שלום

שלום וחג חנוכה!

Please don't forget to partcipate in Jews for Judaism, Be Proud, Be True, Be Jewish project! Have a GREAT Chanukkah!

So,,

SO,

We are looking for new folks to blog, and we have a new page on FACEBOOK.COM ... look up : JTTV ONLINE.. join the fun!
We are having an open mic/pizza and social event in Sep. .. details are posted on our facebook page..
More details to follow!

-Mendi-

Hiya!

Hey folks,

My name is Mendi Baron, I have just come in to replace yeeshai , who is still available via email, but is no longer on "active duty"..

I am working, with my wife Mushka, to
1. create fun, jewish, youth events in the MD area, such as music jams, pizza parties, campfires, meditation sessions, nature outings, concerts, the arts, etc..

I will be posting regularly on the JTTV blogs, and will respond to anything and everything that you want.. we are going to try and drive up the levels of postings on the sites, and get more people involved,,,

I will be, gd willing, hosting a Meet and Greet (with coffee and donughts) here at my house in Columbia, MD almost definitely on Aug. 14th in the eve..

I would love for any or all of you to attend to give me input on what you want, what you think would work, and what you can do to help!

If you cant make it in person, I would love it if you would continue to post, as well as send me a line at Mismatch1@gmail.com, so that I can keep you posted on any new updates/events..

We are very excited, and have many connections going to make this a reality, so all you have to do is work with us, to make some really awesome, and fun stuff happen round here..
I look forward to hearing from you!

Shalom, Peace,

Mendi and Mushky Baron
www.mendibaron.com
mismatch1@gmail.com

New Blogger

Shalom/שלום!

Allow me to introduce myself. I am Tom, a 17-year-old Orthodox ger, or convert to Judaism. I became interested in Judaism, ironically, after I confirmed Catholic and thus, my experiences are different than born-Jews. I became startled when the priest with whom I worked on confirmation said, "G-d is one, but G-d is three distinct personas in one," as well as, "Jesus is the only way to Heaven, and aside from Jews, those who do not believe in him as the son of G-d will go to Hell."

Religion has always been important to me; it is during the most painful times in my life that I turn to G-d. I am probably the most religious one of my family, unfortunately.

I first met Jews by my brother; his wife is born Jewish. Everyone in their family is Jewish, with the exception of my brother. Several members of her family, particularly the Orthodox Jews, did not speak with my brother, but his immediate in-laws did. By the way, yes, my niece and nephew are raised Jewish. My sister-in-law teaches Hebrew at her shul's Sunday school and lived in Israel until she was 8.

I do keep kashrus, about which my Catholic family has no qualms - my mother used to teach Home Ec, and she is interested in the laws of kashrus. My sister-in-law does not keeps kashrus and, in polite terms, considers it frivolous to do so. I do think it a wonderful practise. It is a simple mitzvah that only requires education to follow. Whoever wrote, "what happiness to praise G-d" was correct.

Anyway, I hope to contribute something of value here at least once a month. For born Jews, I only entreat that you explore your beautiful heritage and community. There are simply not enough born Jews that know how amazing and warm the Jewish community really is. With that, Good Shabbos and have a fabulous fourth if you are an American!

Fake meat

This morning, I witnessed somebody in my office attempt to decide which he should eat, a cheese sanwich, or a sandwich with fake salami. I thought this was an interesting topic and asked how one can eat fake salami. He then replied that he doesnt see it as fake meat, he sees it as a whole other species of food. This situation comes up often in the Kosher keeping world, as people decide when they are eating kosher cheeseburgers, and they try to decide if they will have soy cheese and real meat, or fake meat and real cheese. Personally, I eat a certain type of fake bacon. I have never had real bacon before, so to me, fake bacon might as well be real bacon. This philosophy slightly resembles my co workers ability to eat fake meat because we all have keep a certain mind set when eating our respective fake meat meals.

a ccappella

Since Ijm one of the people that holds you cant listen to regular music during Sefirah, I have developed a new taste for a cappella music. I happen to listen mostly to Jewish a ccapella music such as A.K.A. pella and Yosef karduner's all vocal album. All of this stuff is actually pretty good, but if it wasnt for sefirah I wouldnt even know about it. I just hope the a ccapplea stuff keeps me entertained untill friday though, which is Lag Biomer, so i can start listening to real music again.

Hate Crimes

First read this article on a recent hate crime that happened in baltimore
http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/local_news/painful_episode/

Maryland Online Hate Crime Resource Center
Requirements for a hate crimeWhen racial, religious or ethnic statements are made during the incident.
When hate group symbols are displayed.
When the motive of a crime is to harm, injure or intimidate a particular group or organization. When the victim perceives it to be a hate crime.

Federal law addresses hate crimes primarily through civil rights statutes and includes the following:

Conspiracy Against Rights - Makes it illegal for two or more people to conspire to injure, threaten or intimidate someone in the exercise of any right provided by the U.S. Constitution.

In addition, federal law provides for increased sentences where a defendant selects a victim because of race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability or sexual orientation.


In case there was any doubt in your mind that this isn't legally considered a hate crime:

There was a history of anti-Semitic remarks from the students and even though it wasn't recorded that at the moment the noose was presented, one can assume there were such remarks involved which satisfies the first requirement for a hate crime. A noose isn't a symbol of hatred for any specific group; the noose is a symbol for capitol punishment and has been for many centuries. When presented with a noose it is clearly a symbol of hatred, which satisfies requirement number two. When presenting an individual with an international symbol of hate, following countless slanderous comments against him because of religion, one can assume that the cause of the crime was to either intimidate him, scare him, or cause emotional duress, which is fulfills number three. And I am assuming that when the child broke down crying he perceived it as a crime committed towards him out of hatred towards him because of his religion.


Dr. Linkoff. "We were told by our rabbi that it wasn't a hate crime, because there wasn't a Jewish star attached to it, so it can't be anything more than a prank."

I am in no way attempting to disrespect a religious leader but I assure you this is a hate crime.
How many hate symbols does your rabbi require for it to be a hate crime? We have 4 legal markers, and an international symbol of hatred. By the time the child walks into school and there is a noose with a Star of David on it, then I am sorry but you are too late to be able to do anything without drastic legal measures, which would undoubtedly lead to long legal suits and eventually cause more hate crimes from the criminals friends and family instead of preventing them.

The punishment given to the kids was not enough; they stole property from the school to attempt to "frame" the Jewish child. They publicly conveyed a message of hate. And what was the consequence? Missing two days of school…
If I had of known of this secret I would make fun of Jews every day before a test or major assignment. The consequences furthermore did not teach the student body anything, which is shown by one of the criminal's friends attempting to assault the boy with a plastic knife.

These boys are clearly not educated on Judaism and they probably have idiotic misconceptions of what our religion stands for as a whole. And the fact that they can hate a religion which is something that someone believes is a churlish idea. It is impossible to know what is going on in someone's mind. It would be more logical to hate based on what color clothes someone wears then to hate based on belief because at least you can be undeniably sure that your perception of his or her clothes is correct and verifiable. The point is that hatred towards religion is an idiotic idea.

Back to the subject at hand, Missing school in this day and age should not be and acceptable consequence. Punishing uneducated boys by causing them to be less educated is not a logical conclusion anyone should jump to.

They have committed a hate crime in public and have not received their just compensations for it. All that they have received is a little time off and maybe even a little more reason to create more anti-Semitic behavior.