KCET (the local PBS affiliate) has been working on a city-wide project. It is called Departures and it focuses on the people and places that make the neighborhoods of Los Angeles. For the last six weeks they have been working on Venice. Today they came to the Pacific Jewish Center Shul on the Beach to learn about us and to be included in their upcoming Venice piece.

It was a true honor and privilege to be a part of this worthwhile project. The production should be finished in February and I look forward to seeing that.

The camera crew shot some footage of our morning services and did two interviews. First, they interview Gary Dalin. Gary has been part of PJC since 1979 and provided great insight into the rich history of Pacific Jewish Center and the greater Venice Jewish community. He was eloquent and impressive in his interview and represented us very well. Great job Gary!

I was interviewed next. I hope I did okay. I myself have interviewed so many Jewish College student on camera and made those interviews into documentaries, so I know how hard it can be. (For two of my videos click here for JAM 2006 and click here for Chase Edler.) Among many topics, we talked about the juxtaposition of the historic quality of the Shul on the Beach to the future of outreach including this blog and my relative youth as a Rabbi. We also talked about the role the Shul plays in the boardwalk community, surrounded by the wild atmosphere of the boardwalk. It wasn’t too long, maybe a 35 minute interview in total, but we covered a lot of topics. Of course, there were some delinquents that felt the need to disturb us, that is just life on Venice Boardwalk…

I hope the final product reflects well on our special community and those who see it are inspired at least to check us out some time. I ended the interview with an open invitation to anyone who would like to see what we are all about and I extend that invitation to all of you reading this right now.

I also, want to thank Justin, Dan and Matt for including us in this project. I wish you much success in this endeavor and anything you do in the future.

Here are a couple pictures that Leslie Friedman took with her BlackBerry during the interview.

Related posts:

1. You’re Not Crazy Blogger Visits The Shul on the Beach
2. KCET Departures Features Pacific Jewish Center
3. That's What I Call Ambition
4. Venice Historical Society Visits Pacific Jewish Center at the Shul on the Beach
5. Purim Night! | Connections 3/9/09

This Post Has Been Cross Posted to DovBear.

The morning before Rosh Hashana there is a custom to recite extended Slichos in Shul.

Led by Gary Dalin, the services this morning were wonderful. Thank you Gary.

The Slichos are mostly Medieval era poetry designed to arouse the soul within to make amends for all wrongs committed during the year. As we approach the judgment of Rosh Hashana we bolster our efforts in securing a good verdict with the extra Slichos.

As the Slichos are written using a complex, poetic formula it is necessary to use a prayer book with translated versions of the Slichos to help us understand what we are reading in the original Hebrew.

Sometimes, the translations are nearly as difficult to understand as the original. There was one very familiar word found in Slicha #38.

After Slichos this morning, Alan Danziger pointed out this little gem to me.

(Artscroll Slichos 389)

It seems that the Paytan (composer of the Selicha) was either on Twitter sometime before 1234 CE or was prophesizing ~800 into the future.

In all seriousness, Prayer can be effective through any medium. Whether you pray in your heart, with your lips, in print or digitally, the main thing is to be sincere and to use Prayer as a tool for developing a deeper relationship with God.

It is clear that from the Rosh Hashana liturgy that a primary task of Rosh Hashana is to anoint and accept God as our King. We use the Shofar and our Prayers to accomplish this goal.

There is a Mechilta in Yisro that says that gratitude for what God has done for us is the key to open the door for those feelings to penetrate and enable us to make God our King of our lives. Think about all the wonderful things that we have in life. Appreciate them and use those emotions to propel you to proclaim God as our King.

May we all merit to see the day that God’s dominion is clear to all.

Gmar Chasima Tova to each and every one of you.

Related posts:

1. Rosh Hashana: Beginning of all Beginnings | Connections 8/31/09
2. Jewish Holidays Top Twitter’s Trending Topics
3. Good Stuff For Rosh Hashanah From the Archives
4. A Heartwarming Story of Charity
5. No God Is Top Trending Topic On Twitter

This post is really two Public Service Announcements.

Please read both and if you are able to help in any way possible, it is much appreciated.

One great thing about blogging is the opportunity to connect with other people for the sake of an important cause. Today, I present you with two important causes.

First, there is a blogger who writes vitriolic, hate laced blog posts against anyone with whom he disagrees. He does so under the guise of Authentic Judaism. He makes no real arguments, just yells loudly at those he views as a threat (read: anyone who thinks differently than he). Apparently, he thinks that God spoke to him directly and gave him Torah and nobody else. A number of bloggers are trying to snatch the Google search result ranking from his blog.

I am here to help.

More importantly, DovBear is looking for some kind souls to help a family in desperate financial need. The economic downturn has claimed some more victims and from what I understand, their situation is dire. It is really easy to help, Just click here and click donate in the upper right hand sidebar and donate just a little money. Type in the amount you can give and indicate it is for #famliyneedsdough. If you can give just a few dollars it would make a tremendous difference to this family. Every penny donated will be given directly to the needy family.

I appreciate any relief you can provide.

