One Fewer Online Community for Converts
It was fun while it lasted. It imploded unexpectedly. A sudden farewell to the now-defunct JewsByChoice.org.
This evening, a former fellow member of JewsByChoice.org emailed me to let me know of that community's untimely demise. The email came as a surprise. The growing, interdenominational community of Jewish converts was really positioned to become a leading online source of knowledge and affirmation for those newly arrived at Judaism.
Cutting to the chase, the site is down permanently, its content is offline, and a large group of folks have been thrown into online community homelessness--with scant explanation from the site's founders as to why. (For what explanation there is, see this post on MikvahBound.)
A core group of former JewsByChoice.org members has gravitated to the GereiTzedek convert discussion board, but unfortunately it's a private board.That means potential converts and the newish Jewish can't simply browse the board at will--they have to be let in, first. So, sadly, North American Jewish converts are now in limbo--an online Diaspora, if you will--until someone steps up to create another publicly open and accessible online community geared for our community.
Hopefully, if and when that happens, it will be a community whose founders manage to keep to it going--or at least don't run off with no explanation. For now, goodbye to what was, briefly, a great idea, and a great online home for new Jews.
