The ugliness of it all.
There is this increasing underlying feeling of the upcoming primaries that has me saddened on two fronts.
The first is the second district County Council race where the big “elephant” in the room is whether or not a Jew should represent the heavily Jewish district in the meeting rooms of Towson.
In Baltimore City we watch as arguably the most important contest in the region, the race for City State’s Attorney is most probably going to be decided by skin pigmentation instead of old fashioned listening and voting with intelligence and information.
One of our local African-American oriented radio stations uses the slogan, “where knowledge is power.”
I wish this were the case in the State’s Attorney Race where incumbent Patricia C. Jessamy is getting a challenge from Gregg Bernstein. Again, the big elephant in the room is that one candidate is a black woman in a majority black city, running against a white man who also happens to be Jewish. In the second district County, the question is whether a non-Jew should lead the district or is the demographic territory and entitlement to any Jewish candidate.
But neither the second district County Council race nor the City State’s Attorney’s race should be racial nor should it be religious. It should be about the best person for the job. If that person is Jewish, fine. If that person is not, fine.
The economic situation facing Baltimore County, and the trickle down to its residents suggests that the region needs a good leader. Race, faith, culture is secondary. My daughter told me of a friend whose parents just lost their house because of unemployment that led to foreclosure. The bank didn’t care about pigmentation or worship when all of this happened. The family is Jewish. We need leaders who stop wasting our time, seemingly selling their souls to the lowest common denominator just to get elected.
I have a friend who looks into the refrigerator each morning and cries inside because he isn’t sure how he’s going to feed his family that night. Think about that. Can you? Have you ever faced such a difficult quandary by opening up the refrigerator?
You want my vote, save my friend. Or show me how you’re going to do it.
I still haven’t gotten over the brutal killing of a young man in the Charles Village neighborhood.
You want my vote, contact the young man’s family and tell them how sorry you are that this happened.
Stop the stupidity.
I don’t care if you are Jewish. I don’t care if you are Christian. I don’t care if you are black or if you are white.
Sunday, the governor ate three pieces of kosher pizza at Tov Pizza.
I’m so happy for him. But I had an employable friend who shifted in and out of depression because he couldn’t get a job. You could walk to his home from the pizza shop. I wish the Governor had taken him out to lunch instead. We get star struck when a political celebrity comes to our venues. Don’t be star struck. Demand results. Ask for accountability.
God, we need a hero.
Represent me because we are people of equal stature.
Renew us, give us hope. Get the work done.
If you had purple skin and believed in the tooth fairy, but got results, I’d believe in you more than were you Jewish or black or whatever.
Enough pandering.
Produce.
The arguments, the focus is all wrong.

The Northwest Citizens Patrol had a softball game on Sunday against a team from the Northwest Police District
A great way to build community.
Now, women are not members of the NWCP. But they’re allowed to be cops.
So it must have been quite interesting when the all-male NWCP softball team played its game against an opponent with at least one woman on the other team. I hear the Deputy Major is a great second base woman.
So humor me.
How does the whole shomer negiah (not touching between the genders) thing work here?
If a woman player were to approach a base, does the NWCP player tag her out? Or does he pretend to tag her out or if she were to “accidentally” hit his glove, then maybe that would count. Or does he wave at her or have a pretend tag? Or blow a tag, like blowing a kiss?
I just don’t know.
Hmm.
What about the reverse?
Suppose a woman tagged an Orthodox NWCP player? Oy.
Hmm. Maybe we could get a rabbinic ruling.
I know, a designated heter.
This would allow the woman to tag the man as long as she had a glove on.
Co-ed sports in the frum community is just so much fun.
Chai five!

For three years, Michelle Schwartz has eloquently written on the CaringBridge website about her son Gilad’s cancer.
Michelle, who has freelance written for the Jewish Times on different topics, gave us a candid, unsugar coated look at how this insidious disease entered her son’s life and the life of the Schwartz family.
Today, hundreds of family, friends, classmates and community members packed the main Levinson’s chapel to hear eulogies. Gilad, 19, didn’ t lose his battle with cancer. He didn’t lose anything. Instead, he and his family showed the rest of us how to live with grace, integrity, spirituality, class and a little humor even in the face of death.
We grieve with the Schwartz family, the Yeshivat Rambam community, the Shomrei Emunah community, the Religious Zionist community and for that matter our entire community.
What was equally beautiful was the constant, and I mean constant presence and support and loved given to Gilad by his loving, caring friends.
Eddie and Michelle Schwartz have a beautiful family. Michelle talked with love about all of her four children.
Michelle told the mourners that all she wanted to be was a Mom.
Michelle, you and Eddie taught us all so much about parental courage. You showed us what real love is. And you weren’t afraid to share with us your feelings, your true feelings.
Not trying to lesson this with frivolous words. But cancer, I think you picked on the wrong family this time.
I think you angered the wrong Mom.
Michelle Schwartz, one of the most organized, methodical and purely good people I know, has you on her radar screen.
Gilad is very much alive to us. Its cancer, I’m not so sure about now.

