After two years of work and with the help of a $100,000 grant from the Covenant Foundation, which supports Jewish education, Kolel: The Adult Centre for Liberal Jewish Learning has launched an interactive educational website (openbook.kolel.org).
Project Open Book, which went online at the end of April, features hundreds of pages of online learning accessible through four “gates”: the Gate of Torah, the Gate of Jewish Life, the Gate of Family and the Gate of Women.
Kolel’s approach is pluralistic, and materials have been vetted by three rabbis and a team of beta testers who span the denominational spectrum.
“We wanted to make sure everyone would find it acceptable, and that no one would find it denominationally offensive,” Kolel director Rabbi Elyse Goldstein told The CJN.
Existing Kolel courses as well as material created specifically for the website are included in the material.
Curriculum and content were provided by Rabbi Goldstein; Rabbi Michael Shekel, executive director of the Toronto Board of Rabbis; and Baruch Sienna, Kolel faculty member and website project manager.
The site, which Sienna created, is not intended to replace classes, however. “There’s nothing like a live teacher,” Rabbi Goldstein said.
She noted that in the first week the site was up, there were hits from Peru, Colombia, Australia, Idaho, Boston, New York, Toronto and Ottawa.
“Jews in small towns are definitely using it,” said Rabbi Goldstein. In large cities, she added, Jewish educators and rabbis are using the site.
To qualify for the funding grant, Kolel had to prove there was a need for the project, Rabbi Goldstein said. She added that most other online Jewish learning is from a single denominational perspective and/or less extensive than the new website.
Backing the organization’s claim that its project was needed were e-mails from people who had used Kolel’s earlier website to study the weekly Torah portion and wanted further resources or who lived in a small town and requested more information, or from people who were interested in converting but lived many kilometres away from the nearest rabbi and wanted to start learning about Judaism, Rabbi Goldstein said.
The grant funded the creation of the website and its launch, including media ads, but does not fund the site’s upkeep, she added. “We’re looking for funding.”
She noted that more and more rabbis are putting their sermons online and that, recently, Kolel students who attend in-person classes have been able to access missed sessions online by using a password.
“We feel really strongly that [online learning] is the wave of the future.”
