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SPRING 2006/NISAN 5766 VOLUME 8 NUMBER 3 THE JOURNAL OF JEWISH LIFE NETWORK/STEINHARDT FOUNDATION

TheThe Internet:Internet: PathwaysPathways andand PossibilitiesPossibilities contact SPRING 2006/NISAN 5766 VOLUME 8 NUMBER 3 The Internet: Pathways Eli Valley Editor and Possibilities

Erica Coleman he most revolutionary innovation of the Internet is arguably its demo- Copy Editor cratization of information and of communities. Not since the advent of the Janet Mann Administration Gutenberg press have the barriers between people and data been so widely Yakov Wisniewski T traversed. As China’s recent dealings with Google and Yahoo reveal, it is this Design Director open access to information that terrifies repressive regimes. The democratic impulse

JEWISH LIFE NETWORK suffuses not only the receivers of Internet content, but the creators as well. In STEINHARDT FOUNDATION December, the science journal Nature found that the online encyclopedia Wikipedia Michael H. Steinhardt – maintained by 45,000 volunteers, both professional and lay people, across the Chairman globe – was almost as accurate as Encyclopedia Britannica in its science articles. Rabbi Irving Greenberg President How has the democratization been a boon to Jews, and how can the Internet be Rabbi David Gedzelman better harnessed to increase involvement in Jewish life? Executive Director Jonathan J. Greenberg z”l For one thing, lack of formal Jewish education need not be the barrier it once Founding Director was to Jewish involvement. With widespread access to information from each of CONTACT is produced and distributed by Jewish Life Network/ the denominations as well as from pluralistic and interdenominational websites, Steinhardt Foundation, 6 East 39th Street, 10th floor, New York, NY 10016. the potential for Jewish learning and literacy is practically unprecedented. In All issues of Contact are available for addition, the grass roots nature of the Internet has empowered people the download at www.jewishlife.org/journal.html community has typically ignored: the young, the unaffiliated and the non-wealthy. Individual subscriptions are free of charge and are provided as a service to the community. This is particularly true for the younger generation, a cohort the community To subscribe, please send your name and professes to be concerned about but has by and large ignored when it comes to mailing address to [email protected]. Phone: (212) 279-2288 involvement and ideas. Indeed, the relatively level playing field of the Internet Fax: (212) 279-1155 has subverted the traditional paradigm of top-down discourse. At the same time, Email: [email protected] Website: www.jewishlife.org the Internet has facilitated the creation of vibrant communities that rival "real For media inquiries about Jewish Life Network/ world" communities and that themselves often spill over into the non-virtual Steinhardt Foundation, please contact Richard Dukas at [email protected]. world. As the articles in this issue of CONTACT illustrate, the Internet has become Copyright © 2006 by one of the most kinetic landscapes of contemporary Jewish life. Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation. In many respects, the Internet is too dynamic to be harnessed and controlled by the organized Jewish community. And this is not at all a bad thing. If the strength of the Internet is its populism and democratic impulse, the community should Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation is dedicated to strengthening and transforming provide educational resources and work to facilitate further grass roots American Jewish Life to ensure a flourishing, flourishing without trying to co-opt the medium or to dictate a top-down sustainable community in a fully integrated free society. We seek to revitalize Jewish identity approach. In so doing, the community might learn new ways of inspiring people through educational, religious and cultural ini- tiatives that are designed to reach out to all to participate in Jewish life. Jews, with an emphasis on those who are on the margins of Jewish life.

Photographs in this issue appear courtesy of Photos.com. Eli Valley

2 CONTACT http://www.jDate.com Jumping http://www.jewishlife.org INTO THE http://www.Jewschool.com Web http://www.MyJewishLearning.com

http://www.myUrbanKvetch.com http://www.nextbook.org

http://www.matzat.org.il http://www.Jewlicious.com

by MICHAEL KRESS >> started out right out of college as ple of all faiths, and MyJewishLearning, an old school print journalist, and a pluralistic site for Jewish information like so many others, I looked at this and education. At this point, I can’t LIKE THE REST OF THE WORLD, I new medium, the World Wide Web imagine life — professionally or person- as we so quaintly called it, with a mix- ally — without the Web. THE JEWISH COMMUNITY HAS ture of fear and excitement. I remember My story is hardly unique. Like the the odd feeling of publishing my first rest of the world, the Jewish community JUMPED INTO THE WEB WITH article on the Web as a freelance writer. has jumped into the Web with that same It felt incomplete, insubstantial — and mixture of fear and fascination that I THAT SAME MIXTURE OF FEAR yet, it probably found considerably more did. But there is still a long way to go readers than anything I’d written before, for Jewish institutions and leaders to AND FASCINATION THAT I DID. and that audience was certainly more realize the full potential that this geographically far-flung than any I’d had medium offers. BUT THERE IS STILL A LONG before. Perhaps the first and most important WAY TO GO FOR JEWISH Today, barely more than half a lesson I’ve learned is that the Internet decade after those early days of trepida- truly is a new medium. This may seem a INSTITUTIONS AND LEADERS TO tion, I’ve worked at two very different simplistic and obvious observation, but websites — Beliefnet, a website for peo- there are profound ramifications to the REALIZE THE FULL POTENTIAL truth that the Web is not merely a place where books and magazines appear on a Michael Kress served as the founding Editor-in- THAT THIS MEDIUM OFFERS. Chief of MyJewishLearning.com. He now edits the monitor and humans communicate via arts and entertainment coverage of Beliefnet.com. typing instead of talking. To make the

