In w h i c h r o o m s in your h o u s e is there a clock o n the wall:'
W h e n y o u see a c l o c k , w h a t does it m a k e y o u think of: the present, t h e past, o r the
future?
D i s c u s s your answers i n small groups.
N o w read t h e following paragraph. W h a t does the clock represent in it?
Imagine a.clock face with sixty minutes on it. Let the
clock stand for the time man has had access to writing
systems. Our clock would thus represent something like
three thousand years, and each minute on our clock fifty
years. On this scale, there were no significant media
changes until about nine minutes ago. At that time, the
*printing press came into use in Western culture. About
three minutes ago, the telegraph, photograph, and
locomotive arrived. Two minutes ago: the telephone^
rotary press, motion pictures, automobile, aeroplane and
radio. One minute ago, the talking picture... the computer
in the last five seconds, and communications satellites in
the last second. The laser beam - perhaps the most potent
medium of communication of all - appeared only a
"fraction of a second ago. It would be possible to place
almost any area of-life on our clock face and get roughly
the same measurements.
'T^eil Postman ami Charles
'
Sftbreisire
Weingartner. Tead/itig as a
Activity^ Penguin. 1971.
W h a t d o the writers o f the a b o v e paragraph w a n t to i m p r e s s o n the reader?
W h a t is the m e a n i n g o f
time
a c c o r d i n g to t h e m ?
W h a t is the outlook o f Judaism o n
time ?
D i s c u s s with your teacher and classmates.