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August 13, 1999/1 Elul 5759, Vol. 51, No.45
Go to Shabbat services - at home
TAMI BICKLEY
Staff Writer
Now there is one less excuse to avoid Shabbat services. You can participate in Sabbath prayer - and learn the basics of Hebrew and Shabbat halachah (Jewish law) - in the privacy of your home. And it's fun. All you need is a Macintosh computer or Windows 95.
The National Jewish Outreach Program (NJOP) has released "Virtual Shabbat" ($19.95), a CD-ROM that allows you to sing along with the familiar tones of male rabbis and cantors, while following text with a supplied prayer book, published by National Council of Young Israel. In addition, you may "visit" a Jewish dining room and kitchen to learn some domestic halachah.
Klezmer music bursts from speakers in the introductory portion of the program. In time, the music fades as the viewer is greeted by the face and soothing voice of Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald, founder and director of NJOP. He explains parts of the interactive program and information about NJOP. Then you're on your own to explore.
It's clear up front that "Virtual Shabbat" is geared mainly toward unaffiliated and marginally affiliated Jews in North America.
It also includes information to familiarize non-Jews with the Hebrew language and the Shabbat experience. To start, you may choose to click on the dining room icon, by which you become an observer in a home for Shabbat dinner. With your mouse, you can click on just about any virtual item in the room, from the candles on the table, to a book, to a glass of wine, and be verbally educated on the meaning of each.
For example, when the virtual challah (braided egg bread) is clicked, the covering comes off, and the blessing is stated. A nearby knife lifts up (with no one holding it) and cuts the challah into pieces. The idea that you are in control of what you learn makes the dining room experience an attractive one. The only downfall is that it is easy to "miss" objects within the room because there is no way to determine which ones, when clicked, will trigger an explanation.
Your next stop could be the kitchen, if you prefer. This room is the most entertaining. An upbeat tune plays, as colorful gadgets and appliances move to the beat. Again, there's no real way to tell what you should click on and in what order, but the confusion also adds a bit of intrigue.
Click on the dishwasher, and it opens, in sync with a brief explanation of kashrut (keeping kosher) rules regarding separate dishes for meat and dairy products. Click on the left-hand cabinets, and out fly red-rimmed dishes, intended for fleishig (meat products). Click on the right-hand cabinets, and out stream blue-rimmed dishes to use with only milchig (dairy products). Another set of cabinets contain (separately) color-coded dish towels - red for meat dishes, blue for dairy dishes.
When you click on the refrigerator, you're told that during Shabbat, the refrigerator should not be opened because doing so would turn on the light, which is prohibited by Jewish law. (There is no explanation of the fact that a person observing Shabbat this strictly could not use a computer to celebrate the Sabbath.)
Even artwork affixed to the virtual refrigerator has a purpose in this program.
Next, you may want to enter the virtual synagogue. There, you will learn about some of the very things you may have wondered about, but were too intimidated to ask a rabbi.
If you open a book on a lectern, the service begins. You can choose a Friday evening or Saturday morning service. Text is not shown on screen, but you are instructed what page in the prayer book to turn to. If you are at least partially familiar with Hebrew songs and prayers, you can sit back and sing along, with or without the prayer book. Even though you may be planted in an office chair in your den, you may actually feel as though you are sitting in shul, because the voices of the Jewish leaders sound exactly as they do in a majority of Reform and Conservative synagogues.
Before you join the virtual congregation in prayer, you may need to brush up on your Hebrew. The CD-ROM includes Hebrew lessons that begin with the Sephardic alephbet (Hebrew alphabet), and end with full Hebrew sentences. Those who need only a refresher course may want to skip over the mundane vowel instruction and begin in the middle. For beginners, the lesson - albeit abridged - is about as beneficial as typical Hebrew instruction in Sunday school.
The most positive features of "Virtual Shabbat" are that you can study the basics of Shabbat and Hebrew, and pray in the privacy of your home, at your desired pace. You will not be embarrassed if you stumble over Aleinu. And you do not have to shamefully excuse yourself in the middle of the kiddush to use the restroom.
To order NJOP's "Virtual Shabbat" CD-ROM, call 800-44-TORAH, or visit the Web site at www.njop.org.
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