SPRING 2006 3 best use of the internet, we need to and cultures. This is happening on some entirely inaccurate, with no way understand how the culture and behav- Beliefnet, MyJewishLearning and any for the average person to decipher which ior of Web users is unique to the number of other sites, such as Children is which. medium. This includes questions of how of Abraham, where Jewish and Muslim American religion has always run on we digest information, how and where teens from around the globe — includ- a model of free-market capitalism, one we look for information and whom we ing places like Pakistan, South Africa, faith competing with another, thriving trust, the length of our attention spans, and Israel — interact with each other. by responding to market needs. Though and many other such issues. So how do People who would never attend in per- it may not be the traditional Jewish we take best advantage of this new son an interfaith or interdenominational model, we’re all part of the system medium? I’d like to focus on just two dialogue are on Internet message boards whether we like it or not. Rather than broad areas: Communication and con- asking questions, answering others’ approaching this ever-more decentral- nection, and information and authority. queries and debating any topic imagina- ized world with fear, Judaism would be ble. Discussions are not organized or lin- better served by enthusiastically embrac- Communication and connection: At both ear, and they can seem bewildering for ing it. Let’s make sure we’re equal play- websites I’ve worked at, discussion the inexperienced user to read through, ers in this marketplace by getting our boards play key texts, our leaders’ roles in the voices (contempo- organizations’ rary and historical), missions, allow- our community ing readers, members, our opin- wherever they Let’s make sure we’re equal players in this marketplace by getting ions, even our may be, to post internal disputes questions and our texts, our leaders’ voices (contemporary and historical), our out there for people opinions and community members, our opinions, even our internal disputes out to find, respond to interact with and embrace or each other about there for people to find, respond to and embrace or reject. reject. As the Inter- the profound net, inevitably, and the mun- moves toward more dane alike. of a multimedia Though only a model — audio, small percentage video — and away of readers will ever take advantage of the but — especially in moments when par- from its reliance on text, let’s embrace boards — Internet discussion is not for ticipants ask about someone who hasn’t that too, and translate our tradition into everyone, and this has proven true been around for a while or take a this new format just as we transitioned across the Web — those who do partici- moment to discuss personal news in from a fully oral tradition to one that pate can be changed forever by the expe- their lives — there’s no doubt that real mixes the oral and the textual. rience. One of the most rewarding connections are happening. Finally, though the old hierarchies experiences I’ve had as a Web editor was and sources of authority may be forever “listening in” on some of Beliefnet’s Jew- Information and authority: Even the most changed, it’s important to remember that ish-themed discussions and seeing how egalitarian-minded of Jewish communi- they’re not dead. Despite the everyone’s- people from different worlds engage ties is accustomed on some level to hier- a-rabbi environment on the Web, I’ve with each other in substantive dialogue. archy: Rabbis and educators teach, noticed that the real thing, a knowledge- The ease and anonymity of the Web students/congregants learn. Texts trans- able and authoritative teacher, is still allows for a type of discussion rare at mit, learners absorb. We may grapple respected and even thirsted for. People best in the “real world.” and disagree with texts — and rabbis — will rarely investigate who that rabbi is I’ll never forget the Orthodox man but, ultimately, we come back to them as who respects and who disagrees with from a fairly closed community who our sources of authority and organizing her or him, but they’re eager for “the took to Beliefnet’s boards early on; he principles of our religious world. The right” answer nonetheless. The chaos of was repeatedly saying how much he Internet, on the other hand, is without the Web is both liberating and scary. If learned about others’ religious lives and hierarchy or authority. It is the ultimate we provide the forums and the tools for viewpoints, even as he continued to in democracy or the ultimate in chaos, Jews from around the world to interact assert his own opinions, thereby teach- depending how you look at it. The with each other via safe, easy to use ing others about his world. True, there Internet allows us to shop for informa- websites, and if our best rabbis, most are times when participants abuse the tion, rabbis, shuls, or new denomina- creative teachers and most expansive anonymity to spread hate, but by estab- tions or even religions, and there’s no thinkers take the time to understand the lishing and enforcing clear guidelines for stopping that. Responsa from even the uniqueness of this new medium and what’s acceptable and what’s not, the most cloistered haredi rabbis are dis- venture out there onto the Web — as Web offers a safe and easy place to con- sected on the Web, and everyone who many already have — we may find we nect as individuals or groups with peo- knows how to use Google has access to are influencing more people than we’d ple of different denominations, faiths mountains of information, some terrific, ever imagined.

4 CONTACT n December 26, hillbilly posted • Getting into college is “mo happy Chanukah I heart the top concern among O you” to shtully05’s wall blog. today’s teens. Translated in non-teen-speak: Hillary • Teens are being required posted a message to the webpage of a to (and want to) con- -linked friend wishing her many more happy duct community service by MATTHEW GROSSMAN nights of Chanukah and telling her that at record rates. she loves her. • Significant numbers of Since October 2005, thousands of North America’s 350,000 Jewish teens the b-linked umbrella are a variety of sub- Jewish teens from around the world have are losing their Jewish connection fol- communities designed to appeal to the come together to make friends, talk about lowing their b’nai mitzvot. core needs of teens. For example, common areas of interest and access Armed with a better understanding of b-accepted.org provides tools to help valuable resources in an online community the teen audience and the challenges fac- college-bound teens with the admissions exclusively for Jewish teens — b-linked.org. ing the Jewish community, BBYO recog- process. Powered by The Princeton Review The website, already being used by close nized that it would need to expand and and Hillel, it features a one-of-a-kind to 4,000 teens, was created by BBYO, Inc., make its approach for connecting with search engine containing both Jewish the world’s leading pluralistic Jewish teen teens more strategic. While BBYO’s and secular data on more than 800 movement. renowned leadership programs, Aleph colleges and universities. Teens using While the language in which these teens Zadik Aleph for young men and its female b-accepted also have access to a personal counterpart, B’nai college organizer to help them keep B’rith Girls, will track of schools of interest and important b-linked is a place where Jewish teens can feel remain a core focus of deadlines; an alumni mentor service; the organization, they a roommate matching message board; and comfortable, have fun and be exposed to a dynamic can no longer be the pertinent information about the applica- organization’s only tion process, SAT exam and financial aid. are communicating may not be easily deci- gateways for involvement. Since about 70 percent of high schools pherable to the over-18 crowd, one thing is With that in mind, BBYO fine-tuned now require teens to fulfill community clear: b-linked is a place where Jewish its target audience, identifying a market of service requirements, BBYO will soon teens can feel comfortable, have fun and be 100,000 Jewish teens who it considers to launch b-kind, a community service site exposed to a dynamic community of their be “on the fence” Jewishly, and set out to enabling teens to track their involvement Jewish peers — a community that, without create b-linked. It’s an unconventional and learn about service opportunities, the Internet, they may never have known. entry point to Jewish involvement — a while introducing them to a fundamental b-linked is the culmination of a year- place where teens can be the content cre- component of Jewish life, tikkun olam. long research initiative launched by BBYO ators and there are no barriers to involve- Other communities in the works include to understand the core interests and needs ment. b-linked’s registration process is b-inspired (Judaism and spirituality), b- of today’s teens in an effort to develop simple, there is no cost involved, and all everywhere (travel) and b-alive (health strategies to involve more of them — espe- Jewish teens are welcome to: and wellness). cially those who are at risk of turning • Make thousands of new friends from The strategy behind b-linked and b- away from the Jewish community — in around the world and stay connected to accepted “makes perfect sense,” said Dr. more meaningful Jewish experiences. friends from camp, travel experiences Leonard Saxe, Director of the Steinhardt Through conversations with teens and and school; Social Research Institute at Brandeis Uni- research compiled from over two dozen • Connect with other Jewish teens based versity and author of Being a Jewish Jewish and secular sources, including upon common areas of interest, from Teenager in America, in an interview with Teenage Research Unlimited, the Pew music and movies to Internet & American Life Project and the volunteer work and 2001 National Jewish Population Survey, sports; community of their Jewish peers — a community BBYO discovered several key opportunities • Communicate through to reach more Jewish teens: message boards and that, without the Internet, they may never have known. • Teens are the first generation to grow up blogs about their almost fully wired, with 87 percent of favorite topics and issues; The Jewish Week. These sites “help young 12- to 17-year-olds using the Internet. • Learn about and get involved in social, people deal with contemporary issues.” • A majority of teens value religion, and travel, athletic, community service and “What it also makes clear is that being most are looking for less conventional leadership opportunities. part of the Jewish community is relevant ways to connect. What’s unique about the b-linked experi- to their lives, as opposed to something • Today’s generation is not likely to be ence is that it’s not just virtual. Unlike other that they do on the holidays or at certain spoon-fed information; in fact, teens are social networking sites, b-linked emerged life events,” noted Dr. Saxe. creators rather than consumers of con- from and feeds into real communities sup- BBYO’s goal is to have 50,000 teens — tent, pushing more content onto the ported by more than 80 BBYO professionals half of its target market — using b-linked Internet than they pull away. “on the ground” who can involve teens in by 2008. More important, BBYO hopes to meaningful Jewish experiences. inspire teens like hillbilly and shtully05 to make Judaism a permanent part of their Matthew Grossman is Executive Director What also distinguishes b-linked from of BBYO, Inc. other social networking sites is its ability lives by allowing them to create their own to add value to the lives of teens. Under meaningful Jewish experiences. SPRING 2006 5 MyJewishLearning.com: Every Jew A Rabbi

