An Untitled Novel, Part 11

"Couldn't they haven't just gone to the Beth T'filoh beit knesset?" I asked imi this after I Googled more to see what I had missed of what I had just left.

"They were very shomrim haredim," she answered my question in the negative. "And since when did you start calling me 'Ima'? Did you encounter your sava?" She knew that I had become more Jewish in spite of her family. "And why are you browsing the Internet on your phone? Avikha would kill you." She also knew that I'd been browsing Google. "At least you're learning halashon shel 'ameinu with Google; I'll you give you that." She knew that despite my identifying with her heritage, my Hebrew was limited in even what I had learned from her. "What about that Anusi mishpacha? What did you find out about them? They seemed very interesting to you, anyway."

I told her that the Reverend Vincent Dang caught me on the grounds of the church and cemetery while he was walking around them, befuddledly asked me what I wanted, somehow handed me some copies of records when I told him what I wanted, and walked away while mumbling, "Take a look at these." He was an Asian man whose second language was relatively-limited English with a strong accent to accompany it, and the former longtime priest of Holy Family Church. I had found nothing in the records yet, and was just still recovering from the shock that he had not called the police on me for trespassing on the church and cemetery grounds.

"As I asked you before, what b'Gei Hinnom did you need to compare that Anusi mishpacha to my Yehudi mishpacha for, anyway?"

"Man b'Gei Hinnom I needed to compare the mispachim for, as I answered before, is to get a broader picture of my Jewish heritage and kol 'am Yisra'el." I still made her wonder man b'Gei Hinnom she was going to do with me. After she wished me a laila tov and hung up, I began thumbing through the record copies that the Reverend Dang had, not knowing what else to do, given to me.

An Untitled Novel, Part 10

"You're not allowed here, schvartze! You're not allowed here, schvartze!" A Jewish man stopped me as I was trying to get into my grandparents' neighborhood in the Upper Park Heights shtetl to explore it and perhaps catch a glimpse of my grandparents. Then the only encounter I had with sabi shel HaLevi'im-- my Levite granddad-- was this: he spit on me when he recognized that I was his daughter's Kushi son and having what he considered the hutzpah to argue with a Yehudi.

As the look of recognition was still on his face, he angrily yelled, "You disappoint me! You disappoint me!" After that, I left for Sugar Notch to go inquire about that Anusi mispacha to which I was going to compare to mispachti-- my family, who were Yehudim and wanted their Kushi neched gone. I never saw mishpachti shel Ha'Levim except for imi again.

"Beni, beni," my mother lamented. "You left for Sugar Notch in this cold weather? And avi spit on you? Oy! Next time just stay in Baltimore for the yom haba, to recover and get away from mispachti as much as possible." But as I lamented to imi and became all the more proud of my Jewish heritage, having been persecuted as a Kushi and a kofer because of it, I revved up the engine in my car to see what that Anusi mishpacha had, anyway.

Just as I thought, Sugar Notch had cold weather that gave me enough time to sit in the car and then make a mad dash for the Town Hall or Holy Family Church, whichever I felt like parking my car in front of and rooting through records in. This time, I wasn't staying in a hotel-- not in poor to below-poverty-line Sugar Notch. So sleeping in my car would be nothing unusual, I figured as I parked near the old Holy Family Cemetery and stayed there.

Perhaps the church would figure that I was a sojourner or pilgrim just spending my night in the car, or a transient or schicker who couldn't make the night home. Little would they know that I was a Kushi Jew coming here to inquire about a family who they had no idea were Jews-- and to see what this family of Yehudim had to gain from running from persecution and being Anusim instead of facing persecution like my family and me.

I Don't Know or Remember Too Much About Havel & Dubcek, But...

I know that the Velvet Revolution gave my Jewish and other Czechoslovakia-born cousins and other relatives hachofesh that they hadn't experienced since 1929, or even their whole lifetimes. Not all of them could or did make aliyah if they were Jewish and/or survived the Shoah and/or Communism. Some of them were born into comparatively-free Czechoslovakia, some born in Slovakian-Hungarian Austria and tasting at least some chofesh for the first time in their lives. Others were born into not-so (if at all)-free Czechoslovakia in either HaYamim-HaShoah or the days of the Iron Curtain.

For the ones that are still alive and couldn't or didn't make aliyah (or didn't emigrate otherwise, as some did), they have what chofesh they have b'HaGalut thanks to Vaclav Havel and Alexander Dubcek. And they have a fragile chofesh that's quickly fading b'Ha'Acharit-HaYamim. And with few or no Havels and Dubceks in these toldot, the freedom is fading even more quickly and all the more fragile-- especially given that Slovakia is threatened by Rosh, Meshech, v'Tubal again.