Other Authentic Judaism Posts:

• Hirhurim
• ParshaBlog
• Rav Aaron
• Izgad
• Kvetching Editor

Related posts:

1. Misleading Charity Campaign
2. The Future of Women in Orthodox Judaism
3. A Heartwarming Story of Charity
4. Some More Wonderful Charity Stories
5. Reform Judaism is Reforming Its Approach to Kashrus

Yesterday I flew from New York to Los Angeles. We got to the airport just under 3 hours before our flight. This is a direct result of missing a few flights in the last few years. We always err on the side of caution.

I stopped in a Hudson Books to peruse the available reading material. Prominently displayed was a new book by Ben Mezrich called “The Accidental Billionaires“. I am a big fan of Mezrich having read, Busting Vegas, Rigged and of course Bringing Down the House (I recommend all those books). I took a look at the book and discovered it was about the founding and founders of Facebook.

I bought the book.

And so should you.

Why?

The book is interesting, tells a compelling story and most of all offers fantastic insight into our world. Facebook transformed the way we interact with each other on the web and in real life.

Before Facebook, the web was mostly information that someone else put on the web for you to learn from. The genius of Facebook is that it gave everyone the opportunity to share their lives with their friends on the web. Facebook is a web platform that is the really the voice of the people. Facebook wrestled the web away from corporate content providers and gave the power of the web to you and me and our friends.

Prior to Facebook there was MySpace. MySpace was and continues to be a big advertisement for one’s brand, band, etc. It is not a relationship building platform. Facebook is a place to meet and befriend people. It is your real life, just online. Facebook took the interactions of our daily lives and transported them onto a web page. That is why Facebook is not only the largest online community, but is also the most popular photo sharing site on the web. People share their lives in a natural way on Facebook.

Twitter really took the Facebook lesson of sharing and community building and over-simplified it. Twitter has also become wildly successful because it builds community.

Understanding our highly interactive online world is important and this book really illuminates that reality.

The other thing that made the book powerful was the struggle the founders of Facebook encountered while attributed credit to the creator of Facebook.

See, Facebook wasn’t revolutionary. It was just social networking done the right way. Other folks had thought of similar sites and other sites were launched and they failed.

The tension over whose idea Facebook was is something that happens all the time in our modern world. People think of ideas or concepts at the same time as others. One of those parties may be successful with their version of the idea and the other version may fail. When the failing version owners realize they have not succeeded oftentimes they get angry, they file lawsuits, they yell and scream and make themselves look bad.

Much of the book is dedicated to appreciating this complex dynamic and it is a valuable lesson in modern fairness.

I recommend this book (click to purchase) to anyone wishing to gain insight and appreciation for our interactive, modern, web based universe. As well as people who just like reading a good book about a college geek who became the youngest billionaire in the history of America.

Related posts:

1. Rabbis and Facebook
2. Malcolm Gladwell Doesn’t Use Twitter or Facebook But He Is Pretty Sure They Are Useless
3. Become a Fan of Pacific Jewish Center on Facebook
4. Book Review | The Color of Water
5. Book Review | The Queen You Thought You Knew

Haveil Havalim #231 is being hosted at Esser Agaroth.

Check it out by clicking here for a variety of very interesting links from all around the J-blogosphere.

Thanks to Esser Agaroth for hosting and doing another super job!

(And thanks for linking my post on Brett Favre.)

Related posts:

1. Jewish Blog Roundup
2. Jewish Blog Round-Up #225
3. Jewish Blog Round-Up July 5th 2009 Edition
4. If You Like To Read Jewish Blogs
5. Brett Favre, Treason and Teshuva

A little while back I contributed a decent post to DovBear that generated an impressive response from legions of commenters on DovBear. The post was a comparison of anonymous vs. onymous blogging.

I argued that by blogging about important things anonymously, they are less effective and only perpetuate the near censorship of right-wing Orthodox Judaism. Some went on to call anonymous blogging cowardly.

In the discussion that ensued I conceded that quite possibly, better conversation can be had anonymously and I admitted that for a blog like DovBear, the unfortunate reality is that anonymity is the preferable choice.

Something left undiscussed was the reality that DovBear is not anonymous. Google, who hosts his blog, knows exactly who he is, where he lives and presumably, has access to all his email, searches and web history. Until a few days ago, one may have assumed that their information was safe with Google.

Not anymore.

A New York State Supreme Court ruled that Google was compelled to reveal the identity of a blogger using Google’s Blogger software. The blogger is question had posted defamatory comments about a fashion model that negatively affected her career. The model sued Google to uncloak the anonymous blogger and the court held that Google must comply.

Some may think I herald this as a victory for onymous blogging. Not so. If one is not comfortable blogging onymously his privacy must be respected. I urge people to choose to blog onymously, I am not on favor of mandating it and banning anonymous blogging.

The Bray of Fundie has an interesting post about his opinion on the ramifications of this ruling which is worth reading. Click here to go to to his excellent blog called HaMavdil.

(This is just one more reason to self host one’s blog. Technically the owner of a Blogger blog is Google and it is their information to share or withhold. A self hosted blog cannot be “outed” by Google as the blog owner is the rights holder to the information on the blog.)

