The Jewish Secret to Internet is The Golem
Tech Tribe Dispatch 187
💡 Think:
Where are we going with this Social Media stuff… I wonder sometimes as I look at the increasingly nasty discourse online. It often feels as if you think you couldn’t imagine a worse post online, someone is waiting in the rafters ready ask someone to “Hold my beer.”
I still firmly believe in the power of social media to bring us together - to connect us and serve as a real tool for building real, meaningful communities.
But then I see an endless stream of toxic hateful tweets and wonder if maybe, in a way, all those people who gathered to protest the Internet perhaps were on to something.
Of course - I’m not logging off. I remain optimistic that the power of those who choose light over darkness will succeed - and Tech Tribe has even more planned for the new year to add in light.
But I do believe that we need to radically inform our approach to the Internet, and technology as a whole, with the need to endow it with redemptive purpose.
In a 1996 talk to gathered Chabad emissaries, Rabbi Y.Y. Kazen, the founder of Chabad.org, shared his vision for where Judaism could truly reach with the help of technology.
In an era when the staff of the Today show wondered aloud “what is the Internet?” and the internet was a realm solely of geeks, he explained that going online was as easy as “Alef, Bet Gimmel.” Indeed it wasn’t that easy, he mused, but if those letters stood for the legendary words of Maharal of Prague when he made a golem, “Atah Bara Golem” - “You shall create a Golem” then it could be done.
The Internet was raw material, from which a world of tremendous opportunity could be built.
Much of the account of the Maharal’s Golem stems from a work of fiction by Rabbi Yudel Rosenberg. But in halachic literature, there is another discussion of a different Golem, written by Rabbi Yaakov Emden about his grandfather, Rabbi Eliyahu Baal Shem of Chelm. (Tech Tribe regulars will recognize this account from our #FirstFriday Shabbat meals and Curated Conversation: Can Robots be Jewish?)
This narrative is one with a considerably more tempered note:
I will note what my father told me about the golem created by my ancestor: After he noticed it growing out of his control, he became frightened and destroyed it by erasing the name of G-d that was on its forehead. This deprecated the golem, but damaged him in the process, leaving a scar on his face.
Like the Golem itself, which can help or harm, we must be vigilant how we use Internet is for a clear sense of purpose for the best.
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Indeed, the centralized corporate social media landscape is becoming increasingly hostile, which is why I recently switched to an online space designed to protect against antisemitism at babka.social. It is a part of the decentralized, open-source Fediverse. I really enjoy it there and encourage others to join!