Ketzirah & PunkTorah – Yente couldn’t make a better match!
I’m long overdue in posting about my collaboration and participation in the PunkTorah community. PunkTorah is a rather amazing non-profit organization dedicated to fostering independent Jewish spirituality. I would add that in this case, they particularly do it through incredibly innovative use of technology.
Several months ago Patrick Aleph, the executive director, reached out to me. Since then, you may have noticed that the posts about the Jewish months say “Cross Posted on PunkTorah.org.” That’s one of the first ways I’ve been able to contribute to this growing and wonderful online community. Since then, I’ve also been able to attend some of their innovative online services and contributed to the PunkTorah Community Siddur. I keep the siddur in a desk drawer at work, so I have it handy in case I’m able attend Mincha or another daily service over at the PunkTorah online shul, OneShul.org.
As part of joining this community, they asked me to write an introduction to tell people what I’m about and what I’m trying to do. It was a thought provoking question, even though you’d think I dive into this all the time. Here’s what I said.
If you’ve ever met me in person or even just gotten to know me online, “punk,” is probably not a word you’d use to describe me. I love this video that Michael, the other founding half of Punk Torah and the “alterna-rebbe”, created to explain what they mean by “Punk Torah” and why they used this name! By there definition, I guess I am pretty punk. Not so punk rock, but at least punk torah!
I’m looking forward to a long and fruitful collaboration with PunkTorah. Head on over and check out what they are up to and hopefully I’ll see you at shul!
Mini Manifesto:
Culture: I am fascinated by both culture on most levels. I mostly focus on American culture and what makes us who we are as a country, but I'm also intrigued by sub-cultures in the USA and the growing global cultural trends.
Technology: Technology is one of the strongest drivers of cultural and even spiritual changes in the last 100 years, and possibly the next 100.