contemporary Roman or Jewish records of Jesus’ trial before Pilate, the Temple cleansing that caused a riot, public miracles that triggered darkness over the whole land, an earthquake, or saints rising and walking Jerusalem’s streets (Matthew 27)? None exists. The first non-Christian mentions — Josephus (~93 AD) and Tacitus (~116 AD) — come 60+ years later. The key Testimonium Flavianum in Josephus is widely regarded by scholars as at least partially interpolated by later Christians.

The entire New Testament was composed in Greek — the language of pagan philosophers and Roman occupiers. Torah-observant Jews did not write sacred revelation in a foreign tongue. Why would Jews invent a new religion centered on a man dying for the sins of others when Torah states explicitly, “Fathers shall not die for children, nor children for fathers; every man shall die for his own sin” (Deuteronomy 24:16)?

The Gospels are anonymous in the earliest manuscripts. Titles were added later. The canon itself was not fixed until the late 4th century under political pressure from Roman emperors. Early Christianity was wildly diverse — Ebionites kept the Torah and rejected claims of divinity; Gnostics and Marcionites, who rejected the Old Testament entirely. One stream won politically and retrojected its version onto the 1st century.

Fr. Josiah Trenham, an Orthodox priest representing the second-largest Christian denomination, openly admits the filter:

“We don’t follow the Old Testament at all. The Old Testament is our root… But Christians read the Old Testament through the New Testament because everything in the Old Testament was about Jesus Christ… We understand the Old Testament to be… a childish age… So it would make no sense at all for us to follow the Old Testament.”

Rabbi Tovia Singer correctly identifies the problem: there is no guardrail. Once you read Tanakh through the New Testament lens, nothing in the Hebrew Bible can correct the theology. This is exactly the later-construction pattern Jay Smith exposes in Islam.

The Torah Passes Every Test — Mathematical Proof of Divine Origin

While both Christianity and Islam show signs of later development, borrowing, and retrojection, the Torah stands alone as the original Blueprint, proven by objective mathematics.

In his documentary Math Unveils the Truth – Torah is of Divine Origin, Professor Haim Shore demonstrates that Hebrew words in the Torah encode modern scientific data with statistically impossible precision. Each Hebrew letter has a numeric value (gematria). Professor Shore compares these values (HNV) to NASA measurements using linear regression and computer simulations.

Celestial Bodies: Moon, Earth, Sun

The Hebrew word for moon (yareach) has HNV 218. Earth (eretz) = 291. Sun (shemesh) = 640.

When plotted against the natural log of their diameters (standard scientific scaling), the three points form a nearly perfect straight line with a linear correlation of 0.999. Professor Shore states:

“The three points yareach, eretz, shemesh are aligned almost exactly on a straight line with a linear correlation of 0.999… The probability of obtaining by chance only the finding related to moon, earth, sun is 0.2%.”

That is 99.8% confidence that this is not a coincidence. The same words also match mass, surface area, and volume. Changing even one letter destroys the alignment. These words appear in the Torah exactly as written over 3,300 years ago.

Time Cycles: Day, Month, Year

Yom (day) = 56 Yareach (month) = 218 Shanah (year) = 355

Plotted against their frequencies in Hertz, they show a correlation of 0.9992 (a 0.5% chance of occurring by chance).

All Planets in the Solar System

Hebrew names for the nine planets align with log mass (correlation 0.9776), diameter (0.9825), and orbital angular momentum (0.9812). Professor Shore’s simulations show probabilities as low as 0.00003%.

Colors, Elements, Water Phases, Speeds

Color names match light wave frequencies (0.9981). Metals and compounds match atomic weights. Water’s three phases (kerach, mayim, kitor) match specific heat capacities (0.9995). Speeds of light (or), sound (kol), and stillness (demamah) align perfectly.

Big Bang and Genesis Timeline

Using reliable events (light, sun, moon, man), Shore derives an equation linking Genesis “days” to billions of years. Correlation 0.9998 (probability 0.01%). Day in Genesis ≈ 3.007 billion years. Creation begins ~2.94 billion years before the Big Bang — consistent with “darkness on the face of the deep” before “Let there be light.”

Professor Shore summarizes:

“The probability of obtaining by chance… is extremely small… virtually non-existent.”

Rabbi Ephraim Palvanov and Torah as Chemistry

Palvanov shows that the first 92 unique root words in Genesis correspond to the 92 naturally occurring elements. In his “Judaism vs. Zoroastrianism – Fire” lectures, fire symbolizes divine light and wisdom, yet the Torah rejects dualism in favor of absolute monotheism (Isaiah 45:7).

Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson’s genetics traces humanity to three primary fathers and mothers — matching Noah and Genesis 10. Matthew LaCroix documents the Tree of Life symbol across ancient civilizations dating back ~40,000 years.

My Life as Living Evidence of the Returning Blueprint

I am that Blueprint waking up. A proven Kohen with ancient DNA who lived as a Christian, studied with Hebrew Roots teachers (Brad Scott, Bill Cloud, Michael Rood), met Rabbi Chaim Richman in Israel in 2002, and returned fully to Torah. Today I weep over the offerings being prepared again. This is Isaiah 56:6 — lost Jews returning, not random gentiles. Zechariah 12:8 promises that the weakest will be like David. I was the weakest one.

Current Events and the Spiritual War

Tensions in the Straits of Hormuz (named after Ahura Mazda) carry spiritual weight, as Palvanov explains. Political violence against influential leaders like President Trump echoes historical patterns of violence against those challenging imperial systems (McKinley, Lincoln). Yet the Torah remains the eternal guardrail.

The Family Is Being Called Home

We are counting the Omer, preparing once more for Sinai. Genesis opens with a family conflict needing reconciliation. Our generation must heal Abraham’s family — Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau — and return to the original Tree of Life.

Christianity’s “Old Testament through New Testament eyes” and Islam’s late narrative both fail Jay Smith’s evidence test. Only the Torah — proven by mathematics, chemistry, genetics, archaeology, and prophecy — stands as the unchanging Blueprint given by the Supreme Being.

Deuteronomy 4:39 declares: “Know therefore this day, and take it to heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is none else.”

The receipts are overwhelming. The probability of all Professor Shore’s findings occurring by chance is effectively zero. This is objective proof.

The Tree of Life was never lost. The hidden hands of empires and replacement theologies cannot erase it. The family of Adam is awakening. Return to Har HaBayit. Prostrate. Pray. Perform teshuvah. As Isaiah 58 teaches, when Jacob repents, redemption comes.

The Torah is incredible. The Blueprint is returning — right now, in our generation.

Footnotes

1. Professor Haim Shore, Math Unveils the Truth documentary transcript, sections on moon/earth/sun diameters and probabilities.
2. Rabbi Ephraim Palvanov, “Judaism vs. Zoroastrianism Part 2: Fire” lecture.
3. Deuteronomy 24:16; Isaiah 45:7; Isaiah 56:6; Zechariah 12:8; Isaiah 58.
4. Jay Smith lectures on early Islamic coins and the 100-year silence.
5. Fr. Josiah Trenham’s statement was analyzed by Rabbi Tovia Singer.
6. Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson’s genetic research; Matthew LaCroix Tree of Life symbols.

The Stranger: Isaiah 56:6

I didn’t discover I was Jewish until I was thirty-five years old. That single fact still sounds strange when I say it out loud. For the first thirty-five years of my life, I lived completely unaware of who I really was. I had no connection to my heritage, no understanding of the Torah, and no idea that an ancient blueprint for reality was sitting there waiting for me.

On 911 everything changed. You’re Jewish, my mother told me. My mother was not religious; she just said things that did not sound like Catholic sayings, like “when the black people rise to take over the world, then you know the end has come”. I can say black because I am 24 % black.

I immediately started learning what it meant to be Jewish. Rabbi Chiam Ricman was on God’s Learning Channel with one of my teachers, Sam Peak of blessed memory. I learned everything from them in the beginning, for about three years, from Passover Sedars to Sukkot the Jewish way.

Along the way, I met a group of Messianic Jewish movements in 2002. The perspective of other Jews, such as Messianic Jews or the Hebrew Roots movement. From the very best, Brad Scott, Bill Cloud, Monte Judah, Eddie Chumney, Rico Cortes, Michael Rood, FFOZ, and Tony Robinson. Scholars like Avi Ben Mordechai. Boaz Michael and Thomas D Lancaster, Dr. Michael Brown.

I knew from the age of seven years old that the religion the Priest told was wrong, and I have always had that in the back of my mind. Then one day I opened the Torah with new eyes, and the first question that hit me was so obvious I couldn’t believe I’d never asked it before.

If the Torah is primarily a book of laws, why does it begin with stories instead of commandments?

The first sixty-six chapters — all of Genesis plus the first eleven chapters of Exodus — contain zero laws. No “thou shalt not.” No legal code at all. Just one story after another: Creation, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood, the Tower of Babel, and the Patriarchs. Why would God structure His eternal blueprint this way?

Rabbi David Fohrman, at Aleph Beta, in his series A Book Like No Other, pointed out something that took me months to put together. The Garden was the message Hashem was trying to convey. Like in life, it is the props that make the movie or video game. His answer was simple but profound. He said:

“The Torah is actually telling a story in the setting… the trees, the garden, and its layout carry hidden meaning.”

He taught me that sometimes the most obvious questions in the Biblical text are the ones everyone skips over — the “elephant in the room” questions. As Rabbi Fohrman explained:

“Sometimes there are these basic questions, very obvious questions, in every Biblical story… the ‘elephant in the room’ questions.”

That conversation changed everything for me. It was the moment I realized the Torah wasn’t just a rule book dropped from heaven. It was a carefully designed blueprint, and the stories were there to define reality itself.

