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The Jewish thirst for knowledge is well known, yet does the vastness and variety of knowledge/information that the Internet offers entice, frighten, or repel Jewish educators as they prepare their students to carry Jewish tradition through the 21st century?
Central to Jewish learning is the ability to think critically. The role of questioning rather than simply accepting prevailing views is essential for the study of Torah—the Five Books of Moses—and the study of all other texts. Yet the Internet poses a new challenge with access to vast resources available in text, photo, audio, or video formats and on any topic, from educational to pornographic; the ideas of “text-centered” and “community” take on meanings that were, until recently, nonexistent.
This book examines the manner in which a cohort of Jewish educators in Israel grapples with the challenges the Internet offers. What we found most intriguing with studying Internet use in a Jewish context was what happens when Jews of varying levels of observance of Jewish law interact with this new medium. Are there differences between secular and religious Jews in how they teach Jewish values in a school setting using this new digital technology now made available to them?
While technical advancements have made Internet content available to adults, these same innovations have opened the Internet to younger and younger children. Information that was once the exclusive control of parents and teachers has now become available to young children who have become quite computer savvy. Even while Jewish parents and teachers continue to extend the chain of textual tradition by encouraging their children to read and write, as well as express themselves using computers and the Internet, they remain concerned with the effect these interactions will have on their impressionable children—their abilities both to think critically and to continue the Jewish values contained in text-centered living.