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By Rabbi Dr. Moshe Dror

In order to add some more spice and options to this exploration we need to deal with other sets of themes as we develop.
We are all familiar with communities, and I imagine that anyone who reads this on the Internet is also a member of some kind of virtual community as well. Howard Rheingold reminds us that “virtual communities form when enough people carry on public discussions long enough with sufficient human feeling to form webs of personal relationships.”
This is certainly happening in these religious and spiritual communities that are springing up all over.
Enriching these relationships are also such systems –we call them by names we make up, invent and reapply to entirely new phenomena-such as:
Augmented Reality;
Augmented Virtuality;
Immersive Reality;
Mixed Reality;
Simulated Reality;
Virtual Reality;
Virtual Continuum;
Virtual Worlds;

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BY Rabbi Dr. Moshe Dror

Over the past few years, an important new phenomenon has emerged in Jewish Life in the US and in Israel as well. That is the development, creation and fine-tuning of dozens of independent minyanim (worship services), spiritual communities, alternative worship services and all sorts of emergent religious and spiritual communities. So writes the people of Synagogue 3000 and Mechon Hadar in December, 2007. During the past years this has continued to grow and develop.
I like to use the metaphor of the Gemstone as the symbol of Jewish innovation and creativity. What I want to explore in these blogs are the different sorts of lights that shine forth from the many facets-faces of this polished brilliant, diamond gem.
The term SYN is often associated with the familiar SYNAGOGUE but there are many other possibilities. Indeed the very term SYN is a prefix from the ancient Greek that means: together, and with.
We know it from the familiar term from: SYNAGEIN- a gathering together, an assembly. This was the term used in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible to indicate the Hebrew” Beth Keneseth”, House of Assembly, which has functioned well for over 2,000 years.
The “together” and the “with” now can incorporate the new world of cyberspace and the vast range of the communicopia of information technologies.
This interface of the religious faith communities and the internet has given birth to a whole host of fascinating religious and spiritual options with in the general world and Judaism as well.
Since I assume that some of this interests you–otherwise you would not be reading this… and. on line—I want to suggest some books that you may find of interest: either in reading the books, or reading their reviews in Amazon or in the vast amount of references in Google and other search engines.
1. “The Soul of Cyberspace: How New Technology is Changing Our Spiritual Lives”; Jeff Zaleski; Harper Edge; San Francisco; 1997.
2. “The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace: A History of Space from Dante to the Internet”; Margaret Wertheim; Norton; New York; 1999.
3. “Religion Online: Finding Faith on the Internet”; Edited by Lorne L. Dawson and Douglas E. Cowan; Routledge; New York; 2004.
4. “Religion and Cyberspace”, Edited by Morten Hojsgaard and Margit Warburg; Routledge; London; 2005.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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By Rabbi Dr. Moshe Dror,

It would seem reasonable indeed that since the Net Generation thrives on “innovation”, and most of the Jewish members of this Net Generation are so computer literate and cyber savvy—that there would be some experimentation in asking what might it mean to even think about Jewish Liturgy –prayer in Cyberia for the developing Jewish virtual communities.
There are some Jewish organizations who are dedicated to upgrading and assisting the usual bricks and mortar synagogues to be more effective and responsive to their members.
STAR (Synagogues: Transformation, and Renewal-www.starsynagogue.org) deals with congregational innovation and leadership developments. Rabbi Hayim Herring (The Director of STAR) appears once again on Newsweek magazine-50 Influential Rabbis.
Synagogue 3000( S3K; www.synagogue3000.org) has just released a study suggesting that younger Jews are more spiritually inclined than their parents were and that they are not finding this spirituality in their local congregations. Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman of the Hebrew Union College and Sociologist, Dr. Steven Cohen suggest that these youth are seeking some kind of transcendent purpose for the Jewish People
The “great forces of modernity: technology, democracy, choice, and freedom” are all strengthening the religious and spiritual journeys of youth in America write John Micklethwalt and Adrian Wooldridge in their new book “God Is Back”. This is much the same terminology that Tapscott uses.

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