Happy Upcoming First Birthday to Beyond BT – Looking Back on Where We’ve Been

Posted on | November 14, 2006 | By Guest Contributor | 3 Comments

By Charnie

Come November 28, it will be one year since this blog went live. Undoubtedly, the administrators will have plenty to say about what this experience has meant to them. But obviously it’s meaningful to many of us out here, both occasional visitors and those of us who’ve become the “regulars”. So many times I’ve had conversations with other BT friends, and they’ve brought up an issue, such as how to handle non-frum family simchas, that I know has been covered here. So I’ll direct them to the website, perhaps emailing them a link to an article they might find helpful.

There aren’t too many websites I visit on a regular basis, but somehow, this one seems to be an exception. There’s a curiosity to see “what’s happening”. Is there a discussion going on that grabs me? So I’ve been thinking why I’ve gotten so involved, for lack of a better escription.

It’s unusual to find a website that sort of speaks personally to ones self. Many of the frum websites either are too beginner oriented or just don’t seem to be put together in a way that yours truly finds riveted enough to make that frequent hit. If someone checks my surfing history, they’ll surely see that I’ve followed links from my weekly Aish and OU emails, kept up with the family, and pursued a fascination with genealogy. There’s trying to get a real picture of what’s going on news wise in Israel and some good ole R&R as well, mostly in the form of silly podcasts, because everyone needs to have fun now and then.

Yet, repeatedly I’ll visit Beyond BT. It almost feels like a family, with its unique members. I admit to having favorite posts. For starters, there are any of Shayna’s, and particularly the one Uninspired by Inspired, which is still one of the most commented on here. Among the many inspiring pieces, I personally related to Ora’s article about davening during the Hizbullah war this past summer. There were all those “arguments” about which type of kiruv is best, wherein you can find yours truly insisting that there is no one size fits all. A position I adamantly stand by. David Kirschner hit quite a few high notes, and this recent post created quite a lengthy discussion about “frum garb”, right or wrong. But the winner, not just in number of comments, but in my mind in terms of practicality, is still the one about financial realities of the frum world. This post also led me to Sephardi Lady’s Orthonomics blog(Mazal Tov on your recent baby), where some of the stories were outright heartbreaking. As might be expected, I do have an affinity for posts by other women, but there’s nothing surprising about that – after all, women speak to one another in very meaningful ways, although according to a recent newspaper article I read, we are a very small part of the blogosphere.

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