When my father was ill with colon cancer, he asked me if I could take him around with me on a “typical” day of work.
Part of that day included a meeting with then Rep. Barbara Mikulski.
I had a scheduled interview with her.
During the first part of the meeting, my dad, Morton Jacobs, and the Congresswoman started a lively, expressive conversation about politics, Baltimore and family life.
I had to finally interrupt the two and ask that I be able to get some more notes in for the interview.
It was unfortunately just a few days later that my dad passed away.
I received a letter shortly after from Rep. Mikulski, expressing her sorrow and admiration for my dad.
I still keep that letter.
U.S. Senator Mikulski has always been one of my heroes. She stands up for what is right and “gets” this place called Baltimore where I’ve spent the majority of my years.
So today, one of my heroes is going to be part of the swearing in of another one of my community heroes, Judge Karen Chaya Friedman.
Judge Friedman will be sworn in today as a District Court Judge, a historic day, because she becomes the first Orthodox Jewish woman ever appointed to this position in Maryland.
But Judge Friedman, who is leaving her Orphans Court position, has always been there for Baltimore and Maryland. She and her husband Howard are amazing people, giving philanthropists, and just a really important part of the fabric of this community.
This afternoon when I sit and watch her get sworn in, it’s going to feel like a family member’s achievement to me. I bet that’s how many of the people in the room are going to be feeling.
Judge Friedman is always interested in “you.” She doesn’t talk much about herself, instead the focus is on what is going on in your life, and how your family is doing.
It so reminds me of Sen. Mikulski.
So this afternoon in one room, these two caring, strong women will be there, and they’ll be there for all of us in the years to come.

Where is everybody we voted for?
Four vans are spray painted with swastikas and other horrible anti-Semitic symbols on a Sabbath night, and not one elected official has taken a moment to even issue a sound bite of condemnation.
And it’s an election year, no less.
Yes, this is under investigation as a hate crime.
The Baltimore City Police and the Baltimore Jewish Council are working hard to put the community at ease and make sure that the perpetrator(s) are apprehended. Dr. Arthur C. Abramson’s voice has been heard loud and clear. He was the first person to come out and say publicly, this is a hate crime, pure and simple. Police officials are also reacting the same way.
And yes, the perpetrator could be of any faith or background, including Jewish. But that would not make it any less of a hateful act.
Elected officials, those of you who are running on issues of law and order and community, these were swastikas directed at Jews.
Say something.
Be public about your dismay.
Where are you?
You know, the next time you come around looking for money and votes, it would be good to know that you were sensitive enough when times demand it.

