Welcome to Yoni in Israel!
Hello loyal, and perhaps nostalgic, reader. Welcome to Yoni in Israel, the award-winning blog that captured the interest of random people for about seven months. This post is to tie everything together, as the blog is no longer active, and facillitate your use of these archives in researching and rereading my past adventures.
First, a brief summary: I started Yoni in Israel in August 2005, before I departed for what I expected to be a full academic year abroad, in Israel, at Ma'aleh Gilboa. The blog took a while to get rolling as we waited for wireless internet in the dorms, but once it was set up in November, I did not have to rely on the computer in the Beit Midrash and became able to post more often and at my leisure.
Still, it was a relatively quiet phenomenon, if you can call it that. The only people who seemed to know about it were my immediate family. Yoni in Israel started out as a sort of diary, and not many people, I assumed, would be interested in reading my daily reports. As it turned out, I was dead wrong about that one. Apparently, people wanted a sharp, clever, and insightful view into the yeshiva world. And I was the blogger to give them what they wanted.
Slowly but surely, I started getting more readers, from all over. New York. Texas. Israel. St. Louis. Toronto. And it wasn't just my family. They were old schoolteachers and Israeli families, they were roommates' friends and friends' roommates. They were a Texan mom and a gay Chicagoan (don't ask). I never knew who was reading, or how many people were reading, but they were.
I mentioned that my blog started out as a personal piece, a collection of recollections from Israel. Once word got out and I got more readers, however, it became a hodgepodge of things: the people I met, the places I saw, the cucumbers I ate, jokes, riddles, humorous writing, a photo gallery, and opinions on just about everything.
In January, I learned to my surprise that this blog had been nominated for "Best Student Life Blog" in the Jerusalem Post's annual blog award competition. With nothing to lose, I implored my readers, asking them for votes. The public (or my readers, anyway) responded in grand fashion. People left me messages, saying they had voted. Readers sent chain letters to friends, friends who did not even know me, campaigning for votes. At yeshiva, I was constantly approached in the Beit Midrash with an update on my standings. In the end, I pulled away for an exciting victory. The badge still remains on the website, in the upper left-hand corner of your screen.
Just when I felt things were getting on a roll, Yoni in Israel crashed to a stop. I came home for Pesach break in April, and while I continued to write, the posts were not the same. I looked forward to returning to Israel, both to continue writing and, more importantly, to finish my experience abroad.
I never returned. Toward the end of Pesach, I started feeling bad, and I postponed, and eventually cancelled, my flight back due to sickness. As many of you may know, I spent about three months sick with an undiagnosed disease, suffering high fevers of unknown origins (FUOs). Thankfully, I recovered after my infected tonsils were removed, but as I did not write during my illness, the blog ended as well.
I am writing a new blog now, which is following my life in New York City and in NYU, but my writings of last year remain forever preserved, here.
Now, a word or two on how to use this blog:
First, the archives on your left. They are arranged by month, and if you click the month, you will be able to see all the posts of that month. The more recent posts are at the top, so as you scroll down you will be going backwards through time.
Also available on your left are the recent posts, though since the more recent posts are from my time in California, I suspect those won't be as interesting.
Feel free to check out the comments, which are located through a link at the bottom of each post (if there are any for that post). You may comment if you wish, but be advised that I probably won't read it, and neither, I expect, will anyone else.
The Scoreboard link was for a quasi-game I held throughout the year, awarding points that don't exist. But people still wanted them.
You can also click the Jerusalem Post badge. I think that leads to the scoreboard of all the blogs from the contest, but I'm not sure.
At the bottom of the page is my contact info. The phone number is not mine anymore, and I don't use that email frequently. You can send me an email at jsb399@nyu.edu.
Finally, here are some features I hope to be adding soon to make your exploration easier and more enjoyable:
Month in Reviews for all months
Top Ten Posts
Post Directory
Links to different pages
A button that links to my current page
Enjoy!
First, a brief summary: I started Yoni in Israel in August 2005, before I departed for what I expected to be a full academic year abroad, in Israel, at Ma'aleh Gilboa. The blog took a while to get rolling as we waited for wireless internet in the dorms, but once it was set up in November, I did not have to rely on the computer in the Beit Midrash and became able to post more often and at my leisure.
Still, it was a relatively quiet phenomenon, if you can call it that. The only people who seemed to know about it were my immediate family. Yoni in Israel started out as a sort of diary, and not many people, I assumed, would be interested in reading my daily reports. As it turned out, I was dead wrong about that one. Apparently, people wanted a sharp, clever, and insightful view into the yeshiva world. And I was the blogger to give them what they wanted.
Slowly but surely, I started getting more readers, from all over. New York. Texas. Israel. St. Louis. Toronto. And it wasn't just my family. They were old schoolteachers and Israeli families, they were roommates' friends and friends' roommates. They were a Texan mom and a gay Chicagoan (don't ask). I never knew who was reading, or how many people were reading, but they were.
I mentioned that my blog started out as a personal piece, a collection of recollections from Israel. Once word got out and I got more readers, however, it became a hodgepodge of things: the people I met, the places I saw, the cucumbers I ate, jokes, riddles, humorous writing, a photo gallery, and opinions on just about everything.
In January, I learned to my surprise that this blog had been nominated for "Best Student Life Blog" in the Jerusalem Post's annual blog award competition. With nothing to lose, I implored my readers, asking them for votes. The public (or my readers, anyway) responded in grand fashion. People left me messages, saying they had voted. Readers sent chain letters to friends, friends who did not even know me, campaigning for votes. At yeshiva, I was constantly approached in the Beit Midrash with an update on my standings. In the end, I pulled away for an exciting victory. The badge still remains on the website, in the upper left-hand corner of your screen.
Just when I felt things were getting on a roll, Yoni in Israel crashed to a stop. I came home for Pesach break in April, and while I continued to write, the posts were not the same. I looked forward to returning to Israel, both to continue writing and, more importantly, to finish my experience abroad.
I never returned. Toward the end of Pesach, I started feeling bad, and I postponed, and eventually cancelled, my flight back due to sickness. As many of you may know, I spent about three months sick with an undiagnosed disease, suffering high fevers of unknown origins (FUOs). Thankfully, I recovered after my infected tonsils were removed, but as I did not write during my illness, the blog ended as well.
I am writing a new blog now, which is following my life in New York City and in NYU, but my writings of last year remain forever preserved, here.
Now, a word or two on how to use this blog:
First, the archives on your left. They are arranged by month, and if you click the month, you will be able to see all the posts of that month. The more recent posts are at the top, so as you scroll down you will be going backwards through time.
Also available on your left are the recent posts, though since the more recent posts are from my time in California, I suspect those won't be as interesting.
Feel free to check out the comments, which are located through a link at the bottom of each post (if there are any for that post). You may comment if you wish, but be advised that I probably won't read it, and neither, I expect, will anyone else.
The Scoreboard link was for a quasi-game I held throughout the year, awarding points that don't exist. But people still wanted them.
You can also click the Jerusalem Post badge. I think that leads to the scoreboard of all the blogs from the contest, but I'm not sure.
At the bottom of the page is my contact info. The phone number is not mine anymore, and I don't use that email frequently. You can send me an email at jsb399@nyu.edu.
Finally, here are some features I hope to be adding soon to make your exploration easier and more enjoyable:
Month in Reviews for all months
Top Ten Posts
Post Directory
Links to different pages
A button that links to my current page
Enjoy!
posted by Yoni Bain | 1:58 PM
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