Are Haredi leaders losing their followers to the Web?
Top Israeli rabbis have launched a new push to curtail Internet use among ultra-Orthodox Jews - but many users have remained online.
By The Forward and Miriam Shaviv Tags: Orthodox Jews Israel newsAre Israel's Haredi religious authorities losing control of their followers?
In December, leading Israeli rabbis launched a new push to curtail Internet use among ultra-Orthodox Jews, emphasizing that their longstanding ban on Web surfing applied to sites geared toward the Haredi community as well.
They threatened stricter penalties than ever before for those who disobeyed. But rather than showing their power, the battle against Haredi Internet use has exposed the rabbis' weakness, as large parts of the community resolutely remain online.
The Israeli rabbis first came out against Internet use in January 2000, when more than 30 Haredi leaders forbade Internet connections at home. Back then, the main concern was the easy availability of online pornography. The ban was not particularly controversial, as Israeli Haredim had long accepted a similar ban on owning television sets.
Many Haredim, however, circumvented the ban by using 3G phones, which allowed Internet access - until the rabbis forced them to buy "kosher-certified" sets in which the Internet feature was disabled.
Others frequented Internet cafes. Still others brought computers into the home for work purposes, a practice that the Rabbinical Commission for Media Affairs - established by leading Haredi rabbis to set policy - was forced to permit in 2007, conceding that the Internet was essential for many businesses.
Senior rabbis continued to emphasize the ban on casual Internet use. But it was too late. Although no accurate figures for Haredi Internet use exist, the Israeli phone company Bezeq claims that a quarter of the Haredi households that it serves have a Bezeq Internet connection. Many others, presumably, use different service providers.
Meanwhile, blogs written by Haredim who have theological doubts or misgivings about their closed society have flourished. And Israeli Haredim developed an online network of news sites, whose existence is by now taken for granted. Along with hard news, the sites feature gossip from the rabbis? courts, discussion of intra-communal scandals and forums in which any aspect of Haredi life can be criticized.
Such sites are widely understood to have revolutionized strictly Orthodox society, exposing its leaders to previously unimaginable scrutiny and draining advertising revenues from the community's more deferential newspapers.
Ultimately, it seems, it was the threat to rabbinic authority - rather than the threat of exposure to the secular world - that pushed the rabbis into taking draconian measures. The December order from senior rabbis - including top Haredi authorities like Yosef Sholom Elyashiv and Aharon Leib Shteinman - instructed their followers not to visit Haredi Web sites, which they said were full of "lies," "gossip" and "abominations."Crucially, they also instructed Haredi schools not to admit any child whose parents are involved in such Web sites.
As a result, several sites capitulated and closed down.
But this is only a very partial success for the rabbis.
One of the most popular Haredi news sites, B'Hadrei Haredim (in the rooms of Haredim) - owned by a secular businessman - reports that its traffic was up 30 percent in December, to 65,000 unique visitors a day. Other sites are also holding on.
Haredi Web surfers, in other words, are continuing to go online in massive numbers, consciously defying their supposed leaders. Indeed, Haredi news sites are even matter-of-factly reporting on the new ban - brazenly ignoring its implications for their own existence.
In pushing this ban, the leading Haredi rabbis - mostly in their 70s and 80s - have revealed themselves to be utterly detached from their communities, not understanding that Internet use has become normative. They appear to have relied naively on the advice of a few advisers, some of whom have been attacked on the Haredi Web sites and may have had personal reasons for wanting to see them shut down.
Meanwhile, the rabbis continuously overestimated their own influence. Following a decade of ignored bans, it took what amounts to a threat of excommunication to produce any results at all. The Haredi public's disobedience is so overt that religious authorities must be worried that it will spill into other areas.
As the battle over Google in China and the pivotal role of Twitter during this summer's unrest in Iran shows, digital media is toxic to closed regimes. But the rabbis should recognize that even if the Internet does pose a threat to their control, the damage done by trying to ban it is far greater.
Haredim are going to stay online. The community's leaders may be able to retain some measure of control, by allowing and cooperating with "kosher" Web sites. Alternatively, they can continue to issue ultimatums their followers will not meet, condemning themselves to irrelevancy.
Miriam Shaviv is foreign editor of Britain's Jewish Chronicle.
