COMPUTER/
DIMENSIONS

Text Meets Tech

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'3

How some local residents are using the comptger to
increase their Torah knowledge.

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or hundreds of years,
Jews wishing to learn
from the sacred texts
of our people sat in a belt
midrash with a chevruta, part-
ner, working their way
through the material.
This time-tested, interactive
(yes, the term once referred to
two human beings working
together, as opposed to one
human and one computer)
method of learning the intrica-
cies of Chumash, Mishnah,
Gemarah, and Halachah (Jew-
ish law) continues until today
both to sharpen the minds of
the participants as
well as transmit
the substance of
the material. So it
was with some
skepticism that I
called Rabbi
Steven Weil of
Young Israel of Oak el*
Park and asked him to
introduce me to a congregan
willing to discuss the ways in,
which the huge volume of
material online has enhancei,
this process.
Judah Isaacs, a senior plan- 14
ring associate with the Jewish
Federation, and Dr. Steven
Lorch, laboratory director of
the Bridgeport Crime Lab of
the Michigan State Police
(both seemingly reasonable
and well-grounded guys), sim-
ply bubbled over with enthusi-
asm for the advantages
brought by learning online.
They said that many world-

renowned institutions of Jew-
ish learning in this country
and in Israel have created
valuable online services which
offer the wisdom of the
schools' teachers to persons
around the world. Further-
more, the ability to conduct
online discussions with other
students tuned into the same
lesson demonstrates the pow-
er of the Internet to create
powerful substantive connec-
tions.
Dr. Lorch created his own

Ara

•WW:AS,STZ-,

•

web page with links to all of
the major online Torah institu-
tions. To access these sites,
simply go to the web browser
in whatever system you use
and type in his address:
http://www.pages.prodigy.co
m/XWSA65A/. By a simple

click of the mouse, you can
surf to the relevant sites with-
out having to type in another
one of these silly addresses.
Given his professional posi-
tion and the joy he has found
in working on his home page,
Dr. Lorch included a number
of other non-lesson related,
yet fascinating links. I found
two institutions' web sites ac-
cessible from Dr. Lorch's
home page, Yeshivat Har Et-
zion and 613 Torah Audio, to
be particularly interesting.
Yeshivat Har Etzion
was founded in 1968
by Rabbi Yehuda Ami-
tal in Alan Shevut in
the Gush Etzion bloc,
some 12 miles south
of Jerusalem. -It is Is-
-rael's largest chesder
,yeshiva, combining
`five years of army ser-
ce with yeshiva
udy. Via e-mail,
eir Virtual Beit
Vlidrash offers a vari-
ly of yeshiva-style
-ourses in Torah and
daism.
rIntroduction to the
eekly Parsha, for
example, offers a be-
ginner's discussion of
the weekly Torah portion. In
addition to teaching the sub-
stance of the material, it also
provides instruction in the
methodologies necessary to
study effectively the text itself,
as well as the commentaries.
Other introductory courses