Tag: Technology
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Does Your Donkey Have a Wi-Fi Connection?
I wrote about my technology experience at the Mamshit Camel Ranch, a Bedouin village in Israel, in 2004 on my personal blog. I explained how funny it was to be at a Bedouin village that appeared to be authentically rustic to the Birthright Israel participants I was chaperoning, but behind-the-scenes the place was equipped with the…
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Shabbat and Technology: What Are the Issues in the 21st Century?
Electronic books, known as e-books, became the dominant format for adult fiction in 2011 surpassing hardcover books and paperbacks according to the BookStats annual survey. We are increasingly choosing to read our novels, magazine, newspapers and even children’s books on ereaders and tablets. But is it permissible to do this on the one day of…
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Kyocera Gets Sued by Ben Stein for Religious Discrimination
Ben Stein legal battle with Kyocera continue. Stein, who played the memorable high school teacher in the 1986 movie (“Bueller? Bueller?”) was set to film a commercial for Kyocera, the producer of cameras, copiers, printers, mobile phones, and the like. Even though Ben Stein’s lawyer “considered the deal done” according to the lawsuit, it appears…
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How Sitting Shiva Has Changed
I’ve been thinking about death and mourning quite a bit lately. To begin with, the first week of the new year brought with it a rash of deaths here in the Detroit Jewish community. There were a fair share of elderly grandparents who died in their 80s and 90s during the first week of 2012,…
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Israel on Display Each Day Through New Mobile App Israel365
Like many American rabbis who relocate to Israel on aliyah, Rabbi Naftali “Tuly” Weisz began to look for a way to make a difference in the Holy Land. The 30-something Modern Orthodox rabbi had already made some significant relationships with the Israel-loving Evangelical Christian community in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio. Wanting to continue his…
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Jewish Brothers in Detroit Run jacAPPS, Successful Mobile App Company
In what could have easily been mistaken for a scene from HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, two brothers sit at a conference room table in Southfield bouncing ideas off each other for mobile applications that could improve Jewish life. A small collection of iPhones and iPads sits on the table, as one brother remarks that it…
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Jewish Schools and Educational Technology
My dad brought our family’s Apple II+ into the classroom at Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit in an effort to show my classmates the wonders of Turtle Graphics. It was 1982 and each little 1st grader waited in line to get a chance to touch the odd looking keyboard and try to make the…
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Controversial Who Is a Jew App Removed in French App Store by Apple
Everyone wants to know if a celebrity is Jewish or not. I’m not talking about the controversial “Who is a Jew” question that gets into matters of lineage. Rather, the dinner party question of whether a celebrity is Jewish or not. Occasionally I blog about Jewish celebrities here and I peek at the analytics that…
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A Video Game About Gefilte Fish? Yep!
Something sure smelled fishy when I received an email from fellow blogger Esther Kustanowitz today. Indeed it was. I was hopeful that the skilled writer had sent me a well-crafted sermon that I could simply deliver on Rosh Hashanah morning, but instead it was only an email to inform me that her friend Asael Kahana…