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205 7. Web Resources The Internet offers an amazing assortment of commentaries on the weekly portions. It is a major resource for any parashah reader. There is something in cyberspace for everyone, no matter how you define yourself in relation to Jewish tradition or outlook and no matter what your level of Jewish literacy and background may be. When you click into a URL, you may, in some cases, have to browse a bit to find the link to the parashah commentaries they contain. Many sites offer commentaries written for the current week as well as archives from previous years catalogued by parashah. Some sites provide links of their own to other commentary Web locations. The result is an almost inexhaustible supply of material that will fuel your investigation now and into the future. Each of the major denominations offers websites that treat the parashah from its particular viewpoint. Many synagogues do the same, and so do many rabbis. The number of sites and URLs I could list here is indeterminate. But before you go surfing, I’ll make one suggestion: don’t mine the Web’s treasures until you have looked into some of the commentaries noted above. Here are a few URLs that I’ve found useful and/or interesting. They reflect my own proclivities. In time I hope you will compile your own list. It won’t take you long. 206 COMMENTARIES: A CONCISE GUIDE • myjewish learning.com: a comprehensive website that covers virtually every subject or issue relating to Judaism and the Jewish people, including the weekly Torah portions. The site is transdenominational. • kolel.org: a website maintained by Kolel, the Adult Center for Liberal Jewish Learning in Toronto. The discussions of the weekly portions are concise and at the same time substantial. The site also provides much other instructional material for parashah readers. • tanach.org: guided study of the weekly portions by the master teacher Rabbi Menachem Leibtag. He leads you systematically and thoroughly through the text and brings in a wide array of traditional commentaries. It may be too technical for some beginners , but it is a very rewarding site. It is sponsored by Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel. • hillel.org/jewish/thisweek: Discussions are authored by Hillel and campus rabbis from all over the continent. The site is sponsored by the Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Learning of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus life. It is transdenominational . • radicaltorah.org: a variety of approaches, all focusing on the social action implications of the portion being discussed. • e-parsha.com—The Electronic Torah Warehouse: If you want to see the big picture—and I do mean the big picture—as far as what the Web offers in the way of commentary and text, go to e-parsha.com. This meta-site may well be the eighth wonder of the world. It was compiled and is maintained by Rabbi Joshua Cypess, currently the rabbi of Young Israel in New Haven, Connecticut. e-parsha.com will direct you almost anywhere you want to go in the field of Torah commentary. Though the perspective is modern Orthodox, Cypess lists a huge array of websites of parashah commentaries from all over the spectrum, including those with non-Orthodox points of view, both institutional and individual. ...

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