Reform Judaism and Babylon: Why Moving the Capital to Baghdad Would Not Impossible For the URJ (UHAC)

"Here's the big problem that I see: To rebuild Babylon into the economic world center, as described in the bible, it will take much money and time. Money will not be a problem when the Arab nations consolidate, but economic empires (cities) are not physically built overnight (e.g. Hong Kong). And until this is completed along with the temple for the world's religious center (see: Zech. 5:5-11; note: "in the land of Shinar" = Babylon = Iraq), then the prophecies can not be fulfilled. This is of concern, because it appears that this "problem" area will take some time to complete, thereby possibly moving the future, yet unfulfilled prophetic events well into the next century (and millennium). The only consolation is the proposition that with the "New World Order" (NWO), all nations cooperating together as with Babel (Gen. 11:1-9), this could then speed up the progress of rebuilding Babylon. After the flood mankind built Babel with one united purpose. God confused the language (with many languages) and further inhibited this "world order" by also separating the continents in Peleg's time (Gen. 10:25; 1 Chron. 1:19). Since then the world, with it's technology, has now overcome these two major obstacles placed by God. Thus, the way is clear for the NWO and the building of the great city Babylon (Rev. 18:9-21). Nevertheless, as I've said, considering these realities, it could still take some time to built such a great city that's the world's economic and religious center according to the biblical prophecies."


This was written before Saddam Hussein was caught and executed in Tikrit. "Nevertheless, as I've said, considering these realities, it could still take some time to built such a great city that's the world's economic and religious center according to the biblical prophecies." Enter the Union of Reform Judaism (formerly the Union of Hebrew American Congregations), who had no problem moving the capital of Israel to Berlin, the "Yerushalayim Chadash":


"Berlin and Jerusalem have an interesting relationship. Ever since the 19th Century, when there was widespread sentiment that "Berlin is the New Jerusalem", the cities been, in a sense, antipodal. We all know about the prescient words of the Meshekh Chokhma, and we know about the fortunes of the two cities since then."

The Union of Reform Judaism, since they don't take Tanakh or Zionism seriously (and I already blogged about the URJ's belief in Tanakh as "not divinely-authored") would more than be willing to declare Bavel as Ha'Yerushalayim Chadasha. Even one (so to speak) flip little bird stated, "And yet I do not believe that the Torah was dictated by God to Moses on Mount Sinai." Another commented, "Shavuot is not even understood by most Reform Jews, and since most don't believe that the Torah was given at Sinai as the word of God, how is this relevant to us? The same can be said of Sukkot--who wants to live in a shack for eight days?"

If even Shav'uot is not taken seriously, why would Yerushalayim l'Yerushalayim be? Besides, Reform Judaism believes in a Yom Meshichi (Messianic Age) rather than a Mashiach. So, in order to use tikun ha'olam to bring about HaYom Meshichi, the URJ would be willing to do as they did as UHAC-- expect that they would substitute Bavel for Berlin.  

Why I Envy Ebenezer Scrooge In A Way

In a way, I must confess, I envy Ebenezer Scrooge. While he's certainly (as far as I know) not Jewish or the 19th-Century equivalent of a compassionate conservative (at least until the end of "A Christmas Carol"), he at least gets to have visions and dreams. And for what? To bring him to teshuvah? Is that I am reminded of and complain like the non-prodigal son any wonder: "‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.  But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’"? Only by grace am I considered as though I have never sinned; but why does a fictional character like Scrooge get all the luck of having dreams and visions, while the Jew who I am with thorns in the flesh doesn't?

After all, while I know not to talk back to God, isn't that "if [our] fall is riches for the world, and [our] failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more [our] fullness!" as Jews? And why did Joseph get his dreams? He had a fairly-good dad (though Jacob did marry four wives and was named "Ya'akov" for a reason, since he would supplant and deceive; and put Joseph and Benjamin above the rest of his children)? He didn't have any thorms in the flesh. He had brothers who loved him in the end. He had a wife, children, and the second-highest position in Egypt. Me, I have a dad who I consider and even wished dead (for how else will I get the truth about our family history, pictures, etc. unless Dad and Pop-Pop die and are thus out of the way? Also, how will I and others, and Great-Grandma Czarnecki's blood be avenged?). I have Cerebral Palsy, OCD/Anxiety, Depression, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and possible Aspberger's.

And I can't even have one dream or vision-- about my family history, about the future, whatever? And as much as my mom's my mom, my night comes down watching a movie with her while Michelle is at a party with her friends and where she might meet the one for her? And I can't even find the one in my life, and I have to instead watch a movie with my mom when I could be watching a movie with the one for me-- 0if and who ever he might be? So much for compensating for my thorns in the flesh; huh, G-d? And as I said, I know not to talk back;  and "I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread." But then why am I begging for at least a dream or vision, or the man for me, or something if I can't get the Rapture? And I know that I am a descendant of evildoers, but I'm also a descendant of some who were righteous. 

B'HaNefesh L'Hanukkah... Lo! Is "The Jewish Journal" Going El She'ol?

