The Talmud and the Internet: A Journey Between Worlds
The Talmud and the Internet, in which Jonathan Rosen examines the contradictions of his inheritance as a modern American and a Jew, is a moving and exhilarating meditation on modern technology and ancient religious impulses. Blending memoir, religious history and literary reflection Rosen explores the remarkable parallels between a page of Talmud and the homepage of a web site, and reflects on the contrasting lives and deaths of his American and European grandmothers.
—Frank Kermode, The New York Times Book Review
Readers of any religion should find The Talmud and the Internet fascinating.
— Herbert Mitgang, Chicago Tribune
“The Talmud and the Internet is a lyrical meditation about the quest to illuminate what has come before us in order to live wisely….[It] is a journey not only between worlds but among the great questions and the great souls who have considered life’s purpose amid often horrifying evidence.”
— Los Angeles Times
“Once in a great while you will come upon a little book which signals instant recognition: that it has the quality of permanence, that just as you cherished it in the reading, so will newer generations. Jonathan Rosen’s The Talmud and the Internet is such a book.”
— Cynthia Ozick
“Reading and re-reading Rosen’s little book I found myself thinking, to my own surprise, of E.M. Forster….All through this humane and gentle book one is reminded of the famous epigraph of Forster’s Howard’s End: ‘Only connect.’ Connecting is a practice encouraged by both the Talmud and Internet, and by Jonathan Rosen as well.”