The JackB

"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'." Groucho Marx

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Haveil Havalim- The Plain Edition

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Who would have ever thunk a drive-in in Buffalo would be the headquarters for the 117th edition of Haveil Havalim. I suppose that using a drive-in dates me. It is probably a good 15 years since I last went to a movie at a drive-in.

Of course some of you come from homes in which you have never been to a movie in a theater let alone a private car or truck. They were fun, drive-in’s that is. So maybe we should switch modes and move to something a little more modern such as this little doohickey below.

Go out and buy more Ipods. It will help keep Apple stock up and in turn you’ll help keep a smile on Avrech’s face, not to mention the good old Psycho Toddler who only recently joined the rest of us in using 21st century devices. 😉 Anyway, you’ll have to put up with one more comment or two from me. This is approximately the seventh time that I have hosted Haveil Havalim. I have never seen as big a response as I did this time. I easily received more than 130 submissions. Of course some of you sent me seven or eight submissions from your own blog. My apologies for not being able to use all of them.

One more special request. It would be greatly appreciated if you could link to this post on your blogs. The more exposure that HH receives the better.

And now on to our carnival. My apologies if it is not organized as well as it could be, it was a busy week.

World

Simply Jews blogged about the Iranian arrest of a US citizen. Liorah writes that Pakistan may ignite a war. Jihadists continue to use technology to promote their cause. At Jihad Watch there is a discussion about The Islamist’s War. Yid With Lid says The Muslim American Society Promotes Terror. Welcome To American Idol “Jihad Edition.”

Over at Slightly Mad there is a list of fine restaurants to eat at. Fiery Spirited Zionist has an opinon on Why “palestine” should never come into existence. Solomonia reports Mubarak: Hamas will never sign a peace agreement with Israel.

According to Israel Matzav Arab countries despair seethe over ‘Palestinians‘. Carl also offered Gaza ‘Palestinians’ pray for ‘occupation‘. The Augean Stables offers As Palestinians Self-Destruct, They Blame Israel.

Over at Yoni The Blogger we learn that: U.S. Aired Nasrallah Speech Because No One Knew Arabic.

Dag shares memories of the Six Day war. Daled Amos shares 3 SOLDIERS FROM THE FAMOUS 6 DAY WAR PHOTO SPEAK. Sadly, no surprise here: Syria claims Eli Cohen’s grave is ‘inaccessible‘.

Judaism

Jerusalem Joe offers Why Women Are Exempt From Prayer In Judaism – A Jungian Explanation. Meryl received an email asking for help locating lost relatives. Chana needs the bracha for Mentos. Back of The Hill says Spoken Of In Daniel. Over at a Simple Jew there is a Guest Posting By Chabakuk Elisha – “Heimishe” Racism.

Drew Kaplan covered White Days. A Mother in Israel provided Tzniut/Modesty roundup–Lots of links.

Rabbi Sedley offers 29th Iyar – Tefillat HaShlah. RWAC discussed Platonic Relationships. Jerusalem Joe asks Is Your Jewish Mother A Maximizer, and What Can You Do About It?

What do you think: Har Ha-Bayit – yea or nay today?

TG discussed being an Informed Jew. Over at Frum Satire we learned that Fish a nightmare for the cholent fan. It is not a date without Funny Shidduch Stories.

Wolfish Musings asks What, Exactly, Is Expected Of Us? Ezzie provided a post on Jewish Economics. Did you know that everyone is a prophet these days.

Planck’s Constant offered Shavuot and a world without Jews. DovBear wrote about Arousal. What do you know about chalitza and chultza?

Over at Daf Notes you can find ONE THOUSANDTH POST – HEAVENLY VOICES – YEVAMOS 14 and Daf Yomi – Yevamos 15 – NEW RULINGS REGARDING A MIKVAH AND ERUV.

At Crossing the Rubicon you can read about Torah Portions and Nostalgia. Steg wonders Do I Need An Image-Adjustment? Over at My Obiter Dicta we found Ignorance and Hillul HaShem.

Gil Student adds his two cents to The Problem with Education Today.

Israel

Jerusalem for Every Jew is the title of a post at Frumhouse. Simply Jews blogged about “family relationships” with My brother, my enemy. Over at Oleh Musings you can find A Few Musings, Occasioned by Rockets. Guide To The Perplexed blogged about Ali Abunimah’s One Country.

Video of Jewish Children Running to Bomb Shelter During Attack Smooth covered Yom Yerushalayim – Jerusalem Day as did Treppenwitz and the Seawitch. Tsimcha.com covered it too with Yom Yerushalaim: A SECOND MATAN TORAH!

Esser Agaroth observed A Little Divine Displeasure Perhaps? At Freedom’s Choice you can find If I Forget Thee… A Very Personal Recollection. Miriam wonders if anyone remembers going to Israel with NCSY in ‘1975?

Am Echad asks Why were “Messianic Jews” marching in Jerusalem?