by DANIEL SEPTIMUS

yJewishLearning.com was conceived in 2001 to address a practical need. The Internet had become a fact of contemporary life, a preferred M source of information for all things, including the academic and spiritual. Ironically, perhaps, Orthodox institutions were quick to respond to this sea change. Organizations such as Chabad and Aish Hatorah solidified their web presence and became the leading sources of online information about Judaism. Despite the remarkable proliferation of Internet projects in the 1990s, no pluralistic Jewish counterpart emerged. Edgar Bronfman founded MyJewishLearning to fill this void. Our mission was — and is — to be a free, comprehensive, authoritative and transdenominational source of Jewish information. In our first few years, with the generous support of the Samuel Bronfman Foundation, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Foundation, Jewish Life Network/Stein- hardt Foundation and the Abramson Family Foundation, we have begun to fulfill this charge. Today, MyJewishLearning’s 2,500 articles cover everything from baby-naming ceremonies to the Israeli electoral system. An MJL user can find content about Maimonides and Mala- mud, Emma Lazarus and Ezekiel. Our seven topic areas — His- tory & Community, Holidays, Ideas & Belief, Culture, Texts, Daily Life & Practice, and Lifecycle — address all the major aspects of Jewish life. In addition, MJL features quizzes and recipes, primary texts and recommended readings. A successful website must connect to the entire Internet; thus, we’ve posted thousands of links to other Jewish institutions and resources. THE RABBIS OF THE And yet, while MJL’s pragmatic function birthed the website, it has theoretical — dare I say, theological — implications that are also worth noting. TALMUD DECLARED Let’s imagine a time, fifteen or twenty years ago, say 1987. A place: Omaha. A woman: nodding to Virginia Woolf, we’ll THAT THE TORAH WAS call her Judith. She’s in her mid-thirties, Jewish, with two kids. Because of a television program on biblical archeology, NOT IN HEAVEN — or an upcoming lifecycle event, or a question from one of her children, her interest in Judaism is piqued. She wants to study and explore. But where does she go? Perhaps she goes to a IT WAS IN THE bookstore or library, but in Omaha, the pickings are slim. More likely than not, she has a single possible destination. ,THE STUDY Indeed, in 1987, nearly 2,000 years after Jerusalem was destroyed, dispersing the seat of religious authority from a HALL. NOW THE TORAH single place (the Temple) and ruling elite (the priests), the con- centration of power — of knowledge — was still overwhelm- IS NEITHER IN HEAVEN ingly concentrated in a single institution: the synagogue. This is not necessarily nefarious. A synagogue rabbi might be bright and imaginative, and more importantly, NOR IN THE kind and caring, but no matter how talented he is (and in 1987 most rabbis were still “he”), his resources are limited. . IT IS The rabbi might give an adult education class on Talmud or

EVERYWHERE. Daniel Septimus is Editor-in-Chief of MyJewishLearning.com.

