J-Blogosphere

J-Blogosphere is the name that some Jewish blogging community use to refer to themselves. Blogs with a Jewish focus are called J-Blogs. The name "J-Blogosphere" was coined by Steven I. Weiss of Canonist.com, when he was the leader of "Protocols", a now-defunct group J-blog, and the first notable Jewish blog. Variations on the term were employed there as early as August, 2003, and the first use of "J-blogosphere" appears to have been made in February, 2004.

Overview

A blog is generally accepted as a "J-blog", or part of the "J-blogosphere", if the blogger is Jewish and discusses Jewish political, religious, or personal themes in his or her blog. There is no way of knowing how many J-blogs there are, although several have come together to create a Jewish category on BlogAds.

Conservative, Modern Orthodox, post-denominational, Reform, secular, and Haredi Jews are involved in writing J-blogs. Some J-bloggers, although religious in practice, use their blogs to discuss theological views which are skeptical or nonconformist. J-blogs fall into radical, liberal and conservative camps with respect to all Jewish communities across the world.

The JIBs

The "Jewish and Israel Blog Awards" are the J-blogosphere's informal annual award contest. The aim of the contest is to direct new readers towards Jewish, Israeli, and pro-Israel blogs. The JIBs begin with nominations in January and then a semifinal and final round. Good-natured rivalry and campaigning are associated with this event.

The contest was the idea of Dave of the [http://israellycool.com IsraellyCool blog] , and was first run [http://www.israellycool.com/blog/JIBAwards/JIBAwards2004 in 2004] . In 2005 the [http://jpost.com Jerusalem Post] took over hosting duties ( [http://info.jpost.com/C005/BlogCentral/JIB.2005/ 2005 contest results] ). Israellycool, who first conceived of the awards, remained an organizer and sponsor.

In 2006, Israel Forum was invited to host the JIB awards. There was some dissent by a handful of Jewish bloggers, the original founder of the JIB's was asked to intervene. It was mutually decided that [http://www.israelforum.com/ Israel Forum] should establish a new blogging award named The People's Choice Awards. This resulted in the JIB's not being run and [http://www.israelforum.com/blog_pc_award_results.php The People's Choice Awards] running in its place.

In 2007, a group of Jewish Bloggers formed a working committee to run the awards and founded [http://jibawards.com JibAwards.Com] as the awards site. [http://www.jibawards.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=233 (2007 contest results)] .

Haveil Havalim

The carnival of Jewish blogs is "Haveil Havalim", a weekly collection of Jewish & Israeli blog highlights, tidbits and points of interest collected from blogs all around the world. There have been more than 160 editions of Haveil Havelim, and more than 30 different bloggers have hosted. Haveil Havalim was created by blogger, [http://soccerdad.baltiblogs.com/ SoccerDad] on December 19, 2004 [http://soccerdad.baltiblogs.com/archives/2004/12/19/haveil_havalim_edition_1.html] .

In late January 2008 [http://wwwjackbenimble.blogspot.com/ Jack] took over administrative responsibilities from Soccer Dad.

Kosher Cooking Carnival

The J-blogosphere has a Kosher Cooking Carnival "KCC", a monthly carnival of kosher food, kosher cooking, including stories, traditions, menus, etc. The only requirement is that the recipes are kosher. There have been more than 18 editions of Kosher Cooking Carnival, and so far 8 different bloggers have hosted. Kosher Cooking Carnival was created by blogger, [http://me-ander.blogspot.com/ Me-Ander] on January 27, 2006 [http://me-ander.blogspot.com/2006/01/very-first-kosher-cooking-carnival.html] .

Blogs A Rabbi Must Follow

"Blogs a Rabbi Must Follow", compiled by blogger Rabbi Gil Student, was a presentation given in May 2006 to the annual gathering of the Rabbinical Council of America, an Orthodox group. The presentation explains the importance of J-blogs, the impact of the J-blogosphere upon Jewish communities, lists popular subjects and topics within the J-blogosphere and directs the reader to noteworthy blogs.

ee also

*Bloggernacle
*Campusj

External links

* [http://blogcarnival.com/bc/cprof_43.html Haveil Havalim - The Official Blog Carnival of The JBlogosphere]
* [http://www.israelforum.com/blog_home.php IsraelForum's JBlog Central - The Jewish Blog Network]
* [http://www.jrants.com JRants - A Jewish blog aggregator- Considered the oldest of the Jewish blog aggregators]
* [http://www.jblogsphere.com JBlogSphere.Com - another J-Blog aggregator]
* [http://www.jewishblogging.com JewishBlogging.com - another Jewish blog resource]
* [http://english.webster.co.il/ Webster.co.il - English-writing Israeli Bloggers]

References

* [http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/29997/format/html/displaystory.html J Weekly Magazine of Northern California] , "Local Jewish blog attempts to unite community", Amanda Ogus (Summer 2006)
* [http://www.jewishlife.org/pdf/spring_2006.pdf Contact Magazine] , "The Internet: Pathways and Possibilities", Various Authors (Spring 2006) - Adobe PDF Format
* [http://www.presentensemagazine.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20&Itemid=35 PresenTense Magazine article] , "Two Jews, Three Blogs: Inside Jokes, Inner Dissent and Inner Life from Bloggers of the Tribe", Esther D. Kustanowitz (Spring 2006)
* [http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=16589&intcategoryid=4 JTA article] , "From Internet pals to real friends, blogs remaking Jewish community", Sue Fishkoff (May 8, 2006)
* [http://www.bnaibrith.org/pubs/bnaibrith/Spring2006BBM/Cybershtetl.cfm B'nai B'rith Magazine article] , "Cruising The Cybershtetl", Richard Greenberg and Menachem Wecker (Spring 2006)
* [http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=16223&intcategoryid=5 JTA article] , "Sermonizing Mingles With Sex Talk As Jewish Surfers Pick Up Blogging", Rachel Silverman (January 18, 2006)
* [http://www.chijewishnews.com/archives_articles.jsp?id=201962 Chicago Jewish News article] , “Can We Blog? New Way to Talk About Jewish Issues”, Rachel Silverman
* [http://jewsweek.com/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Article%5El1918&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Stories& Jewsweek article] , "The Jewish Corner of the Blogosphere", Alli Magidsohn
* [http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/articles/2005/10/20/news/local/acover1021.prt Cleveland Jewish News article] , "Don't Call Me Rebbetzin", Lila Hanft (October 20, 2005)
* [http://www.jewishbroadcasting.tv/wjd/july05/bronson.html World Jewish Digest article] , "People of the Blog", Sarah Bronson (July, 2005)
* [http://velveteenrabbi.com/godblog.html Bitch Magazine article] , "Blog is My Co-pilot", Rachel Barenblat (Fall, 2004)