The Talmudic Origin of the Web

The Talmudists among you may find this amusing. It comes from Tractate
Kombutra.


Rabbi Tarfon of Bet She'an said of Rabbi Shlomo ben Yechezkel of
Tiverya: It is said that in those days Rabbi Shlomo ben Yechezkel of
Tiverya designed a web site for the mother of his father, Sarah the
daughter of Pinchas, who begat Yechezkel, who begat Rabbi Shlomo ben
Yechezkel of Tiverya. Thus Rabbi Shlomo ben Yechezkel of Tiverya
performed the mitzvah of web site design.

Rabbi Michal ben Elkanah, who only had one eye, said: But is it not
also said that in those days there was no web, only gopher?

Rabbi Shmaryahu of Hevron said: It is true, but as it is written: "A
web browser may also use the gopher protocol, in addition to the HTTP
protocol."

Rabbi Eliezer asked: Why does it specifically mention that the web
browser may also use the gopher protocol, when it is written elsewhere
that a web browser may use any protocol? Because the gopher protocol
is especially meritorious, since it enables support of legacy systems.

One time a poor man came into the home of Rabbi Shmaryahu of Hevron
and asked for two megabytes of disk space on the web site of Rabbi
Shmaryahu of Hevron. Rabbi Shmaryahu of Hevron refused the man, but
instead gave him a personal web server for his own use. At this point
Rabbi Yehudah ben Yerachmiel asked Rabbi Shmaryahu of Hevron: Why did
you refuse this man's request, but instead give him a personal web
server for his own use? Rabbi Shmaryahu of Hevron replied: It [the
Mishnah] teaches: "When a poor man comes into your home and asks for
disk space on your web site, first ascertain whether he is going to
use it for his own purpose or for the purpose of idol worship. If he
is going to use it for his own purpose, grant him the space he asks,
unless it exceeds twenty ephraot [one ephrah ~ 213 kilobytes], in
which case you may refer him to a local Internet service provider, for
as it is written: It is not upon you to complete the task, but neither
are you free to desist from it. If he is going to use it for the
purpose of idol worship, then do not give him the space, but instead
rebuke him, that he might see the error of his ways and refrain from
idol worship."

Rabbi Gideon of Sh'chem disagreed, saying: It [the Mishnah] also
teaches: "When a poor man requests space on an FTP server, you must
grant it without asking why he is going to use it." Why would the
Mishnah impose requirements on a web server but not an FTP server?
Rabbi Shmaryahu of Hevron said: Rabbi Eliezer said: Why does it
specifically mention that the web browser may also use the gopher
protocol, when it is written elsewhere that a web browser may use any
protocol? Because the gopher protocol is especially meritorious, since
it enables support of legacy systems. Similarly, the FTP protocol is
especially meritorious. Therefore, it is unfair to deny a poor man
access to FTP, whereas it is sometimes permitted to refrain from
giving a poor man access to HTTP, because without HTTP he can still
serve files using FTP, but without FTP he will be unable to put his
files on the server, since the means for saving files over HTTP are
unreliable.