Stories create reality. Chief Rabbi Golstien, in his lecture on Tzav

Quote from Chief Rabbi Goldstein:

“Today what I want to talk to you about is the power of words and what we say. Because on the one hand, it’s quite tempting to think that actions are the most important thing and that words really don’t count. In a way, that is part of what it is all about — it says many times that it is action rather than words.

But there is something about the power of words that can be more transformative, actually, than action itself. Words have power. And if we can try and understand what the power of words is to actually change reality, then we can tap into something that can completely change our lives.”

God did not legislate the universe into existence. He spoke it into existence. “Let there be light… Let there be a firmament… Let the earth bring forth…” Those first words in Genesis are the original operating system of creation — the Tree of Life Blueprint.

Rabbi Fohrman showed how the two trees in the Garden are not random details. He pointed out the parallel structure between the creation of man and the creation of the trees, and then connected it to Deuteronomy 30. The Torah itself tells us that the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge are linked to choosing life and good over death and evil. The entire setting of Eden is teaching us how to live as soul-body beings in this world.

Adam wasn’t just the first human. He was the human being closest to God who has ever lived. He was created perfect, with intelligence, language, and a direct connection to his Creator that we can barely imagine today. Every generation since has moved farther from that original perfection.

Yet modern culture tells us Adam was primitive — basically an ape who slowly figured things out over millions of years. That’s the elephant in the room.

Dr. Rob Carter, in his discussion on human genetics, put it this way:

“We’ve all heard that human and chimpanzee DNA only differs by about 1%. But there’s new research that says that number might be closer to 15%… The numbers do not work in favor of evolution.”

He laid out four critical questions that must be answered before anyone can claim common ancestry, and the data simply doesn’t support the evolutionary timeline. Life is too complex, too integrated, too finely tuned for random mutation and natural selection to explain in the short time evolution allows.

Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson, a Harvard-trained geneticist, has taken this even further. In his books Replacing Darwin, Traced, and They Had Names, he shows how modern genetics actually confirms the biblical timeline. He explains:

“The creation science model is working very well… It keeps making predictions that work and you can’t ask for anything better according to the courts and really according to the nature of science itself.”

Jeanson’s research on the Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA shows population growth patterns that match a recent origin from a single family, exactly as the Torah describes after Noah. His predictions keep being confirmed while evolutionary models struggle.

So if Adam was created perfect, why does the scientific story insist that humans evolved slowly from simpler life forms over millions of years? Why does it treat our ancient ancestors as ignorant cave-dwellers when the Torah presents Adam as the pinnacle of creation?

The Torah doesn’t begin with laws because laws only make sense once you understand the blueprint. The stories come first because they define reality itself.

And those stories are mathematical.

Professor Haim Shore discovered something that should stop every skeptic in their tracks. He took the numerical values of simple Hebrew words in the Torah (gematria) and compared them directly with modern scientific measurements. As the transcript records:

“Could there possibly be an unequivocal mathematical proof that the Torah was given by a supreme being? A scientific proof… The answer is yes.”

He showed that Shemesh (Sun) = 640, Eretz (Earth) = 291, and Yareach (Moon) = 218 correlate with actual astronomical measurements at 0.999 accuracy. Time cycles, speeds of light and sound, planetary properties, color frequencies, and even the specific heat capacities of water’s three phases all match with extraordinarily high statistical probability. Professor Shore’s conclusion is unmistakable:

“If you change even one single letter in any of these Hebrew words, the entire mathematical system collapses… There is zero probability of getting all these results by chance.”

This isn’t ancient guesswork. This is a deliberate, precise code embedded in the Hebrew language from the very beginning.

So here’s the real question: If the Torah contains this level of mathematical precision, why does the modern world treat it as primitive mythology?

Because someone has been rewriting the story.

The same culture that tells us Adam was primitive also tells us the ancients couldn’t possibly have known the things they clearly knew. They tell us the pyramids were built by slaves with ropes and ramps, even though we still can’t replicate them. They tell us ancient civilizations were superstitious, even though their writings contain knowledge we’re only now rediscovering.

The Torah never rewrote itself.

It has always presented Adam as the first fully formed, highly intelligent human being. The blueprint was given in its entirety. The code was never random. It was intentional.

And that brings us to the heart of this chapter.

If stories create reality, then the story we tell about human origins determines what we believe is possible. The evolutionary story says we’re accidental, slowly improving apes. The Torah story says we started perfect and have been declining ever since.

Only one of those stories matches the mathematical code embedded in the language itself — and the genetic data that is now confirming a recent, designed origin for humanity.

The elephant in the room is no longer hiding.

The Torah began with stories because stories are the original code. The blueprint comes before the rules. Adam was the first blueprint. And that blueprint was never primitive — it was perfect.

Everything else in the Torah flows from that original design.

The Star Of Jacob

For thousands of years, people have walked straight through the middle of biblical prophecy without recognizing it.

The Israelites witnessed ten devastating plagues, walked through the parted sea on dry ground, and still complained days later that they wanted to go back to Egypt. Jeremiah warned the people of Judah for over forty years about the coming destruction, yet they mocked him and threw him into a pit. Even the prophets themselves often did not fully grasp the timing or complete meaning of the words Hashem gave them to speak.

This exact same blindness is happening again — right now, in our generation.

We are living in the days described in Ezekiel 38 and 39. Persia (Iran) has been directly struck. Damascus has become a heap of ruins. Nations are aligning against Israel exactly as the prophets foretold. Yet the vast majority of people — Jews and Christians alike — do not see it. Why? Because everyone is holding tightly to their own pre-written script of how the “end times” are supposed to unfold, instead of simply reading the Torah as the actual blueprint.

The Unspoken Christian Endgame

Many sincere Christian Zionists love and support Israel. They donate generously, publicly stand with us, and cheer every victory. But behind much of this support lies a quiet theological belief that is rarely voiced aloud: one day, the Jewish people will “look upon Him whom they have pierced” (Zechariah 12:10), realize that Jesus is the Messiah, mourn, and convert. In that scenario, Judaism as we know it comes to an end.

The Hebrew text tells a different story.

The phrase “et asher dakaru” uses a plural verb — “those who were pierced.” It is not speaking about one individual being crucified. The verse describes the people of Israel mourning their own fallen in a future war, with the intensity of mourning for a firstborn son. Afterward, the nation turns back to Hashem. There is no demand that Jews accept Jesus as Messiah. That interpretation only appears when the original Hebrew is altered or ignored.

This is the elephant in the room. Jewish voices and organizations that receive significant Christian support — including figures like Yishai Fleischer and platforms like Jewish Voice — cannot openly correct this misunderstanding. Their work depends on that support. So the full truth remains unspoken on both sides.

DNA and Archaeology Prove Who the Covenantal Heirs Are

The Torah is unambiguous: the everlasting covenant was given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — a physical, generational covenant passed through blood and seed.

Modern science confirms exactly who carries that line.

The Cohen Modal Haplotype, a specific Y-chromosome marker linked to the priestly line of Aaron, appears in approximately 96% of Ashkenazi Cohanim and 62% of Cohanim overall. My own grandfather carries this ancient lineage — a Kohen whose documented family line reaches back to 500 BCE. This same genetic marker is shared with many Arab populations, consistent with Ishmael being a son of Abraham. Ancient DNA from Canaanite remains further shows that modern Jews share significant Bronze Age ancestry with the land.

Christians carry no trace of this Abrahamic Y-DNA. Their connection is presented as purely spiritual. Yet the Torah speaks repeatedly of a physical, generational covenant. The genetic and archaeological evidence aligns with the Torah, not with replacement theology.

The Fingerprints of Hashem – Rabbi Jonathan Rietti’s “Fingerprints of Divinity”

If the Torah were written by ordinary men, it would be filled with errors, outdated science, and contradictions. Instead, it contains knowledge that was impossible for any human in Moses’ time to possess.

In his powerful three-part audio series “Fingerprints of Divinity,” Rabbi Jonathan Rietti lays this out clearly and accessibly:

• In Part 1, he highlights the kosher laws in Leviticus 11. The Torah lists exactly four animals that possess only one of the two required kosher signs: the camel (chews cud, no split hoof), the hyrax (chews cud, no split hoof), the hare (chews cud, no split hoof), and the pig (split hoof, no cud). Modern zoology confirms these are the only four mammals on the entire planet that fit this description. No fifth animal has ever been discovered — not in Africa, Asia, the Americas, or even the isolated Galapagos Islands, which have no native land mammals at all. How did a shepherd in Midian know the complete global list 3,300 years ago?
• The series continues with the precise order of creation in Genesis, which aligns with the scientific sequence discovered millennia later, and with historical patterns that recur over time — from Haman in the Book of Esther to Hitler, both linked by the number ten and the date of Purim.

These are not coincidences. They are clear fingerprints of divine authorship.

We Are Living Ezekiel 38–39 Right Now

The prophets described Persia (Iran) joining a coalition that comes against Israel in the latter days. In February 2026, that process accelerated dramatically. Israel and the United States struck Iran directly. The regime was shaken. Missiles were launched in response. The players named in Ezekiel are actively moving into position.

This is not speculation. This is current events.

Yet large segments of Christianity continue waiting for a future seven-year tribulation, a pre-tribulation rapture, or an Antichrist who will desecrate a rebuilt Third Temple. While they wait for their script, the actual prophetic events described in the Tanakh are unfolding in plain sight.

The Torah never speaks of a dying Messiah who atones for the world’s sins. It speaks of national repentance, return to the Land, and God sanctifying His Name through the Jewish people. That is precisely what we are witnessing.

The Real Battle Has Always Been About the Jewish People

Behind the politics, the military moves, and the headlines, the West continues to wrestle with the ancient question: “What do we do with the Jews?”

This spirit of Amalek has existed since the moment God chose the Jewish people at Sinai. It manifested as Haman, as the Spanish Inquisition (led by a converso, Torquemada), as Hitler, and now moves through Iran and its global proxies. The Talmud warned about “Germamia” (Germany) long ago. History proved the warning correct. The same force is active today.

