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Divergent Attitudes within Orthodox Jewry Toward Mass Communication
Tsuriel Rashi
Online publication date: 04 January 2011
To cite this Article Rashi, Tsuriel(2011) 'Divergent Attitudes within Orthodox Jewry Toward Mass Communication',
Review of Communication, 11: 1, 20 — 38
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Divergent Attitudes within Orthodox
Jewry Toward Mass Communication
Tsuriel Rashi
This paper examines the divergent attitudes toward mass media among the streams of
Orthodox Jewry. According to most Ultra-Orthodox Jewish leaders, media spread
blasphemy, provoke gossip and slander, and steal time from religious studies, but Rabbi
M. Schneerson, late leader of the Chabad movement, believed that the media should be
exploited to spread the tenets of Judaism. Modern Orthodox rabbis generally favor
limited access to media*filtering out its negative aspects, embracing its positive features,
and using it to impart religious knowledge. Understanding these various attitudes may
help media professionals deal with religion-based criticism and encourage media-borne
moderate religious dialogue.
Keywords: Rabbis; Judaism; Attitude; Ultra-Orthodox; Media
Media, Religion, and Criticism
One of the key areas in the study of the relationship between media and religion
(apart from the proliferation of mediated religion and religious audiences as
interpretive communities) is media criticism that draws on the social and cultural
aspects of religion in critiquing media genres and texts. This approach is built on the
assumption that knowledge of comparative religion can elucidate interpretations of
texts and lead to the development of a more sophisticated and nuanced media
literacy (Stout & Buddenbaum, 2008, p. 226). Researchers in this area ask: How does
knowledge of religion sharpen our critique of media content?
That aspect of the interface between religion and media vis-a
`-vis several of the
major religions has already been explored (e.g., Ayish & Sadig, 1997; Buddenbaum,
2001; Christians, 2002), but there has never been a comparable study concerning
Judaism. The little that is known is the result of limited (Strate, 2006) or partial
studies (Y. Cohen, 2001). The research in this essay describes the divergent attitudes
Dr. Tsuriel Rashi (Ph.D, Bar Ilan University, Israel, 2007) is Graduate Academic Advisor and a lecturer in
Department of Political Studies (Communications Program) at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. All translations are by
the author, who is solely responsible for their accuracy. Correspondence to: Lifshitz College of Education, 103
Bar-Kochva st. Jerusalem, Israel. E-mail: tsuriel.rashi@gmail.com
ISSN 1535-8593 (online) #2011 National Communication Association
DOI: 10.1080/15358593.2010.504883
The Review of Communication
Vol. 11, No. 1, January 2011, pp. 2038
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among leaders of Orthodox Jewry about mass communication. Across the spectrum,
the differences in these communication approaches are critical of the current media
and attempt to delineate the steps that must be taken to achieve what they conceive as
the ideal.
As modernity and secularization swept across Europe, from west to east, Jewish
communities (especially those in Eastern Europe) were faced with the problem of
assimilation. In its battle against this rapidly spreading phenomenon, the religious
establishment spoke out fiercely against modernity and secularization. Those in the
Orthodox community who were opposed to such social and religious changes came
to be known as ‘‘Haredim,’’ literally ‘‘fearers’’ (of heaven), a name based on a biblical
verse regarding those who fear the word of God.
1
Modern Orthodox Jewry (or Modern Orthodoxy) believes in combining the
observance of religious law (the Halakhah) and Jewish tradition with active
involvement in the modern Jewish nation-state. Most of this public is in favor of a
creative synthesis with modern Western values, and, particularly in this respect, the
Religious Zionists differ from the Ultra-Orthodox (Haredim), who prefer to respond
to the challenges of today by withdrawing into their own sheltered world. The
Religious-Zionist society is aware of the challenges posed by modernity in general
and the modern Jewish nation-state in particular, and has developed intricate and
interesting modes of dealing with the myriad of issues that present themselves.
2
Those basic antithetical ideas have significantly influenced the approaches of
various religious leaders toward modern mass media, and their attitudes can be
discerned from their discourse and writings. The recent incredibly rapid development
of methods of mass communication has led to a virtual deluge of Jewish legal opinion
relevant to the field. Discussion about mass communication, which now pervades
the once-reluctant Orthodox Jewish circles, can be found in Jewish legal Responsa,
religious publications, and a profusion of news bulletins that play a critical role
within the Ultra-Orthodox community.
3
The Historical Development of Written and Oral Jewish Law
According to Jewish tradition, the Ten Commandments were given to Moses at Mount
Sinai over 3,000 years ago in the presence of the entire Israelite nation (600,000 adult
males). The full Torah, written by Moses toward the end of his life, contains
613 commandments. Around these commandments and accompanying elaborations
and clarifications (Written Law), there evolved an Oral Law comprising rabbinic dis-
cussions and arguments over the ensuing centuries that ultimately coalesced into the
Halakhah. In the second century of the Common Era, the period when the first major
codification of Jewish Law, the Mishnah, was written, rabbis set up a major center
of scholarly religious learning to facilitate continuation of the halakhic tradition.
In the ensuing 18 centuries, generations of religious leaders living in many countries
around the world under the influence of various religiously oriented civilizations
(Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Moslem, Protestant, etc.) continued to broaden and
further clarify and codify the Halakhah, which is a praxis-based code of law. Legal
Orthodox Jewry Toward Mass Communication 21
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principles are derived from specific problems and issues that arise during the course of
life (much like English Common Law). Thus, during the past 1,500 years, tens of
thousands of common-man ‘‘questions’’ and local rabbinical ‘‘answers’’ (in Hebrew:
‘‘Shut’’) have clarified the Halakhah, thereby naturally developing what has come to be
called ‘‘Responsa literature.’’ Every so often, owing to the unwieldiness of such a huge
corpus, major rabbinical commentators have taken it upon themselves to codify the
law in some systematic and quasi-authoritative fashion.
