You Never Call; You Never Write…

Nothing about writing this blog is a strain. I wouldn’t say that it writes itself, but I have dropped into a rhythm of planning and execution that feels like a longish-term, sustainable project.

At first, it was five times a week, but then I realized my limitations as a reader. I don’t read anyone five times a week. Once a week is plenty for Maureen Dowd. I actually wish that Frank Bruni wrote more, but his every-Monday effort is enough to sustain me. It’s a perfect mix of good sense and vituperation, with gorgeous prose and lovely reports on his dog. I’m wholly caught up in that relationship, and I think it has shaped my relationship with Sandy Nussbaum, the poodle who has taken the place of Keisha. More on that at another time.

This blog also feels like a different version of my rabbinate, the work that I did for the whole of my life. The difference is a bigger audience and a longer tail. I used to speak with a few people every week and deliver a word of Torah every Saturday. Patterns of attendance being what they are, I never got to the level of multitudes. Failure of rabbinic leadership? You bet, but the struggles of a synagogue are multi-factorial. We get the same percentages as other congregations (maybe more), but we’re up against a thousand disincentives. More on that at another time.

But a blog goes out to a boatload of people, many of whom drop by to stay a while. I can feel it growing, and that sense of progress is great. I’ll keep experimenting with different schedules and platforms. World-wide domination won’t happen by itself.

But what’s always, always on my mind is the possibility of dialogue, the back and forth between author and reader, where both sides write and both sides read. If there’s something that irks you, gently take me on. If you think I’ve stumbled, lift me up. All I ask is that you do it tenderly. I’m a thin-skinned, overly sensitive little flower, and it would take very little to shut me down.

So try to choose language that doesn’t feel savage or destructive. But there must be someone who rejects my take on Netanyahu, or feels that I have been unfair to Barak Obama. I get an occasional, good-natured tease on the second issue, but not even a whisper on the Israeli Prime Minister. My goal is a dialogic relationship with all of you, not unchallenged declarations from the Throne of Glory. Think of it as toughening me up. I’ll end up a better writer and a better thinker. My purpose here is not to create disciples, but to deepen my relationship with my colleagues and friends.