Yesterday there were no blog posts, and I apologize for it. One of the people murdered in the terror attack in Jerusalem (Har Nof) was a dear friend. We spent the day with the family supporting them and helping them before, during and after the funeral.

Besides for not being online much during the day, there was nothing I wanted to post, considering the situation.

And I apologize if the few posts that go up today might be a bit morbid, but that's what is on my mind right now.

But life goes on, and we will overcome, and we will get back to normal. Today I have a simcha of a hachnasas sefer torah to attend. That's our lives. We go from mourning to joy, back to mourning, back to joy. We just wish for more joy than mourning.

In a rare moment of patting myself on the back and plugging my site, I can say that over 2.5 months ago I pointed out a trend of religious women, associated with the Haredi community, running for elections in city councils across the country.

I first pointed to Ruth Kolian of Petach Tikva and later to Shira Georgi of Tzfat when I called it a trend. Later Esther Vahav joined the race in Tiberias, but by then there was no need to mention it, as the trend had already been out in the open.

It seems the Haredi media is much slower on picking up these trends. It only caught on to it just now...

You get your commentary and news on Jewish and Israeli life here on Life in Israel well before you get it elsewhere.. (it happens to be true of many of the long-time bloggers)

There is a new English, free, newspaper being distributed around a number of cities of Israel, called the Voice. The paper is part of the 5 Towns Jewish Times family of newspapers. I picked up a copy of the first edition this past week, and it was pretty interesting, with good articles.

There was one article in particular that caught my attention, and I have since found it on the 5 Towns Jewish Times website. It is the article by Rav Aryeh  Z Ginzberg entitled "Those Killer Comments". In the article Rabbi Ginzberg calls to task anonymous bloggers and commenters (he uses the word "commentators" - I am not sure if someone who leaves a comment on a blog is a commenter or a commentator), for writing with a "level of hate" and even outright cruelty. He says they hide behind their anonymity and take advantage of it to speak harshly, in a way that Jews by nature do not speak. He calls them (us?) digital rotzchim, and while he admits that there are surely bigger issues in Judaism to worry about,  this is an embarrassing and hurtful phenomenon that must be abandoned.

Some people have taken great offense at Rav Ginzberg's article. They look at it as if he is trying to shut everyone up so they can continue running the show, so to speak, and being the one's to determine what is discussed and how it is discussed in the public forum, ensuring that nothing against the establishment and authority figures will be said with any strength.

There might be something to this, but I don't think he is calling for anything so sinister. And even if that is his intention in his greater picture, I think we can take his micro point in the article and improve ourselves. Just because there are greater issues in Judaism that need to be fixed, and surely there are, that does not mean that we should, that we must, ignore the lesser issues. They are not mutually exclusive, and one can work to improve and solve both the greater issues and the lesser issues. There is no obligation to only focus on the greater issues.

Yes, bloggers and commenters have done great things, exposing corruption, sex offenders, abusive personalities, denouncing criminals that get a free pass in general society and discussing issues that much of the mainstream frum media is not willing to touch and discuss. And perhaps most importantly, a forum has been created allowing the people to talk, to discuss, to grapple with the issues, the questions, explore the possibilities and the answers, at an unprecedented level.

However, Rav Ginzberg is correct at a certain level. People do hide behind anonymity, and take advantage of this anonymity to talk in ways they never would if their identity were known. Personally, I think anybody anonymous, anybody not willing to put their name to their opinion, can and should be ignored. I believe if a person has a belief that he wishes to express, he should put his name to his opinion, put his credibility behind his words. I do understand why some people don't - they feel they cannot say what they want as their will be repercussions if they do - but i don't think that it is right. People should put their name behind their words, or keep it to themselves. This is not an attempt to stifle discussion, but to broaden the discussion - to have people discuss the issues in appropriate language and tone, while voicing credible opinions.

With the reality being that anonymous comments and blogs are here to stay, we must bear some responsibility for our words. Just because nobody knows who I am, as I am commenting with an anonymous name, does not mean I can hide behind that to talk in ways that are hurtful. Asking that of people does not have to be stifling the conversation.

Perhaps in the broader sense Rav Ginzberg's ultimate goal is to stifle the conversation  - I don't know. if that is his goal, I reject it. I believe there is a place for the blogger and the commenter, hopefully with their names behind their opinions, but even without. Not only do I believe it, today's world is changed because of it - people are becoming more aware that what they do that they used to think was easy to hide and keep secret, no longer can be done so easily. Hopefully it forces people to improve their behavior, to be more true to the public they supposedly represent, to the ideals they espouse. However, the open forum provided by the internet could bear some cleaning up, by the people themselves, and writing should be done more responsibly, with respect for each other and their opinions. Disagree respectfully. Expose responsibly.

