Dixie Yid is Back to the Old Layout - Thanks for Responding

It looks like about 75% of respondants agree that they like the old single sidebar look better. It has been changed back (though the style is still slightly different).

Thank you to those who took the time to respond.

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Poll on New Template/Layout - Please Respond

As mentioned, the Dixie Yid blog has a new focus and a new style. I don't want the new style/layout to be distracting or less user friendly. Therefore, I ask you to please answer the poll over on the right sidebar. Please leave any other suggestions as a comment. Thank you!!

Update (3/2/11): Thanks to Neil Harris's suggestion, the blog is now optimized for mobile viewing.

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The Dixie Yid Blog's New Focus

This blog is going through an inner change. The new template and layout are meant to be an outer expression of that change. If you have visited the blog off of an RSS reader recently, you will have also noticed the new byline, "Avodas Ha'avodah." I use that phrase to refer to the particular form of avodas Hashem through one's hishtadlus for his livelihood.

As readers know, I have been posting much much less in the last year or so. My final semester of law school, the Bar Exam, a sefer I have been working on translating, and the job that I started in September, as well as my obligations to my family, have made me very busy.

Many of the very few substantive posts that I have put up recently related to my struggle to grow spiritually in an intense work environment. This is a big challenge, but the attempt to balance the requirements of olam hazeh with those of olam haboh is nothing new. It tracks the general war and balancing act we all face while living in this world (which struggle is the very purpose of the world). Because this is such a universal subject, there is a lot of Torah out there on, or relating to, this topic. (Check out this story, if you started reading Dixie Yid after 2007; a very yesodosdik story.)

My friend Marc Rossen, who shared this article with me, is also wrestling with this inyan, and in talking with him, we decided that it would benefit us and the rest of the Jewish people to focus this blog's attention on Torah and stories which would help us and others learn how to navigate this difficult balance.

I therefore asked Marc to join me as an author on this blog, so welcome Marc! Hopefully he and y'all can get the chance to know each other over the coming months. :-)

The truth is that this topic is needed for many people, even those in klei kodesh. Unless one can truthfully say about himself that "Toraso umanuso," he needs to work on this area as well.

Therefore, please stay tuned to the new focus. We will still have other interesting, funning, or share-worthy things to put up, but the main focus will be "Avodas Ha'Avodah."

IY"H, may we be zoche to connect to Hashem through whatever our chelek in life is! Stay tuned for an introductory post by Marc. Kol tuv!

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200,000 Unique Visitors as of This Morning!

Last time I hit this milestone, it was 19 months ago. That's 100,000 unique visitors in about half the time as the first 100,000 (even though I haven't been very active this past year). Woo hoo!

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Please donate to my son's cheder by going to minivanraffle.org to buy a raffle ticket. The drawing for a new minivan, car, or $20,000 cash will be IY"H Chanukah time. $100 for 1 ticket. $360 for 5. Where the form says "Referred by," please write "Dixie Yid." Tizku l'mitzvos!

Dixie Yid Hits 100,000 Unique Visitors!

Yeeee haw!

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Winner in Oh Nuts $30 Gift Certificate Contest!

Last Monday, I announced the Oh Nuts! $30 gift certificate raffle.

We had seventeen entries in the contest. And I used a very scientific method to choose a winner. I printed out all of the comments and then cut out each one. My nine year old daughter then put all 17 kvitelach into a lovely gift box my wife got for Purim. She then put the top on the box and shook it up. Then, to ensure extra fairness, she stirred it with her hand, with her eyes closed the whole time. Then, without looking, she grabbed one sheet out and chose our winner!

So Shimon, of the Lahag Blag is the winner! Shimon, please e-mail me and I'll e-mail you back with the coupon code for the $30.

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Free Oh Nuts! Purim Basket for a Dixie Yid Reader

Oh Nuts! is doing a promotion here at Dixie Yid to give away a Purim basket, up to $30 in value. The way you can enter to win this is by leaving a comment on this post stating your favorite gift basket from the Oh Nuts! website. This coming Monday at noon I will randomly choose one of the commenters as the winner and then I will e-mail that person a gift code for the $30 Oh Nuts gift certificate. Obviously, for this contest you will not be able to leave anonymous comments. Please identify yourself in a way that will allow me to e-mail you on Monday if you are a winner. Enjoy!

Update 3/3/09: Click here to see the winner.

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The Relative Merits of Criticizing One's Self vs. the Other Guy

I generally hold that if one is going to be critical of Jewish people, he should criticize the same group that he belongs to in an effort to effectuate change. When people criticize other groups of Jews, it is mainly a salve that lets people feel better about themselves by focusing on others' faults. Such criticisms allow one to distract himself from inner work by focusing on "yenim's problems."

In this vein, Rabbi Harry Maryles answers a question that I've had for a while about his blog. Whether I agree with his answer is another matter, but he certainly has an interesting theory about the future of modern "modern orthodoxy" versus "chareidi orthodoxy."

