AJOPNET Established in 1989
AJOP was an early pioneer in explaining the uses of computer networks as an outreach tool at its earliest conventions. At all its early annual conventions, beginning in 1989, Gerald Weisberg AJOP's founding executive director, promoted workshops that introduced participants to the concept of a Bulletin Board System via "AJOPNET". A Task Force on New Technology was headed by an AJOP founding trustee Rabbi Yaacov Haber who had discovered the efficacy of BitNet newsgroups in spreading the teaching of a weekly Torah portion. Rabbi Haber as chairman of the task force spoke highly of his ability to reach people from his outpost as a community rabbi in far-off Buffalo, New York. In an AJOP newsletter, dated May-June 1989 the new technology is described as follows:
- Task Force on New Technology TFNT)
- AJOPNET Your Personal Outreach Resource Center
- ...Would you like to share a program that you have developed that is very effective with the rest of the kiruv community...Communicate with one person or the entire outreach community? AJOPNET can provide all of the above and more at almost no cost... AJOPNET uses a technology called "electronic mail," which allows each user to send messages back and forth to AJOP and each other through and international computer network... Contact us today if you would like to participate... The only equipment that is required is a personal computer of any kind equipped with a modem...
- ...Get "on line" for AJOPNET. (Installation of the modem, software, and on-site training is available through AJOP...)
Although originally constituted as a Bulletin Board System, Rabbi Yaakov Menken of Project Genesis prevailed upon AJOP to relaunch AJOPNET as an Electronic mailing list under his direction. Rabbi Menken presented his pioneering work at AJOP's early annual conventions, as was recognized by Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein another of AJOP's founding trustees. The project was ahead of times, and it would be another decade before use of the Internet for Jewish outreach would become widespread through sites such as Chabad.org, Torah.org and Aish.com.
Read more about this topic: Association For Jewish Outreach Programs
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