WOW!!

I just came back yesterday from a chasuna and was very exhausted from the trip. I had heard at the wedding, news travels very quickly, that Hirhurim, Rabbi Gil Student, one of the most respected bloggers in this Jewish space, said nice things about my blog. When I came home and got to see his post and the comments, I found it all somewhat overwhelming. It felt very much like I was sitting in a semi-dark room engrossed in thought and, all of a sudden, someone turned on all the lights. When a person is young, they drop in at each other’s homes without hesitation. At my age, I wouldn’t mind visiting my friends without calling, but I wouldn’t want anyone dropping in my house without a week’s notice. Here I come home, there are a thousand unexpected visitors and I forgot where I put the napkins.

So first things first. I’d like to thank Rabbi Student for being so kind and generous, and I should add courageous. I don’t believe Rabbi Student has read all my comments, but I’m sure he read enough to realize that I have and am going to say things, from time to time, that he most certainly would not agree with. It takes a certain true understanding of tolerance and pluralism on his part, to say what he said. Everyone must understand that I do not take what Rabbi Student said as a haskamah (certification of approval) on the contents of what I have written, and I am certain that it was not intended as such.

I would also like to thank all the kind people who went out of their way to say nice things about my blog in the comments section. Frequently I experiment with different voices, sometimes more funny, sometimes more moralistic, and I never quite know how it will work. So I am really pleased to see that I have not made a total fool out of myself.

In my comment on Hirhurim, I made a Freudian boo-boo. I wanted to say that my blog has twists and turns that might not be appropriate for everyone. I take my responsibility as a blogger seriously. I should have said caveat emptor, meaning buyer beware. Since my Latin is almost as good as my Greek, I made a Freudian slip and said carpe diem, which means seize the day. Here I was trying to protect people and I ended up saying don’t be so cowardly and go for it.

A number of people said that I’m writing too quickly by putting out a post every day. I know this, but my thought was to say what I had to say and stop. I wasn’t hoping to become a columnist. I’m trying to present a way of looking at Jewish life and that’s it. While I was away I realized that, although this is my intent, it’s not going to be so easy. I was working on notes for a piece on Yiddish, which I then saw could be split into two, which got me thinking about Bundists, which in turn raised issues of the thirties and forties, and all of a sudden there are eight possible posts. Writing a post everyday, indefinitely, is much too difficult for me. I’m going to cut back to three or four times a week and see what happens. It is still my goal to stop at some point.

I want to say something about the literary conceit involved in my blog. I am trying to write an allgemeiner blog, one that appeals to all segments of Jewish life. I’m especially concerned with not alienating secular liberal Jews. My goal and I know it’s a bit grandiose, is that I should be considered a definite but honest person by Jews of very different religious persuasions. In order for me to get anywhere with this conceit, I must maintain my anonymity. It is important for me to be able to write about secular Jewish life from a charedi point of view, charedi Jewish life from a secular point of view, shift tones and perspectives, and so on. Once I become the topic of conversation, it’s going to be very difficult. My feeling is that a person has to have a self that is together and coherent. It’s less necessary, in this post-modern age, to have one identity. Identities are much more fluid and there are fragments of different identities in many of us.

My intent is to write an interesting constructive blog. My goal is never to try to move furniture around. My goal is simply to put out an idea and ask people to think about it for themselves, and decide where they stand. I have a sharp tongue and, in real life, I have a colorful tongue. The way I frequently write is to work up a little passion about the topic. I said, in my first post, that a certain rabbi was either a fool or corrupt. I opted for fool. I’ll add that I remember a time, way before this rabbi became a gadol, when I and everyone else still saw him as an ordinary mortal, with an ordinary family. I do not believe there are many liberal bloggers out there today, who worked harder to provide a coherent appreciation of gadolim, Daas Torah, Kollelim and the life of Torah than myself. I stand by what I said until someone shows me how I made a mistake.

I ask everyone including those who really don’t like what I write not to out me. I am a private person with no aspirations other than trying to present a view I have about Jewish life. I should be entitled to do that without difficulties.