Emes V'Emunah: The Wave of the Future

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Reflections on Posting on "Political"/Controversial Topics & Poll

Above are the poll results that were discussed in this post. There were 60 votes and it looks like about 78% of the Dixie Yid readers would like to see political or controversial topics handled at least occassionally from an "Emunah'dik perspective" on this blog. Only about 18% felt that such things should never be addressed, even by just a link, or even occassionally. Obviously, halacha trumps what I or anyone else thinks and so if something were prohibited, then no amount of "popular support" would make it muter. But it seems clear that a large majority would like to see current topics addressed, at least once in a blue moon. Obviously, I'll still only write about things that my heart or mind moves me to write about, but since this is a benevolent dictatorship, I am interested and will be mindful of what those people who choose to read this blog think. Thanks to all of you who participated. It's good to know more about what y'all think, especially those who I don't know as much about because you don't normally leave comments!

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Dixie Yid Reader Poll on Handling Political/Controversial Topics

I just posted a poll on the right sidebar. I'm curious what a wider swath of people think about this question, in addition to (and including) those that took the additional step of commenting on my somewhat controversial choice of posting on a "hot" topic on Sunday. I have removed that post, so it's not important what it was about, but it related to a matter about which many people were assuming the worst about a big Tzadik. I linked to another, more intellectualistic, blogger who was trying to offer a bit of perspective and balance to counteract some of the knee-jerk lashon hara that was being spoken. I linked to that post in order to try to make that more balanced position better-known.

I don't want this post to be turned into a discussion about that specific situation so I will delete any comments that bring up that particular issue. However, I am interested in gauging the range of my readers' feelings/thoughts about the general concept of whether it is worthwhile to sometimes "sully" the usual theme of this site by weighing in, even with just a link, on what I see as being a more Emunah-dik side of a somewhat controversial issue. Granted that there's absolutely nothing that says that the perspectives or links I might offer are "the authentic" Emunah-dik angle on an issue. Just like anyone else, I can only offer my own perspective, based on my own understanding and knowledge base, about any issue. But be that as it may, I value the opinions of those who choose to read this site, so please take the time to let me know your thoughts in the comment section here and by taking the poll on the right sidebar.

The poll will close at Bentch licht time on Friday, 5:10 PM Eastern time.

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This is My 1000th Post! Woo Hoo!

It feels like I ought to say something to mark the fact that this is my 1000th post. :-) I guess when I started the blog during my winter break from law school in late December 2006, I didn't know whether I would continue it long term, whether anyone would read, whether I cared if anyone read or whether it would do any good for anyone other than myself. While I still can't answer the last question, it seems that it has continued and some people have started reading this site.

Now, we're at about 95 readers using "Google Reader." Incidently, you can subscribe to my posts in Google Reader by following this link. And we're at just over a hundred readers by e-mail. I'm not saying you should also subscribe, but if you want to, you can do so HERE.

In case you're interested, you can read why I started this blog HERE. And truth be told, in addition to allowing me to share insights, stories, chizuk, etc., through the site, it has also been a great benefit to me on a personal level. I have had a number of amazing opportunities in my "real life" to have a shaychus with many great people and several Tzadikim and Talmidei Chachamim because of this site that I never would have had but for this blog. So B"H I am very grateful for that.

Thank those of you who've given me chizuk in writing on here and who've contributed by guest posting or commenting. May it be Hashem's will that as long as this blog is having a positive impact on myself and others, that Hashem continue to grant me the time and kochos to devote to this blog. And may it be His will that if it no longer serves to be marbeh k'vod Shomayim, that He grant me the wisdom to know that it is time to close it down.

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My Second Blogoversary & 100th E-mail Subscriber to Dixie Yid!!!

I'm happy to announce that Dixie Yid just got its 100th e-mail subscriber. Yay! The other good news is that today is my second Blogoversary! It's good to still be around after 2 years! You can read my first 5 posts here and you can see why I started Dixie Yid here.

As always, you can get a daily e-mail with brief snippets of the day's Dixie Yid posts in your e-mail inbox by subscribing through the Feedblitz service HERE. All you have to do is sign up and respond to a confirmation request that you'll receive by e-mail and viola, you'll get your daily Dixie Yid e-mails!

Also, we're up to 68 subscribers in the Google Reader blog reader service, which is what I myself use to keep up with the blogs that are out there quickly and in a one-stop-shopping sort of way, as I wrote about here. Again, you can click here to subscribe in that service. Kol tuv!

-Dixie Yid

(Picture courtesy of stevensgarnier.co.uk)

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No Posts Until the Monday After Thanksgiving

Thank the L-rd, I will be back in Dixie this weekend. I will return to posting Monday morning.

-Dixie Yid

(Picture courtesy of sixers)

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Easier Way to Read Blogs (Including Dixie Yid!)

For those of you out there who have to go to several web addresses to check your favorite blogs, there are less time consuming ways to do this, in order to maximize your time.