But what of the courts decision? How does this affect the blogosphere? Some are calling it the “end of anonymous blogging”. That may very well be the case, but a new anonymous medium (twitter?) will crop up and still give voice to the anony-addicts out there. So really, the voice of the anonymous will not be quelled it will just need to move its home base.

The prospect of Google sharing our information is more worrisome than anything else. Everything we do is being recorded by Google. That can seem very scary.

Yet, when we reflect on this idea we can ask ourselves, is it so strange to us that our lives are being recorded by Google? Is it such a foreign concept that our every movement has meaning and does not disappear into the oblivion of infinite time and space?

Of course it is not. Our Rabbis teach us “V’chol ma’asecha b’sefer nichtavim”. All our actions are recorded in a “book”. Obviously, this cannot be a real, leather-bound volume published by Harper-Collins. I understsand this to mean that each of our actions has cosmic ramifications. Whenever we act, it affects us and the world is affected. None of our actions are meaningless that they would go “unrecorded”.

This is what Elul and the High Holidays are about. Realizing that our decisions and choices make real differences and hopefully adjusting our lives accordingly to make good and true choices.

The court decision in favor of the fashion model comes at a great time. We can take stock and learn a lesson about what it means for our lives to “recorded”; what it means to live life with the understanding that everything we do matters.

At some point we all will need to face our life’s choices. Let’s make the right choices.

Related posts:

1. Onymous Blogging
2. Jewish Blog Round-Up July 5th 2009 Edition
3. Authentic Judaism and Authentic Charity
4. Google Instant And The Lesson of Time
5. The Dead Sea Scrolls Are Alive Thanks to Google

Yesterday, the Jewish world lost a spiritual giant (good article worth reading). Rabbi Zelik Epstein, Rosh Yeshiva of Shaar Hatorah in Queens passed away. He was 97.

R’ Zelik was a relic of the past. He studied Torah in Europe with some the greatest Torah scholars of recent American Jewry, including Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and Rabbi Yaakov Kamanetsky.

Perhaps even more significantly, he was above the fray. He did not get involved in politics and instead, studied, taught and advised and preached Torah and its values.

Today the Jewish community mourns a man of integrity, scholarship and clarity.

Today, I mourn a man who taught my grandfather, Sidney Greenwald, over 50 years ago in the fledgling Beis Medrash Elyon. My grandfather was very proud to have learned from R’ Zelik.

Today, students of his across the world, in every imaginable profession and walk of life, mourn the loss of their teacher and spiritual guide.

Case in point: Native New Yorkers who listen to Sports Radio are all familiar with “The Fan” 660 WFAN. Anyone who has listened during the daytime has become familiar with “Davening Dov Kramer”, an orthodox Jew. Davening Dov has worked at WFAN for as long as I can remember. He has been a Kiddush Hashem showing the world a wonderful example of an Observant Jew.

Last night Dov sent me a Tweet, to check out a note he wrote on Facebook. Dov wrote a note on his Facebook Profile mourning the loss of his Rebbe. I highly recommend reading it in its entirety Facebook account required (if you don’t have one, send me an email and I will email the note to you directly). I would like to quote one small section that I found most powerful.

I had gotten into radio to be able to reach people through the medium I always loved, and had wanted to learn the business from the “pros” before going into “Jewish” radio. … I didn’t think leaving radio (at least temporarily) would hinder my original goal of positively influencing people via the radio, so wanted to quit my job, move back to Israel (again, I was single and in my late 20s) to learn full-time. I figured I could get free room and board if I did something like being a dorm counselor at a yeshiva for Americans, so would still have no expenses and be able to focus on my learning. Before doing what I thought was clearly the “frum” thing to do (stop working to learn full-time), I went to speak to Rav Zelik.

I told him my plan, but he said it wasn’t a good idea. He was afraid that making such a radical change was unhealthy, and there was a danger that after a while I would regret having done it. Instead, he told me that I should keep working at WFAN … and learn for semicha at night. I had been doing some volunteer work for a kiruv organization (JEP-LI), and they offered me a job that would allow me to work half a day and learn half a day. I asked Rav Zelig if that was an option worth considering, and he told me that if I thought I could get “sipuk hanefesh,” that I would be satisfied doing kiruv professionally, that I could do it, but otherwise, the less of a change in my life I make while studying for semicha, the better.

I had gotten into radio to be able to reach people through the medium I always loved, and had wanted to learn the business from the “pros” before going into “Jewish” radio. I had worked at a dance station (Hot 103), in the news dept. of a country-music station (WHN) and had worked on live talk shows and ball games for a few years. I didn’t think leaving radio (at least temporarily) would hinder my original goal of positively influencing people via the radio, so wanted to quit my job, move back to Israel (again, I was single and in my late 20s) to learn full-time. I figured I could get free room and board if I did something like being a dorm counselor at a yeshiva for Americans, so would still have no expenses and be able to focus on my learning. Before doing what I thought was clearly the “frum” thing to do (stop working to learn full-time), I went to speak to Rav Zelig.