6 CONTACT the laws of charity, while Judith’s inter- line for the movies, in airports and, if ests might be art or biblical poetry. The their religious sensibilities allow it, in synagogue might have a library with the bathroom. The rabbis of the Tal- nextbook by BLAKE ESKIN more books than the local Barnes & mud declared that the Torah was not in Noble, but not that many more, and it’s heaven — it was in the beit midrash, extbook.org is now a full-blown web magazine with foreign territory; it’s intimidating. the study hall. Now the Torah is nei- original features, regular columnists and a weekly In truth, the existence of a woman ther in heaven nor in the beit midrash. N podcast, but it didn’t start out that way. In Novem- like Judith already points to the break- It is everywhere. ber 2002, I was brought on to create a one-page website down of a Jewish learning elite. Educa- Last December, MyJewishLearning with two functions. First, it would take to heart the Saul tion for women and the rise of had its busiest month: 375,000 visits Bellow quotation that gave this project, funded by Keren academic Jewish Studies are but two and well over 100,000 unique visitors. Keshet — The Rainbow Foundation, its name: “We are ways Jewish knowledge was diffused in That’s 100,000 Jews forging Rabbi always looking for the book it is necessary to read next.” the twentieth century. Still, the theoret- Greenberg’s vision of “every man his The Nextbook site ical implications of the Internet — of a own rabbi,” but there’s still a lot of would direct visi- Jewish Internet — trump all of these. work to be done. MyJewishLearning tors to articles of In a visionary essay, “Judaism and strives to be comprehensive. Twenty- interest about History,” published in the mid-1970s, five hundred articles is a wonderful Jewish literature, my teacher Rabbi Yitz Greenberg envis- beginning, but it doesn’t do justice to a culture and ideas. aged a time in which traditional models culture 4,000 years in the making. It would also proof Jewish leadership would give way to In addition, if MJL is merely a vide information a new one: “Just as Halakhic behavior is place people go for answers, it is not about Nextbook’s subtler and more naturalistically reli- properly leveraging the Internet’s “Jewish Encoun- gious than the Temple’s sacramental potential to nurture community. We ters Book Series” services, so the new Jewish lifestyle is need to facilitate interactive technolo- and the Jewish lit- likely to be concretized in subtler gies already integrated into the web- erary and cultural behavior, more anchored in the natural site, like discussion boards and programs Next- than in current Halakha. Every man his Talkback features, and to branch out book would be own rabbi may be the analogous step to into other online media, like weblogs. presenting in the democratization of access to God Blogs, as they are known, are Chicago, Seattle and Washington, D.C. taken in the shift from priest to rabbi.” exploding. According to Technorati, a In other words, the website was conceived as some- Rabbi Greenberg’s vision included a website that organizes and tracks thing of an afterthought to these two ambitious projects. world distanced from traditional blogs, a new blog is created every sec- However, a series of books or literary events can be years modes of Judaism, but his sensitivity to ond of every day. Technorati alone in the planning before they reach an audience. So the the religious possibilities of democracy, tracks 27.2 million blogs. Jewish blogs launch of Nextbook.org became Nextbook’s public debut, to its theological significance, was such as Jewschool are already connect- and the “Cultural News Digest,” a blog updated five days a prophetic. Though he couldn’t have ing Jews and creating vibrant online week, took the lead. Each morning, I combed through the known it at the time, the Internet will conversations about Jewish life. We cultural offerings of dozens of news sites — major dailies help usher in this age. believe there are ways to integrate Jew- and quarterly journals; just-the-facts newspapers and parti- The Internet is democratic to its ish learning into this medium as well. san publications; from America and abroad; and from both core. The accessibility and transferabil- However, for these new technologi- mainstream and Jewish publishers — looking for reviews ity of information supports a populist cal features to be successful, for and other stories worth recommending, or that at least con- tide. According to Professor Mark MyJewishLearning to be a place where tained a tidbit dealing with Jewish culture that people Poster, a media theorist at University of people communicate and debate, our would want to pass along. The digest was meant to be California, Irvine, “The ‘magic’ of the content needs to be relevant, regular lively and eclectic, to appeal to readers who are culturally Internet is that it is a technology that and plentiful. It needs to speak to the sophisticated and Jewishly curious but perhaps also Jew- puts cultural acts, symbolizations in all dynamism of our lives. We need to ishly uncomfortable; to reach those who didn’t think some- forms, in the hands of all participants.” constantly produce content that thing was interesting simply because it was Jewish. The Internet empowers. It does so by engages the world around us. A blog doesn’t have to be shrill and inflammatory to being user driven. It is a self-navigated For MyJewishLearning and the Jew- change how its readers see the world. By collecting so universe of choice. It is open to any- ish Internet generally, the future is now many stories in one place, Nextbook.org showcases the one, at any time, in any place. In this — but it is also still unfolding. We are many varieties of the Jewish experience, and the many sense, the Jewish experience of an MJL building an institution that will enable ways Jewish culture is interwoven into the culture of our user is qualitatively novel. Participants practically unprecedented access to Jew- world. While the digest is an efficient way to cover the engage MJL out of their own volition. ish learning, one that can also change world of Jewish culture, we quickly realized that many They choose what they want to study the very fabric of the Jewish community. important stories were getting short shrift and poor cover- and learn at their own comfortable Bill Gates has written, “The main age. We now commission pieces by noted fiction writers, pace. They study in their homes and advantage of any new technology is that journalists who contribute to the cultural sections of lead- offices. At 3 a.m. or 3 p.m. Recently, it amplifies human potential.” Indeed, a ing publications, and our own crack editorial staff. We also MJL unveiled a version of the website healthy and vibrant Jewish Internet will feature regular columns by Etgar Keret, Shalom Auslander for handheld devices such as mobile not only be efficient and pragmatic. It and Lynn Harris. phones, Palm Pilots, and Blackberries. will be transformative. Users can study on the subway and on It will be transcendent. Blake Eskin is Editor of Nextbook.org.

SPRING 2006 7 leaders and random participants) to participate in focus groups, surveys and test runs on pro- posed features to the site. By including alumni in the review and planning processes for web resources, we maximize our ability to respond to their shifting needs and use their input to better hit the moving target of online trends. In addition to our own Taglit-birthright israel website, alumni use the Internet in other ways to organize themselves and connect with one another. Some have formed groups on Myspace.com, Friendster.com, Meetup.com and Emails, Blogs and Websites, similar sites as a means of keeping in touch with birthright israel friends and bus mates. We believe in encouraging alumni to find one another and connect in any way possible, including the use of these outside sites. Taglit- birthright israel professionals are constantly seeking ways to tap into this powerful grass- by TARA HARNED Oh My! roots force. Jay Rosen, the post Professional for the Washington D.C. campus area, is a constant ith the influx of Blackberries, Jewish communities outside of Israel). Other fixture on networking sites. “Tracking alumni iPods, laptops and PDAs, today’s interactive experiences on the Taglit-birthright on sites like Facebook has become an integral youth are digitally connected israel website include videos, eCards, message part of my work on follow-through,” Jay says. and primed for instant gratifica- boards, an events calendar, opportunities list- “From online photo albums to message boards W filled with inside jokes to group affiliations such tion. Young people meet and greet one another ings and a Jewish history educational module. via the wired world, and this technology is a The social networking component of the as ‘Social Action’ and ‘Jews who like Booze,’ it’s central force in uniting groups and keeping website, AlumNet, allows users to create a pro- easier than ever to tell the level of impact the them connected. Maximizing the Internet as file and connect to friends from their bus, as experience has had on them. Working with a both an information venue and a networking well as search for and connect with people who dozen campuses and hundreds of college stu- tool is at the heart of Taglit-birthright israel’s share similar interests. It differs from other net- dents, I rely on their profiles to spot trends, online mission. working sites by operating as a closed system, interests, and potential leaders.” Taglit-birthright israel provides the gift of meaning that only Taglit-birthright israel Taglit-birthright israel recently hired a new first time, peer group, educational trips to Israel alumni, madrichim, and mifgash participants are firm to create the next generation of our website. for Jewish young adults ages 18 to 26. Recog- members of the site. AlumNet has grown The existing structure will change to reflect nizing that young adults communicate online, tremendously since its inception in 2004, with advances in both technology and the technologi- virtually all of the registration process occurs on more than 5,000 active profiles and over cal shrewdness of the young adults we serve. The the Taglit-birthright israel website, birthrightis- 110,000 hits. new site will be even more graphics-heavy, borne rael.com. When newly-minted alumni return The international nature of AlumNet is out of the photoblogging trend in which alumni from the trip, the Taglit-birthright israel website another attractive feature. Alumni from around use sites such as Flickr.com to share photos of is often the first place they head to find pictures the world create profiles and communicate their trips. There are thousands of photos posted from their experience, connect with bus mates with one another via the website. on Flickr with the keyword tag “birthright” that and seek information on how to be involved in In addition to the main Alumni Central are a direct result of alumni wishing to share their home communities. portal, there are local sites that are maintained their birthright israel experience with the world, The Alumni Central section of the Taglit- by the Taglit-birthright israel Post Program- and we feel that it is important to incorporate birthright israel website (alumni.birthrightisrael ming Professionals. These professionals are this kind of technology into our own website. .com) has become the principal mechanism for responsible for connecting with local alumni There are many Taglit-birthright israel alumni to connect with one another and serves and involving them in the larger Jewish com- alumni whose preferred method of post-trip as the virtual home of the birthright israel munity. These local sites have easy to remem- engagement occurs solely via the Internet. This Alumni Association (BRIAA). ber URLs (e.g., Atlanta.birthrightisrael.com) is a very valid form of connection, and we The website currently supports four main and allow professionals to share community strive to meet their needs as well as the needs activities — education (regarding Jewish life and organizational information with regional of the more event-oriented alumni. Helping and Israel); social networking via AlumNet (a alumni. They also provide a direct link to Jew- alumni make the leap from a cyber experience profile-based system similar to online friend ish communities with a public events calendar, to a viable live community is an area we want networks like MySpace, Friendster or Face- listings for upcoming alumni events, a search to explore further. This year, we will seek col- book); exchanging community and organiza- engine to find other local alumni, a local mes- lateral resources that will enable us to create tional information and news; and interaction sage board and local opportunities (jobs, innovative programming related to the new with Taglit-birthright israel. internships, fellowships, volunteer positions, communities generated by this cyberspace net- As an educational site, Taglit-birthright etc.). The Taglit-birthright israel professionals work. Ultimately, we would like to offer alumni israel strives to provide relevant, age-appropri- have the ability to manage content and create modest grant resources to help support future ate information on all things Jewish. The web- newsletters. There are even a few local sites creative endeavors. site features two webzines — Inside Israel that boast alumni webmasters, where profes- The role of the Taglit-birthright israel web- (which covers Israeli current events, editorial sionals have empowered alumni to edit the site in post-trip engagement is crucial. In order pieces related to Israeli culture, politics, etc.) website, creating a peer-to-peer link that for the website to remain useful within our and Jewish Life (which covers news and encourages leadership and initiative. cohort, we do our best to offer a relevant resources related to Judaism, Jewish life and Alumni investment and buy-in is tied to means of connecting and learning that appeals their involvement in website development. to an iPod generation. Keeping the website Tara Harned is Director of Alumni Affairs at Taglit-birthright israel frequently reviews how fresh is central to capturing the shifting atten- birthright israel Foundation. alumni are using the site by asking alumni (both tion of a group that engages “à la carte.” 8 CONTACT DistanceDistance LearningLearning in in Jewish Education:Jewish Education:PAST, PRESENTPAST , PRESENTand and FUTUREFUTURE by DAVID GORDIS and MARTIN KAMINER