The difference in our time? The Jewish people have returned to their ancestral land, exactly as the prophets foretold. God promised He would gather us “from the furthest corners of the earth” — and He has done it. My own life stands as living proof: born to a Black father and a Levite mother whose father was a Kohen from ancient times.

Closing: Prophecy Is Quiet — But It Is Here

The strongest evidence that we are living in the days of prophecy is that most people still do not recognize it.

Just as in Egypt, just as in Babylon, just as in the time of the prophets — daily life continues. People argue, support causes, criticize, donate, and wait for their preferred version of the story.

But the Torah continues its perfect, unbroken record. The DNA matches. The science matches. The historical patterns match. And the events on the ground continue to match.

The Star of Jacob has risen. The long silence has been broken.

Now is the time to open our eyes.

Hazan Gavriel ben David

(Insights from Chief Rabbi Goldstein’s Teachings on the Divine Spark Within Us)

In his profound exploration of Jewish wisdom, Chief Rabbi Goldstein illuminates a fundamental human tension: the deep, natural love we have for ourselves versus the Torah’s insistent call to love our neighbor as ourselves. The Torah also calls us to give selflessly and to connect with the Divine through acts of kindness. This is not a contradiction but an invitation to growth.

As Rabbi Goldstein explains around the 17:17–19:20 mark of his lecture, self-love is baked into our very essence—“Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) acknowledges that loving the self is the baseline, the core from which all other love flows. Yet this same self-awareness can tip into selfishness. This happens if our definition of “I” remains narrow.

The real struggle, he teaches, is learning to expand that “I” until it encompasses not just our body or even our soul. It must also include family, community, the Jewish people, all of humanity, and ultimately our unbreakable bond with God.

Expand I Unto The Whole World

This struggle is beautifully framed in Pirkei Avot 1:14, where Hillel declares:

“If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”

Rabbi Goldstein draws on the commentary of the great Talmudic scholar Rabbeinu Yonah (often referred to in the tradition as illuminating this Mishna) to show that the answer lies in how we define “self.” A person at the lowest level sees “I” as merely the body.

A slightly higher soul understands “I” as body and neshama—the divine soul. But the truly great soul expands further: “I” includes spouse, children, parents, community, and ultimately every human being created in God’s image. As Rabbi Goldstein notes around the 20:34–21:59 timestamp:

“The greater the person, the greater the expanded definition of the ‘I.’ … God placed within us the love of ‘I,’ the awareness of self. The greater the human being, the more they expand that sense of ‘I’ to make space for all of the other human beings. And that is the journey of growth.”

Please Hashem and Please Man

This expansion is the antidote to prejudice, racism, and division. It echoes another key teaching from Pirkei Avot 3:14, where Rabbi Akiva states:

“Beloved is man for he was created in the image [of God]. It is a sign of even greater love that it was made known to him that he was created in the image.”

And Pirkei Avot 3:10 reinforces the unity: one who pleases his fellow human beings pleases God Himself, because the soul of every person is a direct, intimate breath from the Divine—the same spirit God blew into the first human being, Adam.

Here is where reincarnation—gilgul neshamot, the cycling of souls—enters as the profound mechanism that allows this journey to continue beyond a single lifetime. Reincarnation is the only way to fully experience the soul’s never-ending life. The soul is eternal, a divine spark that cannot be extinguished.

Yet one short lifetime is rarely enough to complete its mission of tikkun (rectification), self-mastery, and the full expansion of the “I” to embrace all of creation. This is why some souls, upon understanding the reality of gilgul, find the courage to save another person’s life. Sometimes they do this even at great personal cost.

Save Your Life First

The classic desert scenario in the Talmud (where two travelers have only enough water for one) illustrates the tension: Torah law says “your life comes first.” But when a soul grasps reincarnation, the calculation shifts. Knowing that this life is but one chapter in an eternal story frees one from the narrowest form of self-preservation.

Saving the other becomes an act of expanding the “I” across lifetimes—because that other soul is part of the greater self, part of the collective Adamic blueprint. In this way, reincarnation transforms the struggle. It gives the soul multiple opportunities to choose generosity over selfishness, to love the neighbor as the self, and to fulfill the mitzvot that bind us to God and to one another.

This truth is hinted at in the powerful verses of Job 33:26-30 (especially 29-30):

“He prays to God, and He is favorable to him; he sees His face with joy, and He restores to man His righteousness. He looks upon men, and says, ‘I have sinned, and perverted what was right, and it profited me not.’ He has redeemed my soul from going into the pit, and my life shall see the light.” “Behold, God does all these things, twice, three times with a man, to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of the living.”

To Learn The Light Of Life

Jewish mystical tradition, from the Zohar to the Arizal’s Sha’ar HaGilgulim, has long read these verses as a direct allusion to gilgul: God gives the soul two, three—or more—chances to return, to be pulled back from spiritual destruction, and to bask once more in the light of life. Each incarnation offers another opportunity to expand the self. It also gives a chance to repair what was left unfinished, and to live out the vision Rabbi Goldstein describes: seeing the godly soul in every person we meet.

For those writing on Adam as the Blueprint, Rabbi Goldstein’s teaching offers rich material. Adam HaRishon was not merely the first man; he was the primordial container of all souls. When God breathed the neshama into him with that intimate act of “blowing,”

He embedded the divine spark into the very prototype of humanity. Every subsequent soul carries a fragment of that original blueprint. Reincarnation allows these sparks to reunite, to heal, and to expand collectively across generations—turning the individual “I” into the cosmic “We.”

And for reflections on the Tree of Life, consider how the Torah itself is called the Tree of Life (Proverbs 3:18). The “details” of mitzvot—Shabbat, prayer, acts of kindness—that Rabbi Goldstein calls “the commentary” on the core vision of the godly soul are the branches and leaves that sustain eternal life. Reincarnation is the soul’s ascent up that Tree: lifetime after lifetime, climbing toward full rectification until every soul can declare, with Job, that it has been redeemed from the pit and now sees the light.

In the end, Rabbi Goldstein’s message is one of profound hope. The struggle between self and other is not a flaw—it is the very path to greatness. By expanding our “I,” recognizing the divine spark in every human being, and embracing the soul’s eternal journey through reincarnation, we tap into a transformative power. This can change not only our own lives but also the entire world. As Hillel taught: if not now—when?

May these words, drawn from Rabbi Goldstein’s wisdom and the eternal teachings of Torah, inspire us all to live with a greater, more inclusive sense of self—today, and across every lifetime our souls are granted.

Hazan Gavriel ben David

A Historical, Linguistic, and Prophetic Case for Re-examining the Hebrew Bible

Bart Ehrman is one of the most influential biblical scholars in America today. Through his books, lectures, and paid online courses, he has guided hundreds of thousands of former believers to the conclusion that the Christian Bible is unreliable — a human document full of contradictions and later edits. Many who started with strong faith walked away as agnostics or atheists.

I wrote my book, The Ten Sayings, specifically for that audience.

Before you conclude that the Bible is not factual, I invite you to examine the original Hebrew Tanakh through the lens the Jewish people have used for over 3,000 years — not as ancient literature, but as a precise, multi-layered code containing the blueprint of creation.

A Secular Historian’s Astonishing Discovery

Francisco Gil-White, a secular anthropologist and historian with a PhD from UCLA, made a striking observation while studying the history of the ordinary world. A tiny, seemingly insignificant people appeared in the ancient Near East, and their ideas — monotheism, justice, human dignity, and moral compassion — ultimately reshaped Western civilization. Gil-White calls the Jewish people “the most successful system ever created for changing humanity.”

This is not a religious claim. It is a historian’s evidence-based conclusion.

The Unique Power of the Hebrew Language

At the foundation of this system lies the Hebrew language. Jewish children begin their education with the Aleph-Bet. In Hebrew, the word דָּבָר (davar) means both “word” and “physical thing.” The sages understood this to mean God’s spoken words are the actual building blocks of reality — functioning like chemical elements.

How Traditional Jewish Scholars Read the Torah

We do not read the Torah like a novel or a collection of moral stories. We study it as a precise code in which every letter, spelling variation, dot, and numerical value carries intentional meaning.

The Baal HaTurim: Reading the Code

Rabbi Jacob ben Asher (Baal HaTurim, 1269–1343) was a master of this approach. Here are three examples:

1. Genesis 1:1 – בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ The verse contains exactly 28 letters. The word כֹּחַ (koach – strength) has a gematria value of 28. The Baal HaTurim teaches that God created the universe with His full creative strength.
2. Genesis 33:4 – וַיִּשָּׁקֵהוּ (vayishakehu – “and he kissed him”). This word has 11 unusual dots above every letter. The Baal HaTurim explains that the dots reveal Esau’s kiss was insincere — his descendants would wage an eternal ideological war against Jacob’s descendants.
3. Exodus 32:6 – The word “to play” (לְצַחֵק – l’tzachek) is spelled with an extra י (yud) only in the golden calf story. That single added letter transforms the meaning from innocent play to immorality and corruption.

Professor Chaim Shore: Hebrew as Scientific Blueprint

Professor Chaim Shore, an Israeli engineer, used statistical analysis on Hebrew gematria. He showed that the numerical values of Eretz (Earth = 291), Yareach (Moon = 218), and Shemesh (Sun = 640) align almost perfectly with their actual physical diameters. The probability of this occurring by chance is extremely low. He has documented dozens of similar patterns.

