Round Up

From the "mailbag" (yes, I'm quoting BlogInDM):

Mordka, in his signature witty style, reacts to my comments on Adi Ran in my previous post:

Adi Ran's unplugged album sounds as if, during a period of drug withdrawal, he was handed an acoustic guitar and locked into a studio for 4 days. And nights. Adi modulates between playful/cute and raw/angry, but is consistently personal. Its like the time you were on your marpeset and your neighbor was practicing his guitar with the window open, and didn't know you were listening. Its a welcome reprieve from over-produced albums that modify everything into a sugary-sweet gloss (read: Shwekey, Lev Tahor). I once met a Chabad Rav with a long black beard who moved from New Jersey to Ofakim. Ofakim is like a 19th century western town. Poor, dusty, and ugly, but real. In the car, he blasted Adi Ran. "Can't listen to any other Jewish music," he said. For a real town like Ofakim, you need real music, like Adi Ran's.

Anonymous on JM today:

While some strictly jewish music is trully good and good for you (YG,
Carlebach, Yishai Lapidot - Lipa is not exactly in that category), it
is just like jewish recepies for cakes and kugals. Meaning, while
Judaism probably doesn't have room for filthy lyrics, its doesn't have
anything against 90% of (U2, Coldplay, Elton John, Bocelli, Pavarotti,
Julio Iglessias) goyish songs! (That is even before we tackle the debate on recorded Kol Isha and if
this was said about durning Krias Shma only or not). So listening to JM is just as part as being jewish as eating kugal -
and yes, kugal sells.

Chaim started the Take 1 Miztva Campaign and this blog fully supports his initiative. On a personal note, I will try daven Aleinu from the siddur, and that's my contribution. What about you?

For the beer lovers, you can't miss this JPost article on He'brew (the Chosen Beer), the new sensation in the boutique brewery market, featuring a variety of beer that include Genesis, Rejewvenator, Jewbilation and more! Yum!!!