Jewish Theology after Google

Campbell looks at this rabbinic discourse as highlighting several points of tension within the orthodox community such as stronger networks and open rather than private dialogue that may challenge rabbinic authority and pose a threat to normative behavior. By creating an online open forum for orthodox Jewish women managed outside the jurisdiction of rabbinic authority, religious attitudes are called into question and the boundaries defining orthodoxy start to become blurred. By analyzing the communal discourse and framing used by, for example, the aforementioned orthodox rabbi to justify the use of technology for a fertility forum, one can deduce that the orthodox community will be confronted with questions of the boundaries of rabbinic authority in new media and of the advantages of encouraging open conversations that may undermine that very authority.

Campbell asserts, “As boundaries become blurred by new media communication – which is anonymous, instantaneous, and not easily monitored – negotiations regarding media practice become more and more complex for many religious communities” (19). The managers and family of users of the online fertility forum are blurring the boundaries of rabbinic authority and expanding the scope of Orthodox Judaism by making a safe space for women to voice their concerns and questions regarding infertility. Jewrotica’s communal discourse and framing also stresses how the Internet is making a safe space for orthodox women as well as all Jewishly-interested people to explore their sexuality. However, Jewrotica is partially using an ingenious discourse to justify their technology use outside the reach of rabbinic authority. It is using rabbinic discourse itself. Jewrotica is claiming that what they are doing is deeply entrenched within rabbinic Judaism as it takes Talmudic discourse as one of its forerunners. One example of such framing and discourse comes from Monica Osborne, a Jewrotica user:

It has never been the Jewish way to avoid talking about sexuality. Even the Torah abounds with narratives of sex and desire. […] And the Talmudic rabbis engaged in vigorous discourse about everything from how to conduct oneself if a woman begins to menstruate during intercourse to whether or not the Yeshiva boy hiding under his teacher’s bed during lovemaking acted inappropriately. But like most good Talmudic discussions, the ones pertaining to sex often remain open-ended. (20)

By reaching back into the rabbinic tradition and discursively portraying it as one filled with open-ended discussions about sexuality, the communal framing of the online, anonymous, instantaneous, and not easily monitored Jewrotica can justify itself and its use of digital media since it is actually reinforcing already established rabbinic traditions of open and open-ended discussions of sexuality. By using this type of communal framing and discourse, Osborne is portraying Jewrotica as a digital Judaism that is not in actuality pushing the boundaries of rabbinic Judaism. Rather, Jewrotica is being depicted as bolstering them and honoring age-old rabbinic discursive traditions about sex.

Another example frames Jewrotica within a more general discussion of Judaism as a whole rather than within specifically rabbinic and Talmudic discursive practices. David Abitbol states that with Jewrotica he and his fellow community members wanted to “inspire conversation about great ways to project and manifest Judaism. While some of our material is admittedly a little risqué, Jewrotica is really all about inspiring conversation about the scope and nature of Judaism” (21). Here Jewrotica and new media are framed as somewhat pushing the boundaries of sexual propriety, but purporting that the reality of Jewrotica is in providing inspiration about the essence and the future of Judaism in general. With this discourse and framing Abitbol is able to assuage fears related to the promiscuity of Jewrotica enabled by new media technologies. This discourse frames Jewrotica as a new digital Judaism, but one that promotes and inspires the conversation about Judaism itself, staying neatly within the confines of established patterns of Jewish conversational behavior.

A final example comes from Ayo Oppenheimer herself. In this example, Oppenheimer reaches out to the users who are not orthodox. Tellingly, she frames Jewrotica as a place that respects traditional discourse on sexuality, especially the ritual sanctification of sexuality within marriage, but that there is also room for those who rather see sexual traditions and rituals metaphorically:

For those who are less fond of the strictures of traditional Judaism and the dictates of marital relations, the ritual practices that govern physical interaction can be understood metaphorically as a framework to elevate sexuality. Many Jewish communities encourage individuals to personalize their Judaism. So, even if you aren’t “waiting until marriage” and immersing in a ritual bath, you can still take the Jewish value of sanctification and apply it to your life in a way that feels right for you. (22)

In this discourse Jewrotica is framed as a digital Judaism that reaches into the depths of the sanctity of sexuality within Jewish tradition, but from a metaphorical and personalized point of view instead of a strictly legalistic and binding stance. Here, instead of framing the community of users of Jewrotica as continuing in the rabbinic and Talmudic discursive traditions where rabbis decide on the normative behavior allowed within the marital bed or where rabbis demand that Jews wait to immerse themselves in their sexuality until they are married and properly purified in the ritual bath, Jewrotica is framed as a Jewish community like so many other Jewish communities that foster personal pathways within the tradition. In this framing, authoritative rabbis have disappeared and have been replaced by a ‘feel good’ Judaism where each individual applies Jewish tradition in the way that feels right to them at any given moment.

