| Daniel Sieradski | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 19, 1979 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Web strategist, writer and activist |
Daniel Jonathan Sieradski (born June 19, 1979) is a Jewish American writer and activist. He was the founding publisher and editor-in-chief of Jewschool, a popular left-wing Jewish weblog,[1] as well as the weblogs Radical Torah and Orthodox Anarchist.[2] He is also the creator of the synagogue listings and reviews website ShulShopper.[2] From August 2007 to July 2009, he was the Jewish Telegraphic Agency's director of digital media.[2] As of October 2009[update], Sieradski is the Director of Digital Strategy for Repair the World.[3]
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In 2001, Sieradski, founded Jewschool, which was called "influential" by Cnet.[4]
Sieradski has worked as a web designer with several Jewish organizations. As the director of Matzat, an organization which specializes in web development and Internet marketing strategy for Jewish non-profit organizations,[2] Sieradski oversaw several projects including the now defunct Open Source Judaism Project,[5] which attempted to actualize the ideas brought forth by media theorist Douglas Rushkoff in his book Nothing Sacred: The Truth About Judaism.[6]
He has developed websites for an array of artists and organizations including The Jewish Community Center in Manhattan,[7] JDub Records,[8] Hazon[9] and Habitus: A Diaspora Journal.[10]
From August 2007 to July 2009, Sieradski was the Jewish Telegraphic Agency's director of digital media.[2] As of October 2009[update], Sieradski is the Director of Digital Strategy for Repair the World.[3]
In 2004, Sieradski organized the so-called Jooglebomb, an attempt at hacking the Google search engine.[4] Responding to outrage over the placement of an antisemitic website atop the results on Google's search for the term Jew, a fact first publicized by Steven Weinstock,[11][12] Sieradski led a successful campaign which replaced the site Jew Watch with Wikipedia's entry on Jews.[13]
In 2007, Sieradski caused controversy with an article in Jewcy alleging that then-Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul was actively raising support from White nationalists while giving short-shrift to the Jewish press.[14] "Ron Paul will take money from Nazis," Sieradski wrote, "but he won't take telephone calls from Jews."[14] In response, columnist Andrew Sullivan accused Sieradski of smearing Paul as an anti-Semite,[15] though he partially recanted[16] after his colleague Matthew Yglesias came to Sieradski's defense.[17]
Sieradski organized hip-hop concerts with Israeli and Palestinian rappers, with a project called Corner Prophets, with the stated intention of promoting peace and coexistence through the arts.[18] He has also been a DJ on the jointly-operated Israeli-Palestinian FM radio station All For Peace which broadcasts from Ramallah.[6]
In August 2006, Sieradski and two fellow yeshiva students organized a benefit concert in Jerusalem attended by 80 people, that raised more than NIS4,500 or around $1,000, for Israeli and Lebanese victims of that summer's war between Israel and Hezbollah.[19][20] In January 2009, Sieradski led a similar effort to express empathy for victims on both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Responding to the renewed violence in Gaza, he organized a demonstration in New York City, attended by fewer than 50 people, condemning both Israel's and Hamas's attacks on civilians.[21]
On October 7, 2011, citing the Hebrew prophet Isaiah's admonition to fast by "feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, breaking the bonds of oppression," Sieradski organized a Kol Nidre Yom Kippur prayer service at Occupy Wall Street[22], the mass demonstration for economic justice in Lower Manhattan that began in September 2011.[23] Some reports placed attendance at upwards of 1,000.[24]
Sieradski has been described and as "a major figure of the Jewish Internet world and a cultural trailblazer with a diverse fan base" by The Forward.[2] B'nai B'rith Magazine called him a "fresh faced iconoclast ... redefining American Judaism,"[25] and Tikkun said he was "fast becoming one of the most recognized Jewish literary voices on the Internet."[26] The Jewish Standard described Sieradski as "a leader in a Jewish movement that is trying to a create a new image for Judaism to project to its youth,"[27] he was called "an innovator in Jewish new media" by Editor & Publisher[28] and The Forward called him "a major figure of the Jewish Internet world and a cultural trailblazer with a diverse fan base."[2] In 2008, The Jewish Week counted Sieradski among a group of 36 Jewish New Yorkers under the age of 36 "who are combining mitzvot, leadership and passion in making the world a better place."[29][30] In 2010, he was numbered among The Forward 50, an annual listing of the 50 most influential American Jews.[31]
