I sent it from my regular e-mail account, so it could be in your spam folder.

I just sent you another one. One of them should get through.

gm@jewlicious.com

As for attacks on Orthodox Jews, or support for non-Orthodox who are attacked by the Orthodox, I admit to being lax about this recently, but that’s probably due to a desire to avoid a war on the site. It’s not as if those nasty debates achieved anything other than to offend some people sufficiently that they stopped reading us altogether.

You may be right about seeing more to engage in what the lefties contribute here. But as your own comment just now suggests, you don’t see an immediate alternative to the status quo (no P. partner to deal with, etc.), and the right-wingers share that as a default position. I suspect that if I were Israeli, I’d vote right-of-center, and I’d be quite concerned that the left has seized the intellectual and, increasingly, the political initiative on Israel/Palestine issues. That’s why lefties get more attention from Middle and others.

As for the takedowns, I think the right wing nutbars that grace our pages on occasion are, well… prima facie ridiculous. They usually don’t merit any kind of response, whereas others who frame their sometimes unfair arguments in an otherwise reasonable manner, require a response. When we tangle with someone, it’s usually a sign of respect. As for my “uncritical alignment with Othodoxy’s denial of legitimacy to other denominations” – dude. How many times do I have to explain that? Do I have to get into the fish sticks issue again? Yes? OK. I went shopping in Montreal and saw some fish sticks with a nice fancy kosher sign – a rare treat! As I was standing in line, bored, I read the ingredients and saw that said fish sticks contained shrimp particles! Totally unkosher! At least by my standards. So by not eating said fish sticks, was I being intolerant and insulting the Rabbi of whatever liberal denomination of Judaism that tried to pass these off as kosher? No. I don’t think so. Despite the fact that I do not personally accept the authority of any but Orthodox Rabbis, I still recognize that Conservative and Reform etc. Rabbis are the leaders of their communities and accord them the respect due their positions. I do not insist that all Jewlicious writers follow my way of thinking and our Festivals welcome all, including non-Orthodox Rabbis who conduct services there. AND I am not a blind follower either! I stopped eating meat because Orthodox Rabbis certified Agriprocessors horrifically produced meat as kosher. I called the Rabbis who refused to grant women a religious divorce “ass clowns.” I think my position is nuanced, honest and inoffensive. Anyone who finds my position worthy of an uproar ought to contemplate their own level of tolerance.

I’m not advocating the latter, simply making what seems to me a self-evident point about the center of gravity on the blog. If you’re taking on J Street substantively, for example, you’re effectively taking on Obama and what constitutes majority Jewish opinion here in the US, which supports his policy of creating “daylight” between this country and Israel.

In another example, left-of-center types (EV, KFJ, xisnotx) are far more likely to face verbal takedowns by Middle (our self-described moderate) and others, than are hard-right contributors. And ck’s uncritical alignment with Othodoxy’s denial of legitimacy to other denominations would’ve sparked an in-house uproar back in the day.

In my profession, I often have to evaluate style and how content is related / organised, and I’ve seen a lot of widely acclaimed yet badly organised, unfocused, and overall pointless babble that is not fit to hold a candle to EV’s comics. Disagree with his views all you want, but his style is good as in being consistent, to-the-point, and sharp.