New York, NY – Preparing for Passover? There’s an app for that. Several, actually.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Jewish technophiles have created a host of online and iPhone applications that put a modern spin on the traditional Seder meals, storytelling and singing associated with the weeklong celebration.
The iMah Nishtanah app helps users ask the ‘four questions’ in perfect Hebrew, with a record mode that lets them rehearse the readings and songs before going public at the Seder.
“Mobile devices are a perfect platform for language acquisition,” said Jeremy Poisson of Behrman House, a publishing house that helped develop this and other Hebrew programs. “The mobility allows users to learn, play, or practice anywhere.”
Even the plagues have gone viral, thanks to a group of rabbis using Twitter to tell the Passover story through messages, with dialogue and links tailored for the program’s 140-character limit.
More than 1,100 followers have signed up to receive “Tweet the Exodus” updates, which will culminate with the crossing of the Red Sea on March 29, just before the first Passover meal begins.
After seeing the Nile’s water turn to blood, the skies rain down frogs, lice and flies, and their cattle drop dead, responded to the ancient plague of “unhealable boils” with a sly nod to current events: “Our skin is boiling; turn up the AC! Oh no, that’s not helping… If only Pharoah provided universal health care ….”