Once again Nefesh B’Nefesh and WebAds is sponsoring a conference in Israel - The Second International Jewish Bloggers Convention. It will take place on Sunday September 13th. And once again I was invited to attend via a prepaid round trip filght from JFK I was also invited to be on one of the panels. Alas, I had to turn down the invitation again this year for various reasons.
I regret not being able to attend. It promises to be an exciting and productive event. And it will include some surprise guests speakers – I’m told. Last year’s surprise guest speaker was none other than Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – a blogger himself. Of course last year he was only a candidate. This year he is a little busier and probably won’t make it. (You never know though). Be that as it may I’m sure it will be a very worthwhile experience. So if any blogger has an opportunity to attend, I’m sure they will not be disappointed.
The organizers of this event are running a contest. Bloggers are invited to nominate fellow bloggers for a free round trip ticket from JFK to attend the convention. Details are available at the website.
Hirhurim has already nominated some excellent bloggers, among them Chana of The Curious Jew a bright and rising star in the world of journalism... and Ezzie of SerandEz. I think he would have been a wonderful choice - but he has turned it down for reasons of his own.
I would like to see more variety of Hashkafos and perspectives from some of the more Charedi Orthodox bloggers. So I nominate two of the members of the group blog Cross-Currents: Rabbi Avi Shafran and Jonathan Rosenblum. I think they would make excellent panel members. They are both brilliant writers and - as Charedim - would contrast very nicely to the virtual monopoly of non Charedi and secular Jewish bloggers at that meeting. If one is going to get a true picture of the Orthodox blogging world we need members of the right to show up.