4
Although many of the Responsa of the last century concerned various issues
surrounding the field of mass communication, these opinions focused primarily on
the impact of new technologies and the accommodation of technological advances in
an ancient halakhic system. Specific topics that were dealt with included: desecrating
the Jewish Sabbath to obtain information and distribute news (since one is not
allowed to activate any electronic device on that day); reciting and responding to
blessings via electronic devices (e.g., radio, telephone); using media players during
periods when one is enjoined from listening to music; looking at and/or listening to a
woman singing on television and radio. Apart from the Responsa, one can also
discern their overriding attitudes toward media in discussions among rabbis that
began in the middle of 18th century.
Early Indications of Interest in Media: The Case Study Regarding Reading
Newspapers on the Sabbath
Long before the advent of modern mass media, whose use inherently implies
desecration of the Sabbath, since according to the Jewish law turning on devices such
as radios, televisions, and computers on that day is forbidden, Jewish legal authorities
debated whether one was allowed to read newspapers on the Sabbath. Examining the
controversy that surrounded this seemingly innocuous issue offers an insight into the
different attitudes and approaches of the various rabbinical authorities toward
newspapers in general.
The primary point of contention concerning the reading of newspapers on the
Jewish Sabbath stems from a prohibition against the reading of mundane documents,
including business letters, friendly correspondence, or war stories, as the Sabbath
should be devoted exclusively to religious studies. The first individual to revise the
prohibition in the Responsa literature was Rabbi Yaakov ben Yosef Reiser (1670
1733), who served as a rabbi in Prague in Czechoslovakia and in the communities of
Worms and Mintz in Germany. It was during his lifetime that newspapers gained
prominence in the public eye, and many Jews began buying and reading the local
papers regularly. In his book Shvut Yaakov (2004, Vol. 3, Sec. 23), Reiser distinguished
between war stories from the past, which have no contemporary relevance, and
present-day events, which are currently pertinent, maintaining that it was permitted
to read the latter on the Sabbath.
Rabbi Yaakov Emden (Germany 16971776) in his magnum opus Sheilot Yavetz
(2004, Sec. 162) also permitted the reading of newspapers on the Sabbath, particularly
during periods of crisis and war. Emden strengthened his case by arguing that one who
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truly desires to read the newspaper and refrains from doing so may feel anguished, and
it is prohibited to actively cause oneself pain on the Sabbath. Nonetheless, Emden did
rule that reading business news is prohibited on the Sabbath.
Rabbi Joshua Noivirt, a leading modern-day pundit on the laws of the Sabbath,
ruled in his book Shmirat Shabbat K’Hilchata [Proper Observance of the Sabbath] that,
in principle, one may read general news articles, but is proscribed from reading, or
even browsing, the business section. According to Rabbi Noivirt (1979), one may not
read obituaries, for they ‘‘contain anguish, since one is pained upon reading them’’
(pp. 385386). He also ruled that, technically, reading professional newspapers that
lack commerce-related sections is also permissible on the Sabbath. However, despite
the lenient position he espoused in the face of contemporary reality, he nevertheless
went on to write that, ‘‘One who fears God should refrain from reading any
newspaper on the Sabbath and on a Jewish holiday’’ (p. 386). Several of today’s Ultra-
Orthodox publishers separate the news and religious sections on Friday in order
distinguish the permissible from the proscribed for the Sabbath, but this distinction
is not indicative of general opinion in the sector and provides a communicative
background for understanding the Jewish use of modern media.
Dawning Awareness of the Power of Modern Mass Media
From the beginning of the 20th century, most rabbis believed the media to be
exceedingly influential and were afraid to expose their followers to its impact. In the
year 1900, Shlomo Zalman Landau and Yosef Rabonovitz of Kovno published a
pamphlet titled Or Layisharim [Light to the Honest] in which they acknowledged the
tremendous impact of mass media while asserting that, despite its marvelous benefits,
it presents a danger to the Jewish community owing to the potential heresy that could
result from its use. They noted that prior to the widespread use of the railroad and
the invention of the telegraph and telephone, channeling information from one
location to another presented a formidable challenge. However, at the turn of the
20th century, ‘‘distant points have become close together, and the entire globe is like
a single city. The printing press continues to amaze with the speed of its action’’
(p. 18). This awareness was the basis of the leaders’fears concerning the secular
newspapers, which were written in the vernacular, primarily Yiddish. Some of them
realized the potential power of the developing media and its impact on their
followers.
Yet the fear of modern media was far from being the rabbis’only concern. Many of
them declaimed against the reading of newspapers even on weekdays for various
reasons, among them being the idea that time spent poring over the pages of the daily
press might otherwise be dedicated to the study of holy literature, as described by
Rabbi Yosef Haim of Baghdad at the end of the 19th century in his Od Yosef Hai (the
dissertations at the end of the first introduction):
During their leisure time businessmen read only the newspaper called Gazette,
which contains mostly nothingness, while no book of wisdom is ever seen among
them, and they lose all their time for study. In truth, one should discuss this at
Orthodox Jewry Toward Mass Communication 23
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length. But, if one does, how will that improve things? For it has already been said
‘‘praiseworthy is he who speaks to listening ears.’’ (H. Yosef, 1992, p. 16)
For hundreds of years, Jewish legalists dealt with the laws of slander and gossip
merely in passing and only when necessary to exegete a biblical or Talmudic passage,
but never treated the issue in a methodical fashion and certainly never considered it
part of the primary agenda of Jewish law. However, in the mid-19th century, one of
the outstanding leaders of Ultra-Orthodox Jewry, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan (1839
1933), better known by his penname, Chafetz Haim (Desirer of Life), the
headmaster of the Talmudic Academy in Radin on the Belarus-Latvia border, wrote
extensively on the issues of slander and gossip. His work was of unparalleled
significance.
