The People of The Book are now also the People of The E-Book, which is to say that the Internet is refashioning the Jewscape.
So what else is new?
Nothing. And everything. To draw a historical parallel, the advent of the printing press altered life for Jews in ways that once seemed unimaginable. The same can be said for the Internet-based communications revolution that is now sweeping the world-and at warp speed.
The number of Jews affected by this phenomenon is mushrooming, and that sphere of influence can only expand as computer literacy grows. In the meantime, the point-and-click era has already produced a far-flung web of online outposts that, collectively, may portend the Jewish future. Egalitarian, interactive, cacophonous, and maddeningly self-contradictory, the cybershtetl, as we'll call it, is a cross between a yeshiva, the Tower of Babel, and a late-night call-in show on steroids.
In short, the Internet is humming with Jewish chatter in the form of cyber-journals, personal websites, and listservs (discussion groups that function as online conference calls, shul bulletins, or virtual coffee klatches).
Meanwhile, libraries-worth of holy texts, rabbinic literature, and other treasured Jewish documents have been made instantly accessible through various online learning initiatives, such as www.myjewishlearning.com and the Bar Ilan University responsa project.
To appreciate the volume of Jewish talk ricocheting through cyberspace, consider that there are now literally millions of websites that discuss Jewish topics to varying degrees, and many of them, not surprisingly, take the form of electronic soapboxes.
For proof that two Jews equals three opinions, look no further than the cybershtetl, which has become the ultimate forum for individuals to hold forth on any Jewish subject imaginable. On one hand, the Internet has amplified the chorus of yentas, self-anointed prophets, and other narcissistic keyboard jockeys who are eager to bloviate in public at the click of a mouse. On the other hand, it has also given voice to many well-intentioned and well-informed individuals who have worthwhile things to say.
Some are promoting rigorous discussion of important Jewish topics that the mainstream media or communal leaders might have neglected or consciously avoided, such as the problem of sexual abuse among rabbis. Others are reaching out to marginalized Jews in hopes of creating virtual communities where none could have existed before. Still others are hoping to spread Jewish scholarship. The cybershtetl, as a result, may not only be the most outspoken Jewish community in history; it may also be the most knowledgeable-and the most thoroughly democratized.
Some predict that the cybershtetl might eventually supplant real-life synagogues (most likely in the liberal denominations), although contemporary research indicates that faith-based online activity tends to supplement traditional religious activity rather than displace it, according to Brenda E. Brasher, author of the book "Give Me That Online Religion."
And yet, journalist Sarah Bronson, writing in the July 2005 World Jewish Digest, maintained that for many young people, the Internet "has taken the place of the synagogue or Jewish Community Center as a meeting place for discussion and evaluation of Jewish life." The impact of the Internet has certainly been felt by Rabbi Edward Davis, who heads Young Israel of Hollywood-Fort Lauderdale, a modern Orthodox congregation of 400 families, most of them computer-literate. Although online Judaic study is no replacement for in-depth, in-person learning, Davis stresses, Internet-savvy congregants do keep him on his toes. "I realize I am dealing with a much more educated crowd," he says, "so I have to be more on top of things."
Davis' experience is consistent with Brasher's findings. "Of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religious leaders I have interviewed regarding leadership and the Internet," she explains in an e-mail, "rabbis have spoken the most [about] how Internet use is reshaping their role. It has influenced both the number of questions they are asked (many more per month), and the type of questions posed to them (more personal, regarding more intimate matters than before.)"
In fact, if the present trend continues, the Internet may some day challenge the institutional power of rabbis, according to New York-based online journalist Stephen I. Weiss. "In general, what rabbis say, do, and know has become increasingly less exclusive as Jewish text and knowledge becomes more democratized," Weiss says. "It's much harder for a rabbi to get away with saying something stupid or controversial to the congregation alone; if the rabbi is someone of any note it'll usually be up on the Internet before long." Weiss, 24, who typifies the denizens of the cybershtetl, is one of America's preeminent Jewish bloggers. A blogger is the author of an online entity known as a blog, short for weblog, a frequently updated journal that features the opinions and observations of the author (or authors), as well as other material.
Blogs are a key element of the cybershtetl infrastructure. There are hundreds or maybe even thousands of Jewish-themed blogs; a reliable estimate is impossible to come by. But suffice it to say, their number, variety, and influence are growing daily, and it's not clear whether they have a close parallel in Jewish history.
At its most basic, a blog is a vehicle for quickly disseminating data, generating discussion, and perhaps earning the blogger that 15 minutes of fame that Andy Warhol once predicted would be the guaranteed to all humans. A blog, therefore, can be a platform for pontificating, ranting, kvetching, rumor-mongering, disinformation-spreading, rabble-rousing, or cat-fighting. But it can also be a tool for educating, organizing, truth-seeking, nurturing, empathizing, or entertaining, depending on the proclivities of the blogger.
In the case of blogs, the medium itself may help shape the message. Weiss, for example, believes that blogs are revolutionizing the way Jews talk about Jewish issues, because they serve as neutral ground for disparate, sometimes antagonistic, parties to come together and safely interact. "All of a sudden," says Weiss, "different religious types who never would've spoken in the brick-and-mortar world are, in a sense, forced to connect in blogs, because their words matter to each other as part of a larger conversation."
