Identities

The cover is blown... sort of.

Over Shabbos, I found out that I am not nearly as anonymous as I was a few weeks ago.  A recent post of mine was read by someone who knows the subject of the post, who then spread the word (not out of malice, but because they liked what I said in the post).

Truth to tell, I'm actually okay with it.  When I wrote the post I was well aware that there was a possibility that someone could identify me from the post.  If I were truly paranoid about my "secret identity" I probably would not have posted it to begin with (or at least altered it significantly more than I did).  So, I can't say that I'm totally shocked by this. 

In addition, I have no regrets about writing the post.  I was touched and moved by the events of the day...and I still am.  I thought that they deserved to be written about and shared... and I still do.  So I don't regret writing the post, even if it means that many more people know who I am.

In reality, I've been going back and forth on the whole "anonymous blogger" bit for a few years already.  Back in 2009, I was considering just coming out and revealing who I am*.  At the time, I simply chose to remain anonymous. Nonetheless, despite that decision, I did begin the "coming out" process.  I informed some close friends** and family members about my blog.  I posted about real-life people that I knew (even if it meant that their families would be able to identify me).  I even went to a blogger's meet-up without a mask and allowed myself to be photographed.  :)  In addition, many of the photographs that I post on this blog are posted elsewhere on the 'net under my real name.  It was probably only a matter of time before someone saw one of my pictures and said to him/herself, "Hey, didn't I see that picture somewhere else..."

With all that being said, however, I'm not going to be revealing my name here.  I expect that if you really wanted to find out who I am, you could probably do it without too much difficulty.  If you know me in real life and want to ask me about my blog, by all means, feel free to ask.  If you don't know me in real life... well, my name probably wouldn't mean anything to you anyway.  I'm not a famous (or infamous) person... just a regular frum guy in Brooklyn posting on a blog.  So, there's not going to be any "grand announcement" of my identity... but I'm not going to be paranoid about it either.  I guess you can call it "pseudo-anonymous."

For those of you who do know me in real life and are aware of this blog, I ask you to please not make any public announcements.  If someone asks you directly if the Wolf is so-and-so, by all means, don't lie.  But please don't just give it out to every Tom, Dick or Harry who asks without reason (and I leave it up to your discretion as to whether it's a good reason or not).

Thanks,

The Wolf

* Not that my real name would probably mean anything to you.  I'm not a famous person.
** If you're reading this and you're thinking "we must not be close because he never told me..." please don't think that way.  If you never expressed an interest in blogs one way or the other, then there would have been no reason for me to mention it.   

About the Topics that Make It On My Blog

A commentator left this off-topic comment on an earlier post:

I can understand a completely-Torah related site deciding to make no comment on what is going on in Israel right now. But on a site which records your various interests and notes the various things that catch your attention, your lack of any comment having to do with anything but tracking silly antics in the world of black hat Orthodoxy and your photography hobby leads to the impression that it just doesn't mean anything to you.

Personally, I feel that if someone has a complaint about my blog that is not related to a specific post, it would be better to send the complaint via email. But be that as it may, I'll respond publicly to my anonymous critic.

You are correct that I have not (as of yet) posted on the Gaza War. However, the fact that I have not done so does not mean that I do not care about it. There are a number of reasons why a topic might not make it on to my blog. One reason might be that it's a topic that I simply like to avoid, such as Israeli politics. Another reason might be that it has nothing to do with this blog, like American politics. A third reason is that I might simply not have anything new or different to say about it. The Gaza War is in this category. Yes, I hope for a quick end to the war. I hope and pray with all my heart that Israel wins a decisive victory and that the danger to the Jewish people in Israel be ended as quickly as possible. But aside from that, I really have nothing new to add to the debate. I don't blog just for the sake of "hearing myself talk." If I'm going to put up a post, it's usually because I feel that I might have a point to make that hasn't been made yet, or I might have a new insight into the situation. But if I have nothing new to add, I'm not going to post just to say "It's terrible that there's a war and I hope we win." There are plenty of bloggers who are closer to the situation, there are plenty of bloggers who are more well-informed and plenty of bloggers who are more capable of giving an intelligent analysis of the situation than I can.

