jewsweekThe fact that you are reading this at all is a sign that we’re in trouble.

Well, well, it’s been quite the heady week for the gang at Jewlicious. We have gotten way more attention than we deserve given that this project is barely a month old. I think it started when Luke Ford of Protocols said we were a great site. At around the same time, Asparagirl of the Yuppies of Zion was all “How much do I love the new blog Jewlicious? ” This was followed by several flattering references and links in other Jew blogs like Patio Pundit and JMerica (who erroneously credited Jewlicious with tanking the MatchNet / JDate IPO). Finally, much to our surprise, this past Saturday night, Jewsweek called us one of the 16 hottest people, projects, accessories, and trends in Jewish culture today.

So uh… we’re flattered and all. But we’re also kind of, well concerned. I mean, why are you all here? What is so damned compelling about the ramblings of a bunch of nobodies? I guess that’s what blogging is all about. It applies in general to the redefinition of the relationship between traditional media and the public. In our case it also says something about the dynamic between the Jewish public and the traditional community controlled media. Let’s face it, Bubby and Zayde’s Jewish weekly newspaper is simply no longer relevant to a large cross section of its constituency.

So starved are we for Jewish news and information that we can relate to that we will read almost anything even marginally Jewish that “talks” to us. How else do you explain the success of crap like Heeb magazine where Jewish culture is defined almost exclusively from the perspective of a diasporic cooptation of fringe culture – often only peripherally related to the presumably underlying Judaism. So starved are we in fact, that we will flock to sites like this written literally by absolute nobodies.

So are the nobodies going to define a new Jewish agenda? Frankly, we here at Jewlicious don’t need that kind of pressure. I mean seriously, if I were to apply, I couldn’t even get an entry level job at my local federation. Laya is practically homeless in Jerusalem, but at least she’s cute so she has that going for her. Yet, despite having no budget, little or no talent, and no authority, we have managed to communicate with at least 60,000 of you in the last month.

Based on your feedback, you seem to like what we have to say. So the big question is, why can’t the federations and the well monied foundations simply replicate what we’re doing here? It’s really not that hard – it’s not even that expensive or time consuming. Seriously, give me a holler, I can tell you how to do it in 10 minutes. Three if you know anything at all about the Internet.

Are you listening to me Jewish Federations? Bronfman? Spielberg? Steinhardt? Anybody? Your entrenched bureaucracies are ineffective. We are losing Jews to apathy, ignorance and assimilation by the bucketload. Every day. And there aren’t that many of us to begin with. The fact that anybody is reading this at all means that you have failed miserably. Please. Do something about it. Dare to do something about it.

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About the author

ck

Founder and Publisher of Jewlicious, David Abitbol lives in Jerusalem with his wife, newborn daughter and toddler son. Blogging as "ck" he's been blocked on twitter by the right and the left, so he's doing something right.

9 Comments

  • The funny thing is that this post that so self-disparagingly criticizes your own writing and its value and significance contains some very thoughtful ideas and questions. Re-read the post and perhaps you’ll see that the question is it’s own answer.

    Maybe there’s just a whole huge crowd of Jews out there trawling the net for someone to just come out and say that we’re all way too freaking introspective, that our constant self-doubt and self-questioning and squabbling over fine points is a bit ridiculous or even absurd. I might be one of them…

    One theory is that your site is very well-designed and attractively polished, seems to have a team of bloggers and a decent buzz, and therefore one might automatically assume that this site must be somehow significant. Everyone’s afraid of being the last blogger to notice a cool or notable site to their links or blogroll, so there’s a snowball effect – once one blogger links to you, the rest feel that they have to play catch-up. Suddenly you’ve got 20 or 30 blogs with 2000 readers each linking to you: boom, instant 60,000 readers.

    Or maybe it’s just all the pretty pictures in most of your posts. Other blogs have too many words!

    BTW from geek to geek: kudos on running WordPress. Nice choice!

    Keep up the good work but don’t forget to have fun!

  • cause if it isn’t good enough, we could just forget about it and i could put some turkey burgers on the george foreman grill. maybe some nice sliced tomatoes on the side?

  • Your success has everything to do with your creativity and spirit. You are lovely tribute to the success and future of Jewish life. It must be built from the ground up. Grassroots spirituality and journalism, commentary and camaraderie will define the next generation of Jewish leaders. You are the thriving shtiebel of Jewish blogdom. We must not build new edifices of stone and bureaucracy, but knit a fabric of friendship and assistance, both material and spiritual, in order to fix, heal, and build. We are listening…keep bloggin.

  • Let me add to the kudos. You are a breath of freash air. To say that the Federations et al don’t get it is an understatement. Keep talking, we’re listening.

  • We do love your posts, Jewliciousists. There’s no doubt Jews who don’t take themselves or the news too seriously can change the world, but our credit of your JDate takedown was a bit tongue-in-cheek!

  • The Federations are run by old and ossified professionals who know or care little about the under 40 crowd. After all, many of THEM have intermarried. most only care about continued funding for their pet projects. nothing about the Frenchies burning down our synagogues, the Hamas Hitlerites wanting to bring a Fourth Reich or the Iranian nuclear bomb a year away. We need a place where the next generation of leaders can organize!!

  • Jarred – look, I think they do care. I’ve seen Charles and Andrea Bronfman shvitzing big naches at birthright mega events as thousands of way under 40 youths party hearty and celebrate the uh… freeness of their trips and how cool Israel is. All I think is that they’re a little out of touch and they have no way of connecting to youths on a day to day basis. Yikes!