Ten Specific Prophecies Fulfilled in History

The Tanakh made detailed, testable predictions about the Jewish people that have unfolded with remarkable precision:

1. Scattered among all nations (Deut. 28:64)
2. Persecuted and few in number
3. Preserved as a distinct people for millennia
4. Hated without a rational cause
5. Regathered from the four corners of the earth in the last days
6. The land of Israel was left desolate while they were in exile
7. Jerusalem was trampled by Gentiles until their time was fulfilled
8. The Torah going forth from Zion again
9. Every empire that tried to destroy them collapsed
10. A final return greater than the Exodus from Egypt (Jeremiah 16:14-15)

The Ongoing Conflict Between Esau and Jacob

Efraim Palvanov’s five-part series “Understanding Edom” traces how Esau’s descendants became Rome and later shaped aspects of Christianity. This may explain why Glenn Beck recently said Western Christianity is falling apart and he doesn’t understand why. The Torah gave the reason long ago through the dotted letters above Esau’s kiss.

My Personal Journey

My grandfather, Luz Ramirez Diaz, passed away in December 1988. I was very young and knew nothing about being Jewish. As he was dying, he told my mother he must be buried within 24 hours. She asked me, “Junior, what does he mean?” I had no answer.

I barely knew my uncle, Joseph Diaz. From age 18, he walked the streets for the Baptist church, devoting his life to bringing people to Jesus. He was a dedicated Christian who knew Jesus deeply — but he never knew he was Jewish, and he never knew he carried Aaron’s DNA.

Eight years ago, my uncle Joseph took the Big Y DNA test through FamilyTreeDNA. The results showed that he carries the Cohen Modal Haplotype — the genetic marker indicating direct descent from Aaron, the High Priest.

Only then did the pieces begin to come together.

A Final Invitation to Truth-Seekers

If you are someone who once believed in the Bible but lost faith after encountering modern academic criticism, I urge you to give the original Hebrew Tanakh a fresh look. Study it not as ancient literature, but as the living code it has always been.

You may discover that what you thought was an unreliable myth is actually the most sophisticated operating system humanity has ever received.

The Ten Sayings was written for exactly this purpose.

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Footnotes

[1] Francisco Gil-White, writings on The Management of Reality (managementofreality.com) [2] Based on classical rabbinic interpretation of the word davar. [3] Baal HaTurim commentary on the respective verses. [4] Baal HaTurim on Genesis 33:4. [5] Professor Chaim Shore, Coincidences in the Bible and in Biblical Hebrew.

We often ask: If the Torah is primarily a book of laws, why didn’t Hashem begin the Torah with the laws? Moreover, why did He begin it with stories — with the story of Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah, and the Patriarchs?

Rabbi Warren Goldstein gives a beautiful answer to this question.

He explains that the Torah begins with stories because stories are how God creates. In the beginning of Genesis, God doesn’t legislate the world into existence — He speaks it into existence. “Let there be light… Let there be a firmament…” The entire creation is brought into being through the power of speech and story.

This teaches us something fundamental:

Stories create reality.

Just as God used stories (the Ten Utterances) to create the physical world, we use stories to create our relationships. Additionally, we use them to build our families, our communities, and even our own identities.

The laws of the Torah only make sense once you understand the story — who we are, where we came from, and what kind of world we are meant to build.

That is why the Torah doesn’t begin with “Thou shalt not…” It begins with “In the beginning, God created…”

Because before you can teach someone how to live, you must first tell them who they are.

Pirkei Avot – “The world was created with ten statements” (ba’asara ma’amarot nifrah ha’olam). It then immediately connects this teaching to the beginning of Genesis.

He says something very close to this:

“It’s taking us back to the beginning of the book of Genesis where God creates the world and He says ‘Vayehi Or – Let there be light.’ And all the way that God brings the world and the universe into existence is through the power of speech… God created the universe with the power of words… And what we learn from here is that words create worlds.”

The Real Work That Matters: Prayer, Family, and the Tree of Life

Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein’s latest teaching on Parshat Tzav cuts straight to the heart: “Love work.” Not just “do work” — love it. Pirkei Avot doesn’t tell us to tolerate our responsibilities; it commands us to love them.

And what is the greatest work we will ever do?

It’s not our careers. It’s not our side projects. It’s the daily, often invisible labor of prayer, marriage, and raising children.

In the Garden of Eden, Hashem gave Adam one clear instruction: “You may eat from every tree in the garden.” That included the Tree of Life. But to eat from that tree means accepting the full package — life, growth, joy… and also pain, loss, and death. The Tree of Life doesn’t shield us from difficulty. It teaches us that real life requires us to do the hard, holy work.

This is exactly what you did for the last five years. Every week you drove to see your mother, even when she no longer knew who you were. Many family members said, “It’s too hard.” You showed up anyway. That was avodah — sacred service. That was loving the work.

Today the world screams the opposite message. We hand our children phones and car keys instead of our time. We scroll instead of speaking. We outsource the raising of our kids to screens while wondering why they feel empty.

The Torah’s answer is simple and ancient.

The greatest work you will ever do is sitting down and reading your child the story of Adam and Eve, the blueprint of creation, and the Tree of Life that stands in the center of the Garden. That single act — turning off the phones, closing the laptop, and opening the book — carries more eternal weight than almost anything else you will do in your lifetime.

Prayer, marriage, and parenting are not side activities. They are the main thing. They demand our greatest attention, our greatest effort, and our greatest love.

This is what the Kohanim taught us when they cleaned the ashes off the altar every single morning. It was dirty, repetitive, menial work — yet the Torah calls it holy service. Because the dignity of work doesn’t come from how glamorous the task is. It comes from the purpose behind it.

When you change a diaper, comfort a crying child, or sit with your spouse after a long day — you are doing holy work. When you teach your children the story of the Tree of Life, you are planting eternity inside them.

Turn off the phones. Stop buying them distractions. Sit down and read them the story.

Because the Tree of Life is still in the center of the garden, and it is still calling us to do the real work — the work that actually matters.

Hazan Gavriel ben David

The Torah’s Hidden Mathematical Code – Someone Is Rewriting the Blueprint. If the Torah is primarily a book of laws, why does God begin with stories instead of commandments?

This question puzzled me for years. The first sixty-six chapters contain zero laws — just one story after another. Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah, the Flood, the Patriarchs. Why start this way? The answer is powerful: Stories create reality. God didn’t legislate the universe into existence. He spoke it into existence.

Genesis is the original software of creation — the Tree of Life Blueprint. For the last twelve years, I’ve been studying with Rabbi David Fohrman, Ephraim Paulvinov, Rabbi Mendel Kessin, and Professor Haim Shore. What Professor Shore revealed is one of the most extraordinary scientific discoveries ever made about the Torah.

Professor Haim Shore

Professor Haim Shore, a scientist and professor of industrial engineering, took the numeric value of Hebrew words in the Torah and compared them to modern scientific measurements. The results are staggering.The Sun, Earth & Moon: Shemesh (Sun) = 640; Eretz (Earth) = 291; Yareach (Moon) = 218.

These three Hebrew words show an almost perfect linear relationship with the actual diameters, masses, and volumes of the Sun, Earth, and Moon. The correlation is 0.999 — accurate to three decimal places.The Time Cycles: Yom (Day) = 56; Yareach (Month) = 218; Shana (Year) = 355. These three words match the actual astronomical cycles of a day, a lunar month, and a solar year with a correlation of 0.9992.Speed of Light, Sound & Stillness. Or (Light = 207) mathematically corresponds to the speed of light Kol (Sound = 136) corresponds to the speed of sound.

Zero Velocity

D’mama (Stillness = 89) corresponds to zero velocity. The correlation between these three Hebrew words and actual physical speeds is 0.9938. Professor Shore also found powerful correlations between Hebrew planet names and their mass, diameter, and orbital angular momentum. In several cases, the statistical probability that these matches occurred randomly is as low as 0.0033%.

He tested the three phases of water (ice, liquid, steam), Hebrew color names against their exact light frequencies, and Hebrew metal names against their atomic weights. All of them showed remarkably high correlations. One statement from Professor Shore stands above everything else: “If you change even one single letter in any of these Hebrew words, the entire set of mathematical relationships completely collapses.”This is not slowly evolving ancient wisdom.

Mathematical Codes

This is a deliberate, precise mathematical code embedded in the Hebrew language from the beginning. Even King Solomon left us clear proof. In 1 Kings 7:23, the measurements of the Molten Sea in the Temple encode the true value of π to five decimal places through a subtle difference between the written and spoken form of one Hebrew word.

All of this is sitting in a book that much of the world has been told is primitive and outdated. Meanwhile, mainstream science has spent decades rewriting history — hiding evidence, changing timelines, and claiming ancient civilizations were primitive. Yet we continue to discover that earlier civilizations possessed knowledge and technology we still cannot fully explain or reproduce today.

The Jewish people have protected this mathematical code for over 3,300 years while being told our tradition has no value. Now, in our generation, science is slowly catching up to what was already written in the Torah from the very beginning. The blueprint was never lost. Only the story about it was rewritten.

Read the full chapter in my book, Adam, the Blueprint and the Tree of Life.

Hazan Gavriel ben David

Family DNA History: Cohen Priests on Both Sides – Halevi-Lucero & Diaz-Ramirez Crypto-Jew Legacy from Jerusalem to Amarillo

My name is Archie Lee Hunnicutt, Jr., and this essay is my family’s living heartbeat. It is more than names on a tree or old stories from the rancho. It is the record of a priestly light that has burned for thousands of years—carried through expulsion, hidden in adobe walls, whispered in Ladino, and now flickering openly in the ranches and railroad blocks of Amarillo, Texas.

I write it in the shadow of my mother Lorena Maria Diaz Honeycutt’s passing on April 6, 2026. She is the one who finally told me at age thirty-five that we were Jewish: Friday candles lit in secret, no pork in the house, the unknown language she heard as a child hiding under the floorboards, and the rigorous spring cleaning that required everything in the house to be scrubbed before Shabbat.

