Nachas

One of the things I love about Yiddish, like German,  is that it has some fantastic words that mean something that no other language can truly express. Like the German schadefreude (pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune), Yiddish can relay an emotion about something that English cannot sometimes grasp.

One such word is nachas. This is pronouced with the harsh “ch” in the middle ( /ˈnäKHəs / in International Phonetic Alphabet), and basically means “pride or gratification, especially in the achievements of one’s children. Why do I mention this?

I taught a class at Caerthe Newcomer’s last weekend about Persona and Heraldry development – a one hour class covering the very basics of how we identify ourselves in the SCA. How we create an identity through a name, a persona, and then identify that persona and name through the use of heraldry, Arms, and badges. It’s a bit of a sip of water through a fire hose for the subject for a one hour class, but I felt it went pretty well all things considered. One part, however, went fantastic. It was the puppet show.

My middle son Adam and youngest Arye got together and put together a heraldry puppet show presentation to show the basics of book heraldry, as part of my overall class, and it was freaking hilarious. Arye made the puppets, and Adam wrote it. They performed behind the Baron and Baroness’ thrones during my presentation, and were asked to stand court with them later that evening (the picture you see above – we didn’t get pictures of the show itself unfortunately). Needless to say, I think people were taken aback by the show itself. I was at how well it ran, and it definitely made the whole presentation stand out.

I was as proud as I could be at how many people came up to me and said what a wonderful idea it was, and made sure people knew it was all them. Because it was – Adam and I have the spark of the idea, but they ran with it. And getting that feedback from people, that’s what nachas is about. That pride in you kids. Good job guys. You did fantastic!

ВИКИНГ

For those of you who don’t read Russian, that says “Viking.” I’m referring to the Russian movie released in December 2016 (link HERE because I’m cheap and don’t have premium blogging services for video). I’ve been following this film with interest since I heard about it a year and a half ago because it doesn’t deal so much with Vikings (Scandinavian), but the Rus’.

It’s a historical epic about Prince Vladmir of Novgorod, late 10th century, Kievan Rus’. Roughly, it covers the story of Vladimir’s exite to Scandinavia after the death of his father Svyatoslav I  and his return with viking mercenaries to reconquer Kiev from his half-brother Yaropolk. Like most historical epics set 1000 years ago, the history is loosely based on the Russian Primary Chronicles and Icelandic Sagas, with I’m sure a lot of “interpretation”.

But it looks freaking AWESOME! If nothing else, they made a movie about the freaking Rus’!??!

The interesting thing is that is is doing well at the box office, and getting really interesting reviews. The reviews tend to be either “10/10 – an amazing historical epic” or 1/10 – this isn’t about vikings at all. They’re all Slavs and Byzantines.” Which means it’s perfect, in my opinion.

Now I just need to find a version with subtitles. Because unfortunately my Russian is way too rusty. If anyone has a lead on one, let me know.

Well that didn’t quite go as planned…

Okay, so, blogging is hard.

I have not blogged in 3 months. To my few followers, I am so sorry! It sucks to follow a blog that no one writes on. You lose interest, you wander off, and never return. I’ve done it myself.

And I admit, I got distracted. My Pelican offer put me in high gear to get ready for my ceremony a month later, and everything stopped cold. It was a fantastic journey, and like nothing I’ve experienced. Between that, some family issues with my boys, Estrella War, and work, I just got distracted from my Khazar and Rus’ research. It’s time to get back to that now.

My goal is to post at least twice a week. I ask that people help keep me to that accountability, because I know I will forget.

So what am I working on right now? I need to finish the Lindisfarne styled County scrolls I’ve been working on for far too long. I need to get back to my Khazar and Rus’ research. I need more Rus’ garb. Really need more of that. I need to train my replacement for kingdom scribe ASAP.

And I need to start blogging again.

So this happened…

At Caer Galen Midwinter this past weekend Their Majesties Robert and Magge offered me admittance into the Right Noble Order of the Pelican. For those of you not in the SCA, this is the highest level of service award granted by the organization. I am at once stunned, humbled, and amazed by the offer, and hope to live up to it.

