Judaica Librarianship

Volume 10 Number 1–2 6-13

5-1-2000 Strongly Traditional Judaism: A Selective Guide to World Wide Web Resources in English Jacob Shulman Brooklyn Public Library

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Recommended Citation Shulman, Jacob. 2000. "Strongly Traditional Judaism: A Selective Guide to World Wide Web Resources in English." Judaica Librarianship 10: 6-13. doi:10.14263/2330-2976.1145. ALEFBIT

Strongly Traditional Judaism: A Selective Guide to World Wide Web Resources in English*

Jacob Shulman Brooklyn Public Library Brooklyn, NY

Abstract: Annotated list of about forty The Web pages listed here were chosen face. An entry in the format mutt>jeff sig­ selected World Wide Web sites in Eng-_ from more than a hundred sampled. While nifies the steps through a path where click­ lish that are relevant to understanding some items were discovered using the Web ing "mutt" leads to a page where one the more traditionally religious Jewish guides of Romm (1997), Green (1997), and should then click "jeff". URLs (see Glos­ community. The sites include resource Levin (1996), the bulk of the research was sary) have been provided for most listings, indexes and information about kosher original. [Of these three guides, Romm because sometimes those "addresses" food, Jewish calendars, music, commu­ cites the most pages, but Green has the are more durable than the links created to nities, and Torah learning. The sites are best balance between comprehensiveness get at them (or those links' names). URLs · classified into 13 categories. The article of coverage and quality of annotations, in sometimes become detached from home­ concludes with a glossary, references, my opinion.] pages altogether (examples are Jewish and an index. Updated mid-January Music Network, Kashrus Magazine, and 1998. There are some important limitations to the newspaper Yated Neeman. On the this guide. No gopher (see Glossary) sites other hand, a few webmasters have been Introduction are listed, as all relevant ones have appar­ kind enough to retain their old homepages ently been discontinued; neither were any alongside new ones [Orthodox Union, The purpose of this guide is to assist librar­ newsgroups encountered that deal specifi­ Jewishnet]). The sequence (introduction, ians and other users in sampling the atti­ cally with this topic. The indexes by Tan­ outline of contents, guide itself, index) fol­ tudes and interests of the strongly tradi­ nenbaum and Ruttenberg [entries 1, 2] are lows that of The Internet Compendium: tional Jewish community, or in answering indispensable and have been included. Subject Guides to Social Sciences, Busi­ questions about Jewish practice. Included Mailing lists of Torah thoughts are so ness, and Law Resources (Rosenfeld et are web indexes to resources and informa­ numerous that no one list has been singled al., 1995). tion on communities, calendars, kosher out for description. A small number of them food resources, and centers for Torah are detailed fully by Adlerstein (1997). No From an examination of the Web itself, it learning. A brief glossary of Internet terms sites dealing specifically with the traditional may be difficult to build up a true propor­ has been added to help inexperienced Jewish community's history or sociology tional representation of the traditional Jew­ users. The article concludes with an index were discovered. The standard Internet ish community. Many institutions that might of titles and subjects. guide services consulted-Yahoo, Magel­ have websites, including communal organi­ lan, Webcrawler Select, Excite-searched zations such as Agudath Israel, large A number of these sites assume a relatively under Life or Lifestyle-Religion, only pro­ yeshivot, day schools and hasidic groups, high level of Jewish knowledge, although vide links to resources of general Jewish are not represented. One can speculate some are aimed at beginners; most origi­ interest. America Online: Communities' J. that they will not put up sites in the near nate in North America (ascertained by Comm (available only to AOL members) is term. checking contact addresses). There is also aimed at the general Jewish audience sparse content for children. The scope of and was similarly excluded. A section cov­ Quality is always a concern with the Inter­ this guide barely overlaps that of Romm ering news from Israel's "settlement" areas net. Each person recommending Web sites and Steinberger's article (1995), which was added in consideration of the high is a selector. No two individuals will agree focused primarily on librarians' tools. proportion of religious residents with roots on the best ones. In many Web sites, there in North America. are good parts and bad ones, as well as All pages cited are in English. Some tran­ undeveloped parts. It would be impossible scribed Hebrew words may be encoun­ Each major source is listed by page title, to describe and evaluate every page of tered, but these can usually be understood often of a homepage; rarely, a file name is every site. As for authoritativeness, many in context. (Some may be explained by the added. The arrangement is topical, but pages offer ostensibly rabbinical feed­ glossaries at UC Davis [see entry no. 33 wherever possible, instead of breaking up back-"Ask the Rabbi"-but the authority's below] and at Kallah Guide [see no. 42].) sites and categorizing their webpages, name is not provided. whole sites or selected parts of sites are summarized, with cross-references There has been spirited practical debate *Revision of a term project submitted for a between entries where needed; this about whether exposure to even the bene­ course in Advanced Reference in the should prove a more natural arrangement ficial side of the Internet is acceptable, for Humanities at Queens College (New York) to surfers. A subject/title index is also fear of the seamy side. (See, for example, Graduate School of Library and Informa­ included for locating specific items. Within Herman [1995] and Levine [1997].) The tion Studies, May 1997. the text, the titles of Web pages are in bold shortage of material suitable for traditional