Right now, 55 of you are already using Google Reader to read Dixie Yid (Wow, as of 11/8, it's 68!) and 93 of your are subscribing by e-mail. Different ways of reading might be better for different people.

I'm usually crunched for time, so to keep up with the kosher-ish part of the jblogosphere and with legal news, I use Google Reader. It's great because whatever blogs or websites with an rss feed you want to keep up with, you just have to copy/paste their url one time into Google Reader, and then you just go to that site whenever you want to check all of the blogs you would like to keep up with. Basically the full posts (complete with pictures and links) come up and you just scroll down through all of the latest posts from all of the blogs that you're following, all at one site. If you want to see the post in the blog where it comes from, you just click on the headline and a new window opens up to view that site. It is updated pretty much to the second.

• If you don't have a Google account, you can sign up here (all you need is to create a username and password) and then subscribe to http://dixieyid.blogspot.com/.


• If you already have Google Reader, you can subscribe here.


• Or you can get daily e-mails linking and giving a short clip of the previous days posts.
  

-Dixie Yid

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Southern Dixie Yid Logo :-)

Inspired by Dan Weinstein's Jack Daniels-inspired logo for Dixie Yid, I went and created another one just for fun. Enjoy!

-Dixie Yid

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Dixie Yid/Jack Daniels Old No. 7 Blog

My new good friend Dan Weinstein, whose art I recently posted, was kind enough to create the graphic that appears above for me! As a Tennessee native who has actually toured the Jack Daniels distillery, I really appreciate this. Thank you Dan! And remember, he has an art show going on now until September 1st, called "Surfboards & Psalms" a Solo Exhibition at the J.Klaynberg Gallery located in Chelsea, New York City at 121 West 19th Street. More info HERE.

-Dixie Yid

Update 11/17/08: You can get t-shirts, a mousepad, etc. with this logo on it HERE.

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Graphic Display of Most Common Words on Dixie Yid

Here are the words in Dixie Yid, with the most common words being larger, courtesy of Wordle. Saw this at Call Me Chavivah, a growing giores. Click on the picture to enlarge. :-)

-Dixie Yid

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Jewish Blogmeister Interviews Dixie Yid

Jewish Blogmeister has conducted an interview with me, which can now be seen at his site. In response to his questions (which appear below) I talked about such wide-ranging topics as why I became frum, what I've learned from having a Jewish blog, the role of how one dresses, and Chassidus. Here were his questions...

1)Dixie Yid, That's an interesting name are you from the South?

2) I noticed you have a lot of posts concerning hasidic themes as your blogs description, are you Breslov, Hasidic etc.?

3) What turned you on to the J Blogosphere

4) Some of your favorite bloggers are?

5) How long have you been blogging for?

6) What do you enjoy most about Chassidus?

7) What part of Chassidus do you dislike?

8) Tell us about how blogging has impacted your understanding of Judiasm.

9) If you could speak to any past rebbe which one would it be and why?

10) Your favorite sefer and why?

11) I understand you are a BT, originally coming from a Reform background. What and who inspired you to seek out Orthodox Judaism?

12) Do you believe that "you are what you wear" and if so does your colored shirt make you a colorful person?

13) What was the most difficult thing to take on as a religious orthodox Jew?

14) If you could give any advice to a potential BT what would it be?

Click on over to read!

-Dixie Yid

(Picture courtesy of TeachEng.us)

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New Blog on Rav Shimshon Refael Hirsch

Our holy friend Neil Harris from Modern Uberdox has done it again!

He has come out with a new blog based on the teachings of Rav Shimshon Refael Hirsch called Mensch Israel.

Check it out!

-Dixie Yid

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My Anonymity Level is Going Down a Notch

After speaking with my rebbe, I have decided to downgrade my level of anonymity to MoChassid levels. This means that while I will continue not to have mine or my family's names on the site openly, I am no longer going to be ambiguous about things like my Shul and my rebbe.

I started off anonymous and stayed that way for reasons I explained in this guest posting at A Simple Jew. At that time, Rav Weinberger recommended that I stay anonymous, at least for the time being, in order to see what kind of reaction I was getting. Over the last few months a number of people have figured out on their own who I am. Plus, the blog's been going for well over almost a year and a half now and B"H virtually nothing bad has come from it. To the contrary, several great ruchnius'dikeh (spiritual) opportunities have come to me personally that I wouldn't have had access to but for the blog. I discussed some of these factors with Rav Weinberger and he felt that lowering the strictness of my anonymity would be fine.

You may not see any major changes, but hopefully I will enjoy being able to feel freer about what I write, since I'll no longer have to be concerned about avoiding giving clues as to where I live/who I am. I'll also be able to have less of a sepperation between what I do on Dixie Yid and what I'm doing in "real life," just as A Simple Jew wrote about today.

-Dixie Yid

(Picture courtesy of theage.com.au)

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