I told him my plan, but he said it wasn’t a good idea. He was afraid that making such a radical change was unhealthy, and there was a danger that after a while I would regret having done it. Instead, he told me that I should keep working at WFAN (I was working Sundays thru Thursdays from 11am-7pm, with “Mike and the Mad Dog” Mon-Thurs, but because of Shabbos worked Sundays instead of Fridays) and learn for semicha at night. I had been doing some volunteer work for a kiruv organization (JEP-LI), and they offered me a job that would allow me to work half a day and learn half a day. I asked Rav Zelig if that was an option worth considering, and he told me that if I thought I could get “sipuk hanefesh,” that I would be satisfied doing kiruv professionally, that I could do it, but otherwise, the less of a change in my life I make while studying for semicha, the better.

This is a glimpse into the insight of a great man. Many people would have just assumed that more studying was an automatically better option. R’ Zelik knew his student and knew what was truly best for his situation.

This kind of indiviualized, custom tailored Judaism is something a bit lacking in our “one-size-fits-all” society. We need more Rabbis who can lead like R’ Zelik did.

It is in this light that we all mourn the loss of a true individual, a true Gadol, R’ Zelik Epstein.

Related posts:

1. Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, Of Blessed Memory
2. Rabbi Yosef Tendler, Of Blessed Memory
3. A Post Stained With Tears | Moish Gluck Of Blessed Memory
4. Rebbetzin Chana Weinberg, Of Blessed Memory
5. Rabbi J.H. Hertz’s Epic Introduction to the Talmud (with a little controversy mixed in)

One of my favorite gadget blogs ran a despicable headline for a post yesterday. Gizmodo is a great blog when it comes to getting information, reviews and opinions on the latest technology and gadgets. Unfortunately, yesterday they disgraced their reputation with a pretty offensive headline.

The headline garnered enough attention that they ultimately changed it to something less offensive.

There is a normal Orthodox Jewish couple who have a vacation home. Originally, the building did not have motion sensing lights but recently changed the system to a motion sensing system. On Shabbos the couple did not wish to be forced to walk in a hallway that would trigger the lights on. They requested the building swap the new system for the old one at their expense. The building refused. The couple sued.

Gizmodo posted the following headline: “Orthodox Couple Imprisoned By Superstition Blame Motion Sensing Light Instead”.

Proof:

Subsequently, the headline was changed to “Orthodox Jewish Couple Sues Over Motion Sensing Light“.

I posted the link on Facebook hoping to get some comments from my Facebook friends. I got a few interesting responses.

One commenter hit the two points that I want to discuss on this blog.

1 – The halachic ramifications of motion sensors and Shabbos for the Orthodox Jew.

2 – The reaction of a non-Jew to a halacha adherent Jew.

I do not want to get into a nitty gritty halachic discourse of motion sensors on Shabbos. Suffice to say, the issue is not black and white. On Shabbos one may not act in a way that will automatically produce a desired result that violates Shabbos. Completing a circuit to turn on a light is a violation of Shabbos. By activated the sensor, one automatically produced the desired result of turning on the light.

There is leeway when the result is not automatic or when the result is not desired.

I am all for striving to keep halacha. When I am met with a choice between what I want and what halacha demands I try my best to choose halacha. So for example, if I am driving late at night and I pull into a rest stop and they have a fast food joint serving burgers that are not kosher I have a choice. I want a burger but halacha demands that my burgers be kosher. I choose to leave the rest stop burgerless. I will not sue the restaurant for not providing kosher burgers. Right?

Now, I know this is a little different from the vacation home. But, it is the same principle. If halacha will not allow for me act a certain way, guess what? I am not going to act that way. Even if I really, really, really want to. So, I know that in the vacation home there are other factors, such as broken promises and flawed reasoning. However, if it were me, or anyone that I advise I would trade that place for a new one.

Adhering to halacha is about making a choice to allow halacha to control your life and not your whims and desires at any given moment. There will be times where the choice is hard or the alternative is very tempting, those are the times where you show your strength of character by making what you believe to be the right choice. Those are not the times to sue because you have been made uncomfortable in your adherence to halacha.

There may be great merit to the lawsuit. I find that all irrelevant. I think, avoiding a legal brouhaha over halacha is more important than the principle of who is right and who is wrong in this situation.

Second, the offensive headline that originally appeared on Gizmodo bothered me. I am NOT an overly sensitive person. I do not cry “Anti-Semitism at every opportunity I get (ala Uncle Leo). I don’t even call this “Anti-Semitism”, I call this insensitivity.

There is nothing against Jewish people, per se, when calling religion a superstition. But there is a tremendous breach of sensitivity.

Gizmodo writer, Jack Lofton doesn’t believe in religion in general and that’s okay. I am not going to call him names about his lack of faith or question his theology publicly. That is just not appropriate for a gadget blog. If he were writing on a religion blog, or even an anti-religion blog then Jack’s opinion about religion might be relevant. Here, it was not and inserting his bigoted opinion was insensitive.

I do not read the headline as an affront to Judaism or even religion in general. I read the headline as an affront to civility.

