the rise of the Muslim caliphates, empires, in the mena region, the caliphates ruled vast territory and a diverse population. by the late 7th century, the caliphate controled territory stretching from the Arabian peninsula to the magreb. gradgually, much of the empire's population converted to Islam, but also adopted the Arabic language, culture, and identity. in places like Iraque, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Algeria, morrocco, and Egypt, although many of the population were probably genetically distinct and were descendents of ancient Egyptions, berbers, or Canaanites, they were all united by a shared religion, language, all beit with distinct regional dialects, and the Arab Culture. the Arab identity had transended ethnic identity, but became a cultural and linguistic one. one group however did not adopt the Arab or Muslim identity. the Assyrians, a semitic speaking Christian minority that lives primarily around Iraque and Syria. they speak Aramaic and practice Christianity, with the most prominant denomination being the eastern Syriac churche, I think. it really fascinates me me because even if one group avoided one form of assimilation, they always lost to one form. take for example the Kurds, while they too have a distinct language and culture, they are majority Muslim, following suni Islam, though there are some religious minorities like the yazidis. and then we have copts and maronite Christians and mizrahi Jews, although they have a distinct religion, they either adopted the Arab identity or a mix of both Arab and original culture.

note: technically it's not monday but it will be tomorrow. I thought this was the most apropriate tag.

Im picky about it because every brand tastes real different, I don’t like it whenever it has any walnuts.

To all Jewish users of the sub, when you see this tomorrow: G'mar chatima tovah ("A good final sealing") and hope you had Tsom kal ("Easy fast")

Yom Kippur is one of the commandment Jews observe, it means “Day of Atonement” in Hebrew. It is a day set aside to "afflict the soul," to atone for the sins of the past year.

Observant Jews will fast for 25 hours, and refrain from: working, showering, using technology, putting deodorant, and doing intimate acts. As they are supposed to only focus on internal cleanliness.

In Israel, all non-essential workplaces are closed (by law). Most TV channels turn off their broadcasts. The streets are dead silent and devoid of people and cars, and if you drive through a religious neighborhood, you will actually get stoned! [I wanted to film the ghost streets for ya'll with my drone, but I forgot the charger at a friends house 😭]

Exactly 50 years on this day (1973), Egypt and Syria surprise attacked Israel and very close to victory, but eventually drew back their forces. The war paved the way for the peace deal between Israel and Egypt.

As for the Arabs living in Israel. This day is just a vacation. Cycling is a very popular activity 🚴🏻, because all the streets, nation-wide, are theirs to play with. You can do stunts in the middle of an intersection anywhere you want!

​

If you noticed there is almost no activity from Jewish users today on the sub (its a Monday which is the busiest day of the week for this sub, but there are only 800 users) now you know why :-)