[Avodah] FaceBook and Elul

[Micha Berger]

>From <http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/facebook-inspired-repentance>
by R Elie Klein, posted yesterday (3-Sep-2012):

    ...
    On December 22, 2011, Facebook introduced its new profile user
    interface, Facebook Timeline. For a while, users were able to choose
    whether or not they wanted to adopt the new format. But after several
    months, Facebook began spreading the word that resistance was futile
    -- all pages would have to adopt Timeline. Whether they wanted to
    or not.
    ...
    While I still cannot stand the "ticker" feature (if I wanted to look
    at a ticker feed all day, I would have traded stocks), I must say
    that I have come to genuinely appreciate Timeline. There are two
    main reasons.

    First, it had always been very difficult finding old posts. ...

    Second, Timeline has helped me prepare for the High Holy Days.

    Confused? Appalled? Read on.

    As far back as I can remember, the Jewish month of Elul was a
    perplexing time for me. In anticipation of the High Holy Days,
    teachers, rabbis and other assorted figures of authority would exhort
    the importance of introspection and repentance, but the methods they
    explained and the examples they used never really spoke to me. For
    example, they almost always parroted the famous phrase that begins
    the second chapter of "Ethics of our Fathers:"

	"Know what is above you -- a seeing eye, a hearing ear, and all
	of your deeds written down in a book." (Pirkei Avot 2:1)

    While the concept lies at the very core of our belief system,
    the image of a book didn't resonate with me. I am not saying that I
    dismissed it -- I believe it to be the absolute truth. It's just that
    the image didn't help me get into an introspective mood. "After all,"
    I thought, "even the most important books are shelved and forgotten
    at some point."

    What did work was adding multimedia to the equation.
    ...

    As I see it, Timeline takes it to the next level.

    Take a look at your Facebook Timeline and then imagine that it
    is your actual timeline, every moment of your life from birth to
    death clearly documented in text, photos and videos. Imagine that
    you are on the witness stand defending every moment of your life --
    unable to deny a single thing because everything is in an easy-to-use
    chronological filing system.

    (This may, in fact, be the exact image that the sages hoped to conjure
    by referring to that ominous "book." But I believe that even Rabbi
    Yohanan Ben Zakkai would agree that an upgrade is warranted if it does
    the trick to jumpstart our generation's teshuva [atonement] process.)

    So, as we approach the Days of Awe be sure to keep the following in
    mind: Just as you wouldn't post a status on your Facebook Timeline
    that you didn't want everyone to see and have easy access to for
    eternity, you shouldn't do or say anything in the "real world" that
    you wouldn't want opposing counsel to effortlessly produce via your
    life's timeline on Judgment Day.

    Food for thought.

    Dip it in honey, digest it and have a sweet new year.