The traditional greeting on the birth of a Jewish child is letorah, ulehuppah, ulema'asim tovim—for learning, for the wedding canopy, and for good deeds.
It expresses the hope that the child will grow into a life of study, of marriage, and of virtue. It also provides an imaginative framework for examining how today's heirs to an ancient religious civilization use contemporary technology to achieve the same ends.
For learning
From these sites, one can link to an abundance of resources representing an impressive cross section of ideological approaches to Jewish life:
- Judaism and Jewish Resources
- http://shamash.org/trb/Judaism.htm
- Jewish Community Online
- www.jewish.com
- Shamash: Jewish Internet Consortium
- www.shamash.org
- The Online Jewish Resource
- www.zipple.com
For the wedding canopy
Many Jews use the Internet for help finding love and building a family. Sites devoted to singles are a new approach to the venerable tradition of matchmaking. Zipple.com, Jewish.com, and Jdate.com are some of the most popular singles sites. Sites devoted to family issues include:
- Jewish Family and Life
- www.jewishfamily.com
- Mishpacha: A Virtual Community for Real Jewish Families
- www.mishpacha.org
- Jewish Adoption Information Exchange
- www.starsofdavid.org
- A Torah Infertility Medium of Exchange
- www.atime.org
- FrumInfertility
- www.onelist.com/group/FrumInfertility
- Avotaynu: Works on Jewish Genealogy
- www.avotaynu.com
- JewishGen: Jewish Genealogy
- www.jewishgen.org
For good deeds
Examples from two Philadelphia-area congregations demonstrate the power of electronic resources to mobilize support for those in need. Beth Am Israel's listserv includes posts about religious issues as well as calls for help with practical needs—participants to make a minyan (prayer quorum) or contributions to tzedakah (charity) projects. Through its Acts of Caring /G'milut Hasidim electronic distribution list, Mishkan Shalom recently mobilized more than one hundred volunteers to donate blood samples for the international bone marrow registry.
Visitors to www.ou.org can click on "Email G-d," a link that leads to the "Neshama (Soul) Line." They can send E-mail messages to be printed and inserted into the Western Wall. It also enables individuals to request that Psalms be recited for those who are ill, or to honor a loved one's yahrzeit (death anniversary).
While some fear that the Internet fosters isolation, I have observed its impressive potential to promote social integration-despite the time, space, and ideology that separate Jews across the World.
Rabbi Gail Glicksman, PhD, will become Director of the Program in Judaism and Health Care Ethics at the Park Ridge Center in July 2000.
