Technology and Torah Study = eHoliness?

I am at YU’s Model UN with 500 high school kids in Stamford CT. Limited internet access. Trying to post from phone. Experiment successful?

UPDATE: Apparently not. This post was saved as a draft, even though I thought I published it. Oh well. I’ve got a computer for a little bit (I didn’t get back to my hotel room last night until 1:15 AM)

Torah Study has always adapted to changes in society and technology. Until the redaction of the Mishnah in the early 3rd century, Torah study consisted of memorizing the Oral Law. Once the Mishnah was put together (I’m not going to get into the scholarly debate of whether it was actually written down then) the goal of Torah study shifted from rote memorization to analysis of the Mishnah. This led to the creation of the Talmud. At some point the switch-over from scroll to codex (bound-book) allowed people to access material faster. (If you haven’t seen the very amusing video about the Medieval Book Support Desk, treat yourself.)

Once people could get to dimly-recalled information by flipping through a book, the book took center stage, freeing up scholars from having to retain the bulk of their knowledge in their heads and using the written material as a last resort. This led to a period of great creativity. Once the printing press became available (and Jews were very fast to jump on that bandwagon) scholars no longer had to copy their own texts. This freed up time to study many more books which were previously unobtainable. The invention of offset printing in the 20th ce. gave the average bar mitzvah boy a library that would rival that of a rosh yeshiva in a previous generation.

The digitization of rabbinic literature that has taken place in the last 25 years (especially the Bar Ilan Database) has given people access to material that they never knew existed. Information formerly tucked away in hidden nooks or obscure publications is now findable at the click of a mouse.

My point (I know it took me a long time to get there) is that every technological advance has in some ways democratized Torah study by making it available to more people, and has encouraged new paths of Torah study and greater scholarship. So fear not the iPhone revolution. The fact that I can listen to an advanced Daf Yomi shiur on my Droid is just another step in the evolution of Torah Study. (Of course, Orthodox Jews will probably always need paper-based books for Shabbat; see the recent piece in The Atlantic.)