Q&A: Unfiltered Internet
Unfiltered Internet
Question
Hello and blessings,
What do you think about the common claim that unfiltered internet should be forbidden (or at least, if this is not a matter of Jewish law, that it still makes no sense not to use filtering) on the grounds of seclusion with sexual impropriety? That is, does this come from the principle our Sages gave us that it is impossible (or at least, in most cases) not to stumble through exposure to forbidden sights, because "there is no guardian against sexual immorality"?
Answer
As for the non-halakhic question, each person should decide for himself. From a halakhic standpoint, this can be compared to a case where there is no other way, since filtering imposes limitations beyond what is strictly required. See the Tur, section 487.
Discussion on Answer
Obviously. I didn’t mean to say this is a ruling according to the Torah. It’s a ruling according to the Talmud. The Torah is whatever Amnon Yitzhak or some Bnei Brak rabbi or another says. According to the Torah, of course it’s forbidden.
I’d really be glad to know your non-halakhic reasoning on the subject. As for the topic of “where there is no other way,” when I learned the topic in my time I also came away with a pretty clear basis for leniency in all these areas, and I understood that today there’s pressure and exaggerated hysteria that, without a doubt, causes the opposite effect for people. I just didn’t really understand why you say this is being used as a case of “where there is no other way,” because in a case where there is another way, if we rule like the passage in Pesachim, then there it is ruled that where it is possible and one intends it, it is permitted, so there’s no need at all to get to “where there is no other way.”
I remember that I also wondered about this in the past. For some reason the halakhic decisors distinguish between them. I don’t remember the details right now.
Yes—mainly the Chafetz Chaim—distinguish by saying that in the passage in Bava Batra it is forbidden because it involves sexual impropriety, and a person’s soul desires these things, unlike the gate of other prohibitions. But in my humble opinion there are many difficulties with this distinction from many passages. And in fact, the Ben Ish Chai, in the responsa Torah Lishmah, does not seem to agree with this distinction, because there he wrote regarding deriving pleasure from merely looking at a beautiful, adorned married woman, that if he sees her in order to speak with her, and he is compelled in this, and indeed enjoys her beauty itself, he rules that it is permitted based on the passage in Pesachim.
There are plenty of places where it seems the Sages did not distinguish in this way:
"After a woman and not after idolatry," and so on and so on…
Friends, please don’t get confused: someone who permits unfiltered internet is not issuing rulings according to the Torah.