Anne Ludden
Some people may think that Anne Ludden may have her hands full with three children two of which are deaf, a job as a freelance journalist, and a small children’s clothing design and manufacturing business. However Anne, 32 years old and a native of Western Pennsylvania, is also the remote staff supervisor and chat coordinator for Jewish Online Services. She makes sure all the volunteers in the Jewish Community Online chat rooms are supported, along with scheduling the chats. Anne also recruits guest speakers and she hosts chats on a regular basis. When rules are broken, and members in the area are vulgar or harassing, Anne is “paged” to stop it.
What is Jewish Community Online? It is a humongous resource of Jewish information for all people. Most participants are people who are curious about Judaism. There are articles explaining Jewish traditions and deeper meanings, there is an “Ask a Rabbi” area where people can ask questions, and a team of 50 rabbis tackle them. The message boards cover issue there is pertaining to Judaism, including issues related to Deaf and Hard of Hearing Jews. The chat rooms are hosts to many conversations about halacha (Jewish law) to recipe sharing to old Jewish tales. There are always amazing conversations online. The Jewish Community Online support group staff have an unofficial saying that everyone has at least three opinions, two of which cannot agree.
Judaism is extremely important to Anne, acting as the focal point of her life. Her parents were intermarried, and she was raised with no religion, but Anne has managed to make Judaism an every day aspect of her life. She became involved with Jewish Online Services completely by accident. Her Rabbi and her communicated often on AOL since the relay system is a pain. Her Rabbi referred her to the producer of Jewish Community Online because she was familiar with the Internet. She started as a volunteer a few hours a week, which later grew, and now it is a life for her. She never thought she would work with computers as much as she does, but she adores what she does. Anne’s neighborhood in Minnesota is extremely non Jewish, thus her online work allows her to be in touch with her Judaism daily.
There are times when there are Deaf Jews online, which Anne loves, but she usually has no idea if the person she is talking to deaf or hearing. Anne loves the fact that there are “hidden” Jews online. She would love to host regular chats for Deaf Jews and to establish an e-mail newsletter group where Deaf Jews could be in touch with each other. The great thing about Jewish Online Services for her is that there is total and complete access for everyone, and anyone can ask questions without feeling stupid.
To access Jewish Online Services, use the keyword JEWISH on American Online. For a 30 day trial, call AOL at (800) 729 4499 (Voice).
