thelordismyshepherd.Com: Seeking God in Cyberspace

Finding God on the Internet is the monumental task pursued by Hammerman, a Connecticut rabbi and journalist who has been addicted to his computer for the past five years, spending many night hours surfing the Web. His quest is sensitively set forth in this spiritual odyssey, which imaginatively blends mysticism, numerology and the Bible with modern technology. Hammerman organizes his search into three ""journeys"": ""Sacred geography,"" ""sacred morality"" and ""living in God's image."" He first makes virtual pilgrimages to Jerusalem, Mecca, Madurai in southern India, Chartres and Kosovo, interspersing each visit with biblical, Talmudic and personal references. His second ""journey"" involves an exploration of good and evil, using Internet search engines to locate sites such as www.goodvsevil.org. This brings him to some racist hate groups and to smut sites, without providing any satisfactory answer to the haunting question of why evil exists despite the omnipotence of God. Finally, he examines issues related to human kindness, visiting sites that help to locate missing children, discuss euthanasia and examine images of death. This leads him to identify ""divine qualities as manifested in human action"" such as visiting the sick, feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, caring for those with disabilities and promoting peace. He concludes that there is ""an overwhelming amount of holiness on the Web."" Hammerman's journeys delve thoughtfully into cyberspace, bringing together his extensive religious knowledge with the power of the computer. (Sept.)