…on home computer use. Ha'aretz reports:
…Every Gerrer Hasid with a computer can expect a house call in the near future, meant to persuade him to get rid of the treyf device. Those with an Internet connection - the height of spiritual contamination, which only a few members of the community have rabbinical permission to use, and that for work purposes only - will receive special attention.
The purpose of the campaign is not to threaten computer users with sanctions, but rather to explain the "spiritual dangers" to which they and members of their household are exposed. If the Gerrer rebbe so wished, members of the community say, he would have ordered the computers removed from his followers' homes. But the rebbe is not doing so, perhaps because he, Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter, knows how difficult it is to round up the horses once the stable door has been left open. And so, the campaign's purpose is informative: Every shtibl [small synagogue] is to appoint two people to go from house to house with the message that it is preferable not to have a computer at home.…
…For over a year, the Gerrer community has been following the fascinating battle in the courts of Gerrer Yisrael Ackerman, who is petitioning for the revelation of the identity of "Ploni Almoni" (the Hebrew equivalent of "John Doe"), who is also apparently a Gerrer. In 2004, Ploni Almoni posted an anonymous announcement on a Hasidic forum claiming that Ackerman beat up another Hasid, a nam [sic] named Levine, whom he suspected of disloyalty to the current rebbe.
The conventional wisdom in the community is that "Ploni Almoni" is one of a small group within the sect that questions the current leadership of the community, and that behind the lawsuit of Ackerman, the scion of a respected Hasidic family, are associates of Rabbi Alter. Many believe the legal battle is intended to deter community members from using the Internet, which can provoke the use of slander. On Heder Shaket and similar forums, one can easily find content that is critical of the Gerrer leadership.…