Ezzie's Blog Roundup, 8/17: No, Really

I said about a month ago that I'm trying to update my blog [blogroll, etc.]. And really, I am. Only things have gotten a bit hectic, with finding a new apartment and all, and then Chaim noted that Blogger was finally coming out with a new version, so... it's on the back burner for now. One thing I *have* basically done is update the list of feeds I read, which of course y'all can't see, so you have no clue if I'm just saying that. But that's your problem. (For those who are wondering, it's about 120 blogs... and it takes me about 45 minutes to read everything I want on the day. That's actually not all that much, when you think about how long it takes you to read your list... thanks again to the anon who told me about Sage.)

Anyways... the Mazel Tovs come before the jump, everything else after:

Suburban Hymns returns to tell us... she's engaged! Mazel Tov! Mind-boggling... okay, not really. Just Boggle.

ADDeRabbi is now an Israeli blogger. Awesome.

And Kesher Talk notes the story of Jodi Goldstein and her triplets... born 3 weeks apart. Yeah, that's why you have to actually read the story.

And JustStam posts a video from the bachelor party of a friend of mine. Funky.

Now for the rest:

Robbie is his local religious expert in Israel. Mashiach is coming!

I'd feel much more secure with this guy, who has a great dvar Torah [words of Torah] on last week's parsha [portion], which happens to be the one from my bar mitzvah.

Meanwhile, can anyone guess where this picture of Batya's is taken from? She says I was "close"...

She actually came back on a Nefesh B'Nefesh flight - I wonder if she was on this one, which Olah Chadasha posted a TV clip of.

A few good, coherent, and different outlooks on all that has happened and will be happening in Israel:

AbbaGav gives an excellent, fair breakdown and outlook on why Olmert's government simply won't be falling anytime soon... but what he must do anyway.

Daled Amos points to the best, and probably only decent consolation article about this war that we'll see, by Yossi Klein Halevi. It's truly the only consolation that we can likely take from this war... but it is a huge one.

Heh - at first, I didn't realize it, since they quoted different excerpts, but Dave Bender linked to the same piece. That shows just how good it is.

Meanwhile, BagelBlogger has a poll asking what Israel should do now.

Thoughts:

Harry Maryles has a sharp post about the attitude towards saying prayers for the IDF. I've said similar things on comment threads elsewhere, but I thought he put the post together very well. I don't agree that one can assume R' Shternbuch agrees with the Eidah Chareidit on this, but his silence implies either that or that he is afraid to disagree. Either way, it is a bad sign.

Dave links to a piece from Volokh, noting a seemingly anti-Semitic cartoon published in a Sacramento bi-weekly. I think the most important point in this is not "don't let people publish anti-Semitic material". While they should be using their heads and not doing so on their own, the most important point is the reaction: Aside from calls to pull the offensive cartoon, there is almost no reaction. No riots, no burning of cars, no killings... no cartoonist hiding in fear of his life. This is an important difference to keep in mind.

Shoshana notes regarding the story from Jameel I linked to earlier:

So impressed with the amazing uprightness of so many, but hatred at the fact that so many are being pushed to show it. I hope and pray that I read no more of these stories.

I understand what she is saying, and in that context I agree: May we never have to hear tales of sacrifice because they are unnecessary. But from another point of view, these stories can never end. We need them to show to ourselves what it is we are all about, what it is we are fighting for, what type of people we are. Meanwhile, back to the first point of view, I wish that all our stories of inspiration and pride came from stories such as Treppenwitz's - heroes returning to celebrate times of happiness, not to mourn their fellow soldiers.

Tags: Ezzie, Blog, Roundup, J-Blogosphere, J-Blogs, Israel