Jewish Tradition Gets a Boost Through an Online Rabbi

Max Kelly is running the gauntlet that every observant Jewish male must face at age 13—a months-long preparation for his bar mitzvah, a big day that involves being called to lead the Torah reading during a service to symbolize one’s adult membership of the Jewish community.

Max practices Hebrew chants and discusses what it means to become a responsible adult. In lieu of a yarmulke, he wears a baseball hat during the sessions out of respect for the tradition of keeping one’s head covered in front of a rabbi.

Unlike countless Jewish children who sat through seemingly endless after-school sessions to prepare for their big service, Max gets to do it from the comfort of his own home in New Milford and in front of his laptop at the kitchen table—or anywhere that has Wi-Fi, for that matter.

In addition to studying the Torah chants that will be in his service next week, Max is also able to engage in discussions with Rabbi Yossi Goodman about Jewish theology.

“The time that I do spend on this is all work and no driving,” said Max. “It’s still a lot of work, but it’s less of a pain. I feel like I actually get more done on the online one than if it were in person.”

The Kellys are adherents of the Chabad Lubavitch branch of Hasidic Judaism, a movement founded by in 18th-century Russia by Shneur Zalman of Liadi that emphasizes mind over emotion in Jewish practice, and was aimed at responding to claims that Hasidic beliefs were anti-intellectual. Under the auspices of its leader, Rabbi Joseph Eisenbach, Chabad Lubavitch of Northwest Connecticut has begun offering online rabbi services to make Jewish education more easily available.

By using the Web conferencing service Elluminate, which Rabbi Eisenbach calls “like Skype, but more funky,” Max and several other students in the area can do their bar mitzvah studying over the Internet with a live Rabbi—that spot being filled by Rabbi Goodman of New York.

Before Max began the online program in December, his mother, Rachel Kelly, had to drive him 40 minutes to the Chabad center in Litchfield for his education—something she scarcely had time for.

“It’s absolutely wonderful,” said Mrs. Kelly, who moved to New Milford with her husband, Joseph, three years ago. “For me, it’s been wonderful because I have four children, and I’m running everyone around all the time. Max needs to be home once a week in the afternoon, and it’s really freed up a lot of time and given him time to pursue his guitar playing and other interests.”

Rabbi Goodman, who conducts the lessons, recommends eight to 12 months of preparation for a standard bar mitzvah. The lessons have a moderate price tag of $20 to $35 per session, depending on length.

“There’s a cost for the lesson, but it’s cheaper than any other bar mitzvah lessons, just because the Chabad tries to make it feasible to everyone,” said Rabbi Eisenbach. “There are people who can afford paying and others that aren’t in such a good place, so no one is ever turned down for lack of funds.”

Rabbi Goodman, in addition to tutoring bar mitzvah students through Chabad Lubavitch, also runs the Shluchim Online School to conduct Hebrew lessons for 400 children of Chabad rabbis all over the world. While speaking to a rabbi through a computer screen may seem like a poor alternative to an in-person lesson, Rabbi Goodman says it has a few surprising advantages.

“There are quite a few reasons why it’s actually better,” he said. “Sometimes a kid feels intimidated at first, but he has his own personal computer and it creates a sense of security. Another thing is that the student feels like it’s a real personal lesson; on the computer we have pointers, so we can highlight and [draw] circles. There’s all kinds of things you do that we can’t really do in person, like share online videos. The boys really love it, and we’ve had kids a lot of time who stopped personal bar mitzvah lessons, just because of how engaging and how fun it is.”

Chabad Lubavitch of Northwest Connecticut has a number of other online services, including an “Ask the Rabbi” segment wherein members of the community can e-mail questions about how to live life as a mensch, ranging from “Am I wrong to forgive a murderer?” and “Why does Judaism make no sense?”

Rabbi Eisenbach hopes to expand Chabad’s online Jewish community in the coming years to enhance the contact among Jewish citizens of Litchfield County, and he said that the online rabbi program will have at least 16 new students beginning in December.

“In this day and age, especially in Northwestern Connecticut where it’s all so spread out, it’s a challenge to get people to come in besides Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur,” said Rabbi Eisenbach. “To get on their desktop and a half-hour and get their lesson done is really amazing.”