Questions on Judaism? The Net's Got Answers

Melada, Geoffrey W.
Jewish Exponent
11-21-2002
A new Web site designed to teach Judaism launched into cyberspace this
week.

The site -- www.myjewish learning.com -- was created by well-known Jewish
philanthropists Edgar M. Bronfman and Lynn Schusterman, whose family
foundations pitched in a combined $1.5 million for the project.

Based in Boston, the site is co-produced by Hebrew College and Jewish
Family & Life, a nonprofit media conglomerate that includes several
established Jewish Web sites.

But this one is different, Bronfman stressed. Its mission? To offer a
user-friendly, step-by-step guide to Judaism -- its ideas and beliefs,
culture, holidays, rituals, texts and history.

Assembling all that information was the task of contributing editors who
include rabbis and academics from across the country.

In addition to essays on given topics, there are also recipes, instructions
on how to perform Jewish rituals such as candle-lighting and quizzes
complete with answer keys.

Visitors to the site can access in-depth information on a given subject, or
receive basic primers. Organizers said the site has the ability to become a
helpful teaching tool.

"In parts of the country where they're not rich with Jewish education, our
site could become a very critical resource to help people learn about
Judaism," said Harry Bloom, the site's managing director.

The idea for the Web site first occurred to Edgar Bronfman some eight years
ago, while the 73-year-old former Seagram's chairman was having a
conversation with an unaffiliated Jewish friend. That friend, a Virginia
neurosurgeon, said Bronfman, knew nothing about Judaism, and asked Bronfman
if there was anywhere on the Internet he could learn more.

"We couldn't find anything to answer his needs, so I said let's do it,"
Bronfman explained. That's when he turned to Lynn Schusterman, a fellow
board member of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, and asked
for her support.

Schusterman said Bronfman's idea gelled perfectly with the goal of her
foundation, namely to get people closer to Judaism and "enjoy it as much as
I do."

"I think that sometimes it's very difficult for someone who-is just
starting out [with Judaism]," she said. "They feel ignorant, intimidated. I
think that sometimes people feel insecure about asking stupid questions.
Here they can learn a little bit before they walk in the door of a
synagogue or a Hillel. It's like a security blanket."

But the question remains, will people actually visit this Web site? The
Internet is already replete with Jewish Web pages, few of which receive a
great deal of traffic.

"The amount of time people spend on it is more important than the number of
hits. We'll know in a year or two if this is making a difference," Bronfman
said. "You do the best you can, and hope."

Article copyright Jewish Exponent.
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