Valentine’s Day Confession: Blogcrushes

Here at Faith Hacker we’re prolific perusers. And I thought it would be appropriate on this day of cheesiness and wet sloppy kisses that we send some virtual roses to my favorite faith-related blogs (and a few plain ol’ websites). Without further ado…

The Kosher Eucharist—I should be totally honest here and say that my feelings about the Kosher Eucharist transcend the term blogcrush and go all the way to straight up regular crush. Written by a pair of best friends who are Jewish and Catholic and live in Israel and New Zealand respectively, I spent most of the time I’m reading their blog giggling and wishing Michael was my boyfriend. His posts about learning Hebrew mixed with Chris’s laments about the mullet in New Zealand make for snarky awesomeness. Alas, Michael lives in the Holy Land and I live in Music City. Also, we’ve never met. So I’ll have to make do with reading the blog and wishing I’ll someday meet someone who appreciates both the Clash and bossa nova. Jewlicious—I only started reading The Kosher Eucharist because a lot of Michael’s posts are cross-listed on Jewlicious, which is always full of crazy, smart, hilarious and otherwise rockin’ items. Today they’ve got a picture of Ahmadinejad in a chocolate bath. ‘Nuff said.

Jewschool—At this point I hardly want to be friends with someone who doesn’t check Jewschool once a day. On the frontlines of Post-Zionism, a creator of Jewfusion, supporter of Limmud NY, and just generally excellent and brilliant people, Jewschoolers educate me daily. If you’re not a fan, you should be.

This is Babylon—I saw Y-Love perform at Limmud and commented to my friend that after his Friday night tisch he could have slept with any of about 300 women who were salivating at his feet. If you weren’t there to fall for his mad rhymes or rockin’ body (the first and only time I have been attracted to someone in a Hassidic get up) then check out his blog to fall for his mind.

Hebrew Language Detective—I’m an etymology and linguistics nerd, but even if I wasn’t I’d love this blog that takes a close look at how Hebrew works and where it comes from. The Jewish alternative to Dictionary.com.

Self Aggrandizement—This blog of a twenty-something New York film producer Joshua Newman touches on all sorts of topics, but he’s got some interesting things to say about Judaism. The podcast he does with Sarah Brown is also completely hilarious. SOMA A Review of Religion and Culture—Always has some scintillating articles and thought provoking reviews (like this one about Hip Puritan Sex) for those days when you’re feeling highbrow. But Not As You Are—My English friend Adam runs this little blog of divrei Torah. Besides being one of my favorite people in life, Adam is frighteningly smart (or clever, as they say in England). If you don’t get to be one of the people he calls when he’s having a theological crisis, well, that’s really sad for you because those calls are awesome. But now you can read a little bit of what’s on his mind. Antithesis the Rapper—Speaking of British men I am slightly obsessed with, Antithesis and especially his radio show Kol Cambridge, which you can download as a podcast, are one of the great joys of my life. He plays contemporary Israeli hip-hop, interviews Israeli music stars, and DJs. I wrote my entire undergraduate thesis to the sweet sounds of Kol Cambridge. All kinds of awesome. Jewbiquitous—Written by a couple of smart chicks who take no prisoners this blog makes me go, “Hey, yeah!” with every post. Also, they like me, which is pretty flattering. SemGirl—I don’t think there are enough frum girls writing and being loud and proud out there. So Baruch Hashem for SemGirl.

Unbroken Glass—It’s not updated anymore because the blogger got married, but it’s still full of great shidduch-date-gone-horribly wrong stories. My favorite is The Vort.

Articles of Faith—This is the London Times’ religion blog, and because I used to live in England and I perpetually have a crush on any of a number of British men, I like to keep up with the news in Blighty. Not much in the way of Judaism, but plenty of interesting religion news all the same.

This Woman’s Work—A writer from Ohio with two kids and lots to say on Judaism, infertility, adoption, writing and being a hip mama.

On the Life of a New Author—If you haven’t read Naomi Alderman’s debut novel, Disobedience, you should get to it ASAP. And her blog, which is rarely updated but always interesting, will tide you over until her second novel comes out.

Calm Kallahs—This is a guilty pleasure, but if you’re planning a wedding, or just like watching Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? then you should check out this website. The ‘Intimate Matters’ forums are especially amusing. OnlySimchas—I admit it, okay? I check onlysimchas twice a week to see which of my friends from high school got engaged. Then I call all my friends and talk about how tacky it is to put pictures of your ring up online. When someone gets married, we discuss the wedding dress ad nauseum.

Jewess—Laurel blogged about Jewess just the other day, so I don’t think I have to say much more than that it’s great and fresh and fun. That’s about all the blog-love I can deal with in one day. Now get out there and enjoy the fresh blogosphere air.