Challenges in Jewish Communities Online

This chapter charts the response of Jewish groups to encounters with digital networks. It outlines the development of Jewish communities online, surveying their characteristics and varieties. Highlighting the divides between Jewish denominations, as well as between Israel and the Diaspora, the chapter traces the evolution of online Jewish communities diachronically, from the emergence of the World Wide Web to the dominance of social media in the digital environment. First, it maps contemporary Jews and Judaism in their quest for community, and in their attitudes toward the use of digital technologies as a way of achieving this goal. Then it surveys aspects of the theoretical study of both online religion and religion online, as they relate to the Jewish case. It continues with a review of the literature on digital Judaism, dividing it into two research phases corresponding to the following platforms: (a) internet sites and forums, and (b) social media, maintaining in both phases a dominant emphasis on ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) groups. A secondary emphasis is on the role of women and their online presence, in Haredi and other communities.