There’s something broken out there.
On Saturday, it was discovered that as many as four carpool-type vans were spray painted with swastikas and other vile symbols of hatred towards Jews.
It was probably just a group of kids acting badly, using the swastika because they know it represents something bad.
How many times, though, do we have to connect it to the kids acting badly? At what point does it become a hate crime?
I think this is a hate crime.
It was a low point.
While there observing hate’s evil imprints, a group of young black teens approached a vandalized vehicle on Gist Avenue. One did a taunting dance as passed the vandalized van. Another popped a wheelie on the bike he was riding.  I’m not inferring these were the perpetrators of the crime. As recent events in Olney have showed us, one can be white and have Judaism in one’s background and do just as much if not more hate-filled damage.
There wasn’t a feeling of sadness coming from these kids. It was more bravado as if this were some sort of joke.
How do I know they were feeling this way?
I don’t.
I didn’t interview them, I just watched.
And I wondered what line a person crosses that makes them take out a can of spray paint and deface anything with it.
Where did hate overcome reason?
I mean, wasn’t a large group of Jews who built a playground at the nearby Fallstaff Middle School for the entire community?
Isn’t CHAI doing an incredible job of bringing neighbors together?
What about Baltimore Hebrew’s wonderful efforts in building bridges as a black church openly and with total welcome worships in its sanctuary.
So I want to brush this aside and say that this was the handiwork of a bunch of juvenile delinquents.
But I can’t.
I wanted a black leader somewhere, anywhere, elected or not elected to come to the scene of the these crimes. I wanted he or she to help the van owners clean off the signs of hate.
And I wanted the kids sitting there on the streets in a taunting posture see and hear an adult condemn all of this.
We’ve got to do more.
Let’s face it. Nobody can tell me that Jewish kids walking home from the kollel on Labyrinth Road aren’t a little hurried in their steps to get home.
When students are walking home from Northwestern High School through the area streets, there is a level of apprehension by some Jewish neighbors.
We’ve got to establish some sort of connection of familiarity that doesn’t breed fear.
I grew up on Brookhill Road. I used to stand on the corner of Brookhill and Gist on sultry summer nights with my friends and we’d talk until late at night. There wasn’t any fear.
The strangest thing that ever happened I think was on one evening we all looked in amazement as a girl riding a horse clip clopped along Gist Avenue.
From where we stood on the corner back then, I could look now and see both of those vans.
The van parked at Clarinth with the many swastikas was directly in front of a house I was familiar with. I cut that lawn as part of my grass cutting business again in the 60s. I knew many of the people who lived on Clarinth, Brookhill and Labyrinth.
There wasn’t fear.
There wasn’t spray painting.
So, is this what the neighborhood has to look forward to?
The fear and violation that a can of spray paint in the wrong hands can bring.
No, there’s got to be more of a buy-in that this is everyone’s neighborhood.
That’s what the playground build at Fallstaff was trying to accomplish.
That’s what the Shomrim-sponsored Police Appreciation Day last November at Northwestern High School accomplished. There, on that day, blacks, whites, Jews, Hispanics, Catholics, everyone came and had a wonderful autumn day.
But I’m really asking, almost pleading. If heaven forbid an act of hate happened in the Upper Park Heights neighborhood. If someone spray painted a cross burning on the side of a black family’s van, I know this community. Jewish families and organizations would rightfully be among the first out there to help, and would be saddened by what they saw.
I’m just asking for the same.
Would some of our leaders who are African American please step forward and say that spray painting a van with swastikas is “unacceptable?”
That would be at least something.

For anyone who is cynical, skeptical about the future of Judaism, if they could spend an hour here at the JCC Maccabi Games and JCC Maccabi ArtsFest, I think it would help in so many ways.
It’s just a breath of fresh air to see kids from so many different backgrounds painting together, dancing together, writing together, competing in sports together.
Of course, there are so many different issues of which we have concern.
But the JCC Association has something here. If it could only be bottled up and shared.
There are kids who also worship at different congregations of different denominations. But here, they seem to be all on the same team.
Today we wrap up our first round of writing.
What is also I think so great is that the kids help one another. In journalism, for instance, the young writers are suggesting to one another, coming up with words, ways of writing.
The artists also have an opportunity to see al ittle of what their peer groups are practicing or rehearsing for.
We’ve got so much to be proud of here.
And the spirit of Macabbi, that we have so many more similarities than differences is happening moment by moment.

It’s Maccabi Time.
I awoke this morning, looked outside and saw a beautiful day waiting.
Today we’ll meet hundreds of athletes and artists.
The opening ceremonies will be incredible at the Towson Center.
I remember one of my favorite opening ceremonies ever held.
It was at Detroit’s Palace of Auburn Hills.
It was in 1990.
When the cities marched through the home of the Detroit Piston’s, one of the building’s now late co-owners David Hermelin announced each city and had something wonderful to say about each one.
I miss David Hermelin. He was one of the leaders of the Jewish Community in Detroit and in the world, for that matter.
He died of cancer after serving as Ambassador to Norway.
He was a wealthy philanthropist, but he gave so much of his time to anyone who needed a minute or an hour. He was one of those men who would return every any phone call made to him.
And I can still hear his voice when he announced the kids walking through the Palace. They probably didn’t know who he was, but it didn’t really matter.
Years later in Baltimore, another great man started his Associated volunteer career with the Maccabi Games. His name was Morton “Sonny” Plant. He would go on after the Maccabi Games to lead the entire Jewish federated world.
But it started when he gained a passion for these games.
There are so many leaders who find their way to these Games and ArtsFest.
It’s going to be a great week.
See you there.

The Baltimore Jewish Council is providing an up-to-the minute website on the upcoming election with the creation of YourVote2010.org. Get on this blog and you’ll find out all you need to know about coming events, including the 6:30 p.m., August 24, 2nd District County Council forum to be held at the Owings Mills Jewish Community Center.
The website offers tons of other information as well regarding registration deadlines and other races.
Give it a look and keep on looking at it through the elections. The second district forum is going to be huge with many issues on the table for candidates to discuss.

