Q&A: Why Are Haredim Forbidden to Use SMS?
Why Are Haredim Forbidden to Use SMS?
Question
Hello and blessings, Rabbi,
As someone who knows Haredi society well, I’d be happy if you could explain to me why SMS is forbidden among them, even on a simple “dumb” phone. I study with a Haredi yeshiva student, and he can’t send me messages because he doesn’t have that option, since it’s forbidden for them.
Answer
That’s a wonderful question. I’ve been wondering about it for years. In my opinion, this is a great example of the development of a religious “prohibition” and principle that has no basis whatsoever. Just because somebody decided so, and the rabbis who signed off on it had never even seen it and have no idea what they were talking about. Classic Haredism. Cynics will tell you there’s some economic interest here of rabbinic committees and businesspeople who make millions off the “kosher” phones and keep their flock in line at sensitive pressure points through bizarre prohibitions. The power of a scriptural decree as a test of loyalty to the sect.
Discussion on Answer
As every beginning Haredi knows, the reason there is no SMS (and likewise no camera) on kosher phones is because the Rebbe of Gur insisted on it against the opinion of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv. So the blame does not lie with the entire Haredi public or its leaders, but with the Gur sect and its leader.
“By the way, for that reason I’m not willing to cooperate with or accommodate Haredim who operate within Haredi internet filtering and a “kosher” phone. They expect you and me to do more work because they obey their scriptural decrees, and in doing so they impose a burden on others. I’m not willing to go along with that.”
Could you explain what you mean?
What isn’t clear? There were various requests to arrange deliveries of the columns, etc. In addition, people want various updates or coordination. I don’t cooperate. Of course, if there’s a request to send something specific by email, I comply. Like with anyone else.
I don’t understand the claim.
What is this comparable to? To a person living in North Korea: the way to escape is open to him, but then he would have to abandon his wife, who is passionately in love with her homeland. Since he lives there, he must obey the laws of the place. Is there no room [of course not an obligation] to help him? Is he expecting you to work more because he “wants” to obey scriptural decrees?
I’d also appreciate getting the answer to this puzzlement by email, because I usually don’t have access to this site…
The analogy is to a person who chooses to live in North Korea. There’s in your words here the Haredi pomposity that turns every mouse into an elephant and every challenge into a Holocaust. That is one of the problems of the Haredi world. You have a problem, and the task of solving it falls on you, not on others. It isn’t all that hard, and the price required is not so great or impossible. So many people have approached me more than once and asked how the revolution will happen. I usually answer them that there are no instant revolutions, and whoever wants revolutions without paying prices will go on living his life and bearing the burden. Only the prisoner can free himself from prison. No one is going to overturn anything for you. Keep voting for Gimmel and eat the porridge you cook for yourselves.
By the way, you can keep a non-kosher phone and internet that isn’t under Haredi filtering even if you live there. That isn’t even a revolution.
This time, exceptionally, I’ll grant your request and send it by email as well.
I don’t understand—Haredi internet filtering is a scriptural decree?
Fine, SMS really is just plain foolishness. But with the internet there really are many stumbling blocks. Isn’t it legitimate for a person to be careful about a stumbling block? Is there nothing to respect about that? Or is the Rabbi speaking here about a certain kind of filtering?
Obviously. I’m speaking only about Haredi filtering, which filters out opinions and anything that isn’t Haredi. The purpose of this filtering is to block people off from the world and preserve control over them, and of course the economic interests of whoever runs it. It has nothing whatsoever to do with pornography and the rest of those evils.
It’s like Haredi clothing. It makes no sense at all in a hot country, and precisely for that reason it serves as a test of identity and loyalty.
By the way, for that reason I’m not willing to cooperate with or accommodate Haredim who operate within Haredi internet filtering and a “kosher” phone. They expect you and me to do more work because they obey their scriptural decrees, and in doing so they impose a burden on others. I’m not willing to go along with that.