We here at Semitism are proud as punch that we were nominated for the Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards under the Best Left Wing Blog category. The competition is stiff, for sure. There are some terrific blogs out there and they all deserve attention.
If readers are so inclined, I’d sure appreciate your vote. The process for voting is a bit complicated, but I think if you go here, and click on Best Left Wing Political Blog Nominations - Group A, you should be able to cast your ballot.
Meanwhile, be sure to check out some of the other nominated blogs. There are terrific nominees in all categories - I even found some right-wing blogs I like. It’s a nice way to explore the Jewish blogosphere.
My thanks to all the readers who visit Semitism.
It you’ve not found them already, there are a couple of great new Israel-Palestine blogs sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace.
Muzzlewatch is something we’ve needed for a long time - a blog devoted specifically to tracking and combating efforts by the right to stifle free debate on Zionism and the occupation among American Jews.
It’s managed by the inimitable Cecilie Surasky, who manages to track everything going on in the Jewish community by the hour, post several times a day, and keep up a running battle with wingnuts in the comments section.
Come join the fray - we need you!
I should also mention that Cecilie has been kind enough to invite me to contribute some material to Muzzlewatch. There’s a satiric piece of mine up there called “Moses: the First Jewish Anti-Semite (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the AJC)” that Semitism readers might enjoy.
Plus, you can take a quiz to find out if you, yourself, are a liberal anti-Semite.
The other new JVP blog is The Third Way, Mitchell Plitnick’s knowledgeable and interesting analysis of Mideast politics.
It’s great to have new voices in the Israel-Palestine blogging arena. I hope readers will visit these sites, subscribe to the rss feeds, and comment there - it’s what keeps bloggers going, you know.
I know. It looks different. Here’s the explanation…
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Apparently this is a Faith Blog. I had no idea. I sort of thought it was a Spleen Blog - i.e. a place to rant about the ever-frustrating, often tragic and occasionally hopeful Israel-Palestine situation. But along the way, writing from a Jewish perspective about the conflict, I’ve found myself writing more and more about Judaism itself. Other things have happened too. My kids got old enough for me to consider the challenges of raising them Jewish in America. I found a synagogue I love. My wife began studying Buddhism, which gave us both a new outlook on prayer and ritual observance. And I had lunch with Rachel. That’s how I found out that this is a faith blog, and got involved in planning the first Progressive Faith Blog Conference. Here’s the story…
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Hey, here’s some good news. Lawrence of Cyberia is blogging again. Her fans definitely noted her absence, checking back sadly every few weeks to see her 17.August Quote of the Week ("Israel is running out of time…") and wondering if she’d be coming back. She did! The new quote, from recently deceased soccer hero George Best, is "I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars - the rest I just squandered..."
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Old friends and new. I had the privilege of eating lunch a couple of weeks ago with Rachel Barenblat, the author of one of my favorite blogs, Velveteen Rabbi (subtitle: "When can I run and play with the real rabbis?"). I’d been reading it for a while. Rachel is a wonderful source of information on Jewish rituals and traditions. She doesn’t spell out the halakic details of how to observe, say Sukkot. Instead she writes beautifully about the palm leaves used in the service - where they come from, different interpretations of their meaning, and the tastes and scents of canning them afterward…
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I have been putting off writing this, half hoping the situation would change, but it looks like it’s final - Brad Brooks-Rubin is leaving Semitism.net. He’s taking a new job and, for reasons of time and to avoid any conflict of interest, he won’t be able to post here anymore. I’m not sure how much he’d want me to say about his new position; but readers can be assured that he’ll be in the public sector, and continuing to work for a better world. I wanted to take a little space to appreciate all that Brad has done for this site, and for the dialogue on Israel and Palestine, in the time that he’s been writing here…
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