Saturday, March 26, 2011

Haveil Havalim #310 The Post Purim Hangover Edition





Welcome to the March 27, 2011 edition of Haveil Havalim.

Founded by Soccer Dad, Haveil Havalim is a carnival of Jewish blogs -- a weekly collection of Jewish and Israeli blog highlights, tidbits and points of interest collected from blogs all around the world. It's hosted by different bloggers each week and coordinated by Jack.


I have decided to exert some editorial control over this blog carnival. First off I see a blog carnival as a means for quality writers to find readers. I have not included short posts that seemed dashed off or posts that simply offered or linked to other people's material. Being included in this blog carnival is a reward for your work, not for someone else's work. Understand that I am a teacher so yes I take a strong interest in authorship. Second, I see it as a fundamental part of writing that, as opposed to speaking, writing is supposed to be the victory of reason over emotion. It is inevitable that one will sometimes speak in anger. One should never write in anger; a person who does so demonstrates that they do not just have temporary lapses into anger, but that they are fundamentally people of anger and not reason. I think this is particularly important in light of the recent attack in Itamar and the tragic murder of the Fogel family. Posts that struck me as coming from a very angry place were not included. Third, I am not about to put links to blogs I would not normally feel comfortable linking to. Relevant to some submissions, I did not include posts that implied any support for the use of violence by private individuals outside of a State-based legal framework. An extension of this is that I did not include posts implying support for the transformation of any secular democratic States with theocracies. (By what natural means can this be achieved if not by violence?)

To those of you I have not included, please do not take it personally. Feel free to not include me next time you host. Those of you whom I did include should feel honored. Blogging in often a lonely task. For most it is a struggle for readers, comments and the occasional word of praise. I have included you all because I actually thought that each of you had something worthwhile.

Here is an idea. Instead of just the usual comments, readers should put down their votes for the best post of the carnival (no you cannot vote for yourself). As a prize, I agree to do a response post to any piece written by the winner over the course of this coming month.

To start this off I wish to offer pride and place to Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner of The Rebbetzin's Husband for his posts Why Publish? and How to leave your shul. I am an academic in middle of trying to finish off a dissertation and hope to eventually publish it. I struggle with the fear that my years of effort into it will not make a difference and no one will read it. In general, I always enjoy Rabbi Torczyner's posts on life as a shul rabbi as I am the son and grandson of shul rabbis, who grew up realizing how difficult such a job was.



Purim

For Purim, I offer this carnival a pair of humorous pieces of my own, My Purim Shalach Manot and How Many Jewish Historians Does it Take to Change a Light Bulb?

Yisrael Medad of My Right Word presents A Serious Purim Torah Based on a Zoharic Passage.

Benji Lovitt presents a satirical piece for Purim about the Maccabeats, Macca-Beat It: Look Who’s Getting Tough.


Marilyn Stowe of Marilyn Stowe Family Law and Divorce Blog presents an ethical and legal dilemma involving parental control of a child in Purim and the curious case of M v F & Others.

Batya of  me-ander presents Mishloach Manot From G-d.


Jay3fer of Adventures in Mama-Land debates the value of sending shalach manot in A tisket, a tasket – where’s my mother’s Purim basket???


Yisroel  of Artzeinu offers us One More Reason to Make Aliyah: 2 days of Purim.


Passover 


Amanda of Blessed Little Bird gets ready for Passover and debates the value of quick seders in A Seder, b'seder....


Israel


Harry of Israelity presents Nostalgia Sunday – Old Central Bus Station: Jerusalem and The pause that refreshes.


West Bank Mama presents The Post Terror Attack Ritual.



Rivkah of Bat Aliyah presents Another Israeli First.




Personal



Elle of On Becoming Devoted discusses a new found spirituality in washing vegetables in Learning Disciplines.


History 

 

Chaviva has a post on the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and asks the following question: Did you learn about this in your Jewish education? Whether at Sunday School or Yeshiva or day School? Do you think this is relevant to the Jewish educational experience? Should this even be taught through a specifically Jewish lens? And, most importantly, do you think this event can be categorized as a uniquely Jewish event?




That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of haveil havalim using our carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.


10 comments:

Chaviva Gordon-Bennett said...

Totally didn't get my submissions in, and was going to email you, but you're already up. So ... bummer.

Anyway, wrote about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, which happened 100 years ago and is a very important event in Jewish life. www.kvetchingeditor.com

Izgad said...

Chaviva

For a friend and top of the line blogger I will make an exception. :)

Esser Agaroth said...

1. I stand behind the host's full discretion over what gets included in any given edition.

2. I believe that this carnival has only been able to survive and even be successful by the willing of hosts to publicize posts with which they do not agree. My opinion, no scientific data to support this.

3. I take issue with your writing guideline. Should not write out of anger? "Should" is an irrational belief. And writing as one speaks is a natural evolution of e-communication, like it or not.

4. Well, at lest you are being honest by NOT declaring yourself to be a pluralist. (Neither am I.)

Ben-Yehudah
(*If following the Torah, and believing that all Jews can benefit by moving in that direction, by not finding democracy anywhere in the Torah, and by holding the Torah in authority over Israeli law makes me a fanatic, then I am guilty as charged.)

Esser Agaroth said...

5. That all being said, if you're a fantasy lover, I hope you like The Wheel Of Time, or else we definitely can't be friends.

;-)

Izgad said...

Wheel of Time got me through many play practice sessions when I did theater at YU. I recently finished listening to the latest Brandon Sanderson one on audio. So can we be friends? :)

Izgad said...

Also have you listened to the recent Blind Guardian Wheel of Time Song? It totally rocks.

Esser Agaroth said...

1. I'll think about it.
2. I don't know. You went to YU, and I am an extremist. Could it possibly work?
3. No.

;-)

The Rebbetzin's Husband said...

Thank you for your kind words and placement; much appreciated.

Jack said...

Wheel of Time started out so strongly and then Jordan blew it. It just became so awful.

Game of Thrones, now that is a different story.

Anonymous said...

great post as usual!

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