Online learning is the key unlocking the treasure house of Jewish knowledge that is our collective right and heritage.

t’s been observed that many of the seek it, regardless of where they live or video, chat-rooms, podcasts and, of course, innovations of the information age their level of Jewish literacy. email. Myjewishlearning.com is an excellent have in fact been part of Jewish life Over the last ten years, experiments in example of a learning portal designed to be I and learning for millennia. The Tal- online learning have proliferated at Jewish valuable to scholars and novices alike and to mud is a hypertextual document. “Flame institutions of every description. It is rare to serve as a point of entry to other more in- Wars” have always been part of Jewish dis- find an educational organization that doesn’t depth or specialized online resources. course, personal and professional. And dis- offer some sort of learning, casual or struc- Given the mission-driven nature of Jew- tance learning was well developed within a tured, via their website. The most adept ish institutions of higher learning, they few hundred years of the destruction of schools have found that by tiering their might be wise to consider the bold example the Second Temple, as communities in offerings along a gradient — offering free of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Europe sent she’eylot to Baghdad and resources for casual browsers, e-letters for whose Open Courseware initiative received directives on liturgy and halacha. those interested in a particular topic, short (http://ocw.mit.edu) places all curricular In ancient times, distance learning took adult-education courses, more intensive pro- materials on the web for free to encourage place between provincial Rabbis in the west fessional development courses and, eventu- and promote scientific learning. Users of and scholarly authorities in the east. It was ally, online for-credit courses and degree Open Courseware don’t receive a degree or not accessible or even of interest to the programs — they can meet a learner’s needs any academic credit, but the example of free laity. While this type of correspondence wherever they are and encourage them to learning on a massive scale is a boon to all. among clergy continues, the potential that progress and dig deeper. Someone who A dozen or so years into the age of the distance learning offers today is to unlock stumbled across a site as a result of a web Internet, it’s clear that the impact on both the treasures of Jewish learning for all who search might eventually matriculate into an the educational world and the Jewish online course or hybrid degree program. world of online learning has hardly begun Dr. David Gordis is President of Hebrew College in These offerings also comprise a range of to be felt. Much has been tried; there have Boston, MA. Martin Kaminer is CEO of Instructional technologies: web pages, synchronous and been notable failures as well as promising Systems Inc., an educational technology company. asynchronous conferencing, interactive successes. Some of the key aspects of what

