I dont know the whole situation these are my personal views- any comments would be nice.
So I understand there is a big fuss about the internet in the frum community. I have been reading a lot about in the Yated and Jewish Press. My old man said that the same fuss was made when telephones became big and the Rabbi’s wanted to ban them because people could now talk loshon horah, with women, nivel peh, etc..over the phone. Frankly I think the Rabbi’s are right to make a big deal over it, it’s kind of like TV, addictive and fatal. Hypocrite many of you may be saying, but I have niether a TV or the internet for these reasons, I have a laptop and when I need, or want the net I sit in a public coffee shop and use their internet.
Heres my issue or beef with the Rabbi’s. I was in the Purple Pear in Monsey today a somewhat trying to be trendy frummy eatery and brought up the fact that if they wanted to be “in” with the rest of the competition, they should get wireless internet. Oh, this was a hot topic I could see, the manager told me the Rabbi’s would shut them down immediately if they did such a thing. Kind of reminds me of the mob I said, now heres my beef- if the internet is bad because of casual encounters, and all the filth that is on it, one would think that a public place such as a cafe or library would be muter?
I understand their fears, just look at what people search for to get to my site, every time I get on the net I check and its amazing what people search for. Still dictating your every day personal lives is intruding and wrong. You cannot legislate morality it has to come from within. You can go around banning the net, and you know what? There are tons of adult film outlets, escort services, or street walkers.
Will they ban cell phones since they have internet access too, will they ban walking outside because there are un-tznius billboards, how about walking at all because there may be un-tznius women lurking about. What will happen when municipalities blanket their areas in free wireless access, like in Philly and San Francisco.
One last thing, this is directed at the Monsey folks, how come you pay 800 grand for a dinky house in a smog filled subarban hell, send your kids to a school that forces you to take out home equity lines of credit, sit in traffic all day and night, pay some of the highest prices for gas besides NYC, and still have to put up with this crap. You all should move upstate.
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There’s one place I disagree with you. When you say “You cannot legislate morality it has to come from within.” That seems to go against EVERTHING That Judaism says. Of course you CAN legislate morality — Isn’t that what halacha is ALL ABOUT? Torah doesn’t believe in this “it has to come from within” stuff — On the contrary, people need rules, observances & guidance to act morally.
What you’re talking about here, with respect to banning the internet is not about legistlating morality — but controling behavior — with the goal of maintaining the moral standards set in Torah. But the problem is that you can ALSO use the same “behavior” (i.e. getting on the internet) to break the laws of the Torah…
Now that I’ve laid out the actual issue, here’s my RANT:
I find banning the internet & cell phones because they have the internet etc etc pretty ridiculous .Should we also ban hammers because you *could* use a hammer to kill someone? Someone with a big yetzer hara might be tempted to use the hammer to take a life! NO! A hammer is a tool that could, should and most often WOULD also be used to build a Jewish home, or hang a mezzuzah! So it is with the internet – it is a tool that can be used to help people strengthen their Jewish connection, or even order much needed supplies for their Torah Life. Take for example websites like Tzniut.com or Coveryourhair.com — they provide modest clothes & hair covering which makes dressing modestly MUCH easier when you live somewhere like Rochester NY (as I have in the past) where you don’t have the resources & Jewish stores like in a big city such as Toronto and New York.
The people who are running these websites are taking a “neutral” medium like the internet and ELEVATING it to something that supports a life of Kedusah. To Suppress that would be to stop the process of “releasing the sparks of holiness” in everything in this world that we are supposed to be doing. G-d doesn’t want us to run away from this world — he wants us to elevate it, to make it holy & make it ready for Moshiach.
But then again, this ia Lubuvicher writing. As you have pointed out in other posts, we’re “cooler” than most — not afraid of techology — for the aforementined reasons. I know that no matter what I say, no matter how good of an argument I make, there will still be many that will prefer to ban new technology because it is scary. Because, they feel the need to shelter the memebers of Klal Yisroel from temptation – because they feel that THAT is the way to keep us holy & get ready for Moshiach. While I don’t agree with that method, I do sort of understand it and I guess in the end I have to respect it.
We all have different roles to play in this world. Different missions. Maybe some of us are supposed to stay more “pure” by staying away from new technology & therefore, potenital temptations — and some of us (like Lubuvichers) are supposed to forge ahead through the “forests” of this “new world” keeping an eye on the “prize” of releasing the sparks of holiness in it.
So…I’m keeping my internet connection. And I’m not hiding it, because I use it to enhance my Jewish Life & the lives of others and that other negative stuff doesn’t tempt me at all. So there!
Monsey rabbi drops tax lawsuit against Ramapo
http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060527/NEWS03/605270359/1019
By JAMES WALSH
RAMAPO — A Monsey rabbi will drop a lawsuit he brought against the town when it removed a religious tax exemption from a house he owned.
The lawsuit, which had resulted in a trial begun in state Supreme Court in White Plains, will be dropped by Rabbi Herman Oberlander, whom Ramapo depicted as a landlord profiting from the property.
“My client made a decision,” said Oberlander’s lawyer, Joel Scheinert of Nanuet.
He would not say what prompted the decision to end the dispute, which began in 2004 after the Town Assessor’s Office eliminated a 100 percent religious-use tax exemption that had been in effect since 1995.
Scheinert notified the town in a letter written Monday that the lawsuit would be dropped.
Ramapo had rejected Scheinert’s request to negotiate a settlement.
“We were not willing to entertain settlement discussions, because we didn’t feel the exemption was warranted,” Town Attorney Michael Klein said.
Klein said all taxes must be paid going back to 2004.
The house, at 4 Roman Blvd., is assessed at $73,800, which would entail taxes totaling about $11,000 without the exemption. Ramapo assesses at 13.6 percent of market value, making the actual worth of the house about $542,000.
A nonjury trial before state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Dickerson had its first session in March. A second session had been scheduled May 17.
That session was postponed, though, after Scheinert said Oberlander had been ill.
Ramapo had already sent documents to the court showing that Oberlander, while claiming residence at the Monsey house, was also claiming to be a resident of a Miami, Fla., condominium.
Miami-Dade County records show that Oberlander and his wife, Bella, claimed a homestead exemption worth $25,000, which reduced the taxable value of the condominium to $48,736 from $73,736.
During the one trial session in White Plains, Ramapo Deputy Town Attorney Michael Specht questioned Oberlander about the Miami residence, which Oberlander said he occupied some months of the year.
Specht also asked Oberlander about a Brooklyn apartment, which Oberlander said was an office where he had once lived.
The rabbi testified that he shared the Monsey house with two granddaughters and their husbands, whom he described as associate rabbis.
Oberlander told the court that he had about 100 grandchildren, so he couldn’t recall the names of the granddaughters living in the house.
The first responder is clearly chabad, thanks for that!
After reading these types of things it makes me even more grateful to be living in Israel. Although there are “kosher phones” with actual hashgachas on them, that do not have internet or text messaging abilities. Our “charedi” communities are usually too busy burning dumpsters protesting important things like gay pride parades to send out mass-emails banning the internet.