Akiva has some heartbreaking posts about the situation in Sderot here, here and here. Boker Tov Boulder blogged about the terrorist handbook. One Jerusalem has more about Sderot here. Meryl has her own round up about Sderot here. Joshuapundit blogged about this as well as did Aussie Dave and Yid With Lid. Rafi has his own thoughts and so does Joe Settler.

ISL presents Peter Principle Becomes Law of the Land in Israel. Sometimes a response is required as in Striking Back. Israpundit proffered Sderot-the next Yamit.

Seraphic Secret blogged about Fourth Generation Warfare. The Spine discussed Palestinian Unity. That leads us straight to Gaza Civil War Watch: 40 Dead in Factional Fighting. Or should we say Statehood Please.

Have you ever seen a tankless parade. I enjoyed reading about The Dancing Man. Backspin provided Understanding the Six Day War. Rafi went on an adventure.

Caught: One would-be assassin from Doctors Without Borders read all about it at BokerTov Boulder.

Have you ever been to Hamas Kindergarten. Elder of Ziyon presented The death of Oslo. Perhaps it is time to think about Life after the PA. Shiloh Musings says Hesder, the “Arrangement” is “cracking”.

And sometimes there are those One of those great, “only in Israel” experiences. Then again we have stories about drivers swerving around an injured motorcyclist. At the Muqata More Only in Israel…a picture.

Carl reminds us that Israel has more than one leader sleeping at the wheel and he asks Are Goldwasser and Regev dead? Yo Yenta is blogging about Oil Insanity.

This headline caught my eye: Holy stinky washing machine batman!

Over at Not a Fish we find: Best way to deal with British promoters of anti-Israel boycott… – Updated”

Politics

Cross Currents wishes that we Had More Harry Trumans. Over at Daled Amos The Media Has Spoken The C Word. One of these days I am going to have tune into that new show Lifestyles of The Rich and Terrorist.

MyRightWord wonders, if the Hamas are described as having a “military” wing, their wingers are still termed “militants”? Omri provided “International Boycott” Of Palestinians Actually Meant “Triple The Amount Of Aid”. Of Course It Did.

Judith found the last edition of HH to be incredibly geeky. Let’s hope that she like this one better. Here is the speech that George W. Bush should have given care of Kesher Talk. Some people question Yahoo!’s actions in removing a site.

Miscellaneous

The Waffle King wonders what comic book characters Jblogosphere denizens would be. Ra’anana Ramblings is cruising down Memory Lane.

Over at EllieTalk she wonders about the Deadliest Catch. This is not about boy bands. It is about Old kids on the block.

A Bisele Babka wants to know Who is Coming for Lunch. AbbaGav is on a half hiatus. Soccer Dad met the JIBs with Jabs.

Rav Fleischmann proclaims. I Love The Smell Of Blogging In The Morning. I wonder what that smells like.

Raggedy Mom is turning into her mother. You must read Aaron: Two Years Gone and The Book of Ben. Mottel discusses how people see others. You know Everyone Needs Therapy.

And now for poetry. My Life In Haiku.

How many people missed out on the Great Blogger Bash of ’07. Irina covered her summer plans. I don’t know about you but I miss having summers in which I could make summer plans.

Elisson wrote about the Combover Hassidim. Congratulate Ocean Guy on his blogiversary here.

Nobody Irons like Grandma. Jewish Atheist discussed Pleasure vs. Happiness.

And now I present the Milton Friedman Choir – The Corporation. What about Hot Guys- Frum v Non-frum.

Everyone should have this kind of love for their spouse, Robert: Not Too Normal.

What Makes a Mentch. Shoshana covered the story of an Israeli woman and the WNBA. Miss Worldwide had a close encounter of the Blogger Kind.

Pearl offers A Shout-Out to Blogland. KCC #18 is live.

A Whispering Soul is still MIA. Call me crazy but I think that he still might come back, or maybe he has under a new name. Looking for new digs try checking out Schvach.

And thus ends this edition of Haveil Havalim. As always credit for starting this goes to Soccer Dad.

Esser Agaroth will be hosting the next edition. Thanks again for playing.

P.S. This may be updated throughout the day so don’t be afraid to check back in.

Blogging Etiquette- Derech Eretz

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It is a late night here at the Shack so this could be a little more convoluted than I’d like. But then again this blog is more of a place for stream of consciousness than a George Will essay or maybe I should really say Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson is a personal favorite. I have always enjoyed his essay on Self Reliance.

One of my favorite lines is “No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature.” If you are interested the sections I cited here caught my eye as well. But we’ll get back to that at a later date.

Blogging is an exercise that involves a number of components. You have a topic, a writer and readers who comment on the posts produced by the writer. Sometimes the nature of the topic is such that it engenders very strong feelings in those who read it. That in turn can sometimes lead to acrimonious debate within the comments.

