<$BlogRSDUrl$>

Monday, March 01, 2004

I receive many emails from readers asking me to comment on certain issues concerning Jewish dating, academia, and YU. One issue i receive many questions about is End the Madness. "mike, what is your opinion on "end the madness? Do you agree with their methods?" they ask. Allow me to answer.

Prior to receiving these emails, i had never heard of this organization. I assume endthemadness targets those Jewish singles who have trouble getting dates, A problem i have never encountered. I decided to finally take a look at their website, and must say, I have no idea what the purpose of endthemadness is, what they hope to accomplish, and how they will go about doing so. This is what i gathered thus far:

1)Its mission is "an ambitious and unique effort to combat the angst and hardships associated with dating in the religious Jewish community." Oddly enough, they fail to mention exactly which hardship or angst they are referring to, nor do they tell us what in gods' name "unique effort" means. So after reading the home page of endthemadness, the only thing i learned was that who ever writes for the website is an idiot.

2) Its goal - "Our goal is to give chizzuk to those who are revolted by the system but are dragged into it, intimidated by the threat of social exclusion. Let these people know that there are many thousands of serious, committed Jews all around the world who support them." Now i know that their mission is very different than their goal, and no details or further explanation is given. Confusing indeed, and starting to sound a little gay.

3) Its covenant- "I recognize that the dating problems of today are rooted in ignorance of Jewish law and ideals, which leads to pettiness and faulty judgment" The site then goes on to list some of the authors pet peeves, the first of which is: "It is fundamentally wrong to judge someone based on non-Halachic externalities." This makes it very clear that the head of this organization is quite ugly and has probably suffered through many rejections. Poor soul.

Clearly the website was no help at all, and I feel dumber for having viewed it. If the head of endthemadness or any of my readers know 1) what exactly does this organization hope to accomplish, and 2) how do they expect to go about doing so, email it to me or place it in my comment section (please, no more than 4 sentences)
<< List
Jewish Bloggers
Join >>