ISRAEL: JEWISH RELIGIOUS RULING AGAINST USE OF INTERNET IN PRIVATE HOUSES IGNITES CONTROVERSY AMONG ULTRA ORTHODOX JEWS

Record ID: 398976

  • Title: ISRAEL: JEWISH RELIGIOUS RULING AGAINST USE OF INTERNET IN PRIVATE HOUSES IGNITES CONTROVERSY AMONG ULTRA ORTHODOX JEWS
  • Date: 22nd February 2000
  • Summary: JERUSALEM, ISRAEL (FEBRUARY 20, 2000) (REUTERS 1. SV: MAN HANGING BANNERS ON A BILLBOARD IN MEA SHEARIM NEIGHBOURHOOD. (3 SHOTS) 0.20 2. SV: ORTHODOX WOMAN LOOKING AT BILLBOARD. 0.23 3. CU: PUBLICATION FORBIDDING THE USE OF INTERNET OR TELEVISION WHICH READS: 'IT IS THE VIEW OF THE TORAH THAT THERE IS A STRICT BAN TO CONNECT TO THE INTERNET OR
  • Embargoed: 8th March 2000 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JERUSALEM/ MEVASERET ZION, ISRAEL
  • Country: Israel
  • Reuters ID: LVA55AHPQVN1NZBJIVVB6BXWLMUE
  • Story Text: A Jewish religious ruling against the use of the
    Internet in private houses
    has ignited controversy among the most devout in Israel - the
    ultra-Orthodox Jews.

    In January 2000, a rabbinical court in Israel rocked
    the web-savvy devout Jews by ruling "it is severely forbidden
    to connect to the Internet or television, which constitute a
    horrible danger".

    They issued the ruling in religious newspapers and on
    billboards, often seen as the orthodox version of the
    Internet, fearing their followers will be exposed to matters
    that will divert them from their faith.Or worse -- subject
    them to pornography.

    The ruling applied to home use while allowing for Internet
    use for business purposes.

    At his home in Jerusalem, Rabbi Menachem Porush, leader of
    the 'Agudat Yisrael' movement, has no television or computer.

    For him, the risk is clear.

    " We don't know what kind of material that they will give
    our children and we feel that it is a great danger for the way
    of education that we want to give our children", he says.

    Computers are popular in the complex Jewish religious
    society.Some estimate that computers are found in more than
    50 percent of religious households in Israel.

    Despite the rulings of the rabbis, religious Jews enjoy
    surfing the 'Net the same as everyone else.

    The Netcafe, opened two years ago in downtown Jerusalem,
    is a second home to many religious youths who like to catch up
    with the latest news on the web.Coming from abroad to attend
    Jewish religious seminaries, they also keep up with their
    e-mail this way.

    " For the general public I think that most of us can think
    for ourselves and I don't know if there should be such a
    ruling," says Chaim Lesser, a seminary student from New York.

    Not all the rabbis stick to the same ruling.Rabbi Arnie
    Slautelberg from Michigan who has used the Net to search for
    such things as a Jewish academy in New York.He believes that
    using the Internet should be an independent choice.

    " I wouldn't want to impose any kind of judgments on
    people.I would hope that they would rise to the occasion and
    use it in a positive, constructive manner," he says.

    Before the ruling was issued, religious Jews were swift to
    recognise the educational potential of the World Wide Web,
    setting up a plethora of sites with features like "the
    writings of the Lubavitcher rabbi".

    Voluminous sites cater to the needs of the religious,
    granting one-stop access to liturgy, matchmaking, recipes, and
    a live, round-the-clock view of Jewish holy places such as the
    Western Wall.

    Shlomo Kalish makes his living from the Internet.A
    former secular fighter pilot in Israel's air force, Kalish has
    started "Jerusalem Global Innovation Centre", funding start-up
    companies.

    " God has created the world including the things that gave
    people brains to invent things like technology and television
    and Internet," he says.

    But Rabbi Porush puts the ruling - and the web - in a
    different perspective.

    " Two thousand years we have been existing without this and
    we will exist another two thousand years after this will be
    operating.
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