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So what's all this hoopla about Jewish Web/Net Week? Why should people care?

Well, the answer is simple. The online event, which begins Sunday, is a celebration of what the Jewish community has achieved in cyberspace.

For those who are online, the event is a time to look at the wealth of Jewish content, interactivity and creativity that currently exists on the Internet.

For those who are not online, it is a time to kvell at what Jews have accomplished in a new medium. We've cornered our niche in cyberspace — something we failed to do in radio and TV.

We at the Bulletin are especially proud of our pioneering efforts in the infancy of cyberspace. In August 1995 we became the first weekly Jewish newspaper to put our entire publication on the Web every week. The Bulletin is being read at http://www.jewish.com/jb by thousands of people from all over the world.

In addition, we took a much larger and visionary step. Two and a half years ago, we approached a then-small company called America Online with a proposal to build a Jewish site there.

We launched our Jewish Community area at Keyword: JEWISH on AOL in December 1995. Since then, AOL has grown to be the largest online service with more than 11 million members. And our Jewish Community area is booming. It has become one of the top 50 sites on AOL. Each month more than 165,000 AOL members spend nearly 90,000 hours online with us.

We are proud to join with our fellow online Jewish pioneers next week to celebrate Jewish Web/Net week.