Jewlicious http://www.jta.org/user/profile/11152 en-us rkampeas@jta.org Copyright 2012 2012-02-10T;19:44:00-05:00 Hey Adam, thanks for the link correction. By the way, and for what it's worth, you'll notice none of my criticism was aimed at you. I know you did as good a job as was possible under the circumstances. I don't think I am going to be able to participate in the Q&A;because I'll be at a Bar Mitzvah but I'm sure it's going to be fun for the whole family! 2012-02-10T;19:44:00-05:00 "Lots of folks chimed in about our updated JTA 100 Twitter list..." Oh? What did they say? What did they say?]]> 2012-02-10T;19:44:00-05:00 I don't think anyone reasonable would equate intermarriage with an automatic negation and elimination of Jewish life. I, like many others I am sure, know many intermarried couples and children of intermarriage who lead full and rich Jewish lives. Furthermore, intermarried couples and their children ought not be treated like pariahs and every effort should be made to make them feel welcome both socially and communally. But please, let's not be slaves to political correctness. While individual exceptions exist, intermarriage on a communal level is a threat to Jewish continuity. There's just no sense pussyfooting around the very real studies that dramatically demonstrate that. Ed Case posits the cherry-picked 2005 Boston Jewish Community Survey and ignores the 1999 "America's Jewish Freshmen" study that surveyed 250,000 American Jewish freshmen that found that “38 percent of the teens identified as Jews if just their mother was Jewish, and only 15 percent if their father was Jewish.” Also ignored were the surveys and studies cited by SimpleToRemember.com that demonstrate clearly the effect that intermarriage has on basic, large scale Jewish identification. The answer is not, of course, to demonize intermarried couples and their children. The best way to deal with these disturbing trends is to promote greater and more compelling Jewish education and innovative Jewish programing while being as inclusive, sensitive and compassionate as possible. The notion however, that intermarriage is somehow good for the Jews, is just patently false. The key isn't whether or not these families are raising their children as Jews, but rather the question that should be asked, a question that has already been decisively answered by survey after survey, is how many of the children and grandchildren of these intermarried families identify as Jews. The answer is not many. Not many at all. I wish the folks at interfaithfamily.com would at least be honest about that. SimpleToRemember.com that demonstrate clearly the effect that intermarriage has on basic, large scale Jewish identification. The answer is not, of course, to demonize intermarried couples and their children. The best way to deal with these disturbing trends is to promote greater and more compelling Jewish education and innovative Jewish programing while being as inclusive, sensitive and compassionate as possible. The notion however, that intermarriage is somehow good for the Jews, is just patently false. The key isn't whether or not these families are raising their children as Jews, but rather the question that should be asked, a question that has already been decisively answered by survey after survey, is how many of the children and grandchildren of these intermarried families identify as Jews. The answer is not many. Not many at all. I wish the folks at interfaithfamily.com would at least be honest about that.]]> 2012-02-10T;19:44:00-05:00 Hey kids! I know that losing J-Vibes is a real downer! But don't fret! Because we never got any kind of community funding, this latest economic downturn hasn't affected us at all! You can still come to Jewlicious.com and read all the latest Jews that's fit to print! Just make sure that Mom and Dad say it's ok! All kidding aside though, we are indeed saddened by the loss of yet another top-notch Jewish project, especially one aimed at the otherwise under-served teen demographic. Perhaps what will be needed in the future is long term funding in tandem with serious plans for sustainability. 2012-02-10T;19:44:00-05:00 Aw sorry Jacob. I didn't mean to be all pissy. Just trying to promote conversation as well. And, lo and behold - Mission Accomplished! Thanks to your comment I now know more than I did before. Thanks for enlightening me and I am glad and relieved that there exist some metrics that demonstrate that the campaign was in fact quite successful. 2012-02-10T;19:44:00-05:00 Wow. That was sooo steamy! I am verily throbbing here. What a timely post too. Those videos were only uploaded to YouTube what, 3 months ago? The real story, and one that would have benefited your readership, is why these otherwise clever, professionally executed videos only garnered less than 8000 views on YouTube. Those numbers are rather low. That would have been an interesting and productive discussion. Pissing on this campaign because it's "racy" is rather weak. And before anyone jumps down my throat, we helped promote the video series with a post and a banner ad on Jewlicious. The banners appeared on several other sites and that was the extent of our involvement. MASA did this one by the book apparently and still the results were disappointing. Why? That's the relevant question and not the moral, puritan, holier than thou non-issues you brought up. 2012-02-10T;19:44:00-05:00 Benefits? You get to help save the JTA!! Isn't that enough? 2012-02-10T;19:44:00-05:00 Golly. I think most of the bloggers you cited offered reasoned responses to the JTA's poorly thought out fundraising pitch - a couple of us, myself included, even provided readers with a link to the JTA's membership solicitation page. I would hardly call the bulk of these responses "hyperventilation." In fact, they were better thought out than the the JTA's original pitch letter. I don't think anyone suggested that traditional media ought to be replaced by blog posts and tweets! The first part of your post was fine - the fundraising letter was indeed ill-advised and regrettable. The second part responded to an argument that no one was making. I don't think any of us wants the JTA to fold! Also, not all of us are aspiring journalists looking, "pleading" for writing gigs. Some of us do what we do because we are passionate about the state of the Jewish people and blogs allow us to have a say in its direction - blogs give us a voice in an arena where we never had one before. I mean seriously, if you ever see my name under an article about some dude's restaurant's Passover menu, please shoot me. I don't have any problem with those that choose to write that sort of stuff for a living, it's just not for me. In any case, I wish the JTA the best of luck in its fundraising campaign. The JTA is undoubtedly a very important Jewish community organization that ought to be supported, but please, not at my expense ok? 2012-02-10T;19:44:00-05:00 Oliphants cartoon is idiotic but free speech is the higher value. We can't have on the one hand, the WJC condemning the passage of a UN Resolution against Religious Defamation (which may include legitimate criticisms against radical Islam) while seeking to suppress an otherwise ignorant cartoon that defames us. In any event, I'd hate to have anyone tell me I can't draw whatever cartoon I like, such as this take off on Oliphants: http://www.jewlicious.com/2009/03/defaming-religions-where-do-i-pick-up-my-pulitzer/ Not as well drawn but more nuanced I think... 2012-02-10T;19:44:00-05:00