Hamas War

Monday, September 14, 2009

About The Second International Jewish Bloggers Convention

I gave some of my impressions on me-ander, but this is going to be different, since the blogs are different.

First of all "seconds" after unusually successful "firsts" are extremely difficult to pull off. Expectations are way up, and the excitement level is always much lower.

The first international jblogger convention was last August, so more of us were on vacation.  Yesterday, I arrived late after teaching.  That meant that I missed the workshops.  I was also much more tired.  It's funny, but what got me at first was the darkness of the Beit Avichai building verses the light I remember from the Nefesh B'Nefesh offices.

But more for the program.
Twitter was promoted, but Twoozer was ignored.  My me-ander article has links.  The panels were disproportionately Left and secular to the largely religious Right audience of JBloggers.  That's insulting.  Ironically, it reminds me of the Likud, which gets most of its support/votes from the religiously tradional/religious and Right, though its policies when in power are extremely Left.

Benji Lovitt's stand-up was great, but Orit Arfa was in a sense funnier.  I had to control myself from laughing when looking at my fellow bloggers as she spoke.  The grimaces and shock over her admittedly self-centered use of the media and podium were a sight to behold.  We were anthropologists observing another species.

Most Jewish bloggers, as Ron Dermer very elegantly admitted, blog to serve the interests of the State of Israel and the Jewish People.  Jameel's request for official press credentials was one of the best comments I heard.  Please add my name to the list.

The first panel, if I remember correctly, was asked something about Jewish unity, and it gave a very unsatisfying answer, probably due to the fact that it was mostly secular, from chutz l'Aretz (abroad) with one chareidi.  My reply to that question is pretty simple.  In the world of the audience, mostly traditional, Torah observant and Israeli Right, we are seeing  a unification of the Jewish People as our children and neighbors' children are marrying different "eidot," Jewish communities, like Ashkenaz with Yemenite with Sephard with Tunisian etc.  The children of these marriages unite Jews of all different backgrounds.

I hope that this doesn't sound like just some complaints.  That's not my intention.  G-d willing, I'll post more and with my own pictures when I have the time.  The organizers did a fantastically professional job and the venue was very comfortable, and yes, the food was delicious!

12 comments:

Benji Lovitt said...

Hi Batya....good to see you again yesterday! Shana tova and feel free to check out my new Rosh Hashana video posted on my blog. : )

Benji

Anonymous said...

Fix your Me-ander links.

Esser Agaroth said...

B"H

Too bad they didn't listen to the feedback from last year. It doesn't sound like they did.

When you include a round up of convention posts in HH, I hope you send it individually to Steve and NBN, and others.

Batya said...

Benji,why don't you use the pic I took? I really did enjoy your show and filmed parts, too.

Shy, thanks, did it.

Ya'aqov, this time it was even more blatant, especially compared to the attendees.

YMedad said...

Maybe they hope to draw into the crowd a more representative spectrum of the blogosphere. Not everyone out there is as you described. But they are still Jewish and should be with us all in the framework of a conference such as what could be a real International Jewish Conference.

Benji Lovitt said...

Which picture?

Orit said...

I'm always glad to entertain! What else did I move to LA for?

Batya said...

Wink, obviously they tried, but the crowd was even more rr-religious Right than last year.

Orit, I wish you a "peace" inside so you can use your talents for more.

Esser Agaroth said...

Yisrael, if they wanted to make it international, they should publicize in more than a few countries and accept more than one blogging language. Sure you could make the argument that English is a common language, and more Jews understand English than Hebrew. Nonetheless, the convention could be advertised in more than one language. Did publicity make it to countries other than U. S., U. K., Canada, and Israel?

Orit, you just don't get it, do you?

frumhouse said...

Thanks for the recap of the conference! I'm glad to see you are still active in the blogging world and giving them heck! :)

Avromi said...

Nothing against secular Jewish bloggers, but they were overrepresented and underdressed.

Batya said...

frumhouse, glad to hear from you; Shannah Tovah!

Avromi, besides calling an additional conference for the tzniyus minded...
but if you did, would I be banned?