Here's a parsha from the "Jewish Perspectives On the New Testament" comments:

OK, though I KNOW I am wasting my time responding to egomaniacs like Ben Plonie I will respond:
1) Because Plonie is not alone and most Jews in their over-zealous concern for “Jewish unity” speak in “we” and “us” terms constantly. Thereby arrogantly taking it upon themselves to speak for “me”.
2) I would not trust you ugly, 4-eyed, bald-headed, obese or scrawny, physically and morally wretched creatures to give me the time of day. You will NEVER speak for me.
3) The physical ugliness of so many Orthodox Jews (and other peoples) is a reflection of their inner ugliness, I have concluded. I know it is harsh and politically incorrect to judge a book by its cover, however I don’t do politically correct unless it is correct.
4) Even if Plonie was joking or half-joking in his previous reply to me, I know and believe that “much truth is said in jest.” I assume he means what he said, but like a coward, which many Jews consider brilliance, he can always say, ‘I was only joking.’ Hence try to make me feel inferior/stupid and as usual add more to the already over-inflated egos of too many Jews.

Comment by theleviteline.com on 12/17/11 at 2:53 pm

Now I’ll waste more of my time on this Sabbath (and typing in cyberspace is not a violation of Shabbat, because I decide the limits, not the ugly Orthodox rabbis or their brain-washed bully followers), replying to Ben Plonie:
Plonie said, “It is my authoritative ruling in your favor that you are indeed no longer a Jew.” I believe I already made that decision, independent of you (whether that you is singular or plural).
Plonie also says, “There is no coercion in Judaism…” While Plonie and most (Ashke)nazi Jews will not comprehend this, my Jewishness was ethnic as well as religious. As far as Judaism or Christianity/paganism or any other brain-washing and brain-washed cult/religion, that is definitely OUT. However my ethnicity as a Jew (and I reiterate that the many like Plonie who think because their ancestors lived in Poland for centuries or now live in America, makes them Poles, like other Poles, or Americans like everyone else; there are/were gas chambers for such willfully ignorant morons.) I now consider myself a Hebrew and a Levite (hence my tag as theleviteline.com) and neither a Jew by religion (or any other religion) nor exclusively part of the Judean nation. A nation which now calls itself Israel without any cognizance or even interest in comprehending the actual meaning of the word and person Israel. Again, completely inexcusable. To read the Torah (5 written books of Moses) and the prophets and not even question, never mind answer and comprehend who Israel is, is again completely inexcusable. God damn you for this and I believe He has and will continue to do so. I hope He does, you deserve it. Your life may be a big joke, mine is not.
As for my organization, I have two board members, both non-Jews, because you are all too brain-washed and brain-dead to have a clue, as usual, of your own needs, or of God’s plan. Again INEXCUSABLE! I also have people signing up on line along with a growing email list. I also have visitors from all over the world everyday!! I’m quite certain nothing I could ever do would impress the likes of you. However, I do not respect you ugly 4-eyed, blue-eyed, obese, scrawny, bald-headed, physically and mentally diseased people enough to seek your approval. I can just look and say, Uh Uh. No thanks!
Finally, because you cannot grasp the meaning of my words, you should suppress your arrogance and ignorance by blaming me. It is your lack of depth of comprehension that is the problem.
I hope you won’t respond Plonie, but of course you have the right to do so.
For all the polite cowards who think I’m being disrespectful there is good reason for this. I do not respect such people, nor the religions that produce them.

Comment by theleviteline.com on 12/17/11 at 3:24 pm

To theleviteline guy,
you wrote that you were writing to Plonie but went on to attack “While Plonie and most (Ashke)nazi Jews will not comprehend this..” Yes, we do. We know Judaism is but one branch on the tree of the Jewish people. We understand that it can be a religion, culture, civilization, an ethnic identity and entre in to a nation. But I am certain many of us understand when someone defines himself outside the group - a very large and diverse group - they are, as you said, no longer Jewish. That is fine. It happens everyday. There is no problem with that. There is a problem when you burst into a Jewish Newspaper blog and dam people because you disagree with them OR they do not care to follow you. If this hurts your feelings or bothers you.. as my late father use to say to people who did not follow his jokes, fuck you.

Comment by Phillip Cohen on 12/17/11 at 3:55 pm 

And My Mom Still Isn't Helping Look For My Glasses....

But she doesn't mind telling me what a "hellhole", "death trap", "safety hazard", etc. my room is. She also doesn't mind yelling at me "It's TRASH!" when I worry that she hasn't checked a paper or back thereof, or sets of papers or backs thereof for any song lines or ideas, cartoon ideas, or anything else that I've written or even drawn that I might want to keep.

I might also want to keep papers, etc.. I'm really trying to build a personal and documentary-historical type of library for if and when I do become famous-- or if nothing else, for if and when to share things when progeny comes in time. I don't remember half of what I've written, drawn, and/or want to keep, anyway; so that's why I keep all that I keep.

And besides with my OCD/Anxiety (besides with keeping everything), I would and do take a long time going through everything; and as I've, I dread even accidentally throwing away something valuable. Frankly, I'd rather burn up my "safety hazard" of a room and take me with it.

Then I'd have no more worries. "No more worries" includes no more worrying about throwing valuable items away and about my glasses. And about Mom yelling at me and throwing things away for me, and telling me what a "hellhole" and "death trap" of a "safety hazard" my room is.