The following is a joint statement being put out by a number of bloggers, myself included. if you agree with the sentiments expressed, feel free to copy it to your blog or website.

A little over a month ago, a number of rabbis signed onto a ban that forbade advertising on
or otherwise working with the website VosIzNeias. This ban singled out one website without
addressing other websites or public forums like newspapers or magazines. The singling out of
a solitary website raises many questions, particularly when newspapers in the same community
regularly publish arguably libelous stories and online discussion forums for the community are
essentially unbounded by civility. Additionally, VosIzNeias has publicly stated that it has already
raised its standards and is willing to do even more with rabbinic guidance, provided the same
guidelines are applied to its competitors.

Bans of this nature are generally brought into fruition by activists and this one is attributed to
a specific activist who seems to have business and political interests in this ban. He ignored
VosIzNeias’ request to meet with the rabbis in order to explore ways to satisfy their concerns.
With this ban, the activist is threatening the commercial viability of the VosIzNeias business.

We have now received reports of continued harassment by this activist, who is threatening to
publicly denounce people, companies and charitable organizations who continue to cooperate
with the website. He has also reportedly threatened to remove the kosher certification of
companies that fail to adhere to the ban. However, on being contacted, the activist behind
the ban denied all knowledge of this harassment and attributed it to someone acting without
authorization. We are, therefore, making no formal accusation as to who is conducting this
campaign of harassment.

To the best of our understanding, this activity is illegal. One individual told us he reported that
harassment to the police.

Harassing good people with threats is illegal and inexcusable. We call on rabbis and people of
good faith to denounce this behavior, and we encourage victims to respond to this activist as
follows:

If he calls or e-mails you or your organization, thank him for bringing the ban to your attention
and say that you will decide how to proceed after consulting with your rabbi or other advisor.
And because of rumors that there is harassment involved in this matter, you regret having to tell
him that if he contacts you or anyone else in your organization again, you will have to report him
to the police.

We have a copy of an e-mail forwarded to us by people involved, which includes a pseudonym
and phone number, and we have been told of intimidating phone calls. Note that at this time we
are withholding this activist's identity. If he continues harassing people, we will have to be less
discrete.

Signed,

Rafi G./Life in Israel and other bloggers

I am taking the day off of blogging. Unless something crazy happens, don't expect any posts today (after this one).

Enjoy

Mark Daly, an Irish politician who had planned to be on the Gaza flotilla, and was prepared to take a letter to Gilad Shalit, has agreed to answer questions at Dov bear.

be respectful and head over to the post and ask your questions.

Somebody asked Rav Sherlo, on the Moreshet website, a shailo if blogging is permitted on Chol Hamoed.

The question is posed three-fold, specifically, but not limited to, his blog which contains Torah content:

1. Is it prohibited to write a blog on Chag, especially if the content is not specifically connected to the chag and to the Chol Hamoed?
2. Is it permitted to write a blog on Chol Hamoed about the question "if blogging on Chol Hamoed is a denigration of the holiday", especially if the authors conclusion or his posek's conclusion is that writing blogs on Chol Hamoed about general issues is prohibited?
3. Would writing a blog on Chol Hamoed be considered a "Davar Ha'Aveid" - something that will be lost if not done in a timely fashion - as regular blog readers might stop following the blog [if they do not see new posts] (and this might cause them to read other blogs that have less Torah content)?

The questions seem a bit convoluted to me. I don't even know if I understand the 2nd question. He should have just asked is blogging about general content allowed or prohibited, and is blogging about Torah content allowed or prohibited? But I guess his shailoh was more personal and less general, so he was asking specifically about his blogging.

Rav Sherlo's answer was that: Blogs on Torah related materials can be written on Chol HaMoed, for a couple of reasons:

1. writing on a computer is generally not considered by the poskim as writing, in regards to requiring it to be for the needs of Chol Hamoed.
2. There is extra reason to be lenient when writing words of Torah.
3. Even more so, it is preferable that people should surf to sites such as these [sites of Torah content]
   

If the conclusion of the poskim would have been that it is prohibited, it would be brazen to write a blog on Chol Hamoed, like toiveling in a mikveh while holding a sheretz, unlessit was for the purpose of avoiding issurim.

Blogs that are closed, that might cause its readers to abandon it for other sites, and they have intrinsic value in their existence, how much more so is it justified to be written on Chol Hamoed.

While Rav Sherlo is specifically addressing a site with Torah content, as he discusses the added value of the Torah content as extra reasons for allowing the blogging and updating of material and content, he is also allowing general blogging to be done on Chol Hamoed. Both with the hetter of it being considered "a loss" because of readers abandoning it, and with the hetter of it not being considered writing.

I particularly liked the hetter of it being a "davar aveid" because of the decrease in readership.

(Thank you David for letting me know about the tshuva on the train this morning)

"Sorry I missed the election that made you spokesman for the neighborhood."

That is the text of an email I received last night. That's it - nothing more. No name, no further explanation.

This was sent to me in response to an email that I sent to the local list describing the letter I sent to the director of Superbus, and his phone call to me. I am not sure where this person saw in any of the correspondence an indication that I consider myself a spokesperson for the community. I assume this person feels that nobody has a right to voice their opinion on anything, because in reality that is all I was doing. I was participating in a conversation and describing a conversation I had. I think I have as much right as anybody else, including the anonymous sender of the email, to voice my own opinion.

And whether I am spokesperson, which I am not but let's just say theoretically, or somebody else is, I guess this person prefers that Superbus management (who admitted to making this decision on their own) be the spokesperson for the community dictating to us how our neighborhood should look. And if not Superbus, then this person prefers that the various kannoim and rabble rousers be the spokespeople for the community.

This is not a popularity contest and I am not running for anything, so the sender of the email can have his or her own opinion, and if they prefer not to have one they can choose to follow the opinion of whomever they want.

But I still have a right to my own opinion.

But all that is beside the point. The truth is that the email was a bit of a kick in the pants. I therefore want to give a disclaimer for this blog.

I am the author of the Life in Israel blog. This blog is where I voice my opinions. That is it.

I am nobody's spokesperson, I talk for nobody else.

I simply talk about various topics that interest me in various ways, and I try to keep my readers interested and entertained. If you don't like my opinion, you are welcome to either argue with me and point out the error of my ways (I have even been known to once in a while change my opinion based on someone else sharing their viewpoint with me), to read my blog and just tsk tsk at my misguided life, or to go read someone else's blog.

This blog is open to the public. I have provided this as a place where other people can freely (even anonymously) voice their opinion on anything they like, and I try to encourage people to keep it respectful. I am proud to say that this forum has been found to be a fairly comfortable place for people to express their thoughts, myself included, and debate the issues openly.

But I speak for nobody. I am not the spokesperson for any of the following groups (in no particular order):

• frum jewry
• haredi Jewry
• national religious Jewry
• Modern Orthodox Jewry
• Conservative Jewry
• Reform Jewry
  
• Atheists
• Yerushalmim
• Hassidim
• American Jewry
• Israeli Jewry
• Russian Jewry
• Bet Shemesh people
• RBS B people
• RBS A people
• Kirya Haredi people
• Jerusalemites
• Tel Avivians
• Chicagoans
• Married People
• Parents
• shochtim
• bloggers
  
• marathon runners
• politicians
• computer people
• employees
• bankers
• lawyers
• rabbis
  
• doctors
• prisoners
• tech geeks
• Facebook users
• Twitter users
• my family (correct, I do not even speak for them)
• anybody else

I speak for myself, and nobody should think otherwise. If I happen to say something you agree with, consider it pure chance, or think that we are probably both wrong.

Perhaps I needed that email to remind me that I speak for myself, and myself alone.

But I have every right to voice my opinion.

The NBN conference last night was great. It was a well-organized event, with good food, and it was nice to meet fellow bloggers and readers, many of whom I am in fairly regular contact with, either via the blogs or via email. I am not going to list names of people I met, because I am sure to forget someone...

The best part of the evening was when Bibi got up to speak and he took a moment to look around and comment on a couple of blog names. He scrunched up his face in wonderment and said, "Jewlicious?". Everybody laughed and after a moment, the Jewlicious rep said, "Netanyahu?"! Everybody roared in laughter, including Bibi. But Bibi is sharp and humurous and retorted, "But my name is in the Bible!"

The panel discussions were interesting and humurous. All the panelists were great. Hesh from Frum Satire was funny and even had a shout out to me when he spoke about a former commenter named ed who used to rant a lot unintelligently and saw I knew about him..

