* You are viewing the archive for July, 2009
Ms. Gabriel is a phenomenal speaker and is neither Republican nor Democrat. She is American. She is also the New York Times bestselling author of They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It. She is the founder and president of ACT! for America.
By Rabbi DR. Moshe Dror
It seems to me that much of the writing that I read dealing with information technologies with in the Jewish community seem to deal with these ideas of cyberspace as merely “tools”- nice and snazzy ways of dealing with what we have doing for ages. This gives us a new toy to play with and to keep up with the younger generation.
This seems to me to miss the point of the power of Cyberia entirely. These are NOT neutral tools that just let us do what we have been doing in a more economical, expeditious way. These are unique human learning environments that never existed before, and are likely to change what it means to be human.
There is a storm brewing and we are all waiting, wondering where and when it will begin and how it will all turn out. This event is not some small insignificant affair. It ultimately will decide the fate of all man/woman kind.
Enjoy this latest podcast
We have this wonderful interview with Barbara Sofer Director of Public Relations for Hadassah Medical Center. Enjoy.
By Moshe Dror
The basic questions that we will be dealing with relate to the possible, probable, and preferable nature of an emerging SYN “FOR” the 21st century.
We will be dealing BOTH with some observations of the Synagogue “IN” the 21st century and some thoughts on the possible extrapolations of this that are now developing-“FOR” the 21st century using the amazing cyber technologies that are so new to the human community and that are now an integral part of the world of the Net Generation.
Some brief notes on the terms that I will be using so that we all have some idea of what I am talking about and that perhaps some possible collaboration might happen.
CYBER-
This related to all of the kinds of information technology that is based on using computer technology, Websites, Internet, Digital, Web 2.0, Web 3.0, Web ??, video, fiber optics, cell phones, etc.
It is important to say that this is what I know about as of this writing at June, 2009. I can only guess what might be available in a short few years. Whoever might read this in the future might say- “how quaint”. While this may be an old term, it has caught on and has become part of the jargon of this generation. Indeed, these days the US government is setting up a wide range of offices and initiatives dealing with cybersecurity, cyberwarfare, cyberattacks, etc. So I will use it as well.
This is not the place to expand on all of the possibilities of the vast range of the communicopia (cornucopia of communications technologies).
These explorations are probes that attempt to provide an overview of what are the major trends of the present so that we might think creatively about the future…
My point is that both as CITIZENS of the globalized world community and as NETIZENS of our networked world and as Jews there are unprecedented opportunities for religious and spiritual growth and development.
One of the main characteristics of Judaism is its ability to creatively adapt to massive social change and most of the time comes out much stronger.
The new directions of these cyber systems are both the most interesting and also the most threatening. They can challenge the we-have-been-doing-it-this-way –for- ages mentality and can be confusing because they are so new. They also raise all sorts of questions about congretgational practice and traditional Halacha.
Some of this may be amusing to the baby boomers that are in their 40’s and 50’s, perhaps ridiculous and nonsense to their parents who are in their 70’s and 80’s. But it is likely to seem rather obvious and to the baby busters and the Net Generation who are in their 20’s and 30’s who are growing up in the digital world. To them and certainly their own children, much of this would seem rather tame with a so-what-else-is-new attitude.
By Moshe Dror
I am sure that you have heard of the phrase:
“The more things change, the more they stay the same”.
Translation (in our context):
Human nature has not changed much at all in the past few thousand years and what was created and established in the past and obviously worked well is still valid and applicable for today.
AND
All of this technology stuff is nice and cute and jazzy and the technology is a tool- no more, that lets you do some nice stuff, but it does not deal with the core issues of what it means to be human.
So we can deal with “eternal” values and all of the associated talk.