It is good to have a healthy debate. It is worthwhile to challenge yourself and see if you can provide an adequate defense of your position. In theory you should strive to do this solely based upon facts and not based upon emotion. Derech Eretz is the term one of my teachers used to use in reference to having a polite debate.

I can remember more than one debate in class in which he would pepper the discussion with reminders that we were all human and the importance of Derech Eretz. It was a worthwhile reminder and a good lesson.

That is something that that the blogosphere is missing. I have wondered more than once how many people would be willing to say face to face what they type to others.

Within my own blog I have rather simple rules. In general I don’t do much moderating. Given a chance most people are pretty good about self-editing. It is not unusual for someone to post a strong response and come back and edit it.

Here is a basic rundown on how I moderate the discussions. Advertisements that are not cleared with the management are nuked. Threads that are hijacked and controlled without approval are subject to moderation. Beyond that everything else is simply subject to the whims of Shack Management.

Truth is that I update this so frequently it is unusual for battles to rage very long at all. I’d write more but the hour really has drawn late and I am tired. Perhaps I’ll continue this at a later time.

The Post I Started To Write

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I grew frustrated with the post below. It didn’t quite flow the way I wanted it to so I decided to ice it for a while.

Individualism is a trait that is prized by many people. It is something that we teach our children. Here in the U.S. it is quite common to hear people use phrases like think outside of the box or color outside of the lines. If someone calls you a sheep it is not a compliment. This is a very simple explanation for why we see so many examples of people trying to demonstrate their independence by how they dress, adorn their bodies etc.

Yet humans are communal creatures. Most of us want to be a part of a group. Most of us want to be accepted in a community of peers and others who think like we do. Trying to demonstrate/maintain that independent think outside of the box streak while still being a part of the gang is similar to walking barefoot on hot coals. If you lose your focus you will fill the heat.

I suppose that you could say that this begs the question of what is most important, independence or being a member of the community.

Define Yourself- I Am More Jewish Than You

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I have a couple ideas for posts percolating around my skull. They are only partially formed so I am not going to give them the chance to see the light of day just yet. But I’ll provide sort of a short preview.

Amishav’s post here provides some of the impetus for one of them. It ties into a post I wrote a couple of years ago called Orthodox Versus Jewry- Or My Blood is More Jewish.

What I want to do is spend a little more time thinking about this and then I’ll put together a new post about it. The purpose of taking more time is twofold.

1) I want to think about this a little bit more and see if I can provide more clarity for myself. I want to decide if I still feel the same way or if my views have changed.

2) I don’t have enough time to do a proper job of writing this post.

More later.

The Golden Age Of The JBlogosphere

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The Golden Age of the JBlogosphere. I can’t speak for anyone else, but it is one of those terms that catches my eye. Maybe it is because I am sentimental and I like to look back and see where I have been. In any case, it seems like every six months or so someone writes an introspective post about what the JBlogosphere used to be like.

The first time I remember seeing one of these posts was at The Muqata. Old Jameel mused about what he thought was the watershed moment of the JBlogosphere as being some time during 2005.

Today Treppenwitz became the latest blogger to speak of the Golden Age of the JBlogosphere. His timeline is a bit different. He refers to the golden age as being somewhere between 2003-2004.

I suppose that you could say that what this shows is that a blogger’s perspective is very much influenced by when they began blogging. I know, that wasn’t very insightful nor all that profound, but it is interesting to me for a number of reasons.

When I look back at my time in various organizations I can always pick out moments in which others spoke longingly of a time in which things were different and in their eyes better than whatever the present situation was. Sometimes it was an accurate assessment and sometimes it was a limited perspective.

I was involved with Camp Ramah for more than 20 years. If you ask people of a certain age they usually will mention my name as having been a part of the core group. But like all things those days are past. These days to find anyone who knows me you have to go back more than a couple of years. The oldest campers weren’t even born when I was roaming that place. So much time has passed that with the exception of some real old timers no one would even know my name.

It is really kind of humbling but it also offers some good lessons about life. It is a reminder that we need to live today. I don’t want to ever become one of those people whose best days are past. That doesn’t mean that I have to give up those amazing memories. I don’t have to pretend that they didn’t happen, I just have to maintain my perspective about who I am today and who I am going to be tomorrow.

Flipping back to blogging, I have to agree with David that there is a certain intimacy in the Jblogosphere that has faded. Eighteen months ago I asked people How Many Blogs Do You Read? because even in those days it was getting to be hard to try and keep up.

The JBlogosphere has exploded. Even if I had 10 hours a day to devote to blogging I couldn’t keep up. There are only so many blogs to read and even though a number of my favorites have closed up shop there is always another to take their place.

I guess what I am really saying is that after three years of running The Shack I hope that my posts are better than what they were. I hope that there is growth and that it continues. I don’t want to find myself in a place where I look back and say that the best I had has come and gone.

The day I come to that conclusion will truly be the time when I hang up my keyboard. Hopefully that day never comes.