We live in a big world, with a lot of people. Not everyone is going to agree. You can try and convince everyone you are right or lash out against those who do not. But ultimately, we are not all going to agree. So let agree on this, let’s choose not to fight about our disagreements and otherwise be friends. I mantioned this revolutionary concept on this blog a little while ago. We have more in common than not. Let’s stop fighting about God, or anything else we feel strongly about and move on.

Also, Jack, Gizmodo is the wrong place to make your point about religion.

Time and place, Jack. Showing your prejudice against religion is ugly, it is especially ugly when it is not at all connected to the content of your post. I read Gizmodo for technology news and content. Just because you have a soapbox does not mean you can shout whatever you want whenever you want. Time and place.

Jack, please don’t make fun of other people’s beliefs on one of my favorite gadget blogs. Thanks.

Update: To his credit, the writer apologized.

Related posts:

1. Pacific Jewish Center on Gizmodo.com (well, not really)
2. Orthodox Jews and E-Readers
3. Dr. Laura Quits: I Think It's A Shame (and some belated commentary on Helen Thomas)
4. A Jewish Black Woman's "Henry Gates" Situation
5. KCET Visits PJC and Interviews Me

Yesterday was my birthday.

I am not huge “birthday guy”. I love my children’s birthday more than my own birthday and my mother loves my birthday more than I do.

A lot of people know my birthday. Co-workers, family and friends all know my birthday. This year I got a ton of birthday wishes.

But it was different.

One summer when I was in sleepaway camp on my birthday I got like 250 “in person” birthday wishes. The guy who made the breakfast anouncements said “the 100th person who wishes Eliyahu Fink a Happy Birthday gets a free soda”. Everyone wanted a free soda so throughout the day random kids were wishing me Happy Birthday. I like that. It felt good to be acknowledged (birthday or not…).

This year, I was not in sleepaway camp and there were no contests.

I got 7 in person happy birthdays.

I got 2 phonecall happy birthdays.

I got 8 Twitter timeline happy birthdays.

I got 3 Twitter direct message happy birthdays.

I got 2 SMS Text happy birthdays.

I got 39 Facebook happy birthdays.

Notice a trend?

Yes, technology contributed tremendously to my birthday wishes.

I don’t have any major commentary about this, I just think it is notable. Social networking plays such an important role in our 2009 lives. It is not going to change so if you are not yet on Twitter or Facebook or leaving comments on blogs, you are a little behind the curve.

That’s okay. I am not saying we all need to be ahead of the curve. What I am saying is our world is trending into a more digital era.

Be ready!

Related posts:

1. Happy Birthday Tetris
2. Betty’s 106th Birthday Party (and my 500th post)
3. Wake Up Happy and Try to Stay Happy
4. Your Unique Voice and A Kafkaesque Experience
5. Happy 160th Birthday to the New York Times

During the summer months many people find some extra time to catch up on their reading. By reading, I mean books with paper, ink, covers and turning pages. I don’t mean on a backlit display plugged into an electrical outlet.

This summer, I have been too busy to do any real substantive offline reading. I have done a lot of online reading, but my book reading has fallen behind.

One exception has been DovBear on the Parsha, and you can read my review here.

Part of the reason for this is that in my “spare time” I usually end up reading up on Law School materials. I actually enjoy reading cases and Law Review articles, so my reading of other stuff has fallen a bit behind.

There is plenty of summer left and I thought it would be nice to provide some of my all time favorite reads and a quick note about why I like each book.

Click the title of the book to purchase on Amazon.

Please feel free to add your favorites, especially if you see my faves and think I would like your suggestions.

Jewish Books

The Committed Life by Esther Jungreis

Written for Observant Jews and anyone else, the quintessential Rebbetzin Jungreis weaves together stories of commitment and dedication to life, love and spirituality. I confess to crying throughout the book and if you have an emotional side, this book will speak to you.

Letters to a Buddhist Jew by Akiva Tatz

What the Angel Taught You by Rabbi Noach Weinberg and Yaakov Salomon

A book of Reb Noach Weinberg’s wisdom on life, happiness and achieving one’s goals. The book is humorous, thoughtful and practical.

Frameworks by Rabbi Matis Weinberg

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman

A (slowly becoming outdated, but continually being updated) analysis of the rise of the information age. From the first personal computers to blogging, the book puts all the advances of the last two decades into a neat package. I found the book to be very important to understanding our era as a participant and as a parent!

Moneyball by Michael Lewis

Busting Vegas by Ben Mezrich

Related posts:

1. Book Review | Strictly Kosher Reading
2. Rational Reading and Gift List
3. Book Review | The Queen You Thought You Knew
4. Book Review | The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook
5. Book Review | The Color of Water

Another week, another Haveil Havalim.

This week’s round-up is hosted by “How To Be An Israeli”. A number of excellent blog posts from the week that was are linked.

An excellent job all around.

My Book Review of DovBear on the Parsha is mentioned with a very nice comment:

Rabbi Fink talks of being swept away by DovBear’s passion and insight; I felt the same way about reading this post!

Thanks for the mention.

To check out Haveil Havalim #225 click through.

Haveil Havalim #225.

