14th Thought

The article I will be discussing, from the Jerusalem Post:
Here

The Davka Corporation has put together a software program called the "Torah Notebook", a collection of over 1,200 divrei Torah in English and Hebrew. The program sounds absolutely incredible. The article notes, "they are presented in either Israeli Sephardi or haredi Ashkenazi pronunciation and taken from both classical and modern sources from folk sayings and tales to the midrash, Talmud, Hassidism and even Yemenite and Yiddish sayings. There are more than 100 sources from Abarbanel to the Zohar and many hundreds of subjects from Aaron the Priest to zealotry." You can even compose and add your own divrei Torah. There's a feature to "lock" the original entry, thus perserving it and keeping your own additions clear, or unlocking it to change the entry permenantly. "The disk, which is almost like having a rabbi at your disposal, also boasts the Hebrew and English texts of the full Bible and the Hebrew text of the the Ethics of the Fathers"

I'm impressed by the range of material offered, as well as just the mechanics of the project. I can't imagine the work that went into it! It's good to see both Sephardi and Ashkenazi traditions honored. I also like the idea of having Pirkei Avot right on my desktop, it'd sure save me a lot of Googling. The article does not mention the source of the modern divrei. I would hope they include all ways of practice, from Orthodox to Reform epistemologies. The broad nature of the project leads me to believe this must be true, but I would like that confirmed.

The price is a bit high ($40) but probably worth it. I'm disappointed that it's a Windows-only program, as I'd love to at least try it out. Perhaps they'll have a Mac version in the future.

I think this would be a great source for composing family discussions, easily accesible and full of information. There's just something so appealing to me about mixing modern technology with age-old tradition; I'm learning Hebrew partly through podcasts to read scrolls written thousands of years ago. I think this would encourage participation and education, and would be a good resource for schools.