Rabbi Yehoshua Shapira
(taken from this article at
Arutz 7)
Rabbi Yehoshua Shapira, Dean of the prestigious Ramat Gan Yeshiva, estimates
that 80 to 97% of Internet users in the modern Orthodox community have
fallen victim to the porn epidemic and will
occasionally seek out pornographic sites. He maintains that the temptation
is so great to look at forbidden material that a person should not sit down
at a computer alone.
"Being open-minded and on the cutting edge of technology has a certain
value," admits Rabbi Shapira. "But let's be honest: would anyone bring a
prostitute into his home to tutor his children even if she were a talented
math teacher?"
Rabbi Shapira recommends avoiding the internet except 1) for work and 2)
with a content filter installed. "And like the laws of yichud, never use
the internet while alone in the room," he adds.
The renowned
Rabbinic leader Rabbi
Shmuel HaLevy Vozner issued a Jewish
legal ruling forbidding males to surf the internet in a room alone (without
a fool-proof filter).
Rabbi Elisha Aviner
Rabbi Elisha Aviner,
one of Israel’s foremost authorities on high-school education, gives
lectures to parents and teachers all around the country. “There is
absolutely no excuse not to have an internet surfing filter on one’s home
computer,” he tells parents. “Not to do so is to violate the
commandment, “Thou shall not put a stumbling block in front of a blind man.”
Beitar
Ilit, one of the most ultra-Orthodox cities in the world,
bans open internet use claiming that
“Fifty percent of the problems in the city – sholom bayis and chinuch
habonim – stem from the Internet. There is a hidden blaze in the city.
An atom bomb underneath the city". If
this can be said of Betar, how much more so this must be true in less
religiously strict cities!
Internet Warning at Yeshiva Darchei Torah
May 14, 2008
From
www.theyeshivaworld.com (Click
here for the full Article)
A warning about the dangers
of unfettered access to the Internet through computers and cellular phones
was delivered to hundreds of Yeshiva Darchei Torah parents Monday night by
Rabbi Yaakov Bender Shlita, the Rosh Hayeshiva.
The yeshiva is not known for
shying away from modern educational tools and methods - and is even notable
for the businesslike manner in which it conducts activities such as large
meetings and fundraising - but Rabbi Bender used an uncharacteristically
lengthy hour-long address to deliver a firmly anti-Internet message.
He went so far as to say that
no home ought to have Internet access without the approval and guidance of
one’s rav or rebbe.
That would appear to echo a
no-Internet policy introduced in Lakewood, N.J.’s yeshiva community several
years ago.
No specific incident
precipitated Rabbi Bender’s remarks, Mr. Benoliel said, though he did relate
a few horror stories during his speech.
In bringing up what he
considers to be a very serious problem, he “stated that the dangers inherent
in modern technology may be the greatest threat faced by the Jewish People
in its history,”. Rabbi Bender was prepared with suggested solutions.
Technical experts were on hand, and literature was available to advise
parents about Internet filters and even “kosher phones” in which all
features are disabled except telephone service and voicemail. No text
messaging; no Internet access.
Yeshiva administrators spent
days making phone calls urging parents to attend. In the end, 600 people
showed up, a very good turnout.
Click
here to see what the renowned Rabbi
Twerski has to say on internet addiction.
Tzvi Fishman, founder of JewishSexuality.com
“The problem of pornography on the Internet caught everyone by surprise,”
Fishman maintains. “Especially among the modern Orthodox Jews in America and
the religious-Zionist community in Israel where computers with Internet are
a fixture in a majority of homes. Gradually, parents were shocked to
discover what their children were viewing while they were away. And plenty
of religious kids have discovered long lists of adult sites in their
father’s viewing history.”
