Jewish blogger Mik Moore raises an important point about the way American Jewish organizations relate to Web 2.0 and the blogosphere. The issue he notes is beyond the relative dearth of Jews at the Daily Kos convention:
A second reason for their absence is the fact that the Jewish community has not figured out what to do about the new forms of communications, networking and organizing represented by blogs and various Web 2.0 tools. Although there were some people at YearlyKos who came only for the politics, I think the overwhelming majority were bloggers or otherwise engaged in online communication or community building. Note that this absence extended to the Jewish blogosphere. The blog I edit, jspot.org, is one of a small handful of Jewish blogs with credibility and relationships outside of the Jewish blogging community.
One of the inherent challenges that blogging presents to more established organizations is the premium the forum places on candor, independence and individuality. Traditional Jewish organizations typically have one spokesperson and the message is tightly controlled, as vividly demonstrated by the recent dismissal of the New England regional director of the Anti-Defamation League for acknowledging the Armenian genocide. If these groups are interested in entering this world as members of the online community, this will have to change. . . .
In the months and years to come, Jewish organizations will need to reevaluate our relationship with technology and the communities whose growth has been a product of that technology. We must begin to change our culture to allow for — even encourage — debate and dissent in the public square. Otherwise some of the younger, more nimble Jewish organizations will fill the vacuum.
