A great new resource for anyone teaching or studying Nach - Rabbi Alex Israel's new blog: Bekiut Nach. He is starting with Melachim bet, which is where he left off with his students, but hopefully he will review the rest of nevi'im rishonim for us as well!
This is a long overdue apology to my readers. As you can see MO Woman was on a long blogging break. I am not totally sure I am back yet, but could not resist a few posts today.
I am always so appreciative of all the work put into Haveil Havalim, (the weekly round-up of Jewish and Israeli blogs) by Soccer Dad and others. Hosting this week is my way of saying THANKS!
I have divided my round-up into two major categories - blogs about Judaism and blogs about Israel. However, there are obviously many more nuanced sub-categories within these two groups, and I hope nobody feels misrepresented. I have also highlighted posts from some of my favorite blogs.
Before I begin I just want to say that I for one am glad that the Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards are finally over. Mazal Tov to all of the winners (which will be announced Feb. 9) and kol hakavod to the Jerusalem Post and Israelly Cool for all of their efforts.
Jewish Blogs:
Highlights from my Jewish blogs "daily reads":
Others Jewish blog posts which may be of interest:
A Simple Jew's exchange on the Tanya's view of Discontent. Because I'm in My Twenties... attempt at cartoons, Jack's Shack bonding with his young daughter, The Ignoble Experiment on a Jewish theme in classical music, Jewish Blogmeister on Superbowl and Kashrut, Chayyei Sarah and JDater's Anonymous on dating older men, a post about Orthodox teens and blogging on my blog MO Woman, Chaim Steinmetz on the Jewish view of the mining tragedy, AJHistory commemorates his cousin's second yarzheit, Bava Dilbert on wearing a kippah, Renegade Rebbetzin on her shul "dorks," Mirty on going to shul as a family, and Orthomom considers Kollel track for her kids. Finally, there was lively discussion about the Jewish Religion category over at the JIB awards (including accusations of ballot stuffing) at Godol Hador, Dov Bear and Cross Currents.
Israel Blogs:
Here are some highlights from my Israel blog daily reads:
There was a lot of difficult news here in Israel this week from the violence in Amona to the tragic death of Yosef Goodman. Blogs on Amona (in no particular order): Westbankblog, Greetings from the French Hill, Shiloh Musings, Israel Matzav, Life in Israel, My Obiter Dicta, Ben Chorin, Dutch Blog, Bloghead. On Yosef Goodman's tragic accident this week: Treppenwitz, his wife Zahava and Israelly Cool.
On Iran: JudeoPundit, Greetings from the French Hill. On reactions to the Danish cartoons: PhishAliyah, Lost in Bec's World, Bloghead. On Hamas' victory: SoccerDad, SerandEz, Adloyada and Musings of a Jewish Soul.
Solomonia on Sari Nusseibah's need for protection, The Ignoble Experiment on a Zionism class on campus, Daled Amos on Arafat and Che Guevera, aliya story from If you will it, Daniel Hershtal on getting the Anglo vote, Life in Israel on Tzedaka Spam, and Adloyada on Israeli graffiti.
To end on a positive note: Jerusalem Revealed shares great news!
Note: Next week's Haveil Hevelim will be hosted by AbbaGav.
Also note: To have a Carnival entry listed on the ÜberCarnival, it must include a link back to the ÜberCarnival home page.
I have volunteered in a moment of insanity to host this coming week's Haveil Havalim #56. Submissions are welcome at mowoman at gmail dot com.
(For those of you who are not yet familiar, Haveil Havalim is the weekly round up of Jewish and Israeli blog postings, created by Soccer Dad and hosted by different bloggers each week.)
Rabbi Jeffrey Kobrin just asked the following on the LookJed email list (a fantastic resource for Orthodox Jewish educators):
Does anyone have any ideas for dealing with the repercussions of high school students who indiscriminately post their observations of school, life, their teachers, parents, and each other in blogs?
Beyond a review of the basic issues of lashon hara (one colleague noted that the effect of such blogs is perfectly analogous to the feather pillow being gutted and released to the winds), does anyone have any ideas how to address such an issue with teens, whether one-on-one or in group settings? How do we get beyond the student perception that we, their teachers, are merely behind the times?
Jeffrey Kobrin's question is itself evidence that he is very much in tune with what is presently popular among his students.
Teenagers are probably the fastest growing blogging group. The Pew Internet and American Life Project Report states:
Teens are often much more enthusiastic authors and readers of blogs than their adult counterparts. Teen bloggers, led by older girls, are a major part of this tech-savvy cohort.
Given that this is the case, teachers have a real opportunity to teach young bloggers about how to blog responsibly. This can be done by incorporating blogging into the school curriculum and by indirectly influencing how teens blog independently.
Here are some suggestions for ways to introduce blogs into the classroom:
As Rabbi Kobrin points out, the fact that a teacher even knows about blogging will be considered "cool" by their students.
Teachers can also talk to students about blogging beyond the classroom. Informal discussions about the positive and negative uses of blogs will clarify for students what is an appropriate or inappropriate way to blog.
(One of the great things about blogs is that they are interactive, and so I also encourage readers to post further suggestions about how to teach teens to blog responsibly here).
Thanks to everyone who helped me reach round two of the Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards!
The Godol Hador (another blogger) discusses why those of us who have been nominated for the Best Jewish Religion Blog don't actually qualify exactly (mostly he's joking... I think). Here is what he says about MO Woman:
Now Modern Orthodox Woman could have qualified, but she has an untzniusdick picture of Barbie. Thats not Religion, that's Pritzus! Disqualified.
If you believe in the freedom to post "untzniusdick pictures of Barbie" on blogs, feel free to make your statement by voting for me.
I have kindly been nominated in 3 different categories for the Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards. If you would like to vote for MO Woman, here are the categories I have been nominated for (If you really like this blog, you can even vote every three days, and if you really dislike it, you can set up a new blog called "Jewish Women Should Cook Chicken Soup, Not Blog"):
Best New Blog 2005
Best Jewish Religion Blog
Best Post (Finding Musar in Children's Books)
Kol Hakavod to Israellycool and the Jerusalem Post for putting this together. The best part of the process is all of the publicity that we Jewish and Israeli bloggers are getting. You should also check out some of the other great blogs up for awards.
May the best man (or woman, or blog) win.
The NY Times reported today that Amazon has just begun a new program called Amazon Connect, through which readers can access blogs by individual authors. Many authors already have their own websites, but as the article points out, this move opens up two-way conversations between readers and authors.
Apparently one of the reasons this project was initiated was the recent decline in book sales:
Amazon is one of the many players in the publishing business trying to find new ways to increase the visibility of authors at a time when book sales are flat and other forms of entertainment are commanding ever-greater portions of the public's wallet.
My latest Jewish blog review:
Renegade Rebbetzin is written anonymously by a humorous, caring woman (who happens to be married to a rabbi). Her blog discusses the challenges and expectations of being a "rebbetzin," and any woman in a similar position will find tremendous comfort and catharsis in her posts. Some background: in order to protect her anonymity, she calls all shul members Phil, Sadie or Max. Her blog is a real reminder that being married to a pulpit rabbi is a more than full-time job (whether or not you want it to be), with plenty of behind-the-scenes effort.
Ren-Reb also discusses how sometimes people view her differently from her husband, while other times what she actually does is not all that different. Ren-Reb also sometimes shares with readers some of the random Google searches which bring people to her site. She has been blogging since Sept. 2004.
I just want to welcome fellow blogger Jerusalem Revealed to Ra'anana. She has already caught the I love Ra'anana (and it's private sanitation department) bug!
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