1996 Asifa on the World Wide Web:
Our children are in grave danger, there is a monster lurking behind a screen and we must put a stop to this fad before we lose more neshamas. Rabosai, our children have fallen prey to the World Wide Web and more specifically to chat rooms. If we do not see the warning signs, we will be too late, we will watch as our sons and daughters unknowingly fall into this America Online trap.
I caught my son Yanky on our family computer, he was in a chat room for Jewish teens and I was mortified at what was being talked about in a public place. He said his friends from school had told him it was cool, I told him it wasn’t cool, we had the internet installed for educational purposes and here my son, m,y own flesh and blood was falling prey to mamish pritzus, in rishus harabim as well.
Rabosai, these chat rooms are a chillul hashem, but our children are going into private chats with people they don’t know. How do they know if they are fruma, ehrliche yidden. There are no torahdicke subjects discussed on there. And the acronyms, A/S/L, do you know what that means? Age Sex Location – it’s the way of picking up people of the opposite sex. Frumma yidden are going to try and talk to members of the opposite sex and this is only the beginning. What if these people decide to meet? What if they are axe murderers, rapists, or frei? What will we do then? Anyone can log on and anyone can post whatever narashkeit they want, whether it is frum or not.
I urge you to go home to your wives and children and warn them of the dangers of the world wide web and this monster called AOL Chat Room. Chas V’shalom should we lose one neshama because of this madness.
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