I recently had a discussion with some Jewish leaders about the future of Jewish life in America. Actually when we had the discussion we were in Israel ironically! But the truth of the matter is that our world is in such a rapid state of flux we can all hardly keep up. The news cycle is 24/7 even though we Jews are 24/6! This article in the Jewish Week take on the changes in technology and new media. It posits that the role in Jewish life is to make Judaism more accessible. But it makes a radical claim that while we as the Jewish people celebrated sacred time and sacred space (i.e. Shabbat, the synagogue) the impact of new technologies and new media make sanctifying time and space irrelevant to a new generation. See the article : New Media And Jewish Life: Discuss.
WOW… that is a radical statement. It turns Judaism upside down. I wonder if that is true. Perhaps we will need a special day and special place even more in this kind of world that knows no boundaries. Our young folks don’t necessarily know what that is like-to be disconnected. Perhaps our Jewish gift is to help the do so one day a week.
Hmmm Thoughts?
On a recent Shabbat started with me wishing and being wished Shabbat Shalom on Facebook. After that a text message asking If I would be a services came in and I responded that I would be and invited the person to have some Thai food with some of us before services. At the Oneg some of talked about bread recipes. A congregant said they would post their recipe on Facebook. I got home and, on Facebook, “liked” and commented on comments about the documentary we had seen after services and cut and pasted the recipe to my recipe notebook. I wrote a comment about the recipe and thanked the person who posted it.
Many of us live in a world where our family is an extended family of friends as well as relatives . Our community is spread out – we don’t all live in the same neighborhood let alone the same house. That was a joyful Shabbat and for me, on that night, technology extended the sacred time and the sacred space, it brought a little more of the family together for a little longer.
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