RABBIS WARN AGAINST THE INTERNET

Saturday 8 January 2000

Internet threat to Israel, say rabbis

By Alan Philps in Jerusalem


ISRAEL'S leading orthodox rabbis have issued a ruling banning the
internet from Jewish homes, arguing that it is "1,000 times more
dangerous than television" and threatens the survival of the country.
The ruling, issued by the Council of Torah Sages, is an attempt by the
rabbis to halt the infiltration of "sin and abomination" from the
internet into the homes of the ultra-orthodox, whose children have
hitherto been shielded from the temptations of the modern world.

The rabbis recalled that they had banned television 30 years ago, and
said that the dangers from the internet were even greater. They said it
"puts the future generations of Israel in grave danger in a way that no
other threat has since Israel became a nation".

The newspaper of Degel Hatorah, one of the strictest of the religious
parties in Israel, said the internet was "the world's leading cause of
temptation, it incites and encourages sin and abomination of the worst
kind."

The majority of Israelis, who are secular, will ignore the ruling. But
it is likely to deprive young members of the ultra-orthodox community -
those who wear the black hats and long coats of the European ghetto -
of a window on the secular world. Religious leaders are worried about a
growing number of youths who break out of their closed communities in
search of a secular life - a development that is partly blamed on the
arrival of the computer in their homes, giving them the chance to join
discussion groups, hear forbidden music and read about life outside.

The ruling follows a sharp debate in the ultra-orthodox community about
the role of computers. Some have seen them as a blessing, enabling men
and women to earn money as computer programmers - a skill that many in
these strict communities believe they excel in thanks to years of
studying the intricacies of Jewish religious texts.

But other rabbis have argued that the computer is a Trojan Horse of
secular filth.

The Torah Sages recommended that those who make a living in computers
should be allowed to use them only at the work place. Those who do not
have rabbinical permission to use a computer are called on to delete
the web browser, which makes it impossible to surf the net.

The newspaper Haaretz pointed out that while the most extreme sects
banned all uses of the internet, even for business, as a "deadly poison
which burns souls", there are many web sites designed as aids to
studying the Torah. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former chief rabbi of Israel,
has his own website.

Earlier this week, a 17-year-old student from Hertfordshire announced
plans to float his Jewish community web site on the London Stock
Exchange. Benjamin Cohen could become a millionaire with the popular
site which includes business news, a dating agency and a 'cyber rabbi'.
  

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