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7 items tagged "JBlogoshere and jblogosphere"

November 24, 2008
8:54
Remember When Jameel Was A New Blogger
» ‎ The Muqata

So I was checking out my stats when I found that someone had come to me from Jameel's post: J-blogosphere Anthropologist - The Roarin' 60s.

I took a few minutes to read through the posts and the comments. Some of you probably think that he has always been the king of waffles, but at that point in time the waffle business was a long way off.

As I read through to the bottom I came across to links to other posts that cited Jameel's post. That included one that I had written called The Golden Age Of The JBlogosphere which linked to a post by Treppenwitz in which he discussed similar items.

And now here we are a bit farther removed from the first post and those that followed and I ask myself a few questions.

1) How do you determine when the "Golden Age" of the JBlogosphere is/was/will be?
2) Does it really matter and should we care?

But let's put the spotlight back on Jameel for a moment, after all it is his blog. You helped produce the Purim Podcast and a Jblogger conference. What is your next move, inquiring minds want to know.

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד
September 28, 2008
20:00
Jameel's Personal Rosh HaShana Message
» ‎ The Muqata

Dear JBlogosphere and others, (**see below for special update)

I'm reminded of the "outatime" license plate from "Back to the Future" --

since it's Erev Rosh HaShana, and there are so many posts I wanted to write, emails to send, good wishes to convey, and yet, I found myself without enough time to do so.

Luckily, I did managed to accomplish a few important items over the past few days
- completed a pruzbul- allocated loan money not to be affected by the pruzbul- managed to get to the bank today so I can pay our HVAC installer before Rosh HaShana- posted about the opportunity to help save a life.- went on milluim.- studied over shabbat with son #2 for his gemara test.
On the other hand, I didn't get to post about milluim, didn't post what I wanted to about Rosh HaShana, didn't post about Nefesh b"Befesh, didn't do a Treppenwitz-type post where he links to many friends of his, which is really a great idea (and I would do it if I had the time...) -- Treppenwitz even calls from time to time, "just to say hi" -- which is truly heart-warming that blog people call sometimes just to say hi.
And therefore, there's something I needed to say. This past year was rather amazing for me on a personal level -- as I managed to meet many of you in person (whether at the JBlogger convention, or in the US, or simply around Israel). Without a doubt, there's something to be learned from everyone, their take on life, their contribution to society, whatever it is that makes them unqiue -- and I appreciate meeting each and everyone one of you.
This past milluim, while sitting around in between exercises I took some pictures of our unit. To my surprise, someone said to me, "Are you going to put that on your blog?" And then another said, "don't put a smiley face on me...put a frowny face on me...", and yet another said, "make my face green"...and yet another said, "don't put anything on my face at all". I guess my blogger identity is quickly becoming the worst kept secret in the JBlogosphere. So I turned to the guy next to me, and said, you really read my blog? He replied that he and his wife read it religiously...
And with that comes responsibility. Not so much the pressure to post quality, informative, and entertaining content -- but that people are actually reading what goes up here. Blogs can ruin lives and have all sorts of negative consequences -- and I hope that this blog still manages to convey something positive.

Some people think that the virtual blogosphere means ignoring "reality" -- and I sincerely apologize if reality took second seat to the virtualness of the blog world.

Additionally, I would like to apologize if you sent me an email to which I didn't reply, to those who sent me links to publish and I didn't, to those I should have linked to...but didn't, and to those commenters who I should have acknowledged with followup comments -- but didn't. It was never malice -- just lack of time...or even a bit of laziness on my part, for which I'm sorry. Not any less important -- is that I'm sorry to those who were upset or offended by anything I may have written (what comes to mind is my posting about shabbat guests).
As we welcome the new year, may we all be inscribed in the books of health, well-being, repentance...and the book redemption. Redemption on a personal level and a national one. May this be a year of increased Jewish unity instead of divisiveness, and may the JBlogosphere bring about positive change.
Shana Tova -- a good year to all of us,
Jameel.

PS: Obligatory Srugim comment: I spoke to Laizy Shapiro for a minute today, and his message to you all is that he appreciates your comments and insights about the Srugim show (they put alot of thought into he writing of it, and many of your comments are spot on.). He also added, "its only a TV show".

Shana Tova!

** Special Update:

Thanks to everyones help & generousity, we managed to raise the full ammount to cover the costs of Gili's surgery.

Gili flew this morning to London, where she is supposed to undergo surgery on this comming Tuesday (first day rosh hashana).

Her name for tefilot is: גילי חיה צביה טובה בת רוית

Shana tova & ktiva vechatima tova

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד
August 26, 2008
3:24
The JBlogosphere Community?
» ‎ The Muqata

Wikipedia's Defintion of Community: A number of ways to categorize types of community have been proposed; one such breakdown is:

Geographic communities: range from the local neighbourhood, suburb, village, town or city, region, nation or even the planet as a whole. These refer to communities of location.

Communities of culture: range from the local clique, sub-culture, ethnic
group, religious, multicultural or pluralistic civilisation, or the global community cultures of today. They may be included as communities of need or identity, such as disabled persons, or frail aged people.