Rabbi Kagan’s book Chafetz Haim (1989) brought the issue of slander and gossip
to the forefront of Jewish legal jurisprudence after many years of neglect, and his
Mishnah Berura (1996) became the legal tome that informed the basis for all Jewish
legal rulings pertaining to everyday life, the Sabbath, and holidays. He also published
dozens of other works relating to nearly every topic that was relevant to Ultra-
Orthodox Jewry at that time. His subject matter ranged from legal guidelines for
Jewish soldiers in the Russian Czar’s army (Machane Israel, 1881) and Jewish
immigrants to America (Nidchei Israel, 1894) to numerous areas concerned with
various aspects of Jewish life. Rabbi Kagan, who enjoyed longevity, was deeply
involved in the issues of the community, and in the last decade of his life became the
undisputed leader of Ultra-Orthodox Jewry in Poland.
Rabbi Kagan discussed his attitude toward secular journalism as it existed in his
day in several of his publications. He considered that the principal and most
fundamental problem with reading newspapers is the time thus lost to the study of
Torah:
In our times the newspaper has become readily available and those who read it are
ever increasing. How could one who reads the newspaper not spend at least one
hour daily in this pursuit? Occasionally, since it is known that he reads and is aware
of the news of the world, he will be bombarded by others who desire to know the
news, and he will describe it in every detail, wasting further time. (Zachor
Le’Miriam, 2001, Ch. 23)
Rabbi Kagan thought that the secular newspapers of his period had little to offer
and was of the opinion that they were instruments for the dissemination of libel and
hate. At one point, he published a declaration entitled ‘‘In Prosecution of Strife and
Defense of Peace,’’ which was directed at the leaders of Ultra-Orthodox Jewry
(Collections of Writing and Regulations, 1990, p. 1) in which he accused the readers of
newspapers, among others, of encouraging the impropriety of the newspaper content
simply by their buying the papers. Upon learning that the weekend edition of the
paper was even larger, he concluded that the reasons for prohibiting the reading of
newspapers increased tenfold when it came to the Sabbath. ‘‘Woe to the ears that have
thus heard, woe to the eyes that thus see, what we have done in our great iniquity that
the holiness of the Sabbath and holidays is thus disgraced, for even on the weekday it
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is forbidden’’ (Zachor Le’Miriam, 2001, p. 50). He ended the declaration with a plea
to refrain from reading newspapers at any time, particularly on the Sabbath, and even
bestowed a blessing on those who would heed his call.
Notwithstanding all the above, Jewish leaders eventually realized that mass media
were not merely vehicles for the dissemination of heresy that threatened the
orthodoxy of the Jewish reader, but rather represented a rung on the ladder of human
advancement that demanded their attention.
The Ultra-Orthodox Approach: Creating Alternatives to the Secular Media
In order to comprehend the Ultra-Orthodox approach to mass media, one must
understand its historical context. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries,
many of the leaders of Ultra-Orthodox Jewry, most of whom lived in Eastern Europe,
realized that there was an impending new danger to their way of life. The
Enlightenment was spreading throughout Europe with its message of modernization
and secularization, sentiments that the Ultra-Orthodox sector viewed as threatening
to its traditional lifestyle, and these ideas began to find their way into the columns of
local newspapers that were being read by the Ultra-Orthodox public, particularly by
its young people.
In the mid-19th century, the Ultra-Orthodox sector began publishing its own
newspapers, both as a religious response to the Enlightenment and as a move to
strengthen Ultra-Orthodox pride. Originally, all Ultra-Orthodox newspaper publish-
ers saw it as their obligation to serve as a line of defense against the pervasive ideas of
those who had abandoned the religious path and publicized their secular ideas.
In their view, the responsibility of their newspapers was to create a unity among
Ultra-Orthodox Jews and reinforce the feeling of solidarity in areas where there were
Ultra-Orthodox communities, from Frankfurt in Germany to the small villages of
Russia and Poland. These newspapers, which at first were solely a response to the
Enlightenment and its publicists, presented reality in a framework that was
consonant with the Ultra-Orthodox attitude toward the Enlightenment ideology.
They were not only mediators between the religious leaders and the people, but also
served to educate their readers, delineating the socioreligious norms deemed proper
by the leaders and rabbis of the sector.
5
Accordingly, the same Ultra-Orthodox leaders banned the reading of secular
newspapers. An early example of this can be seen in the case of Rabbi Aryeh Leib
Alter, the leader of the Gur Hassidim, which, at the time, constituted a major sect in
Poland; today, Gur Hassidim represent one of the leading factions of Ultra-
Orthodoxy in Israel. Rabbi Alter, commonly known as the ‘‘Sfat Emet,’’ after his
book of the same title, published a sharply worded letter in 1903 against the reading
of a newspaper called HaTzfira, a major secular paper at that time. He also released
a joint proclamation with other major leaders called ‘‘Reminder of Faith,’’ published
in the newspaper HaChavazelet (Vol. 3, Oct. 1905), which warned against reading
daily newspapers and monthly publications that were printed by Enlightenment
Orthodox Jewry Toward Mass Communication 25
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sympathizers. The proclamation provoked the indignation of the Enlightenment
journalists, who reacted furiously and ridiculed the Ultra-Orthodox censorship.
Rabbi Alter’s son, Rabbi Abraham Mordechai Alter (18661948), who succeeded
his father as leader of the Gur sect, was the first to take concrete steps toward creating
an Ultra-Orthodox media. In 1907, he established HaKol (The Voice),
6
a Haredi
newspaper, and in 1910, he actively participated in the creation of HaModia (The
Informer),
7
an Ultra-Orthodox newspaper that is still in existence and now publishes
daily editions in both Hebrew and English.
