The Ohr Somayach E-Library
Do you think todays typical Jew spends more time in the synagogue or on the Internet?
If you chose the Internet then youre thinking like a rabbi.
Because thats what Ohr Somayach is thinking as well.
And its for this reason that Ohr Somayach created the Ohr Somayach E-Library almost a decade ago. Just as it pioneered advanced Jewish education for the unaffiliated college student and young adult travelling in Israel in the early 1970s, The Ohr Somayach E-Library is at the forefront of educating people who travel across the World Wide Webs information highway during the 21st Century. This state of the art tool educates and titillates the imagination of over 300,000 people who visit the E-Library every month, while helping them connect to our Torah in the place they visit most often the Internet.
Today, the Ohr Somayach E-Library plays a central role in Ohr Somayachs tremendous success in Jewish outreach. It contains billions of bytes of information (thats tens of thousands of pages) covering the entire spectrum of Jewish knowledge. The Ohr Somayach E-Library delves into Jewish history and explores the expanse of our peoples culture. The wisdom of the ages, while being presented in a clear modern idiom, is applied to every possible contemporary issue.
Every week over 30,000 people receive its electronic publications, which are then added to the Internet E-Librarys archives. And over 250,000 electronic publications are distributed through secondary sources.
Explore Judaism at our E-College
The E-College archives are extensive, including fascinating articles on the major and minor Jewish holidays. You can explore exactly what are the 613 commandments. And have you ever wondered, do the commandments have reasons and how should we approach understanding G-ds will? Why not study the Jewish dietary laws on our Kashrut page: what makes one type of food kosher and another not? What are the spiritual underpinnings and reasoning behind the different details in the dietary rules? Of course, if you want to study the crux of the matter, you can study why Jews believe in G-d. Or if youd just like to remember all the books of the bible, and/or whats the relationship between famous Jewish books like the Talmud, the Mishna and the Gemara, then study a flow chart of Jewish scholarship. Visit our marriage center to learn about the customs of a Jewish wedding or how to explain to someone why they should marry a Jew. Or read what Mark Twain had to say about the Jewish people with a cartoon commentary to support his famous thought.
Receive E-Publications and Visit the Archives
You can read inspiring articles on current events and the weekly Torah portion. You can investigate some of the answers to thousands of "impossible to answer" questions from Jews and many non-Jews from around the world in "Ask Jewish Information Resource", and better yet, send your question, the one youve always wanted answered. There are fascinating human interest stories, stories and facts to bind us to the land of Israel, and practical ways to deal with common ethical dilemmas. From the mysterious to the mystical and from seemingly minor details about customs to crucial life and death medical issues, the wisdom of the ages travels over the 21st Centurys most powerful educational medium to an incredibly diverse and practically unlimited audience. You can subscribe to any of these columns via e-mail, and many others in a list of more than a dozen publications. Or you can subscribe to just about all of them with OhrNet, our weekly e-magazine, with just one click.
Peruse Jewish Culture
And the award-winning Ohr Somayach E-Library isnt just packed with facts. The full gamut of creativity of Ohr Somayach students is available: original comic strips, a sort of Jewish Dennis the Menace, with a funny yet spiritual message, beautiful fine art photography, exquisite original poetry and just plain fun with good Jewish humor. There are even entire books for free on-line published by our alumni and scholars-in-residence.
Hear Ohr Somayach Lectures
And if you want to virtually transport yourself to Ohr Somayachs Jerusalem campus, visit our tape catalogue with thousands of listings, and purchase a wide variety of tapes recorded over the last 20 years by the worlds most outstanding team of Jewish educators. You can even listen to our growing selection of on-line digital classes that can be downloaded and heard right on your computer or MP3 player.
And if you test your Jewish IQ and score well, how about visiting The Ohr Somayach E-Librarys Talmud and Daf Yomi page, which is appreciated by scholars and laymen alike.
The vast reach of the E-Library facilitates the successful recruitment of hundreds of new students and seriously needed charitable dollars because after the Ohr Somayach E-Library inspires people, with just one click, they can apply or make a donation to Ohr Somayach.
The Ohr Somayach E-Library reaches Jews all over the world, even in areas of the world that no single synagogue or movement could ever dream of reaching.
