Image:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 079.jpg celebrates Moses receiving the Ten Commandments.]]

What's This?

Shalom aleichem sports fans, and welcome to the first of what I hope will be a monthly newsletter with the need-to-know information about our fair WikiProject. If you have any questions or comments, or would like to recommend a story for the newsletter, click [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:L%27Aquatique&action=edit§ion=new here] to leave a message on the Newsletter Coordinator's talk page.

In the News

• WikiProject Good Articles is doing sweeps over all our current good articles to ensure they still meet criteria. For more information and how you can help, check out WikiProject Good Articles Sweeps.
• GA status for the article Jew has been put on hold pending a few minor revisions. A list of things that need to be done to return this top importance article to its proper status can be found here.
• Jerusalem is a Featured Article Candidate! Go forth, my people, and !vote!

To Do

• One new Judaism-related article was created this month, the long requested Hebrew Punctuation. Thanks to Epson291 for creating it. Remember, folks, there are over forty standing requests for Judaism articles, so whenever you get the opportunity make sure to go create a few.
• In the right column you will see a listing of our most popular articles. All of these articles got 170,000+ page hits in the past month, and they should be on everyone's watchlist so we can keep them vandalism-free.
• Spread the word! No, not the Word... (well, you can do that too) I'm talking about inviting knowledgeable users to join the project. You can proclaim your undying love of WikiProject Judaism in methods mild to wild, check the project template page and member list for examples. We also now have a flashy advertisement, to use it add {{Wikipedia ads|ad=148}} to your userpage.

Quick Stats

On the date of publish, we had...

• 275 Project Members
• 6152 articles

:*2341 of which are Stubs

:*15 of which are Good

:*8 of which are Featured

New Members

• Benignuman
• Bernstein2291
• Shevashalosh
• Yudel

Most Popular Articles

By page hits. [http://stats.grok.se/ Source].

1. Israel
2. The Holocaust
3. Judaism
4. Ten Commandments
5. Ark of the Covenant

Image:The Worship of the Golden Calf (Filippino Lippi).jpg

Now with 200% more Jewishness!

Yes, folks, we're moving on up. This newsletter is now the newsletter for both WikiProject Judaism, WikiProject Jewish History, and WikiProject Kabbalah. In the future, I may split them, but for now I think we'll be just fine with one. As always, any questions or comments should be directed to me, L'Aquatique.

A Special Dispatch

Just a note, not aimed at anyone in particular. By order of the administrative cabal, it is officially not cool (and possibly dickish) to call someone an anti-semite when they aren't being anti-semitic. Anti-semitic is a very charged word, and it's important only to use it when you're absolutely sure it applies, lest it become the subject of a Godwin-esque law. Remember Hanlon's Razor: never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

In the News

• A new class on the importance scale has been added- C Class- which covers articles better than start but not quite to B Class yet. It is up to the WikiProjects to decide whether to adopt them or not. Currently, there has been little discussion within our Projects, so if you feel strongly either way be sure to note so at your Project[s].
• There is a proposal to reword the section on NPOV regarding religious articles. Please see Wikipedia_talk:NPOV#Religion section - Disputes between historians or scientists and religious_views to weigh in.
• Thanks largely to the efforts of Xyz7890, a new navbox has come into being featuring Halakha topics. See: Template talk:Halakha to join in the conversation about how it can best be improved.

To Do

• The Simple English Wikipedia is beginning a project of creating and improving articles related to religion, including Judaism. At the present time, volunteers are needed to propose our most important subjects for articles to be created. The official working list is here and a more extended list is here. If you are unsure of proper topics, you might try checking our lists of top importance level articles: Judaism and Jewish History. (WikiProject Kabbalah currently doesn't have such a list)

:*[Simple English] WikiProject Christianity is considering running a monthly drive wherein two or three top importance articles from English Wikipedia are simplified and moved over to S.E. They have extended an offer to work with us in creating a similar project for Judaism related articles. For questions or volunteer opportunities, please contact User:John Carter.

• WikiProject Kabbalah is in dire need of an article rating system for quality and importance. If you are familiar with that system and have some time on your hands, please create one. It could also use some infoboxes...

New Members

• Judaism: Big maybe, Janirai, Jfdwolff, Joseph.mahal, Joshua Weiss, LisaLiel, Rcjavid, Yehudi, YY, Agent204.15, Gilad73, Joseph.mahal, Noah03
• Jewish History: Noah03
• Kabbalah: None. Won't you [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Kabbalah&action=edit§ion=2 join]?

