So, you want to blog at the Hebrew Café. That’s fantastic! The best way to grow a blog and make it useful is to have fresh minds with new ideas. We’re excited to welcome you to the team.
But, of course, to post around here, you should agree to a few things and know how the blog works. Herein are a few ground rules for making contributions to the Hebrew Café blog.
- This is a modern WordPress site. It means that you have to know basically how the word processing environment works. The pages are based on blocks. You shouldn’t really need to add any blocks to your posts, but you can certainly add images. Just type right into the word processing environment or (if you know HTML) use the Text tab for adding code to your posts.
- Using Images in Your Posts. Just make sure that you are not sharing copyrighted images on the blog so that we stay out of trouble. It’s best to use images that you take with your own camera, but you may also choose from sites that offer free-of-use photos and images.
- Stylization of Hebrew Posts. You may choose to include Hebrew terms or quotes of biblical verses in your posts. We have created a tag that is used to stylize Hebrew words and passages. You will need to click on the Text tab at the top of the post (as opposed to Visual), which will open the HTML editor. Then, enclose your Hebrew with the tag
<span class="he">(to open it) and</span>(to close it). For example,<span class="he">שָׁלוֹם</span>will output שָׁלוֹם. If you cannot figure it out, contact Jason for an explanation or ask for your submission to be edited before release. - Beware of Hobby Horses. If there is something that you often argue about online, it isn’t generally a good idea to make a post about it. Unless you are on good footing academically and can remain dispassionate about it, you should probably avoid it. We wish to have a broad audience at the Hebrew Café, so the material released on the site should be reliable as far as possible and not prone to cause fights.
- Sectarian Neutrality. Some people come to the Hebrew Café to learn modern Hebrew and are completely secular Jews living in Israel. Others are highly religious from various backgrounds. We want to present the information that we have to the wider public, but we are not here to proselytize or convert anyone to any religion or faith stance—even if we are strongly convicted by our opinions and think of them as “capital-t Truth.” Be sensitive of other people’s faiths in considering what you post to the site.
- Grammar and Usage. Try to write as cleanly and professionally as you can. Remember “they’re,” “there,” and “their” (and the like). We prefer to use the Oxford comma around here (ha!), but you can chose to drop it if you like. The goal is to write in a way that is clear and intelligible.
If we all go by these guidelines, we should get alone despite our diversity. The ultimate goal is to diffuse knowledge. We are here to get people excited about learning Hebrew and to give them ways to do it. We’re also glad that you’re considering joining our writing team, and we wish you the best in that adventure!
Of course, you can contact both site admins via the form on the Contact Us page.
– Jason & Jonathan