Blogging changes the Jewish community
We live in the age of information technology. The evolvement of blogging over the past few years has been a phenomena that has developed a status and culture of its own. Blogging preceded some the more advanced forms of social networking that we have seen develop over the past year, but I believe it will also outlast some of the more abbreviated forms of communication. This is because of integrated media opportunities it offers.
Some people use blogging as an online diary, others as a reference depository. In some cases there is a cause to advance, and in others it is merely an occupational pastime. Our JewglePerth blog was established to provide a medium of communication and awareness for the Orthodox Jewish community in Perth.
There are many blogs appearing around Australia that provide a direct line of communication between those people that want to access the views and opinions of Australian Jewry, and those people who want to measure what the issues and attitudes are, and general pulse of the community is.
Here are just three of many good examples of other blogs, all of which help to deliver a new style of media for Australian Jews in their own unique way:
Galus Australus (a successor blog to the Sensible Jew, and we wish them all the best, especially in light of the recent signoff post by their predecessor, that articulates the need for an alternative community forum in much the same way that we do)
The social change that blogging represents is worth thinking about. Many articles have been written from a Rabbinic perspective that discuss blogging formats from a halachic perspective. The laws of Lashon Hara, the isssues of bittul zman, matters of general respect, anonymity, and the controlled use of the internet itself are serious issues that are addressed from a Jewish perspective. I am not qualified to comment on this, but I am conscious of the positive and negative level of influence that blogging can create.
In an age of ever increasing scrutiny, the accountability and responsibility of publishing anything is becoming more important. The responsibility of a publisher is an awesome one. All publishers should welcome inquiry and critique, provided that it is appropriately directed. This is especially so for bloggers.
From a sociological viewpoint, I believe the traditional structure of the Jewish community will be transformed by the form of free speech that blogging delivers. Most of this I suspect will be for the good, but it will also sadly come at the expense of many things, including traditional community models and structures.
The blog delivers a forum that allows views to be expressed outside the scope of the editorial control of an organisation or the Jewish media. Suddenly the freedom of expression is not limited, and issues and perspectives that were not within the scope of discussion before (or stifled by the community leadership) are suddenly within the public domain, whether or not that is desired.
This is where I would like to suggest that generational cultures within the community have begun to clash, and this is where things are starting to change with our community structures here in Perth. But it is not just the Jewish community, and it is not just locally. We now live in the global information age. As a JewglePerth blogger I am proud to be part of the media transformation. I like to try to use this communication medium for the good, but I’ve come to find that it is not all good. For example, even though it is distressing to feel compelled to draw attention towards unethical activity, I elected to do so in an attempt to realise a positive change for the community as the ultimate outcome.
Through the use of our electronic media JewglePerth provides a different style of forum for Perth Jewry to engage. We have the capacity to deliver an alternative platform for the local Jewish community to exchange ideas, challenge views, and express themselves. The market of ideas is an open marketplace.
It is not just the free expression of the forum, but also the medium itself that represents change. A weekly newspaper can take up to seven days to deliver its message. Electronic media can do so within seven seconds. It has the capacity to be more interactive and proactive. Just a few weeks back the general media fed itself into a frenzy over the way in which the Iranian elections and protests were being reported through realtime social networking technology. The Iranian regime could not control or repress the use of electronic media to conceal what was happening. The use of Twitter, YouTube, the blogisphere and other technology allowed the public to see what they otherwise may never had the opportunity to see. Suddenly the media had their own moment of realisation. They demonstrated how the use of information technology transcends any organisational structure and at the same time immediately impacts public opinion. They also know that this capability is potentially scaleable to the point of their own redundancy.
The flow on effect of borderless media and complete freedom of expression, is in the rupture within the structures and powerbases of community itself. Much of my recent blog experience suggests me that there is an intergenerational gap in the Perth Jewish community, that the value sets associated with this make the gap even more pronounced. I have concluded that the entrenched institutionalisation of Perth Jewry could well do with a good refresh in many areas due to apathy and lack of accountability.
It is not just the Maccabean that I find represents a culture within Perth Jewry that suggests that “beyond-reproach institutionalism” is embedded in our collective psyche. Whatever the organisation, I find that the internet is the antidote to those institutional and structural barriers that manage to stifle and limit community growth due to the leadership bottleneck.
