The key issue beneath the Haredi attacks on the Internet is that uncontrolled access for teenagers leads to unforeseen problems, such as paedophiles in chatrooms and XXX rated porn being available to children. Many, probably most, Haredim have Internet access for business purposes, but they have strong filters to protect their children from immodesty and immorality. Would parents rent triple X videos to show their bar mitzvah boys?

I admit that I am not the most religious Jew, but what's this vendetta against technology? I understand (sort of) the prohibition of using these devices on Shabbat or Holy Days and I definitely agree they should not be used in any house of worship, but if cell phones in general seem OK, what difference does added capability or features make?

Seriously, is something wrong with charadi education that after spending 10 to 15 years in yeshiva environment a man can not go into the world and stand up to the challenges? Every thing can be used for good or bad, not just the iphone, but the telephone, the broom (I can hit you on the head with it), bricks (I can hit you on the head with it), you name it, it can be used for bad or for good. It is time that yeshiva men learn that the world is a place where one must live what they learn. the iphone is not evil, evil is in the mind of the beholder!

I just bought my Iphone a few months ago!! And I'm very happy with it, people who want to live in a cave should do so and disconnect from society instead of using all means and than tell others how to live..

I feel sorry for those Haredim who follow orders of haredi rabbis who are accountable to no one. These people should use their own common sense and critical judgment and decide for themselves whether to own a cell phone, or make another judgments on how to live.

Technology makes people wiser and smarter and that goes against haredim preachings. Wise and smart people have the ability to think for themselves and that is bad business for ultra religious rabbis as it makes them afraid of loosing part of their herd.

even worse to a cell phone store. Just rip out all the wires in the engine and let it sit there reminding you of your respect for the rabbi. No more sinning with the car or the cellphone.

we obviously are very happy about many modern devices, certainly ones that have to do with medicine and science. this battle is not against 'modern', rather it's against devices that are mostly used for things that they consider assur.

are dumb and their followers dumber!

In order to maintain their power, the haredi rabbis procalim that contact with the modern world is bad, they are against education in secular subjects, they marginalize their women, and dictate how their followers are to live their lives, all in a very closed society, by design. This makes it very difficult for a member of the haredi community to leave and join the modern world. All to maintain the rabbi's power. If this isn't a cult, I don't know what is. If the values of the haredi community are so strong, they should't be afraid of contact with the modern world. The issue is the relatively higher population growth rate of the haredi community. They say that demographics is reality, and my concern is that the dempgraphics of Israel in a generation or two will be such that the country will not be able to defend itself, and it economny will not be world-competitive.

Technology does NOT make people smarter. It can enable them to learn better or faster, but to be smarter needs Technology can be a great convenience, but it can be used wrongly too like all things in life. The problem here is simple: as #3 states, is something wrong in the yeshiva world that after 10-15 years of learning, a man can not go out into the world and face day to day challanges! That is the point to be made. Although people may appear to be smarter since they can use computers, iphones etc, smartness is manifest in how one lives their life, not in the facts that they can recall or look up quickly via the internet.

Monday night was Hakafot Shinot, not Simchat Torah. No one (with the possible exception of doctors or emergency personnel) brought a cell phone to dancing on Simchat Torah.

Go onfolks talk on it all day Shabbat too! The Haredim will be the only ones left after all the 'smart' people have died from throat and brain cancer!

I'm not Jewish but I agree with the rabbis 1000% on this one: after the amount of times that I've almost been knocked over in public places by people who can't lift up their faces from their phones to look at the world around them, I can only conclude that 'smart' phones are making us dumber and are a backwards step in evolution. Go rabbis!! Someone needs to wage war on these moronic devices!

The idea that the device is vile and not the person who chose banned content, is absurd, Worse is telling those who follow that they are rewarded with special blessing powers for following false additions to Torah, Shame on the Rabbi that puts provocations and false promises. Of course the students should know dev 13 and spot a liar on their own. My apologizes for letting the test secrets out of the bag. I EARNED THEM. Smash those phones and think you can bless people like gods? (SARCASIM) LOL

What absolute nonsense. These loonies need to get a grip on reality. They are the problem in this world, not the solution.

I remember when all the furore was about TV.

GOD did not give Israel the Torah. It was composed by ancient priests who wanted to live in a world where human beings recognize that freewill and freedom involve certain respect for law and divinity. This is why Israel practices the sabbath very seven days. But GOD did not write the Torah. All of these Haredi fanatics are utterly wrong about the way a human being can understand salvation. It certainly does not come by following one another into a world without telecommunications. Pious idiots who spend too much time in Yeshiva being indoctrinated with hate.

than not enough time. You don t know what you are talking about. G-D did give, to the Jewish people at Har Sinai, the Tora.