Judaism Online: Confronting Spirituality on the Internet

by Susan M. Zakar, Dovid Y. B. Kaufmann

Overview

Through conversation, journal entries, and actual e-mail dialogue, Judaism Online: Confronting Spirituality on the Internet tells the true story of one woman’s remarkable spiritual journey. In her search for fulfillment and meaning, Susan M. Zakar moved from fundamentalist Christianity to Conservative and Reform Judaism to long stints of almost ignoring God, to, in the end, Orthodox Judaism.
Written over the Internet and based on a thirty-year journal, this unique volume is a discussion between Zakar and Rabbi Dovid Y.B. Kauffman, who became her mentor after she raised the question of women’s role in Judaism on the Internet. The frank conversations that ensued confront issues of spirituality, Jewish law and observance, relationships, and truth with sensitivity and understanding.
Sympathetic to the dilemma of faith in a secular world, yet recognizing the enduring value of a life committed to Torah and mitzvoth, Judaism Online shares the challenges and triumphs of the convert and also clearly demonstrates the remarkable potential the Internet offers for spreading the beauty of Judaism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781461662440
Publisher:	Aronson, Jason Inc.
Publication date:	05/01/1998
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Susan (Shoshana) Zakar, a native of Spokane, Washington, lives in Baltimore with her husband and two children. A graduate of Western Washington State College, she worked with the Department of Defense as a linguist and computer systems scientist for thirteen years. Subsequently she has been an active volunteer in both the community and synagogue. Susan Zakar is a familiar presence on the Internet, maintaining the World Wide Web pages for Jews for Judaism, Havienu L’Shalom, a “Virtual Shul,” and local Jewish organizations. She is frequently called upon to offer online support and guidance to others who are in the process of converting or becoming more observant. She and her husband now run a web-design business.

Dovid Y.B. Kaufmann is the director of campus activities for Chabad Lubavitch of Louisiana, and he spends much of his time tutoring and counseling students. He received a Ph. D. in English literature from Tulane University, where he is also an adjunct professor of Jewish Studies. His other publications include The Silent Witness, a novel, Besuros HaGuelo, translated and edited with Rabbi Herschel Greenberg, and articles in Philosophical Quarterly, Studies in the Novel, and Religion and Literature. Dovid Kaufmann also scripts audio lessons on Moshiach and Redemption, and is a regular contributor to Beis Moshiach magazine. He resides in New Orleans with his wife, Nechama, and six children.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents


Acknowledgements
Prologue
Beginning and False Starts
Conservative
Conservative, Part 2
Thoughts and Feelings
The Ceremony
Afterthoughts
The Next Stage
In Laurel
Married
Children
Reform
Reform, Part 2
Internet
Realization
A New Path
A New Path, Part 2
On the Way
On the Way, Part 2
Baltimore
Jewish At Last
Questions and Afterthoughts
The Future

Editorial Reviews

In 1996, Zakar, a web designer, posted a message to a Usenet group called soc.culture.jewish. Kaufman, who had been a participant in the discussion group since 1993, read her message, which asked about what it meant to be an observant Jew, and he responded with what he calls "a homework assignment." Over the next two years, Kaufman played spiritual mentor to Zakar's spiritual seeker as they corresponded via e-mail and through the online discussion group. This book is simply a record of their online conversations about the nature and practice of Judaism. Zakar, raised in a fundamentalist Christian home, very early began questioning the narrow lessons about Jesus and religion her church was teaching her. She found herself, even as early as high school, attracted to Judaism and what she saw as Jews' deep faith and loving obedience to the Torah and the mitzvos (commandments). As Zakar and Kaufman engage in their ongoing conversation, Kaufman unfolds for Zakar the teachings, rituals and observances of Judaism. In one brief note, for instance, Kaufman tells her that "the Torah is God's wisdom, and mitzvos are the garments of the soul; thus, our Godly soul expresses itself through Torah and mitzvos." As a result of this two-year conversation online, Zakar converted to Judaism. While their book demonstrates the opportunities for dialogue on religion created by the Internet, their prose is wooden and self-conscious, and the book reads more like a stilted dialogue between two actors rather than an open, freewheeling conversation about Jewish spirituality. (May)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly