Weekly Jewish Wisdom: Tweeting Judaism

by Dr. Erica Brown

"Take hold of ink, pen and tablet. Realize that you are about to serve your God in joy. Begin to combine letters, a few or many, permuting and revolving them rapidly until your mind warms up. Delight in how they move..."
-Abraham Abulafia

Rabbi Abraham Abulafia (1240-1291) was one of the most colorful Jewish mystics. He was a wanderer and a teacher who is associated with the prophetic school of mysticism. Like most kabbalists, he believed in the holiness of Hebrew letters as the building blocks of creation. God created the world with words in Genesis. Human beings construct worlds with words as well. Believing that letters are holy is a natural outcome of this divine project and one that makes us take language more seriously.

The quote above, found in Daniel Matt's Essential Kabbalah, made me wonder how medieval kabbalists would react to Twitter. Just imagine Abulafia's tweets! How would he combine letters to create meaning? If you read the quote carefully, you find an emphasis on the joy of the process. Something remarkable is taking place in the mind as we think about the relationship of one letter to another.

Yesterday was historic in the world of social media networking. President Obama conducted his first town meeting via Twitter, tweeting out his messages in 140 character sound bytes. It is fair to say that for all the attention Twitter got, it reinforces the problem of oversimplifying complex issues. This is precisely the point made by a contemporary rabbi, Donniel Hartman of the Shalom Hartman Institute, in his recent article "Can You Twitter Judaism?" He wisely observes that, "The journey of a meaningful Jewish life needs a wide bandwidth."

He wonders how we will deepen Jewish life and compete in the marketplace of ideas without knowledge, time and commitment. In his words:

We have begun to master the art of condensing the Jewish message, so that it is communicable through a narrow bandwidth, short-term experiences, and brief social media exposures. The problem, however, is that the message, even if received, is not significant enough and compelling enough to attract ongoing interest and generate long-term commitment.

And yet, in a comment on his article, one reader challenges Hartman's thinking in a compelling way:  "Asking whether Judaism is a twitterable religion is fruitless. Judaism is being tweeted. Right now. As I`m writing this. I have my tweetdeck open and am watching tweets stream by written by Jewish who are experiencing some aspect of their Judaism online."

I don't believe that Judaism can be captured succinctly. But it can entice with only a letter or two and drag us deeper into its spell, even in only 140 characters. If we construct worlds with words and words are constructed with letters then each letter counts. And maybe this letter limitation will force us to invest more meaning and intention with each word we select.  

In that spirit, I have created a Twitter account @DrEricaBrown (every other variation of Erica Brown was taken). I will be tweeting a question or thought about spiritual growth for every day of the Three Weeks, beginning on July 19th. This time period forces us to look back on Jewish history's tragedies, particularly the destruction of ancient Jerusalem and its Temples. Maybe, just maybe, we can rebuild what we've lost - one word at a time.

Shabbat Shalom