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IF search engines are owned & operated by Godly people- the content will be Godly, for the Spirit of God-God of Israel- God of Abraham, isaac & Jacob would oversee the operations. BUT today many unGodly are at the helm, thus, you see all kinds of satanic, SINS, half-dressed people to tempt-LURE people to SIN. Giving satan a death-grip-HOLD on their lives, ONCE they sin, satan can pull their chain anytime, anyhwere- it opens the door for evil in their lives & families, communities, nation. So, YES if God is running the show, it can be used for good. But today, satan is dominating, ONLY because people turn their backs on Abba Father-Yeshua Messiah & embrace satan. Without a willing vehicle, satan-evil ceases to exist ! We have no-one to blame but ourselves for when we reject Messiah-Yeshua, we reject Abba Father God, it is written. This world will get exactly what it wants, For the wages of sin is death, ALL have sinned fallen short of the glory of GOD, it is writte
true story, For the record, after the one of the Cable servers had been offering hard porn at hours that the young people were unlikely to see it, it turned out that gosh by golly, some of them did! At some point some MKs offered a law banning hard porn from Israeli television. In an unprecedented vote, a broad coalition that included Haredim, Arab parties, and other Zionist MKs passed the law. Cyberspace being what it is harder to control, so . . . all the people who want to close out the more nefarious sites can do is either to offer advice, or, as the Haredi leadership have done, to ban it altogether. If something is out there, and they really want it, people will find it. That is true for Haredim and Ultra-Secularists who don't care for unsavory content entering our hearts and minds. The concern should not be to find new ways to trash Haredim, but recognize the need to deal with the ways we use the internet
In this day and age, it's impossible to run a business without the internet--e-mails to suppliers and customers, online shopping for goods and services, etc. The rabbis should learn about the Internet and teach their followers some restraint. It's all out there, but YOU pick and choose what you view. Those who choose to view pornography, hate sites or fake "news" sites do so out of their own free will. Getting off those sites if you found yourself there by mistake (clicking the wrong link) is just a mouse click away. It's the same exact principle as taking a book from a library: if you don't want to read Marx' "Das Kapital" or Hitler's "Mein Kampf", don't check them out of the library and don't read them in the reading room. Is that so hard?
I was living in Montreal a while back in a neighbourhood food of Haredrim. I would go to the internet cafe to use the web, as I didn't have it at home. Haredi teens were in there all the time watching hardcore porn. Some serious stuff. So I definately think the answer is, yes, the internet poses a threat to the Haredi.
Jerry - why the hate? Actually the Hareidim already know the world is a sphere. It says so in the Talmud, written circa 200 CE, well before it was believed by most people. Maybe time to look at what authentic Judaism has to offer? Oops.
Is this the forum to push religion? No Is this the forum to dam everybody and thing? No What about respectful free speech What about giving adults the opportunity to learn Having had internet ever since it was invented I have never seen a half nude or pronographic article on this media. If rabbis feel that their people are going to look into these deviout areas, one has to wonder what kind of mind they have themselves. Maybe it is time for the Ultra Orthodox people to come out of this incredible bondage, especially the women and make their own honourable choices. Lea.
To be strong as a faithfull Jew is to be able to use all the tools available in the world for the good. It means also to participate and contribute to society without losing its values and identity. To close oneself from the rest of the world is an attitude of weak people who do not trust the strenght of their own education
there is a difference between pashkavilim and cyberspace. One involves reading a billboard on the street and the other is trying to gather feathers in the wind. Other than that the Yetzer HaRa works as "effectively" among Haredim as it does everywhere else. Halachically Observant Jews understand that its a problem. It ain't easy, bro, but Haredim keep on truckin', or at least they know they ought to keep on truckin' while others prefer follow the herd.
Your comment mentions that the critics of Haredi rabbi's ban on the use of the www are not being 'objective'. Your defence of the Haredi rabbi's ban on the use of the www can not be called objective. The human effort to become completely objective is a worthy goal for all people. However, human beings can never acheive this goal completly. People are perfectable beings but they can never acheive perfection on earth. I'm not going to question the 1 we worship why this is a fact for I'm a mere goyisher, human being.
Go to nanny.net web site. Apparently, it will control.. stop much of this filth from entering your kids .. home .. minds ! With Love, Yeshua Messiah
Heaven forbid the Haredi find out on the web that the Earth is a sphere, that it is not doubling in land area every 20 years, and that soaring human populations is causing the current great mass extinction of other wildlife.
