 JUNE 11 • 2020 | 31

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T

he COVID-19 pan-
demic has made us 
feel physically distant 
to each other. 
We cannot con-
gregate at our 
synagogues, 
community cen-
ters or summer 
camps. However, 
the Jewish com-
munity has not 
shifted away 
from community during the 
quarantine. Rather, we have 
been brought together virtu-
ally thanks to the Internet and 
streaming video conferencing. 
Three cutting-edge Jewish 
visionaries saw this 21st-cen-
tury phenomenon as a prime 
opportunity to launch a web-
site that’
s a “one-stop shop” for 
those interested in plugging in 
and learning or praying with a 
community of Jews anywhere 

in the country. Dan Libenson 
and Lex Rofeberg of the 
“Judaism Unbound” podcast 
linked up with Apryl Stern 
of the Institute of the Next 
Jewish Future to create jewish-
LIVE.org, which is a project 
of INJF with funding from the 
Lippman Kanfer Foundation 
for Living Torah.
The three out-of-the-box 
thinkers saw in early March 
that Jewish events were sud-
denly being canceled due to 

the coronavirus pandemic. 
They wondered how they 
could help fill the void of 
in-person Jewish events taking 
place, like conferences, syna-
gogue services, Jewish musical 
concerts and lectures. These 
in-person events would have 
to migrate to the digital land-
scape, they realized. 
In an effort to curb the 
sense of loneliness and social 
isolation they sensed the 
quarantine would create for 

many, they wanted to create a 
website that would serve as a 
portal to all sorts of learning, 
prayer and entertainment. The 
website, jewishLIVE.org, has 
a schedule of live streaming 
experiences broken out into 
categories like Soul Stage, 
Earth Stage, Mind Stage, 
Sensory Stage, Kids Stage and 
Music Stage. Imagine a full-
scale Jewish culture festival 
taking place seven days a week 
and being able to choose your 
engagement point each hour 
of every day.
Libenson, Rofeberg and 
Stern also recognized that 
everyone staying home and 
becoming more accustomed 
to Zoom conferences creat-
ed a natural opportunity for 
many Jews, and non-Jews, 
to connect to Jewish experi-
ences they might have been 
intimidated to join in person. 

Rabbi Jason 
Miller
Contributing 
Writer

Apryl Stern

JewishLIVE, 24/7 Festival 
of Digital Judaism

New website fi
 lls void during the quarantine.

Lex Rofeberg
Dan Libenson

Jews in the Digital Age
Jews in the D

