Open Letter To Caroline Glick (For Transparency's Sake And In Case She Decides To Delete It)

Ms. Glick:

I find your article “American Jewry’s Fight” extremely offensive and nothing more than lashon hara. Messianic Jews like me (in my case, whose family members were Anusim—and many still are such) love and support Israel and find a Jewish man to be the Jewish Messiah, and want to share a Jewish message with Jewish people. In fact, many of my family remain Anusim because of fellow Jews like you—they are ashamed to be associated and/or affiliated with anyone who would reject them and/or others based on that they’re seen as “anti-Zionist Jews” who “engage in activities aimed at harming, defaming, weakening and delegitimizing the Jewish state.”

You also opine, “Everyone understands that while Jews have a perfect right to change their religion, they have no right to force the Jewish community to accept Christians as Jews. That is, they have no right to change the definition of Judaism to include people who worship Jesus.” Either I and other Messianic Jews are nobodies (and this is including many of my family—including quite a few Anusim, who would openly and proudly be Jewish were they not in dread of the likes of you) or you have shown your true—self-hating, intolerant, and hypocritical—colors. Clearly, you sides with the left when for you to do so is for your traditionally-religious convenience.

You also perhaps understand why some Messianic Jews may want nothing to do with Israel—your ilk, after all, is running Medinat Yisra’el and excluding pro-Israel (even if misguided and pro-“Palestinian”) Reconstructionist, Conservative, and even other Jews—such as fellow Orthodox Jews of yours—who don’t toe your line. You also nastily write on your website, “Obviously, the answer is no value. To do something you feel is intrinsically meaningless just because your forefathers did the same meaningless thing is a waste of time. If Judaism has nothing to offer beyond lox and Seinfeld, then there is no reason to remain Jewish.”

Then you lament, “Outside of the Orthodox Jewish community, intermarriage rates have reached 71 percent. Thirty-two percent of Jews born since 1980 and 22% of Jews overall do not describe themselves as Jews by religion. They base their Jewish identity on ancestry, ethnicity or culture.” Your kind of attitude will only affect the intermarriage and secularization rates to increase, and for fellow Jews of all denominations—including Messianic Judaism—to increasingly disassociate themselves from Medinat Yisra’el. Your kind of attitude will also only affect Jews like many in my family to be ashamed of and hide that they’re Jewish.

PS I hope that you’re not proud of yourself, because I’m surely not—in fact, I ashamed that people like you are a part of my people.

Nicole Czarnecki

Goals For the 2012-2013 (And My Final Undegraduate) School Year

Year goals (effective August 30, 2012):

1)      Have one treat per day (Milkshakes, brownies, semester-opening treats, etc. count as treats. Smaller things for special occasions—e.g., mini candies for Halloween, Hanukkah, Christmas, and other holidays—do not.).

2)      Don’t overeat or overindulge. If and in case of overindulging, have plenty of water, oatmeal, coffee, and/or gum on hand and extra water, etc. as necessary.

3)      Eat kosher or mostly kosher (healthy included in kosher).

4)      Go to bed at 12:30-2:00 AM every night, and wake up at 9:30 AM-12:30 PM every day.

5)      Shower at least once a week.

6)      Don’t overspend (including overspending in donating) debit or UMBC card money.

a)      Check debit and UMBC card accounts frequently

b)      When possible, use meal plans for Dining Hall meals.

c)      When eating at Outtakes for lunch, take water bottle and granola or Clif bar—buy sandwich or salad and yogurt.

d)      When at Late Night, get coffee at minimum; salad, sandwich, or and other healthy food for snack and/or meal at maximum.

7)      Study hours per day at maximum, every other day at minimum (depending on classes per day, etc.):

a)      Poli 301-02: 1 hour, 40 minutes

b)      Poli 206-01: 5 hours

c)      Poli 320-01: 2 ½ hours

d)      Biol 106-01: 2 ½ hours

8)      Read Parsha and/or Haftarah at least every other day if not every day.

9)      Write in Prayer Journal at least every other day if not every day.

10)   Shower at least once if not twice a week.

11)  Watch only “The O’Reilly Factor” at 8:00 (Monday-Friday) as TV watching and “Geraldo at Large” at 10:00 (Saturdays) except for special occasions (e.g., little or no TV during finals, and watch more on Election Night or during breaking news events that merit more coverage)

12)  Attend UMBC Hillel Shabbatot and other events, and Students For Israel events when possible.

13)  Don’t procrastinate.

14)  Call Mom every day.

15)  Make more—or at least closer—friends.

16)  Pay attention in class.

17)  Don’t spend unnecessary amounts of time on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

18)  Do some stretches at least every other if not every day.

19)  Brush teeth at least every other if not every day.

20)  Write verse or Biblical insight in planner every week in weekly notes.

21)  Go to church at least every other if not every week.

Can I trust you all to pray for and encourage me to make my best efforts to abide by these goals which I set for myself? A lot of these goals are hard to abide by with my Cereral Palsy, OCD/Anxiety/Depression/mild ADD/possible Aspeberger's, propensity to eat out of boredom, emotion, etc.; and the energy taken out of me from dealing with my C.P., etc. among other issues with which I deal.

Let's See...

1. I observed my Blog Shabbat for this week yesterday.
2. I'm changing my Blogger habits--sort of. For certain people (at least those who I'm friendly and/or reconciled with), I won't say and do certain things. As for the people that I don't like, I'm just not giving you the time of day and I'm letting you fall into your own trap unless I absolutely have to expose you--e.g., Toby Keith, Tiki Barber and Traci Lynn Johnson Barber. As for Toby Keith--as I've blogged before--, the man had gallbladder surgery and now has time to think and reflect--so, I wish the man well and hopes that he uses his time out to get his priorities in order. As for Tiki and Traci Lynn Johnson Barber; they're now married and the ones who are going to have to deal with what they've done if and when their marriage goes the way that Tiki Barber's first marriage did. As for who they're friends with and who's friends with them, I can do nothing about that. Besides, I have people in my own life for whom some people would like at me like I'm Tiki or Traci Johnson Barber.
3. I'm given up on holding family, friends, etc. accountable in real life as well--not that I'm perfect, but you'll fall into whatever traps of your own that you've set up. As I did say in the open letter and the follow up (which few to none bothered to read), though (and both of which I ended up removing partly because so few people read the follow up); you can forget me sharing family pictures--after all, if I have to ask you to post an image while you're posting the same kinds of images (e.g., of yourself and of others who you've asked me not to post pictures of, all while you're posting pictures of yourself and even of them), you can perhaps even forget my taking of pictures of you. I'm not playing your hypocritical games anymore, and you'll miss of a heck of a lot of memories. By the way, this isn't everyone in the family--this is only those few with (so to speak) sticks up their butt about what I do and have a "G-d forbid that you do it, but I can do whatever I want" attitude. To the ones who aren't hypocritical and don't mind picture taking and sharing, you'll always be allowed to see my photos.  
4. For some reason, my Google Chrome broswer and Wireless Mouse are going AWOL, and my Internet Explorer can be a bit slow.

I could go on, but few to none of you will probably give a darn.