Mordechai Lightstone

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Mordechai Lightstone
Mordechai Lightstone TED Talk.jpg
Lightstone as a TED resident in 2018
Born1984 (age 40–41)
OccupationSocial media director for Chabad.org

Mordechai Lightstone (born 1984 [1] ) is a Chabad rabbi who directs social media for Chabad.org and is the founder of Tech Tribe.

Contents

Biography

Lightstone was an early social media adopter, helping to start the Chabad-Lubavitch presence on Twitter in 2008, [2] [3] and later Snapchat. [4] Lightstone has been described as "Twitter’s most prominent rabbi", [5] regularly tweeting from his personal account in addition to the account he manages for Chabad. [6]

Tech Tribe

Lightstone directs Tech Tribe, along with his wife Chana. It is an organization for Jewish people in technology and hosts events such as the #openShabbat Friday night dinner at SXSW and Comic-Con. [7] [8] [9] [10]

In 2021 they launched a project to create an NFT Torah. [11]

Following the October 7 attacks, Tech Tribe became a hub of support for Jews in tech, organizing a solidarity trip to Israel and events raising awareness for hostages, including Amazon employee Sasha Trufanov. Lightstone also met with Israel’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology Gila Gamliel to highlight challenges faced by Jews in the tech sector. [12]

Lightstone has also engaged publicly with ethical and spiritual questions surrounding artificial intelligence, contributing a Jewish perspective to ongoing discussions about emerging technologies. [13]

Appearances and recognition

Lightstone was a 2018 TED resident speaking about bringing "centuries-old wisdom to modern-day social media". [14] [15]

In April 2020, Lightstone was featured in the Saturday Night Seder alongside other Jewish personalities. [16]

In June 2021, Lightstone was awarded a Rockower Award for his column on Al Jaffee. [17]

In July 2021, Lightstone was named as one of The Jewish Week's 36 under 36. [18]

Personal life

Lightstone lives with his wife Chana in Brooklyn, New York. Together they have seven children. [19]

References

  1. ↑ "Daily Kickoff". Jewish Insider. October 30, 2020.
  2. ↑ Stelter, Brian; Cohen, Noam (29 November 2008). "Citizen Journalists Provided Glimpses of Mumbai Attacks". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  3. ↑ Lakein, Dvora (3 February 2009). "CHABAD 2.0: The Next Generation". Lubavitch.com. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  4. ↑ Mangla, Ismat Sarah (21 January 2016). "Finding God On Snapchat: Jews, Christians And Muslims Connect With Millennial Believers One Snap At A Time". International Business Times. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  5. ↑ Leibovitz, Liel (28 March 2019). "Let go of bagels, my fellow Jews. Embrace the slice". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  6. ↑ Rosen, Armin (21 March 2016). "Like Twitter Like Talmud". Tablet Magazine. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  7. ↑ Frydberg, Tracy (7 March 2018). "Deep in the heart of Texas, have a Jewish connection at SXSW". Times of Israel. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  8. ↑ Jeffries, Adrianne (10 March 2013). "Banned from the internet for three hours in the middle of SXSW". The Verge. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  9. ↑ Finkel, Rebecca (19 June 2013). "The Messiah Will Be Tweeted". Slate. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  10. ↑ Frishberg, Hannah (2 February 2021). "3G Could End This Year. For People Who Rely on Basic Phones, That's a Big Problem". OneZero. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  11. ↑ Blokh, Noa (14 June 2021). "Torah on the Blockchain: The First-Ever NFT Torah". Lubavitch.com. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  12. ↑ "Is There a Place for Jews in Big Tech? - The struggle of Jewish workers in the industry since Oct. 7". www.chabad.org. Retrieved 2025-05-23.
  13. ↑ Friedman, Dan (2025-03-21). "As AI charges ahead, Jewish thinkers are falling behind". J. Retrieved 2025-05-23.
  14. ↑ "Meet the Fall 2018 class of TED Residents". TED Blog. 19 September 2018. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  15. ↑ "Illuminating modern life with ancient wisdom". TED. 9 May 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  16. ↑ Kaplan Sommer, Allison (12 April 2020). "What 'Saturday Night Seder' Tells Us About American Jewry in the Coronavirus Age". Haaretz. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  17. ↑ "AJPA - 2021 Competition Winners". AJPA. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  18. ↑ "Mordechai Lightstone, 36, Digital pioneer". The Jewish Week. 13 July 2021.
  19. ↑ Bellon, Tina. "Empty trains, clogged roads: Americans get behind the wheel to avoid transit". Reuters. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
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