Yehuda Netzer
| His Excellency Viceroy Yehuda Netzer | |
|---|---|
| Viceroy to the King of the Agogans Prime Minister of the Agogans Lord Warden of Agoga Commandant of the RCDC Ambassador to the Micronationalist Union | |
 | |
| Viceroy to the King of the Agogans | |
| In Office | 11 May 2022 – Present |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Monarch | King Andrew |
| Prime Minister of the Agogans | |
| In Office | 11 May 2022 – Present |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Monarch | King Andrew |
| Lord Warden of Agoga | |
| In office | 11 May 2022 – Present |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Monarch | King Andrew |
| Commandant of the RCDC | |
| In Office | 29 September 2022 – Present |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Wife | Ahava Netzer |
Yehuda "Judah" Netzer (also spelled Yehudah in English, יהודה נצר in Hebrew, and ܝܗܘܕܐ ܢܨܪ in Agogan) is an American-born Agogan diplomat, linguist, poet, and statesman. He serves as both the current Viceroy and Prime Minister in the Kingdom of Agoga[1].
Early life and military Service
Netzer was born in 1986 in Shreveport, Louisiana, but spent most of his youth in Terrell, Texas. One set of his great-grandparents immigrated to the United States from Europe shortly before World War II, while one of his great-great-grandmothers immigrated to the United States shortly before World War I. His family is of mixed White European, Native American, Middle Eastern, and Black African descent, he describes his race as "a mutt of the most interesting pedigree". His great-grandparents and great-great-grandmother who immigrated to the United States left Europe to escape the rising antisemitism and changed their names during the citizenship process to hide their Jewish identity. They were so fearful that Americans would have the same antisemitic sentiments as their European counterparts that they formally converted to Christianity shortly after arriving and kept their Jewish identity secret even from their children. It wasn’t until the 1990s that Netzer learned of his heritage, a heritage that he would embrace as an adult. He moved around a lot as a child, but always considered Texas his home. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Waskom, Texas, which is on the Texas-Louisiana border. From Waskom, the family moved to Loveland, Colorado for a year before moving to Elkhart, Texas. While living in Elkhart, his maternal grandfather was diagnosed with cancer, so the family moved to Laurens, South Carolina to be close to him in the last few years of his life. In 2000 the family returned to Texas, this time to Terrell, where Netzer graduated high school at Terrell Christian Academy. He considers Terrell to be his hometown. Netzer is an Eagle Scout, having attained the rank just prior to his 18th birthday. He and his three younger sisters were homeschooled most of their lives, though Netzer graduated from a now-defunct private high school in Terrell, Texas. After graduating high school in 2004, he started college but dropped out to enlist in the military during the Iraq War. He enlisted in the United States Air Force at the age of 19 and was part of the relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He graduated from USAF Basic Military Training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas two weeks before the hurricane and was assigned to Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi for technical training the next week. Initially, he enlisted as a Meteorological and Navigational Systems technician, but by the end of his enlistment, the career field had merged with Ground Radio to become Airfield Systems. He rode out the hurricane in a shelter on base less than a quarter mile from the Gulf coast. He commented on the conditions of the shelter once by saying that the most surprising thing was how well the glass doors of the school hall where he was sheltered held back the flood water. After a couple of weeks of working on the clean-up after the hurricane, he received orders to report to Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, the rumour among the airmen asserted this was because there were too many technical training students at Keesler to sustain due to the disruption in the supply line. The next day he boarded a C-130 aircraft to fly to Sheppard. After about a month at Sheppard, he received new orders to report to Holloman Air Force Base in southern New Mexico. He spent most of his enlistment stationed at Holloman, where he developed a deep love for the desert.
