Community
Spirituality
When she had a problem with a
particular sentence a week before her
bat mitzvah, A.J. called up her por-
tion on the computer and went right
to the line she needed to study —
with no winding and rewinding of a
tape that was so irritating before.
Not Only for Kids
Cyber Cantor
Bat mitzvah student A.J.
Roberts studies her Torah
portion by logging on
Cantor Dubov's Web site.
Cantor Stephen Dubov creates a Torah portion
Web site for those preparing for b'nai mitzvah.
SHARON LUCKERMAN
Editorial _Assistant
IT
our bar or bat mitzvah is
only a week away. It's 10
p.m. and you've got to
hear the melody of that
one part you keep forgetting. But
you left the tape of your Torah por-
tion at a friend's house. Or "your
dog ate it." Or you're from a small
town and belong to a synagogue
with no cantor. What do you do?
Cantor Stephen Dubov of Temple
Beth El has come up with a Web site
that one can click on 24 hours a day,
7 days a week and access any Torah
portion:
www.cantordubov.org
Anyone online can download the
Torah portion text (with or without
vowels) or simply display it on the
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2001
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computer screen. On a
computer equipped with
the appropriate software,
a student can even hear
the cantor sing the verses.
In it's first two
months, the site has
attracted more than 650
people, and has received
kudos from Toronto to
California.
"We're like the Jewish
Napster [a Web site
allowing people to
download music for
free]," says Cantor
Cantor Dubo
Dubov, who has sent
hundreds of letters to
Reform congregations around the
country explaining the new site.
"It's free and a public service," the
cantor adds. "And an incredible
resource."
His students and
their parents agree.
"It's like having a
private tutor in the
comfort of your
home," says Judy
Roberts, of West
Bloomfield, whose
daughter Andrea Jill,
"A.J.," became a bat
mitzvah Feb. 3, at
Beth El. A.J. was
one of the first stu-
dents to use the site.
Roberts thinks
the site is perfect for
busy parents. "I
don't have to run my
daughter to temple to study with the
cantor and yet I know she has a
resource whenever she needs it."
"It's really cool," says A.J., 12.
"And it's very easy to use."
The idea for the Web site
occurred to Cantor Dubov when he
returned from a cantors convention
last summer. There, he heard about
cantors making CDs, instead of
tapes, for their students. The next
step, he realized, was making all the
Torah portions, the text, the prayers
and the chants available on the com-
puter.
With the help of Web master
Brad Stetson, a college student from
Waterford, Cantor Dubov's idea was
launched into cyberspace.
Miriam Cohen tutors b'nai mitz-
vah students at the temple, but had
an occasion to use the cantor's Web
site.
A week before her wedding,
Cohen's daughter called from New
York City to ask her parents to chant
the wedding blessings at the wed-
ding ceremony.
Frantic, Cohen logged on to the
cantor's Web site. Unable to find the
blessings, she e-mailed him, asking
where she and her husband might
find them.
The Web master immediately
replied that the cantor would make
Cohen and her husband a CD of the
blessings, which he recorded in his
office.
Now the seven blessings also are
available on the Web site.
The possibilities are endless, notes
the cantor who is excited about
helping not only his students but
also those young and old around the
world. Click on the Web site and
one can learn the words of the
Kiddush to Torah blessings parents
chant when called up for an aliyah.
The Web site is continuously
expanding. ❑
On Cantor Dubov's Web site:
wwvv.cantordubov.org
Torah portions are currently
available. If you have difficulties
finding what you need, e-mail
the cantor from the site.