In this very short video— two and half-minutes long— Rabbi Sacks talks about how information technology has made possible innovations in building religious communities. He talks about the birth of Judaism through the technology of the book, but the principles apply to all of us.
Here is a partial transcript of some of his thoughts on the value of the Internet for breaking through barriers that divide us.
I am constantly looking for ways in which we can break out of this straight-jacket that we have put ourselves in. We are all in these nonintersecting rooms....
This medium we are using right now, the web, ... YouTube... breaks through all the boundaries.
Every time we create a problem for ourselves the Almighty creates a solution. And right now he sent us the Internet.
Judaism began with a revolution in information technology.... the alphabet....
So the invention of the alphabet made possible the book which made possible the “people of the Book”.
I tend to look at every breakthrough in information technology as a sign from heaven telling us to communicate more widely.
What does this mean for us?
In what ways does the Internet differ from earlier information technologies? One way is that it is more accessible and democratic than publishing and radio and television. Another way is that it can be interactive— it can be a two-way communication.
The Seventh-day Adventist movement began with the use of publishing technology. You can read more about it at the following link.
Publishing work was central to early Adventist Church
[James White] persuaded a local publisher to print 1,000 copies of the first issue of what is known today as “Adventist Review” magazine. White convinced the publisher that donations from Sabbatarian Adventists scattered across the U.S. Northeast would trickle in to cover the $64.50 printing costs. He was right.
“When God is behind something, what seems impossible is really only an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to work a miracle,” said Wilmar Hirle, current associate director for the world church’s Publishing Ministries.
Perhaps the Internet is the printing press of today. If we treat it as just a broadcast instrument, we are missing a big part of its potential. What barriers divide us today? How can we use the Internet more effectively to break down walls and build bridges. How can we be more connected?