New Articles

• Habib ben Elisha Faturechi (Thanks PhatJew!)
• There are some 40 odd standing requests for Judaism related articles. Please make them! I would, but I'm too busy writing this. Image:Face-grin.svg.

Image:Menora.svg

Quick Links

• Judaism Portal
• Kabbalah Portal
• Articles for Deletion
• Request for Comment
• Article Requests

WikiProject Judaism Stats

• 281 Project Members
• 6155 articles

:*2342 of which are Stubs

:*15 of which are Good

:*8 of which are Featured

WikiProject Jewish History Stats

• 69 Project Members
• 1124 articles

:*241 of which are Stubs

:*10 of which are Good

:*10 of which are Featured

WikiProject Kabbalah Stats

• 12 Project Members
• 165 articles

:*87 of which are Stubs

:*1 of which is Good

:*1 of which is Featured

Image:Montefiore100.jpg

"Censorship" of names of G-d

There is an interesting discussion currently taking place regarding whether or not it is acceptable to censor (i.e. G-d, HaShem->YodHey) names of G-d in articles to protect Jews who may be reading or editing the article. You can weigh in here: Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Judaism#Yahweh.

Article Cleanup Lists

User:B. Wolterding has generously offered us use of his bot to generate lists that show which articles of ours are tagged for cleanup. You can read more about this service here: User:B._Wolterding/Cleanup_listings and if you would like to take him up on his offer, contact him on his talk page.

In the News

Image:Wikipro.JPG

Image:The_Jewish_Barnstar.png

• There is a collaboration drive to get Holocaust in Lithuania to good article status. For information about how you can help, see the talk page or contact User:Piotrus.
• WikiProject Kabbalah's only Featured and Good articles have been removed from the WikiProject, on the grounds that neither article (Diane Keaton and David Beckham, respectively) actually mention the subject's affiliation with Kabbalah. If you have sourced information linking either of these people to Kabbalah, please add it so the articles can be returned to the WikiProject.
• After a rather heated discussion, there are now two barnstars for use by the Jewish WikiProjects, {{tl|The Jewish Barnstar}} and {{tl|The New Jewish Barnstar}}, and you can choose which one you would like to use.. Remember: barnstars are for rewarding users who are doing good work on the project or on Judaism, Jewish History, or Kabbalah articles, and anyone can give anyone else a barnstar. If you see a user who you thinks deserves a thank you, give them a barnstar!

To Do/Help Requests

• If you have some spare time on your hands, we could use an article about a Kabbalah scholar named Moshe Idel. According to HG there are quite a few sources easily available, you can contact him if you have questions. Be sure to nominate it for DYK if the finished article is eligible.
• The folks at Shimon Peres need some assistance from someone familiar with both the Hebrew calendar and language to help them figure out the subject's birthday. If you can help, please see Talk:Shimon_Peres#Birthday.

New Members

• Judaism: Arigont, Avi, CheskiChips, Pini00001, Shirulashem, TaliaNadel, Tyciol, yehoshuafriedla
• Jewish History: 5768altalena, AniMate, User:Yosef.garibaldi.gmail, Pinnecco, Shirulashem, Tyciol
• Kabbalah: Shuliavrumi

New Articles

• Bezalel Rudinsky (thanks Shirulashem!}, Jewish tartan (thanks Briangotts!), Hebrew spelling (thanks Epson291)
• We get a lot of articles that are being created and not announced! By announcing new articles, you attract attention to them, and the more people looking and editing the better they will get. If you would like your new article to appear in the newsletter, add it here for Judaism and Kabbalah and here for Jewish History.
• There are some 40 odd standing requests for Judaism related articles. Please make them! I would, but I'm too busy writing this. Image:Face-grin.svg.

Image:Menora.svg

Quick Links

• Judaism Portal
• Kabbalah Portal
• Israel Portal
• Articles for Deletion
• Request for Comment
• Article Requests

WikiProject Judaism Stats

• 291 Project Members
• 6248 articles

:*2356 of which are Stubs

:*18 of which are Good

:*6 of which are Featured

WikiProject Jewish History Stats

• 77 Project Members
• 1141 articles

:*244 of which are Stubs

:*10 of which are Good

:*10 of which are Featured

WikiProject Kabbalah Stats

• 13 Project Members
• 165 articles

:*87 of which are Stubs

:*0 of which are Good

:*0 of which are Featured