The forward and haaretz non-mavens of Jewish understanding can easily draw their conclusions on the roles rabbis play in day to day life activities, but they lack one critical component- intellectual objectivity! built in biases render these aspiring writers neutered when it comes to gathering information, understanding it and commenting on it. As is frequently apparent, the only consistent stream of thought emanating from these subjective essayers is hostility, ridicule and a holier than thou attitude of smug superiority. In truth, these Jewish drop outs are on their way to extinction & enjoy taking as many innocent bystanders (readers) with them. They emulate goyim very well but have a hard time trying to even act or think like a historically observant Jew. these pundits of non-truths mock the sages of our generation by implying lesser knowledge& being out of touch with today's times.The insinuations reflect their own crises/insecurities. Good news-3 out of 10 return!
is your brainwashed way of secular thinking that shows very little intelligence of our enriched Jewish heritage. You obviously missed out (to your impoverished delight?) on Jewish intellectual growth that brings in biology, psychology, sociology, physics, math, law, logic and of course history without the distortions of biased and quite undereducated teachers and their recent unproven 'theories'. The Talmud was made for the Jewish mind and has kept us alive and sharp throughout the ages. The computer and internet are not the saviors of the Jewish soul. Judaism has never had a problem standing up to each generations'modern' assaults and has no fear of what you think is relevant. Your use of the internet,reading secular books, philosophy, and enjoying modern art/culture are simply time fillers that distract you from becoming a knowledgeable,observant Jew. All the things you glorify have made Jews dumber & more susceptible to destruction. The Rabbis know that and I think so do you!
"The fact is that there is a certain amount of lies, abominations, and gossip in the blogsphere." Haredi society is, of course, completely free of such things.
The Haredi are right .. we are called to be separate from the world .. touch no unclean thing.. What gets into our eyes & ears gets into our hearts .. Then, it comes out our mouth & into our lives. Yeshua taught of all these nuggets of wisdom in the scriptures .. everything HE spoke is pure & true. Yeshua said when we even look on a woman or lust after a woman ... we have commited adultary with her in our hearts.. The same is true when women lust after men. The internet is loaded with people half-dressed if not completely nude-pornography sites. The people of the world do not think this SIN will affect them, but it will forever. They have been so polluted .. exposed to it .. it just seems like a normal day to them. Those SINS come with anti-Christ spirits. These spirits have a profound adverse effect on the people of God-Yeshua who want to live, pure, holy, righteous lives. We can't sit in a garbage dump & smell like the Rose of Sharon !
The Haredi need to know Yeshua Messiah... Internet anti-Christ spirits are numerous... What do you think interent viruses are ? Yeshua is the ONLY one to defeat satan & all his anti-Christ demons. Man cannot win against satan who has over 6000 years head start on man. Without our Messiah ... we ALL have NO HOPE ! Once the Haredi turn to Yeshua their eyes will be opened ... to complete TRUTH- ENLIGHTENMENT ! They are on the right path ... they love Father God-Elohim & Abba loves them dearly. Yeshua IS ABBA FATHER in the flesh. To think God cannot come in HIS BELOVED SON .. is to limit God to man's carnal-intellectual-limited mind. God spoke through a donkey .. God still speaks through many venues to us today.. Don't limit God .. or you will miss HIS blessings & salvation ! I pray for ALL Israel's eyes, ears & hearts to be opened to TRUTH .. to their Loving Messiah- Yeshua- JESUS CHRIST Christ = anointed ONE of God ! God's word made flesh (John 1:1)
It is a pity that these so called rabbis are oppressing their own people and keeping them in the dark? What are they afraid of? - that their flock will actually seek to go beyond the intellectual dishonesty of their communities and learn that dinosaurs did in fact exist! - that the earth is 6 billion years old@ - that they will rad Spinoza, kante, Hegel, and other classical and contemporary philosophers? If they believe that their religion is true, then they should not fear modern science, technology, art, and culture. Judaism will- as it has always- persevere in some form (as it did after the destruction of the Temple). The rabbis should allow the Haredim to use the internet, to read secular books, philosophy, and enjoy modern art and culture!
Beyond the squelching of cyberspace usage by the Haredi community, is the fact that ruling by fiat will bring the any dictatorship in the long run. The pity of it is that those currently under the fiat must suffer. China and Iran will soon learn of the power of the Internet Press.
The fact is that there is a certain amount of lies, abominations, and gossip in the blogsphere. In the States the misinformation and violent speech has been the source of many of the troubles you see there. In that sense, the Haredi leadership is right in objecting to its public looking into the Internet. It's likely that many people are inured to what passes for "normal" is in fact, unacceptable, but we are afraid to speak up for fear of promoting "intolerance". Instead of trashing the Haredi leadership, those people who are "stricter" should sit down and discuss what kind of blogging promotes factual information and a free, intelligent flow of ideas. It may be hard for both sides at first, but . . . it might create the dialogue that is lacking in Israel between Jews who observe Halacha and those who don't.
The kind of religion they espouse could only develop in the closed world of the shtetl and has to have that kind of environment to continue. Let their people contact the real world and they have lost them.
There is much evil on the internet, but perhaps the Haredi leaders could find it more effective to teach being responsible on the internet?