Last night I attended my first Shabbat, which was hosted by the Jewish Federation of Philadelphia’s Next Gen program. What a beautiful experience! First, they blessed the bread, then the wine, and said a prayer. Afterwards, we broke bread and comingled with one another. I had the chance to meet Will, Joel, Jackie, Stacey, Yoni, Heather, Carol, and a few others. I ate dinner with Will, Jackie and her friend; they were a blast to chat with, especially since Will is starting a business. Before we all parted ways, we exchanged contact numbers and I will be keeping in touch with Will and Yoni. I had a blast and it was a great opportunity to expand my interfaith communities.
I’m sad to report about the massacre at the Synagogue in Pittsburgh today. It breaks my heart that there is still so much hatred out there. I am angry and on Twitter I’ve said some colourful things. I believe in justice and I believe in “do unto others as you would want to be treated.” I can be unkind about criminality and I just wish that every child had the opportunity to comingle with people that are different from them. I believe if every child had that opportunity, it would kill racism and bigotry since they would learn that at the end of the day we are all human beings. We all bleed, we all have the same basic needs, we are not radically different from others. However, I don’t think it’s ever too late to learn and I still believe teens and adults should comingle with people from different backgrounds.
The Happiness Box Project 
Hi, Jessica Marie!
It is jarring to see the smiling, happy faces in the pictures taken last night only to have another horrible act of violence take place hours later, an apparent Anti-Semitic hate crime that left nearly a dozen dead. My heart goes out to your new friends with whom you broke bread and had dinner in observance of the Shabbat. Your words are eloquent, constructive and filled with wisdom. People are not born to hate. They learn to hate. They are taught to hate. If they were exposed at an early age to people of different faiths and cultures we would not be seeing one dark day after another recorded in modern American history. Keep loving. It is the only way to turn this thing around.
Have a good Sunday. dear friend JM!
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