The Baal Shem Tov, or Besht —  the founder of Chasidism — 
met the soul of the Messiah during an ascent to heaven. 
The Besht asked him, "When will the Master come?" 
The Messiah answered, "When your wellsprings break forth to the outside!" 
(from a letter written by the Besht to his brother-in-law about one of his soul ascents) 


 
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Beautiful Struggles

Links to blogs exploring what it means to wrestle with Jewish spirituality, observance, or practice, to move within and beyond Jewish tradition and the real [sic] world, to live on the edge, and maybe sometimes to get cut by that edge. These links represent a drop in the bucket.

Nice Jewish Girl – an extended, profound journal, profane and sacred, on keeping negiah (the prohibition against men and women touching before marriage). "This blog is my primal scream."

Wilderness Maggid –  Maggid Sarah's travels in the bush of Eugene.

Cannabis Chassidis –  Reb Yosele's meditations on life, cannabis and everything.

The One and Only Velveteen Rabbi.

Siedarski's blog – with an impressive list of links to Chevra, most of which probably belong on this page - except that I don't have time to look through them!

Anarcho-Judaism – rants from Sholom of Chulent about how everyone else is f*cked up. It's not what I had in mind for "beautiful struggles", but Sholom has really been through it (not just Crown Heights but also Iraq and Afghanistan). Also known as "the unmentionable Bizayon".

Seven Fat Cow – recommended by Sholom.

Peeling a Pomegranate – subititled "Earth-based Magickal Judaism", from eco-kashrut to jewitchery.

Links on Torah, nigunim, arts, social action, Chasidut, (non-blogs) can be found here.

The following list of many more blogs is based on what Max Ariel sent us in 2005, but many new ones have also been added. Use the feedback form to let me know about other blogs that should be here or to comment on any of the links.
BLOGS    A Working Girl   ADDe Rabbi   Adventures of Yosele    Also a Chussid   Amshinover   Avatiach, avatiach!   Aussie Echo   Barefoot Jewess   Being a BT   Beyond Teshuva   Boropark Pyro   Buchurim Blogs   Cannabis Chassidis   Chaptzem   Chayalelit   Daf Am Haaretz   Dance To Life   Failed Messiah   Hasidic Rebel   Havdalah!   The Head Heeb   Heeb 'n' Vegan   Heebie Jeebies   Hitzei Yehonatan   In An Ocean Alone   Jerusalem Syndrome   Jewnification   Judaism and Israel   Kazi   Keep On Smile'n   Kesher Talk   Ketchup & Icecream   Killing The Buddha   Kinglit   Knifedge   Levi Okunov   Life-of-Rubin   Lost Spirit   M O Chassid   Mah Rabu   Menachem Butler   Menachem Wecker   Mendelblog   Mental Blog   Meshugener   Mikveh   My Yichud Room   Neo-Chassidic-Hippie-Thug   Off the Derech   On The Mainline   Orthodox Anarchist   Orthodox Paradox   Out Of Ammo   Paleo Judaica   Presence   Quicksilver   Rapunzel   Rebbe God   Rebel Jew   Rishus   Service of the Heart   Shamir*Power   Shlichus Phobia   Shlomo Aronovitz   Shirat Devorah   A Simple Jew  Sustainable Judaism  Take On Pink   The Apikorsus Companion v2.0   The Girl   The Kvetcher   The Rabbi's Kid   The Rebbe   Tikkun Ger   Torah Chadasha   Unbroken Glass   Unorthodox Jew   Voices from Our Side of the Curtain   Wolfish Musings   Y Love   Yehupitz   Yingele   Yosefe86   Yossi!  


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I actually grew up in Crown Heights; and you missed The Cow. The unmentionable Bizayon [Anarcho-Judaism] is but a disgusting giant blister on the hindside of The Cow. [Note from Reb Duvid: This link from Sholom now goes to the archived site; the currently updated blog from Sholom is now called 7fatcow, which is linked above.]

Posted by: Sholomanarchy at January 15, 2007 9:58 PM

Thanks for the shout out!

Posted by: Carly at March 3, 2007 1:37 AM

Kiruv Awareness Network aims to provide support for those transitioning away from or reevaluating their relationship to orthodoxy - - from the BT perspective. As such, I think it would be a nice addition to the Blog list. Kol Tuv and thanks for the site.

Posted by: KAN at January 28, 2008 9:47 PM

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