The range of topics discussed in Jewish blogs is boundless, reflecting the unprecedented diversity of today's Jewish community. But sometimes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. The act of surfing the Jewish Internet-plunging into a vast and interactive ocean of philosophy and debate-is an updated version of what Jews have done for centuries, according to Jonathan Rosen, author of the book "The Talmud and the Internet: A Journey Between Worlds." Adds Rosen: "Though it may seem sacrilegious to say so, I can't help feeling that in certain respects the Internet has a lot in common with the Talmud."
Weiss is an integral part of the ecosystem of the contemporary Talmudic sea. He is the author of four blogs, including Canonist (www.canonist.com), which carries the subheading "blogging religiously." Recent issues of Canonist have carried postings (articles or discussions) about: certain Orthodox rabbis banning Internet use among their followers, controversy surrounding a circumcision-related procedure that may pose a health risk to infants, "God-talk" among football players, and the apparent attempt by evangelist Pat Robertson to link Ariel Sharon's stroke to Israel's withdrawal from Gaza.
The postings included Weiss's observations, links to other websites, and comments from outsiders, including one respondent who referred to two Jewish communal leaders in obscene terms. Unvarnished candor (sometimes carried to extremes) is a distinguishing characteristic of exchanges in the world of blogs, or the blogosphere. "Very little is sacred" in that realm, Sarah Bronson wrote in her July 2005 World Jewish Digest article, adding: "In the blogosphere, there is nothing to feel ashamed of, but shame itself."
The blogosphere, Jewish or otherwise, is "a world without editors, without rules, and with very few consequences for unsubstantiated observations," continued Bronson, whose blog, Chayyei Sarah (www.chayyeisarah.blogspot.com), chronicles her life in Israel, focusing on the singles' dating scene.
Weiss, meanwhile, contends that the blogosphere is a self-policing zone where constant scrutiny actually elevates the level of discourse. He wrote in Canonist: "Whereas previously people could engage in rumor and gossip and go around thinking there's nothing wrong with what they write or say, they find when they put that stuff on a blog, it gets challenged, and that may humble them to be more responsible in their speech."
Jewish bloggers represent every category of Jew and every permutation of Jewish thought and expression. They span all gender orientations, all political affiliations, and all denominations, although secularists and atheists are well-represented. Some bloggers defy easy categorization, including the author of Baraita, who proclaims: "I'm Jewish-'observant Reform,' if you want a label, but I'm not sure I quite fit into any of those."
In terms of content, their postings run the gamut, from inane musings on the passing Jewish scene to incisive socio-political analyses to painfully frank portraits of lives laid bare. Babylonian Musings examines antisemitism on the web. Illuminated Donkey is the work of Ken Goldstein, a 32-year-old copywriter and technical writer living in Jersey City. In the blog My Urban Kvetch, the "ever-more-marginally famous" Esther Kustanowitz ruminates on "New York, dating, freelancing, celebrities, Jewish life, humor and heart." A blog called The Search for a Scot consists of "notes from a Jewish girl on a mission" – finding a Scottish-Jewish man in the tri-state area. "I'm gonna find me that perfect combination of a yarmulke and a kilt," the blogger declares.
At the opposite end of the spectrum is Seraphic Secret, the online journal of Robert J. Avrech, a Jewish screenwriter in his 50s, who in his own words, "tries to cope with the death of his beloved son Ariel by blogging his way to …what?" In an entry posted in June, Avrech wrote that as a result of his blog, "strangers are now intimate friends. Karen [his wife] and I, because of this blog, have moved from the abyss of terrible isolation into a womb of caring friends, most of whom we would not recognize in a face-to-face encounter."
Some blogs are written anonymously to protect the author from detection in his or her community. A Hassid and a Heretic (www.hassid.blogspot.com), for example, is the confessional journal of an outwardly Chasidic man who is a covert atheist. Renegade Rebbetzin (www.renegaderebbetzin.blogspot.com) is authored by a woman who chafes in her confining role as the wife of an Orthodox rabbi. "My husband is bellowing from the kitchen that I had better-well-I think I'd better go," she wrote to close a recent entry.
Some blogs are quasi-collaborative endeavors, the product of multiple contributors who often hold disparate views-and aren't bashful about expressing them. Consider Jewlicious (www.jewlicious.com), where, in the estimation of a blog spokesperson, "our delusions of grandeur and mutual admiration for each other are rivaled only by our self-loathing and in-fighting. Just like the Jewish people, only bloggier!"
One of the Jewlicious contributors calls herself "Friggin' Esther." In an entry posted in late November, she offered an eloquent insight into why she and her cohorts are drawn to the cybershtetl. "In creating posts here, none of us expects to have the last word," she wrote. "And in fact, if we post something that generates no discussion at all, we feel cheated, or at least, disappointed."
The act of blogging, according to Friggin' Esther, is an attempt to extract "order, logic, humor, [or] inspiration … from life's daily chaos." She added, in closing: "Posts on Jewlicious, and blogs in general, are like our own little acts of creation every day as we aspire to a more complete understanding of the world we're in. Plus, the intimacy of human drama that plays out here in text and subtext is unparalleled."
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