Judaism on the Web

In class today, the topic of having a virtual minyan came up and whether or not it was acceptable according to Jewish practice.  I thought the whole idea was very fascinating.  Has our generation reached the point that they will use the internet as a way to practice ritual and prayer?  This boggles my mind that people would take such extreme measures to observe a daily ritual.

I assumed minyans were still formed in traditional ways - with 10 men.  However, it struck me to be interesting when a fellow peer of mine, in class today, described how at his synagogue, people are able to "call-in" to participate in a minyan.  Should be this allowed?  Personally, I do not think so.  According to Jewish law, using forms of technology is not an acceptable way of prayer since the internet and technology does not have a soul, hence taking away from the spirituality of the minyan.

In my personal opinion, there are certain aspects of Judaism that are getting lost through the internet; however, I do believe most people still treat Judaism with respect and value its meaning and celebrate Judaism in the appropriate manner.  I do not agree that creating virtual minyans accomplish anything religious-wise, but in fact it tears the community apart.  That is not what Judaism wants out of its community.  Hopefully one day people will realize that meaning is being lost, and go back to more traditional roots to fulfill the words of the Torah.

Let My People Go

The Let My People Go CD is very interesting and eclectic, to say the least.  Referred to as "a Jewish and African American celebration of freedom," it is apparent that Kim & Reggie Harris are trying very hard to create music that combines Jewish and African American musical styles.

The cover of the CD has as picture of a matzah wrapped in a cloth, also known as the afikoman during the Jewish holiday of Passover.  While there is no indication that this is a Passover CD, this CD is apparently one praising freedom of the Jews from Egypt.  While each song has a Hebrew title, there is English apparent in almost every song.  It is a CD full of richness and diversity, and I can understand why so many people feel a connection this kind of music.

Honestly, this wasn't what I was expecting.  I was expecting more of a Hebrew gospel CD.  However, I am glad that this music is full of history and culture.  It is a very unique way of bringing cultures and ideals together, and it is a quite effective way of doing so.

 

Jewish Philanthropies

I am majoring in Jewish Studies and minoring in non-profit management through SPEA, so I'm pretty much I'm all about Jewish philanthropy.  In fact, I would love to work at somewhere like the Jewish Federation when I'm older.  As weird and silly as it sounds, it is like two of my favorite things combined.  I cherish my Judaism and my religion, and I love to help people out and make an impact on the world.  

I was really excited to be able to check out a bunch of different websites about Jewish philanthropy - but as I begun to read through them, I realized I didn't have the right expectations of what would be on these websites.  It seemed as each website was a blog, or promoting other blogs.  I wanted information about Jewish philanthropies - and was even hoping that I could possibly find one that I wanted to get involved with.  However, I seemed to be unsuccessful in that search.  I think that while these sites were overall very interesting and did have a lot of information and resources, each of them could have talked a little more about what Jewish philanthropies are and what they have to offer.  I felt there was a lack of description for that.

I think that it is important to understand how Jewish philanthropies work and what is unique about each of them.  Also, it is important to know that there are different levels of philanthropies, each offering services and benefits for different groups of people.  

This kind of stuff is something I am really interested in learning more about - and hopefully I can eventually find more descriptive information about philanthropies, while still having a lot of resources available.

Chabad

Growing up in Los Angeles, I'm used to be surrounded by Chabad.  Their annual telethon is advertised all over the city, and they go to extremes to promote Hasidic Judaism.  I have one vivid memory of an encounter with Chabad - when I was only around 10 years old.  My grandparents were in town over winter break, and we went out to a very nice restaurant for dinner.  The moment we stepped outside to get our car, my family was bombarded with members of Chabad shoving pamphlets and Hanukkah gifts in our faces, and then drove away in what they called the Hanukkah-Mobile.  We took them, and I never really thought much of it.  Years later, I have more of an understanding of why that occurred and how it represents Chabad as a whole.

Chabad, to me, is a very interesting group of Hasidic Jews.  It is hard to comprehend what they really are all about - and it shows on their official websites.  What really struck me as interesting was the lack of context and organizational flow on both chabad.org and chabad.edu.  Chabad.org is a very disorganized website - one where it takes 10 separate links to reach the page you would like to reach.  Chabad.edu has no real information about what Chabad has to offer - it is a bunch of different resources for people to find out, but you can't find out unless you use the resources.

I feel like overall, Chabad tries to hide a big part of their message and what they believe in.  Either that, or they try very hard to get people to believe what they believe.  I feel like there is no middleground.  Maybe it's just me, but I feel that this is a very dysfunctional way to organize a religious group, making it hard for people to know what really to believe.

A Different Kind of Judaism

Reconstructionist, Renewal and Cultural Judaism are 3 types of Judaism that very few people have ever heard of - and if people have heard those terms before, chances are they have no idea what each one means.

Reconstructionist Judaism was under the ideals of Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan in 1955, and it focus on the idea that it is essential to base Judaism off of folklore and how people currently work and act, hence creating unique ways of looking at Judaism.  Renewal Judaism was founded in 1962 by Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, who aimed to bring a larger idea of spirituality and artistry to Judaism, through mediums such as dance, music and social action.  Cultural Judaism, which is also known as Secular or Humanist Judaism, is the more recent "phenomenon" of Judaism, which opened its first center around 5 years ago.  Cultural Judaism sees religion as part of Judaism, but not as the one thing that determines what makes someone or something Jewish; therefore, preaching to those who might not practice Judaism on a religious basis.

A question that was brought up throughout class today was "What makes these groups Jewish?  Why do we identify them as Jewish if they don't necessarily believe in the things we believe in?"  It is essential to look at these groups and appreciate what they believe, not try to find all the faults they have.  These different groups, movements or whatever term you feel most appropriately fits them, celebrate being Jewish in different ways.  It does bring up the question of what makes one person "more Jewish" than the next, but in reality, people will always believe in different things.  And instead of putting them down, embrace what they have to offer.