Related posts:

1. Weekly Jewish Blog Round-Up #231
2. Jewish Blog Round-Up July 5th 2009 Edition
3. Jewish Blog Roundup
4. If You Like To Read Jewish Blogs
5. Do You Like Reading Blogs?

Once again a very talented Jewish blogger has provided the weekly Haveil Havalim Jewish Blog Round-up.

This week it is hosted by A Time of the Signs.

I am mentioned not once, but twice in the round-up. Once for my Michael Jackson post and once more for my guest post on DovBear about Onymous vs. Anonymous blogging which was cross-posted on my blog as well.

Thank you Toby for the mentions! You can find all the links by clicking through.

Haveil Havalim #224

Related posts:

1. Jewish Blog Round-Up #225
2. Weekly Jewish Blog Round-Up #231
3. Jewish Blog Roundup
4. If You Like To Read Jewish Blogs
5. Do You Like Reading Blogs?

This post has been cross-posted to DovBear. – more discussion there.

Social Networking has been around for a long time. The term is nearly two centuries old and the concept perhaps 30 times that.

With the internet explosion around the new millennium social networking became all the rage on the world wide web. MySpace and others blazed the trail. Now, blogging, Facebook and Twitter are an integral part of our social landscape.

Naturally, I was drawn to these new age ways of using technology to create social networks. I’ve been on Facebook since its inception five years ago and joined Twitter a while ago and have only recently begun to blog.

Over the last few weeks some incredible things have happened that are direct results of social networking online.

A couple of weeks ago a lovely woman came to our Shul on the Beach for Shabbos morning services. At the Kiddush (where incredibly, we do not have Kugel) she approached me and introduced herself as “Rena, I follow you on Twitter”. Immediately I realized it was @Tinsbar from Baltimore. Rena was in LA for a few days and decided to come check out our Shul. Rena enjoyed her time spent at PJC and we enjoyed her company. In fact one community member even got some footwear recommendations from Rena!

Related posts:

1. Elul Begins With A Warning | Anonymous Bloggers Take Note: Google Knows Your Every Move
2. Why Blogging Is Good
3. Jewish Blog Round-Up July 5th 2009 Edition
4. Today's Sign The Apocalypse Is Upon Us
5. Malcolm Gladwell Doesn’t Use Twitter or Facebook But He Is Pretty Sure They Are Useless

Another Sunday, another Haveil Havalim

The weekly Haveil Havalim roundup of the Jewish blogs is hosted this week by Ima on and off the Bima.

You can find a tremendous number of blogs and articles from this past week. Certainly there is more than enough reading material for a little while.

My post about the plight of Mideastern Jewry that was written the morning of the Holocaust Museum Shooting is mentioned.

Thank you to “Ima” for including me, hosting the round up and doing all the work to sort through all the Jewish blogs!

Click below to see the “round up”.

Havail Havlim #221 is here.

Related posts:

1. Jewish Blog Round-Up #225
2. Do You Like Reading Blogs?
3. Jewish Blog Round-Up July 5th 2009 Edition
4. Jewish Blog Roundup
5. Weekly Jewish Blog Round-Up #231

I have had my critiques of David Brooks from the NY Times.

But today,  I think he got it right. Really right. Like, 100% right.

He was asked about the “Big Three”. No, not GM, Ford, Chrysler. No, not Harvard, Yale, Princeton. Not, Clemenceau, Wilson, George either.

The new Big Three is Guns, Gays and Abortion.

Brooks was asked his opinion of why the trend in the country is towards Gay rights, the trend is to ignore Gun rights and the trend is against Abortion after the first trimester. In the “asker’s” opinion, there seems to be tension pulling these issues from opposite sides. One is trending “left”, one is trending “right”, and one is not trending at all.

What she really wants to know is why isn’t the left or right winning on all these issues? How come they are trending in three different directions.

Brooks answers very profoundly and eloquently. His basic premise is that Americans seek to maintain the social fabric of their existence.

Most Americans have gay friends, co-workers, relatives, neighbors etc. and therefore it preserves the social fabric of the American’s existence to provide rights for their gay acquaintances.

Guns is a rural vs. urban issue so it depends on where you live that you seek to preserve your social environment. Thus, there is little movement on this issue.

Finally, on abortion, he proclaims most Americans are torn by the issue. We are uncomfortable imposing any opinion on our fellow Americans because it is such a sensitive issue. Thus, most people fall in the middle and trend slightly to the left or the right but are not vocal about it. Therefore, change is not likely on the abortion issue.

Wow. Brooks really did a great job explaining how our country works. Really, he has explained how humans work. How our world works. We care about our social environments and we try to preserve them.

Truthfully, humans are social beings. This is what really separates man from beast. We interact in a more complex way than any other being in our world.

We consider any hominid existence prior to the establishment of a social environment such as cities as prehistoric. History begins when we begin to socialize our existence.

We continue socializing in our lives to this very day.

When we meet new people we are socializing.

When we have guests join us for a meal we are socializing.

When we use social networking tools like Twitter, Facebook and blogs we are socializing.

I believe that the synagogue is a social place. Certainly, our Shul on the Beach is a social place. Yes, we worship in shul, but that could technically be done solo.

