Recent events related to Google’s WebM release and their proprietary competitors’ threats for retaliation, led to multiple heated discussions regarding openness of the Web and whether open standards and Web freedom are essential for society.

It’s interesting to note what Jewish sources say about this issue. One might think that such modern technology subject probably can’t even appear in traditional sources, however it is not so. A closely related issue is extensively discussed from philosophical and mystical perspective in a known and esteemed source of Jewish thought – Seyfer HaBris written by Rabbi Pinchas Eliyohu of Vlino – a renowned Kabbalist and Jewish thinker of 18th century.

In a section called “Ahavas Re’im” (reference to the commandment of love for one’s neighbours) the author points out a Kabbalistic concept, that all humanity is essentially one big organism, interconnected in particular by verbal communication which is based on words and letters (which in modern technical terms can be called a global net of information channels). In order for this macrocosmic man to function properly, all organs should function in unison, which in translation to  human relations possible only when there is love amongst neighbours. Reb Pinchos Eliyohu goes on to say, that such global network based on loving one’s neighbour is conductive for the spiritual revelation of ruach hakoydesh – i.e. mystical perception of higher reality:

Today, Internet serves as a global information network, connecting a major part of humanity with myriads of information channels. However one can figure out, that when these channels themselves serve as a tool for control and domination and as a method of fulfilling one’s greed – they don’t contribute to the goal which Seyfer HaBris outlines, because they are not conductive for ahavas re’im. Thus Open Web is actually an essential part of spiritual progress.

Popularity: 38% [?]

Open Web, ruach hakoydesh, WebM Hide

I was looking for a long time for a possibility to print out blessings and prayers from Internet. At last, there is such service, which provides a possibility to create custom prayer and blessings’ set.

Buildaprayer.org helps to create your own set prayers, blessings and psalms

Thanks to the link to paraisrael.com.
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Popularity: 10% [?]

blessings, book, prayer, web Hide

It’s about a week since Google added new feature to gmail – Buzz.
And I am sure, that you’ve heard about privacy concerns on this new social networking tool.
I won’t speak here on concerns, this was done perfectly by Ian Paul at MSNBC. But what I do want to speak about is Jewish attitude towards Google Buzz.
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Popularity: 17% [?]

buzz, gmail, google, loshn oro, privacy Hide

In the end of December The Jewish Chronicle wrote an article “Rabbi’s Skype exorcism“.

A renowned Israeli master of kabbalah, Rabbi Dovid Batzri, has attempted to remove a dybbuk, or disembodied spirit, from a Brazilian man via the internet.

A video posted on Charedi website ladaat.net, shows Rabbi Batzri, surrounded by dozens of supporters, reciting kabbalistic verses and praying for the exorcism of the dybbuk. He connected with the possessed man via Skype.

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Popularity: 16% [?]

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Matzav reported that a number of chareidi-related websites answered on directive of gedolei Yisroel to close all web activities related to chareidi community.

I see no problem for KosherDev.com and will promise you that will do my best to continue working on this project.

What I wanted to hear is your opinion, dear readers of KosherDev.com.

Popularity: 18% [?]

chareidi, gdoilim, web Hide

It is about two and a half months since I started kosherdev.com. And I’d like to share some interesting statistics with you. Sure, “Big brother is watching you” and I know about every click on this site. Google analytics helps me a lot.
Today, I want to show visitors’ browser trends.
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Popularity: 100% [?]

analytics, chrome, firefox, google, internet explorer, linux, site, windows Hide

I decided to make a separate post on topic, which came from questions asked by Oron here.
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Popularity: 9% [?]

halakha, open-source, proprietary, software Hide

My primary higher education is a teacher English and History of World Culture.
My English is good enough for the work I do for life (at least I hope so). But my studies in History of World Culture move to Jewish side more and more.

It is about 3 years, since I started research on source of WEB 2.0 in World Culture. I discovered, that the most recent example of WEB 2.0 phenomenon is Talmud. But let’s talk about everything step-by-step.
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Popularity: 4% [?]

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For the beginning, the Simpsons movie. For those, who don’t want to watch the whole move, there is a short scene with Marge (2:55 – 5:10), which demonstrates the problems with skipping ads on TV.
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Popularity: 6% [?]

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To write this post I was inspired by this e-mail thread. It is really funny to hear from adepts of free software religious intolerant speeches. And I have got a question: is it kosher enough to write open-source programs?
In addition, I was thinking for a long time about halakhic aspects of Open-source in general. My rabbi told me once an example of halakhic issue:
If a rabbi opens a synagogue on a street and earns money for lending it to study Torah, then no one can open another on that street and especially for free.
In our case free software takes earnings from those, who live for that.
I propose to talk not about opposition Windows vs Linux, but about our, Jewish software.
There are a lot of closed source applications, which are provided for money, or supported by donations. Is there a problem to create open-source alternative software? Don’t we steel money from those, who live on it?

as an example, Kaluach.com distributes synagogue wall display program for a pretty big amount of money. Me personally, I don’t see any problem with earning money for programming (I cannot agree with Stallman to free absolutely all software). But the question is: can I create free-of-charge program, which will concur with Kaluach’s program?

Popularity: 45% [?]

halakha, linux, open-source, win32 Hide