In last week’s Yated Ne’eman, the newspaper’s Chinuch Roundtable column tackled a difficult but often asked question.
The question began: “Our family has been following the p’sak of the gedolim regarding internet use for years,” the question begins. “We don’t have the internet at home, in the office it’s with a filter, and we have a flip phone. We have always told our children that although internet with a filter is not assur, we follow the daas of the gedolim and we don’t even shop online. For years, all we heard at public gatherings was to ‘stay away from it and only use it for business, if necessary.’”
The question continues: “Recently, many organizations and yeshivos have been advertising virtual events. There are concerts online and “kosher” shows and fundraisers that we have stayed away from. Now for the question: How do we explain to our children why there are so many yeshivos encouraging people to join them online if we have been forever teaching and showing our children that it’s best to stay away from the internet?
Panelist Rabbi Nosson Scherman, General Editor, ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications, avers in his response that the question should have been addressed to gedolei Yisroel but adds that the “unfortunate fact is that yeshivos have budgets to cover and salaries to pay… and to tell yeshivos that they should deprive their faculties and talmidim of halachically permissible ways to function is wrong and even cruel.”
Rabbi Yechiel Spero, Rebbi, Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim, Baltimore, says that “Organizations are under the gun to come up with money. …Is it a lechatchilah? Absolutely not.” He adds, “Are there those who are still holding out? I don’t remember the last time Satmar had a Joey Newcomb concert. So there are those who remain steadfast and true to the script. It’s a complicated question. I wish I had a better answer.
Rabbi Yisroel Hisiger, in his response, states that “it is fair to say that there is no single daas Torah on this subject. Different communities have been responding to the use of the internet in differing ways. We find those who completely forbid any use, period. Others allow its use for business, with filters, for Torah classes, outreach, and, lately, for fundraising. I don’t believe these wonderful mosdos and tzedakos have any intention to encourage the use of the internet. They are merely taking advantage of the reality that many people have access to it.”
Rabbi Meir Kranczer, Rebbi, Yeshiva Beis Yehuda, Detroit, admits that “Life does have its share of blatant hypocrisies. It is not apples to apples, but there is what to tell children. Some people eats gebrokts; others do not. Lots of people are makpid on only yoshon flour; many are not. Some institutions use internet; we do not.”
{Matzav.com}
some answers were left out here:
RABBI MOSHE BENDER
Associate Dean, Yeshiva Darchei Torah, Far Rockaway
I don’t think any yeshiva is encouraging the use of the internet. There are many that have the internet for their work needs and the yeshiva is able to get their message out to them. They are not saying that if you don’t have internet that you should go and get it for your home.
The yeshivos are using it as a platform to raise money, as the yeshivos were not able to have any dinners in person this year. No yeshiva is advocating that one should use the internet on a daily basis or to change the policy that they heard from their rabbonim on this topic.
RABBI DOVID ENGEL
Menahel, The Toronto Cheder
First of all, ashrecha to you and your family for safeguarding yourselves. Even the most outspoken advocates of the internet being a necessary tool in our lives admire the resoluteness of families that remain strong. You have elevated yourselves to be the shevet Levi of Klal Yisroel – ki shomru imrosecha uvrischa yintzoru.
There are many different levels in Klal Yisroel. Not everyone is on your level or situation in life, and it is to them that the mosdos are reaching out. I’ve seen testimonies from rabbeim and moros living in far flung places where there is barely any Yiddishkeit that Torah Umesorah’s chinuch.org is a lifesaver. There are people who would be hard-pressed to join a Daf Yomi shiur who are thriving from shiurim online, especially over the last year, during corona. It can be argued that for these situations, utilizing the internet to access these shiurim online is crucial for their Yiddishkeit.
You should explain to your children this concept of shevet Levi and how fortunate you are to be part of their ranks. Just as they know of friends or relatives who are not makpid on cholov Yisroel or yoshon while others are, so too, there are mehalchim. However, please stress to them that this does not make you better than those who have chosen different lifestyles in Yiddishkeit.
Yeshivos have been hard-pressed to stay afloat financially during this trying time. (Here in Toronto, we’re in the midst of yet another month-long lockdown.) They reach out to people online to keep their mosdos open, people who have internet in their homes for parnassah reasons. We dare not judge others. Every mosad has their daas Torah or vaad hachinuch whom they consult with and who is madrich them accordingly. Halevai that donors would reach out to mosdos to ensure that they can continue their avodas hakodesh properly, with peace of mind.
Tell the boys that everyone gets only a specific amount of internet time for his lifetime. So if they use up to much when they are young they will not be able to watch the Moisdois concerts and telethon when they get older.
