If Judaism is an operating system for life, it’s going to need some small bug fixes and security patches in 2014. So here’s to a year of rolling up our sleeves and writing great code.
Where would you go to learn Torah, not only from famous rabbis like Lawrence Kushner, but also feminist rapper Hesta Prynn and legal pundit Dahlia Lithwick? It wouldn’t be to any synagogue, JCC or school. In fact, you wouldn’t even have to leave your home. G-dcast, created by Jewish educational entrepreneur Sarah Lefton and writer Matthue Roth, brings commentary on the weekly Torah portion by Jewish artists, writers and public personalities directly to your computer via animated short films streamed on the Internet.
One of the more creative takes I’ve seen on the weekly Torah portion is G-dcast, an animated Webcast that invites a different writer each week to offer their own 4-minute narration of that week’s parsha. It’s a brilliant idea, and often brilliantly executed, offering a unique take on the dvar Torah, and, in some cases, an interesting window into the mind of the week’s author.
Sarah Lefton, a San Francisco-based Jewish innovator, who was responsible for giving the world the Jewish Fashion Conspiracy, which sold schmattes bearing clever semitic slogans, has a cool new conspiracy brewing.