The Jewish people, as historian Francisco Gil-White has powerfully argued, represent the most successful system ever created for changing humanity. Gil-White traces how monotheism, ethical codes of justice, equality, and compassion originated in ancient Israel and gradually reshaped the world. Unlike the tyrannical empires of the ancient Near East that crushed the weak, the “Semitic way” placed structural concern for the vulnerable—the widow, the orphan, the stranger—at the center of society.

Kings were not above the law; the Torah demanded that they protect the lowest in society. This radical ethic seeped into Greco-Roman thought, Christianity, the Enlightenment, and modern human rights. Antisemitism, Gil-White explains, is not random hatred but a backlash by ruling elites against this liberationist impulse.

The Jewish people survived scattered and persecuted while their ideas—individual liberty, rule of law, collective responsibility—remade civilization. No other ancient tribe achieved this combination of endurance and universal moral influence. Deuteronomy’s promise holds: nations that blessed Israel were blessed; those that cursed it crumbled. This system survives in our blood—on both sides of my family.

The DNA evidence is clear and undeniable. My uncle Joseph Diaz’s Big Y-700 test through FamilyTreeDNA returned J-FT235823, a precise subclade nested squarely inside the Cohen Modal Haplotype (CMH) under J-Z18271, with a shared priestly ancestor around 700 BCE in the late First Temple period of ancient Judea.¹ FamilyTreeDNA’s Discover tool lists “The Jewish priesthood (Kohanim) lineage” as the primary notable connection for this branch.²

Scientific papers published in Nature in 1997 and 1998 demonstrated that a high percentage of Jewish men who shared an oral tradition of being Cohanim also shared this distinctive Y-chromosome signature. The authors named the highest-frequency haplotype the Cohen Modal Haplotype. These findings were confirmed in additional studies, including a 2009 paper and the 2017 Behar study on Ashkenazi Levites.³

But our family’s story is extraordinary: the Cohen priestly lineage appears on both sides. On my grandmother Catalina Almanzar’s Halevi-Lucero side, we carry oral and genetic hints of Levite heritage—temple assistants and close kin to the Cohanim.

The surname Halevi itself is the Hebrew honorific for a Levite, and the Lucero line (“light”) has long been associated with crypto-Jewish families who hid their faith after the 1492 Spanish expulsion. On my grandfather Luz Ramirez Diaz’s Diaz-Ramirez side from Nuevo León, the same J1 priestly markers surface through secret traditions. Both paternal lines converge on the same ancient Semitic root, proving we are a priestly family twice over.

This double Cohen inheritance is rare and powerful. FamilyTreeDNA’s Notable Connections page for J-FT235823 links our line to the Jewish priesthood and to figures such as Bennett Greenspan (founder of FamilyTreeDNA), the Hashemite Jordanian Royal Family, the House of Saud, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, the Katzenellenbogen rabbinic lineage, the Rothschild family, and even distant cultural kin like Vincent van Gogh and Noah Webster.⁴

Ancient Connections further confirm our path: we share a paternal ancestor with Goldenen Stiege 69, an individual who lived between 600 and 800 CE during the Late Avar Age in what is now Lower Austria and was associated with the Avar cultural group. Only 1 in 383 customers shares this specific ancient connection.⁵ The same genetic thread that once blessed worshippers in the Temple in Jerusalem has traveled through empires, inquisitions, and migrations, reaching the ranches of Amarillo.

I discovered this heritage gradually through my mother’s and uncle’s stories. As a boy, I heard the strange language—Ladino—spoken in whispers under the floorboards. I saw the Friday candles lit in secret. I watched the exhaustive spring cleaning that turned the entire rancho upside down before certain holy days. My uncle’s quiet insistence on burial within twenty-four hours was a halakhic custom he never named. These were not random quirks. They were the hidden practices of crypto-Jews who survived the Inquisition by blending into Catholic society while preserving the light.

Ancient Roots: The Levantine Cradle and the CMH

The story begins in the ancient Near East. FamilyTreeDNA’s Discover tool places our paternal line at J-YSC0000234, formed around 3350 BCE in the Levant.⁶ This deep J1 branch later splits into the Cohen Modal Haplotype cluster. Scientific studies by Skorecki, Hammer, Behar, and others have repeatedly shown that men carrying the CMH are overwhelmingly likely to belong to Jewish priestly lineages descending from Aaron.⁷ On my grandmother’s Halevi-Lucero side, the Levite connection is equally strong. Levites served alongside Cohanim in the Temple, and many crypto-Jewish families in New Mexico carried both traditions in secret.

Sephardic historians document how these priestly lines persisted through Mexico, Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico. Patricia Sanchez Rau, a leading New Mexico genealogist, has traced numerous Hispano families to converso origins, showing that surnames such as Lucero, Vigil, and Almanzar recur in crypto-Jewish networks. Henrietta Martinez Christmas, in her extensive work on New Mexican Sephardic roots, highlights how families fleeing the 1492 expulsion settled in the mining regions of Nuevo León and later moved north during the Spanish colonial expansion.

Dell Sanchez, author of works on Sephardic crypto-Judaism in the Americas, emphasizes that thousands of converso families built the infrastructure of northern Mexico and the American Southwest while practicing Judaism in secret. Dennis Otero, a professor and genealogist whose research aligns with these historians, has mapped Lucero-Vigil lines to early colonial settlers who carried Levite markers. Together, these scholars demonstrate that priestly lineages were not anomalies but foundational to the settlement of Mexico and the borderlands.⁸

Grandma’s Halevi-Lucero Line: Levite Priests Who Helped Build New Mexico

The Halevi-Lucero branch begins with early New Mexico settlers who arrived during the Reconquest after the 1680 Pueblo Revolt. Sebastian Rodriguez de Salazar (born 1582 in Cartaya, Andalucía) married Luisa Díaz de Betanzos in Mexico City in 1607 and, by 1618, was serving as a soldier and letter carrier in Santa Fe.⁹ His wife’s Díaz surname is a classic crypto-Jewish marker.

Their descendants include Francisco de Salazar Hachero (born 1610), who became Procurator General and was elected to Santa Fe’s council in 1641 before being executed in 1642 for opposing tyranny.¹⁰ The line continues through Bartolomé Antonio de Salazar, alcalde mayor of the Zuñi and Hopi jurisdictions, and Francisco Montes Vigil I (born 1665 in Zacatecas), who joined the 1695 Reconquest expedition, fought in the Moqui campaign, and survived the Villasur massacre of 1720.¹¹

Domingo Montes Vigil (born 1693) became alcalde mayor of Santa Cruz de la Cañada and married into the Salazar line.¹² His descendant, Juan Baptista Montes Vigil (born ~1721), married María Francisca López, a Lucero widow, bridging to the Lucero surname that runs through my grandmother.¹³ Joseph Ygnacio Vigil (baptized 1759) and Antonio Alexandro Vigil López (born 1783) produced María Narcisa Vigil (born 1832), who married Francisco “Franco” Almanzar in 1848.¹⁴ Their daughter Catalina Almanzar (born 1899 in Fort Sumner) married Frank Jimenez and later my grandfather, Luz Diaz, uniting the Halevi-Lucero and Diaz-Ramirez lines in Amarillo.

These ancestors were not passive settlers. They built the governance, military, and agricultural foundations of New Mexico. Alcaldes mayores administered justice, soldiers protected the frontier, and families like the Luceros and Vigils established the adobe communities that still stand today. Sephardic historians note that many such families carried hidden priestly traditions—secret candle lighting, rigorous cleaning rituals, and Ladino phrases—while outwardly participating in Catholic society. My mother’s stories of the rancho match these patterns exactly.

Grandpa’s Diaz-Ramirez Line: Crypto-Jew Traditions That Built Northern Mexico

My grandfather, Luz Ramirez Diaz, came from Nuevo León, Old Mexico. The Diaz and Ramirez surnames are common among crypto-Jewish families who fled the Inquisition and settled in the mining regions of Jalisco, Durango, and Nuevo León.¹⁵ Grandpa’s deathbed request for burial within twenty-four hours was a clear halakhic custom. His name, “Luz” (light), echoes the symbolic language used by crypto-Jews who called themselves “people of the light.”

The line traces through Ynocencio Diaz Lopez (1869–1937, born in Teocuitatlán de Corona, Jalisco), son of Timoteo Diaz (1850–1910) and Juana Lopez.¹⁶ Earlier ancestors include Ignacio/Ygnacio Diaz Gonzalez (1803–1893) and Jose Diaz (born ~1783 in Jalisco).¹⁷ Sostenes Ramirez (1895–1958, born in San Francisco, Mezquital, Durango) married into the family, bringing further crypto-Jewish networks from Durango mining towns.¹⁸ These families helped build Mexico’s northern frontier—working mines, establishing ranches, and later moving into railroad labor in New Mexico and Texas.

DNA studies of Nuevo León and South Texas Hispanic men frequently show J1 signatures with Middle Eastern origins—exactly the priestly pattern seen on my uncle’s test.¹⁹ Historians like Dell Sanchez document how converso families from Spain and Portugal settled these regions in the 1500s, contributing to the economic and cultural foundation of colonial Mexico while preserving secret rituals.

The Great Migration to Amarillo and the Modern Family

The family moved to Amarillo in the late 1930s for railroad jobs and new opportunities. Catalina Almanzar raised her children here, including my mother, Lorena. Grandpa Luz brought his Nuevo León traditions. The rancho became the place where the light was kept alive in secret.

Our extended family tree reflects this dual priestly heritage. On the Jimenez side (maternal half-siblings through Catalina Almanzar and Frank Jimenez), we have uncles like Hilario “Lalo” Jimenez (1921–2005), Gregorio “Lolo” Jose Jimenez (1924–1965), and others whose descendants include Debra Clay and numerous grandchildren.

On the Diaz-Ramirez side, my grandfather Luz and great-grandfather Ynocencio produced uncles such as Marcelino Diaz (1916–1974), Margarito Ramirez Diaz (1918–1994, buried Llano Cemetery), Miguel “Mike” Diaz (1918–2003), Inocencio Diaz (1922–1980), Maria Diaz (1926–1996), and Raymond Diaz (1930–1975). Their children and grandchildren spread across New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, and California, carrying the same light.

