Friday, October 11, 2013

The Internet is for...

Dear Friends,

It is gratifying for any rabbi to get positive feedback on his/her High Holy Day sermons. After all, we rabbis spend a lot of time crafting these messages and we wouldn't be human if we didn’t enjoy hearing from people afterwards that they loved one or another of the sermons or found them meaningful. But, as much as we rabbis want people to like our sermons, it is even more gratifying when we learn that people have taken the message of a sermon to heart, have discussed it with others, and have been inspired to do something that makes a difference in their lives.

With this in mind I want to thank you for the many comments I received about my Rosh Hashanah morning sermon on the impact of electronic media on our lives today. Now I want to urge you to take an action which could make a difference in your life and the life of your family. This Sunday at 10:00 a.m. in the Temple social hall, Dr. Richard Gallagher will be giving a talk on how to be an electronic media savvy parent. (Both the talk and bagel breakfast are free!) Dr. Gallagher is a clinical psychologist and an associate professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the NYU School of Medicine and a member of the NYU Child Study Center. He has spoken widely on this topic, advising parents on how to deal with their children's increasing exposure to social networking sites, movies, TV, video games and more.

When we hear the term “electronic media” we tend to think of teenagers and their phones. But, in fact, such media includes the videos watched and games played by children as young as toddlers. This program is for parents and grandparents of children of all ages. We need to understand on a deeper level what is going on with our kids and grandkids and learn what kind of measures we can take to help them lead healthier intellectual, emotional and spiritual lives.

Hope to see you this Sunday!

Shabbat Shalom,
Jordan

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