6 Judaica Librarianship Vol. 10O No. 1-2 Spring 1999-Winter 2000 1

Jewish children is acute, as they could F. Calendars calendars, and other items. One visually exhaust the available ·resources in a few G. Torah Study attractive short page with audio is entitled hours. H. Texts Sight and Sound Guide to Shabbos ~ I. Publishers Koidesh. Staying up to date J. Newspapers and Magazines K. Music Host: Scott (Oizer) Alpert, who learned at Besides quality, currency is a major con­ L. News from Israel Yeshiva Ohr Somayach in Jerusalem and cern when consulting guides to Internet M. Towards a Wedding at Harvard. resources. The printed guides are months behind as soon as they are published, and A.Resource Indexes [4] Virtual Jerusalem even online indexes to the Web are often antisemitism to academia. Of < www.kotelkam.com; live images can be and in January 1998; the list is up-to-date as special interest are the extensive listings in seen too. Send a Prayer-arranging for of January 16, 1998. Most research surfing the category History>Diaspora History. prayers to be recited at holy sites-requires was performed using a PowerMac 7200/90, Some of the links may be stale, as the last user registration (free). Humor is still under a 14.4 kbps (kilobytes per second) modem, update was in June 1997. construction. and AOL 3.0 and Netscape Navigator 2.01 Webmaster: Steve Ruttenberg of the Uni­ browsers (see World Wide Web in Glos­ versity of Colorado Jewish Students' Union. For many Torah mailing lists, select Torah. sary). [Many of the URLs were rechecked Archives of these are maintained as well. by the journal's proofreader in 1999.-Ed.J [2] Judaism and Jewish Resources (file­ name: Andrew Tannenbaum's Judaism B. Community Overview If you want more up-to-date information and Jewish Resources) than that which is presented here, or wish Shidduch, Kashrut or Kosher, sites on the Internet. Some topics related to tions in America (about 3000) and the Torah, Chabad, Satmar, and Agunah. (Note strict Jewish practice include largest kosher certification agency. Among that Hebrew-to-English transcription is the valuable features of the site are: a) inconsistent on the Internet.) If you search Jewish learning Parsha Pages and Torah Pages, featur­ for a generic term, for .example, "Orthodox," Jewish organizations ing lessons by participating rabbis from all you may get too many hits and have to do Jewish communities over North America; b) Kosher Alerts, an advanced search. Search a phrase in Kash rut < ... org/ kosher/alerts; see below [Kosher quotes ("Orthodox Jew" seems to yield Sephardi links Food, section D]; c) Orthodox Syna­ more hits than "Orthodox Judaism"), or use Singles (matchmaking). gogue Network, with links to connected NOT (or minus sign"-") "Eastern Orthodox" synagogues worldwide. There are also or "Greek Orthodox," to restrict your search Host: The Shamash project Rebbe) of Brookline, MA, with links to Jewish texts, are answered by organization experts or Contents learning and other pages of interest. by authorities in Israel.