Rabbi Alter’s feelings differed from his predecessors in that he assumed the
responsibility for realizing the dream of an Ultra-Orthodox daily newspaper
8
and saw
it as a personal mission. An unusual incident that occurred during the High Holiday
services attests to his personal dedication. In Gur, the custom was that there should
be no speech before the blowing of the Shofar, but that year Rabbi Alter broke the
longstanding tradition. His brother Rabbi Moshe Betzalel then posted the speech in
the various Gur synagogues, writing:
On Rosh Hashanah (New Year) before the blowing of the Shofar, my brother, his
holiness and our teacher, said before the congregants: ‘‘In recent years the secular
books, newspapers, and libraries, which damage the Jewish soul, have become
abundant. I personally ask of each and every one of you to be wary of reading these
materials and not to bring them into your homes, and with that merit God will
help that all will be good.’’ He then added, ‘‘I hereby ask of you to publicize this in
all the synagogues and study halls of men of our persuasion and to endeavor to
abide by the words of our rabbi so that we shall all see blessings. Amen.’’ (Levin,
1967, p. 96)
However, despite his extraordinary efforts, fiscal and technical issues forced the
closure of the paper about a year after it had been established. Undeterred, he turned
to Eliyahu Yakov Rabinovitz and asked him to revive HaModia, at least as a weekly.
From the time of the paper’s reemergence, he worked tirelessly to ensure that
HaModia was printed daily in central areas such as Warsaw, which was then the hub
of European Jewry. Two world wars stopped its publication and circulation
completely, but in 1950, the president of the Ultra-Orthodox political party in
Israel, Rabbi Isaac Meir Levin, son-in-law of Rabbi Alter, announced its revival after a
long hiatus.
9
In 1985, in honor of its 35th anniversary, Rabbi Pinchas Menachem
Alter, the head of the central yeshiva of the Gur Hassidim, wrote:
It is uncertain whether the readers of HaModia are conscious of the degree of benefit
that the newspaper gives them. It is not the good that is written in the paper; rather it
is the lack of bad, what is not written in it, that has been its success ...It is a positive
thing that most of our community is unaware of the abundance of despicableness in
our world. I am not exposed to the atrocities that can be found in foreign papers
because HaModia weeds them out. I am not even speaking of inappropriate content
or distorted views. Rather, even in newspapers that are not secular, how vile is libel
and gossip. HaModia protects us from all of these. (Alter, 1985, p. 2)
This idealistic description by the Gur leader, who was the final authority behind
HaModia, reveals one of the major principles of Ultra-Orthodox media. While the
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community wants to prevent those things antithetical to Judaism from entering
its circles via newspapers, it also holds a belief much more abstract than journa-
listic ethics and the daily newspaper: its reluctance and concern about accepting
external media are part of a worldview based on the principle that it is the obliga-
tion of the community not to know about certain things, such as secular culture
and crime news,
10
an attitude that was informed and began as a reaction to the
Enlightenment.
One of the greatest challenges that the Ultra-Orthodox leaders had to face was the
Enlightenment*a movement that spread modern European culture among Jews
during the 18th and 19th centuries, whose purpose was Jewish emancipation.
Proponents of the Enlightenment and followers of the German-Jewish philosopher
Moses Mendelssohn (17861729), who was considered father of the movement and
whose aim was to end the Jews’isolation and disconnection from the life of society,
culture, and economy, fostered the study of modern Western customs. The
movement spread from Germany to Italy and France, then to Eastern Europe.
They also believed that the Jewish religion should be reshaped to adapt to the
changing conditions of the modern world and that the time had come for a national
struggle for a Jewish homeland. Although the Enlightenment advocated maintaining
Jewish uniqueness, in practice it also led to an increase in assimilation. Owing to
these radical ideas, exposure to the outside world became a real threat to the Ultra-
Orthodox community and set parameters for their newspapers concerning what they
might and might not write.
The Enlightenment was a seminal step in the development of Jewish secularism.
Many Jews who left their closed townships in Eastern Europe during the 20th century
and relocated primarily in Israel and the United States abandoned their religious
traditions. The threat to the religious world has changed its face*from the
Enlightenment to secularism. The Jewish secularists adopted a way of life free from
any religious burden and tried to find new meanings for common Jewish rituals and
festivals; for instance, instead of focusing on the miracle of lighting the Hanukkah
lamp, they emphasized the achieving of independence.
11
Thus there was a real need to create an alternative to the Enlightenment newspapers,
which were published in the vernacular. From the very beginning, it was clear to the
leaders in the Ultra-Orthodox world that various forms of print media*community
newspapers, as well the wall posters (pashkevilim) that have appeared on Jerusalem’s
walls since the beginning of the 19th century,
12
and the synagogue pamphlets that have
been distributed over the past 25 years
13
*were the only effective weapons in the battle
against the forces of the Enlightenment and secularism. Although the rabbis probably
realized that there was a potential for using secular newspapers, television, and radio
in a positive way, they did not consider them as viable options because of the heresy
and inappropriate content found within them. It has only been in the last few years
that they have dared to try what was for them a new vehicle*the radio
14
*which they
actually considered an extension of audiocassettes.
15
The trailblazer in the use of
secular media in the Ultra-Orthodox world was the leader of the Chabad/Lubavitch
movement, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
Orthodox Jewry Toward Mass Communication 27
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Exploiting the Media for the Sake of Religion: Rabbi Menachem Mendel
Schneerson
Unique in the Ultra-Orthodox world concerning this controversy, as in many other
debatable issues, was the complex worldview of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
(19021994), the last rabbi of the great Chabad dynasty.
16
While Rabbi Schneerson
completely forbade reading secular newspapers and viewing television, he did issue
a call to his followers to exploit media technology to popularize Jewish thought,
particularly Hassidic/Kabbalistic ideas.
17
The ‘‘Rebbe’’ (Yiddish for Rabbi), as Rabbi Schneerson was commonly known, was
the first from his world to take advantage of broadcast media to promote his religious
ideas. He recognized the media’s tremendous inherent power and refused to shy away
from using it to advance his religious views simply because it was generally associated
with concepts alien to a Jewish religious lifestyle. In similar acts of courage, the Rebbe
fearlessly promulgated groundbreaking rulings in Jewish legal literature.