I have always looked at a Peerage not as an ending, but a beginning. I studied Japanese martial arts (specifically Hakkoryu aki-jutsu) for 8 years back in my 20’s, and it was a very traditional dojo. I achieved the rank of 2nd Dan (2nd degree black belt) there, and always tried to look at getting a “black belt” as a beginning, not an end, to learning. Now you’ve got the basics down. Good. Start learning. I feel very much the same about a Peerage. Yes, it’s an incredible recognition and I am deeply honored. But I don’t see myself doing much different from what I already do – I won’t take on new offices just because I’m a Pelican, or move more tables, or serve on more retinue. I’ve been told by people much wiser than me that Peers are not made, they are recognized. I only hope to do this recognition justice.

My first SCA event, back in 1990, was Caerthe’s 12th Night. I was 20 years old. I took my girlfriend, now wife, and had NO idea what was going on. But it was pretty cool. I went 17 years in the SCA without receiving an award – most people thought I had awards already, so I slipped under the radar, then went straight to a service award (Stag’s Heart) – bypassed an Award of Arms entirely. That was eight years ago, almost to the day, from Caerthe’s 12th Night in a couple weeks when I give my answer to Their Majesties. I also received my Grant level service award (Stag of the Outlands) four year ago at 12th Night. And now at 12th Night I’ll give my answer for a Pelican – there’s a lot of history in the anniversary, which I like. That, and it’s the only day my oldest son can make the ceremony. But I love the idea of the opportunity to have the history tie together on that special day.

 

What’s In A Name?

Coming up with a new name was a process for me. I wanted something that would have some meaning, but actually make some sense. I mean, if I was going to go to the trouble of actually researching a name, submitting it and trudging through the work, I wanted something special.

My persona has settled over the years into being a scribe (I know, shocking, to people who know me). Specifically, a sofer, or a Jewish scribe who specifically works on calligraphy on pages of the Torahs for communities and for ketubot (marriage certificates), as well as day to day work on occasion for secular matters. This idea appeals to me, and as I have actually done some ketubot for people (which is an incredible honor for me), it seems to fit. So I started there.

Information on Khazar naming practices is…sketchy…at best. History in this area of the world is very poorly documented for the period, so there is a lot of conjecture about specific details. There is evidence of Turkic names being used (Brooks, Jews of Khazaria), as well as traditional Jewish naming practices (Blank ben Blank). But I also found in my research that the Khazars appeared not to just be made up of Turkic tribes, but also many Slavic tribes in the area – in fact it was thought that Kiev was founded by Polian Slavs under Khazar rule. And the idea of a Slavic Khazar intruiged me.

So I started looking at Slavic naming practices. I knew I wanted to keep Avram, because well, that’s what I’m known as a frankly, I like the name. Avram also is a usable and document able Jewish name in both Spanish and Russian areas, so is an easy name to work with. In Russian, a common vocative naming practice going back to pretty much to the Dark Ages is to add -ov to a person’s job. So my first foray into a name was to look at Avram Soferov. Loved the ring to this, and it fit the vocation perfectly. I did some research and though I found usage in period; it turned out though, after speaking with some very knowledgeable people and buying some big. heavy books, the usage of Soferov was post-period. back to the drawing board.

Ok, something to do with scribal. Illumination. Calligraphy. Writing. Writer is Russian is “Pisov“. Bleah. You have to run any name through the 6-year old filter, and that one just doesn’t fly to me… (Avram Pissoff comes immediately to mind). However, in my digging I found the name Osvetoslav as a first name, easily document able, and within 80 years of the period (and location) of where I’m looking! Hmm. Now here is where my Russian language comes in. “To illuminate” is osvechat  (освецать). This word, like in English, has a double meaning, both to elucidate, and to make brighter, such as with a manuscript. I kind of like that. So suddenly my name actually has kind of a meaning, if I can use that, but it’s a first name. Lucky, the Slavs liked to name their sons after their parents. Avram, son of Osvetoslav, that is Avram syn Osvetoslavov, or in early period, Avram syn Osvetoslavl’, became a real possibility. And to me, the name carried not only a tradition from my previous name, but also an in joke for my “profession”.

