Cross Post fromCross Currents

The following was posted as an answer to a query re what previous gedolim saw fit to ban in the post war period, one of great advancement in Torah Judaism:
Leapa asks: “What do you think [R. Aharon Kotler] would have thought about the various bans and cherems so popular today?”
I’m not qualified to answer this question on my father’s behalf, but in a previous article, following the banning of Making Of A Godol, he wrote:
“We often point to the life and example of the outstanding Torah personalities who led our community during the formative post-Holocaust years, people of great stature who gave us inspiration and direction. There is a lesson to be learned from how they exercised their vast and essentially unchallenged authority, how they led by example and teaching and not by issuing a constant stream of prohibitory rulings.
“The foremost of these Torah giants was the great Rosh Yeshiva of Lakewood. In the twenty years of his fervent and fevered activity on behalf of the Torah world, he essentially was responsible for just one major prohibitory ruling, it being against Orthodox membership in rabbinical bodies with non-Orthodox Jews. This ruling came more than fifteen years after he arrived on these shores. In that great period of the development of American Orthodox Jewry, the Gedolei Torah were constantly occupied with major issues. They did not shirk their obligation to lead and they did not lead by prohibiting that which perhaps should have been criticized and not prohibited.”

Newspapers Are So 1995

There are those who look to the fact that there are now B"H a multitude of 'chareidi' newspapers and magazines as a salvation, and wonder why anything more is needed.

In 1905, when the Gerer Rebbe other Gedolim were instrumental in founding the first Orthodox newspaper, a newspaper for Orthodox Jews was truly a revolutionary advance, and was viewed as such.

In 1948 the Hebrew daily Hamodia became the postwar successor to the Tageblat, and in recent years English language newspapers have appeared. This is certainly a significant step forward, particularly for our children.
However, newspapers no longer fill the 1905 niche, and here is why. A century ago newspapers were the main source of news. Large metropolises had a morning paper and an afternoon paper, and between the two publications an individual or family was current on the news and had plenty of features to read.Beginning in the 1950's many cities lost their afternoon papers as people discovered the radio was a better way to keep current.

All news and news/talk stations began to become popular in the sixties. Until Bill Clinton and his ilk added concepts to the news which would have earned a jail term for a broadcaster a few years earlier, even dedicated ‘kolel yunger leit', including those rejecting much of the modern world, would repair to radio news morning and evening.
Now, it can be maintained that our community missed the boat both in Israel and chutz l'oratz by not continuing what pre-war gedolim sacrificed for (which in my view was not newspapers per se but media access) and trying to create a radio station or network.

We look at newspapers as the main point – false! Newspapers were simply the only media a century ago. Our own media, and utilizing the tools of progress for Yiddishkeit and Tahara – that was what the of gedolim of yesterday meant!

The Internet could and should have been a solution. It includes much of the upside of radio without the downside. It can provide radio broadcasting, video of news events, and printable articles, all without venturing beyond the 'daled amos' of yiddishkeit if one so desires. In addition, the investment required is so much less than purchasing public bandwidth.

Moreover, it has become the main source of news for many of us, continuously updated and with much less (unsuitable) advertising intrusion than other media.

Rather than than saying no, and then ignoring ourselves, we should be there!

Is anyone listening?

Dr. Twerski Column in Hamodia

Last week Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski published a letter in Hamodia from an 'Internet addict'. In his response Dr. Twerski warned him strongly on the dangers of the internet, and told him to contact Hamodia for a book. (I cannot provide a link for you to read the letter and response yourself because Hamodia does not publish on the web or use the word 'internet' as a matter of policy)
Here is a letter from a member of this blog in response to the column (Seeking Solutions):

Dear Dr. Twerski,

Two individuals referred me to your letter which appeared in Hamodia on 1/12/05 pg 85.

Prior to the meat of my letter, permit me to refer you to the blog, ‘Orthodox Jews and the Internet’, (http://frumnet.blogspot.com ). It is an honest, serious attempt to confront the issues of which you speak.

My heart goes out to your writer. Any individual suffering as he is, or from any other addiction, is deserving of our sympathy and maximum help.

However, your answer left me perplexed. While I certainly recognize your upbringing, education, experience and age give you great authority, it is difficult for me personally to deal with some of your points (unless they were edited away from your initial meaning).

