Local Reconstructionist Rabbi Jeffrey Schein is inviting readers to rethink what Jewish continuity looks like in a world shaped by smartphones, social media and digital culture. His new book, L’Dor Va-Dor in a Digital Age: An Interactive Guide to Future Thoughts and Creative Practice, offers what he calls a guidebook for navigating and sustaining Jewish life in the modern era.
“It brings together conversations at many different levels, among congregational governance leaders, among community ‘influencers’ and people who simply ‘belong’ to the community,” Schein said.
The book blends original research, real-life experiments and survey results to examine how technology reshapes relationships, rituals, and intergenerational learning.
Schein hopes readers walk away with a deeper understanding of how community structures, spiritual practice and digital platforms intertwine to shape Jewish continuity. He argues that the digital age hasn’t just changed how people interact, but who they interact with.
“Instead of a genuine intergenerational community, what we look for is…we call them ‘lifestyle enclaves,’ he said. “You know, we look for places we’re most comfortable. In my view, the ultimate echo chamber is a generational echo chamber where we end up with people of our own ages that reinforce our existence.,”
One major section of the book looks at the pandemic as a catalyst for technological adaptation. Schein highlights how congregations embraced digital tools, like Zoom to maintain connection, especially around Shabbat and services.
“What did we do interesting and different during COVID that involves technology that was part of the normal during COVID, and what we kept as part of the new normal,” he said. “I would say that maintaining Shabbat and services online has been kept.”
Schein also explores what he frames as the divide between the “Analog Jew” and the “Digital Jew,” a generational distinction shaped by exposure to technology.
“It’s a rough but still valuable demarcation of digital natives born after 1980 and digital immigrants born before 1980,” said Schein.
Another chapter plays with the idea of a modern-day advice column, drawing inspiration from the Bintel Brief, a Yiddish advice column from The Forward, once a daily Jewish paper based in New York, and now a digital-only publication.
“It was a request for help from someone in New York City in 1933 about his stubborn grandparents who insist on speaking Yiddish in public, even on Fifth Avenue. It’s a classic dilemma of acculturation,” Schein said.
Schein also takes on contemporary themes like polarization, urging readers to look beyond division.
“I go through the lines of polarization, and I suggest that the real future lies in all sorts of good things that bring people together across the political divide,” he said.
Another topic he addresses is how technology has transformed Jewish spaces and traditions, from dating platforms like J-Date to the growth of online Orthodox learning communities. These digital tools create new access points for advice, identity and guidance, sometimes in place of traditional rabbinic roles.
“I analyze what it means in Judaism to swipe left and dismiss a person as on Tinder,” Schein said.
Schein acknowledges the challenges of the digital age, but he is ultimately optimistic about the future of intergenerational Jewish life and how it grows and adapts as the modern digital era unfolds. As readers move through the book, Schein hopes they gain tools for navigating both the promise and the pitfalls of digital culture.
“In an age marked by profound despair and fragmentation, intergenerational approaches regarding life continue to offer even deeper wells of hope and resilience,”he said.
“The three things I hope people get out of the book are perspective, hope and resilience.”