SPRING 2006 9 makes the combination of Jewish learning • Me’ah Online (http://www.hebrewcollege Some of the most wonderful develop- and the Internet so exciting include: .edu/html/adult_learning/meah.htm), an ments to come out of online learning are • Availability of world-class teachers to adult education program that combines also the most unexpected. An early online groups, communities and individuals in-person and online instruction to cre- course in “Jewish Self-Discovery Through regardless of geographic location; ate a remarkably profound and intense Writing” was taken by about twenty stu- • Availability of library resources online, learning experience; dents scattered throughout the country and both catalogues and full texts of books • Training of early childhood educators in abroad. They bonded as a group that and journals; Springfield, MA, using interactive video endured after the course ended. As a result, • Artifacts and manuscripts being digi- and face-to-face interactions with faculty; one couple in Alaska decided that it lived tized and made available electronically • A Masters in Jewish Education degree too far from a Jewish community and to anyone who wants to examine them; offered to students in Florida via a decided to move to Seattle. Twelve students • Formation of cybergroups to link indi- combination of interactive video, web- at the University of Shandong in China are viduals into virtual communities; based material and visits from Boston currently studying Hebrew as Hebrew Col- • Creation of online resources that com- College faculty (which turns out to be a lege students online. Their university, along plement, extend, and enhance class- potent remedy for faculty apprehension with University of Shanghai and Beijing room instruction. about distance learning, particularly in University, has now approached Hebrew Many universities have found the most the winter months); College to explore a broader affiliation in potent programs are not the purely virtual • A summer semester at Boston College Jewish studies including online courses ones but rather a hybrid model, where stu- for students in the online Master of and faculty and student exchanges. dents complete a portion of their require- Jewish Studies program. Summer stu- The potential applications of technol- ments online but also spend a period of dents have included not only people ogy to Jewish formal and informal learning time on campus, which could also allow the from around the United States but also are enormous. The experiments that have existing bricks-and-mortar to serve a much a Presbyterian Minister from Ghana, the been undertaken should be viewed as larger population. Examples of the hybrid Brazilian Consul to Japan and a Muslim pilots that show that this mode of educa- model in action at Hebrew College include: from Ramallah. tion can expand Jewish educational opportunities to those who have no access to in-person Jewish educational resources and can enhance the experience of those ONLINE MENTSCH BUILDING >> who do. Online learning is playing an increasing role in every area of academic by YOSEF I. ABRAMOWITZ endeavor — from Torah l’shma to scholarly oung children can be a joy and a challenge at the same time — and as every parent knows, there are research — with its importance in areas times when having a non-judgmental expert would be just the thing. To meet this perceived need, like chevruta learning, language instruction YJewish Family & Life!, with the support of the Mayerson Foundation, embarked on a journey to offer and curriculum creation just beginning to be understood. online Jewish parent coaching to a group of pilot participants through JewishParentCoaching.com. The question that originally confronted Participants in the pilot were paired with a Jewish parenting coach who was able to offer valuable online learning — can it be as good as parenting advice and a new venue to explore Jewish life with their preschoolers. Parents were able to being in the classroom with a master work through many of the standard issues that parents struggle with like eating, sleeping and disruptive teacher — is already moot. That infinitesi- behavior. Many parents struggled with approaching the holiday season as part of an interfaith family or mal fraction of us with the time, money as residents in a non-Jewish town. Many struggled with raising Jewish children with non-Jewish grand- and geographical good luck to find our- parent involvement. Others face the challenges of carrying on a Jewish family after divorce. Other partic- selves in the presence of a true Talmid ipants had very little experience being Jewish and were looking for advice on where to begin finding the Chacham would be foolish to deny our- selves the pleasure. For the overwhelming way with their own family. The coaches provided insights into the incorporation of Jewish values, tradi- majority for whom this is not the case, tions and customs in a meaningful and realistic way into everyday parenting as well as helping them online learning is the key unlocking the over the rough spots by offering practical advice, Shabbat greetings and words of encouragement. treasure house of Jewish knowledge that is The online environment proved to be far more intimate than we ever believed as program partici- our collective right and heritage. As pants formed deep connections with their coaches over the three-month trial period. The coaches not always, technology is not the ikar but sim- only had backgrounds in Jewish education, but all were actively engaged with parents of preschoolers ply the method; what makes Jewish dis- as well as experienced parents. One parent commented, “I realized that Jewish tradition and wisdom tance learning exciting is the same thing contributed to my coach’s way of parenting and being. Encountering people like my coach has helped that has made it exciting for millennia; the inspire me to become more involved Jewishly, on an individual (spiritual) and familial (ritual) level.” technology merely enables it to occur. At a recent panel on the use of technol- Today’s time pressures, complicated family situations and declining membership in synagogues ogy in Jewish Education, one of the speak- make the Internet a great way to connect with parents who want to bring a Jewish perspective or ers said what delighted him about online understanding into their parenting. If we are lucky, we will have many years of celebration with our learning was that now he could study in children. JewishParentCoaching.com offers one more puzzle piece in the vast array of resources that chevruta anytime — even at 4:00 a.m., sit- will hopefully make this a reality. ting in his basement in his underwear drinking a beer. The immediate response Yosef I. Abramowitz is the CEO of Jewish Family & Life! and is co-author of Jewish Family & Life: from an anonymous audience member: Traditions, Holidays and Values. Visit his blog at www.peoplehood.org. “What’s so new about that?”

10 CONTACT In the Blog-inning Jewish Blogging

by ESTHER D. KUSTANOWITZ

Jewish blogs — weblogs that IN THE BLOG-INNING Jewish blogs were. And then 2002 hit, a year s Jews used to rally around the that witnessed the births of many influential function as a hybrid of the tabernacle and the First and Second blogs like Town Crier (June), Steven I. Temples in Jerusalem, today’s Jews Weiss’s Iatribe (October) and Protocols of personal journal and the online congregate around the issues in the Elders of Zion (December), which also the JBlogosphere. Jewish blogs — weblogs served, via its extensive blogroll, as a portal that function as a hybrid of the personal to other blogs. Shortly after Protocols was magazine — give voice to the journal and the online magazine — give launched, Daniel “Mobius” Sieradski (see voice to the vocally underrepresented and page 13) founded Jewschool, a hipper, more vocally underrepresented and the the disenfranchised, the alienated and the graphics-heavy design for material similar to opinionated, the lonely and the social what appeared on Protocols: trends in con- disenfranchised, the alienated activists. It is a new community model that temporary Jewish society, here and abroad, provides a framework for creativity, support and reactions to Jewish and mainstream and the opinionated, the lonely and an open conversation that standard, media coverage of such issues. offline contemporary Jewish life lacks. And it came to pass that Protocols begat Blogging starts small, with an issue or many Jewish blogs, and influenced count- and the social activists. It is a perspective, at the grassroots level — like a less nascent bloggers as Jews began to get rumor at the shtetl market. One person acquainted with the technology and poten- new community model that founds a blog, and tells a few yentas. Via tial that blogging presented. Jewlicious today’s electronic yentas — email and hyper- (July 2004) arrived just in time for a blog provides a framework for linking — the rumor becomes something boom and was embraced by the blogos- for opinionated tribemembers to investigate phere’s young, birthright-israel-era Jews creativity, support and an open and form their own commentaries. looking to connect with young, irreverent In the blog-inning, no one knew what voices on tradition. Breaking new ground, Jewlicious teamed with birthright israel to conversation that standard, offline produce a Jewlicious track and program for Esther D. Kustanowitz, a freelance writer based in the Israel trip and with California’s Beach contemporary Jewish life lacks. New York, freely admits her blog-biases: in addition to her own blogs, JDatersAnonymous.blogspot.com Hillel to produce Jewlicious @ the Beach, a and MyUrbanKvetch.com, she also writes for the major student conference on Jewish identity group blog www.Jewlicious.com. now in its second year. For its part, Jew-

SPRING 2006 11 n areas where Jewish communal life is either absent or unsatisfying, the virtual community emerges out of necessity.

