Usually Rabbi Dov Greenberg has to work hard to get Jewish men to lay tefillin at Stanford University, where he is the Chabad campus emissary.
But last week, Greenberg said, they were literally lining up for the chance. “It was a reversed kind of model,” he noted. “Normally you have to ask people. This time there was a line of people waiting to put on tefillin.”
The difference? Google Glass, a futuristic Internet-connected gadget that users wear like a pair of glasses and which enables them to stream information from the Web directly into their field of vision.
It’s like a wearable computer: Using voice commands and hand gestures, Google Glass users can take pictures, record videos, get directions and send messages. Or, as was the case at Stanford, they can pray.
“I was talking to two students [the previous Friday] who work in high-tech, and they both had the glasses,” Greenberg said. “So I said, ‘Can you get Hebrew text on that app?’ They said, ‘Sure.’ ”
The students downloaded the appropriate blessing, and on May 28 from noon to 1:30 p.m., Greenberg and his team stood on campus offering the device to passersby as part of the tefillin process.
About 40 Jewish men wrapped and prayed, Greenberg says. Many non-Jews also lined up, so Greenberg let them sample Google Glass as well — minus the tefillin.
“One student said it was his first time wrapping tefillin,” Greenberg said. “He said, ‘I guess this is my bar mitzvah.’ ”
Google Glass is still being tested; some 2,000 developers throughout the United States are trying it out for the Mountain View–based tech giant. Already, well before the device is expected to be publicly available sometime in 2014, it’s generating controversy. Critics worry that users will be able to surreptitiously take photographs with an app that permits wearers to snap pictures just by winking. Some bars and casinos, citing privacy concerns, have preemptively banned the device. In West Virginia, legislators have tried to make it illegal to wear Glass while driving.
But none of that concerns Barry Schwartz, CEO of the Web development firm RustyBrick, who can hardly wait to get his hands on the device. Schwartz is one of the 8,000 “explorers” chosen by Google to receive the device for $1,500 apiece.
“We would be programming Jewish-related apps to help Jewish people use the technology to live their Jewish lives,” said Schwartz, whose company has already developed popular Jewish applications for smartphones, like a digital prayerbook and Hebrew translator.
Schwartz’s vision of a Glass-enabled Jewish life sounds incredibly futuristic. Nearby synagogues or kosher restaurants are instantly located. Important Jewish dates such as yahrzeits and holidays are never forgotten. Notifications flash when it’s time to pray.
Potential Jewish applications for Glass are endless, Schwartz says.
“Let’s say you want to buy an etrog,” he said. “You can create a Google Hangout and have a rabbi look at the etrog as you are looking at it. The rabbi can ask you to turn it to the right and turn it to the left, and can give you an opinion about it right away.”
Mike Vidikan of the Washington, D.C.–based organization Innovaro, which provides insights about how new technologies will shape the future business environment, expects that Glass also could significantly change how consumers shop for kosher food.
“As they start inspecting a particular group of foods,” he explained, “notifications could pop up with information about the kosher certifications, as well as reviews, and who in their social networks recommend it.”
In education, where information technology already is transforming the classroom experience, Glass could be yet another game-changer. Hebrew school classes could tour Israel virtually, seeing the country though the eyes of a guide equipped with the device. Students in various locations could participate in classes together, following text as seen through the eyes of a teacher.
Despite the enthusiasm, tech experts from Jewish day schools are skeptical. Price is one factor. At $1,500, Glass is significantly more expensive than an iPad or similar devices.
Educators also are understandably uneasy about a device that can snap pictures, literally, with the wink of an eye. Others point out that since Glass’ apps are still being developed, its educational value remains to be seen.
“In a traditional classroom, I don’t see where wearing the computer on my face is an enormous quantum leap in ease of use, efficiency and productivity over traditional computer modalities,” said Seth Dimbert, director of educational technology at the Scheck Hillel Community School in North Miami Beach, Fla.
“It’s actually less useful if only I can see a computer screen. Classrooms are about collaboration with the people around you and making screens bigger and more portable, so more people can gather around them at once.”
Rabbi Tzvi Pittinsky, director of educational technology at the Frisch School in Paramus, N.J., expressed doubts as well.
“Teenagers are freaked out by Google Glass,” he said. “Who would want to have these glasses on all the time? It’s scary.”
Ultimately, however, many believe that it’s just a matter of time before Glass becomes more widely accepted — and that this wouldn’t be a bad thing for the Jews.
“There’s a view — I hear it on campus almost every day — that in an age like ours, of unprecedented change, our values too must change. Forget marriage; forget virtues like faithfulness, civility and, above all, forget religion,” Greenberg said. “But it’s a view that couldn’t be more wrong. What gives us the strength to cope with change are the things that don’t change — a loving family, a supportive community, sacred texts and traditions that preserve the wisdom of the past.
“As I watched students wrap tefillin with Google Glass, it became clear to me that those who carry with them the heritage of the past are those who can face the future with optimism and joy.”
J. editor Sue Fishkoff contributed to this JTA story by Yaffa Klugerman.