The Rebbe’s justification for using tools such as radio and television was based on
the principle that ‘‘all objects of this world were created to be exploited for holy use*
to spread the word of Torah’’ (Babylonian Talmud Yoma 38a) In response to the
argument that these tools are primarily used for the dissemination of heresy and for
other impure designs, he noted that everything in Creation exists for positive causes. It
is man that is given the choice whether to use them for positive or negative purposes.
He furthered questioned those who opposed the broadcasting of his lectures by
asking why mass media should be available to all fields and areas, except to Torah. He
assumed that those who took offense at his use of modern technology did so because
they were at odds with the ideas he espoused.
In later years, Rabbi Schneerson went even further and used satellite technology to
broadcast various events from his headquarters in Brooklyn, New York. In 1991, he
arranged for an international live broadcast as he lit the Hanukkah lights. In a lecture
following the candle lighting, he spoke about mass communication and its awesome
effects and declared that access to mass media invokes a religious obligation to spread
the story of the Hanukkah miracle. He further spoke of the religious axiom, ‘‘all that
God created in this World, He created for His honor’’ (Mishna, Aboth Ch. 6, Sec. 11).
With this in mind, he said that it becomes necessary to view the technological
advancements of the modern era as additional ways to ‘‘increase the honor of God’’
(Schneerson, 1992, pp. 1617) by utilizing these advancements for holy purposes such
as Torah study and to encourage the keeping of religious commandments. The Rebbe
concluded that ‘‘at that very moment satellite technology was being used for its divine
purpose, for through it, people all around the world, Jew and gentile alike, could view
the lighting of the Hanukkah lights at exactly the same moment’’ (ibid).
The Newspaper as an Influential Instrument in the Hands of Leadership:
The View of Lithuanian Ultra-Orthodoxy
As noted earlier, the local newspapers served as a vehicle for the Ultra-Orthodox
leaders and helped to strengthen the community’s internal services. When the State of
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Israel was established in 1948, Lithuanian Jewry, which differs from Hassidic Jewry in
many respects, had a newspaper of its own, Digleinu (Our Flag). Then, in 1979,
HaModia appointed Hassidic and Lithuanian editors, each with the responsibility of
protecting the interests of his constituency, and HaModia for a short time was
accepted by all of Ultra-Orthodox Jewry (Horowitz, 1989, pp. 8586).
However, Rabbi Eliezer Menachem Man Shach (18992004), the leader of
Lithuanian Ultra-Orthodoxy, soon decided that his opinions were not being properly
presented and that the Chabad/Lubavitch movement, with whom he had a strong
disagreement, was attracting the masses. He demanded that his followers establish
their own newspaper:
18
In our great iniquity, the Enlightened ones have begun pervading the newspaper
with their anti-Torah ideas, and the nature of man is that he does not bear his own
opinions. Rather, all that is written and printed is taken by him as fact.
19
Therefore,
without a newspaper of our own we can have absolutely no influence.’’ (Shach,
1995, p. 140)
Rabbi Yakov Yisrael Kanievsky (18991985), another great contemporary leader of
Lithuanian Ultra-Orthodoxy, agreed with Rabbi Shach. The issue came to a head in
the early 1980s after both leaders were kept in the dark concerning a scandal with
Bank Leumi, one of the largest banks in Israel, and local Hassidic leaders. Upon
hearing the story, Rabbi Kanievsky declared, ‘‘we must have our own paper!’’ By that
time, it had also become clear to him that, ‘‘Talmudic scholars require a newspaper
that will be a platform from which ‘Torah opinion’will always be presented.’’
Talmudic scholars have the right to a newspaper in which they can publish as they
wish without impediment (Shulssinger, 1988, p. 39). Thus Rabbi Shach found a
prominent partner with whom to establish the newspaper, and the Bank Leumi affair
was enough to bring the idea to fruition (Horowitz, 1989, p. 86). In 1985, Rabbis
Shach and Kanievsky started publishing Yated Ne’eman and ordered subscriptions.
20
The Israeli researcher Eliav Taub claims that Rabbi Shach was convinced that the
new newspaper was essential for influencing the public and protecting Lithuanian
Ultra-Orthodoxy from the secular and Hassidic societies (Taub, 2004, p. 58). Yated
Ne’emen did indeed realize Rabbi Shach’s goal of a newspaper that would serve as an
instrument to express his personal opinions and, over time, that of general
Lithuanian Ultra-Orthodox leadership (Taub, 2004, p. 58).
To Go With, To Stay Without: Rabbi Ovadya Yosef ’s Views Concerning
Television and Secular Journalism
Faced with the reality that people in his community both owned and watched
television, Rabbi Ovadya Yosef, former Chief Rabbi of Israel and one of the most
influential religious individuals alive today, addressed the halakhic issues pertaining
to television broadcasts in his writings. However, he would end each of his Responsa
with an uncompromising disclaimer that he in no way espoused even possessing a
television (Q and A Yechave Da’at, Sec. 4, Ch. 7). At the conclusion of an answer to
the inquiry, ‘‘Is it permissible to watch television on the Sabbath if the television is
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activated by an automatic timer that was set before the Sabbath,’’ Rabbi Yosef
responded (Q and A Yabia Omer, Sec. 6, Ch. 34):
And know that all written here refers only to one who views the television by chance.
However, bringing a television into one’s home is an absolute prohibition to all who
appreciate truth. Beyond the frivolity and time-wasting, television ...stimulates the
Evil Inclination ... through promiscuity and other abominations that God hates.