None of those panelist actually addressed the hypocrisy. The question was not directed at Satmar. The question was directed at the mainstream mosdos who encourage their talmidim to stay away from the internet and then they turn around and use the very medium that they shun and use it for their own benefit. Using the excuse that they need the funds is not an excuse. Would we find a heter to eat Chazir if we were in a place where no other meat was available? Of coarse not. So by the very fact that these mosdos use the internet for their own personal gain is the height of hypocrisy.
Rabbi Scherman full response:
Frankly, this question should have been addressed to gedolei Yisroel, and what I say should not be regarded as authoritative daas Torah.
There are two questions here: how to respond to the children and how to understand the apparently questionable conduct of our institutions.
First the children. It is obvious from the letter that the writer’s family has higher standards in areas such as kashrus, tznius, etc. than most families. I’m sure that – without denigrating others – the writer imbues his children with pride that they aspire to become closer to Hashem and not succumb to the lures of modern society. The same applies to how to present the family’s attitude toward the internet.
As for the institutions, the writer says, correctly, that internet may be used “for business, if necessary.” The key word is “necessary,” and the fact is that yeshivos have no choice but to use technology in their dealings with government, suppliers and communication with the public and parents. As my own manhig (everyone should have a manhig, and I assume the writer has one) has said for many years, “We cannot ban the internet. We must control it.” Virtually all gedolim have come to recognize this reality.
I suggest that we adopt a rule that might be called the “Filter Test,” to wit: If the best filters allow the transmission of a type of material, then businesses should be allowed to transmit it.
The unfortunate fact is that yeshivos have budgets to cover and salaries to pay. Especially in the time of Covid, it is excruciatingly difficult for a yeshiva to raise the funds needed to cover the costs of parents who cannot afford full tuition, which is the majority. Yes, it is undeniably true that the public at large overuses and abuses the internet, but to tell yeshivos that they should deprive their faculties and talmidim of halachically permissible ways to function is wrong and even cruel.
It is interesting: I dont know if the answers brought on Matzav.com are the full answers. If they are I feel that the question wasnt answered. It was asked how can we explain what seems to be a hyprocisy to our children. The question wasnt how can the mosdos use internet for fundraising. However it seems like the panelist instead tried answering that as in defense of the mosdos. For which I humbly believe doesnt need an answer other than; Every mosad has their daas torah and they speak with them, period pencils down! No need to make defenses so that everyone can now go and start arguing the terutzim. Any erliche mosad has daas torah and they asked before using the internet as their fundraising platform this year. I personally work for a mosad and before we ran our virtual campaign we asked our daas torah and we were told how and what we can do.
When money talks, all else walks. It’s a modern Yiddishe zogt.
You quote Rabi Sherman but you left out the most important line. In the third column Rabbi Sherman writes “As my own manhig has said for many years. WE CANNOT BAN THE INTERNET. WE MUST CONTROL IT. The letter writer I assume lives in a community where computers / internet is banned. That is fine, but you see in his letter that he sees hypocrisy in this approach as internet is allowed for business, for fundraising. I also got the impression that the speeches he has heard makes him look down at those who have a smartphone. I got this impression from Rabbi Yechiel Spero response as well. My rov said similar to Rabbi Sherman’s manhig ” you cant ban it for the simple reason technology is constantly evolving. What was assur yesterday became a necessity today. When the red lines keeps moving it becomes harder to enforce. I will say you should get a filter, or ad blockers. a web chaver and most importantly have self control and don’t waste your time responding to every news item. Liimit the groups you belong to and most importantly don’t take out your phone during davening.
A difficult question indeed. Rabbi Sherman is right; this is a question for gedolei Yisroel, not a chinuch roundtable. And the timing and placement of the question is way off; it should have been asked by the institutions that are utilizing the “entertainment” internet for their fundraising advantage, and it should have been asked before they did so. If the very institutions that supposedly deliver the will of Daas Torah to the next generation ignore that Daas Torah themselves, they need to have a serious discussion with gedolim.
The Rebbi from Detroit presented an answer that is severely troubling. He said that there is what to tell children, it’s like Yoshon, or gebrokts. That answer makes fools ch”v of virtually all Daas Torah today. Is the question of gebrokts an issue of destruction of the pintele yid? Or isn’t it a difference of mesorah? Is the issue of yoshon one of ruining the Yiddishe purity of our youth (and adults)? Or isn’t it a question of adhering to a chumra based on different opinions in the early Poskim? How can a qualified mechanech be so off on this crucial chinuch topic?
There’s no reason to censor comments you are to dumb and stupid to understand.
The questions and the in-your-face hypocrisy go well beyond Yeshiva’s online fundraising and organization concerts.
That we can already make peace with during Corona times.
Alteh Bucher.
HM, you are 100% correct
everyone is just glorified beating around the bush
call it what it is: Hypocrisy