school also promotes Jewish social and safe. “Blogs are communication tools in the depression over remaining single in a reli- social justice events, fundraisers, film furtherance — not replacement — of physical gious world. She wondered if she was meant screenings, conferences and other happen- community,” Golin says, “including Jewish to be alone forever within her religious ings in line with its mission. spiritual community.” beliefs, or if she could give up her religious restrictions in order to secure companion- DON’T BURN YOUR JCC MEMBERSHIP WHOSE BLOG IS IT, ANYWAY? ship and satisfaction. An outpouring of CARD YET… Students or professional writers who blog do understanding came from sympathetic read- Israel blogs provide amazing insight into so to gain media visibility or because they ers, who assured her that her sexual and life in the Holy Land, but in some ways, want recognition for the sentences they’ve emotional drive for companionship was nor- Jewish blogging owes its burgeoning popu- crafted. But a large contingent of Jewish and mal, but others condemned even her larity to Diaspora-dwelling Jews looking to non-Jewish bloggers blog anonymously to thoughts: by even considering the possibility connect. In areas where Jewish communal maximize their freedom of self-expression. of violating the laws of shomer negiah, they life is either absent or unsatisfying, the vir- Under the cover of sobriquets — to protect said, she was premeditating a life of sin. tual community emerges out of necessity. their identities, their families, or their jobs The blanket of anonymity that liberates “Blogging provides an avenue to form — they reveal more than many people do the opinionated-but-platformless also allows ‘virtual’ friendships, built on shared even to their intimates. chronic kvetchers to react to world events, interests and ideas — which may lead to “I think the anonymity is helpful in publications and other people with impunity, real-world friendship,” according to Okla- more ways than it is destructive,” says Rob- which isn’t always a good thing. “Blogging is homa-based technology consultant Simon bie Medwed, a Chicago-based Jewish educa- an interactive and instantaneous dynamic,” Fleischmann, who has been blogging off and tor who blogs at rjmedwed.blogspot.com. says Jewlicious co-founder David Abitbol. on since 2002 at Up-Load.com. “This is “We have a chance to be online who we can’t “The real world doesn’t give you as many especially important for Jewish individuals in be in real life, and with that we are able to opportunities to engage in that sort of dis- much of the US, where fractionated commu- speak freely and explore without being wor- course. Intervening layers of technology cre- nities have seen an ever-increasing decline in ried of community opinion.” JOI’s Golin ate distance, which encourages honesty.” “All synagogue attendance and participation in opines that anonymity “does allow a certain of us have been attacked and called horrible Jewish life,” he continues. “For individual debasement in the tone of discourse,” but names online that never would have [been Jews, who may have felt alone in a seemingly sees that as “a fair trade-off for the access to said] to our faces,” added the blog’s other co- hostile world, this can only be a good thing.” interdenominational dialogue that had all founder, Laya Millman. “But we hope for a As quickly as individual Jews have been but disappeared from the scene until this trickle effect, that by throwing our ideas out to embrace blogging as a mode of connection, new medium arose.” A woman who blogs to the public sphere, people will think more Jewish organizations are noticeably more ten- only as Orthomom says that blogging about the issues in their own lives.” tative. One organization that has embraced a “affords people who live in [Orthodox] com- blog interface is the Jewish Outreach Insti- munities where conformity is part and parcel ALL THE REST IS COMMENTARY tute. Most visitors to the site might not even of their lives to express their frustration or If we think about the structure of the blog, realize that they’re visiting a blog, but the anger regarding certain aspects of communal a bell of recognition should ring somewhere medium provides a simple, user-friendly life in an anonymous forum. These criticisms within our Jewish collective unconscious. framework for opinions and feedback. “You can thus reach a large audience when they With one central text and commentary jut- can update it more easily and regularly,” said might otherwise have been left unsaid.” ting out from every side, the similarity to JOI Associate Executive Director Paul Golin, In 2005, one such voice took the Jewish the Talmud should be clear. The Talmud also the site’s main blogger. “You can also blogosphere by storm. Nice Jewish Girl, a inspired academies of thought in Israel and ‘create community’ by allowing comments. I 34-year-old religious woman, had “never in the Diaspora that gave voice to varying think group blogs like Jewschool and Jewli- been kissed” because she observed the laws opinions in the spirit of rigorous discussion; cious do this well; it seems like the ‘regulars’ of shomer negiah, which precluded her phys- online, blogs inspire an international acad- and cross-posters on such sites have created a ical contact with men until she is married. emy without walls. By discussing the issues community,” he observes. But most bloggers The blog (shomernegiah.blogspot.com) that affect Jews everywhere, blogs in some and internet gurus acknowledge that the focused on her yearning for human contact, way represent the fulfillment of our textual, JCCs and synagogues of the world are still her burgeoning sexual desire and her social and scholarly destiny.

12 CONTACT Blogging Our Way Back by DANIEL SIERADSKI

used to lament not being part of a Jew- email from all sorts of interesting and excit- ish community. ing people doing innovative Jewish projects. Despite coming from a fairly tradi- They recognized a potential in Jewschool I tional background, I didn’t have many that hadn’t even dawned on me, and soon Jewish friends where I grew up. After my enough I was collaborating on projects like parents lost their business (a result, in part, JDub Records, Heeb and Bar Mitzvah Disco, from a falling out with the Orthodox com- and having interblog discussions with other munity in which I was raised), they couldn’t major Jewish bloggers. These relationships afford to enroll me in a youth group, day helped Jewschool’s readership soar, and I school or Jewish camp — not that I would’ve found myself receiving dozens of e-mails been particularly interested anyway. We had each day from perfect strangers expressing had a rough ride, and I was reeling from the their interest in and support for the project. experience. I went from yeshiva straight into In addition to sharing news stories, event the public school system: One day it was notices and the like, I have also used Jew- “put your kippa on,” the next, “take your school as a platform to engage with my kippa off.” I never fully recovered from the Judaism — asking difficult questions about culture shock. God, Torah, Israel and contemporary Jewish In college, I could hardly relate to the life, all the while expressing my admittedly kids in my campus Hillel chapter. Having irreverent, unconventional and sometimes spent the prior summer studying in yeshiva controversial views. Oftentimes I receive email in Israel, I felt alienated from my classmates. from other young Jews across North America, My only Jewish friends on campus were sec- thanking me for being open about my difficul- ular and detached from Judaism. There, too, ties with Judaism and Zionism and telling me I had no real community. of their struggles and how I’ve helped them When I finally left school and entered feel as though they are not alone. the “real world,” I landed a great job at a One such person is my friend Amy, who prominent Jewish organization in Manhattan now lives in Jerusalem and studies at a and found myself smack in the middle of the yeshiva I used to attend. Amy discovered my tors from five countries, some of whom I’ve liveliest Jewish community in North Amer- personal weblog, OrthodoxAnarchist.com, never met face-to-face, but with whom I have ica. But I still had no one to have Shabbat over a year ago, and followed my adventures found kinship as we’ve shared many hours dinners with. And I certainly had no place and my struggles living and learning in together chatting online. One by one, they where I felt comfortable attending services. I Israel. “Your website is my favorite thing in come to visit me in Israel, however, and our felt as though I was “the stranger in your the world,” she wrote from Ohio, soon after friendships excel, as I play madrich for their midst,” and I longed for a community that discovering the site. “It really has changed visits. would welcome and accept me, warts and all. my relationship with Judaism and wrestling Since its launch, Jewschool’s readership I had started keeping an online journal with levels of observance and Jewish politics has grown to 50,000 unique monthly visitors, in college, and so I was well acquainted with to know there’s a chevra I relate to.” Amy, which suggests it has definitely struck a chord blogging and quite active and known in the who had also never found the Jewish com- with the wider Jewish community. Jewschool “blogosphere.” As the full-time webmaster munity she’d been longing for, finally found has generated a community of its own, with for the JCC in Manhattan, and as a freelancer it when she discovered my blog. Now she dozens of conversations taking place each day for organizations such as the Andrea & lives down the block, and is a most wel- among the site’s regular readers. In recent Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, I saw quite comed addition to my community. She’s months, we have also organized several suc- a lot of interesting Jewish material in the quickly become one of my best friends. cessful events, bringing our readers together course of a workday, but it wasn’t really rele- Over the course of Jewschool’s three for concerts, poetry readings and the like, fos- vant to my readership. In 2002, thinking it years of publication, the e-mails have contin- tering real-world community among them. As might be a good vehicle for sharing this ued to pour in and I have met countless new the members of the Jewschool community material, I decided to launch Jewschool.com, people, made wonderful new friends and come in contact with one another in these an online clearinghouse of all things Jewish. developed amazing new relationships. Suffice real-world spaces, they too develop meaning- Surprisingly, within a few months, Jew- it to say that now when I’m in New York, ful bonds, which translate into friendships school took off, and suddenly I was receiving there may be a fight over whose house I’m and non-virtual ties. As the project continues going to for Shabbat dinner. I also have at to expand and grow, the opportunities for least half a dozen places in New York where I making these connections multiply as well. Daniel Sieradski is the editor-in-chief of Can blogging lead to meaningful Jewish Jewschool.com and the founding director of Matzat know enough people to feel comfortable dav- (matzat.org.il), a start-up non-profit specializing in ening. And I owe all of this to blogging. communities? Jewschool is living proof that, the creation of online Jewish communities. Jewschool now has over thirty contribu- indeed, it can.