The sites selected for inclusion in this guide [3] The Frum Side of the Web There is also information about the National are grouped in the following categories: Synagogue Youth (NCSY). One time.html of the programs is aimed specifically at the A. Resource Indexes deaf <... ou.org/ncsy/ourway! 8. Community Overview This is an exclusively Orthodox collec­ C. Higher Education tion. It contains links to traditional Also of national prominence is the National D. Kosher Food and Other Mitzvot Hebrew texts, yeshivas, synagogues and Council of Young Israel

Judaica Librarianship Vol. 1O No. 1-2 Spring 1999-Winter 2000 7 [6J CJSO's Tour of the Internet ian-Jewish congregation in New York. Most Jewish Law itch. For beginners, there are brief guides to Iraq, and elsewhere. Some self-supplied Report>April 1995 the Sabbath (Shabbat) and the rudiments content is at Music, where one can also Pizmonim for samples of authoritative, reasoned Rebbe's Niggunim contains audio record­ Breslov, Reb Nachman from certification agencies about misla­ (d. 1810). Also good for children are beled products, unauthorized kosher label­ This is the main site of the movement selected Stories < ... breslov.org!stories. ing, new food technology issues (some based in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, with html. These pages contain three stories consumers are quite knowledgeable about links to all Lubavitch websites worldwide. and seven parables translated by the late emulsifiers and clarifiers), and new avail­ Among the other departments are Hebrew educator Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan. able products. Manufacturers require direc­ Alphabet <. .. chabad. org/general/alefbeis, tories of producers of basic components. and Holiday guides. The section Chas­ [11J Varieties of Orthodoxy This demand is met by magazines devoted sidim <. ..chabad.orglchasidism.html includes Talmud, Yeshiva University sources of assistance for travelers. There is mately weekly.

8 Judaica Librarianship Vol. 1O No. 1-2 Spring 1999-Winter 2000 by state (not up-to-date), as Well asas recipes . sions of medical halacha and its relation to Religion/Faiths_and_Practices/Judaism/Re (see below, entry no. 19). ·····, · United States civil law, make this an impor­ sources/Calendars tant resource for all communities. Inciden­ [16] Query the Kosher Restaurant Data­ tally, the site links to the Oath of Mai­ An important caveat regarding these calen­ base monides dars: When converting older dates, there birthday? Will Pesah range, and certification of each. As to com­ coincide with my planned vacation? This prehensiveness, the site seems to have For information about the elements of a program answers such questions, as it Boston and Manhattan well covered, but Jewish funeral, check What is a Jewish takes any secular date and returns the not the outer boroughs of New York. The Funeral? Hebrew date, weekly Torah portion, holi­ screen-names of those who submit entries < ...burial/jewfune.htm day (if any), and Omer count (for the are provided; it is unclear whether the infor­ This can be supplemented with Steven months April-May). When you fill in the mation is verified. The guide of Mazornet is Weintraub's Taharot Procedure Descrip­ form, take care to type four digits for the current, divided by city and borough, but it tion (based on the description by Rabbi year. contains only names and telephone num­ Elchanan Zohn of the Chevra Kadisha of bers. The preferred alternative to both is the Queens and Long Island at Host: PAO, which stands for Palo Alto weekly printed Jewish Press Dining Guide, Hebrew Calendar Tahara, preparation of the dead for burial. Encyclopaedia Judaica, Host: Kashrut certification agency directed Talk opines about wine-tasting. vol. 1 handy). by Rabbi Zecharia (Harvey) Senter, chemist. Empire Kosher (see entry no. 15) has two Note: The second URL above is the correct For an image reprint of an article from the pages of recipes (Recipes) and posted address but, inexplicably, I could only access November 15, 1996, issue of The New York questions and replies (In Auntie Rivka's this site indirectly through the first URL. Times about the size of the kosher food Kitchen). industry, check KSA: Kosher Supervision of [22J[Today's] Hebrew Date America (local California supervisory service) Sephardic recipes can be located at BSZ http://www.primenet.com/%7Ekosher/ (entry no. 9). Select Food. patch?hebdate whatis.htm (the question mark is not a typo). and get the page entitled What is Kosher. F. Calendars It may take a minute to fill up the screen, Just by accessing this site, you are given given the large number of bits (134k). No single source resolves all queries today's Hebrew date and told whether it is regarding holiday dates or the time at which a Jewish holiday. There is a built-in inac­ [17] Judaism and Medicine on the Web the Passover seder may begin, nor is there curacy, however: the Hebrew date is Ref­ AIDS rehabilitation centers, and genetic erence>Calendars>Hebrew You can also download one month's calen­ disease interest groups, as well as discus-

