Remember that time when I said rich people should give me money so I can continue my Jewish education?
It turns out that anyone, regardless of how much money they have, can help me out with this. I applied for a blogging scholarship. Yes, it seems there are people who will give me a big pile of money just because I blog.
So if you like my blogging here, you can vote for me and help get me some dough by clicking here to vote for me.
UPDATE: Here is the essay I wrote for the contest:
I am David A.M. Wilensky and I have a bizarrely specific passion. I am obsessed with Jewish liturgy. For reasons still not entirely clear to me, on September 20 of this year, I had 507 page views. That’s a new record for me.
My blog is called The Reform Shuckle. To Jews, the name is an incongruous blend of the liberal (Reform Judaism) and the traditional (shuckling is the rhythmic rocking back and forth that some more conservatively observant Jews do while they pray). This combination is exactly what I wanted to evoke. I blog almost entirely about Jewish liturgy and ritual from a Reform/liberal/progressive perspective, but I often arrive at what many would call “Orthodox” conclusions.
I’d be hard-pressed to pin down the most inspiring blog post I’ve ever read, but a series of posts by Ben Dreyfus of MahRabu.blogspot.com springs to mind. The series, Hilchot Pluralism is a description of guidelines developed for use in pluralistic Jewish settings where many styles of observance need to be recognized and accomodated. The content is amazing on its own, but what’s more compelling is that his guidelines have been adopted or referenced for years now by upstart pluralist Jewish organizations.
With Dreyfus’ as the perfect example, Jewish blogging has led to a diversity and a creativity of opinion that’s wholly new to the Jewish community. 50 years ago, his guidelines would never have been as widely read unless they had been written by a rabbi. But Ben is just a lone blogger.
My blogging has brought me enough attention that I’m now a contributor to Jewschool.com, one of the oldest and most well read Jewish blogs. I’m now being paid to write a book by a publisher I met through blogging. I’m also a paid editor/writer/blogger at New Voices Magazine.
