In the mood for something completely different? Like an irreverent, sometimes tasteless Jewish humor site?
Bang it out.com describes itself as a place “where Jews can laugh — at themselves.” Whether or not that’s true depends on who you are. Folks under 30 may love it; the older set may be mystified by many of the jokes.
An example: an allegedly humorous essay about “What happens to Hollywood when Moshiach comes.” Some catchy lines, but if you’re over 40 — and not plugged into the Moshiach scene — a lot of it may go right over your head.
Lots of flip music and movie reviews, and those ubiquitous frum “top 10” lists, including this relatively ridiculous one: “Top 10 signs you are involved with a Lubavitch Guy.”
It’s hard to figure out what the target audience is. There are numerous references that only the Orthodox-educated will get.
“Your site is a wonderful source of entertainment for all Jews, from Orthodox to Modern Orthodox,” one visitor writes.
But some features will be a turnoff to the observant. So is the audience fallen-away Orthodox youth? Could be. Check it out at your risk, at www.bangitout.com
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Israel’s economy is a mess, as recent news stories have revealed. 2001 was the state’s worst year since 1953. You can learn the basics of the Israeli economy at the Israeli Ministry of Finance home page — www.mof.gov.il/beinle/ie/ israe_1.htm
This attractive English-language page offers information about Israeli monetary and fiscal policy, budgeting, the capital markets and so on. Plenty of the graphs and charts economists are so fond of. Useful for people doing business in Israel — and those who just want to understand the Israeli system as it faces new challenges.
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There are plenty of Jewish and Israeli online magazines, but there’s always room for another — especially a nicely presented and illustrated e-zine like The Source: Israel’s Info-Access Magazine, a general-interest Web publication that offers interesting glimpses into Jewish and Israeli life, and opportunities to learn more.
The site is organized like most serious e-zines, with an opening page listing feature articles, departments and access to past issues.
A recent issue offered an outstanding article on Felix Bonfils, a 19th-century French photographer whose sepia images of what is now Israel offer rare glimpses of a vanished era.
Another nicely illustrated article describes an Israeli group that provides employment and training for Ethiopian women in Lod and Ramla, and shows some of the handicrafts they produce.
An extensive “bookshelf” area offers features about the works of numerous Israeli writers, book reviews and — in many cases — links for purchasing the books from Amazon.com.
You can also sign up to receive each month’s issue right in your own electronic mail box.
The design is attractive, the contents interesting, if not exactly overwhelming in volume. Altogether a worthy stop on the information superhighway. It’s at www.thesourceisrael.com/current
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One of the real pleasures of Web surfing is the way one site leads to another, and pretty soon you’re off in unexplored but often fascinating territory.
A new and very nice Jewish Web portal makes that process easier than ever with an interesting “random link” feature.
Metzia.com is like a handful of other major Jewish Web portals: a kind of Web index that breaks down Jewish and Israel-related links into categories to make your Web exploration easier.
The listings at Metzia are not nearly as extensive as those at Maven — www.maven.co.il — the industry standard Jewish portal. But this is a site with a lot of promise, with an attractive and easy-to-use format. Peruse categories such as Israel, sports and hobbies, news and media and Torah with ease.
What sets it apart is the button on the top right of the home page: “Random Link.” Click here, and you’ll be sent off to one of the dozens of links registered with Metzia. Just the thing for whiling away a few pleasant and interesting hours at your computer.
Cool. But there’s a problem at Metzia: Far too many links are dead, suggesting that the site is not updated frequently enough.
Hello Metzia folks: please, more links and more updates. Thanks.
The site is at www.metzia.com