Trust me, if I have something new or unique to say about the Gaza War, I will. But please don't automatically assume that the lack of statement on my part means I don't care.

The Wolf

Excuse Me, Are You A Blogger?

I've been giving some thought to the concept of anonymous blogging in the Orthodox Jewish community. We seem to have a number of bloggers who (like myself) hide behind pseudonyms. I've been doing this for three years, and, truth be told, the positions that I purport to hold in real life are exactly the same as the ones I hold on this blog. So why the anonymity? Good question... and I'm not sure I have a valid answer. But that's a discussion for another time.

However, I am (by far) not the only blogger out there who maintains their anonymity. There are lots of people in the Orthodox Jewish community. When I meet someone new (or even hang around people I've known for a long time) I always wonder if secretly they have a blog. I'm almost positive that I've met some of you readers and fellow bloggers in real life and yet, aside from people who have come out and told me who they were (or don't bother to hide their identity in the first place), I have no idea who any of you are. (Well, I have a suspicion that XGH is really a supercomputer in a brain in a jar on a shelf somewhere... but for the rest of you, I have no idea). I could be sitting right next to you in shul on Shabbos, walking with you and your kids to the playground, sitting next to you on the subway, sitting next to you in a shiur... all in complete ignorance.

I'm always curious, however, if people suspect that I'm a blogger. In real life, I'm a fairly quiet guy. I rarely voice opinions. I'm the type of person who works hard at not being noticed. I suppose my blogging is a way to live out a "fantasy" of being well-known... something that I don't necessarily want in real life. I sometimes wonder if I'm really fooling everyone. To my knowledge, very few people have actually figured out who I am. One blogger figured out who I am due to a stupid tech mistake I made about three years ago. Another one figured out who Eeees is. However, if anyone else has figured out who I am, they haven't let me know. No one has tapped me on the shoulder and asked "excuse me, are you a blogger?"

The Wolf

Bloggers and Torah Authority

DovBear reflects on the upcoming Agudah convention and the anticipated address regarding bloggers. Based on the advertising (as reported by Orthomom), it seems that the speech is being framed as a bloggers vs. Torah Authority showdown.

As DB points out in his post, there are many, many more pressing issues that could be dealt with at the convention than bloggers. I don't think I need to repeat what those issues are (and I think he left off a few good issues as well); we all know what the strengths and weaknesses of our Orthodox communites are. What I would like to focus on is the issue of blogging and the question that is asked by the advertisement "Have bloggers declared open season on Torah Authority? "

Of course, to state that the "bloggers" have any opinion is like saying that "New Yorkers" are in favor of a particular opinion... the bloggers are a diverse crowd with diverse opinions. Are there some bloggers that have "declared open season" on Torah authority? Probably. The fact of the matter is that the J-Blogosphere is a very diverse crowd, covering the range of opinions from extreme chareidism to atheism - and just about every stripe in-between. There are bloggers that are very supportive of today's gedolim, some that are mildly supportive and some that are outright antagonistic. Stating that "bloggers" are bad because some of them are anti-Torah is like stating that books are bad because there are books written by athiests. The answer, of course, isn't to ban the medium - it's to educate people to be able to discern what information is worth listening to and internalizing and which information should be ignored and left to wither and die in the marketplace of ideas.

The blogs really first came to prominence, of course, with the ban on Rabbi Slifkin's books. Sure, there were some blogs around before then, but the ban was the first event where the J-Blogosphere played a major role in the public perception of Rabbinic authority. Since blogging is all about the disemination of information and not about restricting it (if I didn't want to diseminate information, I just wouldn't blog), naturally the bloggers tended to side with the people who were against the ban. Of course, there were some bloggers that were pro-ban; again, the J-Blogosphere is not a monolithic entity with group-think. Since the ban represented the supression of information, most of the J-blogosphere was against it. That was the start of the "blogs are against Torah authority" meme.

