YMJA Plans Special Interpretive Song and Dance Video Tribute to Harambe

unknown

Atlanta, GA – Big news from The Young Messianic Jewish Alliance this week as they announce they are planning a video tribute to the late gorilla, Harambe, who was tragically euthanized after a child fell into his enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo in May of this year. The controversial killing of Harambe has sparked many memes, petitions, and other tributes, with The YMJA now following suit.

“We actually started planning this at Messiah Conference this past July while on very little sleep,” YMJA member, Caleb Goldberg explained. “We agreed a video on YouTube would make a much bigger statement and reach a lot more people than if we just did a performance at the YMJA Talent Show. The video is going to involve all 1,000 members of the YMJA and will be a combination of interpretive dance, and songs written about Harambe. I choreographed most of it and I’m super excited about the finished product, which we’ll be unleashing on the internet for the six month anniversary of Harambe’s tragically tragic death.”

The YouTube video will be titled “No More Monkey Business” and will be nine hours long, including an introduction in sign language by Koko the Gorilla. No More Monkey Business is set to make its debut on November 28th, 2016 and will be available to watch at www.youtube.com/calebgoldbergisawesome. And, if you think you’ve seen enough Harambe tributes, well, you ape seen nothing yet.

Hurricane Retreats in Disgust After Hundreds of Meshug Messianics Blow Shofars At It

hurricane_storm

Southeastern US – Reports are starting to trickle in on what actually ended Hurricane Matthew’s reign of terror last week. Hundreds of…uhhh…interesting…Messianic congregants…you know the ones I’m referring to…banded together to simultaneously blow their shofars at Hurricane Matthew, in an effort to get him to retreat. And retreat he did. In what would have been the tekiah gedolah to end all tekiah gedolahs, except Messiah did not return, Hurricane Matthew actually did cease his operations upon hearing the shofar blasts. Rabbi Alan Levine of Kol Mashiach Messianic Synagogue in Melbourne, FL has been a Rabbi for over 25 years and said he has never seen anything like this before; a hurricane retreating after basically being yelled at, in the most obnoxious of ways.

“I couldn’t take that dreadful noise,” Hurricane Matthew said in a recent press conference. “It was like dying cattle. And not even the good kind of dying cattle. Part of my job is to slaughter cows and other living beings, so normally I’m all about that BLEEP, but for real. That noise. Not cool, guys, not cool. I don’t know if I’m getting old or what, like when you think you can still twerk at the club, but really the music is too loud and you just want to be in bed by 9pm. That’s how this felt. I was in the zone, but the shofar blasts just messed up my mojo, so I just gave up and went home to roll into a ball on my couch and binge watch Stranger Things on Netflix and now I just feel like a failure. A big. wet. failure.”

While the hurricane’s feelings were clearly hurt in this whole ordeal, it did save many lives. Still, no excuse to abuse the use of shofars, which are meant only to be blown during High Holidays and when The King returns, and certainly not to be blown in one’s ear during the evening sessions at Messiah Conference. So take your shofars and your tambourines and…oops. Forgot I was writing an article here. Sorry about that. Anyway, as my Dad says, even a broken clock is right twice a day. But a broken shofar is something that will happen if you blow it in my ear again. Wow. This article is getting torrential. Time to board up the windows and evacuate the premises.

Miri in the Village Admits to Once Having Smoked Potstickers

miri

Raleigh, NC – Popular Messianic DIY and Kosher food blogger, Miri in the Village, admitted this week she once smoked potstickers when she was first starting to cook. Miri is now considered the Messianic Martha Stewart, but once upon a time, even Martha Stewart had to start from the beginning. Miri is not exempt from once having been a beginner, though most people don’t make an error that gets so much media attention.

“I was young and naive,” Miri stated in an interview early yesterday morning. “It was just an experiment that not only went wrong, but now haunts my entire career and my life. I swear it was a one time thing and I would never do it again. I’ve learned my lesson: it’s okay to smoke the meat inside of potstickers, but it’s not okay to smoke potstickers themselves. I now only fry or steam them. And I make a lot of Kosher Asian food these days. You can visit my web site for some recipes, none of which involve smoking potstickers.”

Miri’s Father-in-Law, a Messianic Rabbi who chose to remain nameless, was heard to say: “Smoke potstickers?! No Grandbaby Mama of mine would ever do such a thing. I’ve never heard of this woman in my life. Oh, you’re talking about food? Okay, yeah, I know her. Her food is wonderful.”

