The Internet is witnessing the emergence of a new virtual culture: JewTube - an online Jewish community.
Visitors to the site can watch videos on how to cook Jewish dishes, view alternative animated endings to the movie "Borat" starring Sacha Baron Cohen, or enjoy clips of Israeli-American filmstar Natalie Portman rapping. Those searching for toilet seats with a matzah pattern can also have their prayers answered.
The site www.JewTube.com was launched last week by Jeremy Kosen of Santa Barbara, California, who named it after the hugely successful Web site YouTube, where users can upload, view and share video clips.
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Kosen says his site is intended for young Jews interested in independent media channels. "My vision is for the site to create a community of filmmakers, musicians and artists who share Jewish themes," he says. He also hopes to make his site profitable, and use the money to encourage Jewish culture and advocate Israel's actions.
JewTube has already attracted interest from Beth Hatefutsoth, the Museum of the Jewish Diaspora in Tel Aviv. The museum's director, Hasia Israeli, met with Kosen and asked permission to use his site to upload footage from the 1920s and 30s taken by Jewish amateur photographers in East Europe. "Such a site would allow me to set up a virtual museum, accessible to all Jews all over the world," she said.
Sarah Lefton of San Francisco has launched a different commercial virtual initiative. Her site, www.chosencouture.com, offers Jewish-related articles for sale such as clothing and antique jewelry carrying Hebrew and Yiddish inscriptions. It also peddles more bizarre commodities such as skullcaps for pets and toilet seats featuring a banner reading "let my people go" against a matzah pattern.
Both sites reflect a new phenomenon, promoted by young American Jews in their twenties and thirties who have come to dislike the community's institutions. Sociologists cite the generation gap between the older leaders of the community and younger members.
Lefton says she does not expect the virtual Jewish gatherings to replace real-life communities and synagogues. "What we see on the Web is mostly gossip. It's something like the social gatherings we have after synagogue," she says.
The Jewish virtual community has also carved out a niche in the so-called blogosphere - a community of people who run personal, professional and political diaries, comprised of weekly or daily entries. One of the most popular Jewish blogs is Oy-Bay, founded by Tomer Altman from San Jose.
"Where I live there is only one synagogue, and the average age of people praying there is about 70," Altman said, giving reasons for founding his blog, which is geared toward 20-something Jews interested in meeting other Jews their age.
Oy-Bay currently enjoys a membership of 6,000 devoted users. It contains the details of young Jews who are interested in setting up independent prayer groups as well as gossip, an event schedule and listings of kosher restaurants. Anyone interested in finding an Israeli shawarma restaurant in California, for example, can visit http://oybay.wordpress.com.
Connecting Internet users
Altman, Kosen and Lefton arrived in Israel last week for "The ROI Global Summit for Young Jewish Innovators," which took place in Jerusalem.
The summit, funded by a philanthropist, Mrs. Lynn Schusterman, was in part an attempt to bring together Internet entrepreneurs. One hundred and twenty participants from all over the world attended the conference.
One-third of them were Americans, another third were from Israel, and the rest hailed from some 20 countries around the globe. They received training on fund-raising, marketing and managing.
Yoni Gordis from the Center for Leadership Initiatives (CLI), based in Canada, told Haaretz that the organizers were aware of the "new Internet culture which older members of the community are not a part of."
Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