There are many organisations in the Perth Jewish community that do not have the ability to engage new people, transition a new and future leadership, adapt their routines and activities to meet changing lifestyles, or cater for the way in which young people want to involve themselves in community activity. Directly related to this is the inability of our organisations to update their information communications technology to allow their members to engage in modern ways. Technology is vitally important in our times as communities connect electronically as much as they do face to face. Without the online interaction attractive opportunities for leadership development and the shared platform to discuss an evolving identity cannot be modelled into community development.
It also follows that the nature of community leadership has been changed by the freedom of speech offered by technology. When an organisations leadership cannot be respectfully challenged, then that organisation has no future. In the words of Rabbi Wein “The leader is judged, willingly or not, by the results of one’s leadership.” The Generation Y, and the new Generation Z amongst us also expect leaders, including voluntary leaders, to exercise absolute accountability and responsibility for the tasks they take upon themselves. Expectations are higher, the job is harder, and therefore the number of people committing to voluntary involvement in Jewish community organisations is diminishing at an alarming rate. If we reverse the culture of institutionalism and open up a new culture of social networking, then we have a better chance of actively growing our community into the future.
This blog was set up not as a medium to attack the Maccabean or any other community organisation, but rather as a means to bridge a gap. JewglePerth wanted to fill the void of local news and comment from an Orthodox standpoint, and also deliver a more contemporary medium for discussion. This objective remains. Sadly and regrettably we have found ourselves at odds with the way things work in our community. However the media world is changing, and this blog represents part of that change. Our small Jewish community is also changing, and we are also part of that change too.
With the understanding that the intentions of blogging are constructive, lets try and tackle some of the more important and difficult issues that confront our future.
By sheer cooincidence, this video is called, Did You Know?
Don’t forget Jewish Issues Watchdog (JIW) at [http etc then jiw.blogspot.com, or follow the lnk at the right-hand-side of this page].
Jewish Issues Watchdog is read around the world and is now in the TOP TEN of the 832 Blogs registered on JBlog Central: The Jewish and Israeli Blog Network.
July 20th, 2009 at 8:09 amWhoops. A glaring omission. You are absolutely right, JIW is an absolute treasure.
Interesting to note that many Jewish blogs outside of Perth, including Galus Australias and Israellycool have former Western Australian’s at their lead.
July 20th, 2009 at 9:23 amI must admit that I didn’t have the patience to read this very long blog post. Maybe I am a victim of the internet generation with my short attention span
In any case I must object to you mentioning the AJN Watch blog as a “good example” of a blog “which help to deliver a new style of media for Australian Jews”. This blog is entirely dedicated to bashing the Australian Jewish News and has no other redeeming qualities. While there are many negative things to say about the AJN it is not necessary to invent grievances or to argue with every comment that may hint at something positive about the paper.
That blog is obviously written by the extreme right-wing of Melbourne Orthodoxy who do not recognise the Jewishness of anyone but their own community. Nothing that the AJN can write will pacify them. Saying that they are not above using the Jewish News to publicise their own community.
July 20th, 2009 at 11:25 amHi Melbourne Yid
Thankfully the Perth community is not as politically charged as Melbourne. I don’t know much about AJN Watch or who is behind it, but take your comment as a fair perspective. I don’t wish to comment about the content of the blog itself, but do highlight it as an example of what I am talking about – an alternative form of media that sits outside the boundaries of the traditional establishment.
I agree that the role of a cross communal newspaper is a valuable and worthwhile, if not essential element of a Jewish community, and needs to balance its role as an informer and a unifier of community activity.
July 20th, 2009 at 1:04 pmMelbourne Yid, let us guess you are an employee of the AJN – moonlighting as a Yid.
After all, no reasonable impartial person would write quite like you.
In any case, maybe due to your short attention span, you have completely missed the reasons behind the creation of AJN Watch. These are stated quite clearly on our masthead:
“AJN Watch observes and comments on prejudice, misrepresentation and monopolistic abuse of power in the pages of the Australian Jewish News – especially regarding the observant community. ….. It is this blog’s mission to spotlight errors, expose misrepresentations and vigorously respond to items that malign or defame the Orthodox community.”
Thus while you may consider this as “bashing”, fair and reasonable people are grateful that for first time in memory this not insignificant sector of Australian Jewry has a voice where it can forcefully respond to the biased and unjust treatment handed out to frum Jews for decades.
Plans to create such a blog have been around for a number of years but have for various reasons been suspended. However, the case of Rabbi Engel was the final straw. First in the way they sensationalized the original story – which forced the police investigation. This was nothing less than pure ‘mesireh’ – dobbing a fellow Jew it to the authorities. As you, Melbourne Yid may or may not know, halachically and historically the ‘moser’ is/was considered to be the lowest form of humanity in Jewish life – reviled and despised by all.
