The charedi are right to fear the net.
Aside from all the porn that will do Permanent Damage To Your Soul the net is a very dangerous place for faith. There is too much heretical information available and no way to control it. (Assuming you want to control it, that is.) Back in the day "The Rabbis" could effectively ban books or put heretics in cherim (ex-communication). Today, we have entire virtual communities of skeptics discussing kefirah (heresy) and providing emotional support for one another. I agree with those who think the information age, made possible by mass publishing and the internet, will create a major crisis within the ultra-orthodox community. I think people losing faith will become a more common occurrence within the charedi velt (ultra-orthodox world). I think our blogs are one expression of that, and we are just the tip of the iceberg. Rabbi Horowitz seems to be one of the few Orthodox Rabbis who are trying to stay ahead of this wave. He recognizes the old approaches are not going to work and is doing what he can to change frummie attitudes.
Ironically, I think this flood of information is also responsible for the chumra-obsessed Orthodox culture we have today. Two hundred years ago the shtetles of eastern Europe didn't have access to the thousands and thousands of Jewish texts we have today. The extremes of the religious practice in any given town were probably constrained by the knowledge of the local Rav. If he didn't know a particular chumra the town didn't practice it. Whereas today, every sect has access to the writings of every other sect. Additionally, many local customs practiced in the old country have been put down on paper. The result is people find all kinds of random minhagim to resurrect and put into modern practice. ("The Rebbe did it, it must be Torah MiSinai!") This creates a situation where people start to question why they are following these ridiculous customs, they start to search for answers, they might go online, and... well, you know the rest.
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
10 comments:
I also think that the ease of communication makes it much easier to spread both "heresy" and chumras. As you said, access is key - for someone in a shtetl 150 years ago, it would have taken weeks or months to find out about things like bugs in the water. Now we have internet, phones and mass media plugging the information into every home in the world. It's a new age...
GGG,
Excellent point!
"I agree with those who think the information age, made possible by mass publishing and the internet, will create a major crisis within the ultra-orthodox community."
It will not create a major crisis, however it will eliminate from the community some of the worthless trash which we are better off without.
Additionally, there is a very large group on yahoo of converts to orthodox Judaism. So it will work for us both ways.
and with internet, its much easier to check up on sources. Imagine having to collect numerous literature from different corners of the world. Now, its on your fingertips. So while its leading to chumrot, the actual halacha can also be found rather easily incase some rav wishes to nix a certain book from the beit midrash.
Example, I know a couple of young teens who never heard of moreh nevuchim. Their yeshiva will probably not teach it to them. With internet, they can easily find it once discussions bring it up.
I think this has become a fundamental point of contention between MO & chareidim. MO admits that the internet has bad stuff, but believes that the wealth of good stuff and the ability to avoid the bad stuff makes it worthwhile. Chareidim say that since there is bad stuff, we should ban it all so that we don't happen to see the bad stuff or so kids are not influenced.
I see it as basically, do you trust parents to parent and bring up responsible kids or do you want a police state?
In my personal religious journey away from OJ, I have found great information on both sides of an issue online. I was then able to make my own informed decision. Prior to the internet, i would have just been frustrated with the inability to get my questions answered.
"The charedi are right to fear the net."
Absolutely. To paraphrase something Shtreimel once wrote: The Rabbis warned us about the spiritual dangers of the Internet. I went online and found they were wrong -- which, paradoxically, proves them right
I think that the correct way to plan ahead is for the establishment, both MO and moderate charedi to assume high school/college kids will be familiar with both the DH in some detail as well as the skeptical arguments concerning the of traditional proofs for the ikrim.You can buy the Jewish Publication Society 5 volumes on chumash and without any great difficulty know more than the teacher about lots of stuff. If they are debating Kugel's book on Hirhurim you just know some bright eyed kid is gonna find the book and read it. Which yeshivah is today prepared to deal with this type of youngster?
EvanstonJew, I agree wholeheartedly. OJ's continued failure to address biblical criticism is, in my opinion, one of the worst things it can do to its most devoted constituents... who inevitably figure it out anyways.
I think Orthodoxy should insist that their rabbis learn some Tanach (Hebrew Bible) before ordaining them as rabbis. That would be a good start. Most ordainments require no learning of Bible at all... which is why we're in this sorry state.
That's one of the reasons why,in traditional European type yeshiviot, they gloss over navi. They (rabbis & administrators) are not well versed in that area & fear that the subject matter is to sensitive for frum minds. I became convinced of this one morning in a Radison Hotel while parusing the Kings James version. When I reached the end BOOK OF CHRONICLES (Divrei Hayamim) it really isn't the end. It seamlessly glides into Mathew, the first of the gosples, which is continuation of what our people call the TORAH. It is one and part of the same fairy tale myth
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