But even more so, it was a sign to me that this was really the right path. Moving to my new persona was an “enlightenment” to me. It illuminated a new path in the SCA for me, and I love how my new name reflects part of that, my osvechaya (elucidation) of my new research path.

 

The Official Changeover

As of Thanksgiving, my new name (Avram syn Osvetoslavl‘) officially passed through Laurel Sovereign at Arms. This, to me, marks the official changeover to my new persona. I have been researching and skirting my Khazar persona for over a year now, but now that the name is official, I really feel I can commit to the new me.

 

So, some background. For almost 20 years in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism, for those who don’t know), my persona, or who I “am” in the organization, was a 12th century Spanish Jew living in Grenada under La Convevencia, the rule of the Muslims where Arabs, Christians and Jews lived together in relative harmony. I looked at this place and time as an area where Jews could reasonably own property in history and be treated as nobles – not necessarily an easy thing to find. I researched and registered the name Avram ibn Gabirol –Avram being a variation of Abraham, and ibn Gabirol meaning “son of Gabriel”, using an Arabic naming convention commonly used by Jews in the period (and also the surname of a famous Jewish poet of the time, something I have come to feel a little presumptuous of myself over the years). I prefer earlier period to late, and have wanted to have a Jewish persona, to fit with my personal beliefs and area of interest in history. I have done quite a bit of research in this area, up to and including teaching classes on developing a Jewish persona in the SCA – something I am fascinated by, but not something that tends to draw a lot of students.

Back in college I was a double major in Film and Russian Studies. I know, weird combination. I spoke Russian, but never had a chance to travel to Russia due to a number of factors. I studied Russian history extensively, but as I was studying during the fall of the Soviet Union, a lot of our focus was on current events. I literally left for winter break only to come back and not have the USSR exist anymore and have my teacher throw the book out! I missed (or slept through) a lot of the early history, apparently, or it just didn’t “click” at the time, so the Rus’ didn’t really grab my interest.

Flash forward 20 years. I have always had an interest in the Vikings. I love the culture, the garb, and the integration they have had in European society. I’ve always enjoyed Russian studies and style, but the later period Muscovite and Novgorod periods never worked for my area of interest. I knew the Rus’ were originally Scandanavian in origin, but decided to dig deeper. As I was learning about the Rus’, however, I came across reference to an empire called the Khazars. I had never heard of them. I should have. Here was a nation, early period (6th through 11th century), a buffer state between the Rus’ and Byzantine Empires and the Persians to the East, a powerful military nation, made up of Turkic and Slavic tribes. And they, for a large period of their history, were Jewish. Wait…what?

So I dug deeper. Suddenly I found an area of persona research that grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. A persona that tweaked my interest in Viking, in Rus’, in my Russian history, in Middle Eastern culture, in Jewish culture, early period – it’s like I found a section of the world custom made for me. And I devoured everything I could find on it. Suddenly I have found  a place where I could be a Jew, and Russian, and Viking, all at the same time. Cool!

So that’s where this blog comes from. It is a repository of my research on my Khazar persona. Of my research into Rus’ and Khazar culture and history, and their interaction in the late 9th and early 10th centuries. But it also gives me a place to comment on projects that I am doing as I work – I’ve needed a forum for my scribal projects and other A+S endeavors to comment and complain from time to time.

Welcome to my twisted world.

And so it begins…

Hello all. My name is Charlie Abrams-Flohr, known in the SCA as Baron Avram syn Osvetoslavl’. Until recently my name was Avram ibn Gabirol, but about a year ago I embarked on a change of my persona to one that was much, much more personal to me. That story will follow later. I decided that I need a place to store and reflect on the research that I have put into this new persona, as it has been extensive, as well as somewhere to document Arts and Sciences projects, and comment on the SCA world in general. So, here we are.

The title comes from my persona’s home, the great city of Kiev. Founded by the Khazars, it became a major trading post for the Rus’ in the 9th century. My persona is from that time, roughly 900 CE, a Khazar Jew living in Kiev under the Rus’ rule of Prince Oleg. I found this to be an ideal place for me to focus my research as well as an area of history that sparks my interest.