Firstly you mention curiosity. Did you grow up without curiosity? Would you feel it is normal not to be curious? If an individual wants to see actual pictures of the tsunami, for example, a once in a lifetime event, or a giant squid should he therefore feel guilt ridden and dirty?
Yes, I firmly agree certain curiosities can be poison. Let us educate our children and address those lusts vigorously and proactively. But let us remember that most advances in knowledge, both Torah and l’havdil, mili d’olma start with curiosity.

Have I personally been confronted on the internet by sights unsuitable for a Yiras Shomayim? Absolutely! Was it difficult dealing with them? Of course! But I have had similar and greater nisyonos elsewhere in life , and while we must bear in mind ‘al taamin b’atzmecha’ our job in this world is to go out and set limits and react appropriately to the tests we are sent.

As the internet becomes more and more of our lives, it will become impossible to have a normal range of knowledge and contact without it. Let’s deal with it sooner, rather than sticking our heads in the sand. Chances are that the internet will eventually be in peoples’ homes.

Dr. Twerski, does the fact that you are an expert in addictions mean that you support a re-enactment of Prohibition? Would you prevent hundreds of thousands of Jews from drinking wine for Kiddush or l’chaim in shul because of the small percentage whose proclivities make them extra susceptible? I presume not!

Finally, your positive suggestions are a support group and a book. Your writer is resistant to a support group because of the possibility his identity will be revealed.

A possible solution is the very same internet. Could setting up a ‘blog’ monitored by an addiction professional be an excellent way of anonymously coming together with like minded individuals and seeking help? This approach has been extremely successful elsewhere.

The founder of ‘frumnet’ made a minimal attempt to set up just such a forum at http://mychevra.blogspot.com , but thus far it has not succeeded. A professional, however, could do much more and much better.

I believe if you or an associate feel that these positions are wrong, frumnet would be delighted to have an alternate point of view and would give it prominent billing. Most open-minded people are open to persuasion.
I personally subscribe to a Jewish filtered service and have been on filtered services for years. But my e-mail return addresses don’t indicate that most chareidim do the same. Why not support a minimal attempt to deal with these issues?

Finally, while not an addiction professional, it is extremely impressive to me that your writer did give up the internet for months and even a year once. It seems to me that he has great strengths, and just needs a bit more assistance to live a life of purity, with or without the internet.

Sincerely,

(Anonymous)

PS: I may turn this letter over to frumnet in a few days. However, in deference to you, I will not do so if I receive an e-mail back asking me not to.

This week the column did publish three letters regarding last weeks' question and answer. Taken together, they: (1)felt the original letter writer's pain, (2)assured him that he could always do teshuva, and (3) said they would pray for him.

Article

Here is a link to a column by Peggy Noonan, President Reagan's former speechwriter, about changes in information handling due the Internet and blogs.
How does this affect our community?
The 2nd link is a printable version without the authors' picture.

Link: http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/

Link http://www.opinionjournal.com/forms/printThis.html?id=110006150

Good Shabbos!

Suggestion Department

A friend of a friend submitted that the suggestion in the original article to have a mechanism reporting to Rabbonim will not work because the community doesn't trust Rabbonim or their emissaries and particularly the emissaries' discretion.
That is sad , and I'm not saying it's true.

But it is actually similar to a comment one of the posts on the blog.

Any commentary on this points' validity?

Perhaps the reporting could be anonymous and return contact (if necessary) also be anonymous through a blind e-mail mechanism?
I.e. Mr or Reb X, if you feel you could be assisted in your viewing habits, please contact XYZ anonymously (there is a non-Jewish ministry dedicated to doing something similar for internet 'addicts' to inappropriate sites - and make no mistake, I am not recommending anyone go there)

In last Wednesday's Hamodia (American News section) someone with a similar problem has contacted Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski. A member of this column has communicated with Dr Twerski re his answer.

Any additional suggestions to achieve the same result of having voluntary protection and anonymity?

Quick Note

Our overseas readers may not relate to this post, but the outcome of the recent CBS News - Dan Rather scandal again emphasizes the importance of the Internet.

Mr. Rather, a true icon of American journalism, and CBS were brought down by a couple of amateurs writing in a blog!

Similarly, Howard Dean, now running for Democratic National Chairman, was created as national figure by blogs.

