Poster Child of Nazi Party Turns Out to Be Jewish
In 1935 Germany, Hessy Levinson Taft, then six months old, won a photo contest to be the face of the perfect Aryan baby. It is said that out of hundreds of photos, hers was chosen personally by the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, thus making her the poster child for the rise of the Nazi Party. Her image soon appeared on the cover of the Nazi family magazine Sun in the House, not to mention on posters and placards, and even postcards.
Ironically, Hessy wasn't Aryan at all! Her parents were Latvian Jews.
So how was her photo even entered in the contest?
The photographer who took the photo later admitted that, unbeknownst to her parents, he had submitted it, hoping to mock the Nazis' racial supremacy theory. "He succeeded," says the The Holocaust Chronicle, "beyond his wildest dreams."
The truth of the deception has been known for decades, but it's making new headlines as Taft, now 80 yrs old, recently donated a copy of the magazine cover to Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial. "I feel a little revenge," the Telegraph quotes her as saying. "Something like satisfaction."
Click the link to source above to view the magazine cover.
No one wants to be mocked, especially by those you're busy mocking! But that's how God's justice works. Mock Him or His people, and you can count on being the butt of your own joke in the end.
"The LORD mocks the mockers but is gracious to the humble" (Proverbs 3:34, NLT).
It Isn't Nonsense
Definition Fish Story:
An exaggerated story : a story that is so strange or surprising that it seems very unlikely to be true. He told a ridiculous fish story about a swarm of giant mosquitoes.
Well, I've got quite a Fish Story for you! A true Fish Story.
A child of an aqcaintance, a kindergartener, is given to telling tall tales. Recently, he told a story to his classmates about catching 100 catfish in his back yard, some of them with his own bare hands. When his teacher questioned him about it, he insisted it was all true.
So the teacher decided to take it up with his mother, expecting her to refute the story. Instead, the mom said it was a crazy, true thing, and even had some pictures with him holding a catfish in his hands and grinning from ear to ear.
Apparently, where they live there are two ponds on a hill just behind their property, one situated just above the other. Recently, after some extreme rainfalll, the upper pond overflowed its banks, spilling over and downhill to the second, already swollen pond, which in turn then overflowed into their back yard, turning the entire yard into a two to three inch deep mud puddle full of catfish. Okay, so mayber there weren't a hundred fish flapping about in the yard, but there were many, MANY fish there -- enough that, to a young child, would appear to be a hundred.
To the ears of the teacher, who did not with her own eyes witness the event, his story sounded like nonsense.
Surely, as the women returned from the tomb that first Easter morning, proclaiming the news of the resurrected Lord, their claims were met with incredulity -- a mere Fish Story -- baseless fantasy. As the definition goes, to the recipients of the news, it was nothing more than "an exaggerated story : a story that is so strange or surprising that it seems very unlikely to be true."
Luke 24 (NIV):
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.
9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.
Oh, but it WAS true! And anyone with enough curiosity, who cared to know its veracity, could check it out and see for themselves. Such was the case with Peter,
Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
In a world of skeptics, be a Peter. Run to the tomb to see for yourself!
Scold's Bridle
According to varous sources,
For hundreds of years in the British Isles, one of the worst things someone could be was a “scold.” This was a term used for women — and sometimes, but rarely, men — who gossiped, slandered others, fought loudly, or, basically, spoke out of turn.
So what could be done about one with such an unruly tongue? Why merciless shame and torture, of course.
From the 16th until the 19th century, women accused of being scolds, shrews, or having "loose morals" were often fitted masks known as Scold's Bridles that held their tongues with an iron gag.
The bridle was fitted over the face and head, with wearers often paraded about town to inflict further pain and shame.
Wow, this really adds new meaning to the scolding command, "Hold your tongue!"
Scripture is replete with references to the wayward tongue, James 1:26 cheif among them, "If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless" (ESV).
And of course, we find a consumate passage dedicated to the subject in James 3:3-12 (ESV):
When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
Yet the solution to this "restless evil" is not within the grasp of our own human effort (nor even of punishment and shame). Rather, the solution llies within the heart alone:
"But whatever [word] comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this is what defiles and dishonors the man" (Matthew 15:18, APM).
Only a change of heart can serve as sufficient bridle for the tongue and the damage it can cause.
"The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things" (Proverbs 15:28, ESV).
"The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45, ESV).