There is an opinion in segments of the Frum “kiruv” world that the ends justifies the means. Specifically, that you are allowed to lie to someone in order to facilitate their becoming religious.

But repeated lies have costs. And the internet is a great place to bring on the bill.

Ba’al Tshuvahs Anonymous hits harder than he ever has in this post on Aish HaTorah’s lies.

It wouldn’t be the UJA newspaper if they did get it, now would it?

No, it wouldn’t, because the New York UJA wouldn’t feel safe purchasing 80% of their circulation. That’s right, they purchase 80% of the Jewish Week’s circulation and give it to people who have attended a UJA event or gave them a check, and they give to them whether they want it or not, so they will hopefully read about what wonderful things the UJA has done this week –like not give money to Heeb, since its content and events, according to Gabrielle Birkner, “set the bar too low.”

Unlike the mainstream secular Jewish events, where you are guaranteed a very meaningful exchange at, say, a “Young Professional” dinner, and have the opportunity, for the umpteenth time, to go around the circle, and say who you are, and of course, what you do. Uh oh! Some new people just walked in late. Let’s go around the table again.

“My name is David Kelsey, and I’m still the only guy here who is not a lawyer, and I am quite sure that this is really, really, the last time I will attend an event that has the words ‘Young Professional’ attached to it, and I definitely mean it this time.�

Or how about roof top Bar-B-Q? Now isn’t that more substantial? The next Haskallah movement, really. Nothing like a “serious” cultural event based on corn on the cob. Well, at least it’s not “hipster,â€? so it’s okay.

But perhaps I am being defensive. After all, who says that this Jewish Week article is picking on Heeb? It’s not like they explicitly named Heeb SIX TIMES or anything like that, or used a picture of a chick wearing a Heeb T-shirt with the story.

But who am I to say it’s recycled? So Birkner, for her Heeb quote, used one from Jenn Bleyer from a 2001 article in the Observer. Well, I can’t expect Birkner to go and get all new quotes, can I? That would, like, take an email or something crazy like that.

Talk ab out “substanceless.”

But Birkner sees light at the end of this tunnel. A couple of people in school, not her friends or anything like that, I’m sure, are going to make a more “serious� magazine devoted to “Israeli hip hop,� among other things. What a novel idea. Jews and hip hop. Too bad no one ever thought of that before.

Anyway, I don’t really think it’s fair to compare Heeb to religious Jewish culture. I think it is only fair to compare it to other secular Jewish cultures. And Birkner did not do that adequately, because the Jewish Week never does that adequately. When it comes to a challenge to secular Jewish culture, the Jewish Week suddenly wraps itself in a tallis of piety, but does no such thing with more accepted secular Jewish cultures which may also be contradictory, or at least problematic, when contrasted to traditional Judaism.

There is no new Jew. There is only new secular Jewish culture, because secular Jewish culture changes much quicker than the religion does, since it’s defined much more by provincial and present norms. If you want to defend the old, defend the old – but defend the secular suburban Jewish culture, not Judaism. Neither the old nor the new is directly dictated by Judaism, and neither has seriously claimed that it is there to replace it.

Below is a couple of pictures of people I know from Heeb. It’s really not as awful as the Jewish Week always makes it out to be.

At least, it isn’t for me.

Since I don’t really celebrate Chanukah formally, I guess I have to credit Festivus for providing the right backdrop for a change in my feelings towards Jewlicious, a website I have been known to, er, disagree with.

This week I met both Esther and Grand Mufti of Jewlicious.

Esther I met at Less Nessman’s rocking gig at Makor on Thursday, and I have to say, she is just as nice a person as her blog and writing suggests.

EV of Jewschool (Asaf was there as well!) introduced me to Grand Mufti at Heebonism on Sat. night, and he is definitely the kind of guy that I could talk to for hours, but there were girls there. I owe him a drink, (I completely spaced that at the time…don’t ask) so I hope that will happen soon.

You can’t get along with everyone from the other team, but I have liked both people I have met so far from Jewlicious, and I would enjoy meeting some of the other bloggers from Jewlicious as well.

Additionally, I feel comfortable that my core issues of contention have been settled.

Sure I have had some rough spots in my relationship with Jewlicious, but I have also found most of them engaging, and I have certainly learned a lot about blogging from them. Besides Jewschool itself (of course), Jewlicious has been an important site for me in my ongoing transition from a strictly print background to one that includes web media, as well as illuminating how it’s different.

So thanks, guys. I have added a link to your site in token gratitude.

Beyond BT, a Ba’al Tshuvah apologetics site, is running a slew of stories that seek to prove that the BT and frum world is the one that promotes individuality, and the secular world is the one that focuses merely on the external, “non-conformistâ€? trappings, instead of the more important, “Individuality.â€?

In order to just slightly tip the balance a weenie teeny bit towards the frum world but still maintain a fair and balanced contrast, the secular world is represented by ancient Sodom.

Let’s see which of the two is the better social model!

According to Rabbi Dovid Schwartz of the Jewish Heritage Center, there is, in fact, no “Individiuality� to be found, only non-conformism. Only in the Torah world is there apparently true Individuality, for as opposed to the silly, externally based non-conformism,

“Individuality, on the other hand, expresses the central Human longing for self-actualization and the resistance to external oppressive forces that would squash it. It is a wholesome drive that unites rather than divides BTs and FFBs.�

In fact, there is plenty of misunderstanding between these two groups, and plenty of contempt towards those BT’s who don’t tow the line sufficiently. Guess that means those BT’s themselves haven’t learned true “Individualism,� that is to say, not only dress, but also think, in accordance with the normative black hat folk, since that’s True Individuality.

