Halakhic Expert Slams Haredi Rabbi's Ban On Visiting Western Wall On Shabbat

Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the senior haredi adjudicator of Jewish law, recently prohibited visiting Western Wall on Shabbat due to 'halachic problems' with the security cameras there. However, one of the leading experts on halakha and technology is calling the demand part of the “endless pursuit of stringencies in Elyashiv’s court.”

Halacha expert slams ban on visiting Kotel on Shabbat
Senior haredi adjudicator recently prohibited visiting Western Wall on Shabbat due to halachic problems with the security cameras.
By JONAH MANDEL • Jerusalem Post
 
Senior haredi Ashkenazi adjudicator Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv recently prohibited visiting the Western Wall on Shabbat due to halachic problems with the security cameras there. However, one of the leading experts on Halacha and technology is calling the demand part of the “endless pursuit of stringencies in Elyashiv’s court.”

An announcement in last weekend’s Yated Ne’eman newspaper cited sources close to Elyashiv as prohibiting visits to the Western Wall on Shabbat in the rabbi’s name.

“Recent publications claim that while the Mabat-2000 program is active, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv permits visiting the Western Wall on Shabbat,” the paper said. “It is hereby announced that there is currently insufficient supervision to ensure that the program is indeed active, and so long as matter is not resolved, it is Rabbi Elyashiv’s opinion that one should not go to the Western Wall on Shabbat.”

Western Wall and Holy Sites Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz issued a statement regarding the program, which involves security cameras that are not motion-sensitive and do not focus on objects, enabling passage through the Old City on Shabbat and holidays.

“In Rabbi Elyashiv’s opinion, there is a problem in the supervision of the program used on Shabbat, and together with the police we are working to fix the issue,” he said.

The Jerusalem Police spokesman said they were open to suggestions.

But Rabbi Yisrael Rozen, head of the Tzomet Institute, said Thursday that “whoever wants to prohibit the Western Wall cameras will have to order religious people to stay away from yeshivas, hotels, banquet halls and public areas, all of which use online security cameras.”

Rozen, whose institute is one of the leading establishments in developing solutions for the use of modern technologies in accordance with Shabbat observance, was involved in the consultations for the original use of the cameras around the Western Wall.

“There are two problematic aspects to being filmed on Shabbat. The first is the digital changes your image creates on the screen, but the more serious one is having the filmed materials saved,” he explained.

Since the images are deleted within a limited period after they are recorded, the major halachic obstacle is resolved, enabling the cameras to be used on Shabbat.

“The permit for using such online cameras was given even to those that temporarily save the information recorded in case a crime was committed.

Security cameras are in use all over the country, including in yeshivas and hotels, not to mention sensitive places such as settlements, Jerusalem and the Western Wall,” he continued.

“Cameras like these that broadcast online were permitted by all the leading adjudicators, including people representing Rabbi Elyashiv,” Rozen said. “Articles about that were also published in the [Tzomet Institute’s annual] Techumin journal, including by Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz and others from the haredi sector.”

Apparently, Elyashiv’s people wanted the additional measure of having the materials recorded on Shabbat erased in a shorter period, and the utilization of that specific program is probably what is not being supervised, Rozen said.

“There is an endless pursuit of stringencies in Elyashiv’s court,” Rozen charged. “This is a demand that exists nowhere else. Its implications are not just for the Kotel, but for half the country.”

Comments

[ruthie]

for any ONE 1 ONE MAN to tell the jewish people not to go to the kotel....on shabbat or anytime whatsoever is completely absurd.

the kotel belongs to all of us. if he thinks the security cameras are a problem...then maybe he should stay home.

this is ridiculous ...it makes us all look like idiots.

[Shlomo]

Who is going to pay for the proper Rabbinic supervision and where is the money going to go?

[David]

This prohibition is a good thing. Just as Charedi Cohanim have been prohibited from going through the tunnel, prohibiting the Charedim going to the Kottel will mean more room for the rest of us and no more Chillul Hashem with Charedim abusing women and otherwise behaving in public (and in front of tourists) in strange and disgusting ways.

[effie]

If they have security cameras, how come they never arrest those who are throwing things?

[David]

If they have security cameras, how come they never arrest those who are throwing things?

Because there'd be a riot. They'd throw things....

[A E ANDERSON]

I usually don't agree with Eliyashiv on anything, but in this instance, I am inclined to support his fatwa banning haredim from going outside anywhere there are security camera. According to this logic, the haredim will become like Essenes, and will just have to stay inside all day on Shabbat and not walk 4 cubits lest they encounter a security camera. Think of it as home detention for haredim.

[angelsAdvocate]

you're all such hypocritical idiots. speaking of "to bite your nose to spite your face"! what the hell does the kotel represent other than our link to our heritage- RELIGION! how can you believe in the kotel if you don't believe in the halachos? it's absurd!the whole day you guys try modernizing jewry yet here you admit that the kotel has utmost signifigance. just to bash Charedim. Amazing

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

I think that this mummy was part of the King Tut Exhibitition when it came to the Field Museum in Chicago in 1977.

