Mount Sinai on the World Wide Web<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There comes a time in most Jewish debates when matters hit a final snag and someone says, "We need to ask a rabbi about that."These kinds of questions\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1998\/02\/mount-sinai-on-the-world-wide-web\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mount Sinai on the World Wide Web\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There comes a time in most Jewish debates when matters hit a final snag and someone says, "We need to ask a rabbi about that."These kinds of questions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1998\/02\/mount-sinai-on-the-world-wide-web\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Terry Mattingly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"1998-02-18T13:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-30T18:25:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1998\/02\/mount-sinai-on-the-world-wide-web\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1998\/02\/mount-sinai-on-the-world-wide-web\/\",\"name\":\"Mount Sinai on the World Wide Web\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"1998-02-18T13:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-30T18:25:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\"},\"description\":\"There comes a time in most Jewish debates when matters hit a final snag and someone says, \\\"We need to ask a rabbi about that.\\\"These kinds of questions\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1998\/02\/mount-sinai-on-the-world-wide-web\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1998\/02\/mount-sinai-on-the-world-wide-web\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1998\/02\/mount-sinai-on-the-world-wide-web\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mount Sinai on the World Wide Web\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\",\"name\":\"Terry Mattingly\",\"description\":\"On Religion\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\",\"name\":\"tmatt\",\"description\":\"Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. 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{"id":1014,"date":"1998-02-18T08:00:00","date_gmt":"1998-02-18T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tmatt\/1998\/02\/18\/mount-sinai-on-the-world-wide-web\/"},"modified":"2013-01-30T13:25:12","modified_gmt":"2013-01-30T18:25:12","slug":"mount-sinai-on-the-world-wide-web","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/1998\/02\/mount-sinai-on-the-world-wide-web\/","title":{"rendered":"Mount Sinai on the World Wide Web"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

There comes a time in most Jewish debates when matters hit a final snag and someone says, \u201cWe need to ask a rabbi about that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

These kinds of questions tend to be both practical and theoretical, nitpicky and cosmic. In that spirit, the organizers of next week\u2019s Jewish Web\/Net Week (www.JWW.org<\/a>) are asking this question: How many Jews have to be camped on the Internet to somehow equal the spiritual clout of the 600,000 who gathered 3,700 years ago at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah?<\/p>\n\n

By the way, do all these people have to be online on at the same time? What if they gathered in different chat rooms? And what would happen if, when the 600,000th person signed on, everyone in this global assembly stopped and prayed this ancient prayer: \u201cBlessed are You, our God, creator of the Universe, Knower of Secrets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThere has always been this understanding that if you could get that many Jews together at one time and have them pray that prayer together, then three would be some mysterious meeting of the minds and spirits,\u201d said co-director Yosef Abramowitz, editor of the online magazine called Jewish Family & Life! \u201cThe idea is that we might learn something new about who we are, learn some truth with a capital \u2018T\u2019 or even some secret known only to God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

The event begins Saturday (Feb.21) with a \u201cpre-game show\u201d in Jerusalem. In addition to targeting the symbolic 600,000 figure, organizers have lined up 613 Web sites to take part \u2014 the precise number of \u201cmitzvot,\u201d or commandments, which shape Jewish life. The week will end with three 4 p.m. prayer services on Friday, Feb. 27 \u2014 just before the beginning of the Sabbath in the time zones in Jerusalem, New York City and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n\n

No one really knows what to expect, said Martin Kaminer, the event\u2019s other co-director. At the very least, the project will try to create a sense of community in an era in which the pursuit of any kind of spiritual unity has become one of the most divisive issues in Judaism.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThat number \u2014 600,000 \u2014 has great power. It suggests the totality of the Jewish people or even the totality of human knowledge,\u201d he said. \u201cI went over to Jewish Theological Seminary and asked the rabbis what kind of secrets we might hope to learn by taking part in all of this. Of course, as is the case with any Jewish theological question, there turned out to be more opinions than there were people. So who knows?\u201d<\/p>\n\n

The seeds of this event where planted last June at a technology conference sponsored by the Jewish Educational Service of North America. The goal has been to bring together groups of Jews that, under normal conditions, wouldn\u2019t even sit at the same table for discussions of issues such as intermarriage and conversion. Thus, the roster of sites linked to Jewish Web\/Net Week ranges from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu\u2019s home page to pages run by his fiercest critics on the Israeli left, from ultra-Orthodox education projects to hip sites plugging alternative forms of Jewish spirituality.<\/p>\n\n

At least 70 sites will offer live programs \u2014 from storytelling sessions to singles parties, from artistic fun and games for children to adult forums led by entertainers, politicians, journalists and scholars. Those with multimedia computers will be able to tune in six channels of music and commentary. Throughout the week, programmers will collect images, prayers, stories and opinions to include in a final online prayer service. Children can help build a digital mural to mark the 50th anniversary of the modern state of Israel.<\/p>\n\n

And there will be a dizzying number of chances for people to ask all kinds of questions to all kinds of rabbis and to hear all kinds of different answers.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cRight now, so many groups in the Jewish community are, literally, not even on speaking terms,\u201d said Abramowitz. \u201cYet we\u2019ve got all of them hooked up to this in one way or another \u2014 from the ultra-orthodox all the way over to the most liberal Reform groups. That\u2019s a minor miracle in and of itself.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"