By Mike Cohen<\/p>\n
With the launch of the Cyber Home of Torah one year ago, a\u00a0 new era in Jewish education and communication was born. Using the OU website,\u00a0 Jews the world over can now communicate utilizing the latest in modern technology — e-mail, audio, video, chat and messaging.\u00a0 Jews the world over dialogue daily on issues of importance and news is transmitted instantaneously.<\/p>\n
What Is It?<\/p>\n
The OUs\u00a0 Cyber Home of Torah grew out of the Orthodox Unions commitment to create an environment\u00a0 in the vastness of cyberspace where all Jews, regardless of their location and their educational background, their affiliation or non-affiliation,\u00a0 would feel welcome and would be able to study together.\u00a0 When OU Online released the first few pages, and sent out the word that www.ou.org was now active, thousands descended upon the site from far and near, from Los Angeles to Riyadh, from Buenos Aires to Kibbutz Ga’ash . To date, over 7.5 million requests have been serviced by the program.<\/p>\n
A brief tour of some of\u00a0 the OU sites major features\u00a0 readily explains\u00a0 its remarkable popularity.<\/p>\n
Beit Midrash<\/p>\n
Need a dvar Torah for Shabbat or just want to learn during your lunch break? Click on the Beit Midrash for a guide to Torah on the net. The extensive listings are indexed for your convenience by topic, parshah, and author, as well as system. The Beit Midrash is equipped with state-of-the-art audio, video, chat and messaging.\u00a0 The first Jewish site on the Internet to provide Jewish content in the Real Video streaming format that has since become the industry standard, now includes hundreds of hours of Jewish learning and guidance.<\/p>\n
An average of\u00a0 25,000 people from 93 different countries access the Beit Midrash every week to take advantage of its resources.<\/p>\n
Pardes Interactive<\/p>\n
In the upcoming year, the Pardes Program, the OU’s free monthly discussion\/study guide, will be experimenting with the use of the Internet as a tool of communication between study groups and group leaders in various corners of the earth.<\/p>\n
The Vebbe Rebbe<\/p>\n
kosherq@ou.org<\/p>\n
Thousands of\u00a0 kashrut and halachah (Jewish law) questions have been answered\u00a0 via e-mail over the past year by the Vebbe Rebbe. If the question concerns kashrut, it\u00a0 is answered by the knowledgeable rabbinic staff of the OU Kashruth Division. If the question concerns halachah or hashkafah (Jewish thought)\u00a0 it is referred to the Rabbinical Council of America and Kollel Eretz Hemda in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
The Neshama Line\u00a0 Its Good For The Soul<\/p>\n
hakotel@ou.org<\/p>\n
Putting a note in the Kotel, (a “kvitel”) has long been the practice of Jews and Gentiles who wish to express their prayers, hopes and dreams. A few years ago,\u00a0 Jerusalem yeshivot began “faxes to God” programs.\u00a0\u00a0 With the growth of e-mail popularity, OU Online added this dimension as well. \u00a0The service has been emulated many times over by others.<\/p>\n
The Neshama Line also provides a direct link to a kollel in\u00a0 Jerusalem that graciously offered to learn\u00a0 Torah and say\u00a0 Psalms for the recovery of\u00a0 the sick and for yahrzeits.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0 Orthodox Synagogue\u00a0 & Torah Education Networks<\/p>\n
Finding an Orthodox shul, yeshivah, camp or day school has never been easier. The Orthodox Synagogue Network lists Orthodox shuls in countries all over the globe. It is the largest such listing in cyberspace. The Torah Education Network is a fast-growing service utilized\u00a0 by families that are relocating,\u00a0 baalei teshuvah\u00a0 and\u00a0 first-time parents who want guidance finding Torah\u00a0 educational environments for their children.<\/p>\n
NCSY\u00a0 Interactive<\/p>\n
NCSY Interactive is the place for Jewish teens.\u00a0 They can create web pages for their NCSY chapters or regions, meet each other in supervised chat areas, and take part in moderated prescheduled discussions.\u00a0\u00a0 Popular\u00a0 topics\u00a0 have\u00a0 been The Jewish View on Dating,\u00a0 Being Jewish in a Non-Jewish World,\u00a0 Land for Peace and Challenge the Rabbi.\u00a0 A variety of separate e-mail lists are available to NCSYers, advisors, directors and parents to facilitate discussion\u00a0 of\u00a0 issues that concern their daily lives.<\/p>\n
IPA Online<\/p>\n
Through its online home, the Orthodox Unions Institute for Public Affairs\u00a0 provides instant access to its numerous action alerts and public statements, as well as interactive ways of communicating with government officials in the United States and Israel.<\/p>\n
Audio Visual Multimedia Center<\/p>\n
Heard a new tune on your Jewish radio station this morning? A shiur from a popular rabbi? Need to hear it again? Want to spend a few moments with Rav Herschel Schachter or Israeli Chief Rabbi Lau, or with the great Reb Shlomo, ztl?\u00a0 The Audio Visual Multimedia Center and its Jewish Music Network is your answer!<\/p>\n
Utilizing the most modern in audio and video streaming technology, divrei Torah from popular rabbis can now be heard and seen across the globe. The biggest names in the Jewish music industry have joined with the OU’s\u00a0 Cyber Home of Torah and Mostly Music Inc. to feature their newest releases even before they hit the stores. And, in cooperation with the Israel Broadcast Authority (Kol Yisrael) and artificia.com, we can now listen to news broadcasts from Israel 24 hours a day, six days a week\u00a0 LIVE!<\/p>\n
OU Communications Center<\/p>\n
Ever have the urge to write a note to the prime minister of Israel and cc the president of the United States? Now you can. The communications center provides direct links to world leaders as well as many other important addresses such as the White House, the Knesset and Congress.\u00a0\u00a0 The communications center is also the place to subscribe to any of the many OU e-mail information lists such as Torah Insights, Kashruth Alerts and IPA Action Alerts.<\/p>\n
Infobase<\/p>\n
Infobase is the place to go to find information, details and links to Jewish topics and information.\u00a0 The newest of the OU site features, this Virtual Jewish Database will, when launched in the fall,\u00a0 begin to include in-depth data on every Torah-related topic imaginable, from afikoman to zeeskeit, from Avraham Avinu to Zalman Shazar.<\/p>\n
There is much more to see and do\u00a0 —\u00a0 so grab your keyboard, hitch up your modem and see what\u00a0 people around\u00a0 the world already\u00a0 have found at http:\/\/www.ou.org<\/p>\n
Mike Cohen is the Director of\u00a0 Communications of the Orthodox Union.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With the launch of the Cyber Home of Torah one year ago, a new era in Jewish education and communication was born. Using the OU website, Jews the world over can now communicate utilizing the latest in modern technology — e-mail, audio, video, chat and messaging. Jews the world over dialogue daily on issues of importance and news is transmitted instantaneously.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":718,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[183],"class_list":["post-13375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-technology","tag-old","issues-fall-19975758"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n