Master list of publication project ideas

Question

The Mi Yodeya community has produced four publications thus far:

• A Pesach haggadah supplement (2013) - 46 pages, 27 questions
  • Expanded and revised (2016) - 48 pages, 38 questions (yes, we've tightened up our formatting since the first edition)
• A Purim book (2014) - 28 pages, 15 questions
• A Chanukah book (2014) - 20 pages, 18 questions
• A Days of Awe book (2015) - 48 pages, 32 questions

What else should we do? Two ideas have been suggested in the past, a Sukkot book and updating the haggadah supplement. Many other projects are possible.

A Mi Yodeya publication works best as a distributed project with many participants -- identifying suitable content, editing questions and answers on-site where they can be improved, editing them for use in an external book, proofreading, organizing the effort, writing an introduction, compiling credits, publicizing the finished product, and more. So we should identify a projects that people are interested in working on.

This post can serve as a master list of project ideas, from which people can choose when proposing a new project. If an idea gets used, we can mark it status-completed.

So, what looks interesting? One answer per suggestion, please.

Answer 1

status-completed: Days of Awe - Mi Yodeya?

I suggest a High Holidays book, perhaps billed as a "machzor companion," featuring:

• Q&As related to particular parts of the Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur machzors.

• Q&As related to Halacha and How-tos of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

• Q&As related to ideas about Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur in general, and possibly Teshuva in general.

Why High Holidays:

• We have plenty of time between now and then.

• Along with Pesach and Chanuka, they are the most-observed of Jewish holidays.

• They are the holidays on which the most Jews spend the most time in synagogues. A machzor companion could be distributed physically very effectively in synagogues, and could be useful for synagogue-attendees as reading material that supplements and enhances their synagogue experience.

Answer 2

Parsha Q&A, in five volumes. (Not necessarily contiguous; we might do one, then do something else, then come back and do another, and so on.)

This answer proposes writing new material (and divrei torah?) about the parsha. My suggestion is, instead, parsha-based Q&A drawn from our questions and answers.

This idea calls for some SEDE-assisted (or search-assisted) analysis that I have not yet done: how is our distribution of "good" (however we measure that) material over the 54 parshiyot? And would we want to start with Sefer B'reishit, which probably has more questions than the others (and so is a bigger project), or would it be better to start with another?

The five books could then be compiled into a single volume for print publication.

Answer 3

I suggest creating a publication on Bein Hametzarim-Three Weeks-Nine Days.

The publication should include the halachos, minhagim and hashkafos of this time period.

I think it will benefit and enhance the Three Weeks for a lot of people.

Answer 4

So far, all the suggestions seem to focus on holidays. I'm unsure if you're limiting the ideas to this category.

If not, I'd like to see a general "shul guide". My shul published, recently, a small booklet that explains the shul setup (physical structure such as what the Aron, Bimah, menorot and other furnishings are for), and general procedure / decorum (such as no cell phones on Shabbat / Yom Tov; what the siddur and Chumash are and when / why they are used.)

For many Jews, the shul may be an unfamiliar and intimidating place. A small simple guide, I think, may be useful for them.

Answer 5

I help run an 11th grade minyan and I sorely need a selection of Q's and A' related to practical aspects of tefilla (though I actually also need stuff on the spiritual side, but I think it would be tougher to find material for it). I have helped assemble a mini library of "readings" for students, but something cohesive and organized would be a boon.

If a "guide to tefilla" was assembled, taking questions that address aspects of davening (especially for weekdays) in the order of davening. I know that I could make it available to a large group and it would do much good. I could probably sift through all the tefilla questions myself and compose something like this, but as long as you are soliciting suggestions, I figure I will post what I need these days.

Answer 6

Another idea for Sukkot, which could be a stand-alone project or part of a larger Sukkot book: Ushpizin pages.

Similar to our eight-sheet (16-page) Chanuka booklet, we could make a seven-sheet Ushpizin booklet. Each sheet would contain one or two Q&A about one of the Ushpizin. We have plenty of material to choose from in the tags avot-patriarch-fathers, yosef, moshe-rabbeinu, and king-david, and I'm sure that we could find a couple of good Q&A about Aharon Hakohein.

Users could be encouraged to print out the pages, and then use one each night of Sukkot to prompt conversation at dinner that honors that night's Ushpiz.

We could round out the package by adding front matter that includes Q&A about Ushpizin in general and basic, standard Ushpizin texts.

Answer 7

I suggest a Sukkot book, featuring:

• How-tos, since Sukkot observance includes many practical considerations, and because we've covered many of them usefully.

• Halacha questions related to all aspects of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret.

• Agada questions related to things like the meaning of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret and their observances, understanding the Torah readings thereof, etc.

