Entering the Cyber Stone Age

The posting on this Blog from 2 August 2009 speculates whether the Agudath Israel of America will eventually get itself a website.

[To bring everyone up to speed, the Agudath Israel of America is an advocacy group for some of the more insular segments of the religious Jewish community (NOT to be confused with Congregation Agudath Israel of West Essex, NJ, which does have its own website.). In such circles, there is much consternation with the new technologies, including and especially the Internet. A more in-depth analysis of this phenomenon is to be found in an article by Nathaniel Deutsch entitled "The Forbidden Fork, the Cell Phone Holocaust, and Other Haredi Encounters with Technology."].

The newspaper Hamodia has published an interview with Rabbi Yaakov Perlow, written by Rabbis Avraham Heschel and Yosef Rapaport. Rabbi Perlow is the top rabbinical banana at the Agudath Israel. Given Hamodia's editorial policies, it is more likely than not the interview questions were scripted in advance and/or edited afterwards by the Agudath Israel. I say this not to cast any negativity upon Hamodia, but only to acknowledge what I believe to be the likely facts. Consistent with the policies which Hamodia freely concedes as its own, the publication of the Perlow interview is likely an instrumentality of Agudath Israel's policies.

In the interview, Rabbi Perlow admits that the Internet's use can be restricted, but cannot be banned outright because (A) it is now increasingly a necessity for earning a living; and (B) most of the community would not adhere to the ban. The Rabbi also admitted that most of the insular community does in fact use the Internet.

It is likely, in my mind, that this is a calculated step towards the Agudath Israel's adoption of a website at some time in the future.

The foregoing contentions were conceived prior to my accession last evening of the succeeding edition of Hamodia, which, through a fortuitous chain of events, I managed to get hold of shortly after its publication instead of about a week later. This latest edition of Hamodia, along with the latest edition of Yated Ne'eman (which I got hold of along with Hamodia, through the same chain of events), published an account of the Agudath Israel's Thanksgiving Weekend Convention in East Brunswick, NJ. At the Convention, Rabbi Perlow, consistent with some of his statements in the Hamodia interview, addressed the problem of children who have not been placed in a religious school.

That issue made the rounds in late October, when Rabbi Aron Krausz strongly condemned those schools that reject students for petty and picayune reasons.

Also in the 3 December 2010 edition of Yated Ne'eman, on page 22, is an article by Avrohom Birnbaum entitled "It's Time to Bring Back the Jewish Observer!" (exclamation point in original). Rabbi Birnbaum was a panelist at one of the sessions at the Agudath Israel convention, and, as such, expressed sentiment that the Jewish Observer, an AI publication now (to use a Catholic term) in limbo, ought to be restored to its former status as a viable thought-provoking intellectual publication. Rabbi Birnbaum reported the response to his call to bring back the Jewish Observer as 100% positive, and that "the first person to spring up and applaud that clarion call was the Agudah's Executive Vice President, Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zweibel." While the JO's current induced coma has been presented as a financial-based decision (and finances, no doubt, did play a role), howcum the AI's own EVP cannot, after a year and a half, get it going again? Methinks that the prospect of the involvement of the Internet medium has some of the rabbis spooked.

But why would Yated Ne'eman publish Rabbi Birnbaum's account if it were totally contrary to rabbinical sentiment? Methinks that it is part of a strategy for the AI to be able to backtrack, without backtracking, on the anti-Internet posture it has assumed in very, very recent times.

And so, I see a pattern here. Rabbi Krausz comes out against those schools that reject Jewish children, and Agudath Israel follows suit at its Convention. Rabbi Birnbaum calls for the revival of the Jewish Observer, and Rabbi Zweibel agrees enthusiastically (although, to be sure, doesn't decree the magazine back to life). In recent years, the Agudath Israel's rabbinical leaders have, after years of denial, finally admitted that there is abuse of children at the yeshivas (but still strongly opposes efforts to hold accountable the responsible individuals).

Once upon a time, the rabbis controlled, to a large extent, the flow of information to and from their communities. Now, with the Internet technologies, that prerogative has largely disappeared. The management of information requires more proactivity than silence and denial. Remember that the flow of information through channels not controlled by the Politburo is what brought down the former Soviet Union

I cannot help but ask whether the Agudath Israel is providing leadership, or followership. And I stand by my belief that the Agudath Israel will eventually find a face-saving way to go cyber.