Community organizations: range from informal family or kinship networks, to more formal incorporated associations, political decision making structures, economic enterprises, or professional associations at a small, national or international scale.
Dov "he wants you to buy his book" Bear paraphrased R' Gil Student from Hirhurim as follows:
When Gil said that he didn't think the Jewish blogosphere is a true community the angels cried (Disagree) (I think he's dead right. Lots of different communities may exist within the J-blogopshere, but the J-blogosphere is not a community itself: We don't have common interests, and no one views the blogosphere as a distinct segment of society. We speak of aliya-nics, or skeptics, or TorahTrue-niks, not of "Jewish bloggers")
What does it mean, "the J-Blogosphere is not a community itself?"

Is Judaism today a community itself? Is Israel a community itself? When R' Gil said he wouldn't want to expose his readership to the "Haveil Havalim" blog carnival, does that mean he is anti-community? Of course not.

The lowest common denominators of Judaism and Israel today have eroded down to close to zero. What do Neturai Karta and Humanist Judaism have in common? The Chadash political party and Tekuma? The Treppenwitz blog and Lisa Goldman? DovBear and the Muqata? Jewlicious and Netanyahu (well, we know one is much funnier than the other one) I'm honestly shocked that the "Who is a Jew" controversy didn't materialize over the past JBlogger conference, since the exact same controversy is applicable to "Who is a JBlogger", or more precisely, "What is the JBlogosphere 'community'?" It's rather silly for DovBear to say "the J-blogosphere is not a community itself: We don't have common interests, and no one views the blogosphere as a distinct segment of society." One could say the exact same thing about Jews. What common interest does a Neturay Karta Jew from Kiryas Joel have with a skeptic orthoprax Jew, a totally athiest Jew, and an aliya-minded minded Jew? Perhaps nothing, but they are part of the "Jewish Community" (even if some of them would hate the defintion, and would scream and rant that they have nothing to do with each other) -- and yet there was far more criticism of calling last week's event, a "JBlogger convention" than say, a UJA appeal. No organization, company, or event has a monopoly on the "JBlogosphere." No one owns it, runs it, manipulates it, or controls it -- JBloggers write what they wish. whenever they want, and however they want. It's open to pretty much anyone. To all those harping against the community aspect of it -- give it a rest. I found lots of new friends through it -- even though others think its insane to find friends through any sort of virtual "sphere." I found many new ideas through it, learned alot, and contribute my point of view. And I had a blast meeting so many of you in the US and at the convention Contribute to the KCC or Haveil Havalim, lurk around it, or ignore it -- it doesnt really change the "community" apsect of it. The JBlogosphere exists, just as the "Jewish Community" exists. Yet don't overdo it -- as CK from Jewlicious said at the convention, "maybe you should get out more often...get a bike or something."

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד
August 22, 2008
13:16
Haaretz on the JBlogger Convention
» ‎ The Muqata

Still reeling from the Anti-Haaretz backlash in the JBlogosphere over the previous smear piece on the JBlogger convention, Haaretz came clean and reported the convention AS IT WAS.
More than 200 Jewish bloggers, most of them immigrants from North America, attended the First International Jewish Bloggers Convention in Jerusalem this past Wednesday. Attendees seemed as much if not more interested in meeting fellow bloggers than in panel discussions dedicated to the agenda of taking Jewish blogging to the next level. "Everybody knew already how to get traffic, so there was nothing new," said German-born Miriam Woelke, publisher of several blogs about Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox communities in Israel.

"It's kind of nice to see faces of people that I only read online," David Abitbol, one of the panelists and founder of Jewlicious, told Haaretz. The anonymous author of Chardal, who moved from Los Angeles to Yad Binyamin last year, said that putting faces to names was indeed his main reason for attending the conference. "I have conversations with these people all the time, but they are faceless people. It's nice to have a normal conversation."

While all blogs represented at the conference dealt in some way or another with life in Israel, the spectrum ranged from immigration through carrying guns in Israel to discussions of Jewish law, board games and interior design. Another 1,300 bloggers followed a live Web cast of the event on their computer screens.
While many were asked by the Haaretz reporter if they thought it was inappropriate for Netanyahu to be giving such a long speech, and to be present in the first place, the respectfully covered it as it was:
The keynote event of the half-day conference, which was organized by the pro-immigration group Nefesh B'Nefesh, was a speech by former prime minister and current opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, which touched on his campaign more
than blogging. The Foreign Ministry also made a presentation on branding Israel in a better way.
Rounding off the article with my my new best friend, Benji Lovitt, I think Haaretz did a great job covering the convention.
The blogosphere gives everyone a voice and there's lots of great hasbara [public relations] we can do at a grassroots level," said Texas-born Benji Lovitt, a 33-year-old comedian and author of What War Zone???, a blog that takes a humorous look on everyday life in Israel. "My approach is to try to show that Israel is more than you see on CNN. It's actually not the scary, depressing place you think it might be but it's a place of vibrancy and fun and blogging is a way to spread the word about that."
See Haaretz? If you will it, it is no dream. And the conference was lots of fun. Thanks to Nefesh b'Nefesh for hosting it, to WebAds for Powering it, and to the sponsors IsraelMall [including the WaffleMaker raffle], Sun [with the fun t-shirts as well], and Office Depot. (And of course, DovBear and his parsha book raffle)
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד
August 21, 2008
12:51
Post Convention Thoughts
» ‎ The Muqata

Was fun to see many of you there yesterday.

