In the Beginning

I have undertaken this small project in order to outline my musings on the goings on in the Israeli world and in Jewish society as a whole, with a particular eye to unfolding events in the Israeli political sphere, changing attitudes and perspectives in the religious world, and cutting edge Jewish scholarship.

The title of the blog--and especially it's translation--reflects, in my opinion, the goals which I outlined above. The reflexive התכנסות (hitkansut), while denoting ingathering (the English title of the blog), has other connotations. The term has come to recent prominence due to the lexical laundromat at work in the Olmert government which wished to "disengage" itself (if you will) from the term disengagement, and attached itself to this new term, which is less militarily loaded and more optimistic. Olmert originally sanctioned the translation "convergence," but in his recent address to a rare joint session of Congress, he shifted gears and used the term "realignment."

Back to the title and the goals of the blog... The Internet, in understandable fashion, has made remarkable strides in uniting the global community at large, and the Jewish community in particular. While some opinions expressed on the Internet, especially in blog forums, are cause for strife and not union, it is refreshing to see that much of the "negative energy" generated in the online Jewish community stems from people who depart their ideological bubble to comment on opinions which would normally be outside of their social and theological spheres. In other words, I see a positive development in the heated debates which take place in the "Comments" sections of agenda-motivated religious and nationalistic blogs.

The missions of this blog, then, are promoting Ingathering, being receptive to other viewpoints, and tolerance. It is my fervent hope that we will succeed, even if only partially.