Following that, they came up with the outrageous front page “Charged” poster. When that happened the entire spectrum of Jewry should have risen up in arms against these hypocrites – who never mentioned anything about the massive scandals involving rich and famous irreligious Jews. But what happened? Besides a few letters to the editor – nothing. Where was Melbourne Yid then? If you did comment about it, we haven’t heard it.
But those behind AJN Watch, did take action and decided that no longer will we sit by passively and allow our community to be smeared and besmirched by Australia’s only national Jewish newspaper. Most of the reaction has been highly positive. But if the defense of observant Jews offends you – we apologize and suggest that you don’t read our blog.
We, on the other hand, hope that the Jewish News- knowing that it is now facing continuous scrutiny (as per that nasty piece in last week’s Shmooze page) – will think twice before denigrating, attacking and offending our community.
BTW, your comment: ” That blog is obviously written by the extreme right-wing of Melbourne Orthodoxy who do not recognise the Jewishness of anyone but their own community…” almost confirms that you are one of the AJN’s anti-frum gang. Slandering hundreds of good Jews – because they won’t take it any more from your beloved newspaper. Shame on you.
In any case, what difference does it make on who the bloggers are? Why don’t you try and respond to the charges of prejudice and unfairness – rather than write lies about religious Jews?
As for your comment that “… they are not above using the Jewish News to publicise their own community….” which community are you referring to? Or have you also fabricated that fact?
To our knowledge since the arrival of the Hamodia, “right-wing” organizations have almost stopped using the AJN.
July 21st, 2009 at 12:14 amAJN Watch’s comments are, as usual, rambling and long winded. Rather than talking to the point they attack the individual. This has become standard form of argument among those who are so insecure in their Yiddishkeit that they cannot abide anyone with a different view.
I don’t think anyone in the frum community likes everything about the AJN. I have heard from members of the “Liberal” community that they also feel that they are not given a fair go. Reading this blog it is apparent that Perth residents are also dissatisfied with the coverage of that city in the AJN. One size does not fit all. The reason that there are so many shuls and shtieblach in Melbourne is that we need variety in our lives.
If the AJN Watch people toned down their righteous indignation and hatred for anyone who does not think like they do then maybe they would have more supporters. As it stands most frum people think they are a joke.
July 21st, 2009 at 7:26 amInteresting comments.
I am a subscriber to the AJN. I get the paper delivered on Monday, about 4 days later than I would like. Over the past few months, since the revamp, I must say it takes me longer to read. There are a lot more interesting articles and analysis, and I do find its perspective broad. The article this week on Jews in Malaysia was a wonderful item to read. I don’t agree with everything I read, nor would I expect to in any newsletter. I do find that the AJN over-manufactures local news. I find that they ignore Perth completely (to their own chagrain), and that their sports news is a joke (show me one week in 6 months where there hasn’t been a item about Michael Klinger). While I do not subscribe to the legitimacy they extend to reform and progressive representation of Judaism, I can understand the need for them to incorporate this. Overall, I am not as critical of the AJN, because I find more than half of it to be a worthwhile read, and the other half a very good demonstration as to why some elements in the community are so far removed from Jewish knowledge and ideals that they do nothing more than embarass themselves.
Locally, our Maccabean is not a newspaper at all. It is a collection of ads and reproduced news items that I have already read online. It takes me less and less time to read each week.
As noted in my post, I think there is a valid and proper place for a cross community newspaper that delivers a medium for ideas. My point is that while in the past these newspapers have had exclusive control over the domain of public opinion, they no longer do so. Our blogs help to keep them and us honest, but most of all do not make us susceptable to censorship.
I think we need to take the positive with the negative. AJN is not all bad, and running a Jewish publication has to be one of the hardest jobs around.
July 21st, 2009 at 9:22 amChevre
This is all good. We must have yiden who are well-informed and passionate about their yiddishkeit, one way or the other, so this debate is great. However, please let’s remember the big picture.
We have what Anne Bayefsky calls the “most hostile sitting American President in the history of the state of Israel” on the one hand (see
http:// … then (no www)… jiw.blogspot.com/2009/07/obamas-real-agenda-his-self-defined.html) and on the other hand we have Jordan revoking citizenship of certain Palestinian Arabs, in preparation for their imminent “right of return” to Israel (see jiw.blogspot.com/2009/07/jordan-revokes-citizenship-of.html).
