WAS YOUR
FAMILY'S
PROPERTY
TAKEN DURING
THE HOLOCAUST?
World
e- Prayers
Siddur going digital,
but not for Shabbat.
Sue Fishkoff
major publisher of Jewish
books is moving into the digi-
tal age while trying to strike a
balance between technology and Jewish
observance.
ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications, which
calls itself the world's largest Jewish pub-
lishing house, has begun digitizing the
first batch of its 1,500 titles.
But ArtScroll's most popular books
— its Shabbat and High Holidays
prayerbooks — will not be coming out
for e-readers like the iPad and Amazon's
Kindle. The reason? The Shabbat prohi-
bition against using electronic devices is
a major barrier.
"The vision of people coming to shul
on Shabbat with their e-siddur just
doesn't cut if,' said Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz,
president of the Orthodox-run publish-
ing house.
There are other reasons, too — nota-
bly a lag in technology. Amazon's Kindle
is not yet equipped to present Hebrew
and English texts on facing pages, which
the prayerbooks require, and the iPad's
capability to do so is "quite limited,"
according to Zlotowitz.
None of the e-readers can do Hebrew-
English hyperlinking, whereby a reader
of the Hebrew text could touch a word or
phrase and be taken to an English expla-
nation. Nor can they cross-reference
between the two languages.
Meanwhile, ArtScroll is moving ahead
with plans to publish digitized versions
of its weekday prayer book, as well as
the Schottenstein Talmud, as soon as
e-readers are able to handle the technol-
ogy.
"We're doing all the preparation now,
so we'll be ready as soon as they have
the platforms," Zlotowitz said.
The first of ArtScroll's e-books are
available now for downloading to iPads
and iPhones through Apple's iBookstore.
They include self-help titles, novels
and books by Orthodox writers such
as Rabbi Abraham Twerski and Esther
Jungreis. The first books of ArtScroll's
14 - volume Daily Dose of Torah series,
which offer daily Jewish lessons tak-
ing 18 minutes, also have come out in
e-format.
But for now, Zlotowitz says, no
Shabbat or holiday siddurs.
ArtScroll's decision puts it squarely
in the middle of the conversation about
Jewish observance in the digital age,
particularly when it comes to e-readers.
With some experts predicting the
demise of printed books, what will
observant Jews read on Shabbat, when
they are forbidden to operate electronic
devices, Uri Friedman asked in a recent
article in the Atlantic.
"Some are thinking of ways to accom-
modate emerging technology within
the structure of traditional Sabbath
observance while others wrestle with the
implications of the shifting media land-
scape for Jewish law and observance he
wrote.
One blogger proposed a "Sabbath
e-reader" that would turn pages auto-
matically, much like a Sabbath eleva-
tor stops at each floor in a building so
observant Jews aren't technically operat-
ing it, Friedman said.
Then there is the larger question,
which goes beyond the laws of Shabbat
to the spirit of the day.
"A number stress that, regardless of
legal considerations, the Sabbath's rules
and spirit have never been more impor-
tant than they are today, when technol-
ogy saturates our lives," Friedman wrote.
Jewish Rally In Jaffa Targets
Islamic Movement Advances
Jewish right-
JERUSALEM (JTA)
wing activists demonstrated on a main
street in Jaffa to protest what organiz-
ers see as the "Islamic Movement gain-
ing control over the city:"
At least 16 counter-demonstrators
were arrested during the March 2
march as a result of clashes with police.
Arab store owners closed their shops
to protest the march and local resi-
dents came out to heckle the protest-
ers, who were led by lawmaker Michael
Ben-Ari and activists Itamar Ben-Gvir
and Baruch Marzel.
Hundreds of police and security
officials protected the marchers and
the route.
Israel's Supreme Court had approved
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
San Francisco
If you or your family owned
movable, immovable, or intangible
property that was confiscated,
looted or forcibly sold in
countries governed or occupied
by the Nazi forces or Axis
powers during the Holocaust era,
and you or your relatives
received no restitution for that
property after the Holocaust era,
you may be eligible to participate
in the Holocaust Era Asset
Restitution Taskforce project
(Project HEART).
Project HEART is a nonprofit
initiative of the Jewish Agency
for Israel, funded by and in
cooperation with the
Government of Israel.
For more information or to
download the Questionnaire, visit
http://www.heartwebsite.org
or call toll-free I -800-584- I 559
between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.,
Eastern Standard Time, Sunday
through Thursday, except Jewish
Holidays, and the Questionnaire
will be mailed to you.
If you do not wish to be included
in Project HEART, you must send
a signed written request for
exclusion postmarked no later
than June 15, 2011, to
PROJECT HEART,
PROJECT ADMINISTRATOR,
EXCLUSIONS,
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Photographs: Gift of Ruth Merrnelstein,
Yaffa Bach Collection donated by the
Center for Holocaust Studies, Museum of
Jewish Heritage, New York, U.S.A. Gift of
Eric S. Morley, Museum of Jewish Heritage,
New York, U.S.A. Gift of Ronnie Hamburger
Burrows, Museum of Jewish Heritage,
New York, U.S.A.
20 March 10 2011
A
—
ArtScroll is launching digital
versions of many of its popular
Jewish books, but not the
Sabbath or High Holidays prayer
books.
Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, executive vice
president of the Rabbinical Assembly,
the Conservative rabbinical association,
says the question of e-books on Shabbat
has not yet come before the Committee
on Jewish Law and Standards, which
sets Jewish law for the movement.
Aside from the Jewish legal question,
she said, there is the broader question
about the implications for Jewish spiri-
tuality.
"If the goal of Shabbat is to take us
away from distractions and give us
a more spiritual focus, what would it
mean to have this electronic media enter
that most sacred realm on that most
sacred day?" she asked. "Even if you
could daven from a Kindle, should you?"
Many observant Jews already use
smartphones with downloaded prayers
during the week.
Zlotowitz says he suspects that the
Kindle, the Nook, the iPad and similar
devices may one day go the way of the
eight-track tape and the turntable.
"The written word is forever, but I
don't think the digital word is forever," he
said. "You can't even get a cassette player
anymore." 17
the march, though it ordered the orga-
nizers to change the route so that it
did not pass through the Arab Ajami
neighborhood.
The Islamic Movement recently held
a rally in Jaffa with about 1,000 dem-
onstrators. Some chanted anti-Israel
slogans and waved Palestinian flags.
Jaffa has 46,000 residents; some
17,000 are Israeli Arabs.