American Haredi Rabbis Issue New Internet Ban

The ban prohibits using the Internet without a filter and recommends installing third party software that sends a record of all the Websites visited to a monitoring agency, which would then report that usage to a designated party.

 

Using a filter would stop haredim from visiting Websites with sexual content, but it would also prohibit them from visiting sites like FailedMessiah.com.

The ban is published in the name of Agudath Israel of America's Moetzet Gedolei HaTorah, its Council of Torah Sages, and is signed by its rabbinic leaders.

What follows is the ban and then an enlargement of the English section of the ban:

[Hat Tip: Frum Follies via The Other DK.]

Comments

[A friend]

Hey I didnt see ur sexy belly @ the jcc today ? U couldn't ride metro mobility ? Hmmm

[danny]

Secular danny issues a new ban on bubbemeisa's from unintelligent Rabbis.

[Yerachmiel Lopin]

I made the mistake of thinking this was a new ban, but it was issued in the middle of January 2011 and printed in Hamodia according to a forum on Guard Your Eyes a web site for frum internet sex addicts working on controlling themselves.

http://www.guardyoureyes.org/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=d368da81b5f5e683c4aae764b4c9cdf4&topic=3271.msg93333#msg93333

I have corrected my post and analysis:http://wp.me/pFbfD-GS

[ah-pee-chorus]

i dont blame the small-minded rabbis. information is not their friend.

shmarya, maybe you can have an echo website with the name ilovegedolim.com to get by the filter. but we all have to keep it reeeeeeally quiet. shhhhhhhhh

[Yoel Mechanic]

>but it would also prohibit them from visiting sites like FailedMessiah.com.

I told you this was going to happen. But did anyone listen? Nooooo! You are sure FM is definitely to be filtered out? not just maybe... ?

[critical_minyan]

if I had this filter, it would help me out a lot. I would waste a lot less time.

[ah-pee-chorus]

i guess i'm done with the internet. theres nothing i value more than the opinions of 10 out of touch older men i've never met.

[ah-pee-chorus]

next kol korei will have to be to ban work. WORK LEADS TO THE INTERNET!

oops...i shouldnt be violating the ban, my bad.

[Loshon Hora]

Unfortunatly the Moetzes suffers of dysfunction today. I am not going to say the Rabbis are no good, but the Kol Korehs are not doing any good. The ban of VIN & the saga of Emanuel & the story behind it which was the last shoe to drop, make people not even bother reading Kol Korehs.
I still wonder why they write them.
After all it says Kesheim shemitvah loimar dovor sheyishma kach mitvah loi loimar dovor sheloi yishma. {The same way one is commanded to say something that would be listened to, so to are they commanded not to say some thing that will not be adhered to.}
I guess they think some of us will listen.
Unfortunatly when internet is the only problem, that it needs so many Kol Korehs & theft & the aroyois are not spoken about, & covered-up. They are attacking the affect instead of the cause.

[Althelion]

"theres nothing i value more than the opinions of 10 out of touch older men i've never met."

Especially when those 10 out of touch older men base their knowledge of contemporary life on the wisdom of numerous other older men who lived one, two, and three centuries or more ago.

The ultra orthodox rabbinic authority is scared shitless of the free flow of information that the internet provides. The gedolim rely on the ignorance of their followers to believe their "wisdom" unconditionally.

I bet those 10 out of touch older men would really enjoy a hot chani website.

[effie]

So, any estimate of the compliance rate with these bans? VIN looks like they haven't suffered. I guess they can determine compliance by the software they sell but undoubtedly there are ways to get around it.

[Monsey]

A rabbi should be allowed to molest a child as long as the info is shared with another rabbi even though that would probably lead to the overseer molesting the same kid because no one watches the watchers.

[jj]

please explain to me how Rabbi kutler from lakewood yeshiva and rabbi shekter from chaim berlin can sign on this ban when everyone knows that the internet in thier buiss offices do not have this filter. what a two faced world!

[The nudnik]

Regarding attempts to ban the Internet - HaMavin Yavin!

http://deoxy.org/emperors.htm

[Loshon Hora]

Next Kol Koreh. You must keep your lights on 24/7/365 & curtains open & tell your neighbours to keep looking in to your house, so that you do no bad, invite big brother to watch you [satire].

[Aleksandr Sigalov]

rabbiporn domain name is available in most popular categories, such as .com .org .net, and of'course, everybody's favorite .xxx ;)

[tooclose2detroit]

boy, who coulda predicted that this article woulda led to a veritable feast of beanie-bashing???-
anyhow, as I have always said on this issue-I believe that if, in chassan and kallah classes, they would spend as much time teaching them that its a chiyuv to REALLY please your spouse, as they do about blood checking,, then that would go a long way to solving the issue-but maybe, on the other hand, I am just a know nothing dumbass.

[yudel]

The good news about these bans is that it makes certain the teens and tweens go out of their way to see what is on line. Since in frum families there is no such thing in general about learning life lessons and the traditions of their family, etc. This is good news. Forbidden fruit the only sad part of this is that regular families are so out of the loop some actually follow these mandates.

[Dovid]

Was this written by someone Russian?

"we are all aware of the grave danger internet has brought...opulence, I has it."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkB9OT2XVvA

[seymour]

oh please I see the frummies doing very well in crime with then internet

maybe if they had the internet the japan boys could have checked what would be in store for them inf caught

[aviv manuel]

I think there is a website for that too, guardyoureyes.org . It is an anti-pornography website. They treat internet porn addiction like any other addiction, which it is by the way. You so know there are internet porn addicts out there, correct? They have a section where they recommend you certain approved software. One of them, you download for free and subscribe through a partner who will set up the password for you, it is indeed very restrictive. I don't see anything wrong with the ban as long as user are willing to follow. Remember, Haredi is like being in a club and it's members should abide by its rules, pretty much like any religion does. What is your point? What pissed you off, that your site is also blocked?

[EM]

c'mon. This ban has nothing to do with FM. It is to help sex and porn addicts.

[Dan]

Not sure what the source of the aggression or ignorance is from so many posters here regarding the ban. It is a totally wise and reasonable ban and it has given me chizuk to reinstall K9.

Whether leading Rabbis follow it is a separate issue. Humbly acknowledging the wisdom of the restriction, the importance of filters - shouldn't depend on which Rabbis follow the ban. Whether those rabbis should be reported it is a separate issue.