Answer 8

status-completed: “Hagada - Mi Yodeya?” Second Edition - Expanded and Improved!

I think it would be great to update and extend Hagada - Mi Yodeya? to the point that it has sufficient quantity and quality that we could try to get it published with Hagada text as a complete Hagada book.

Ways we can update and extend it:

• Add more Q&A that didn't make it into the original publication or that was posted since then. Try to achieve complete coverage of Seder-sections and more complete coverage of individual Magid-subsections.

• Improve on the quality of the original publication, taking into account its feedback page, dejargonifying as much as possible, and adding a glossary as well as footnotes and/or bibliography.

• Include an appendix that shows the best answers from the mi-yodeya-series.

Answer 9

How about a compilation of the best answers from all the "*** Mi Yodea?" Series?

Answer 10

The other aspects of the holiday of Pesach (Chol haMoed, last day(s), Bedikat Chametz, Tefillat Tal, fast of the firstborn, etc.) that aren't just the Seder.

Pesach is a rich holiday to ask about beyond just the first night(s).

This probably makes sense to do as an appendix to the Haggadah, and not as its own book.

Answer 11

For Shavu'ot, it would be nice to make something that lends itself to individual/partner study.

One way to do this, which would be more labor-intensive than our editing jobs to date, would be:

1. Find some Q&As that have answers that suggest lists of sources that a reader could study in order to determine them independently.

2. Publish the question, followed by a source list, followed by copies of as many of the sources as practical.

3. Publish the answers in a separate section, in the back.

4. Encourage readers to read the question and then study the sources and try to answer it themselves before reading the answer.

A possible organizing theme for this or any other Shavu'ot publication could be the Six Orders of the Talmud, since Shavu'ot celebrates the reception of the Oral Torah.

Answer 12

We could do a book-length project covering all of the weekly Parshiyot.

Done well enough, this could be brought to publishers for publication as an actual book.

A natural time to release such a project would be Simchat Torah.

(Feel free to edit this post, fleshing out more details.)

(See also this very similar idea.)

Answer 13

I observe that Rabbinic Judaism takes a lot of cracks from folks who don't understand it. I think MY is in a unique position to generate a publication that examines some of the accusations leveled against tradition/oral law.
It could address: - seeming contradictions to written Torah
- seeming contradictions between Rabbinic writers
- the accusation of legalism
- ways that other "non-rabbinic" traditions have drawn on Rabbinic tradition as part of their heritage.
-general principles that Rabbis use or have used in applying oral law.
-What does "bound by oral law" mean?
- Is oral law placed above written law?

MY is well aware of the kinds of questions that are asked in regard to these as well as the attitudes that accompany them. Since this is a public forum, you have access to ample material to use as examples and solutions.

Just an idea.

Answer 14

I've been surmising a compilation of assorted questions from this site, and publishing it, myself, perhaps. Of course, if I had the time to do it, I would be a bit biased and pick mainly my own questions and answers. (I can't help being a little egotistic ;-)

But in terms of a publication what about something like "Best of Mi Yodeya" or some similar title. You could decide what's "best" based on various criteria such as most votes; most viewed; most answers, etc. You can also decide on a few categories (based on tags or something similar) and pick, say, the top 5 or 10 questions (whatever number) in each category.

Answer 15

I think we should make a publication for people entering back into Judaism. Like a Ba'al Teshuvah guidebook. Because i think a lot of our userbase stumble in from there, and as we as a website gain popularity on google search results, we might continue to become a destination for people searching. And i think there isn't really many down to earth resources for people returning to Judaism. They can walk into a Chabadhouse, but then there's a question of whether they are really learning Judaism or something else. There are random snippets of information online, but many of those answers are too burdensome for people to grow into. So having a publication with relevant questions and answers will probably be immensely helpful to a growing pupolation

Answer 16

A parsha / haftarah compilation.

The beginning can give an overview of the Torah reading and haftarah service perhaps with a brief history of how public Torah reading came about and the origin of the parsha system.

The main content would provide a brief synopsis (not an aliyah-by-aliyah description) of the content of each weekly parsha and its haftarah.

This would be useful for beginners esp. just to get a gist of what is about to be read in shul. Perhaps, including a small "D'var Torah" (say 1 or 2 short paragraphs) carrying a practical or important message from each parsha would brighten up things, as well.

Answer 17

I have no idea if this is in the plans but something that would be really, really helpful to new Shabbos observers would be an alphabetical index of random things that could be melachos, with comments about the Shabbos/Y"T permissibility of each one. Maybe a rov needs to write this instead of us; still, the lack of such a thing is a huge obstacle for beginners who are trying to keep Shabbos. Speaking of what we could do that's practical.