The Festival of Shavuot which is observed this week (begins Thursday at sundown; in Reform communities concludes Friday at sundown; in many diaspora Conservative and Orthodox communities continues until sundown Saturday) is both a Spring harvest holiday and the time associated with the giving of Torah in Jewish tradition (Z'man Matan Torateinu).
In the video and links below, I invite you to consider how electronic media represent the latest frontier in the ever-evolving Jewish notion of "revelation." Do you believe that "revelation" describes a moment isolated in history? Or could "revelation" refer to an ongoing encounter with our sacred tradition of text and interpretation? How can new electronic media and online social networking enhance our encounter with "revelation?"
Your comments, as always, are encouraged.
Chag Shavuot Sameach!
Rabbi Jonathan Blake
Here are the links to the articles of which I spoke, from the forthcoming issue of Reform Judaism Magazine:
Rabbi Blake, I think you know already how much I value this blog as a teaching/learning tool. It is a tremendous asset to those of us who wish to enhance our Jewish educations. The relatively low interactivity to-date reflects the fact that this is a new technology for us; and, for individuals whose high school or university days were long ago, the time to come up the technology learning curve will be greater. But, those who seek to learn more find that the ability to do so around our own schedules during the week makes this blog a brilliant extension of our weekly study sessions. The latter have become an integral part of our Shabbat observance. The blog serves to amplify this during the week. By the way, those of us who seek community in addition to study will also find the blog rewarding, once they become more comfortable with it.
ReplyDeleteWe each have our own experiences which form our Jewish identities. To this day, I still remember one of my former rabbis (Rabbi Bill Lebeau) making the personal time to meet with two of us high school age students to teach us a little Talmud. We didn’t get too far into Berachot; but, it was tremendously meaningful to us. Like you and your fellow clergy, he was a very busy man. And, I have no doubt that our weekly evening study was inserted into his schedule before he went home to his family. I will never forget his taking the time out of his day to teach just the two of us. I lost touch with the other student. But, I have no doubt she would agree with me.
Our Temple has many more students—school age and adult learners. There isn’t enough time in the day for all of our WRT clergy to teach their students in the same way intimate way. Yet, technology can provide us with the interactive means to teach, question, and discuss. Your blog provides much more than just the podcast of a service or lecture. It provides the opportunity for interactive learning throughout the week. Many of us work long hours. It isn’t always possible to commute home in time to attend a class. This blog enables some of us to study around our schedules and have a virtual version of a private lesson with a rabbi. The key to the value of this teaching tool is its interactivity. Anyone can make a one-way recording. But, the ability to share, question, and discuss during the week is the critical element to study and learning. It obviously also requires a significant resource commitment.
I have no doubt that it is not just I who values the time you make for us during the week. I have four related observations: 1) similar tools could prove even more useful with school age students; 2) perhaps opening up this blog to all of the students of Torah in our Temple—including the families in Sharing Shabbat—would increase the number of active participants; 3) there undoubtedly are creative ways in which we can further activate ourselves; and, 4) most religious institutions are not at the bleeding edge of technology—in fact, quite the contrary. This can benefit us as we do not have to design and innovate with these tools; we should be able to copy their successful use in other venues, e.g., universities.
For me, revelation is not just the giving of the stone tablets. It is the teaching or the instruction of Torah. Digital media can not only widen the distribution of this instruction, but it can also deepen the reach of our rabbis’ one-on-one teaching. How appropriate that we should discuss this in anticipation of Shavuot.