Rambam's Daughter

"Rambam" is the Hebrew acronym for Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, better known to the western world as Maimonides, the great rabbi, philosopher and physician who was born in Cordoba, Spain in 1135 C.E.

Sephardi Jews, of whom Rambam was one, were scattered all over the world following their expulsion from Spain in 1492, on account of the Catholic Church's inquisition. In 1654, when the Recife in Brazil fell from Dutch hands into the hands of the Portuguese, the Jews of that town had to leave on pain of death. A ship carrying 23 of the Jewish refugees from Recife landed in Manhattan, then a Dutch colony under the governorship of Peter Stuyvesant. The Governor attempted to keep the Jews out of New Amsterdam, and, after they successfully appealed Stuyvesant's ruling, Stuyvesant continued in his attempts to abridge their civil rights. But the Jewish refugees persevered, and, led by Asser Levy, eventually secured their rights on par with the other residents of New Amsterdam.

In 1664, the British took control of the New Netherlands in 1664. The Articles of Capitulation negotiated between the British and the Dutch provided, inter alia, that the Dutch inhabitants of the colony would enjoy freedom of religion under British rule. When the Dutch recaptured the Colony in 1673, the British subjects there were given the same rights that the Dutchmen in the Colony had enjoyed under the British. When the Colony once again came into British hands in 1674, the personal civil rights, including free exercise of religion, persisted. Indeed, when New York became a State, its delegation insisted that the Bill of Rights be amended to the U.S. Constitution so that they would have the same personal freedoms they had enjoyed under British and Dutch rule.

Another Sefardi Jew, Sir Moses Montefiore (1784 - 1885), put much of his wealth towards philanthropy during his long life. Notwithstanding the exiles, there has always been a continuous residual Jewish presence in the Holy Land from the time of Joshua. Sir Moses Montefiore did much to better the condition of the Jewish population of the Land of Israel during his lifetime.


Eastern Europe became a breeding ground for Jewish scholarship, with numerous yeshivas and other educational institutions. These provided rabbinical support for other Jewish communities throughout the entire world. The Nazis were well aware that destruction of the Eastern European Jewish community would have negative impact upon world Jewry, and proceeded with their evil plans accordingly.

After World War II, the surviving rabbinical leaders from the Eastern European yeshivas transplanted their remnants to America, Israel, and elsewhere. In order to restore their decimated yeshivas, the rabbis took the unprecedented step of instituting long-term full-time religious studies for almost all Jewish males in their communities. In addition to the obvious economic ramifications it has wreaked in the communities, there are also the social repercussions. Jonathan Rosenblum compared it to chemotherapy, a drastic measure that poisons the body -- on a temporary basis -- in order to save the life. It has negative effects.

One of these negative implications is that the communities have become more insular. This insularity goes well beyond the distinction between religious Jews and non-religious Jews. Specifically, there are now religious elementary and junior high schools in Israel (and, for that matter, in Brooklyn, Lakewood and Monsey) that discriminate against Sephardim, and will not admit Sephardi pupils. They do not want their children to be exposed to outside influences, even those of different religious Jewish communities.


Along with everything else, this is ingratitude. Were it not for the groundbreaking efforts of Asser Levy, America might not have been tolerant enough to nurture the religious Jewish communities transplanted from the ashes of the Holocaust after World War II. And were it not for Sir Moses Montefiore, the religious Jews who emigrated to the Holy Land in the 19th Century would surely have had a far rougher time there.

Yet, there are certain religious institutions where even the Rambam's daughter would not be welcome!

The end of the calendar year of 2009 approaches. My wife and I am in the process of sending out our final tzedakah checks for the year, so that we can properly claim the charitable deduction on our taxes. We are taking care to not support institutions that discriminate against religious Jews.

Limudei Kodesh and Limudei Chol

Limudei Kodesh and Limudei Chol


One of the big issues in Jewish education is the balance of, and relationship between, Limudei Kodesh and Limudei Chol (literal Hebrew for "Holy Studies" and "Mundane Studies"). Limudei Kodesh refers to education in religious subjects such as Torah, Talmud, the writings of great commentators such as Rashi or Maimonides or the Vilna Gaon, and the like. Limudei Chol refers to the secular subjects such as Math, Social Studies, Science, English, et cetera.

Rule of thumb: The more insular the outlook of the administration of the school, the less the emphasis on limudei chol and the greater the emphasis on limudei kodesh. And many institutions have gotten increasingly insular over the years. Carrying things ad extremum, is that students are graduating many of these institutions with little or no knowledge or skills in the areas where skills and knowledge are required to secure adequate gainful employment, or even socialize out on the street.