We are mandated by Halacha to create and foster houses of worship and to attend them as a group to appeal to the social needs of man.

So come join us!

Related posts:

1. The Non-Virtual Social Network
2. Andrew Sullivan Sticks it to Gladwell and Rich on Social Media (and I absolutely agree)
3. Social Issues Raised by the Recent Tragedy
4. Learning to be Human | A Guest Post
5. Onymous Blogging

I blogged a little while back about the pinch being felt in Jewish Day School and Yeshivas.

The LA Times must be reading my blog because they finally caught on to this growing problem. Today I read about the familiar names in our Los Angeles Jewish community who are suffering budget crises.

Is there hope for our schools? Is it possible to sustain a system that requires such tremendous financial commitment from its families?

Last time I reiterated the Torah’s priorities for charity. Charity for Torah education is pretty near the top of the list. It is above non-education communal needs. Unfortunately, the public does not keep these priorities. I think this could help the situation tremendously but I know there is a lot more that could be done.

Tuition costs are nearing $10k for elementary school children and are significantly higher for high-school and secondary education. The cost are astronomical and aside from the schools failing financially, some parents are having a very difficult time staying afloat economically.

I want to harness the power of the web to try and solve this problem.

What do you think?

Is there a solution?

Can this sysem be saved?

Do you have a better system?

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2. Simple Justice | The Story of Brown v. Board of Education: The End of Separate But Equal in Schools
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4. Manhattan High School For Girls on PBS: Don't Speak Lashon Hara
5. Repost: Yosef and the Light of [Economic] Wisdom and Kindness – Drasha Miketz (Sermon 2008)

Last week, my Shabbos morning Drasha (sermon) sought to give meaning to the Torah’s laws regarding evil speech and gossip. As punishment for these social crimes an individual would contract a spiritual disease that was similar in appearance to leprosy. Once the disease was was diagnosed by the halachic authority (Kohen) as the spiritually caused leprosy the individual would need to leave the town and stay outside the city for a little while.

The crime was social and the punishment was social. By speaking ill of others the individual became separated from the fabric of society and could only learn this lesson once physically removed from the social environment.

We touched a number of other points and expanded this point further as well.

The upshot of the Drasha was to remind everyone of the importance of tolerance and that we must embrace our interdependence on one another. The perfect Torah society will be a perfect social society.

I contrasted this with the society I noticed in the ESPN.com poll which I blogged about last week. (If you have not seen that yet – check it out.)

I am always asked for “examples” of how we can improve our behavior or work on ourselves. In this context I was asked, “how can we make our society more interdependent?”. I am very reluctant to dispense such advice.

You will always know better than I, what you need to work on. I always say “I am sure you know what you need to work on, and if you don’t, ask your spouse or a parent”.

A news item came to my attention today that may help give people some practical advice.

A Rabbi Rosen in Israel says that there is a religious imperative to return phone calls and voice messages. His idea is that respect is a basic element to the observant Jew, and we cannot allow ourselves to become caught up in the increased technology and forget to behave appropriately.

This is good advice. My father once told me that a good public servant (Rabbi, educator etc.) must return phone calls. (I know I try my best to return phone calls and email messages in a timely manner, especially to members of PJC.) Who knew that it is really so important? Rabbi Rosen is reminding us all that civility and good social behavior are religious imperatives and never go out of style.

In a world like ours, where where virtual social networks like Faceboook and Twitter are more popular than actual-factual social (non-virtual) networking, we need to be extra vigilant to maintain the social standards of the Torah lifestyle in our non-virtual world.

The mere fact that I am using the term “non-virtual” signals a giant shift in how we view our world. It used to be understood that the world was real and there was also a “virtual world”, now it is almost as if there are two equal worlds, the non-virtual and the virtual. Crazy. How do we fix this? How do we ensure our world maintains some level of social interdependence?

Rabbi Rosen says to start with returning phone calls. I say, that is a great start and let it serve as a reminder that in this digital age we need our human relationships more than ever – don’t neglect them.

Our non-virtual social networks are suffering and we need to work hard to foster the social interdependance the Torah wants from us. If we are able to implement and execute a good social society it will help us be as happy and productive as we all desire.

Related posts:

1. Human Beings Are Social Beings
2. Social Issues Raised by the Recent Tragedy
3. Andrew Sullivan Sticks it to Gladwell and Rich on Social Media (and I absolutely agree)
4. An Interesting Alternative to Prison
5. Malcolm Gladwell Doesn’t Use Twitter or Facebook But He Is Pretty Sure They Are Useless

Look, I enjoy sports. (Go Lakers). But this is getting ridiculous!

Nearly 48 thousand people have voted (as of this posting) on the current poll in ESPN.com that asks the following query:

Who do you know more about?

- Potential First Round Picks in the NFL Draft

- People in your office/class

I am surprised by the results.

So there you have it!

49% of People know more about compete strangers than the people that they are around on a daily basis.

This is just wrong.

This week we celebrated Earth Day. A prevailing message of the Day was sensitivity to our environment.