Here, at The Messianic Meow, we think Miri has recited The Al Chet enough times in her life to atone for this mistake and she has been forgiven. For awesome Kosher recipes and DIY projects please visit www.miriinthevillage.com

If the Al Chet Were Written in 2016

al-chet-2016

So every year on Yom Kippur we recite a prayer called the Al Chet, which is a prayer of confession that helps us atone for our sins for the previous year. The Al Chet was written a long time ago and a lot has changed since then. Here’s what I think the Al Chet might read like if it were written in 2016 (feel free to add your own):

•For the sin we have sinned before You by verbally abusing Siri.
•For the sin we have sinned before You by abusing hashtags.
•For the sin we have sinned before You by Snapchatting pictures and videos of people who are sleeping.
•For the sin we have sinned before You by taking first world problems seriously.
•For the sin we have sinned before You by the times we couldn’t even.
•For the sin we have sinned before You by not labeling our food porn.
•For the sin we have sinned before You by putting a “D” in front of the word “awwww.”
•For the sin we have sinned before you by sarcastically thanking Obama when something went wrong that wasn’t his fault.
•For the sin we have sinned before You by using the term “on fleek.”
•For the sin we have sinned before You by asking our restaurant server to list every single salad dressing they have and then just ordering Ranch.
•For the sin we have sinned before You by eating Ranch dressing.
•For the sin we have sinned before You by Facebook stalking our ex’s current significant other, even though we are much better looking and yellow is so not her color.

Ve-al kulam, Elo’ah selichot, selach lanu, mechal lanu, kaper lanu.
For all these, God of pardon, pardon us, forgive us, atone for us.

Jamie H. of MIQEDEM Starts New Band “Chadash Kedem”

unknown-1

Tel Aviv, Israel – The ever talented Christian Israeli musician, Jamie H., announced this week he was starting a new band. Jamie., who is currently head of the Israeli band MIQEDEM, has previously been the music director of King of Kings Community in Jerusalem, and the head of previous bands, “Jamie H. and the Band From the Land,” and “Min Ha’Maayan,” among others. The new band, “Chadash Kedem,” which roughly translates to “New Old,” will debut after the upcoming high holidays at a concert at Israel’s only Messianic Kibbutz, Yad Hashmona.

“Nothing’s wrong with MIQEDEM,” said Jamie, in a recent interview. “We’re still going very strong. I just like to make sure I change the name of my band every year or two. Chadash Kedem will still have the same members as MIQEDEM and we’ll still be playing the same songs you love, from our debut album, as well as songs I’ve written for previous bands that were almost the same as this band. It’s a new band, but it’s also the same. But it’s not the same, it’s new. You’ll see.”

Chadash Kedem also features musician, Shai Sol, who rose to fame in the Messianic community by appearing on Israel’s most popular televised singing competition “HaKochav Haba” (The Next Star) and publicly telling the judges of her belief in Yeshua, during her audition. Chadash Kedem will include all the musicians and songs from MIQEDEM. Their music can be heard here.

Congregation Sha’arei Shalom Becomes Sanctuary to Messianic Refugees From LA

unknown

Cary, NC – Congregation Sha’arei Shalom near Raleigh, North Carolina has opened its doors to Messianics fleeing life in Los Angeles, growing the population of the congregation significantly. What was once a haven for East Coasters, Los Angeles, is now losing its numbers to the East Coast, in a strange turn of events.

“I’m not quite sure why people are leaving L.A. for Raleigh,” says Rabbi Seth Klayman. “It’s probably all that sunshine; it’s so bad for you. After AMF I think everyone assumed it does nothing but rain here. That’s not true, but they’re coming over in droves and our congregation is growing with the best people, so I won’t complain. Our sanctuary has literally become a sanctuary for Southern Californians looking for a new life for their children. And not one of them brought me In-N-Out Burger when they got here.”

Congregation Sha’arei Shalom welcomes peoples from all nations and tongues and not just LA. Please join them for free high holiday services. For more information, visit entershalom.org

Havdalah Spice Girls Release New Fragrance Ahead of Upcoming Album

images-1

Nashville, TN – The Havdalah Spice Girls released a new fragrance this week to promote their upcoming album “Besamim.” The fragrance, which also bears the name “Besamim,” smells of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg and comes in a bottle the shape of a Havdalah spice box. Besamim is the perfect scent when you want to smell like fall. The kind of fall that happens in Murca anyway.

“Move over pumpkin spice everything; Besamim is here!” Rebecca Rudolf, AKA Dancer Spice, said in an interview. “We were originally going to have a scent that was a combination of candle wax, fire, and grape juice, but we decided it would be better to just release a fragrance that shares a name with our album, which will be available soon on iTunes!”

The Havdalah Spice Girls are also in talks to release an entire line of fragrances, including “Sukkot Spice,” which will smell like lulav and etrog, and “Ashkenazi Spice,” which will smell like brisket and noodle kugel. Besamim, the fragrance, is available now at Neiman Marcus and Macy’s. Stay tuned for a release date on Besamim the album, and remember to purchase your tickets to see Misha Goetz, AKA Shy Spice, in the new hit Broadway musical “They Tried to Kill Us, We Won, Let’s Eat.”

True Life: I’m a Conference Junkie

vlad

Conferences are a common occurrence in the Messianic movement and a great way to connect with other Messianics around the world, but what if you scheduled your entire life around them? On this episode of True Life, you’ll meet three young people who are struggling to balance real life while attending as many Messianic conferences as they can.

