Now they can filter out the Job agencies so theres no chance of them finding employment. Why dont they put some horse blinkers on while they are at it.

Israelis , no problem . We know what we can watch , we don't need rabbinical laws .

The only way to keep the masses in line and under control is to keep them as ignorant as possible. The rabbis have standards that you'rre suppposed to live by as per their interpetation of the Torah. There's a Great big World out there, are they afraid some of thier followers might get get exposed to differing opinions. In the Jewish world these men of Faith are called Rabbis In the Islamic world these men of Faith are called Taliban.

The fact that these rabbis consider the internet an "issue" just goes to show how asinine and archaic certain aspects of religion can be in a modern context. The internet is a huge force for good, allowing artistic expression, the free exchange of ideas, and political commentary without fear of violent recourse in many Authoritarian countries. To become relevant at all, these rabbis must embrace technology and all it entails -- the good and the bad.

Yes its nice if phones can be filtered for religious content but with smart phones becoming cheaper in time they will be affordable for children to have. Right now parents have an internet filtering facility on their PC but rules technology is moving to fast to control. We need to have parental filters on internet provided through cellphones. The religious I am sure can invent a filtering system that won't allow you to view anything but Torah but there is a need for a general filter for parents to control what their children view on their phones.

Or is this your attempt at superficial humor covering for racist hatred?

It's sad to see how quick the public is to vilify the religious. I completely understand the words of this rabbi...for his own followers. There is a lot of crap on the Internet, and by that I mean porn, which essentially is 85% of the total content. Why are they wrong to ask for filtering of their content?

Avi, you appear here often writing that Israel is a horrible, unequal place, but you are also one of the first to throw a rock at other populations that you disagree with. Isn't that a lot like discrimination and racism that you complain about? Can we assume that you are just a big hypocrite who lacks self-reflection or will you blame your actions on the proximity of those "racist Israelis"...kind of like "Satanic Verses"?

If you can't convince someone with logic that certain aspects of anything should be avoided for this or that reason, you are admitting that you don't have a valid argument. I'm sitting here wondering which sites some people visit to get bent out of shape over their content. Not only can you not "legislate" morality, but whatever you turn into some ":forbidden" may just become that much more attractive. Wouldn't it be much better to teach the difference between acceptable, trash, and plain stupid?

Did you needed lessons to see the difference between "acceptable , trash or stupid" ? i don't think it . You , and every SANE person , can make the distinction . To watch "war films or westerns" where there is much blood is OK for them , but god forbid , a non "modest" woman ....

You are mistaking - this IS a form of "talibanism" - any in my eyes, even another step towards Xtianity - because you are forcefully preventing something to someone who SUPPOSED to be better and who SUPPOSED to, by HIMSELF, reject these temptations. Judaism is not Xtianity, where there are monks who separate themselves from "earthly sins" in order to "serve more faithfully". Judaism teaches that if you really believe in Torah and G-d, you will walk through the valley of death and have no fear - you will walk pass the naked woman and the most you will do is glance at her as if you would glance on shop screen, sunset, architecture etc. If you, by yourself, cannot stop yourself from going to porn pages, then it is in you, you are to blame and you should stop and ponder your actions and causes that led you to these actions. And THEN you take steps to rectify those actions. If you do it properly, you will NOT NEED ANY FILTERS! Sure, the temptation will still be here, but JEWISH WAY is to push that temptation off, to struggle against it as if you are Jaakov struggling against melekh. It is XTIAN WAY to blame Satan that he tempted you. And it is certainly a XTIAN way to avoid anything that could in any way lead you to any sin. More and more the contemporary haredi Judaism resembles Xtianty, with exceptions that they do not bow to Xrist. (But when it comes to attitude towards rabbis, that DOES resemble Xtian attitude towards saints: proclamation of infallibility in their words and actions, sanctifying and glorification, praying to them for a "intermediaries" between G-d, as if they are "more worthy" and "their words G-d will listen", and even - praying on their graves.)

You brought up an interesting question. So, I went rummaging around in my memories and it seems that I learned most of what's wrong, right, you're pushing your luck, and totally unacceptable from the looks on my mother's face. Whenever I stepped over the line to some "now you've done it," the lesson was usually re-inforced with the safe, but stratigic application of a wooden cookspoon, making the transgression pretty much unforgettable. As for immodesty, I'm 71 years old and if there's anything left in good enough condition to incite anyone into lewd thinking, somebody, please, tell me. Blind, seriously demented and desperate doesn't count :-)

Here's the solution to the entire dilemma :-) I'm not sure you know this, but you can now purchase Kosher computers! They are made in Israel by a company called DELL-SHALOM. The price is low, even with the shipping from Israel ! However, before you purchase a kosher computer, you should know that there are some important changes from the typical non-kosher computer you are used to, such as: 01) The "Start" button has been replaced with a "Let's go! I'm not getting any younger!" button. 02) You hear "Hava Nagila" during startup. 03) The cursor moves only from right to left. 04) When Spell-checker finds an error it prompts, "Is this the best you can do?" 05) When you look at erotic images, your computer says, "If your mother knew you did this, she would die." 06) It comes with a "monitor cleaning solution" from Manischewitz that gets rid of all the "schmutz und drek." 07) When running "Scan Disk" it prompts you with a "You want I should fix this?" message. 08) After 20 minutes of no activity, your PC goes "Schlofen." 09) The PC shuts down automatically at sundown on Friday evenings. 10) It comes with two hard drives -- one for fleyshedik (business software) and one for milchedik (games). 11) Instead of getting a "General Protection Fault" error, your PC now gets "Ferklempt." 12) The multimedia player has been renamed to "Nu, so play the music already!" 13) When your PC is working too hard, you occasionally hear a loud "Oy Gevalt!" 14) Computer viruses can now be cured with matzo ball soup. 15) When disconnecting external devices from the PC, you are instructed to "Remove the cable from the PC's tuchus." 16) After your computer dies, you have to dispose of it within 24 hours. 17) But best of all, if you have a kosher computer, you can't get SPAM.