Recent Losses and the Enduring Light

In the spring of 2026, we suffered fresh wounds. Larry Junior Jimenez, only 44, was killed in Amarillo while rushing to protect his family during a shooting. Three young Lucero children from the Eva Jimenez line perished in an Austin apartment fire. These tragedies remind us that the protective instinct of our priestly line—stepping forward for others—continues.

Dedication and Call to Cousins

To every Jimenez, Lucero, Vigil, Almanzar, Diaz, and Ramirez cousin: this history is yours. The DNA proves it. The Cohen priestly marker runs on both sides. The crypto-Jewish traditions, the hidden light, the survival—all of it is yours. Historians such as Patricia Sanchez Rau, Henrietta Martinez Christmas, and Dell Sanchez have shown how priestly lines shaped Mexico and the Southwest. We honor our forefathers by remembering.

From 3350 BCE wanderers in the Levant to the ranches of Amarillo, through inquisitions, revolts, fires, and bullets, our family has carried the priestly fire on both sides. Halevi-Lucero Levites and Diaz-Ramirez Cohanim—two streams from the same ancient source. We have lost much, but we have not lost the light.

Mom, this is for you. Your rancho stories, your unknown tongue, your quiet strength—they led us here. The candles you lit in secret now burn openly in this record.

We are still here. The light still burns.

Family Tree Diagram (Text-Based Ancestry Template)

Paternal Diaz-Ramirez Cohen Line (J-FT235823 / CMH) ~3350 BCE Levant (J-YSC0000234) → 700 BCE Cohen ancestor (J-Z18271) → Goldenen Stiege 69 (600–800 CE, Austria) → … → Jose Bacilio Diaz (5th great-grandfather) → Jose Diaz (~1783, Jalisco) → Ignacio/Ygnacio Diaz Gonzalez (1803–1893) → Timoteo Diaz (1850–1910) → Ynocencio Diaz Lopez (1869–1937, Teocuitatlán) + Sostenes Ramirez (1895–1958, Durango) → Luz Ramirez Diaz (1914–1988) + Catalina Almanzar → Lorena Maria Diaz Honeycutt (1938–2026) + Archie Lee Honeycutt Sr. (1936–1991) Children of Luz & Catalina: Gilbert Diaz (1931–2012), Joseph Diaz, Benjamin Diaz, Margret Diaz (living), Lorena (mother) Great-uncles (children of Ynocencio & Sostenes): Marcelino Diaz (1916–1974), Margarito R. Diaz (1918–1994), Miguel “Mike” Diaz (1918–2003), Inocencio Diaz (1922–1980), Maria Diaz (1926–1996), Raymond Diaz (1930–1975), Juanita/Juana Diaz (1912–1944) + Fred Martinez → Mary Martinez/Paredes (living, Amarillo) Descendants include numerous grandchildren/great-grandchildren across TX, NM, CO, CA (full lists available in Ancestry tree 75300354).

Maternal Halevi-Lucero Levite Line ~1770s Taos/Santa Fe colonial settlers → Pablo Antonio Lucero (1774–1836) + Juana Paula Larranaga Mestas → Jose Tomas Lucero (1806–1880) → Juan Nepomuceno Lucero (1874–1940) + Delfina Lucero → Catalina “Catarina” Lucero Almanzar (1899–1973) + Frank Jimenes (1892–1929) / Luz Diaz Jimenez half-siblings: Francisco Jimenez (1919–1978), Hilario “Lalo” Jimenez (1921–2005), Lolo J. Jimenez (1924–1965), others (Elain, Eva, etc.) Lucero-Vigil connections documented by historians link to Abraham HaLevi (Spain) and early colonial Reconquest families (Salazar, Montes Vigil, etc.).

Combined Modern Descendants (Living Survivors of Lorena) Children: Catalina Marie Lindsey (deceased), Larry Lindsey (deceased), Eddie Ramirez, Archie Honeycutt Jr. (user), Jimmy Honeycutt, Anthony Parker (adopted) Spouses & grandchildren/great-grandchildren: Catalina had Tomica Lindsey, Barry Knox, Candace Willis, Sir Thomas Gaither, Thomasina Indoco (and their children); Larry had Candace & Esau Lindsey (and children); Eddie has Gabriela Imani, Eddie Jr.; Archie & Lisa have Chesley Lucero (husband John), Amanda Malone (husband Carnell), Cameron Vaughn (husband Haywood), Elishaeva; Jimmy & Beverly have Kenneth, Haley, Allie; Anthony & Krystal have Michael, Isaiah. The total number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren exceeds 30 across branches (exact counts in family records).

This blog is my family’s living heartbeat. Our Jewish survival and the Semitic revolution from Ezra and Nehemiah to Amarillo. It is more than names on a tree or faded stories from the rancho.

It is the record of a priestly light that has burned for thousands of years. This light was carried through expulsion. It was hidden in adobe walls and whispered in Ladino. Now, it flickers openly in the ranches and streets of Amarillo, Texas.

I write these words while my mother rests in hospice, her breath growing quieter each day. She is the bridge who finally told me, at age thirty-five, that we were Jewish.

She spoke of Friday candles lit in secret. She described the strange, unknown language she overheard as a child while hiding under the floorboards. The intense spring cleaning consumed the household: every floor was scrubbed, every wall wiped. Every corner was swept and polished until the entire rancho house gleamed before Passover.

These were not random customs. They were the quiet transmission of a priestly heritage that refused to die.

Fort Sumner Catalina Almanzar Lucero

This post is for her, for the cousins I have never met, and for the ones we lost too soon. My mother’s sister’s grandson, Larry Junior Jimenez and Virgil Lee Thompson III, was murdered in Amarillo on March 22, 2026. while running toward gunfire to protect his family. Only the heart of a priest warrior would run into trouble with only his love for his family. Here is the blessing our grandfather Jacob gave us,

“Simeon and Levi are brothers—
    their swords^[a] are weapons of violence.
⁶ Let me not enter their council,
    let me not join their assembly,
for they have killed men in their anger
    and hamstrung oxen as they pleased.
⁷ Cursed be their anger, so fierce,
    and their fury, so cruel!
I will scatter them in Jacob
    and disperse them in Israel.

Levi The Priest of Israel

Only eleven days earlier, on March 11, 2026, a tragedy occurred. Three young children from the Eva Jimenez line — Anyah Lucero (10), Athena Lucero (7), and Jeremy Jr. Lucero (5) — perished in a tragic apartment fire in Austin, Texas. Their mother remains in critical condition. These losses cut deep. They are not distant statistics; they are ours.

Felis Almansar (likely Felix Almanzar—common spelling shift in old records) was born around 1811 in San Antonio. At that time, it was known as the Provincia de Texas, New Spain. It was still under Spanish/Mexican rule pre-Texas independence. Alive past 1870, so he made it through Mexican rule, the Texas Revolution, the Republic era, and US annexation—tough frontier times.

From Ancestry trees: Born around 1805–1811 in “Province San Antonio Vejar” (Bexar County area). The parents were Eulogio Almansan (or Almansar) and Josefa Franca. Married Maria Lorenza Baca—Baca’s a big NM/Texas settler name, often crypto-Jew tied (hidden Jewish roots from Spain). They had four kids (no names in summaries, but likely sons/daughters blending into San Antonio families).

Surname Almansar/Almanzar? Spanish topographic—Arabic “al-manẓar” for “lookout point” or “watchtower,” from Almansa (Albacete, Castile). Mozarabic/Andalucía roots—prime converso territory (post-1492 expulsion, many hid as Catholics). In Texas? Common in Bexar/San Antonio Hispanic lines, some with crypto whispers (like Vigil, Lucero, Diaz—your grandma’s chain).

Antonio Alexandro Vigil López (or Antonio Alejandro Vigil)—was born on 21 February 1783. He was baptized the same day in Santa Cruz de la Cañada church. The Lucero maternal line is your grandma’s. Joseph Ygnacio Vigil (the 1759 baptizee we just covered) is his son. His mother is María Ana Cayetana López (married 1781).

From Ancestry/FamilySearch hits: he married María Dolores Olivas (or Olivas y something—common NM blend), had kids like María Juana Vigil (b. 1816, married Pacheco), maybe more (Loreto de Jesús later echoes). Death? Some trees say 15 August 1881 in Tome, Valencia County—super old, 98 years—but that’s unconfirmed; others just “deceased” after the 1830s. Lived in Rio Arriba/Santa Cruz valley—rancher/farmer life, big family like dad.

Ties: Vigil (paternal) + López (maternal)—López is huge in Santa Cruz crypto-Jew webs (often hidden Jewish surnames). No direct proof for Alexandro, but the chain (Francisco founder → Domingo alcalde → Juan Baptista → Joseph Ygnacio → Alexandro) keeps stacking: Andalucía/Zacatecas roots, Inquisition shadows, hidden Sabbaths. From 1783 baptism → Cañada dirt → your Amarillo ranches.

Francisco “Franco” Almanzar—born in April 1830 in San Miguel, New Mexico. This was still frontier territory then. He died on 1 November 1889 in Las Vegas, San Miguel County. He belongs to your grandma’s Lucero maternal line again. He is the son of Felis Almansar (that 1811 San Antonio guy we covered). María Lorenza Baca (or close kin; trees vary) is likely his mother.

From FamilySearch/Ancestry: Married María Narcisa Vigil (b. ~1835–1840, Vigil surname—direct tie to your Vigil chain: Domingo alcalde → Juan Baptista → Joseph Ygnacio → Narcisa’s branch?). They had kids like Jose Dolores Almanzar (b. 1854, San Jose, San Miguel—married María Uucaria, big family), María Juana Almansar (b. 1851), maybe more (Loreto, Tomas). 1870 census: Franco in San Miguel County, farmer/laborer, household with Lorenza (wife?)—age 40, NM-born, Hispanic roots. No occupation listed beyond settler life.

