New Online Jewish Educational Website in the Works
A new Jewish educational website is gearing up to launch to bring pluralistic Jewish classes to all. As anounced on Friday by its founder, Rabbi Ben Greenberg,
OpenSinai.com seeks to provide a learning experience with real-time classes provided by a variety of educators that will “merge Jewish wisdom in all of its depth with openness and pluralism.”
As its About page states, OpenSinai.com is “the meeting place of diverse Jewish tradition with digital sophistication. Jewish wisdom is the treasure of the Jewish people. In a digital era, that treasure must be accessible digitally.” The page continues:
OpenSinai.com is not about blog posts or articles. OpenSinai.com is about transcending the one-dimensional relationship of written text and reader and it is about taking advantage of high tech capabilities to offer real time, interactive e-learning possibilities for anyone wanting to enrich their lives.
Your physical proximity to a major Jewish metropolitan area should not be the deciding factor in your ability to take part in dynamic Jewish learning. You do not need to be constrained by your geographic area or your busy schedule to find and take part in learning with passionate and learned educators from all Jewish backgrounds.
The statement on Friday continues,
The educators will be borderless, coming from all walks of life and life experiences. The technology will enable seamless integration of multimedia and real time conversation not just one-directional from the educator to the students but between the educator and the students and between the students themselves.
Moreover,
OpenSinai.com is about offering Jewish learning everywhere. It is not about blog posts or articles but about facilitating real-time classes utilizing the best in digital learning technology that allows for meaningful conversations. No matter whether someone lives in the heart of New York City and is looking for a radically pluralistic borderless Jewish learning space or lives in a small community in the Midwest and is looking for Jewish enrichment, OpenSinai.com aims to provide those classes that fills that need.
According to Rabbi Greenberg, who had participated in the second cohort of Clal‘s Rabbis Without Borders Fellowship, stated that a kernel of this idea was planted several years ago during his participation in the fellowship “when Rabbi Irwin Kula, Rabbi Rebecca Sirbu and Rabbi Brad Hirschfield urged us to consider the blending of technology with tradition and to reflect on the egalitarian access to learning that new media can provide.” And, further according to the announcement, “it is precisely because Rabbis Without Borders pushes its rabbinic participants to think in new ways and to conceive of new tools for bringing Jewish wisdom public that this project is beginning to bear fruit.”
OpenSinai.com will start out being incubated at Clal, with help from them and the director of Rabbis Without Borders, Rabbi Rebecca Sirbu. Since the project is “in the beginning stages” and “each week brings new developments”, one can visit the website, like it on Facebook, follow it on Twitter, or join the OpenSinai.com e-mail list to get the latest updates and find out when the first classes will be live. They are currently looking for educators to take part in this new project, about which you can find out more on the website. Rabbi Greenberg is also looking for your input on this new project.