Two things I thought were lacking:

1. A list of who was present should have been given out. It seemed awkward to walk around looking at people chests trying to read the name tags and trying to figure out if this is someone you were looking for. Knowing who would be there would have been nice so I could know to look for them and not to look for others who were not there...
2. The theme was taking blogging to the next level. There was very little of that and really very little useful information. The panels were made up of the really big bloggers, and one would think that they are doing more, and have at least some more insights, than us little guys. Write for you, put your blog url in your signature, get links, etc. are all good advice, but pretty basic and something most of us already do. I was a bit surprised to see that they did not have anything special to mention. I guess it just means there is nothing special about them, and anybody can reach that level, if they just continue writing well, with passion, and get hooked up with massive lists that link to you once in a while..

They were also raffling off Dov Bear's new book. I thought I should get a free copy as a contributor to Dov Bear's blog, but that is not happening. Needless to say, I did not win the book. Also they raffled off a waffle maker that I did not win. I never win raffles, so I had no expectations and therefore no disappointments.

Overall it was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to next years conference.

Sorry for the lack of posting. I took a day off to go shecht (a post on it will be coming) and now I have a ton to catch up on....

I am thrilled to announce the First International Jewish Bloggers Convention – Hosted by Nefesh B’Nefesh, and Powered by WebAds.

The theme of the convention is “Taking JBlogging to the Next Level”.

This convention will be a great opportunity to meet other Jewish bloggers from all around the world, to network, to learn, and just have fun.

There will be panel discussions with leading Jewish bloggers from around the world on issues such as how to be a more influential blogger, how to increase your traffic, and blogging on issues related to Israel and Aliyah.

The keynote speaker will be Zavi Apfelbaum, Director - Brand Management Team, Foreign Ministry of the State of Israel.

Zavi is in charge of a new initiative by the Government of Israel, to promote pro-Israel branding and PR on the Internet, particularly in interactive forums such as blogs.

Among the bloggers on the various panels will be Treppenwitz, Jewlicious, Hirhurim, My Shrapnel, and others (see the website for all the name).

Also offering a special guest performance, direct from America, and right off the special Nefesh B'Nefesh Blogger flight, will be the comedy of FrumSatire.

As it’s a convention (of Jews), there will also be great food.

The convention will be on Wednesday, August 20^th from 5pm to 9pm (Israel time) in Jerusalem.

Space is limited and registration is required, you can register to attend in person, or watch it all by webcam and forum.

Registration is here...

This promises to be an exciting event and we look forward to seeing you all there.

I have re-enabled comments - for everyone. Even anonymous. Hopefully the spammer is gone, but for now I am at least leaving it set to moderation, so there might be a slight delay in your comments actually being published.

If I see the guy is gone, I will remove moderation as soon as possible.

Thanks for your understanding and sorry for the inconvenience.

Sorry, but my comment spammer has been incessantly attacking this blog non-stop. I set moderation, and that just gave me a ton of work because he still left me tons of spam that I had to sift through. So for the next few days I have disabled comments completely (except for blog members which is just me).

Hopefully he will then move on to someone else's blog and leave me alone, and allow me to open it up to you again..

No more anonymous commenting. Sorry for the inconvenience. Some anonymous comment spammer has been leaving way too much spam recently, so this is, my hopefully a temporary, effort to urge him to leave his spam elsewhere.

If it works, I will open anonymous commenting again as soon as possible.

Sorry for the dearth of posts. The one thing, aside from politics which I have been trying to post less and less of, that I keep thinking about nowadays, especially when thinking about posting, is a shmitta related post.

Shmitta is at the forefront of my thoughts right now and I really want to write a comprehensive post on the topic. The problem is I still have a bunch of issues that are unresolved and questions that bother me regarding shmitta. I am doing a lot of research and trying to come to some answers. When I do, I will write the post.

In the meantime, my blogging might be spotty, or even worse, weak.

We will be back up and running as normal any day now. I have a number of posts I am in the middle of. Some might be on events that you have already read about elsewhere - events that happened within the two weeks I was away, and then I will be back to current...

Be patient though, it might take a few days to gte back to normal - I have to get settled at work and home and get things back to schedule..

Sorry for not posting anything today (other than the HH link). I am felling kinda brain dead and lethargic after Lag B'Omer...

As I make my way through the haggada, lots of new posts are going up at my Yontiff Thoughts blog. Check it out.

I have started posting my Pesah related posts on Yontiff Thoughts blog... be sure to check it out.. Yontiff Thoughts

with a new url. Welcome back.