Chareidi newspapers are great - but if we're not on the internet we've missed the bus. The internet (specifically blogs) is where the action is today. And there is definitely potential for good there.
I'm not a Lubavitcher. Many of us think Lubavitch is good for the 'distant'. Maybe the true lesson of Lubavitch success is for us, to show us how to succeed and prevail in our spiritual level amidst changing times, places and circumstances.

Mechanchim note: vaccination is the best cure.

A parent who does not vaccinate their child today can lose custody of the child.

The importance of spiritual vaccination to deal with the outside world is no less great.

I am aware that this approach was considered and not popular in the past. But the times are changing.

I submit for your consideration that our korbonos are due to lack of 'vaccination' rather than lack of separation.

And at the risk of ridicule it seems clear to me that this is our message from Above.

Internet Shtiebel

What's the story with the 'Internet Shtiebel' in Yerushalyim? (Internet Shtiebel is a supervised 'Internet Cafe' ' near Geula catering to chareidi clientele)

How have they managed to not get Kol Korahs against them? Or has this writer missed something?

Can it be that a place full of B'nai Yeshiva and Chassidim conducting their business 24 X 7 which prohibits viewing inappropriate sites is kosher?

Are the kanoyim asleep at the switch?
(or is there hope? . . .)

And if this type of establishment is OK, how about Europe and America?

Footnote: Isn't the best way to ensure passing a moral test to do in public?
Privacy is the choice of those who surrender to temptation.

Tired of Johnny One-Note?

Our masthead says "and related issues or those which interest our members". We have hundreds of steady viewers for a blog in its infancy, but not as many commentators as we could use to gain some excitement.
If you (yes, you) would like to bring up other issues germane to our main topic, our community, or world Jewish affairs, here is your formal invitation. And if you argue that I'm wrong, that's fine.
Finally, for those who do agree with us, consider printing out a post or two and bringing it to shul (you can leave it anonymously if you like), or putting it on the Rov's shtender.


PS: If you're really good, we'll invite you to become a member and post with us.
One caveat: we'd like to maintain the type of atmosphere that would do us proud if an we were viewed by or quoted to an odom gadol.

Shabbos Goy

Last Shabbos I needed a Shabbos Goy.

Standing on NY streets on New Year's Eve with a shtreimel trying to persuade New Years revelers to come inside and close the refrigerator may be a great backdrop for a comedy routine. Too bad there wasn’t a surveillance video. It probably would be a scream.

But being cast unwillingly as a shabbos goy is not as funny.

The halachic differences between Yid and goy are well established. Every gentile politician who once lived in an Orthodox neighborhood is quick to claim credentials as a 'Shabbos goy'.But can a yid be a shabbos goy?
Yes.
Who? You and I.
When a friend needs medical advice, news articles, airline tickets, who do they turn to? You and I, the internet 'Shabbos goyim'?
Is the internet 'treyf vie chazer'? According to many, yes. Is a Jew allowed to benefit from the action of a fellow Jew eating chazer? Does it parallel the halacha regarding benefiting from a fellow Jew’s chilul Shabbos?
Does it make a difference if the benefit is directly from the physical act or financial? Is one allowed to use even a non-religious Jew as a shabbos goy? While no authority, I believe Halachic authorities say no. And our readership here is definitely not irreligious.
Frequently, speakers will make the 'electronic media' (one haimishe newspaper's euphemism) sound even more trayf than chazer.
‘Ahh, you say, but the baalei darshan don't really mean that. That don't really mean pikuach nefesh, sakonos nefeshos, a flam brent tzvishen uns, and all the other phrases they use.’
They don't mean what they say? Then what do they mean? Do they mean to be taken seriously? I, for one, take words seriously. Otherwise I wouldn't be writing.
The town where I spent a chunk of my youth had a very wealthy European Jew who owned a large pork packing house. Many haimishe mosdos refused his tzedaka. These mosdos were struggling, and their leadership deserved respect for their financial sacrifice.

