February 19, 1998

City of URLs

My Top Picks

http://www.jewishjournal.com/articles/item/city_of_urls_19980220

Unless you know where to look, the World Wide Web can sometimesfeel more like a black hole than cyberspace. The following are someof the best websites Jewish L.A. has to offer. This is a highlysubjective decision, but I've used a few criteria, namely, how doesthe page look, is it easy to use, and has it been updated recently?So, during the Jewish Web/Net Week (Feb. 22-27, it will be raininganyhow, so why not spend some time at the computer), visit The JewishJournal's web page(www.lafn.org/jjla)where you'll find this article complete with active links.

To find these web pages, I enlisted the help of "At L.A.",(http://www.at-la.com) asite with a vast set of directories to almost everything online inL.A. Looking under Religion: Judaism, I went tohttp://www.at-la.com/@la-god/jewish.htm,where I found a diverse and nearly comprehensive list of Jewishsites. Another very helpful site in this search washttp://www1.jewishgen.org/jgsla/shuls.htm,which is a listing of synagogues from the Jewish Genealogical Societyof Los Angeles.

My Top Picks

http://www.vbs.org/Valley Beth Shalom

All around great site, great organization, looks great, soundsgreat, links for both congregants and visitors -- you can hear therabbis talk, find out what's going on and which services are offered.It proves that a synagogue doesn't have to hire a professionaldesigner or spend a ton of money to make a bang-up site, this one isvolunteer run.

http://www.tbsoc.com/Temple Beth Sholom of Orange County in Tustin.

On the other hand, this is what a synagogue site can look likewhen someone hires a high-end designer. It is beautiful, with fancygraphics, and some real content. Like "Grandma Zelda's Kitchen" -- arecipe exchange bulletin board. It also has a place for congregantsto post messages to each other. A terrific site.

http://www.anshe.org/Anshe Emes Synagogue

From the looks of it, the webmaster of this site is very, veryenthusiastic. The site is innovative, with a bulletin board, video oflectures and, above all, a sense of humor! There is a link to adetailed Parshat HaShavuah page, with the suggestion that it beprinted and used as a discussion guide for the Shabbat table.

Honorable Mention

http://www.ohrhatorah.org/Ohr HaTorah

Ohr HaTorah's site is well organized, updated frequently, usefulfor both members and non-members, and not too vast, containing justthe right amount of information for a quick visit.

http://amishalom.org/Temple Ami Shalom in West Covina

Useful and well-organized, the page contains the temple bulletinonline and is updated often. Overall, a good, manageable page clearlydone by a dedicated individual.

Two JCCs, Long Beach and West Valley, have web pages that areworth a visit:

http://www.jcclb.org/Long Beach JCC

A dynamic page, with current information, creative presentationand some levity.

http://www.wvjcc.markv.com/West Valley JCC

a well-organized, informative, in-out-nobody-gets-hurt page.