Judaic Studies: Websites

has a strong Orthodox and right-wing flare. A big collection of Jewish music-everything from “Hinei Ma Tov” to that religious classic, “If I Were a Rich Man”– and rudimentary children’s games. And there’s a big collection of the kind of jokes you might hear if you hung around Brooklyn for a while.

The best holiday coverage of any Jewish site, and it also plugs you into Chabad activities around the world.

A Web ‘zine with outstanding features on Jewish family life.

The Jerusalem-based site has a strong focus on Israel. Includes the much-esteemed Kotel Kam, which lets you keep an eye on the Western Wall. Good stuff on food, families and holidays, as well. And a fee-based matchmaking service for the unattached. Easy way to locate specialty Internet publications.

Entertainment, media, food, families and finance, matchmaking and chat rooms galore.

Offbeat, fascinating site blending support for the peace process with the Chicago blues. Listen to album samples before purchasing the album.

Everything from music of the Jews of Uganda to traditional cantorial selections to a “Reggae Passover” CD. Easy online ordering, and–best of all–lots of sound clips.

Ooffers an astonishing amount of information about the music and its practitioners, laid out for easy access. A good search engine, links to bands and other Klezmer Web sites, reviews with sound clips and classified ads.

Expelled from Spain in 1492 and from Portugal in 1497, the Sephardic Jews took with them their unique language called Ladino, also refered to as Judeo-Spanish, Judesmo, or Sephardi. Today, this language is a combination of archaic form of Castilian Spanish that contains elements of Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, Turkish, Greek, French, Portuguese, Bulgarian, and Italian. The population of Ladino speakers is so small that Ladino is a UNESCO endangered language. Although few people today speak Ladino, the importance of the language to the Sephardic culture is apparent in the preservation of the music since the time of the expulsion. Artists like Flory Jagoda, Alberto Hemsi, and Judy Frankel are just a few of the artists who dedicated their lives to preserving the oral traditions of the Sephardic communities by writing down and recording their songs and stories.

Offers serious Jewish learning in the form of online courses and individual seminars on special topics. Classes are available for all levels of learners.

At the University of Calgary, is a one-man Jewish learning center. Come here to get basic and easily digestible instruction on Judaism from an Orthodox perspective.

Is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studies. JTS Library is one of the most significant collections of Judaica in the world.

This U.K.-based service dealing with kosher issues in Asia is the place to go if you dig kosher Oriental food. Recipes for Chinese, Laotian, Burmese and Malaysian dishes are just a start. But a quirky site; sometimes, links don’t load.

Offers a good worldwide directory of kosher businesses, especially restaurants. Mostly in this country, a few overseas.

No kosher grocery nearby? Then check out this site for online shopping.

Lots of basic information, including excellent learning materials geared to all levels. But the kashrut resources are what sets this page apart. Naturally, lots of info on certification, as well as consumer alerts.

Ruth’s Kitchen aims to sell Healthy, nutritious, delicious falafel and Middle Eastern salads, Using fresh ingredients. Ruth’s kitchen aims to produce authentic dishes as served in the old city of Jerusalem with her own twists on the recipes

Filled with music and terrific pictures, and an outstanding biography of the composer. Listen to audio clips of his famous songs.

This website is dedicated to the man who was known as The World's Greatest Entertainer, a superstar before the word was coined, and whose musical heritage created much of the entertainment industry we know today. With text, photos, music and more, here is the source to learn about Al Jolson, the master showman of American theatre, whose career spanned fifty years of American Music history. If you have never heard Jolson, you are in for a treat, as many of these pages contain excerpts from some of his most popular or memorable songs.

Fans, almost all male, love these Jewish clowns; mothers universally hate them. Everything you ever wanted to know about the Jewish vaudevillians who infected generations of kids with eye-pokes and “Nyuk, nyuk nyuks.” Plus message boards and a chat area.

Your resource for all things Jewish dating
Articles, advice, insights, success stories and everything you need to stay inspired.

Geek City. Not as flashy as the other sites, but somehow seems more genuine; participants here write their own personal ads, instead of filling out huge questionnaires. And membership is cheaper than most.

follows the model of Amazon.com: books and music, arranged for easy browsing and searching, plus “Mitzvawear.” Decent descriptions of the products plus easy online ordering make this site a winner.

Looking for out-of-print Yiddish books? Books on Jewish mysticism, history, literature? Old Hebrew books? Henry’s your guy. The San Francisco book shop lets you browse titles, although there’s no online ordering.

the pro-Israel lobby, is a pioneer in the area of Jewish cyber-activism. Check out their site for info on current Mideast issues and on how you can get involved. They make it easy to contact your representatives on Capitol Hill.

Jews for Judaism strengthens and preserves Jewish identity by responding to religious coercion, promoting critical thinking skills, and providing spiritual guidance and support.

Information on the Holocaust camps, people, antisemitism, perpetrators, Nuremberg Trials, articles, organizations, etc.

Allows the user to convert dates from Hebrew to Gregorian calendars and vice versa. Essential for historians!

An online calculator for finding the value of a word or a phrase in gematria, but it also searches for more phrases and words equals in gematria value to the searched element.