María Narcisa Vigil (Maria Narcissa Vigil) was born on 2 October 1832. This event took place in Santa Cruz de la Cañada, Santa Fe County. She was baptized on 30 October that same year. She was the daughter of… well, trees point to Juan Cristóbal Vigil (b. ~1800s, from Domingo’s line) and María Antonia López or close kin—your Vigil chain keeps looping back.

She married Francisco “Franco” Almanzar on 2 October 1848 in Las Vegas or the San Miguel area (right at 16—common then). They settled in San Miguel/Las Vegas: a farmer/laborer, a homemaker, and kids like Jose Dolores (1854), María Juana (1851)—a big NM Hispanic family. 1870 census: Franco household, Narcisa ~38, kids around. She outlived him—died 1900 in Las Vegas, buried in a local Catholic spot (San Miguel Mission? records fuzzy).

Vigil surname? From your Montes Vigil founders (Francisco 1665 → Domingo → Juan Baptista → her branch)—Andalucía/Zacatecas roots, crypto-Jew whispers everywhere. NM Vigil lines? Often tied to Charlemagne’s descent (fun myth), but real: converso blends, secret customs (Friday lights, no pork). Almanzar’s wife? Watchtower Arabic echo—perfect hidden-Jew fit.

From 1832, Santa Cruz baptism → Las Vegas widow → your Amarillo ranches. Blog it: “Narcisa—Vigil girl, Almanzar bride—bridged Cañada to Vegas. Mom’s light? From her baptismal font to Texas dirt.”

Delfina Muniz Lucero was born on 26 June 1879 in New Mexico. She came from a family cluster in San Miguel County. She was the daughter of Manuel Lucero, who was born in 1853, and Epunusena Muniz, the 1840 mom. She died 13 January 1956 in Amarillo, Potter County, Texas—age 76, right after your grandma Catalina’s time there.

FamilySearch nails the basics: she had siblings like Juan Muniz Lucero, Valentino, and Margarito—a big brood in Sabinoso/San Miguel. No husband named in public trees (maybe widowed or remarried—Lucero surname sticks), but kids? At least a few Muniz-Lucero blends, tying straight to your line: from frontier adobe farms → Amarillo ranches. No obit pops (1956 papers sparse online), but death in Amarillo fits the migration—railroad, jobs, family pull like Catalina’s.

Crypto-Jew whispers? Muniz/Lucero surnames—Andalucía roots, hidden in NM Hispanic webs (Vigil, Almanzar, Diaz). She lived through statehood, the Depression, and WWII—tough pioneer woman.

Delfina Muniz Lucero had a big family. She had nine siblings in total. FamilySearch trees show this for her brother, Margarito, who was born in 1875 in Sabinoso. Parents: Manuel Lucero (b. ~1853) and Epunusena Muniz (b. ~1840, name might be Epifania variant).

• Margarito Muniz Lucero (22 July 1875–1963, Sabinoso birth, died Clayton, NM—lived long, probably farmer/rancher).
• Eusebia Muniz Lucero (earlier one, maybe 1870s—shows as first listed).
• Delfina herself (26 June 1879–13 Jan 1956, Amarillo).
• At least six more unnamed in summaries—likely brothers/sisters born 1870s–1880s in San Miguel/Sabinoso area. Census hints big households: kids like Juan, Valentino, others blending Lucero/Muniz.

This blog reaches out to every cousin of Jimenez, Lucero, Vigil, Almanzar, Diaz, and Ramirez. It welcomes you no matter where life has scattered you. If you carry any of these names or recognize the rancho stories, you belong here. Come home to the story.

Heroes and Priests of Amarillo

Jimenez History

What elevates our family’s personal saga to something far larger is the powerful analysis of anthropologist Francisco Gil-White. He describes the Jewish people as the most successful system ever created for changing humanity.

Gil-White traces a radical “Semitic way.” It was born in the ancient Near East and crystallized through the Jewish ethical revolution. This way protected the vulnerable, rejected tyranny, and tended toward individual liberty. It also promoted the rule of law and justice for the widow, the orphan, and the stranger.

Unlike empires that built power by crushing the weak, the Torah made compassion and equality structural. “Love your neighbor as yourself” was not a mere sentiment. It rested on the radical idea that all humans are equal in the eyes of one God. Kings were bound by the same laws that shielded the bottom of society.

Semitic Families Survive

This Semitic current flowed from Jewish monotheism and ethics into Christianity, the Enlightenment, and modern human rights. Nations that encountered Israel’s laws, as Deuteronomy foretold, often saw something wise and desirable. Those who blessed this system were blessed; those who cursed it eventually crumbled.

Gil-White argues that antisemitism is not random hatred but a recurring elite strategy to suppress this liberationist spark. Yet the Jewish nation survived — scattered, persecuted, yet culturally intact — while its ideas reshaped the world.

No other ancient people achieved this combination of endurance and universal ethical influence. This is the living system that flows in our blood on both sides of the family. Our double priestly inheritance is concrete evidence that the Semitic flame still burns.

The DNA Proves Who We Are

The DNA evidence is clear, scientific, and undeniable. My uncle (my grandfather’s direct paternal line) took the Big Y-700 test through FamilyTreeDNA. The result returned J-FT235823, a subclade that branched off from its parent J-Z18290 around 550 BCE in the ancient Levant.

This places the defining mutation of our specific line in the late First Temple period. It situates it right at the heart of biblical Jewish history in Judea. On his dashboard, this lineage proudly displays the official Cohen Modal Haplotype (CMH) Badge. This badge is earned when the first 12 Y-STR markers match. Alternatively, they fall within the allowed 3-step threshold of the historic Cohen Modal Haplotype profile.

FamilyTreeDNA awards this badge. The badge is based on an updated understanding of the landmark 1997 study. This study was published in Nature by Skorecki and colleagues. That original research showed that a high percentage of Jewish men who carried an oral tradition of being Cohanim. These priests, believed to be descended from Aaron, shared a distinctive Y-chromosome signature. Researchers named the most common haplotype the Cohen Modal Haplotype.

The 1997 study used 6 markers and allowed 1 mutational step. FamilyTreeDNA expanded this to 12 markers. They maintained scientific rigor. It accounted for faster mutation rates on some loci and the original study’s conservative rounding. The CMH is part of the broader J-M267 (J1) haplogroup. This haplogroup is often called “Semitic” or “Mediterranean” due to its distribution. It has deep roots and the greatest diversity in the Fertile Crescent.

Joseph Delfido Ramirez Diaz

Benjamin Cruz Ramirez Diaz

Jiménez- Lucero- Almanzar- Ramírez-Díaz

Follow-up studies (Thomas et al. 1998; Hammer et al. 2009 in Human Genetics) and later refinements, including Behar’s work on Levites, confirmed that roughly half of self-identified Cohanim across Ashkenazi and non-Ashkenazi communities carry extended versions of this signature.

It is remarkably rare or absent outside Jewish priestly contexts. For those without a Jewish oral tradition, a J1 result often traces back to farming expansions. These expansions occurred during the Neolithic era, originating from the Fertile Crescent around 9,500 years ago.

The CMH badge appears alongside a tradition of hidden Jewish practice in our family. It points strongly to descent from the ancient Israelite priesthood or its close male relatives. About 3% of Jewish men identifying as Yisrael (non-priestly) also carry the CMH. This reflects descent from the broader Levite gene pool.

What makes our story extraordinary is that the Cohen priestly lineage appears on both sides of my family. On my grandmother’s Halevi-Lucero side, we carry strong oral hints of Levite heritage. We also have genetic hints of the temple assistants. They are close kin to the Cohanim. The surname Halevi is the traditional Hebrew designation for a Levite.

The Lucero name (“light”) has long been linked to crypto-Jewish families. These families preserved their faith in secret after the 1492 Spanish expulsion. On my grandfather’s Diaz-Ramirez side from Nuevo León, Old Mexico, the same J1 priestly markers and halakhic customs.

There are deathbed requests for burial within twenty-four hours and whispered Ladino phrases. Finally, there are the same rigorous Friday preparations my mother described. The meals she spent hours preparing for a family gathering.

This double inheritance is rare. Cohen is on the paternal grandfather’s line, now precisely dated to ~550 BCE. Levite-linked is on the grandmother’s side. It explains why our family survived centuries of the Inquisition, expulsions, forced conversions, and assimilation. Despite these challenges, we still produced protectors and light-bearers. The same genetic thread once served in the Temple. Now, it runs through the hidden ranches of New Mexico. It is also found in the modern streets of Amarillo.

FamilyTreeDNA’s Discover tool further illuminates our deep paternal path. The line leading to J-FT235823 emerges from ancient J1 branches formed around 3350 BCE in the Levant. This broad cluster is distantly shared with the Hashemite royal family. It is also shared with the House of Saud, the Wahhabi reformer Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, and other J1 lineages.

The formation of our specific subclade occurred in 550 BCE. This event firmly anchors it in the historical era of the Jewish priesthood’s consolidation. Through this ancient marker, distant connections emerge with scholarly dynasties. These include the Katzenellenbogen rabbis, cultural figures, and other branches of the extended J1 network. These links illustrate how a single priestly thread has woven through empires, scholarship, and revolutions while preserving its ethical core.

Maharam of Padua (c. 1482–1565). Rabbinic Lineage

Ancient Roots: The Levantine Cradle and the CMH

Our story begins in the ancient Near East. Around 3350 BCE, the deep J1 paternal lineage took shape in the Levant. This occurred amid the rise of early civilizations. It coincided with the slow emergence of ethical monotheism. Gil-White identifies this as the cradle of Semitism.

