What was originally a day for determining when a new year for tithing fruit trees began, Tu B’shevat has evolved into an eco-Zionist, new age, mystical extravaganza. Never has a tax day been as fortunate. This source material for a Tu B’Shevat Seder is available for everyone to use.

It’s been over ten years since I first began formatting classic western texts in a Talmudic format. The “I have a dream” speech was the first one, with many others to follow.  It’s still one of my favorites. Enjoy!

Well,

WordPress has spoken and by far the busiest day on this blog was when I referenced the Maccabeats and the synergistic ironies of celebrating Chanukah with beatbox  a capella rhythms.  Mindful that Torah and Mada (Western thought)  would not have been a mantra of Mattityahu and his brood doesn’t stop Yeshiva University from capitalizing on the holiday. This was merely an observation on how culture and tradition evolve, not a judgement on the phenomenon itself. I suspect that the word Maccabeats drew all the newcomers and few of them had the patience to read the short piece.

Nevertheless, there are stalwarts among you who keep returning to the blog and are kind enough to mourn the weeks of inactivity–a combination of being otherwise occupied and dry spells of the writing mind.  For you, the returning readr and for the sheer joy of putting ideas to paper, the blog will continue.  In the spirit of Psalm 87 “The Lord will count in the records of nations.” I wish everyone a “Happy New Year”!

Thanks for clicking in.

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 4,000 times in 2010. That’s about 10 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 26 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 228 posts.

The busiest day of the year was December 7th with 85 views. The most popular post that day was Assimilating Chanukah: On Maccabeats and other curiosities.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, andybachman.com, hatrack.com, mail.yahoo.com, and myjewishlearning.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for b’shalom, rabbi avi weinstein, b’shalom meaning, empowered judaism, and b’shalom vs l’shalom.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

Assimilating Chanukah: On Maccabeats and other curiosities December 2010
2 comments

A Public Service Announcement: “B’shalom” can mean “drop dead”! October 2009

About Avi Weinstein February 2009
2 comments

Empowered Judaism, Future Tense, and Radical Judaism: A Brave New Weird Jewish World June 2010

The Eco/Green Benefits of Kosher meat? Dubious February 2010
3 comments