Leaders and friends, I respectfully suggest that you please say precisely what you mean on this subject, without the harmful hyperbole. And if you truly feel that there is no exaggerating the extent of the problem, by all means be our guests to make the sacrifices required. The baba and zaida lived without internet, radio, newspapers, weather reports, telephones, etc. But please don’t make us shabbos goyim when it suits your needs. I’m not sure the halachic categories you compare us to can tolerate using Jews (or their money) to be shabbos goyim.
Better still, show us how to live in this world Hashem gave us and remain erliche yiden. Show us an example of how to live our lives and withstand our nisyonos.
Help to earn honest parnosos with our own sweat and no handouts or programs. With no contradictions.
And guide us in benefiting from technology's ability to help yiddishkeit just as we benefit from the telephone, from central heat and air conditioning, high tech cars and high tech airplanes. (Not from high tech food stamp and welfare cards. Those are high tech nisoyonos we don’t need more of.)
All of our chareidi newspapers are getting their news from the internet. Are their writers and editors and those who sacrifice to produce them shabbos goyim too? (Not to mention our communal organizations and yeshivos almost all of whom, are somehow elctronically 'connected')
And maybe this newfangled internet can help us get to the Bais Medrash. In fact, it is already doing that.
I'm going there now to learn.
You see, for this writer it's no contradiction. It’s an aid.
When I say, ' . . . Excuse me sir, uh, Happy New Year, can you spare me a minute or two?’ it should only be to a real goy.
Right?

Shameless Self Promotion Department

Cross-Currents, the Jewish blog with perhaps the most distinguished stable of Jewish writers, has given us an honorable mention:

Jeff Balabon on frumnet (Future of the Internet . . .): "I checked it out . . . definitely worth looking at"

http://www.cross-currents.com/ 1/3/04 12:12pm

Incidentally, anyone know why the Powerline page has an Israeli flag on it? I didn't think those guys are Jewish, and the blog doesn't specialize in Israel.

Speak to you soon . . . and keep up the excellent comments (some of the newest are found at the end of the original article on the bottom)

Wow - Naive Me

I inadvertently happened across some blogs from (apparently) chasidishe yiden with serious spiritual problems. For obvious reasons, I'm not linking to them, but what was amazing to me was (and they all had this in common):
1. The (large) number of blogs
2. The huge number of comments and posts
3. The reasonably high quality of the the English
4. The severe disillusionment with yiddishkeit, and willingness to violate halacha and spread word all over the internet. Not just the type of classic indiscretion one might assume - even a (self termed) mishugas like eating a piece of bread and (real) butter together with chicken soup when the bloggers' wife was not looking.
Many of these bloggers seemed to be Williamsburg based.

Hmmmmmmmmm.

I'll choose to believe these guys are serious and mean what they say, partially because they take great pains to hide their identities, and partially because my gut tells me so (and yes, I said in the title that I'm naive)

Did their problem start on the internet blog?
Definitely not.
Is the internet attracting them new recruits? Possible, but not real likely for the following reasons:
1. How would new recruits find these blogs in the first place unless they were tipped off or looking for this type of thing?
2. They're not really 'selling anything' to someone who's not already turned off to the yiddishkeit they know.

Therefore, the key role of the internet here is giving them a soapbox and venue to anonymously vent and discuss their doings and feelings.
This may over the long term be good thing, because I believe that confronting serious issues openly will eventually lead to the emes.

Of course, that process could be sped up and enhanced if leadership in their community were aware of what a large segment of their constituency is doing and saying, and if good answers appeared in the comments and give and take on their blogs. None of these problems is new, and all are best confronted in the open.


Will the leadership find out? No

Can blogs be started to confront these issues? Yes, but responsible and erliche people must be there.

Is the internet the problem or the solution? No and yes.

Powerline and a 'Chevra"

It's a bit afield from our blog topic, but the influential conservative blog Powerline (they exposed the Dan Rather forgeries) has an interesting opinion piece on Dennis Ross (the former Middle East envoy) and Yassir Arafat.

Closer to home, do you think that a separate community blog (a vaad or chevra) for 'frum' internet users wanting not to stumble or misstep would be a useful service? It would be 'eitzah's' and 'chizuk' among equals - or perhaps with a spiritual leader component?
Your comments would be appreciated!

The following was posted in www.cross-currents.com, a sophisticated chareidi blog by Rabbi Yaakov Menken originator of www.Torah.org.

Filed by Jeff Ballabon @ 1:18 am under
General
In a sense, blogging is so 2004. The next big thing will be videoblogs. You can fit a rudimentary TV studio in a suitcase – a laptop, a camcorder, a few cables, and a nearby Starbucks with Wi-Fi you can leech onto to upload your reports.
Wow - this guy is right. Very, very cool. R. Yaakov - you setting us up for this anytime soon?

That's the speed of technology! Where will it leave us over time?