One who does so destroys his soul and in the future will be called upon for an
accounting ...And so have ruled all the leaders of our generation ...It has been said
concerning he who brings (a television) in his home: ‘‘You shall not bring an
abomination into your home’’ (Deut. 7:26), and all the more so he who has children
at home and causes them to sin ...One also transgresses the sin ‘‘Let not sin dwell in
your tent’’ (Job 11:14), and may the Exalted God guard our breaches and breaches of
His nation, Israel, and return them in repentance. Amen. (O. Yosef, 1976, p. 114)
Rabbi Yosef ’s approach to the issue was clearly colored by his awareness of the
makeup of his followers and their habits. Among those that adhere to his halakhic
rulings and associate themselves with his political movement, ‘‘Shas’’ are Jews whose
families came from North Africa and the western part of Asia. They have been
referred to by several different names, Sephardim, Edot ha-Mizrah,Mizrahim, and
Arab Jews, each term reflecting a scholarly approach that takes into account the
history and sociology of these Jews and their encounter with Israeli society. Clearly,
these terms are biased. Many so-called Mizrahi Jews prefer to identify themselves with
one of the other terms or by their region or country of origin. Nevertheless, as
analytical categories, the terms Mizrahim and Mizrahi Jews are widely used to
simplify the discussion of issues pertaining to these communities (Leon, 2008).
21
Many Mizrahi Jews may drive on the Sabbath and go to football matches after
attending synagogue in the morning. Thus it is common to find televisions in the
homes of followers and supporters of Shas, particularly of those in the outer circles of
the movement, who would not tolerate a decree banning the ownership of
television.
22
This relative flexibility within the Shas community and of Rabbi Yosef
specifically forces the Ultra-Orthodox of Eastern/Sephardic backgrounds to live with
the fact that a large percentage of its educational institutions cater to children who
have been raised in television-viewing households. They tolerate this reality in the
hope that over time television will disappear. In fact, in some sectors of the
movement, it is already taboo.
Rabbi Yosef ’s opinion of secular and Ultra-Orthodox newspapers is repeated
throughout the set of works known as Yalkut Yosef (I. Yosef, 2007, Vol. 2, Sec. 4, pp.
206210, 352). Authored by Rabbi Yosef ’s son Rabbi Isaac Yosef, Yalkut Yosef is a legal
treatise that delineates his father’s opinions in all areas of Jewish law. In his discourse
concerning newspapers, he admonishes the use of all papers, secular and religious
alike, using the rationale that reading newspapers wastes time that would otherwise
be available for Torah study and quotes the aforementioned comment of Rabbi Yosef
Haim of Baghdad (see note 3). He also has sharp remarks for secular media:
It is obvious that it is prohibited to read secular newspapers even on the weekday
and it goes without saying, on the Sabbath ...And it is a great deed to publicize this
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prohibition among the masses, who, in our great iniquity, fail in their reading of
secular newspapers. One must explain to them that it is forbidden by Jewish law; for
it contains words of heresy and contempt for the Torah and its scholars ...It is also
full of licentiousness, impropriety, and futilities. One who guards his soul will avoid
bringing such material into his home, especially if one has young, impressionable
children, for it poisons the soul. It is also forbidden to sell these newspapers, even if
other stores sell secular newspapers. One who sells such newspapers transgresses the
prohibition of ‘‘helping a sinner.’’ (I. Yosef, 2007, Sec. 4, Vol. 2 p. 209)
It is worth noting that in the footnotes to the above passage, Rabbi Yosef presents a list
of contemporary rabbinical authorities who discourage the reading of secular papers.
Despite his vitriolic language, Rabbi Yosef does acknowledge the necessity of the
newspaper in this day and age. Rabbi Avraham Yosef, another of his sons, described
the newspaper as an instrument that helps lead the generation. For example, he
deems the weekly publication of the Shas movement, Yom l e ’Yom (Day to Day): ‘‘...a
proper substitute for all the newspapers that report on Sephardic Jewry in an
improper fashion. It is a substitute that respects the tradition of our fathers and all of
Eastern Jewry as they are.’’ He notes, however, that the license to read the religious
newspapers on the Sabbath was only yielded so that one would refrain for perusing
secular newspapers or other secular books containing heresy (A. Yosef, 2006, p. 9).
23
Disagreement within Religious-Zionist Circles
Rabbi Avraham Isaac Kook (18651935), one of the preeminent leaders of Religious
Zionism, recognized the importance of newspapers from an early age and was always
counted among those who supported a religious newspaper.
24
In time, his son Rabbi
Tzvi Yehuda Kook (18911982),
25
an esteemed leader in his own right, followed in
his father’s footsteps and worked toward establishing HaTzofeh (The Viewer), the
newspaper of the religious nationalist movement. It was intrinsic to the Rabbi Kook’s
understanding that creating a media and being a part of the Israeli public sphere is
essential. In one of his works that was published after his death, Rabbi Kook wrote:
‘‘Heaven forbid that any weakness or prevention should come before our actions in
releasing this special instrument of expression, which is essential and necessary in our
constant and enlightening influence’’ (Kook, 2001, p. 181).
The national religious movement also recognized the value of a sectarian
newspaper
26
to serve as an educational tool,
27
a platform on which to present the
ideals of Religious Zionism in Israel
28
and the Diaspora alike,
29
a guide for ideological
inquiries, and a means to foster and strengthen to the character of Israel as a
democratic Jewish state.
30
Religious Zionists see integrating into Israeli society (army
service, academic education, and participation in the workforce) as ideals of supreme
value. However, as these areas of society are often at odds with halakhic lifestyles,
there is often friction*halakhic as well as ideological*between the Religious Zionist
movement and the secular society.
31
In light of these disparate views, there is a debate concerning the proper attitude
toward television. On the one hand, there are those who claim that television cannot
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and should not be proscribed, for it is a large and integral part of Israeli society.
Others counter that the drawbacks that come with television outweigh those positives
and that television viewing or ownership cannot be justified.
This debate has pervaded many platforms within the movement. Rabbi Dr. Yehuda
Brandes presents an approach that does not completely prohibit television but calls
for careful screening of the content viewed. In his opinion, the reproof of television
was not a cry against its inherent worthlessness but only a safeguard to prevent the
viewing of inappropriate content. Once a decree has been passed, the only yardstick
to measure its success is to, as the Sages say, ‘‘go and see the custom of the people’’
(Babylonian Talmud Eruvin 14b). The perpetuation of a decree is then dependent
upon the reaction of the community.