Judaica Librarianship Vol. 10O No. 1-2 Spring 1999-Winter 2000 9 [23} Zemanim [26} Shema Yisrael Torah Network Avos), and more, running from 20 to 45 Jews from France and North Africa contains a directory of Jewish social agen­ .exe (849k). (Frenchnet), South Africa (including the cies worldwide (Resources), as well as the For the year, use four digits. South African Jewish Times), and Britain. Down Syndrome Magazine < . ./spec!_ed!down/index.htm. A table of the holidays for the next seven As the title of the site indicates, there are years can be found at also buttons for Torah lessons: The [28} Jewish Torah Audio Network Yeshiva Shaarei Torah, Monsey, site maintained by graduates of the presti- mud study (requiring Shockwave software), NY) and samples of talks by other personal­ gious Ner Israel Rabbinical Seminary in while also offering mailing lists for beginner ities in the Orthodox world. (For those with Baltimore. There are pointers to many and advanced students. Hypermikdash 56kbps [very fast] modems, there are also Torah lists. One link leads to the down­ AII About . Novices can answers to questions posed online. Vaad Mishmereth StaM is a professional learn the structure of the Sabbath service in society for soferim (scribes). You and Your privacy without the embarrassment of sit­ Sephardim can access Torah sayings from Mezuzah ting ignorantly in public (Learn the Shab­ the former Sephardic chief rabbi, Rabbi , Weekly PARASHA) vah is also covered. Other buttons are is here. E-mail questions are handled by is completed on Simhat Torah.) It features sound samples of thirty-five cur­ (not yet interactive, may require Java soft­ rently popular artists. The non-musical one ware) and a calendar of holidays. [25] Jewishnet: Global Jewish Informa­ is children's storyteller Rabbi Dovid Juravel tion Network (Story Time with Rabbi Juravel). Other Host: NJOP (pronounced EN-jop), a lead­ Stories to greater awareness of Judaism and A resource for over 20,000 mailing lists; this is dovw/jw!jewish96.html index is to provide online Jewish educa­ Replace the Pickle; Word Find nearly identical collections of mailing lists to tional resources. Pictorial Series

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appropriate for 'Torah Tots."' Downloading [34] A Page of Talmud at Eliezer Segal's ica and Israel are found on this site. Notably is a little slow. Home Page absent are the social register and kosher http://www. acs. ucalgary. ca/-elsegal!Tal­ restaurant listings. (Incidentally, the New A humorous yet moralizing comic strip for mudPage. html York-based Jewish Week is now also on line young children is Shulḥan& Co. in the Ohr Staten Island, is the online edition of a magazine which NY: Rabbi Jacob Joseph School Press) In 21 years Artscroll Inc., also known as promotes the views of settlers in the < . .!about/jhcs. html. Mesorah Publications, has grown into a Judea-Samaria region of Israel. Issues are This site is searchable, with a subject index at major English-language Jewish publisher. sporadic. mitzvah student, as well Jewish Music Network played simultaneously: Hebrew with vowel For each book listed on the site, there is a The Jewish Press