SPRING 2006 13 TODAY,IF YOU ARE JEWISH AND WANT TO FIND JEWISH FRIENDS OR A JEWISH SPOUSE,YOU JDATE. PERIOD. Using the Power of the Internet to Build Community by DAVID SIMINOFF

would be surprised if any of you reading to build community? In this context, an online community can this article do not have a friend or family JDate began with an understanding of, be a powerful tool to bring individuals member who has met someone on JDate. and sensitivity to, the Jewish community. together not only to share their concern for I There is a good chance you’ve attended a The sensitivity of JDate’s founders is what an issue but to bring about change. We wit- JDate wedding. Today, JDate has almost built JDate. Its founders understood the vac- nessed an example of this in 2002, when 600,000 active members around the world. uum that single Jews felt and they did some- over 1,500 JDate members answered our call We estimate more than one in ten single Jews thing about it. And, they did it better than to action and registered with The Gift of Life in North America has a profile on JDate. anyone else. Bone Marrow Registry in order to save the With very little marketing investment, JDate offers single Jews a sense of accept- lives of patients suffering from leukemia, JDate has grown by word-of-mouth. First ance and belonging in a community so often lymphoma, aplastic anemia and a wide range throughout the Jewish community and more focused on families. Particularly among of other life-threatening cancers, immune recently into the mainstream community, JDate young single Jews, who often find themselves diseases and genetic disorders. One JDate has become part of our pop culture vernacular, away at school or enmeshed in their careers member made a life-saving match and a suc- with mentions on Sex & the City, Ricki Lake, and separated from the associated networks cessful transplant ensued. Through our “Giv- Nip/Tuck and Saturday Night Live. JDate has of home, JDate provides easy access to a ing Back” campaign, we continually utilize been featured on CNN Headline News. Joan global community. For many single Jews, the strength of our membership base to Rivers and Rosanne Barr have talked about dating is associated with family pressure. strengthen the Jewish community. searching for men on JDate. Howard Stern JDate embraces single life and liberates the Today, if you are Jewish and want to find repeatedly promotes JDate on the air and even single person to make his or her own Jewish friends or a Jewish spouse, you JDate. Tom Brokaw has mentioned the website. Its choices. JDate gives single Jews a voice Period. However, our members are free to list members have written songs about JDate. It where they once had none. themselves on other personals websites as has even inspired a Broadway play. A website becomes a community when well. Thus, we live in an intimately fragile As JDate’s name recognition continues to its members have a voice and the ability to world where users always have other options. grow, what is even more striking is its wide- interact. As each individual voice becomes With that in mind, our ethos is that spread acceptance across generations within part of the larger collective, it begins to res- every single detail counts in the strive for the Jewish community. Mothers purchase onate throughout the community. perfection. It is not easy to do what JDate memberships on behalf of their sons and At the core of our business is a natural does. There are a myriad of processes that daughters, yet JDate still manages to retain human desire for connection. Over the years, must be executed perfectly before somebody its “cool factor” among young single adults. the Internet has helped to smooth the very subscribes to our service. For JDate, much JDate is helping to strengthen the Jewish awkward transformations behind getting to effort is required in order for our customers community and ensure that Jewish traditions know people. For this reason, the Internet is to come to trust us, spend money with us, are sustained for generations to come by pro- ideally suited to single people. It provides a love us and then find love on our sites. viding a global network where Jewish singles huge opportunity to build alliances among In the non-profit world, a “customer” find life-long partners within their faith. groups and individuals who are socially and becomes a constituent, advocate, grantee, Given JDate’s success, what can non- geographically separated. Creating a virtual member or donor. Similar to JDate, all are profit organizations learn from JDate so that community of people to rally around a cause there because they share a common mission they can better use the Internet as a vehicle or mission can be powerful, especially when it or support a similar cause. It is the harness- consists of people who may not otherwise ing of this common mission and the confer- David Siminoff is President & Chief Executive interact. An online community can support ring of a voice that are essential ingredients Officer of Spark Networks plc, the parent company fundraising efforts and help spread the word in the creation of a vibrant and sustaining of JDate. about an organization’s activities to the public. Internet community.

SPRING 2006 15 Address Service Requested Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage Jewish Life Network/ Paid Steinhardt Foundation Rockville, MD 6 East 39th Street Permit No. 800 10th floor New York, NY 10016

e are building an institution that will enable practically unprecedented access to Jewish learning, one that can also change the very fabric of the Jewish community. Bill Gates has written, “The main advantage of any new technology is that it amplifies human potential.” Indeed, a healthy and vibrant Jewish Internet will not only be efficient and pragmatic. It will be transformative.

It will be transcendent.

— DANIEL SEPTIMUS