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During the month of March, I will be publishing a daily proposal to transform the British Jewish community. Email your own idea (up to 350 words) to miriamshaviv@thejc.com
Today's idea comes from Rabbi Naftali Brawer: Create a virtual community
My idea to radically transform Jewish life in the UK is to create a “Community without Borders”. While those who live in selected pockets of Northwest London and other densely populated Jewish neighbourhoods enjoy a rich Jewish communal life, there are many Jews across the UK who do not share the benefits of belonging to a vibrant Jewish community.
Community without Borders (CWB) would address this problem by providing a virtual community on a website. The site would be a cross between facebook, Jdate and Jewish information websites.
Firstly, CWB will link in with existing Jewish sites which provide information on the Jewish calendar, festivals, Torah thoughts and a wide range of Jewish resources. However, unlike these sites where the viewer is a passive recipient of information, the CWB site will encourage interaction with other users.
This will be possible through CWB’s second feature, enabling each user to post a profile about themselves, as in Jdate and Facebook.
A third feature would be chatrooms where members can exchange ideas on a whole range of Jewish issues. These chatrooms might include a Virtual Jewish Kitchen where members could post Jewish recipes and ideas on entertaining; a Virtual Bet Midrash where users can debate and exchange torah ideas; a Virtual Shabbat Table where users can exchange thoughts on the past week and discuss the weekly Sidrah; and even a Virtual Seder Table where members can discuss ideas for the upcoming festival of Passover etc
Finally CWB will have a communal notice board on which members can post personal announcements pertaining either to simchahs or bereavements. Members will also be able to post special requests - for example, if a small community needs to borrow a Sefer Torah for an upcoming festival or someone to lead services. Members can also volunteer their skills and expertise.
The idea is that each of these four features will link into each other, so, for example, when member X posts a Shabbat recipe, a link to her profile will appear. Member Y who enjoyed the recipe can then be in touch with her on a personal basis. The same would be true for the virtual Bet Midrash: after reading a particularly interesting Torah thought you could follow up on a personal basis with the member who posted it. You might discover for example that there are other Jews in your neighbourhood and they are looking for someone to make up a minyan.
The underlying concept behind CWB is that it is to be a dynamic forum for Jews from all walks of life and geographical locations to discover, and connect with, each other. Unlike Facebook, the idea is not to remain secluded in a virtual world - but rather whenever possible to use the site as a springboard towards creating real face-to-face relationships.
Rabbi Naftali Brawer is rabbi of Elstree and Borehamwood synagogue
Check out our previous ideas: 12 - Turn Anglo-Jewry into a learning community 11 - Turn Shabbat into the Greenest day of the week 10 - Focus on people, not institutions 9 - Create an online platform for Jewish students, 8 - Appoint anti-antisemitism champions, 7 - Share our synagogues and community centres with other religions, 6 - Establish a Succah in Trafalgar Square, 5 - Create a 'community service' programme for young Jews, 4 - Recruit older people to volunteer for the community,3 - Establish a fund for the Jewish arts, 2 - Pay membership fees to your community, not your shul, 1 - Make 2010/11 the year of synagogue renewal