Jews- The Interdenominational Melee

Sometimes I wish that I could spend my day blogging because there is just too much to blog about. Unfortunately I haven't won the lottery yet so I have to limit the amount of time in which I sit here.

Not to mention that I intend to watch my Lakers take on the hated Celtics so this post is going to be shorter and a bit rougher than I would like it to be. On a side note this is one of the things that I like about blogging. I like to do kind of a free flowing, thought association, compose at the keyboard kind of a thing. It may not be as elegant, eloquent or as pretty as I'd like, but it has its own advantages. More on that later. You can find some insight on my thoughts about this at Why I Blog.

Three recent posts caught my eye:

All JBloggers are not the same
Interdenominational smackdown
Exploding Myths

All three of these posts touch upon differences in opinion, some of them quite severe. As I read through them and the comments I wondered how many people just reacted. Did they mean what they said. Did their choice of words convey an accurate portrayal of their opinion.

Sometimes it is hard to tell. Maybe they did mean it exactly as I understood it. And in some cases that was tinged with disappointment. But my purpose is not to point fingers or chastise, rather it is to say that it is this interaction with others that I appreciate. Especially from shall we say, a religious perspective. It is not uncommon or unusual to have persons of differing political opinions gather and speak upon a topic.

Religion, er, Jewish denominations is a different bag altogether. RWAC's comment serves as a good example as to why you rarely see interdenominational gatherings.

But the cost is high: Either the integrity of Orthodoxy or the unity of the Jewish community will pay the price. I will either sell out Orthodoxy or bash everyone else.

To be clear, I am not bashing RWAC. As the 17 readers of this blog know the good Rav not only provides good blog fodder, he has good taste in film and I like him. I think that we could be friends. Pause for the cyberhug of friendship. Oy, does that sound cheesy or what.

Anyway, the Jblogosphere provides an excellent forum for us to gather and exchange ideas, especially for those people who are hesitant to engage in these types of discussions. It is the Marketplace of Ideas at work and that I think is a very good thing for all of us.