Dear Mr Leitner,
Re: your response to "The London Asifa - Unpublished
Editorial - Why We Should Attend".
Whilst I agree with your message and its contents, I must
highlight one very crucial omission.
Were it not for the internet and its enabling technologies,
the London Siyum HaShass would not have been as successful.
Think about the late start, inadequate human resources (as a
result of the laid back attitude of the organisers); still the outcome was such
that whoever was there is still raving about it.
We (read: the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community) have to
realise that the message emanating from the W3 entity should be exactly this:
grab hold of the Internet and don't let it out of your grasp, put it to the
disposal of the Jewish people as another potent tool in its arsenal to build,
to nurture, to enable our community to flourish as was never before possible!
We are now at the second of the three stages, which apply to
any revolution:
The first one is reserved for the idealists, whilst the
cynics, ignorami and high society is oblivious.
The second stage is the awakening of the masses, who are held
back by the ivory tower denizens.
The third stage is universal acceptance, with those in power
creaming off the maximum benefits derived from the idealists' input.
To put it into context of next week's event:
Stage one: we ignored the Digital Revolution for too long,
which now lurks in every facet of life in the 21st century.
The second stage occurred when the man in the street first
became aware, then intrigued and finally smitten - by the immense potential of
those new little gadgets that fit in the palm of his hand. Just to illustrate how deeply concerned are
our community members, think about the immense turnout that we experienced when
we organised the live broadcast (over the Internet) of the Asifa in
CityField. Over 1,000 people attended
from 12:00AM until nearly 4:00AM!
Whether they changed their attitude, lifestyle or service providers is
besides the point.
As for the third stage, the powers that be are going to
decide who is going to make a quick buck from other people's hard work.
Those who dismiss the the worldwide web as "Satan's new
tool of destruction", should be reminded how Torah was saved by the
printing press. The printing revolution
started with non-Jews turning volume after volume of our most sacred
writings. Only later did the Jewish
printing industry take over, with the results speaking for themselves. Where would we be today without the Vilna
Shas, without the Mikro'os Gedolos, without the Turim and Shulchan Aruch?
Then you will come across those who are generous enough to
agree that the WWW is here to stay, whilst claiming that Jews are not to get
involved in it, as it's impossible to create an all-Kosher internet.
The answer to them is this: Just as we managed to set up
Kosher systems for Education (schools, Yeshivos, Shiurim etc.), Food (Meat,
Milk, Bread etc.) and Lifestyle (Eruv, Mikwa, Shaatnez etc.), we can extend it
to take us into the Digital Revolution - the Kosher way.
On the back of an envelope it would look something like the
following: take the total budget of Kosher living in the world, compare it with
the non-Kosher market and use only a tenth of the difference in profits, to set
up a Kosher internet (more details available upon request).
I just 'jotted' down some of my thoughts, which might
resonate with others in our community.
Undoubtedly - as with any issue of public import - there are always a
number of different perspectives, all which are welcome!
I would like to invite you to the Refrum Movement. Should you accept, I will be delighted to
share with you details of this new concept.
Together, we're stronger - join the revolution!
What saved the day was the fact that technologies like eMail,
web and TxT were put to good use to facilitate this logistic-intensive event.
Whilst on the subject, let me add my two-pence worth to the
discussion:
Wishing the organisers much hatzlocho in their endeavours,
Gut Shabbos,
Menasche
P.S. There are always exceptions to the cause of your lament
in the last paragraph; you are welcome to visit the Belz Dinner, to be held
next week in the Holiday Inn, London N3, which is being organised by one of the
most successful fundraisers in the Heimishe community. Prepare to be blown away...
First published on 29 November 2012, on Jewish P.O.S.T. - the Jewish Voice for the People Of South Tottenham (this Blog is now defunct).
No comments:
Post a Comment