Well said. I don't know what he is doing living here either. He should pack his bags and find someplace else to live. His anti-religious sentiments day in and day out are nauseating and anti Israel.

Why don't they just take a simple package to make and receive calls without any internet connection. 3G phones cost a fortune - where do they get the money from?

I assume we are talking about porn sites here. To deny a teenage Haredi boy, things that come natural is going against nature. Where else is he going to satisfy his testosterone fueled needs? He can't go and bang around, that's not very Jewish, so leave the kid alone, let him surf. Those Rabbis know that human nature is deeper and stronger than the need to study Torah all day - they should also know that suppressing what comes naturally is quite detrimental to one's development. I’m more surprised at them having state of the art smart phones – have you any idea how much they cost?

Aw, take it easy on the Christians. They only intended to improve on Judaism. Since the consequences of one's actions in the here and now didn't seem to keep anybody in line, they added eternal fire and brimstone in some hereafter. Mohammed, noticing that not even that did the trick, tried a different tack by throwing in a bunch of virgins for anyone doing away with adherents to 1 and 2. When all is said and done, all religions are somebody's shtick and the God in the image of which we proclaim to have been created has to be laughing Him/Herself silly over the convoluted fairy tales we're cooking up with the good sense we were given.

KEEP THE THEOCRATS OUT OF THE DEMOCRACY OR THEY WILL CHANGE THE DEMOCRACY TO A THEOCRACY... not unlike Irant!

I agree with you in the sense that each person is responsible for their individual actions, but this is not the topic here. You're trying to squeeze a secluded population which makes its own rules for themselves to adhere to your ideology, and that's a non-starter. If this rabbi demanded filtering for ALL Israeli citizens, I would join the dissenting voices, but he is merely making recommendations for his own followers. How is this different from any other sect? Even Christianity is divided into many streams, most of which are at odds with each other. Recently an Episcopal Bishop ordained their first lesbian pastor. That certainly does like bode well with the Catholics in the room, nor even the Muslims who will see this as Christianity's downfall. Even here, your opinion matters not as you speak only from your own desires and your own experience. At the end of the day, this decision of the rabbi is one of individuality - a group of individuals that seek to act as one "individual". All religions have groups like these. So what do you care?

I too remember the looks from my parents when I did something wrong, albeit I got away with a lot of stuff. It's been a long time since I've seen parents truly discipline their children, some going as far as to fight for the right of their child to be disruptive and violent. Not sure what it is but it certainly isn't a lack of religion or G-d. I believe it has more to do with this push towards individuality which makes people less care about the group, their community, as a whole. As a parent, I work to instill not only right and wrong in my child, but the tools to discern it on their own, because quite frankly, I'm the only dedicated teacher they have at this early age.

3G phones are becoming dirt cheap and you can't operate them without having the data package. I found that beauty out when I got the Google G1. I do remember there was a kosher phone company a few years back. The entire network was shutdown except for emergency calls over Shabbat.

This is really the responsibility of the parents to make sure that kids don't go to where they should not. So a filtering service that parents can control should be enough. Censoring content at the university level may prove harmful. There comes a time when, the student needs to learn to think for themselves. Having reached adulthood, they need to learn what is good and what is bad content-and why.

I know that Israel has different problems then America. But i must tell you that it is not such a bad idea. Before you go nuts on me let me explain. Forget the religious reasons. In American we have children hurt everday by going on the internet and going into chat rooms. That is were they meet the man who want to rape and murder them. Next we have the kids that go on sites and bully other children. We have had many kids kill themselves because they are being bullied. Kids can get really nasty on the computer. Next we have the web sites that are anti -semtic and are horrible. Now i know Israel once had very low murder and rape crime rate. But things are changing in Israel. So as a parent i agree with controlling what my children do on the computer. In american it is very common for parents to call the companies and have a filtesr put in place. Your commuities are changing just look around you. Piercing body parts, tattoo's and tinting kids hair. You are trying so hard to look and act American, so the next thing is the same problems that we have. Believe me it is no pinic over here. San Diego just buried 2 grils 2 weeks ago for being raped and murdered. Adults do what adults want to do. But kids and teenagers should not be chatting or looking at porn. They have their whole adult life to look at all the crap . So let them just be kids. This time i think you hate the religious so much that you are not really looking at the bigger picture. I know i am going to take a lot of crap from you.....so bring it. But before you do. How many of you have children? How many of you want your children exposed to rappist and murders? How many of you want your kids looking at adults having sex. How many of you want your teenagers looking at other teenagers having sex? How many of you want your child to be bullied by another kid? Think long and hard and then write what you are going to write me. P.S. BULLING IS WHEN A CHILD GETS ON THE COMPUTER AND TELLS HUNDREDS OF OTHER KIDS THAT A CERTAIN GIRL IS A SOZA OR THAT A CERTAIN BOY/GIRL IS GAY. WITHIN DAYS THAT INFORMATION TRUE OR FALSE IS RECIEVED BY HUNDREDS OF KIDS. Submit Cancel

The actions taken were because of the decadence and it is in the media. The Word is given as a foundation, you'll know of the wilderness, assimilate, scavenge, find out the advantages and disadvantages, the causes and the effects, take your bruises, bumps and falls along the way, be glad when it's warrented, love the good, hate the bad, give fair breaks and submit findings intricately. These Rabbis can only be commended in their efforts.