Il lustra tio n by To dd S kiba

TECHNOLOGY

Jews do. And thanks to podcasts, we can listen.

BY JEFFREY HERMANN

ant to learn
Hebrew during
your morning jog?
Listen to a discus-
sion of the week's Torah portion dur-
ing your commute home from work?
Or be a fly on the wall as Jews in Israel
talk around their dinner table? You
can, thanks to the world of Jewish pod-
casts.
A blog — a contraction of "Web log"
— can be an Internet diary, soapbox or
other outlet for anyone with a hobby,
interest or obsession. Podcasts are sim-
ilar to blogs in that anyone possessing
the relatively inexpensive software and
equipment and something to say can
create them. Rather than online
"print," however, podcasts are Web-
based audio broadcasts that can be
downloaded right to your computer or
to portable MP3 players and iPods —so
they go where you go.
Though the terminology and tech-
nical capabilities change constantly,
the Web has from the start been a
place of high-traffic chatter. That chat-
ter got considerably louder when
Apple, Inc. released the iPod — a
portable audio file player imagined ini-
tially as a compact super-jukebox with
enough capacity to hold an entire CD
collection. But the often do-it-yourself
Webcasts are taking up increasingly
more gigabytes.
Podcast Alley, a popular podcast
directory, lists almost 8,000 podcasts.
From politics to dental advice, from
tech talk to anonymous confessionals,
from city and museum tours to sex
education, podcasts cover every imagi-
nable cultural nook and psychological
cranny, usually for free. And there is no

shortage of Jewish-themed podcasters
getting in on this burgeoning medium.
Rabbis read and discuss weekly ser-
mons and Torah and daf yomi (daily)
Talmud portions. Unaffiliated
observers muse on cultural issues.
Interviews with Justice Ruth Bader
Ginsburg and Elie Wiesel are listed
alongside USY chapters gone high-tech
and the Sameach Music Podcast's offer-
ing of new releases in the Jewish music
market. Visit any podcast directory (see
box), type "Jewish" into the search box
and you will find that Jewish faith, cul-
ture, psychology, humor and history are
well represented.
Eric Rzeszut, a native of Mt.
Clemens, and his wife, Raya, are now
11 episodes into their "There are Jews
in Alabama?" podcast
(jewsinalabama.com). "When we
planned our move to Birmingham
[Ala.] from Philadelphia seven years
ago, Jews in the Northeast uniformly
asked us one question: 'There are
Jews in Alabama?'" explains Eric.
The couple's intimate, no do-overs
conversation, which often takes place
in their dining room, covers a wide
range of topics, including recent
events at their local synagogue, what
you can learn about Jewish history
from Jeopardy, musings about movies
and Google stalking. Stream-of-con-
sciousness chitchat, however, often
wends its way toward serious topics
like Judaism and homosexuality and
Eric's conversion to Judaism almost
seven years ago.
"Judaism and Jewish life are very
important to us, and we felt that this
would be something we had to offer to
the podcasting community," he adds.

And given the Web's communal
tendencies, it's not surprising that pod-
casts and blogs have been discovered
by religious and ethnic groups as a way
for far-flung members to stay connect-
ed and share their opinions and experi-
ences.
"They allow us to reach people on
their own time, in their own space.
Not everyone will come to us, regard-
less of whether it is in a synagogue,
organization or institution," says an
incognito rabbi who blogs under the
name "1rabbi," and posts at
1rabbi.blogspot.com/.
While blogs and podcasts won't
replace synagogues any time soon,
they do offer a channel for people to
reflect on their faith when and where
they choose. And, to many, the ability
to preserve one's anonymity allows for
more open discussion of thorny politi-
cal and cultural issues. Adds lrabbi, "I
purposefully choose to neither use my
name nor reveal my age nor gender nor
personal affiliation. I do this in order
that people can connect with what I
have to say and not necessarily with
their preferences for what age, gender,
denomination, etc., a rabbi should be."

THE VIEW FROM HERE
Other podcasters are happy to leave
politics to the politicians. Harry and
Ziva, who speak to the world from
their home in Israel,
(theviewfromhere.net ), aim for a
broader connection.
"My intention was to show people
an Israel that they really weren't
exposed to in the mainstream media,"
says Harry. "It became an outlet for

me to express my thoughts about life,
delivered with a wry and irreverent
sense of humor. And also my observa-
tions of life in Israel through my secu-
lar Western eyes."
The recent disengagement from
Gaza, hot Israeli models, and haman-
tashen-flavored yogurt all get appropri-
ate airtime from the couple, who have
a natural chemistry together.
"Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom
can talk about the validity of the secu-
rity fence, the benefits of disengage-
ment and future relations with the
Arab world, while we stick to Israel's
version of America's Next Top Model,
Israeli candy and our favorite places to
get hummus," he says. "We aim to
make Israel accessible to people all
over the world, of all religions. We try
to discuss subjects that everyone,
regardless of their backgrounds or geo-
graphical location, can relate to, learn
from, or take interest in. Like porn."
Just last month, The View From Here
was rated number 97 in Podcast Alley's
list of top podcasts — of all genres.
Says Harry, "It doesn't matter if it's a
podcast about wine, sewing, gadgets or
Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The thing they
have in common is that they all have
people behind them who are passionate
about their respective subjects."
You're not likely to find better
advice on finding terrific Israeli hum-
mus anywhere else on the 'net. [7]

To find Jewish-themed podcasts,
check out these online directories:
Podcast alley.com ;
Apple's iTunes.com ;
Odeo.com ; and
PodcastDirectory.com .

AL_

JNPLATINUM • FEBRUARY 2006 •

3 3