I was listening to NPR’s “Fresh Air” yesterday. It featured Andrew Blum, the author of the just-released “Tubes – A Journey to the Center of the Internet”. The interview (you can access it here), and the book focus on how the virtual space we call “The Cloud” doesn’t exist outside of physical spaces like data centers , internet exchange points and fiber optic cables. These are the machines, the conduits, the tubes, that give life to the ‘net. Without these physical structures there would be no web, not cloud based learning, no Google, no Skype. The author described how the internet depends on technology that can be at least one hundred years old. For instance, fiber optic cables are laid on the bottom of the ocean from the stern of a ship, like telephone cables were in the last century. They come ashore in old port cities like Lisbon or New York, and are connected to equally long-standing buildings filled with state-of-the-art devices, standing next to bales of copper wire dating from the genesis of the telephone age. All this got me thinking about the Jewish Futures Conference, taking place in New York this Monday, June 4th.
I’m thrilled that I’m actually going to attend the conference in real life this year. I witnessed the previous gatherings from afar, via video stream. This time I’ll actually be there, learning from colleagues in real time, face to face. I’ll be meeting tweeps with whom I feel close, despite the fact that I’ve not physically met many of them. And it makes me think that the more things change, the more they stay the same. As great as the virtual life can be, nothing cuts it like walking on concrete. We can trip the light fantastic, but sometimes it’s nice to be on earth.
The theme of the Jewish Futures Conference this year is “Community and the Cloud”. On the website you can find the two enduring questions that frame the event: “How will the evolving nature of belonging, membership, and affiliation influence Jewish communities of the future?” and “How will Jewish life and learning be impacted as we move into an increasingly networked world?” I’m coming with a question of my own: How do we bridge the past and present to create long-lasting and dynamic links to tomorrow?
Remember the fiber optic cables at the bottom of the ocean? Our data is transmitted in the form of light along glass tubes that are encased in cables the width of garden hose that stretch from one continent to another. Our precious information travels almost at the speed of light in these conduits, but upon arriving at shore, the data is “harvested” by laborers; physically plugged into machines that are located in old telecom and even telegraph buildings, and then distributed; exchanged among the myriad of networks that we call the internet. There is a symbiotic relationship between the technology of the past and of the future. That’s how I see the state of Judaism.
In the Talmud we read a story of how Moses, who wanted to be reassured about the impact of his words and actions, had the opportunity to sit in on a lesson given by Rabbi Akiva (I’m mangling this midrash, but bear with me, please). Moses didn’t understand the concepts being discussed. But then he heard a student ask Akiva about the origin of a particular halachik interpretation. The answer: This piece of law was handed down to Moses at Sinai. This proved to Moses that his teachings, indecipherable to him as they were, stood the test of time.
We are building something new upon something whose origins are rooted in the distant past. Our job is to figure out how to make sure that the Jewish Cloud remains tethered to this universe of ideas written down on sheepskin and paper, encased in structures of glass and brick, even as the new transforms the old. Like the internet, if the wires are cut, or the power is lost, there is no more web. The network simply disappears.
Let’s get back to those light bearing fiber optic cables. The stream of code travelling through these tubes is differentiated by wavelength – that light characteristic that determines what we call “color”. One could say that the information we create and share has its own unique shade. The Jewish tradition we are devising is also being transmitted along beams of light of varying wavelengths. We are creating new paradigms on the superstructure of the past; new color palates that are defining tomorrow. So…I’m looking forward to the Jewish Futures Conference, and exploring how yesterday’s ideas are translated using colorful beams of light and new modes of connecting.
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