Most of the bloggers I know, however, do have respect for Torah authority. Heck, the fact is that many of the J-bloggers are Orthodox - they keep Torah U'Mitzvos, they learn daily and they believe in the Creator. When I have a halachic question, I go to a rav, as do most of the J-bloggers. By doing so, we show an a priori commitment to Torah authority. If we didn't, we wouldn't daven, keep kosher, etc.

But when one asks the question "Have bloggers declared open season on Torah Authority? " one has to define a few terms. Just like the term "bloggers" is not as straightforward as it seems, so too must one define the terms "declared open season" and "Torah Authority."

What is "Torah Authority?" Does it mean that I have to follow what's written in the Shulchan Aruch? Does it mean that I have to follow the pronouncements of any rav? Does it mean that I have to believe counter-factual information because a rabbinic authority of the past or present declared it to be true? Does it mean following rabbinic advise in halachic matters? Or do I need to consult them on which investments to put in my 401(k) plan? What is "Torah" and what consitutes "Authority?" Is Torah all-inclusive of every aspect of my life? Does it go as far as what hechsharim I have to follow (or reject)? What about which lulav and esrog I buy for Succos? Whether a woman uses oil or candles for Shabbos lights? Whether or not I should smoke or drink? Which model car I should buy (does V'Nishmartem M'od L'nafshosichem dictate that I *must* buy the largest, safest car?). What magazines can I subscribe to? Which radio stations can I listen to? At what point is something no longer within the realm of "Torah" that that particular activity isn't under the "Authority?" Or are *all* activities within one's life, from the moment one gets up in the morning until one goes to sleep at night, considered "Torah?"

What is "authority?" Does that mean that I have to blindly follow the dictates of rabbinic leadership in anything that is deemed to be "Torah?" Am I allowed to even question, whether publicly or privately (i.e. to myself) the reason for the decision and the factors that went into it? Do I have to submit totally and unequivocably, or is it merely a recommendation (in areas that aren't strictly halachic). If I ask a rav for advice on how to handle a family matter, but in the end I go against his advice for whatever reason, is that going against "Torah Authority?"

And lastly, what is "declared open season?" The term, of course, originates from hunting, where certain animals could only be hunted within a specific time of year (their season). When the time of year came for a specific animal, the season was declared open and hunting could begin.

Of course, no one at the Agudah thinks that the bloggers are literally hunting people in "Torah Authority" positions with guns as a hunter hunts a large animal. But the question does imply a destruction - hunting is a destructive activity - even if done for utilitarian or ecological purposes. Are we bloggers being destructive to "Torah Authority" (however it is defined)? I don't think so. To say that we are declaring open season on Torah Authority is like saying that we want to put Rabbis and gedolim out of business. However, for most of us, that's simply not the case. What we want is leadership - true leadership that is responsible to the Torah as well as to the people. What we want is not just rabbinic decisions, but the ability to understand them as well. When a ban is published on the works of Rabbi Slifkin because he states the world is older than 5,767 years, it's not enough to simply say "it contradicts the Torah, therefore it's bad and banned." You have to be able to address people's questions and concerns. Don't just tell me it's wrong - tell me why it's wrong and how you plan to explain away scientific evidence to the contrary. It's akin to a rabbinic pronouncement of "there's no elephant here" while standing under the big top at the Ringling Brothers circus.

The bottom line, of course, is that the J-blogosphere, like the telephone, is here to stay. People will continue to express their opinions, as they always have, whether it be in a telephone call to a friend, a letter to the editor of a newspaper, or a speech in a public forum. The J-blogosphere is simply a new forum that is available for people to express their ideas. If they don't want to enter this forum directly, then the best bet to maintain Torah Authority would be to educate people; giving them critical thinking skills to be able to determine what information is worth keeping and what information should be discarded. Simply hiding from the J-blogosphere only makes matters worse for them - they are, in effect, abdicating the platform to those who truly do wish them harm.

The Wolf