Rabbi Brandes claims that by preaching that it is impossible to contest this
monstrous machine, we are failing to educate people to perceive value differences:
The intellectual superiority that man has over animals is his ability to discern good
from bad, and by completely forbidding television that advantage is compromised.
He argues that just as one does not lock his freezer out of concern that his children
will break Jewish dietary laws, so, too, in this circumstance, the focus should be on
educating instead of blocking one’s children from the objectionable content. Just as
in all areas of education, there are successes as well as failures; so, too, in this
instance, there will be successes and failures. However, whatever the outcome,
a strong educational message will be sent*that the choice between good and bad is
in our hands. (Brandes, 2003, p. 26)
Among contemporary rabbis who have paid significant attention to the question
of modern media technology is Rabbi Shlomo Aviner of the West Bank settlement
Beit El.
32
His approach is representative of the opinion of a large percentage of
Religious-Zionist religious leaders who restrict the possibility of television ownership,
despite the positive content of some of the programs. Rabbi Aviner regularly
publishes flyers that are distributed in synagogues that convey his position on
possessing and viewing television. In one of his many books, Sheilat Shlomo
(Questions of Shlomo), he explicates his approach:
In truth, it should be permissible to own a television in order to watch permissible
content, just as one is allowed to own a pen in order to write good things. However,
experience shows that in nearly every home the disadvantages outweigh the
advantages, as nearly 60 percent admit to viewing programs with inappropriate
content and 90 percent admit that when an inappropriate program follows
a permissible one they do not turn off their television. Suffice it to say that one
who cares for his soul should distance himself from these devices. (2001, Sec. 6,
p. 293)
However, recent years have seen the appearance of an interesting phenomenon.
In a book that discusses the laws of the High Holidays (Rosh Hashanah and Yom
Kippur), Rabbi Moshe Harrari writes that he asked the leading Ultra-Orthodox
rabbis, Rabbi Yosef Elyashiv and a former Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, if
one who owns a television may lead the services on these holidays, which Jews view to
be of utmost holiness. The High Holidays are days on which the Jews believe that one
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is judged for all of his actions of the previous year, and the leader of the prayers, who
plays a crucial role in the service, is supposed to be a person who follows all the
religious commandments. Rabbi Eliyahu responded that these days one cannot be
stringent about this matter, as the masses do not appreciate the seriousness of
watching inappropriate programs. Rabbi Elyashiv answered in a similar vein, saying
that since people do not understand the importance of the matter, one cannot
exclude such a person from leading the services (Harrari, 2005, p. 409).
Summary
It is apparent that there is a range of opinion regarding the use of mass media among
the various rabbis in Orthodox Jewry. While all agree that television viewing and
newspaper reading are a waste of time and occasionally lead to sinning, there are
significant differences of opinion among them. Some believe that one should only use
the censored religious media, cutting oneself off from the outside, nonreligious
world. Others contend that it is necessary to use the media infrastructure in place to
spread religious ideals, whereas still another group calls for a new, educational
approach that embraces certain aspects of popular culture while steadfastly keeping
religious values and laws.
Moreover, the various attitudes toward the media, based on a critic view, cannot be
attributed solely to the difference in approaches to modernity that distinguishes
Modern Orthodoxy from Ultra-Orthodoxy, but rather vary from subgroup to
subgroup and rabbi to rabbi. In recent years, there has been a change in social
consciousness that seems to be leading to an easing of positions, even in the Ultra-
Orthodox camp.
The present research mapped for the first time the diversity of attitudes toward
media among Modern Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox rabbis and discussed the
various ways in which they dealt and are dealing with the supposed threats of the
modern mass media to Orthodox Jewish society: some of them called for creating an
alternative media system, some of them advocated using the system already in place
to reach out to the broader Jewish community, as well as to the general public, and
some called for critical appraisal of the various secular media.
Although the Internet is a major medium for mass communication in the
21st century, research concerning its relationship to religion is only beginning
(Armfield & Holbert, 2003; Campbell, 2004; Christians, 2002; Hoover, 2006), and
there are as yet no studies dealing with relevant divergent Ultra-Orthodox attitudes.
More than ever, it is considered a serious threat to that closed world, so its use is
forbidden.
Research efforts in the near future will focus on analyses of the attitudes of the
various rabbis mentioned herein in light of the opinions they have expressed
concerning the media. Will they remain consistent or will they perhaps take a harder
line? On the other hand, the Internet combines pleasure and business, and therefore
perhaps it should not be treated in the same way as other mass media. My initial
findings indicate that there is no monolithic attitude among the religious leaders.
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The projected research will focus primarily on two major campaigns that took
place in Ultra-Orthodox society: the battle against the 3G cell phones in 20042007
and the one against the Ultra-Orthodox websites at the beginning of 2010.
Future research will have to monitor the ongoing realities and to see how the
various groups deal with the new challenges that will inevitably come with further
technological advances, which are beyond the scope of the present paper, and
determine whether the attitudes and approaches among the Orthodox leadership
change over the years. Researchers looking at attitudes toward the media among the
adherents of other religions can refer to this work as an example of possible options
for challenging Western media. It should be clear from the above discussion that
hostile confrontation is not the only conceivable approach, but rather that there is
often opportunity for discerning appraisal and positive exploitation. Communication
is situated differently among contrasting communities, all a part of who inter-
culturally might appear as one culturally religious group.
Notes
[1] For more details, see Heilman and Friedman (1991).
[2] On the coping models of the Jewish Orthodox society in its relation to modernity, see
Heilman (1982), Liebman and Don-Yehiya (1983), and Medding (1986).
[3] On the function and importance of these news bulletins in the Ultra-Orthodox camp, see
Friedman (2005) and Shapira (2004).
[4] For a comprehensive survey of the development of the Written Law and Oral Law, see
Elon (1994).
[5] For more details about the Ultra-Orthodox communicational origins and discourse, see
Kaplan (2006, 2007, pp. 943, 4991).
[6] On Rabbi Alter’s tremendous public work in establishing private mass media in the Ultra-
Orthodox sector, see Segal (1995, pp. 146176).
