tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post5936292937937395092..comments2024-01-01T01:47:59.449+02:00Comments on Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: Reflections on Jewish Law, the Jewish Nation, and a DatabaseYaacovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835192312242961481noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-3719871106986338372014-06-01T13:19:13.936+03:002014-06-01T13:19:13.936+03:00Yaacov, I agree with your technological view of Je...Yaacov, I agree with your technological view of Jewish communications.<br />The communication of questions and answers between communities, carried by travellers is essentially similar to the store and forward method of email or even simple IP routing. For example a question arises in one of the Jewish community in Spain in the 9th century. The rabbi writes down the question and it is carried via merchants travelling through the communities of the Mediterranean until it reaches Iraq. It is opened on the way and comments and additions are made. The question is discussed and an answer is framed in Sura or Pumbedita and then sent back to the community which originated the question.<br />If you look at a page of Gemara, you have hypertext, many years before it was invented by Xerox. If I remember correctly, the idea was that of the non Jewish printer in Italy who first printed the Talmud. <br />When we read the Torah on weekdays, I always get a kick out of the fact there are at least three generations of communications media involved: the Torah scroll, printed books and looking at the text on your smartphone/computer. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com