Virtual solution to real problem
Would virtual Hebrew school in a Facebook-style format solve the debate about curtailing after-school activities for Hebrew school or curtailing Hebrew School for sports and other after school activities?
It would allow students full access to needed hours of Hebrew studies, at the hours teens are at their best — late at night! Great lectures could be taught by the best professors and archived. Students might just skip the mall to see if that cute boy who is so good at Talmudic Law is logged on tonight. Best of all, students might study more if they knew their photos would be attached to their responses!
Imagine how much fun it would be to get to meet many more Jewish kids in such a nicevirtual setting! Imagine the shiddachs! "Susie Katz" from Chicago could meet "Joshua Cohn" from New York, and both could discover that they share a fascination for gematria or a love of talmudic law arguments as taught by Rabbi Saul Berman, while others might discover a mutual respect for Reb Nachman’s wisdom!
And for those who are hesitant about continuing their Jewish educations, special courses in biblical archeology or "YOU interpret it!" biblical exegesis could spur curiosity and interest. Perhaps even the Melton School could be persuaded to offer its excellent courses as an online adjunct program.
Exams could be proctored at local JCCs, schools, or synagogues; vocabulary lists would be online, so they’d never be lost; and homework assignments and readings would be instantly and easily available.
Students could learn conversational Hebrew in the most efficient ways possible, online. And as for Jewish history, imagine the exciting links to historical archives and film documentaries that could be made available!
Saturday nights could feature age-appropriate regularly scheduled Israeli films with subtitles and nationwide or local cyber-discussions afterward.
Sidebars on each online page could offer quick links to great talmudic, exegetic or kabbalistic discussions, to resources on every level, to esoteric sources, and to ancillary areas of Jewish studies.
More adept students could offer to cyber-assist others on especially difficult points as mitzvah volunteers. Students could also choose study partners, in the traditional manner.
And every discussion group would be an exciting cross-country or even international cross-cultural happening.
Our children might meet their "basherts" more easily because they’d be meeting many more kids from many more places. And they’ll still be able to enjoy afternoon exercise and fresh air, as they participate in sports, dance, and after-school clubs.
Ask your kids what they think: Would Virtual Hebrew School be a Hebrew school they could relate to?
The whole format would just be so cool and could offer such an excellent social format that young people just might actually love it. And isn’t that what we all really want?
June Kozak Kane,
Tenafly ‘Trying to get beyond racism’
It takes courage to stand up when everyone else is sitting down, so kudos to the May 9 letter-writer who did just that. To recap: Pastor Jeremiah Wright was on target for castigating the United States for its racist policies over a long period of time. His enunciation of the sins of the past, which went beyond slavery and still continue even through modern times, must be acknowledged before wounds can heal and a new beginning sought. And who better should recognize the legitimacy of that cause but Jews who have had their own bitter experiences?
I don’t know if the Rev. Wright had any special motive to explode at this time during the election campaign, and he obviously did not care that some people would find his style offensive, but the substance of his actions will be that those who don’t know or remember the past are -- well, doomed to repeat it. Let’s not go that route; let’s be properly thankful that most of us are aware and trying to get beyond racism that targets any minority and let’s be specially mindful to do whatever we can to see that any vestiges of racism are firmly and forever eradicated. We will, inevitably be among the beneficiaries.
Miriam Moskowitz,
Washington Township
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