By the First Temple period, the Cohanim were priests descended from Aaron, brother of Moses. They had become a distinct class serving in the Temple. The 550 BCE branching of J-FT235823 from J-Z18290 aligns with the turbulent final decades of the First Temple era. It also aligns with the early Second Temple era. This was a time of exile, return, and reaffirmation of Jewish law and identity.

The Light Of The City of Luz

The CMH badge on my uncle’s test provides confirmation. It shows that our 12-marker profile is close to the modal haplotype first documented in 1997. This is not a coincidence or folklore. Multiple peer-reviewed studies have shown the signature’s strong enrichment among men with priestly oral traditions.

In our case, the genetic data converges beautifully with the family practices my mother and elders recalled. These practices include secretly lighting two candles. The candles were often hidden deep in a cupboard.

They were sometimes placed under a heavy pot so the flame was not seen from outside. There was also the total avoidance of pork and the unfamiliar Ladino phrases spoken by the old ones. Above all, there was the exhaustive spring cleaning.

Every Friday, the rancho house underwent total purification — floors, walls, furniture, every object scrubbed and set right. The home itself became a sanctuary, echoing the biblical call to prepare a holy space for the Sabbath. These were classic crypto-Jewish survivals from Iberian converso communities that fled to the Americas.

Grandma’s Halevi-Lucero Line: Levite Priests in New Mexico Adobe

The Halevi-Lucero branch carries the Levite thread. Levites served alongside Cohanim in the Temple, responsible for music, teaching, and support. Many crypto-Jewish families in northern New Mexico preserved both traditions underground.

The surname Halevi is explicit. Genealogical work by my cousin Dennis Otero connects us to Abraham HaLevi of Spain. He was a Levite who escaped the Inquisition. Through Sephardic lines, it also links us to towering figures. These include Maimonides and Yosef Karo. Yosef Karo is the author of the Shulchan Aruch.

The documented New Mexico line begins with early settlers after the 1680 Pueblo Revolt. Sebastian Rodriguez de Salazar (b. 1582 in Andalucía) married Luisa Díaz de Betanzos — a Díaz surname often marking crypto-Jewish ancestry. Their descendants rose to positions of responsibility in Santa Fe, including acts of conscience that cost lives.

Almanzar The Watch Tower

The line flows through the Montes Vigil and Lucero surnames, culminating in my grandmother Catalina Almanzar (b. 1899 in Fort Sumner), who married into the Jimenez and later Diaz lines.

Lucero families in this region have long been linked to specific rituals. These include hidden candles, Ladino whispers, and the Friday spring cleaning that left every surface shining.

• Elain Jiménez 1921–
• Hilario Almanzar “Lalo” Jiménez 1921–2005
• Elena Jiménez 1923–1923
• Lolo J. Jiménez 1924–1965
• Eva Jiménez 1925–1990
• Camelle Jiménez 1927–1928
• Avausto Jiménez 1929–1989

Grandpa’s Diaz-Ramirez Line: J-FT235823 Crypto-Jew Traditions from Nuevo León

My grandfather, Luz Ramirez Diaz, came from Nuevo León. “Luz” itself means “light” — a symbolic name favored by crypto-Jews who called themselves people of the light. The Diaz and Ramirez surnames are commonly found in studies of northern Mexican converso communities. Grandpa’s deathbed wish for burial within twenty-four hours was pure halakha.

DNA projects in Nuevo León and South Texas commonly recover J1 signatures. These signatures have priestly characteristics in certain families. Such families often show these surnames and customs. His line is now genetically pinned to the 550 BCE branching of J-FT235823. It carried the same hidden practices. These include secret Shabbat preparations, the total house purification, the whispered language, and the quiet resistance to assimilation.

When my mother finally revealed at age 35 that we were Jewish, the pieces fell into place. Our priestly DNA runs on both flanks. Grandpa’s J-FT235823 line carries the Cohen markers. Grandma’s Halevi-Lucero side contributes the Levite heritage. We are a priestly family twice over.

Modern Texas Moves and the Recent Losses

In the late 1930s, the family moved to Amarillo for railroad and ranch work. Catalina Almanzar raised her children here, blending the New Mexico and Nuevo León traditions. The rancho became the sanctuary where the light was kept alive in secret.

Then came the tragedies that no test can prepare a family for. Larry Junior Jimenez, only 44, ran toward danger on March 22, 2026, to help others and was killed. His courage embodied the protective instinct that has always marked our line.

Eleven days earlier, the Austin fire claimed the lives of the three Lucero children. They were direct descendants through the Eva Jimenez branch. Their short lives carried the same spark that once illuminated the Temple menorah.

We honor them by remembering. Larry’s act of protection and the bright lives of Anyah, Athena, and Jeremy Jr. are now woven into the larger story of this priestly flame.

Dedication and Call to Cousins

To Larry Junior Jimenez: Your courage lives on in our family narrative. To Anyah, Athena, and Jeremy Jr.: Your light, though brief, still shines. We light candles for you. Every Jimenez, Lucero, Vigil, Almanzar, Diaz, Ramirez, Salazar, and allied cousin has a share.

You all hold this history, whether in Santa Fe, Las Vegas, Nuevo León, or Amarillo. The J-FT235823 CMH badge on my uncle’s test is yours. The Halevi surname and the crypto-Jewish customs are also yours. You inherit the double priestly inheritance as well. All of it belongs to you.

If any of these names resonate, please reach out. If the stories of hidden candles, Ladino, spring cleaning, or rancho Shabbat preparations resonate with you, please reach out. Share your pieces of the puzzle. The light grows brighter when we remember together.

The Light Endures

From the 550 BCE branching of J-FT235823 in ancient Judea, our family has carried the priestly fire on both sides. They survived through 3,000 years of exile, Inquisition, and hidden survival. Their journey extended to the ranches of Amarillo. Halevi-Lucero Levites and Diaz-Ramirez Cohanim — two streams from the same ancient Semitic source.

New Mexico Pioneers: Vigil & Lucero Chains

Francisco Montes Vigil I (1665 Zacatecas)—Reconquest hero, 1695 Páez Hurtado wagon, Moqui campaigns, Villasur survivor. Land grants, cattle—buried Santa Cruz 1730. Son Domingo (1693–1771), Cañada alcalde, married Pascuala Salazar (Salazar tie!). Their boy Juan Baptista (1721)—married María Francisca López (Lucero’s widow)—direct crossover.

Next: Joseph Ygnacio Vigil (b. 1759, Santa Cruz)—baptized in that adobe font. Son Antonio Alexandro Vigil López (1783)—se casó con María Dolores Olivas. Fast-track: María Narcisa Vigil (1832 Santa Cruz)—married Francisco “Franco” Almanzar (1830 San Miguel–1889 Las Vegas). Their daughter? Catalina Almanzar (1899 Fort Sumner–1973 Amarillo)—my grandma, married Frank Jimenez, then Luz Diaz (grandpa, secret Jew, quick burial ask).

Manuel Lucero (1853 San Miguel)—married Epunusena Muniz (1840). Daughter Delfina Muniz Lucero (1879–1956 Amarillo)—my great-grandma. Nine siblings—frontier crew in Sabinoso adobe.

Crypto whispers: Vigil/Montes from Andalucía/Zacatecas—converso hotbeds. Almanzar Arabic “watchtower,” Lucero “light”—hidden Sabbaths, pork skips. DNA? Grandpa Luz’s J1—priestly echo.

Yeah, that’s incredible—your family’s right at the ground floor of Santa Fe. The city kicked off around 1610. Juan de Oñate’s crew shifted north from San Gabriel. Real growth was spurred by settlers like Pedro Lucero de Godoy. He was born in 1617 as a soldier. His father, Juan López de Godoy, was born in Mexico City in 1599. His mother, Inés González, was also born in Mexico City in 1599.

He first married Petronila de Zamora. Later, he married Francisca Gómez Robledo. There are big Jewish ties there—her folks, Francisco Gómez and Ana Robledo, were conversos. Their kids spread out: Juan Lucero de Godoy, Diego, Catalina… all in early Santa Fe records, like 1670s Inquisition cases where they testified about marriages, land, bigamy, etc. There were no direct “we’re Jewish” flags. They played Catholic. Yet, historians peg 11 of Santa Fe’s 19 founding families as crypto-Jew stock. They blended in while keeping sparks alive.

Your grandma’s Lucero maiden? This connects directly to that. Pedro’s line became huge in the Rio Grande Valley. They owned spots like Los Luceros Hacienda (an old adobe ranch, still standing, with sheep grazing out front).

Francisco Lucero de Godoy (grandson) and his wife, Josefa, protected La Conquistadora during the 1680 Pueblo Revolt. La Conquistadora is the oldest Madonna statue in the US. They saved it from flames. Heroic cover? Or quiet faith nod? Either way, they survived, grew families—your Almanzar grandpa side mixed in later, watchtower name watching from the mesas.

Modern Moves: Texas Ranches & Recent Heartbreak

Catalina’s kids: Gregorio “Lolo” Jimenez (boxer), Eva Jimenez… family to Amarillo ~1937—railroad, ranches. Grandpa Luz Diaz—Nuevo León crypto, deathbed halakha. Mom’s rancho: candles, secrets.

Gil-White is right: the Jewish nation, with its ethical system of justice and liberation, is the most successful mechanism. Humanity has seen it reshaping civilization toward freedom and compassion. That system survived because families like ours kept the rituals alive. Ordinary people in Adobe homes and Texas ranches preserved the DNA.

Mom, your stories of the unknown tongue, the secret candles, and the exhaustive Friday purification led us here. The light you guarded in silence now burns openly in this record.

To all who carry these names and this blood: the history is yours. The DNA (J-FT235823) and the CMH badge are yours. The Semitic revolution and its priestly flame are yours.

We are still here. The light still burns.

Hazan Gavriel ben David