The Jewish Times for many years was located at 2104 North Charles Street.
I used to love to walk along Charles Street, heading up past 25th Street into Charles Village to neighborhood markets.
I loved walking past friends of mine in the advertising business who sat on the front steps of their businesses taking a break on a warm, summer’s day.
I even walked more than a few times to Memorial Stadium to catch an afternoon O’s game. After dark, I walked back.
Over the years, though, that walk became a bit more interrupted. Junkies would stop me and ask me for money. Their “daughter has asthma and I’m just $10 short.” “My baby hasn’t eaten, can I spare $1?” One morning I got to work only to find two children playing outside of my storefront office door. They were there for hours before an adult came to pick them up. They left fast food wrappers and even excrement in the stair well.
What was happening to my city?
On a regular basis, our employees’ cars were broken into in our parking lot.
Finally, on a workday morning, a crowd of people, including little children stood around at something lying in on the sidewalk. It was a corpse. For the children, it was like a field trip. Instead of running away in tears, they ran towards the body with excitement.
I used to love it when the trees bloomed with their white leaves in the spring. I loved the quirkiness of our office, the sounds of traffic on Charles Street.
But then it got scary.
On an April Monday when the Orioles were opening a new season, I was given a ride down to Camden Yards. I would watch the game and then walk back to the office. It wasn’t really that far a walk. It was a brisk walk, good exercise.
So I walked, and had a pretty good pace until I got to the train station. Something inside of me stopped me. That something was the thought of walking the remaining handful of blocks at nightfall past North Avenue.
I weighed the embarrassment of asking a cab driver to take me the three or four blocks. I was told it would cost $5.
After walking a couple of miles from Camden Yards, I took a cab for a two-minute ride to my office.
Ridiculous, isn’t it?
I’d do the same thing all over again.
So I think there’s even more of a danger.
It’s a danger that’s capitalized on by the simple happenings of a day.
A week ago we were talking about the murder of Hopkins researcher Stephen Pitcairn. Before his name fades, there’s the recent killing of Milton Hill, a vital member of the Ark Church.
If there was ever a time when the race for State’s Attorney was made more important on a daily basis, than it’s now.
I know that challenger Gregg Bernstein has been every where getting his message across that he sees this as even more of an indicator of a need for change.
Patricia C. Jessamy, the incumbent, has to know that this cannot go on at all for her to continue in office.
But because Mr. Bernstein is white and Ms. Jessamy is black, the vote could have little to do with information and issues.
Maybe Ms. Jessamy deserves to win again. Maybe, because the crimes continue and the killers have all been in the “system,” then perhaps we need a change. But perhaps not.
If this were not an election year, would we care so very much? Or would it just be Baltimore being Baltimore.
One thing for sure, of all the elections, County Council, legislative and even to some extent gubernatorial, this race between Jessamy and Bernstein is the most vital, critical election to watch and to become involved in.
It impacts us all on the street, in our homes, walking from the train station, taking a Light Rail Train, living near our churches and synagogues. And even deciding whether or not to take a cab or walk the final three blocks between Penn Station and 21st Street along Charles.
Fast forward to two years ago, I took a light rail train from Mount Washington to Cultural Center near our offices. I was the only white person getting off at my stop. And when I left a young black woman yelled at me, “get the f out of here.” Two or three of her friends said “uh, huh.” I had just been sitting the entire time reading from a book. I didn’t know she was on the train until she addressed my presence. Did it matter that I live in the City, grew up in the City, went to city public schools and probably do something she’ll wasn’t doing, paying taxes to the city. No, I was just a white guy in a shirt and tie. That was enough.
It’s not black and white or Hispanic or Christian or Jewish. It’s all of us.
If we can all step back for a moment and take races and ethnic groups away and just look at resumes and the reality on the ground, then maybe we could make an informed decision about an election that can and will impact Baltimore arguably more than Ehrlich vs. O’Malley.
I wish that Bernstein and Jessamy would debate.
They should debate at the very location of either Mr. Hill’s death or Mr. Pitcairn’s death.
This can’t go on, Ms. Jessamy. Do you understand the depth of that? It can’t go on?
And Mr. Bernstein, if you weren’t white, if you were black or Hispanic or green or blue we’d still urge you to keep working harder. It’s important for a strong challenger to help the incumbent come out on the street and fight back with words and actions. Ms. Jessamy, show us what can be done even better. Account for mistakes of the past with a defensive posture. This isn’t about you or him, it’s about the city.
A good, strong fair race between these two candidates is what we need now.
And then the actions have to speak louder than the words.
I love this city.
It’s in my heart and soul.
I know it is in your’s as well Ms. Jessamy and Mr. Bernstein.
Please get us out of this cycle of violence.
Please.
A vote in this particular race isn’t about slogans or t-shirts or lawn signs.
It’s about lives…saving them.