Rabbi Schwartz continues that,

“An eagle that has grown up among marching penguins does not take flight to spite the penguins and mock their black and white conformity. The eagle flies because that’s what eagles do. Even when both are at rest the eagle is qualitatively unlike the penguin. It need not behave differently to be different. Yet, its very being compels it towards unique behaviors.�

Exactly. As long as the eagle looks, thinks, sounds, accepts the group leadership of, and behaves in every identifiable way like a penguin (not my term, his), Individualism is celebrated. That’s individualism. And if you don’t accept that, you won’t be accepted as part of the group. You’re just “quirky.”

Going to Mexico, so no blogging for a few days. Upon my return, you can expect a full report on Playa del Carmen’s Jewish community as well as informantion on the descendents of crypto-Jews from Spain who recently discovered their Jewish roots, and further explanation on how the Muslim community is affecting Mexican perception of Israel and…

Actually, I’m not going to do any of that stuff. I am going to Mexico because one of my closest childhood friends, Rob Garza, is getting married. Some of you may know him from this group, but for me, he will always be Rob.

I might post some pictures at some point, though.

As I’m sure may of you know, Iran has been fronting again, and is also close to nuclear capability.

I hear a lot of tough talk from American and Canadian Zionist quarters, but I don’t know if I buy it. After all, what are we going to do if they nuke Israel? What the hell are we going to do?

I mean, of course the Simon Wiesenthal Center will condemn them as antisemites in uncompromising language, and sure the ADL will call for a sanctions, and sure, the Jewish state will retaliate, and Iran will never be the same again.

But neither will the Jewish state or the Jewish people.

And then what?

I am increasingly pessimistic that there is any good way out of this, or even a survivable way out of this. We need a miracle, and have not seen one in a very long time. And don’t tell me Chanukah. Chanukah was not a miracle. It was a fundamentalist uprising much like the one in Iran in 1979.

And look what that got us.

So my edited version of the new column I created at UOJ did not go through, and will not be called “Fundamentalist of the Week,” but rather something a bit harsher. Sorry, SB, it wasn’t my call.

But there is a new kid it town, the BeyondBT blog. Cross-Currents, you have been obviated. BeyondBT seems a lot more substantial than most of the “kiruv” sites out there (which doesn’t really say didly doo doo), and may have already banned me from posting, though this is not yet confirmed, but reasonably suspected. I can’t imagine why they would do that, but it may prove to be a bad idea if that’s what happened. We will see. I am convinced that even though some of the editors of this new site may be more genuine and better educated than others, they will not be able to stand the withering light of those who know. In the end, they are advocating quiescent fundamentalism. And fundamentalism does not do well in educated dialogue without a shared commmitedment to the same axioms.

I remain firm in my conviction that it is up to those of us who have had the privelege of delving into the Ba’al Tshuvah world ourselves to point out where the walruses lurk. Failed Messiah, keep up the excellent work, when you find the time between obsessing on Chabad and race sensitivity. BTA — don’t wuss out on us now. And Godol Hador - just because we reject your lifestyle does not mean we have emotional problems. We have emotional problems for having attempted to join your club, where one hat fits all.

I realize there are other ways to categorize people, and endorse most of them. But I find this useful in terms of pigeon-holing a woman. I hope you find it useful as well.

JAPS - No real need to expatiate on this most famous category of the American Jewess. Tragically in the New York area, this is (by far) the most common girl to be found. Which is not to suggest she is not the most common type of Jewess to be found outside of the Northeast as well. Most insidious (and annoying) when attempting to pass as Leftists, hipsters, or hippies.

Ghetto Girls – These women are not polished, and are prone to obnoxious behavior, though they are frequently humorous, if not consistently funny. Sometimes basic etiquette needs to be reinforced with gentle prodding and rebuke, though they are surprisingly (sometimes) sensitive to good music. Despite their flaws, they are critical to the Jewish community. Though rough around the edges, they never the less have a decent value system on the important things, and you can disagree with them on any number of issues without them flipping out like the women from the category above, for whom an ostensibly politically motivated tantrum is more an expression of their sense of entitlement, rather than commitment to any specific cause or ideology. Ghetto Girls are known to be loyal, capable, and will fight for the welfare of others as well as their own. They are particularly numerous in Brooklyn and the Holy Land.

Shtetl Bunnies – Polished, highly intuitive, kind and respectful even if shy, these women are hard to find, but represent the best of the Jewish community. Condemned to extinction by traditional-egalitarian communities, the hard left, the hard right, and shopping malls, they never the less subsist within sectors of the Jewish community – in small towns and cities, and in those gray-hat communities that walk between the Modern-Orthodox and Black Hat lifestyles. Like those found in say, Baltimore. Shtetl Bunnies don’t get boob or nose jobs. They don’t talk about being “second class citizens,� nor do they expect everyone to be as religious or secular as they are. No defense is particularly effective with these types, because they have no goal of being a player, and you can tell they are nice girls. Hard to find and competitively courted, they are frequently unintentional heartbreakers, because they are desired by many both as long-term girlfriends and wives.

Go here.

CNN reports,

Singapore has the highest execution rate in the world relative to its population, according to a U.N. report on capital punishment published in July this year. An average of 6.9 people were executed per 1 million over 1999 to 2003, the report states. The figure is nearly twice as much as for the nation with the second-highest rate of executions, Saudi Arabia at 3.66.

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