Maybe we should have “People Day” – a day to work on our sensitivity to each other! Everyone could use a smile, a hey, what up? or a friendly how you doing?

But it can’t stop there, we need to talk to each other and more importantly listen to each other. Maybe we should try this People Day more than once a year… Maybe we should always act with sensitivity to on another…

Who is with me?

People Day is every day.

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Last week, Facebook disabled my account. No explanation, no reason, no apology, just gone.

There are terms that each member of Facebook agrees to abide by and I have not violated any of those terms. I have emailed Facebook asking for an explanation or at the very least an acknowledgement that my account has been disabled. So far… nothing.

If you are so inclined, send Facebook an email on my behalf requesting they reinstate my account.

It is incredible how I have come to rely on Facebook as a means to maintaining relationships. I have become accustomed to knowing how my friends and family are doing by reading their Facebook posts. Now I wonder what they are up to…?

Perhaps more profoundly, I have become accustomed to others knowing about my life. Incredibly, I somehow think that others may want to read what I find interesting and listen to my thoughts on current events and social commentary. Now, without Facebook, I feel like a radio show host with no microphone. My voice has been silenced and I do not like it one bit.

Facebook is a social networking site. I think that is a misnomer. Aside from providing networking, Facebook provides a platform. For now, I am without it.

The entire experience has been Kafkaesque and it feels strange to be stripped of your online identity. Thankfully, I have spread my voice out among a few channels. I am on Twitter. What is Twitter? Sign up and you will find out it is like Facebook but just the status updates. So there are no applications, groups or photo albums but there is much more updating. I recommend it for anyone in school or business. Follow my updates by clicking here.

Then there is this blog. I write, but does anyone read? Yes, there are some readers. Would I want more people to read and interact on the blog? Yes. So, if you enjoy the blog, spread the word and link to the blog on your Facebook account or your own blog.

I am happy to reciprocate if I find your content worthwhile.

It is clear, that we all need to be heard. In the 21st century we all have the opportunity to be heard, the harder thing is to filter the noise and find the music you want to hear.

This reminds me of a great Jewish idea. The Jewish people adhere to the precepts of the Torah. We all study Torah and we all find Its depth infinite. As infinite as the Torah is, every single person whe studies the Torah has an opportunity to create a novel idea in the Torah. This is called a Chiddush. Our tradition teaches us that each person can and does create one or several Chiddush thoughts in their lifetime. This is their idea and would have not been heard without that person’s thought.

Each person brings their personality, personal history and world view to their study. Thus, each person can create their own Chiddush which is theirs and always will be theirs. The Torah provides infinite opportunities for everyone’s voice to be heard, to be unique and to be eternal.

The internet is incredible. It has given a voice to anyone who desires to be heard and more importantly, gives all of us the chance to hear those voices. If you like my voice, share it with others.

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3. Onymous Blogging
4. Rabbis and Facebook
5. Mona Eltahaway: An Important Voice of Progressive and Passionate Religion

I am sure you have noticed the new Tropicana Advertisements.

The ads are concurrent with their new branding and packaging. The ads are noted for their use of male figures (that is pretty rare…).

Now the ads are being pulled and the packaging is returning to the old packaging which we all remember and love.

Why am I blogging about this? (Personally I prefer grapefruit juice over orange juice.)

The reason this is blog material for me is the way that this redacation of the ad campaign was generated. Many people were upset (I can’t understand how packaging can do that, but that’s just me) abuot the new look cartons. Back in the day (circa 1998) if you had a problem with a corporation there was little that you could do to effectively make your voice heard.

That is no longer the case. The NY TImes article about Tropicana’s change of heart is very telling.

“You used to wait to go to the water cooler or a cocktail party to talk over something,” said Richard Laermer, chief executive at RLM Public Relations in New York.

“Now, every minute is a cocktail party,” he added. “You write an e-mail and in an hour, you’ve got a fan base agreeing with you.”

And then later , even more specific.

“Twitter is the ultimate focus group,” Mr. Shankman said. “I can post something and in a minute get feedback from 700 people around the world, giving me their real opinions.”

Neil Campbell, president at Tropicana North America in Chicago, part of PepsiCo Americas Beverages, acknowledged that consumers can communicate with marketers “more readily and more quickly” than ever. “For companies that put consumers at the center of what they do,” he said, “it’s a good thing.”

Thanks to this great thing called the internet everyone has a voice. Companies care about their social networking status. We can make a difference by voicing our opinions on the internet.

This is really what I blogged about last week . Technology has a great power to it that if used properly can change the world!

This is great right? Slow down for a second. This also means that it is so easy for idiots to destroy people and companies on the internet as well. Aha. So the internet is bad, right?

Wrong. Just like anything else in our world the internet is able to be used for good and bad. It is neither. There is nothing that is good or bad – there are only activities which define whether the “thing” is good or bad in a given situation.

Judaism holds that the world is full of tools. Those tools can be used for good or for bad. We make choices and those choices are what determines good and bad, not the actual tool. We have learned a lot about this is our Messilas Yesharim classes which you can find by clicking here.

The power is literally in your hands.And the internet is a great example of this idea.

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