Dr. Gutfreund, the grandfather of Chabad in Cyberspace
Dr. Yechezkal Shimon Gutfreund is one of the trailblazers of Chabad in cyberspace.
TA: Dr. Gutfreund what is your background?
YSG: I have a PhD in Computer Science from UMass Amherst, I worked for years in the former Digital Corp. and GTE Labs (now part of Verizon). In the dot.com days I was one of the cofounders of furniture.com, later acquired by CMGI. Currently I am Chief Scientist & Founder of the Kesser Technical Group an R&D company.
TA: So tell us how it all started.
YSG: In the early nineties just around the time I got engaged I was going to Crown Heights where I stayed on Union St. with Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Kazen A�H. He was experimenting then with Keshernet (a subnet) and Usenet. I told R. Kazen that the web was the future dominant protocol and tried to steer him in that direction. Eventually R. Kazen founded Chabad.org.
I remember that in 1994 R. Yisroel Deren asked me and R. Kazen to make a presentation during Kinus ha Shluchim and to introduce the new medium.
Rabbi Kazen pitch was that �on the internet nobody knows you are a dog�. Meaning that not confined to "different" looks, etc. one can reach out to more people.
My pitch was that you can establish a virtual Chabad House, unencumbered by �brick and mortar�. Without territorial disputes and reach out to a far away places. This is how I spoke back then.
TA: That web site of yours kesser.org, I think it was the first Chabad web site and I don�t think you updated it since?
YSG: Yes, I added some material to it over the years.
TA: So R. Kazen founded Chabad.org?
YSG: In those days Chabad.org was hosted on the Dorsai Embassy (a name of a galaxy) servers. It is an interesting site run by a futurist who for some obscure reason found Chabad mission appealing. The site is still around. In fact he writes: �Based on the "high-tech cadre" of Dorsai, groups from Chabad Lubavitch to the Lebanese Students Association have served their respective communities and proven that peaceful coexistence is possible.�
TA: Dr. Gutfreund what is your background?
YSG: I have a PhD in Computer Science from UMass Amherst, I worked for years in the former Digital Corp. and GTE Labs (now part of Verizon). In the dot.com days I was one of the cofounders of furniture.com, later acquired by CMGI. Currently I am Chief Scientist & Founder of the Kesser Technical Group an R&D company.
TA: So tell us how it all started.
YSG: In the early nineties just around the time I got engaged I was going to Crown Heights where I stayed on Union St. with Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Kazen A�H. He was experimenting then with Keshernet (a subnet) and Usenet. I told R. Kazen that the web was the future dominant protocol and tried to steer him in that direction. Eventually R. Kazen founded Chabad.org.
I remember that in 1994 R. Yisroel Deren asked me and R. Kazen to make a presentation during Kinus ha Shluchim and to introduce the new medium.
Rabbi Kazen pitch was that �on the internet nobody knows you are a dog�. Meaning that not confined to "different" looks, etc. one can reach out to more people.
My pitch was that you can establish a virtual Chabad House, unencumbered by �brick and mortar�. Without territorial disputes and reach out to a far away places. This is how I spoke back then.
TA: That web site of yours kesser.org, I think it was the first Chabad web site and I don�t think you updated it since?
YSG: Yes, I added some material to it over the years.
TA: So R. Kazen founded Chabad.org?
YSG: In those days Chabad.org was hosted on the Dorsai Embassy (a name of a galaxy) servers. It is an interesting site run by a futurist who for some obscure reason found Chabad mission appealing. The site is still around. In fact he writes: �Based on the "high-tech cadre" of Dorsai, groups from Chabad Lubavitch to the Lebanese Students Association have served their respective communities and proven that peaceful coexistence is possible.�
posted by Tzemach Atlas at 9:19 PM
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