[7] Similar sentiments were repeated recently in an interview by the current Chief Rabbi of
Israel, Rabbi Shlomo Amar: ‘‘The principal function of a newspaper for the religious
community is so that there will not be a necessity to use other newspapers. We really should
not need these newspapers. However, due to the knowledge that, should they not be
available, some will turn to improper outlets, the goal of a religious newspaper is an
important one’’ (Amar, Me’Yom l e ’Yo m, Sabbath Supplement, November 2, 2006).
[8] Rabbi Alter of Gur managed to convince an impressive lineup of Ultra-Orthodox leaders,
both Hassidic and Lithuanian, to sign a joint declaration to subscribe to HaModia and to
distribute it among friends. For the full text of the declaration, see Grudzenski (2000, Vol. 1,
pp. 326328).
[9] The concern for the well-being of HaModia continued through the generations of Gur
leaders. For an example of this concern, see the attitude of Rabbi Avraham Mordechai
Alter’s son, Rabbi Israel Alter, in Vidislovsky (2002, pp. 2936).
[10] For elaboration on a comparison between attitude and the attitude that it is the public’s
right to know or the public’s duty to know, see Rashi (2009).
[11] For elaboration, see Cassirer (1932, p. 136), Feiner (2004), and Feiner and Sorkin (2001).
[12] On other aspects that led to the development of the Ultra-Orthodox newspapers and its
internal guidelines, see Arielli (2001). For more details, see Ellingwood (2008).
[13] For more details, see J. Cohen (2000) and Baumel (2004).
[14] For more details, see Yl. Cohen (2005) and Lehmann and Siebzehner (2006).
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[15] For more details, see Kaplan (1997).
[16] This Hassidic dynasty began 200 years ago in Lithuania and spread to Russia and Eastern
Europe, being led in turn by seven rabbis of the Schneerson family until 1994. One of the
largest Hassidic movements today, its followers are spread out all over the globe and are
known for their zealous efforts to disseminate Judaic ideas. They undertook many public
activities under the leadership of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who believed and
taught that the wider that Judaism is spread, the sooner the Messiah will come.
[17] To understand his opinion in the matter as part of his general worldview, see Kraus (2001,
pp. 139149). For further review, see Ginzburg and Baranover (2000, pp. 171194).
[18] On the personal efforts of Rabbi Shach in its establishment, see Shach (1995, pp. 140141)
and Taub (2004, p. 57).
[19] Rabbi Shach’s sentiments regarding broadcast media were even stronger. In a joint
declaration with Rabbi Kanievsky in April 1975, the two attacked television ownership,
referring to television as an ‘‘impure monster.’’ In the declaration, they laid out all the
negativity inherent in television and listed the sins that one who watches is exposed to,
including the cardinal sins of idolatry, murder, and adultery. Regarding those who allow
their children to watch television at a neighbor’s home, the rabbis strongly condemned such
permissiveness, saying that what the child sees is ‘‘imprinted in his imagination for life.’’
[20] Rabbi Kanievsky himself is counted among the first to pay subscription fees to the paper.
He gave a $100 bill, which was copied and distributed among philanthropists in order to
promote donations (Horowitz, 1989, p. 87).
[21] For a recent discussion on approaches to referring to the Mizrahim, see Ben-Rafael (1982,
2002), Shenhav (2006), and Smooha (2003).
[22] For further reading on the matter, see Sheleg (2000, pp. 234240).
[23] Many other Sephardic rabbis agreed with the ideas of Rabbi Avraham Yosef. Among them is
the present Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, Rabbi Shlomo Ben Shimon, head of the rabbinical
court of Jerusalem, and Rabbi Reuben Elbaz, head of the Ohr HaHaim Rabbinical College.
They expressed their opinions in the special supplement honoring the 1000th edition of
Me’Yo m l e ’Yom , the magazine of the Shas movement. On this matter, see Me’Yom l e ’Yo m ,
Sabbath Supplement, November 2, 2006, pp. 810.
[24] For further information, see Zimmerman (2002).
[25] For Rabbi Tzvi Kook’s opinion, see Aviner (2004, p. 282).
[26] For example, a former Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yitzak Isaac HaLevi Herzog (18881959)
published a blessing on the occasion of the inaugural edition of HaTzofeh, in which he
wrote: ‘‘Beginning many years ago the poets wrote ‘the pen is mightier than the sword.’ This
is not an exaggeration, rather a precise definition of the truth. The daily newspaper is a
power of worldwide influence. It is an absolute necessity for Torah dedicated Jews,
particularly in Israel, to have this expressive instrument to strengthen traditional Jewry
in spirit and action in our generation’’ (HaTzofeh, ‘‘First Footsteps,’’ January 9, 1981).
Rabbi Herzog repeated these sentiments in many forums and even once said, ‘‘There are
commandments that are time related and there are commandments that are history related.
A religious daily newspaper is a commandment that is history related. The existence of such
a religious daily paper in Israel shows that Judaism is not something of the past, rather a
phenomenon of the present and the future’’ (ibid.).
[27] Rabbi Shar Yishuv Hacohen, Chief Rabbi of Haifa, subscribed to this approach and even
claimed that Rabbi Meir Bar Ilan, who founded the paper, thought in the same vein:
‘‘A newspaper is not a ‘pipe’ of information. Rather, it is an educational tool’’ (HaTzofeh,
August 19, 1988, p. 26).
[28] So argues Prof. Avner Shaki, former leader of NRP, the National Religious party: ‘‘So long as
there is room for a religious political party, there is a necessity for an instrument to express
its worldview’’ (HaTzofeh, August 19, 1988, p. 29).
[29] See Karona (1988, p. 12).
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[30] See Ishon (1988, p. 8).
[31] For a broader look at the relationship of the national-religious society to the media, see
Gabel (2006).
[32] For Rabbi Aviner’s opinion on other matters of culture such as movies, theater, and mass
media, see Sheilat Shlomo, 6, 181186; 7, 250252.
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