This is not just an empty exercise in reductio ad absurdum. In the case of Pinches O. v. Florence F., N.Y.L.J., 12 January 2004, p. 20, col. 1 (Family Ct. Kings Co.), aff'd 15 A.D.3d 664, 789 N.Y.S.2d 912 (2d Dept. 2005), the Court found that graduates of the Satmar school system, with virtually no exception, require remedial education in order to be able to go to college.


The way things are in many insular Jewish educational institutions in America: Limudei chol gets to hold onto the running board while limudei kodesh rides inside the limousine (or, in many instances, the old jalopy clunker). The limudei chol teachers are paid last (and many of these yeshivas are behind in paying the limudei kodesh teachers and rabbis), and, worse yet, the children are given the distinct message, implicit or implicit, that limudei chol teachers are only there because the law requires them to be, but they should not be paid much mind by the students.

Read some of the comments to the postings on theyeshivaworld.com or vosizneias.com, and you will see the piss-poor English grammar and spelling skills of some of these products of the insular religious Jewish community's yeshivas.

Quite frankly, I do understand (but do not agree with) the insular community's rationale for the emphasis on limudei kodesh to the gross subordination of limudei chol. My wife's uncle is a rabbi in Bnei Brak. One of the times we spent Shabbat with them, we discussed these issues. Uncle's logic is that if his sons are going to be spending their lives learning and teaching Torah, then they would not need to learn advanced level science, or any mathematics beyond the basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division; and if his daughters were going to be hausfrauen whose primary function was to raise the children, then their limudei chol needs were similarly limited. [It is noted that Uncle married a daughter of one of the more moneyed families of the insular religious Jewish community, so he was able to marry off his 13 children and get them all apartments. Whether the family fortune can go on to support the next generation remains to be seen, but the well has already run dry in many other formerly affluent religious Jewish families.].

Also, there is concern, which I share, of the negative influences inherent in studying secular subjects.

A little more than a year ago [28 September 2008], this Blog posted some discussion regarding one Mordechai Samet, a product of the insular religious system who didn't perform so admirably, and who now resides, at taxpayer expense, in the Federal Correctional Institution at Otisville, NY. The long and short of it is that Samet blames everyone but himself for his predicament, and does not acknowledge the wrongfulness of the panoply of fraud, racketeering and money laundering activities for which he was sentenced.

Samet can be compared and contrasted to his junior sidekick, Chaim Hollender, who received a lesser sentence along with Samet. Hollender is now out after 7 years, and apparently, is well on his way to becoming an exemplar of successful rehabilitation. Hollender, it seems, has gotten active with a group known as Lasurim, which reaches out to incarcerated Jews, and which brings speakers to religious high schools in order to inform the adolescents of the wisdom of not making the same mistakes Hollender made. If indeed Hollender prevents just one person from embarking upon a career of fraud or other illegalities, then his rehabilitation has been a success, and each additional person saved is pure profit to society.

There is an article in the latest issue (October 2009) of Kashrus Magazine, which I have just read. In an article co-authored by Hollender, he states:

"There are people who have very little education in some areas. They think that if they need money that it is okay to write something that's not exactly true. They simply don't understand that this can put them into a very serious position."

As incredible as this statement might sound upon the first hearing, I can believe it. Being familiar with a number of people from several of the insular communities, I can see how their disconnect from society at large can eventually lead to a disconnect between right and wrong (though I shall defer to the psychologists and sociologists to explain the exact mechanics of the process).

But now, I have some questions for my wife's uncle, which I hope to ask him next time we meet.

A. If indeed Limudei Kodesh is so positive and wholesome, how does that account for more than just one black-hat religious Jew from going off the derech and disconnecting from the various Torah injunctions to be fair and honest and to fear G-d?

B. If Limudei Kodesh alone cannot ensure honesty, and if, as Mr. Hollender implies, the lack of knowledge of the real world impels religious Jews to commit crimes and other acts of dishonesty, do the children, then, need limudei chol as well as limudei kodesh?

C. If indeed the children need limudei chol, then shouldn't the yeshivas stop breaking down the limudei chol wagon and start letting making clear -- in word and in deed -- that the limudei chol courses and teachers are important?


In a few hours, the Festival of Sukkot will begin. As with last year's holiday, we will be hosting our friend "He" as a houseguest, and will have other guests as well.

Shabbat Shalom, and Chag Sameach!