So, go ahead an admonish your fellow Jew, if you feel that’s needed. But just do it with love, and preserve our cohesion and unity, because there’s a lot more that we have in common than that seperate us.
…and Hashem only knows what trials and challenges we will need to face together, soon …
July 21st, 2009 at 2:00 pmTo Melbourne Yid:
Our comments are â??rambling and long-windedâ?? only to those who donâ??t like the fact that your AJN now has a site keeping a close watch on it and unafraid to comment stridently.
We should tone down our â??righteous indignation and hatredâ??? What hatred? Denouncing your newspaper’s nasty reporting style and their repeated (insinuated and open) smear campaigns against a sector of the community?
If that is called hatred, we plead guilty.
As for your comment that “most frum people think they are a joke” – how would you know?
How many frum people do you know?
For your information, all of us at the AJN Watch blog have no previous blogging knowledge or experience, thus had/have no idea what kind of readership figures we could expect. (After all, how many frum Jews are there in Australia? How many of them ever buy the AJN?)
So we are more than pleased to report that despite Melbourne Yid’s opinion that we are a ‘joke’, in the 3+ weeks of our existence we have had approx 1800 “unique visitors” and almost 4000 page loads. Far, far better figures than we ever dreamed of.
And may we take this opportunity to remind Melbourne Yid that he did not respond with a single word to our earlier charges:
“…the case of Rabbi Engel…the way they sensationalized the original story – which forced the police investigation. This was nothing less than pure â??mesirehâ??…”
“Following that… the outrageous front page â??Chargedâ? poster.”
“…[AJN] never mentioned anything about the massive scandals involving rich and famous irreligious Jews. ..”
We await your reply.
July 21st, 2009 at 10:35 pmWhile the posting of the front page photo was abhorrent to all Jewish and other fair minded people the charge of mesira against the Jewish News is completely false. If you had bothered to read other news reports the AJN just reported what had already been reported in other news media. Unfortunately, as has been seen in other frum communities, we are not immune from breaking the law. How it is reported is another matter and the front page photo was wrong.
Two more final points:
July 22nd, 2009 at 4:56 am- Your comment “How many frum people do you know?” just emphasises my point that you are are nasty person who cannot listen to anyone who has a different point of view.
- I do not believe for one minute that “in the 3+ weeks of our existence we have had approx 1800 “unique visitors” and almost 4000 page loads”. I posit that that statement is either an outright lie or that your web counter is faulty.
It was clear mesireh. The AJN’s sensationalist style and it’s repeated ad nauseum articles on the story eventually forced the SA Police to investigate. Had the AJN behaved responsibly there would have been a fair chance that the police would have overlooked or ‘forgotten’ about it all. They certainly aren’t seeking to tangle with rabbis or the Jewish community. The AJN, with some help from a few ‘nice’ Adelaide people ensured that there was a full investigation which led to the charges.
In any case we areglad to see that finally you too recognize that the front page report was wrong.
Of course you still haven’t explained why the AJN doesn’t report on financial skullduggery and other scandals when it involves rich non-frum Jews.
You say that we are nasty!? Us nasty? Why? Because we questioned your respectful comment that “most frum people think they [AJN Watch] are a joke” ?
And then you publicly accuse us of being liars! Yet WE are the ‘nasty’ ones!
For the record, we have absolutely no problem with other points of view. We believe in “live and let live”.
What we are here for is to ensure that we no longer passively turn the other cheek when this country’s Jewish newspaper offends and upsets religious Jews. You obviously disagree with our aims and that is your privilege.
Finally, despite abusive insult saying that we are lying regarding our visitor numbers, we do wish to thank you for confirming our suspicions that the figures are pretty good. They must be – if they upset you.
We assure everyone that they come from the Stats Counter people who we hooked up to sometime after the blogs inception. The only ‘faulty’ hitch we have had is that for approx 3 half days – for some unknown reason the counter was disabled and we missed out on some figures.
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:34 amI think there’s going to be a highly interesting clash of bloggers this week. ashley browne editor of teh jewish news has in his bblog blasted the hamodia for not reporting on the gay murders in tel aviv.
and i hear that the ajn watch blog – who claim to have nothing to do with hamodia – except sharing the same ‘religion’, is planning a vigorous repsonse!
It’s about time life in the Ozzie blogosphere got a bit lively.
August 5th, 2009 at 6:26 pmAJN Watch doesn’t disappoint.
http://ajnwatch.blogspot.com/2009/08/jewish-news-goyish-news-or-gayish-news.html
August 11th, 2009 at 7:42 am