Time to give a shout-out to some new Jewish blogs I've encountered over hte last few months.

First is the vacationing Shaigetz, who can best be described as a more thoughtful, more consistently productive (in a blogging sense) and more British version of the dormant Hasidic Rebel. The Shaigetz has some really fascinating comment threads, as well as my nominee for the best title ever for a blog post.

MOChassid hails from the "old country" where I was raised. Living there does strange things to people. In his case, it turned him into a "Modern Orthodox Chassid," who attends the synagogue sometimes known as "Holy Smoke."

Next is the mysterious Ben Chorin ("free man" in Hebrew). Despite his position as a professor at an unnamed university, he clearly has retained a deep and broad intellectualism. I love reading his thoughts on..just about anything, and not just because we cite some of the same influences or because of anything he's written about this site.

Protocols has become something...different. How to describe it? Let's say that... it seems like a very long joke that I just don't get. But I'm not going to denounce Luke Ford too much, because he introduced me to the horribly beautiful Seraphic Secret, a blog written by an Orthodox Jewish screenwriter in Los Angeles mourning the death of his son. Some of the most touching parts of his blog were recently excerpted in a piece in the Jewish Press.

Finally, an introduction and belated Happy Birthday to my old college friend who now lives in and blogs from Israel, Chayyei Sarah. Please do click over and wish her a happy birthday, albeit a belated one.