Personal life
After his military service was over, Netzer moved back to Texas. While he was in the USAF, his parents and sisters had moved to Farmington, New Mexico, in the northwestern part of the state. After living near his hometown for six months, he chose to move to Farmington to be closer to his family, he would spend the next five years living there. While in New Mexico, a friend of Netzer’s from the USAF called him to ask him to be a groomsman at his wedding in Valdosta, Georgia. Netzer flew to Georgia for the wedding, where he met the family of the bride and groom, a family that would soon become his through marriage. A cousin to the bride named Amanda was also in town for the wedding, and Netzer fell in love with her over the three days he spent in Georgia. The two carried on a long-distance relationship for a year, she was in Orlando, Florida while he was in Farmington, New Mexico. Netzer moved to Orlando to pursue that relationship in 2012. After dating for two more years, the two took a weekend trip to Charleston, South Carolina, where Netzer proposed to Amanda. The next year was a whirlwind for them. Though they had both been born into families that were Bible-believing Christians by faith, Netzer had always been drawn to Judaism because he was born Jewish according to halakha (Jewish law), and Amanda had grown to love the Jewish faith. In 2015, just before their marriage, the two took a trip to New York City where Amanda formally converted to Judaism and Netzer formally returned to his Jewish heritage. It was there that they formally Hebraicised their names to reflect their Jewish faith and Netzer’s heritage, Amanda took the name Ahavah (also spelled Ahava). The name Ahavah means "love" in Hebrew, and the surname Netzer means "branch" and can also refer to a living root of a dead tree that can still grow a shoot for a new tree. The name Netzer was chosen for its symbolic meaning to Judah, who sees himself metaphorically as a new shoot (having a renewed Jewish faith) coming from a living root (of faith) of a long-dead tree (his Jewish origins). The day after Ahavah’s conversion in 2015, the two were married in a small ceremony at a small Sephardic synagogue in Queens, New York City, New York called Kehilat Magen David. Attending the wedding were many strangers studying the Torah, the most sacred book of Judaism, at the time that the rabbis who converted Ahavah set aside for the wedding. Also in attendance at the wedding were the future King and Queen Consort of the Agogans, who were longtime friends of the Netzers. The Netzers had a second wedding ceremony for family and friends in Winter Park, Florida a couple of months later, and the future Agogan royal family was present for that ceremony as well. The Netzers have four children together, two girls and two boys named Rivkah, Benyamin, Shoshanah, and Azaryah. In 2019, shortly before her 3rd birthday, Rivkah was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and began chemotherapy. After two years, her treatment was finished and now she is a normal, healthy little girl. Benyamin was born premature and spent the first month of his life in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) where Ahavah worked as a nurse. He is now a healthy little boy with no signs of developmental issues from being born prematurely. Azaryah was also born premature but didn’t spend as long in the NICU because he wasn’t born as early as his older brother, he also shows no signs of developmental issues. The Netzers are active in their synagogue, where many consider them to be pillars of the local Jewish community. Their form of Judaism is part of the Sephardi/Mizrahi tradition, a tradition that Netzer describes as "observant (of Jewish law), but not hyper-religious". Netzer speaks English, Hebrew, and Spanish, he also created the Agogan language based on Semitic languages like Arabic, Aramaic, and Hebrew. He enjoys outdoor activities like camping, fishing, and hiking. He writes poetry and plans to publish his poetry in the future. Many of his poems were written as his daughter Rivkah was battling leukaemia, he wrote an entire series of poems that he collectively calls "the Child writings" focusing on Rivkah.
Kingdom of Agoga
Netzer and King Andrew of Agoga formally founded the Kingdom of Agoga in 2022[2]. He was made Viceroy and Prime Minister, though he plans to resign from the Prime Ministry when there are more Agogan citizens to help with the work of the government. He is a Count in the Agogan peerage structure, the second highest rank, just below a Duke. He is one of the administrators of the Agogan social media accounts, and he built and operates the Agogan website. He designed the Agogan Royal Service Corps, which is divided into a land-based group called the Royal Civil Defence Corps (RCDC), and a water-based group called the Royal Marine Service Corps (RMSC). The Royal Service Corps function as the Agogan military, Netzer is a General in the RCDC and, as the most senior officer, he is the Commandant of the RCDC. The RCDC, under Netzer’s leadership, sent out teams to help with relief and recovery in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in 2022. Netzer made it a point to personally help in the mission instead of just running things from inside his office. He and King Andrew launched the Micronationalist Union (MU), an intermicronational organization dedicated to helping member states reach their goals. He is the first Agogan Ambassador to the MU. He also spends much of his time researching other micronations to reach out to for diplomacy.