Stephanie Escalante, “21,” from Tampa, FL admits she is a conference junkie, but sees nothing wrong with it. She has attended everything from Messiah Conference to the UMJC international and 20s conferences to ARCH Leadership summit to AMF and everything in between. She even started a Twitter account dedicated to conference crushes. She is so addicted to attending conferences that The Messianic Meow wrote an article about her planning a fake conference and then she actually started planning it. “Even though I’m only ’21,’ I’ve been to enough conferences to know how to plan one. I don’t need help from anyone. I’ve got this. It’s my conference now.”

Amy Liantonio, 30, from Philadelphia, PA says she once went to three conferences in a month, all at the Rosen Plaza Hotel. She has made it her life’s goal to attend every conference at The Rosen, which could be as many as six per year. She is helping Stephanie plan the fake conference.

Vlad Horol, 27, from Chicago, IL considers himself now to be a recovering conference junkie. “I love conferences so much, that I became the UMJC Young Adult Liaison (YAL) as an excuse to attend conferences,” stated Horol. “But I’m married now and my wife, Rachel, told me it was unnecessary for me to attend so many conferences. As part of the recovery process, I stepped down as the YAL earlier this year and will try to limit my conferencing to two conferences per year.” “He’s fine,” Rachel chimed in. “Two conferences per year is more than enough. He’s just going to stick to our photography business, Yofi Photography, and he’ll be fine.”

There’s more to life than attending a conference every other month. If you or a friend spend all your time and money on Messianic conferences, please do not be afraid to ask for emotional support. The Messianic Meow is here for you.

UPDATE: We’ve just received word from AMF that they are not actually a conference, therefore Stephanie Escalante’s conference resume cannot include AMF.

Nate Benjamin Declared National Treasure, Asked to Tour With Hillsong United

nate-benjamin

New York City, NY – The Contemporary Christian worship band, Hillsong United, announced a brand new upcoming tour with special guest Messianic recording artist, Nate Benjamin. The announcement comes just two months after the band released the album “Of Dirt and Grace: Live from the Land,” which was recorded live in Israel, leading Christian fans to wonder where the direction of the band is headed.

“We recently just found out that Jesus is actually Jewish,” said band member and lead Pastor of Hillsong NYC, Joel Houston. “If that’s the case, then His people should be our people and His traditions should be our traditions. Nate shows up to Hillsong NYC from time to time. We heard he has a ‘spiritual crush’ on us and that he’s a Messianic Jewish recording artist, which is cool. I looked him up and listened to his Sacrifice of Worship EP and it’s really tight. He has a great sound. Easy on the eyes too. In fact, I’d even venture to say he’s a national treasure. But then again, I’m from Australia, so what do I know? Anyway, we’re doing a tour of songs from ‘Dirt and Grace’ so having a Jewish person open for us on this tour is perfect. The whole tour is gonna be Jew stuff. I don’t really know what our fans are going to think of all this, but we’re not doing this for them; we’re doing this for Jesus. Yeshua. That’s his Hebrew name: Yeshua.”

The new tour which will be titled ‘Ruth and Boaz’ is set to launch sometime around Christmas, with stops across The U.S. and Canada. Please visit natebenjamin.com or hillsong.com/united for more information, as well as some amazing music.

Messianic Musicians Come Together to Record Song to Raise Funds for Repeated Droughts in Israel

resizedimg247829-jpg

Murca – Nearly every recording artist in the Messianic movement has come together, in the style of live aid, to record a song to raise funds for the repeated droughts in Israel. In America, we pray for rain to stop, but in Israel they pray for it to start; perspective. The song “It Shall Rain Over All the Earth” was recorded over the course of two months and is expected to be released between Sukkot and Passover, when God causes the wind to blow and the rain to fall.

The cavalcade of Messianic stars includes the following artists: Corry Bell, Ted Pearce, Joel Chernoff, Paul Wilbur, Marty Goetz, Jamie H. of MIQEDEM, Shai Sol, Deborah Kline-Iatorno, Jeremiah & Hannah Zaretsky, Alumni from ‘Yeladim for Yeshua’ and ‘You Gotta Jump,’ former members of The Liberated Wailing Wall, former members of Blue Mosaic, The Havdalah Spice Girls (Beckah Shae, Sharon Wilbur, Misha Goetz, Elisha Chernoff, and Rebecca Rudolf), Nate Benjamin, Roman & Alaina, Jonathan Settel, Rabbi Jan Rosenberg, Matt Gliebe and Kimi Moore Padrick (NAVI), Isaac Faraco (How to Fly), Joshua Aaron, Dr Greg Silverman, Eric & Joanne Kragenbrink, Judah & Jennifer Morrison, Barry & Batya Segal, Kaily Teeter, and Margaret Alexander. There will also be a special rap verse by Hazakim, Jeremiah Kaufman, and Aviad Cohen.

The new single will be available on iTunes, mjaa.org, umjc.org, jewsforjesus.org, and jewishvoice.org for $10 and 100% of proceeds will go towards helping make it rain in Israel. The group calls themselves “It’s Raining Mensches” and hopes to be able to perform together at AMF 2.0.