By using the RSST method to analyze the form of Jewrotica’s communal framing and discourse, post-rabbinic and post-denominational theological functions come to light. A spectrum of discourses is used to justify Jewrotica’s online presence to a diverse family of users. A discourse that implies that Jewrotica is following in an age-old rabbinic and Talmudic discursive tradition allows more orthodox users to feel at home in this digital forum. However, this discourse ingeniously inserts post-rabbinic and post-denominational functions into Jewrotica’s digital theology. It relies on the understanding that Talmudic discourse is open-ended and unafraid of facing sexual taboos. Yet it seamlessly hands over this discursive tradition to anyone who wants to use it, contradicting its original intention for rabbinic use only. In this way, the discourse enables non-authoritarian functions, allowing anyone to be part of the theological discussion of sexuality, not just established institutions or rabbinic authorities. The discourse that implies that the somewhat risqué digital boundaries of Jewrotica remain neatly within the established Jewish community enables non-localized theological functions. It is not important where conversations take place, whether online or offline, nor is it important that the conversation is somewhat about sexuality.

What is important is that through this digital media, Jews and non-Jews alike are able to link together for inspiring and meaningful conversation about the essence of Judaism itself. In the last piece of discourse, Oppenheimer lithely and seamlessly leaps between a traditional rabbinic discourse on sexuality to a framing of Jewrotica as a ‘feel good’ Judaism that enables post – denominational and post – rabbinic functions. As a caring leader of the multi-faceted group of users of Jewrotica, she inspires non-orthodox Jews and others to create their own theological pathway regarding sexuality instead of passively consuming it from rabbinic authorities. She encourages each individual to make their own personal framework for sexuality integrating Jewish tradition in whatever way and wherever they see fit. The form of these discursive practices and the form of the digital Judaism of Jewrotica are enabling a range of post-denominational and post-rabbinic functions to infuse the digital religious culture surrounding Jewrotica and its disparate family of users.

1.Peyser, Andrea. “Inside Jewrotica’s ‘Sexiest Rabbis of 2013.’” New York Post. 20 January 2014. Web. 14 April 2014. http://nypost.com/2014/01/20/inside-jewroticas-sexiest-rabbis-of-2013 Web.

2. Ibid.

3.Johnson, Bob. “’Jewrotica’ Website Launches.” XBIZ. 25 October 2012. Web. 31 March 2014. http://www.xbiz.com/news/155810. Web.

4. Boyarin, Daniel. Carnal Israel: Reading Sex in Talmudic Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993. Print.

5. Berman, Saul J. “Kol ‘Isha.” Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein Memorial Volume. Ed. Leo Landman. New York: Ktav Publishing House, 1980. 45 – 66. Print.

6. ck. “The Jewrotica Interview: Ayo Oppenheimer.” Jewlicious. 31 January 2013. Web. 31 March 2014. http://www.jewlicious.com/2013/01/the-jewrotica-interview-ayo-oppenheimer. Web.

7. Woolf, Aviva. “50 Shades of Jew.” Mitzpeh. 2 December 2012. Web. 31 March 2014. https://jewrotica.org/about-jewrotica/press/50-shades-of-jew. Web.

8. Ibid.

9. Campbell, Heidi. “Community.” Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New Media Worlds. Ed. Heidi Campbell. Oxon: Routledge, 2013. 57 – 71. Print.; When Religion Meets New Media. Oxon: Routledge, 2010. Print.

10. Ibid

11. Ibid

12. Newman, Jay. Religion and Technology: A Study in the Philosophy of Culture. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1997. Print.

13. Campbell, Heidi. “Community.” Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New Media Worlds. Ed. Heidi Campbell. Oxon: Routledge, 2013. 57 – 71. Print.; When Religion Meets New Media. Oxon: Routledge, 2010. Print.

14.Jewrotica/Testimonials. Web. 27 March 2014. https://jewrotica.org/about-jewrotica/testimonial. Web.

15. Arbeit, Mimi. “The Debrief: Making Jewish Sexuality Both Public and Private.” Jewish Boston. 11 June 2013. 31 March 2014. http://www.jewishboston.com/Mimi-Arbeit/blogs/5036-the-debrief-making-jewish-sexuality-both-public-and-private. Web.

16. Jewrotica/The Good Stuff. Web. 8 June 2014. https://jewrotica.org/the-good-stuff. Web.

17. Campbell, Heidi. “Community.” Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New Media Worlds. Ed. Heidi Campbell. Oxon: Routledge, 2013. 57 – 71. Print.; When Religion Meets New Media. Oxon: Routledge, 2010. Print.

18. Ibid

19. Ibid

20. Osborne, Monica. “Let’s Blog About Sex.” The Jewish Daily Forward. The Sisterhood: where jewish women converse, 12 December 2012. Web. 31 March 2014. http://blogs.forward.com/sisterhood-blog/167516/let-s-blog-about-sex. Web.

21. The Jerusalem Post. “Women of the Wall’s Susan Silverman named one of ‘sexiest’ rabbis by Jewrotica.” 31 December 2013. Web. 27 March 2014.http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-Features/Women-of-the-Walls-Susan-Silverman-named-one-of-sexiest-rabbis-by-Jewrotica-336636. Web.

22. ck. “The Jewrotica Interview: Ayo Oppenheimer.” Jewlicious. 31 January 2013. Web. 31 March 2014. http://www.jewlicious.com/2013/01/the- jewrotica-interview-ayo-oppenheimer. Web.