Nefesh B’Nefesh is better known for its efforts to get North American
Jews on planes to Israel, but last month it settled for driving more
Internet traffic there. The organization recently hosted the first
International Jewish Bloggers Convention at its Jerusalem headquarters.
The conference, which featured keynote speaker former Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu — who doesn’t blog — attracted 200 Israeli-based
bloggers (many of them Anglos) and 1,300 people around the globe who
watched the live video feed.
In
the wake of the conference, an, ahem, Web of controversy is spinning
across the JBlogosphere. Who is a Jewish blogger? And what role should
a blogger play?
Part of the acrimony is a reaction to Nefesh B’Nefesh’s choice of seven blogger panelists who were treated
to free business-class flights and passes to El Al’s King David Lounge
at John F. Kennedy Airport. In exchange, Nefesh B’Nefesh paired each
blogger with one of the 240 olim making aliyah, whom they were to
interview and blog about. (“I have to follow a hottie or else I don’t
want to come,” Jewlicious founder David Abitbol reportedly instructed
Nefesh B’Nefesh.)
The
flight’s business-class section served as a veritable human blogroll.
Seated next to Abitbol were David Bogner of Treppenwitz, screenwriter
Robert Avrech of Seraphic Secrets, and Yashar Books’ Rabbi Gil Student
who blogs at Hirhurim. Frum Satire’s Heshy Fried was in the row behind
them and Esther Kustanowitz, who until recently wrote the Jewish Week’s
Matchup column and blogs at My Urban Kvetch, was in front.
But not
everyone is seeing blue skies. Shmarya Rosenberg of Failed Messiah has
been a vocal critic, bemoaning what he feels was a rigging of the
conference to favor those on the political right. “Nefesh B’Nefesh did
not sincerely try to invite all Jewish bloggers,” he told the Jewish
Week. “If Nefesh B’Nefesh had called it a ‘Pro-Aliya’ bloggers’
convention or something like that, and made it clear that the
convention’s intent was to support Nefesh B’Nefesh’s agenda, I wouldn’t
care. But that isn’t what Nefesh B’Nefesh did.”
Not true, says Yael
Katsman, NBN’s director of communications and marketing. “We had
secular panelists, feminist panelists. The schedule was made public
well in advance. Anyone who was interested in coming came.”
From an
ideological standpoint, the seven “chosen” bloggers are decidedly
pro-Israel. According to Renana Levine, Nefesh B’Nefesh’s PR and
communications manager, the bloggers were chosen based on blog traffic,
reader demographics and the determination that the blog was pro-aliyah.
Some panelists took offense at being labeled right wing for taking
part in the conference. “I see that being a secular, socialist,
Zionist, Labor blogger ... who has a blog devoted to promoting peace
and dialogue with our various Arab neighbors makes one a Right-wing
Religious Fanatic,” fumed “Oleh Girl” on her blog in response to an
article in Haaretz about the conference.
And so unleashed yet
another backlash, with many JBloggers defending Nefesh B’Nefesh and
accusing Failed Messiah and friends of sour grapes.
Blogging can
“unleash people’s untamed egos,” says Israellycool’s “Aussie Dave.” “To
the bloggers who believe they should have been invited to the
conference (instead of registering like us common folk) ... I say get
over yourselves. And if you don’t like it, how about getting off your
posterior and organizing a conference of your own.”
Most attendees appreciated the opportunity to meet the men and women behind their favorite blogs.
Plans
are already under way for Nefesh B’Nefesh’s next International Jewish
Bloggers Conference, Katsman says. Whether Failed Messiah will show up
has yet to be determined. |
