When I first began this blog in 2003, you could’ve put every progressive Jewish blogger comfortably inside a phone booth. There were Dan Sieradski, Aaron Trauring and maybe a few others. Now, just look at my Mideast Peace blog directory in my sidebar. There are 90 sites listed there. Not all are blogs written by progressive Jews, but well over half are. It’s an extraordinary flowering and a testament to a historic trend toward a just peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
There are two categories of bloggers who are underrepresented among us in my opinion: academics and rabbis. I’ve felt that in order for the world to begin to take us more seriously we needed to include more “experts” among us who could add gravitas to our efforts. And that is precisely what has happened. Mark LeVine for years was one of the few academics willing to put his name out there. Now there is Jerry Haber, Bernard Avishai, Aryeh Cohen and others. For years, Velveteen Rabbi was one of the few blogs written by a rabbi. Now there are Shalom Rav, Marc Gopin and others.
Now, I’d like to welcome Rabbi Brian Walt to our chevra. He writes Rabbi Brian’s Blog and began blogging in May, 2009. He is the executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights-North America (a group founded in Israel by Rabbi Arik Ascherman). I hope you’ll check out his blog, subscribe to his RSS feed, and keep tabs on his work.
Baruch Ha-ba.
Richard, I think you overlook a very important progressive source; Rabbi Michael Lerner and Tikkun magazine. Of course, I know its not technically a “blog”, but it does have an on-line presence.
I deliberately did not include Rabbi Lerner, though I respect much of what he tries to do. He does not write a blog, not “technically” or at all. A blog is quite different than a website or a magazine. We bloggers are trying to do something different than that. We’re trying to build an online community and engaging with our readers on a daily basis. We’re trying to cover the I-P conflict on a daily basis and sometimes even a minute by minute basis. That’s how we’re different.
Actually Tikkun does have a blog! I am the Web editorial intern at Tikkun and I run the blog, in addition to our social media sites. And part of my daily routine is trying to create a community and a place where people can engage and discuss many issues (largely the I/P conflict) that are often too ‘touchy’ or controversial and are therefore overlooked. Though I understand the difference between Tikkun’s publication and other notable progressive Jewish blogs, I do believe our blog allows for some great voices to be heard and Rabbi Learner is a main one of those voices on our blog. Just wanted to say my piece! (And not to seem overly pushy… buuuuut if you haven’t yet checked it out, our blog is http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/).
what about Jewschool?
Dan Sieradski founded Jewschool. When I mentioned his name I was referring to that.