Presence

Protocols was one of the first Jewish blogs I read consistently. Started by a handful of guys from my alma mater, Protocols provided a consistent source of news and witty banter relating to the goings-on of the Jewish world, with a focus on the Orthodox community. There is no question in my mind that, sometime last year, Protocols was, by far, the best Jewish blog on the Internet. There was no better resource for Jewish-related current events online. Period.

And then things started to change. Even before the guest bloggers started, I noticed a change that, to me, signaled the end of Protocols. Weiss started talking more about topics like blogging and journalism, less about Israel, YU or Lakewood. There were other, more subtle, signs; there was no question that things had changed. Then the guest bloggers started. I can't say I cared very much for what any of them had to say (other than Uri, who had one of the most thought-provoking posts in Protocols' history). Nothing against any of them in particular, I just don't think they were coming from the same place myself and others who had been reading Protocols for a while were coming from. The latest guest blogger, enigmatic to say the least, brought a tone to the table which turned me off even more. Protocols has morphed into a sort of collective Jewish journalism experiment; while that might be a worthy endeavour in it's own right, it's not what I read Protocols for.

With Weiss heading off to Fiddish (what does that mean? Is that a contraction of "Forward Yiddish?"), Protocols is, in my mind, finished. I've been reading Fiddish, but Weiss has changed his tone considerably; he sounds like the Jewish version of Gawker, a far cry from the irreverant yeshiva bocher days of yore. That's fine, especially if it puts food on the table; a man's got to eat, after all. But I'll miss following the Protocols of old.