The umbrella event during this period was Fai’s visit, which I briefly touched on in the previous entry. It was a full and fabulous time. We had much to catch up on after almost two years apart…but I think we worked hard to cover as many topics as possible. And it wasn’t all carefree frolics around the headlines of the Maccabean and the antics of the Perth Jewish community. We also spent some time ‘work-shopping’ ideas for Fai’s PhD which is looking to focus on issues concerning sexual health education for the Orthodox Jewish community of Australia. Here are some of Fai's pix from our adventures during her visit:
Here are also a couple of great shots she took of the view from our flat:
During this period David also launched his new course: The Prophets – Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel on Sunday, August 17th.
We welcomed another solid crowd (of around 50) and David gave a fantastic talk. I really believe that he was made for prophecy (whether it be his own or the stories and voices of the big ones). Thought you might also like to see the poster for the course (I am rather pleased with this one) as well as the event snapshot.
Of course, the Jewish History series had also been going on and David gave a super account of the Gaonic Period (500 – 1000). There was an impressive Australian representation on this evening, with a special and very welcome Solomonic appearance by Shua and Rachel (as well as a surprise arrival by Saul Finberg, one of the boys from Perth currently learning in yeshiva in Gush Etzion). 
Fai took this great pic of David with Shua and Rachel after the talk together with one of David’s loyal students – the extremely impressive Yosef Simcha (who comes whenever he can with his grandmother …amazingly, he is only 12). The five of us (David and I, Fai, Shua and Rachel) later had a very pleasant time at Café Joe’s where we also bumped into David Berenson (what a family affair).
Sadly, Fai left on Tuesday evening (August 19) and as we were scheduled to be in Jerusalem for David to give his Rishonim (1000 – 1500) part of his Jewish History series, we said our goodbyes early. We had another great crowd and David gave a full hour and a half to a very enthusiastic audience…with a particularly healthy focus on Rashi.Interestingly, one of David’s regulars mentioned to him on Tuesday that she wanted to bring her nephew to see him speak. Her nephew, she said, had recently made aliyah and had his own radio program. To his amazement, it was soon revealed that her nephew is in fact, Tovia Singer, an American rabbi whom David holds in extremely high esteem. For large parts of 2005 David was driving around listening to tapes of Tovia Singer, who he considers one of the big figures in Tanach scholarship but who is probably best known as one of the leading anti-missionary figures in the Jewish world. He is big and, amazingly, yesterday he sent David and email inviting him to be interviewed for his radio program. Stay tuned (literally).
Last night I attended the First
International Jewish Bloggers Convention (if you clip on this link and watch the video then you will me a little too often), hosted by Nefesh B’Nefesh, an aliyah support organisation. There were 200 bloggers who attended in person and around 1300 who watch on the web. Overall it was an interesting experience for me and a great networking opportunity, but the conference itself wobbled a little. You can actually watch the conference in full on the site where you will find numerous sightings of me as my seat was situated in view of the camera...coincidence of course...I attended not as the blogger of theinonehourdiaries which remains a private site, but as the blogger of Tikshoret and, as such, felt like a bit of a kindy kid. And to an extent this sensation was justified. The conference revealed that for a great many, blogging is a serious sport, while for others it is actually a job. But I learnt a lot and was inspired to do a lot more. I have no idea how people’s schedules …and backs…allow them to do what they do, but I can see the value in it nonetheless…not so much for theinonehourdiaries which will never have or want too much traffic, but for In One Hour and Tikshoret and the other projects that keep popping up their heads and calling out for my attention. So many things to do and so little capacity for focus, time management and dedication….what is to be done?
Some notes on the conference: Being a conference based in Jerusalem and a Nefesh B’Nefesh event, the conference was big-time focused on promoting aliyah and naturally weighted more towards a religious contingent, with a fairly strong right-wing element. In fact, the event had a last minute inclusion of one of Israel’s more famous bloggers (although not famed for his blogging): Benyamin Netanyahu (Bibi). His arrival squashed any doubts about the political leanings of most of the audiences – with a great deal of rapturous applause, standing ovations and general expressions of delight erupting from the audience. Bibi is a good speaker, but the whole Bibi experience was almost too much for me (I may well have been the most politically liberal person at the event).There were also two panel discussions which were interesting and which offered a few useful tips and insights. There was also a pretty awful presentation from a representative of the Foreign Ministry whose final words were drowned out by one of the crazies in the audience hysterically shouting at her: ‘but this is a Jewish state’ in response to her comments about multi-culturalism. He may have been right (or maybe he wasn’t), but he came across as militantly aggressive and totally nuts.
As a side note, one of the bloggers was David Lange from Perth. He runs a somewhat anonymous blog under the name 'aussie dave', author of Israellycool...best not to 'out' him beyond the small circumference of the inonehourdiaries circle.
As the conference drew to a close, I was invited to join a few others in a post-conference drink. Overcoming an initial inclination to decline, I joined Judith Weiss, Mary Madagan, Lyn Payne and Omri Ceren for a couple of drinks in downtown Jerusalem …an activity I have not indulged in since early 1998. I was in the company of seasoned bloggers and a journalist (Lynn – from the local Jewish paper in Orlando, Florida) and not only had a fun time, but also picked up some interesting tips.
Today I have effectively wiled away the day playing with all manner of new social media toys. Not only did I make friends with a stack of people on Facebook, but I also decided to have a go at twitter. Goodness knows what that is all about, but be sure that it will involve me spending even more time online. Interneters anonymous here I come…
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