Comments I received:

"You're alot less scary looking in real life than I imagined"

"Where's your beard? How can you be a settler without a beard?"

"Why didn't you bring waffles with you?"

"You look too young to be your age"

"I don't believe you're really Jameel"

"No yellow smiley? I'm dissappointed"

"Hey everyone (pointing to me) -- THIS GUY'S JAMEEL"

"Why are you anonymous -- is your blog too stupid for you to want to take credit for it?"

"Where's Joe Settler?"

"Is that guy (doubletapper) for real?"

"Can you please explain the waffle thing again?"

"Are you really promoting the DovBear parsha book?"

"How can I get srugim on DVD..."

"I was sure you lived in Beit-El"

Overall, seeing many, many of you was very rewarding, and it was a pleasure. I'd love to link to each and everyone of you in this post, but I'm on vacation for a bit so I have to keep this short for now, but it really was an honor to see you all.

I'll be back.

Regards,

Jameel

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד
August 20, 2008
13:16
Today is JBlogger Convention Day!
» ‎ The Muqata

Good Morning JBlogosphere! (OK, it's late morning).

Gil has just finished eating a bowl of Cheerios in the Promised Land and got misty eyed when reciting Al-Hamichya. (BTW, IIRC, the "Holy Land" concept is sort of foreign to us, and the term "Promised Land" is much more correct).

Don't forget (how could you?). Today is the JBlogger Conference in Jerusalem (sponsored by Nefesh B'Nefesh and Powered by WebAds) and if you cant show up (don't bother registering to appear in person if you haven't already, the convention is wait listed, over-packed, and standing room only) -- however, you CAN register to see it Broadcast LIVE, ONLINE from the comfort of your own personal space. Actually - the register link is gone, replaced by the Webcast link itself. Regardless, it's here.

CORRECTION - If you haven't registered you can still watch live from the registration page, you just can't participate in the chat room.

The broadcast starts today, at 5:30 PM Israel time, 10:30 AM, New York/Eastern Daylight Savings Time, 8:30 AM HolyHyrax and Jack Pacific Daylight Savings Time -- see you there!
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד
August 13, 2008
17:00
What is a JBlogger?
» ‎ The Muqata

This has been bothering me for a while.

When I mentioned the JBlogger convention to another blogger a few weeks back, he reacted with surprise, "Who would ever want to go to a JBlogger convention? Its just a bunch of grumpy complainers who criticize everything."

That took me aback. "Is my blog one big rant?"

No

"How about these blogs? (And I listed a whole bunch)"

No, they aren't either.

"Well, why do you think they are all negative?"

Truth is, he did have a point. You can easily spot the negative blogs...and many of them by the level of complaining they had towards the upcoming JBlogger convention (thought not all).

"Why aren't there Arabs in the JBlogger convention? Why is it a right-wing looney settler convention? Why aren't Orthodox bashers invited? This is representative?!"

There are blogs that harp almost exclusively on many issues that plague the Jewish and Israeli world. Be it bashing Rubashkins, exposing dangers to the Jewish community from within, or kvetching in general. In fact, I personally started out that way as well - almost exclusively ranting at Israel's Disengagement from Gaza and the Northern Shomron. What I realized soon enough was that ranting alone wouldn't change anything (except for letting me blow off steam).

Yes, you can still blog and be a grump, but those aren't the people I'd want to meet in person.

To build a readership one needs a lot more than negativity. To interact with the JBlogosphere, no one wants to see a mega-kvetcher.

The best JBloggers mix it all together; sometimes a kvetch, a story, something insightful, a thought on Torah, maybe many thoughts about the importance of Israel, controversy in Israel, issues in the community here and abroad, some politics and an occasional waffle.

It takes all kinds to build a community, virtual or real-life. Those that I enjoy meeting and would be interested in meeting are the funny, positive, interesting ones...those who want to make a difference. The sort of people you would want as friends or neighbors.

When I first joined the JBlogosphere, I felt like a Johnnie-come-lately who had missed the boat.

I'm glad I was wrong.

Looking forward to seeing you at the JBlogger Convention next week (you can view it via the web as well), or at the SerandEz/BeyondBT melaveh malka on Motzei Shabbat in Queens.

Or around the JBlogosphere.

Signing off for now...flying tonight.

--Jameel

PS: Read the following as well by Aussie Dave, "The Egoes Have Landed" -- hat-tip to Juggling Frogs!

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

A Peek into Others' mind » Tags » JBlogoshere and jblogosphere

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7 items tagged "JBlogoshere and jblogosphere"

Remember When Jameel Was A New Blogger

Jameel's Personal Rosh HaShana Message

The JBlogosphere Community?

Haaretz on the JBlogger Convention

Post Convention Thoughts

Today is JBlogger Convention Day!

What is a JBlogger?