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I've newly created an account on this site as someone who's "lurked" or obtained information here before and found the quality of communication excellent. I moved to Montana from Los Angeles as a fledgling Baal Tshuva, and there isn't really much Jewish community here. I have to stay here for a while for career reasons, and I'm determined to make the best of it while staying close to Torah and hopefully feeling connected to other Jews from afar. It's by no means ideal, but it's far better than isolation or complete assimilation (of which I'm constitutionally incapable). I still speak on the phone regularly with my Jewish friends in LA, and there's a rabbi out of town whose hashkafa I love and with whom I'm in regular phone contact. My purpose in creating this account and posting this question is both to get specific answers about virtual "places" where I can still have a sense of community as well as hopefully attain a sense of community here. I suspect this is more of a Q and A anonymous information hub than a community, but I don't know.

So, to follow the rules, my specific questions are:

-Is there a "community" here?

and

-Where are some "good" virtual Jewish communities that would help someone like me not feel alone?

Thanks! Forgive me if questions are supposed to be technical/Torah-related only.

Loewian
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David Nazari
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    Welcome to Mi Yodeya, and may your Jewish journey be filled with blessings. Your first question (whether there's a community here) might be more of a question for meta (I see a vote for migration), but I think your main question is the second, where to find good virtual communities, which might include this one. Close voters, please consider the whole question, and if the first part is a distraction, please propose an edit. – Monica Cellio Apr 11 '19 at 02:18
  • Related: https://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/1/ – DonielF Apr 11 '19 at 02:28
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    Shalom David Nazari! I think you'll find this site a good community. It's an excellent learning device and user-friendly. – Turk Hill Apr 11 '19 at 02:29
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    While this is definitely a Q&A hub, there’s definitely a community here, largely thanks to comments, chat, and meta. We’d love to have you join us! – DonielF Apr 11 '19 at 02:30
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    Hi David! I'd highly suggest you wander on over to V'dibarta Bam, Mi Yodeya's chat room, where you'll find more of an informal community and some friendly banter. – Y     e     z Apr 11 '19 at 02:30
  • As a fledgling Ba'al Teshuva living in even more remote country, I'd like to remind you there are several vibrant Jewish communities in Montana, in places like Bozeman and Whitefish, and there's even a Montana Chabad House – יהושע ק Apr 11 '19 at 04:22
  • This site has a very structured format. I like the people here, but I can't call it "community". Facebook has a few groups that talk Torah exclusively as Orthdoxy defines the word. I am on Chaburah and the Facebook Beis Medrash. As well as some smaller-topic groups like Orthodox Jews Against Prejudice and Racism (whose sibling groups are broader in scope), and my own Other-Focused Judaism group. – Micha Berger Apr 12 '19 at 07:45
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    I also run one of the internet's older communities, a pair of sister email lists -- Avodah (torah discussion) and Areivim (for everything else about living Jewish). We've been around for a shade over 20 years. See http://www.aishdas.org/lists/avodah for more details, and for an archive of Avodah. Areivim's archive is only available to members; I wanted people to be free to discuss "dirty laundry" without being google-able. Traffic is much slower now that social media is more "in", but we are still going. – Micha Berger Apr 12 '19 at 07:49
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    As I just wrote in a comment on @ezra's answer https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/101759/where-can-i-find-an-online-jewish-community#comment340660_101764 , if you are looking for discussion about Judaism in particular, I wouldn't recommend broad, not specifically Orthodox groups. You end up too often devolving into questions about things an Orthodox Jew would consider givens. I mean, unless you enjoy repeatedly defending Orthodoxy from arguments by those who believe otherwise... If you don't enjoy that, it gets repetitive and you never get to step B topics. – Micha Berger Apr 12 '19 at 07:54
  • Oh, and I have been a veteran of such groups since 1984. If you do join one of them and they pose a question that gets you wondering, feel free to contact me at micha@aishdas.org. These arguments haven't changed in 35 years. Not even with the arrival of Millennials and Post-Modernism. – Micha Berger Apr 12 '19 at 07:56

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I'd suggest the community on Reddit, at r/Judaism. Keep in mind it attracts people from all kinds of Jewish backgrounds, not just those of Orthodox extraction.

ezra
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    It gets hard to discuss Torah in such groups, though. You end up too often devolving into questions about things an Orthodox Jew would consider givens. I mean, unless you enjoy repeatedly defending Orthodoxy from arguments by those who believe otherwise... That's why I didn't include broader groups in my comment on the question. – Micha Berger Apr 12 '19 at 07:51