Judaica Librarianship Vol. 1O No. 1-2 Spring 1999-Winter 2000 11 Yiddish and Hebrew 5, no. 2 (Spring 1990-Winter 1991 ), pp. news sources. A Webcrawler Select site. terms at Customs and Concerns> Bridal 244-247. Dictionary Green, Irving. Judaism on the Web. New York: [This site recently ceased operations.] < .. kallah.com!customslbridal.htm. MIS: Press [sic], 1997. Herman, Yoseph. "Landmines Along the Informa­ A related site is Arutz 7 (Channel 7), repre­ Glossary of Internet Terms Used tion Superhighway," Jewish Observer 28 no. 2 senting a hard-line radio station broadcast­ (February 1995), pp. 22-25, and "Letters to ing from offshore into Israel since the 1980s. browse,r: See World Wide Web. the Editor," Jewish Observer 28 no. 6, pp. It is accessible through the Virtual Jerusa­ 43-47. Jewish Education Society of North America. lem (see entry no. 4) homepage or at frames: Scrolling boxes that appear on a "Jewish Web/ Net Week." Jewish wedding, can be found at extension .pdf) appear as real printed Frum Side of the Web 3 The Kallah Guide pages, with the advantage that they can be Funeral 18

12 Judaica Librarianship Vol. 1O No. 1-2 Spring 1999-Winter 2000 Jerusalem, visual tour of 4 National Jewish Outreach Program 29 Torah Audio 28 Jewish Defense League 11 Navigating the Bible 32 Torahtots 30 Jewish law 13, 31 News 40 Touro College 13 Jewish Music Network 39 Orthodox Connection 41 Ultimate Jewish/Israel Link Launcher 1 Jewish Press (newspaper) 16,37 OU Online 5 Varieties of Orthodoxy 11 Jewish Studies Program of Page of Talmud 34 Virtual Jerusalem 4 UC Davis 33 PAO Calendar Conversion Utility 20 Yated Neeman (newspaper) 37 Jewish Torah Audio Network 28 Parasha 24,30 Yeshiva University 12 Jewish Week (NY newspaper) 37 Project Genesis 24 Yossi & Co. (comic) 30 Jewish net 25 Publishing 35-38 Young Israel 5 Judaism and Jewish Resources 2 Recipes 19 Zemanim 23 Judaism and Medicine on the Web 17 Royal Wine Corp. (Kedem) 19 Judean Voice (newspaper) 37 Satmar 8 Kahane, Meir 11 Segal, Eliezer 11, 34 Kashrus Magazine 16 Sephardic 9 Jacob (Yaakov) Shulman, currently a Kash rut.Com 14 Shabbat 3 Senior Librarian in the Cataloging Depart­ Kedem Wines 19 Shatnez 26 ment of Brooklyn Public Library, received Kosher 5,6, 14-16 Shema Yisrael Torah Network 26 his M. L. S. from the Queens College Grad­ Kosher Restaurant Database 16 Shidduchim 42 uate School of Library and Information Maimonides, Oath of 17 Shlomo Carlebach homepage 39 Studies. He has recently completed a Matchmaker 41,42 Soferim 26 research fellowship at Yeshiva Ohr Mazornet 16 Special Education 27 Hachaim in Flushing, NY, which is affiliated Medical 17 Stories 10,26, 35 with Touro College. He holds rabbinical Mezuzah 26 Talmud 34 degrees from Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, Mitzvot, list of 613 33 Tara Publications 39 Yeshiva Shaar Hatorah, as well as a B.S. Music 6,9,26,28,39 Targum Press 36 in computer science from Touro College.

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