The Impact of Technology on the Study of Talmud

• Main Author: Fink, Shmuel
• Format: Others
• Published: NSUWorks 2014
• Subjects: Computer Sciences
• Online Access: http://nsuworks.nova.edu/gscis_etd/151; http://nsuworks.nova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1150&context=gscis_etd

The study of Talmud has experienced a virtual explosion. Aside from many benefits that can be gained from the daily study of Talmud, it facilitates life-long learning behaviors. The creation of life-long learners is especially crucial in today's job market, where the introduction of new technologies makes it essential for employees to constantly update their skills. In particular, the idea of studying a page of Talmud a day, known as Daf Yomi, conceived in 1923 by Rabbi Meir Shapiro, has become common practice. Although once the purview of Orthodox males, it has been proposed this practice has extended to females, Jews of all denominations, and even some non-Jews. Paralleling this practice, there has been an explosion of technology based resources created for the Daf Yomi student. The last known study of these resources was in 1990 and focused exclusively on the one resource available, a telephone call-in system. Based upon the many developments in computing technologies in the past 25 years, the time has arrived to determine what types of additional resources currently exist, how they are being used, and who is using them. These methods were documented in a single, current resource to enable both people who learn Daf Yomi to easily determine what resources are available, and those designing the programs to better take the needs of the customer into account. In addition, the demographic of those using these resources is largely undocumented. The study attempted to discover if the increase in technological tools has caused the study of Talmud to expand to a much larger segment. It was found that many people are currently studying Daf Yomi for the first time. Woman, Conservative Jews, and non-Jews are involved in Talmud study; many for the first time ever. Many attributed the technological tools available to them as the reason for their study.