Montclair Synagogue Virtual Event With Rabbi Jeffrey Schein

MONTCLAIR, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of Bnai Keshet in Montclair. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site.

Rabbi Jeffrey Schein will discuss via Zoom the relationship between Jewish values and digital technology on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 10:30 a.m. at Bnai Keshet in Montclair. His talk, “The Ten Commandments of Managing Our Evolving Digital Selves,” is open to all free of charge.

For Zoom link: https://www.bnaikeshet.org/event/kaplan-minyan18.html

Schein has long explored the need for people to “pull out of the digital waters that constantly envelop us” and use Jewish values to “filter and filtrate our digital lives” –a need that has only been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.

“We live in a highly digital age,” Schein said. “At no time has the relationship between Judaism and technology been all at once so rich, complex, enriching, and problematic”. Schein will explore practical suggestions for infusing human relationships to technology with Jewish values.

Schein, who graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia and earned a doctorate in education from Temple University, ran Jewish schools, developed Jewish curricular materials, and taught and guided over a 100 graduate students to their masters degrees in Jewish education at Siegal College in Cleveland. He is the author of 12 books and dozens of articles appearing in Jewish and religious education journals.

“The synergies, creative tensions, and conflicts that come from the interplay of the digital global civilization and Judaism is a prime example of what Mordecai Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, meant by living in two civilizations,” Schein said.

Bnai Keshet’s Kaplan Minyan is named for Reconstructionist Judaism founder Mordecai Kaplan. They are designed for people who enjoy a communal Shabbat and seek to enrich their understanding of Jewish peoplehood in a less traditional setting.

Reconstructing Judaism in and around Montclair, Bnai Keshet is located at 99 So. Fullerton Avenue, Montclair. For more information, visit www.bnaikeshet.org or call 973-746-4889.

Don’t forget to visit the Patch Montclair Facebook page. Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com