Tzvi Fishman adds that his site's
Forum receives lots of frightening true
confessions, along with appeals for advice on how to overcome the urge. “The
addiction to Internet pornography leads people into a lifestyle of lying and
deception,” he says. “Many people are riddled with guilt, but don’t know how
to stop. Young boys describe how they have become loners, trapped in the web
of their terrible secret, and husbands write how their addiction has
destroyed their relationships with their wives.”
“But if a person truly wants to stop, he or she can,” Fishman asserts. “Just
as Alcoholics Anonymous and Gamblers Anonymous have long records of success,
we hope to have the same success at
Pornoholics Anonymous too.”
Belzer
Rebbe Shlita: Kosher Internet Only for Those who
Must be Online
YWN Israel
June 10, 2008
The Belzer Rebbe Shlita on
motzei Shavuos addressed his chassidim in the
Grand Yerushalayim Beis Medrash, telling them
that we are now in the time of “Kimu V’Kiblu”
and as such, we must realize the Internet brings
many “nisyanos” (challenges) to us and for those
requiring connectivity to earn a livelihood,
must opt for one of the kosher options available
today – to distance oneself from the “open
internet” and all the threats associated with
it.Addressing the
khal following havdalah, a proclamation was made
public, signed by all members of the Machzikei
Hadas Beis Din, referring to the need to limit
dangers as per the Rebbe Shlita, and to continue
efforts in tandem with the Rabbinical
Communications Committee which oversees kosher
cellular telephones towards providing kosher
internet to those whose lives demand
connectivity.
A new system with a higher
filtering ability is running in pilot mode to
meet the needs of those who must be connected or
use email, adding the Badatz is aware that the
success of filtered systems to date depends
greatly on the cooperation of an end-user,
stressing the many dangers associated with
Internet access. The rabbanim Shlita are not
giving a blanket ‘hechsher’ to Internet use,
explaining they are aware one cannot be
‘me’taher es ha’sheretz’ (purify the
contaminated) and therefore, there is no blanket
approval regarding Internet use, even filtered
as it may be.
In another publication
released by the Machzikei Hadas Beis Din,
reference is made to those who “have no
alternative” and must be connected to the
Internet to earn a livelihood – urging them to
change over to the new pilot filtered system
which limits risks to exposure to to’eva. The
badatz notice is also addressing those who just
use email.
|
Click
here for an article from
Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, Rabbi of Elon Moreh on breaking
free of internet pornography addiction.
From
Arutz
Sheva November 12, 2007
Rabbis Back Search Engine
without Internet Link
A new plan
backed by leading Hareidi religious rabbis will allow use of an Internet
search engine without direct link to the Internet, Globes reported. The
Hareidi religious community generally disapproves use of the Internet
because of its exposure to secular material.
Neto Shops and a group
named DSK have teamed up to provide the news service in an attempt to
enter the huge Hareidi religious market of more than one and a half
million people. The "Neto-to-Home" program allows access to articles and
classified ads via free CDs, which will be supervised by rabbinic
authorities.
From
Arutz
Sheva December 12, 2007.
Hareidi Jews Given Go-Ahead To
Surf The Web
The
Rabbinical Communications Committee (RCC) [webmaster's
note - the RCC is backed by the major Hareidi religious leaders, such as
R' Eliyashiv, R' Wosner and the Admor of Gur] announced
Wednesday that it would allow the strictly Torah observant Hareidi
community to surf the internet. The go-ahead was given after an
agreement between the rabbis and Israel's internet service provider's
operators would enable users to block offensive or inflammatory content.
The pilot program is currently operated through the Bezeq internet
provider. The RCC is conducting talks with Hot Cable Systems to agree
to run the program, as well.
The RCC sought to
enable Hareidi Jews to surf the web due to the growing need of its
constituency to use the internet for business and professional
purposes. According to the manager of the McCann Erickson Israel
Hareidi Section, 60 percent of Hareidi Jews have computers, with 35
percent having internet access.
The RCC was
established within the Torah observant Hareidi communities in 2006 in
order to assist them in finding appropriate means to use cell phone
technology.