[Riverdaleapikorus]

Actually the kotel has little significance. It was a retaining wall for the Temple compund which has now become a place of Avoda Zara for many Jews. It has no special holiness except for cultural- historical..

[Thumper]

From what I understand of this issue, it is a davar she'aino miskaven, done with a shinui, on an issur d'rabbanan, whose goal is safety/security.

Clearly I'm an am ha-aretz for failing to understand R' Elyshev's concerns.

[Sanford Hausler]

If the haredim stay away from the Kotel on Shabbat, maybe the Women of the Wall can hold their services in peace. The Conservative Jews, too.

[Disbeliever]

It's most interesting that Rabbi Elyashuv did not sign the so-called restriction. There have been so very many quotes in his name that are unfounded that we've lost count of them. I suspect that this is one of them, issued by the self-proclaimed busy bodies that buzz around him and glorify in their own imagined self-importance.
Rabbi Elyashuv once said that if something is repeated in his name and does not carry his signature and is not publicized in a reliable publication, it is a fraud.
Do you see his signature attached to this absurdity? I am not any great scholar, but it is plain to me that this new idiocy is an improvision that Rabbi Elyashuv never autherized. Period.

[Forty Eighter]

How come these bozos have no problem protesting against Intel or the Karta parking lot on Shabbos? According to my information those places are under heavy video suveilance that is not under rabbinical supervision.

Reb Elyashiv's signature is in anycase meaningless. He has long ceased to exhibit any mental capacity whatsoever. Just look up the story on this blog in which he signed a letter of support on behalf of the monster Elior Chen.

[Althelion]

If there ever was an all-Jewish stage production of the '70's tv show "Sanford & Son," Senior haredi Ashkenazi adjudicator Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv could play the part of Fred Sanford. He's just a cranky, senile old man who dreams up idiotic ideas.

At what point will his followers look up and say, "Dude, you're fucked up, Man."?

[Menachem Mendel lll]

Excellent!

Next he has to pasken to his zelot lazy fuck followers to get real jobs and work.

This will help bring the coming of the Moshiach within our lifetime.

MOSHCIAH!

[yehuda]

OCD is a tough thing to deal with when the Rabbis who have this malady show up with it in front of so called gedolim who do not recognize any mental illness. No these men are not hand washers and counters. Their mind tripped into the world of halacha minutae and out comes this stream of people in need of treatment now standing in line for ridiculous rulings. Now add to the fact that the head honcho Rav has fallen in love with power and being worshipped and while he has no OCD but loves the adoration ..he too forgets what is written about chumrahs. Result is we either need some major counseling or have Eisav in our midst.

[corn popper]

"Halakhic Expert" - "Slams"
Q. Why is this news? Look at how the Ravad "slams" the Rambam - if two Torah giants are seeking the truth 'lshem shamayim' then it's like a regular discussion in any Beis Hamedrash.
A. Pure unadulterated hatred of Haredim.

That being said it's very difficult to know the truth of who is feeding Reb Elyashiv what information, and if he indeed said what he is purported to have said. As one well known American Rav recently told me, "I don't trust anything anymore that's said in the name of Reb Elyashiv unless I was there to here it from his mouth". Sad.

[corn popper]

for any ONE 1 ONE MAN to tell the jewish people not to go to the kotel....on shabbat or anytime whatsoever is completely absurd.

the kotel belongs to all of us. if he thinks the security cameras are a problem...then maybe he should stay home.

Posted by: ruthie | December 16, 2010 at 11:32 PM

Ruthie,
If there was a dangerous animal at the Kotel that was a threat to life would you go anyway, would you say no one animal can tell us not to go to the Kotel, and that the Kotel belongs to all of us? Absurd.
To Reb Elyashiv, a halachic prohibition is akin to physical danger. You may disagree, but in any halachic dispute between Reb Elyashiv and Ruthie,your odds are not very good.

[ruthie]

o.k. i'm not up for any type of halachic dispute...i'm not even going to try.
i do agree with you that for him a halachic prohibition is akin to physical danger.

but i'm also jewish....and just like i respect him i think he should also respect the fact that i choose just to be jewish, not religious, and that kotel is also mine.

and i don't understand no one animal can tell us not to go to the kotel.... i didn't call him an animal..i don't understand what you mean.

[David]

I think that this mummy was part of the King Tut Exhibitition when it came to the Field Museum in Chicago in 1977.

I think it's decomposed a bit since then.

[Someone who cares]

How the hell can anyone talk bad about the gadol hador?I promise you that all of u will rot in hell and I hope for a long time.go fuck yourself and don't ever make fun of the mightiest and closest person to god in this world